Chapter Fourteen
His blood had reached a boiling point.
Harvey hauled himself up the last few step-like rocks leading up in the natural bowl carved out from the surrounding cliffs and up into the upper emerald pool.
Ranger Simpson—Zion’s head law enforcement division ranger—was already there with another Harvey didn’t recognize.
The rangers both faced him, their expressions hard as stone.
He couldn’t remember closing the distance between them.
All he could focus on was the sheer panic eclipsing everything else in his body.
He’d spent years under duress at home and in the military, and yet every single wall he’d built to keep himself in check crumbled in an instant.
Harvey fisted both hands into Simpson’s uniform, knocking the six-foot giant back. “Where is she?”
The words were more animalistic growl than human. The demon he’d been working on exorcising for as long as he could remember licked beneath the surface of his skin. He was too hot, too raw. Out of control.
The second ranger—he didn’t get a look at her name tag—blew a bright pink bubble from the safety of a couple feet away.
It popped, triggering his nerves to flinch.
Her bleached blond hair threatened to get tangled in the gum she openly chewed.
Other details bled into focus. A hot-pink kerchief around her throat, a matching manicure and the fact she’d switched out her standard issue laces for bright fuchsia.
“You might not want to do that. Murray is capable of ripping each one of your fingers off and sticking them up your nose.”
What? Harvey barely had the sense to think past the red haze turning him feral.
Strong hands gripped his wrists and clamped down.
Steely eyes pinned Harvey in place, but the threat of danger was nothing compared to the tumult swirling in his gut.
“I know what you’re feeling right now, Ranger Knight.
I’ve lived through that crushing feeling of guilt and concern, to the point you have trouble taking your next breath, but if you don’t remove your hands, I will do exactly what Ranger Jordan has suggested.
Or something as equally creative. She’s very good at coming up with death threats, and I’ve always wanted to test one. ”
“It’s true. I’m trying to come up with the perfect one for him to try.
Right now, we’re thinking about touching someone’s face with a shovel.
Really hard.” Too-white teeth flashed across the woman’s face, and Harvey realized this was the one other rangers had called Ranger Barbie for so long.
He hadn’t worked with her directly before she’d joined the law enforcement rangers, and he sure as hell wasn’t interested in working with this too bright, chaotic rainbow of a woman.
“You want to try one? It might help with all that—” she motioned to his face “—tension.”
“I don’t care.” It took everything in Harvey to release his hold.
Violence had been ingrained in his blood, in every muscle he owned from a young age.
Beaten into him since his first memory. It was how things got done, and he’d so easily slipped back into that place he wanted to forget.
Into the man he didn’t want to be. But he would.
He’d give up everything for Drennan and the baby, to give them a chance to be free of him.
Oxygen seemed to thin with every controlled inhale, but it wasn’t enough. “Where is Dr. Hawes?”
“Not here.” Ranger Simpson smoothed down the collar of his shirt, erasing the lines Harvey had pressed into it with his grip.
“We’ve got her gear left unattended. We found a duffel bag and a net in the pool, but no medical examiner.
Ranger Jordan just returned from searching the lower pools as well as the trail that continues up and around the waterfall. ”
“And?” His entire body hung on an answer he wasn’t sure he wanted.
“No sign of her.” Ranger Jordan had lost that too bright quality with the change in subject, becoming the law enforcement ranger this park—that he—needed, though her high pigtails sat in opposition to every word out of her mouth.
“But I made out a set of footprints. Large. Most likely male. One set heading toward the pool, a deeper, identical set going back the way they came from through those trees.”
She nodded to the expanse of wilderness behind him. There was no official trail there. Nothing but miles and miles of open terrain. “We believe the treads are deeper due to the fact he was carrying something heavier than when he entered this area.”
“Drennan.” Harvey closed his eyes against the very real possibility of losing something he’d never even had. Something he’d fought against from the very beginning. “Who the hell would want to take an assistant medical examiner?”
Ranger Simpson shook his head, crossing his arms over a too large chest more than capable of following through on whatever death threat Ranger Jordan came up with.
“The trail has been closed off since you discovered the body yesterday. Whoever it was didn’t stick to the public access.
They had to have come from backcountry, which means—”
“They were waiting for her.” Harvey set sights on the gear Drennan had left behind. The duffel bag, the net. Dr. Yarrow had sent her to collect any evidence that might supply them with the victim’s name. “Or someone from the medical examiner’s office.”
“I have rangers gearing up to search the wilderness, but it’ll take time.
” Simpson shifted on his feet, obviously as eager to get out there as fast as possible, but there were procedures.
Protocols and clearances they had to follow.
Not to mention, they had no idea what kind of threat they might be facing out there. “Time your ME might not have.”
The law enforcement ranger was right. Every second Drennan was out there—alone, potentially injured or worse—was another opportunity her abductor had to ensure Harvey never saw her again. And that…wouldn’t happen.
“She’s not mine.” He’d told Drennan the same thing, hadn’t he?
That nothing could happen between them. It was too dangerous.
A future full of nothing but misery and pain, and yet the thought of watching her move on with someone else…
Because she would. She’d meet someone new, someone who didn’t come with a whole bunch of red flags enough to stock a carnival.
Who wanted to be with her and would have no problem raising another man’s child.
Because she was worth it. Because her smile—the genuine one she didn’t show often—didn’t just light up a whole damn room.
It lit up pieces of himself Harvey was convinced had been brutalized out of him a long time ago.
Who in their right mind wouldn’t fall for a woman like that?
In the few short hours Drennan had spent with him, she’d believed him to be a better man than he was.
Told him he wasn’t his father without knowing a single thing about him.
Trusted him to take care of her, to take care of their baby, to reveal parts of herself he doubted many knew about.
“Whatever you say, Knight.” Simpson eyed him as though he’d backed a feral animal into a corner and was worried for the coming fight.
And, hell. Harvey was feeling more than a little feral at the moment, but he wouldn’t let it get to him.
Not while she was out here alone. How? How was it possible she’d become central and indispensable in his life in such a short amount of time?
He wasn’t a backcountry ranger, but his military training supplied enough experience to prepare him for anything.
Including the worst-case scenario. “I need a survival pack. Any one of yours will do.”
He caught the trepidation in Ranger Simpson’s expression. Right before the ranger motioned for his companion to give them some space. “As the head of the law enforcement division, I’m supposed to say it would be better if you waited for the search team.”
“I’m not waiting.” He didn’t give a damn about rank or orders or anything else that might keep him from bringing Drennan and the baby back safely.
“You didn’t let me finish.” Simpson stepped in close, lowering his voice.
“I said I’m supposed to say it would be better for you to wait for Search and Rescue and follow protocol.
Except I know that look and the thoughts racing through your head.
Knowing she’s out there, that she needs you, is going to drive you into near madness.
Use it. You’re the best chance she has of surviving whatever that bastard has planned for her. ”
Harvey didn’t know what to say to that. What to think. The division head of the law enforcement rangers was voluntarily overriding protocols put into place to keep rangers and hikers alike alive. Why? “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
Ranger Simpson glanced over Harvey’s head, as though expecting a whole new threat to come crashing through the trees on the other side of the trail. The unfocused blur in his gaze disappeared so fast Harvey wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it. “I am.”
Ranger Jordan returned, two black backpacks in hand.
She tossed one to him, which he caught against his chest, keeping the second pack for herself.
“Try to keep up. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it in.
” She cut her attention to her supervisor.
“You ready for the hell that’s coming your way? ”
“I’ll cover for you.” Simpson uncrossed his arms, facing off with Ranger Jordan, not in the least bit intimidating despite his size.
Well, at least not toward the woman less than half his size.
“Branch won’t know you’re going off the reservation, but don’t make me explain how you ended up dead.
None of us will survive that. Check in every hour with your location.
I’ll hold him off as long as possible. Channel four. ”
She gave an exaggerated salute and headed for the trees. “Good luck.”
Harvey extended one hand in a peace offering meant to make up for the aggression still rolling through him. “Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.” Simpson took his hand. “I wouldn’t wish that madness on my worst enemy, but I wasn’t lying when I said it will give you the best chance of recovering Dr. Hawes. She’s obviously important to you. Use it.”
Harvey didn’t feel like explaining to the law enforcement ranger he’d spent the better part of his life doing just that.
Using the poison in his blood to survive, to fight back and to carry out his orders had made it easier to call on it each time.
Until he wasn’t sure he’d ever be rid of that demon he hated so much.
And with Drennan… Damn it, Simpson was right.
She’d become important, but Harvey never wanted her or the baby to see that part of him. Ever.
He followed in Ranger Jordan’s footsteps, nearly in a jog as they met up with the treads she’d identified earlier.
Tree branches scratched at his face, neck and forearms as they ran deeper into the backcountry.
No landscaped trails. No packed dirt to make the hike easier.
Out here, every tree, rock and stream could kill them without warning.
The sky remained a crystal clear blue and didn’t promise heavy rains that would wash the evidence of Drennan’s abduction out.
They’d be able to use the tracks to hunt down the man who’d taken Drennan as far as they could. Maybe straight to her.
His blood hummed as they picked up the trail. He clung to the pack’s straps to keep it from bouncing, increasing his speed despite nature’s determination to slow him down. Drennan had been taken, but he’d get her back. Her and the baby. There was no other option.
His father had taken away everything. Choice, freedom, his sense of worthiness, hope. But the son of a bitch couldn’t take the one bright light in his life or the memories that came with it. He couldn’t take Drennan.
All Harvey had to do—when, not if, they brought her back—was reach out and claim her for himself. Claim their future. If he was brave enough to take the risk.