Dangerous Mountain Mission, page 35
And acknowledging all those feelings she’d tried so hard to avoid. Grief for Sam. Anger at God. Love for...
Ashley tried to stop his name from forming in her mind, but she was too weary to fight anymore. The words rolled around in her head and in her heart, unwilling to be contained any longer. She was in love with Logan. It didn’t make sense—she’d known him such a short time, and she’d never see him again—but there it was. She loved him.
There were so many things she would have liked to tell him.
* * *
The trail of footprints was fading away as the wind shifted. Logan jogged after them, ignoring the sweat beading on his forehead. Ignoring the way his heart hammered in his chest each time he passed another plant to look behind.
Exactly as it had been when he’d searched for Sam, only that time it had been too late. Vultures had circled overhead then; their dark shapes blotted the blue sky now. He could hardly breathe as he imagined what might be beneath them. He wasn’t sure he could handle it if he found her like that. Especially not when there was so much bound up in his heart he hadn’t told her. Ashley needed to know how he felt about her... How much he cared about her—no, loved her—despite all his efforts not to.
Please, Lord, please...
He scarcely noticed the pack rubbing against his back, holding two precious containers of water. Will was coming right behind him with the radio. They would call her location in to the chopper as soon as they found her. Airlift her to safety.
How much farther could she have gone? He and Will had followed the pickup’s tracks and Ashley’s prints as far into the desert as they could. When they’d had to stop driving, Logan had tumbled out to continue on foot, Will only a few minutes behind as he called in their location and gathered more supplies from the NPS truck.
The thought squirmed in the back of his mind that maybe he had missed her. Walked right on past. Ashley was strong, but nobody was strong enough to walk for miles in this heat without water. At some point, she’d have to stop, even without shade.
He called her name again, as he had done every minute for the past fifteen. Always willing her to answer, always hearing nothing but the wind and the sound of his own footsteps.
This time, though, he heard something else. He stopped, heart lodging in his throat, listening.
“Ashley!” he called again.
Rustling nearby.
He spun toward a waist-high prickly pear cactus a short distance to his left. And then he saw it. A pile of brown hair, dark against the sand. Ashley. He covered the space between them in a heartbeat, throwing himself to his knees beside her, his breath—no, his life—on hold as he slipped his fingers against her burning red throat to feel for a pulse.
Alive. Praise God, she was alive. He wasn’t too late.
NINETEEN
Somewhere through her haze of utter exhaustion, Ashley felt a hand slide under the back of her head. Cold wetness ran along her bloody, chapped lips and down her chin. A little trickle made it into her mouth—sweet like sugar—and she opened her mouth wider, desperate for more.
“Easy. Just a little at a time or you’ll throw it back up.”
Logan. She pried her eyelids open, taking in his tanned face, defined jaw and the way his hair ruffled in the wind. Had to be her imagination. Maybe she was delirious, sucking down sand. But the strong arm under her—she didn’t think her mind could come up with that, too.
“Chopper’ll be here soon. Hang in there for me, okay?” The tender, aching tone to his words tore at Ashley’s heart. He glanced away. “Over here, Will! I found her!”
Wait. Fear pulsed through her veins. No, not Will. Logan didn’t know. She wanted to shake her head but her muscles wouldn’t work.
Logan smiled. “It’s okay. We’ve got you now. You’re safe.”
Why didn’t he understand? She moved her lips but her desiccated brick of a tongue refused to move. Logan gave her more of the precious water, stroking her hair with his hand, not knowing whom he had called over.
She groaned, struggling to lift her head. May as well be a cannonball attached to her shoulders.
“Easy.” Logan glanced over his shoulder.
“Will...” she rasped.
“He’ll be here in a minute.” His brows drew together. “What is it?”
Too late. A man stepped into view behind Logan, his dark hair and tanned face immediately recognizable in the blinding sunlight. One hand dangled at his side, the other was behind his back.
“Did you find her?” Will’s voice was choked with anxiety. “Is she alive?”
“Yeah.” Logan grinned. “She’ll make it, but we need to call in a medevac now.”
“I was afraid of that.” Will’s voice was cold and sterile as he pulled his hand out from behind his back, sunlight flashing off his gun. “Hands up, Logan.”
No. Ashley mouthed the word, but no sound came out. Will’s eyes had a haunted, half-wild look that removed any doubt he would fire. But the small mouthfuls of water Logan had given her? They were working into her body, replenishing the shriveling cells.
She couldn’t speak; she certainly couldn’t stand. But maybe, just maybe, she could reach Logan’s gun where it rested in the holster at his waist.
The color drained from Logan’s face. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent. Slowly he raised his hands, never taking his eyes off her.
She glanced at his gun, so rapidly she wasn’t sure Logan would catch the flash of her eyes. He froze, staring at her for a fraction of a second, almost as if he was deliberating whether it was worth the risk. He nodded, his mouth forming a grim line.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Logan asked Will, trying to buy them time as the strength trickled back into her limbs. “You were the one helping Jimenez smuggle drugs in and gold out.”
“Yes.” Will frowned. “And no one would have figured it out, if she had gone back home before she remembered everything.”
“Remembered what, Will?” Logan’s voice was calm, almost soothing—meant to keep him talking.
Ashley slid her hand across her stomach, toward the gun.
“I...” Will’s voice cracked and he sucked in a ragged breath. When he spoke again, the words came out emotionless once more. “She showed up at an exchange—surprised us. It was dark and I didn’t recognize her. Not until I’d already knocked her out. Then... I panicked.”
“You threw her in the river?” Logan’s tone was still calm but strained with concealed rage beneath the words.
“When she...when she showed up at work as a new ranger, I thought it was over. But she didn’t recognize me, didn’t remember.” Will’s voice trembled as the emotion leaked back into it. “But my uncle wanted—”
“Your uncle?” Logan interrupted, his eyes widening with the realization. “Jimenez?”
Will nodded miserably. “My mother’s brother. She tried to hide us from him, but after my father died... I had to work for him, to protect my family. He wanted me to watch Ashley and to get back that stupid map. Sam was my friend. You have to believe me.” His eyes begged them to understand. “When she remembered what happened, I had to turn her over. And now that she’s still not dead... I have no choice.”
“You do have a choice.” Logan’s voice was both authoritative and soothing. “You can still make the right decision. We can all walk out of here together.”
Will shook his head, his face contorted into a grimace. “I can’t spend my life in jail. No one else will take care of my mother and my sister.”
“What do you think will happen if you return without us?”
His eyes grew hard. “I think they’ll believe me. Before we could find Ashley, one of Jimenez’s men caught us. You were shot and left for dead. I barely escaped. Of course, I’ll have to drag your body a fair way from here, but I’m sure I can manage.”
“Will—”
“Enough talking!” Will snapped, waving the gun at Logan. “Toss me your gun and back away from her. There’s no reason for her to see this.”
Will hadn’t even looked at her—as if he didn’t dare risk eye contact with the woman he kept trying to kill.
Ashley’s arm dropped down against the hot sand, her hand mere inches from Logan’s gun.
“Let me say goodbye,” Logan said thickly. He leaned forward over Ashley, pressing a kiss against her forehead, and closing the gap enough that her fingers brushed the cool metal of his gun.
“Back away!” Will barked. “Now.”
Logan raised his hands, flinching at the pain in his still healing shoulder, and pulled away from Ashley. His eyes locked onto hers—one last, lingering look in case everything went terribly wrong. She’d only get one chance, because as soon as Will saw the gun, he’d shoot.
Her fingers latched onto the grip, pulling the gun out of Logan’s holster at the same time he moved out of her line of sight. She didn’t hesitate.
The gun fired, its near deafening crack followed by a shot from Will’s gun. The recoil was more than Ashley’s weak arm could handle and she dropped the weapon onto the hot sand, struggling to keep her head up to see what had happened.
Will was down. Her heart broke for him, but at the same time...she praised God that he was down.
But the second shot? Will’s shot...?
“Logan?” she rasped, forcing her mouth to form his name. He was on the ground, a few feet away, and her throat constricted as she scanned the sand for blood. Not now, not after all of this. She couldn’t lose him on a last, cheap shot. “Logan?”
But then he moved and the air rushed back into Ashley’s lungs as he pushed up onto his hands and knees. The heavy weight in her ribs released as he crawled over to her and her chest heaved even though no tears could come.
“Shh.” He cradled her head in his lap. “I’m here. His shot missed. You did it.” His green eyes were full of emotion. So many things they’d left unsaid.
“Will?” she asked weakly.
“I’ll check.” Logan’s voice was grim, his face clouded with sorrow. “And I’ll call in our location on the radio. Stay with me, okay?”
She knew what he meant—here and now, because she was so weak—but her heart blurted out the answer.
“Always.”
TWENTY
The whir of the helicopter rotors was the sweetest sound Logan had ever heard. He sat with his hands pressed against the bullet wound in Will’s side, watching as the chopper set down a short distance away. It had been the longest minutes of his life, sitting ten feet away from Ashley as he tried to keep Will alive. He had kept talking to her, kept reassuring her, even though she was so weak she could barely move. If she had stopped responding... He was glad he hadn’t had to make that choice to let Will bleed out.
“Thank You, Lord. They’re here,” he said almost as much to himself as to Ashley. She waved a limp hand.
He held that hand the entire way to the hospital in Alpine as the EMT hooked up an IV to her other arm and her eyes drifted shut from exhaustion. She looked peaceful now, and safe, and his heart overflowed with gratitude to God for letting him find her in time. And for protecting them from Will.
Will. The betrayal stung, especially when he remembered how close Sam and Will had been. How much had Will known about Sam’s death? Had he been involved? There would be time to ask him those questions later. He, too, was hooked up to an IV, his body stable but unconscious for now. He would have a long road to recovery, only to awaken to a lifetime of consequences.
* * *
Ed Chambers met Logan in the ER waiting room a few hours later. “How is she?” He took a seat beside Logan.
“She’ll be fine. The doc wants to keep her overnight to make sure.”
“And Will?”
“In intensive care, but alive.” He’d already told Ed everything that happened, and even though Jimenez wouldn’t talk, they’d gotten one of his men to admit that Jimenez was Will Sykes’s uncle.
Ed nodded. “Good work out there. I’m glad to see you all in one piece.”
“She saved my life, you know.” Logan ran a hand through his hair. The horror of that moment, when Will had pulled the gun on them, might stick with him for the rest of his life. He’d been so worried about Ashley, and so relieved at finding her, he’d barely even paid attention to Will.
“I know. You’ve told me a few times.” Ed’s eyes sparkled. “I guess we’ll need to hire a couple of new law-enforcement rangers now. Especially after I retire in a few months and you take over as chief ranger.”
Logan raised his brows. He knew Ed would have to retire eventually, but—“A few months? You never said anything about it before.”
“I’ve been toying with the idea for a while. It’s time.”
“Barclay would never pick me as your replacement.” Especially if he knew Logan had suspected him of working with Jimenez. But after Ed finished laughing at his suspicions, he’d vouched for the superintendent. Apparently the call he’d overheard had had something to do with Barclay’s daughter in college.
“He will now.” Ed laughed quietly. “I think you’ve proved yourself.”
* * *
Ashley awoke to bright sunlight. She had to check the clock before she had any clue how long she’d slept. The entire night, apparently.
Beside her, Logan sat awkwardly crammed into a chair. His eyes were shut and his head lolled to one side. As she shifted in the bed, he stirred.
“Hey,” he said groggily, rubbing his thumb and forefinger over his eyes. He straightened and looked her over from head to toe and back, his eyes pausing on the IV set in her left arm. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a rehydrated raisin.” She grinned.
“At least you’ve gotten your sense of humor back.” He grew silent, studying his hands. “We contacted the FBI. I spoke with your boss, let him know what happened and that you were okay.”
“Thank you,” she said, suddenly acutely aware of the space between them. That gap she’d almost forgotten, filled by the wedge that was Big Bend National Park and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So strange they could both be in law enforcement yet still be worlds apart.
Logan reached out to her, enclosing her hand in his own. The warmth radiated through her whole body.
“How long have you been here?” she asked, torn between letting his hand go now to get it over with or clinging on for dear life.
“Since we brought you in.” He grinned sheepishly. “There were probably other things I should’ve been doing, but... I had to make sure you were okay.”
She squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Logan, for everything.”
“Of course. I wish I could have done the same for Sam. At least now I know it wasn’t his fault, or mine. It was Jimenez. And he’ll have a lifetime in jail to answer for his crimes.”
She almost didn’t want to ask. “And Will?”
Logan stared down at their hands, intertwining his fingers with hers. “Alive and recovering. I don’t think he can avoid jail time, but at least we’ve learned a little bit more about why he did it. One of Rico Jimenez’s men told us everything he knew. Jimenez has been threatening Elena Sykes and her family for years, ever since he found them in El Paso. Apparently after Will’s father refused to join the cartel, he died under mysterious circumstances. Then Jimenez pressured Will into joining by threatening his sister.”
“That’s awful.” Despite everything, Ashley shivered. No one deserved to be put in that position. If only he had chosen a different path—asked for help.
“That was about three years ago,” Logan went on, “right before Will applied for the job here, and right after Jimenez finally got his hands on that old map to the mine.”
“I take it Will verified its existence once he worked here?”
“I’d assume so. Jimenez has been running drugs through the park on the side, but his main goal was to remove the gold. He chose summer because he knew there’d be less people out in the park to discover him.”
It ought to have been awkward, sitting there, fingers interlaced, discussing a case, but Ashley couldn’t imagine anything more natural. They had to talk about their relationship. She had to pull away. But not yet. “Where were they taking the gold?”
“Just as we thought—down past Mariscal Mountain and across the river.” Logan paused, studying her. “What happened yesterday morning, Ashley? How did they get into your house?”
“Will came to my door and I let him in. Just to talk. And then it all came back to me, how I’d seen the drug deal and he’d thrown me into the river...” She couldn’t help trembling at the memory. How she’d nearly panicked when she realized the truth. Taking a deep breath, she recounted everything for Logan. “And when I woke up, they’d taken me to Jimenez.”
“Of course.” Understanding dawned in his eyes. “But Will wasn’t the one who drove off with you—that would have been too risky. So they sent another man to meet Will at your back window, and that’s why there was no sign of forced entry. Or a struggle.”
“No.” She frowned. “I never had a chance.”
“Smart on their part—” his lips tilted “—because I’ve seen what you can do.”
Yes, he had. She smiled, too, despite it all. Then she wiggled her bandaged feet. “I never had a chance to put on my boots.”
He raised an eyebrow, giving her a mock frown. “I noticed. I was thinking about firing you. Obviously you haven’t been paying attention during training.”
She laughed, but right behind the joy came a pang of grief. They’d talked about the case. There would be paperwork, suspects to question, reports to file. Maybe a trial. But they would still end up in two different cities, with two separate lives, and they hadn’t had that conversation yet. Probably because thinking about it made her heart feel like it was being trampled by a bison.
