Kidnapped in Montana, page 1
“Being alone isn’t a good idea.”
Ryan turned toward the front window. His shoulders tensed when he peered out. He whirled around. “Get down!” He wrapped an arm around Catherine’s back and took her to the floor.
Betty rose from where she was resting and barked. Liz paced.
The front window shattered, spraying glass across the wood floor.
Catherine shook her head, not comprehending.
“He found us,” said Ryan.
His words reverberated in her brain. The guy had some tracking skills. She wasn’t safe here or on the mountain. Though the cabin was partially hidden by trees, the ATV with its distinct dog carrier was parked outside. Denial still swirled through her thoughts. This could not be happening. The safe world she’d created was being ripped away from her.
“My car is parked on the side of the cabin,” she said. “There’s a back door.” She called the dogs to her.
“Stay low.” Ryan pulled his gun from its holster as a second shot rang out...
Ever since she found the Nancy Drew books with the pink covers in her country school library, Sharon Dunn has loved mystery and suspense. Most of her books take place in Montana, where she lives with three nearly grown children and a hyper border collie. She lost her beloved husband of twenty-seven years to cancer in 2014. When she isn’t writing, she loves to hike surrounded by God’s beauty.
Books by Sharon Dunn
Love Inspired Suspense
Big Sky Showdown
Hidden Away
In Too Deep
Wilderness Secrets
Mountain Captive
Undercover Threat
Alaskan Christmas Target
Undercover Mountain Pursuit
Crime Scene Cover-Up
Christmas Hostage
Montana Cold Case Conspiracy
Montana Witness Chase
Kidnapped in Montana
Alaska K-9 Unit
Undercover Mission
Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit
Threat Detection
Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com for more titles.
Kidnapped in Montana
Sharon Dunn
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
—Proverbs 3:5–6
This book is dedicated to the border collie in my life, Bart, because there is never a dull moment when you are around.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Dear Reader
Excerpt from Searching for Evidence by Carol J. Post
ONE
FBI Agent Ryan McCloud wiped the drizzle from the visor of his helmet and stared at the winding mountain trail below. Though the rain smeared the view of what lay at the bottom of the road, he could just make out a faint, round dot of light. Probably a lantern inside a tent. Signs of an encampment. His destination.
His job as an agent took him all over the world into all kinds of situations, but riding an ATV in the Montana wilderness to track down an informant was a first. Victoria Stevenson had been feeding him information about an international gem smuggling ring operating out of the Seattle area. Two months ago, she’d disappeared. Missing...presumed dead was what the police report said.
Two things gave Ryan pause in believing the official report. His gut and the fact that half a million in diamonds was rumored to have disappeared at the same time. Had Victoria feared for her life and gone into hiding, taking the diamonds as collateral to set herself up somewhere safe? Had she switched sides? He didn’t know. He simply could not let go of the feeling that she was still alive.
If she had betrayed him, it would be the second time in his work as an agent, not to mention the times women he was involved with romantically had been deceptive about who they were. He didn’t trust himself anymore to be a good judge of character.
He twisted the throttle on the ATV. The back tire slipped a bit on the muddy trail. Though it was midday, the overcast sky made it seem darker. Springtime in Montana must mean lots of rain. His headlight cut a swath of illumination as the trail became more treacherous.
His search for Victoria had seemed futile until he caught a break. Facial identification software found a match for her. A woman in the background of a photo about the forest service working with conservation dogs and private landowners matched Victoria’s facial features.
Victoria’s change in profession came as a surprise. The article said that conservation dogs were trained to track the migratory habits of various predators and to sniff out rare plants. All done to make development of an area take into consideration the occupants who already called it home. Interesting work, but it didn’t seem like anything Victoria would take to, though she had owned a border collie named Liz that disappeared at the same time she did. The article mentioned the use of the breed. It had to be her.
From her penthouse in Seattle, Victoria had been all high heels and business suits, so it was hard to picture her doing a job that led her far from people and food delivery. Maybe that was why she’d chosen it. No one would think to look for her here.
He slowed as the trail became even steeper. He heard a noise that sounded like another ATV coming around a bend behind him. Who else would be out in this weather? Maybe his ears were playing tricks on him.
Ryan made his way slowly down the mountain. As the encampment became more distinct, he could see a person in rain gear calling two border collies. Good sign. He could also see an ATV and a tent with a tarp over it. Boxes that looked waterproof were stacked around the tent.
A flash of light caught his attention in his peripheral vision. Another ATV was headed up the trail. To what purpose? The guy couldn’t be out in this weather for pleasure. Maybe he was connected to the camp below, bringing supplies or something.
Ryan putted down the muddy mountain but stopped when the other ATV got close. He flipped up his visor. The guy was above him and far enough away that he had to shout.
“What brings you out here?”
The other rider idled but did not respond. He twisted the throttle and moved toward Ryan. His dark helmet hid his face. Unfriendliness in a setting with so few people seemed out of place. Then again, maybe some people chose the deep wilderness because they lacked social skills.
Wary of how muddy the trail had become, Ryan moved at a snail’s pace as the other ATV drew closer. There was no need to create a traffic jam on such an isolated trail. Once again, he stopped, flipped up his visor, and shouted to be heard above the rain.
“Do you need to get past me? The trail is pretty narrow.”
Still wearing his helmet, the other guy dismounted his ATV and stalked toward Ryan.
“Seriously, I’m not in a hurry, pal,” said Ryan. “I’ll get out of your way as soon as the trail is wide enough.”
When he was within five yards of Ryan, the other man unzipped his leather jacket and reached inside.
The back of Ryan’s neck prickled, a fear response.
A gun? What was going on here?
Ryan twisted the throttle and revved forward at a dangerous speed. He thought he heard a popping sound behind him. His heart pounded as he willed the vehicle to go faster and not wreck. He focused on the steep trail in front of him and tried to sort through why someone would be shooting at him.
Even if this was an angry landowner, it seemed like such an extreme response. The fat tires of the ATV slid and skidded as he increased his speed. His feet lifted from the pedals when he veered sideways, but he righted himself with a reactionary twist of the handlebars. The other rider had returned to his ATV and loomed toward him again.
Without warning, the tires froze up and Ryan found himself somersaulting through the air. His body banged against a hard surface and then he landed on his back. He was able to fight off unconsciousness for only a few seconds.
He could hear the hum and grind of the other ATV growing fainter as his world went black.
* * *
From her camp, Catherine Reed watched in horror as one of the two ATV riders sailed over the top of his vehicle. The ATV rolled and landed upright some distance from the trail. Though it was hard to see from where she stood, it looked like the rider had been thrown clear and now lay motionless in some brush. Only the bright yellow-and-blue stripes on his leather pants and jacket indicated where he was.
The headlights of the other ATV were not visible as it sunk down a hill and hadn’t reached the rise yet.
Her muscles tensed as her heartbeat revved up a notch.
No one came up here. And certainly not under these conditions. Her first thought was
The wreck victim still wasn’t moving. Regardless of who he was, she couldn’t leave him to die. She commanded her dogs to stay in the tent and mounted up on her own ATV heading toward the injured man.
Why had the other rider not come to the aid of the injured man? From the camp below, she had more of a panoramic view of the mountain above. Maybe the other man had not seen the accident.
The grass on the side of the hill provided some traction as she worked her way upward. Fear gripped her heart when she stopped several yards from where the man lay. What if this was her ex? She still had a moral obligation to render aid under such circumstances.
The scary thing was that her ex had found her despite her best efforts to go into hiding. She thought working with her conservation detection dog in remote places would keep her off the radar. There had been that news article where she’d been photographed in the background working with Betty, her border collie, while the forest ranger posed in the foreground. No one she worked with knew her story.
When the photographer suggested she and Betty pose with the forest ranger, she had made a quick excuse that it would be more interesting to see the dog in action. She thought she had turned quickly enough so that her face would barely show in profile. But someone looking for her might recognize her. Certainly, Betty’s unique half white, half black coloring on her face would give her away to someone obsessed with finding her. Though she understood taking Betty with her when she’d fled created risk, she had not been able to leave the beloved dog behind. She feared what her ex might do to the dog out of revenge.
When Catherine was within yards of where the man lay on his back, she stopped, dismounted and hurried toward him. Her stomach knotted with fear. As she approached, the man still did not move. She kneeled beside him and shook his shoulder. No response.
She touched the side of his neck. He still had a pulse.
Catherine took in a breath and flipped up the visor bracing for a view of Dave’s angry face. She sighed with relief when she saw that this man was a stranger to her.
She shook his shoulder again. Moving him would be dicey. If he had a back or neck injury, it would be made worse if she tried to transport him. Plus, she doubted she had the physical strength to lift him anyway. Being injured this far from medical help wasn’t safe.
She said a quick prayer for the man but couldn’t begin to assess his injuries until he was conscious.
She leaned over him. “Please wake up.”
Yipping sounds, nearly drowned out by the wind and rain, drew her attention back down to the camp. She stood up to see better. The other ATV had arrived at her camp. Both dogs had come outside the tent. Betty ran circles around and barked at the man in the helmet as he overturned the boxes of supplies that were outside the tent, some under tarps. Liz, her other border collie, stood off to the side.
As the rain dripped off her face, Catherine couldn’t comprehend what she was witnessing. The other rider was destroying her camp.
She watched in horror as the man pulled a gun from his leather jacket and aimed it toward the barking dogs. Betty retreated into the trees. Liz followed.
Catherine’s breath caught.
When she turned back toward the injured man, he was sitting up.
She took two steps toward him placing her hands on her hips. “What is going on here?”
The man shook his head. Clearly not coherent yet.
“Why is that man tearing my camp to pieces and terrorizing my dogs? What are you two up to?”
The man tore his helmet off as rain pelted his sandy-colored hair. “Give me a second.”
She fell to the ground and grabbed the collar of his leather jacket. “Did Dave Reed send you?”
The man shook his head. His forehead crinkled, and he looked at her with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Did he think he could get away with such a lie? These men were clearly here to destroy her food supply and shelter and maybe hurt her. How dare they try to harm her dogs.
The man with the blue eyes grabbed her arm. “I came here for you. Whatever you’ve done, it’s going to be okay.”
His coat was half unzipped, revealing the handle of a gun in a holster. Fear enveloped her as she rose and took a step back shaking her head. “I doubt that.”
She retreated toward the ATV with a backward glance at the man as he stumbled to his feet. She ran faster, reaching the four-wheeler and swinging her leg over.
The man was conscious. Her obligation to him as a fellow human being ended there. The gun suggested nefarious intent. She could not risk her own safety, and right now, her primary concern was the welfare of her dogs and getting away.
Catherine could hear the man shouting behind her as she rumbled down the hill. When she was far enough from the man who had wrecked his ATV, she killed the engine and lights on her ATV and hid in the brush. She had only a partial view of the activity below, but the other man who still wore his helmet had cut open her tent and upended everything inside.
The man was the same muscular build as Dave. Did he think destroying her camp and pouring out her supplies would lead to her demise?
Her thoughts turned to the dogs. They’d been smart enough to retreat into the trees. Hopefully, they weren’t so frightened that they’d run far away. Betty was seasoned at surviving in the wilderness, but Liz was not.
Liz had been her twin sister Victoria’s dog. Though she had not been close to her sister for years, they had an agreement that if something happened to one of them, the other would make sure the dog was taken care of.
When she’d been informed of Victoria’s disappearance, she’d made arrangements for Liz to be shipped to her. Communication between the sisters had broken down years ago. Their parents’ divorce when they were both thirteen meant Victoria had chosen to live in the city with her mother and Catherine had chosen to stay on the farm with her father, where they raised and trained border collies. The love of the dogs was probably the only thing the siblings still had in common.
Though she wasn’t sure why her sister had disappeared, she didn’t believe for a moment that Victoria was dead. Nothing broke the bond between two people who had been in the same womb for nine months. Catherine knew her sister was still alive...somewhere.
The man ransacking her camp stopped and turned, looking up the hill. Her breath hitched as she took a step back. She’d been spotted.
The helmeted man stalked toward his ATV and got on. He was heading right toward her.
When she looked over her shoulder, the other man, the one with the blue eyes, was coming toward her as well, though not very fast as he walked with a limp and hadn’t made it to his ATV yet.
Catherine hurried toward her ATV and wasted no time hopping on and revving the engine. She had to escape—and fast.
TWO
Ryan knew he couldn’t catch Victoria on foot. He must have twisted his ankle in the crash. Favoring his right foot, he burst into a sort of hopping run.
He wasn’t sure what to make of Victoria’s reaction to him. If she had stolen the diamonds, she probably knew he would have to take her in. He couldn’t decipher the look on her face when she saw him. Guilt maybe. She must know that she had some leverage as an informant. Then again, he could interpret her expression as a more neutral response, like she was pretending not to know him. Victoria’s acting skills were one of the things that had made her a great informant.
She had seemed genuine about wanting to stop the smuggling of precious gems from country to country, but maybe it was just too tempting to start playing for the other side. There was a turf war going on between mafia-backed smugglers and an unknown culprit that Victoria was trying to track down. The helmeted rider was probably working for one of the two forces at play.
Temptation and danger had been all around Victoria. She was a buyer for a high-end jewelry store. Her job took her all over the world and put her in contact with many people connected to the gem trade. She’d agreed to be an informant because to her way of thinking, the illegal trade in diamonds and other gems drove prices down for honest dealers. Ryan had acted as her handler but also had worked undercover as a store clerk and buyer trying to get to know the players in the jewelry-selling circles.
