Chapter 3
REED
The flight and subsequent hike to Payton’s last known location gave me plenty of time to pull my shit together and lock in on the honed concentration I needed to track Payton down.
Liam, the last guy to see Payton, directed us toward a narrow strip of a path that wound around the trees. “It’s just an old wildlife trail. Payton wanted to follow it to the river.”
He gulped and swiped a hand over his face.
The poor guy had to be pissing his pants knowing he was the key suspect in Payton’s disappearance.
Yet, he held it together, even managing to stir up some tears for the missing woman. “I told her to come back in ten minutes.”
A ragged breath shook his shoulders. Either the guy was a manipulative liar, or he cared about Payton.
I narrowed my eyes at the thought.
Did they have a relationship?
What if Payton hadn’t been running away from her father, but from this asshole?
Tarron backhanded my shoulder and shook his head.
“What?” I rubbed the offended shoulder, not because the hit hurt but to give me something to do besides grab Liam by the collar and shake him until he admitted the truth.
“Not now.”
I headed toward the path. “Let’s check it out.”
Maverick might be our designated leader, but I was the tracker of our group, and when it came to following clues, it was my turn to take the lead.
“Do you need me to stick around?” Liam rocked on his heels, something that resembled concern pulling his eyebrows down.
“Nah, man.” I waved him off. “Thanks for your help.” We hadn’t intended to talk to him at all, but he’d seen us pull up and rushed out to offer a guided walkthrough of Payton’s time with him.
Why did I want to punch the guy?
He was nothing to me, and neither was Payton.
Somehow, in the time it took for us to pack up and make our way here, this mission had become personal to me.
I led the way down the path and stopped at the edge of the woods.
Footprints marred the muddy bank, even more trekking up and down from the spot where we stood.
I bent forward to study the smaller tracks.
“These are Payton’s. I recognize them from the path.
They’re lighter here after she took off her backpack.
” I straightened and checked the angle. “She stood there for a while, looking that way.” I pointed across the river. “After that, things went crazy.”
Maverick and Tarron leaned in to hear me over the rushing water. Maverick motioned at his ears. “She wouldn’t have heard anyone approach.”
“And no one would have heard her scream.” A muscle in Reed’s jaw ticced, his agitation showing in the steady motion.
I moved to the right for a better look. “Her footprints disappear. One of them must have carried her out.”
One set of tracks deepened with the extra weight, and I followed it to a bend in the river. “They were ready.”
The lines were faint after a fresh snowfall, but the guy’s footprints mingled with three others. “I bet they crossed the river using those rocks. They’ll go up.”
“What makes you say that?” Reed asked. “If you’re guessing, we need to move things along to a guarantee. We don’t have much time.”
“Suck an olive, Reed.” I poked his cheek, driving his face toward the thick forest across from us. “There are tracks on the other side. They tried to hide them, probably used pine boughs to sweep them away.” I snorted. “Amateurs.”
“Better hope they are, or we’re in a shitload of trouble.” Maverick jumped onto the nearest rock and scanned our surroundings. “We can take snowmobiles up a good ways, then finish off on foot. Don’t want to alert them to our approach.”
If they were as amateurish about their location as they were with their footprints, this would be a dream retrieval.
Then again, most kidnappers had never faced a tracker as good as me before.
Less than an hour later, the three of us sped up the mountain on our snowmobiles. I weaved in and out of the trees, keeping an eye on the tracks.
They’d gotten on their own snowmobiles about a mile from the river, and even though they tried to hide those tracks too, they stood out as stark as blood on snow to me.
If there was blood, it for damned sure wouldn’t be Payton’s. Not if we could help it.
The tracks shifted, and I angled the handlebars to follow.
We topped a small hill, and I stopped to consider our possible next steps.
The woods were thicker here, the overlapping branches keeping most of the snow in their heavy limbs.
They creaked and groaned, waiting for the perfect moment to dump a payload of snow on our heads.
Maverick and Reed stopped on either side of me, the two of them waiting for my assessment.
“Is it me, or does it look like there might be an old structure over there?”
I pointed in the general direction where a slope looked different from the rest of our surroundings.
Reed squinted. “Hard to say.”
“We should leave the snowmobiles. Sound carries so far out here, we risk them hearing us. No one else would be out here, and if they’re any good at their jobs, they’ll be listening for anything out of the ordinary.
” Maverick swung off his snowmobile and pocketed the keys. “We’ll check that area first.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for more tracks.” The ones we’d been following continued in a straight line toward the area that concerned me, but there was a good chance there were more, or they’d changed direction.
The three of us slipped into stealth mode with the kind of ease that reminded me of all we’d lost.
We hadn’t lost each other, and that was all that mattered.
My low crouch forced me to walk in a sweeping motion that we’d all learned with the Rangers.
Upper body still, weapon at the ready.
Our feet and legs took all the pressure of movement.
I drove myself forward, moving among the trees with my gaze set on the unobtrusive anomaly that had triggered my suspicious brain.
Maverick remained on my left, Reed on my right.
They stayed half a step behind me, providing cover while allowing me to scan for tracks.
There were no deviations, and the tight feeling in my chest expanded.
A voice carried on the breeze, and we all froze. “I don’t give a flying fuck about your asshole. You’ll do the job or I’ll throw you off a fucking mountain and no one will find your body.”
The disembodied voice had a mean edge to it, one that implied the threat should be heeded.
I cocked my head toward the sound and dropped into my belly.
Slithering through the snow sucked, but it gave us an advantage as we made our way up another hill and paused.
“Shit.” Maverick hissed the curse and fisted his hands in the snow. “Fucking mercenaries.”
I examined the sloped hill and the men standing in front of the single door tucked into a rocky hillside.
They’d walked back and forth in front of the door long enough to pack the snow into dirty lines that crisscrossed the area.
“Looks like an old fort.” Reed put a pair of binoculars to his eyes and panned left to right.
“I see four guys in the back. Might be another door back there. Five guys in the front. All heavily armed. Can’t tell much about the inside of the structure, but it’s built into the rock. Could be a hundred rooms inside.”
“If it’s an old fort, it should follow the typical layout, but we can’t risk Payton’s life on a guess. We need to get inside, quickly and quietly.”
I took my time working through possibilities while cupping my binoculars around my eyes.
The men we were up against wore weapons like a porcupine did quills.
Every one of them held an assault rifle, wore two pistols on their hips, and probably had more weapons hiding in their clothes.
“We have one thing going for us.” Maverick tapped my shoulder. “We’re all dressed similarly.”
I grunted, indicating I’d noticed that too.
The men we were stalking had tried to blend into their surroundings with white camo that somewhat matched the trees and shrubbery.
Most had balaclavas over their mouths and noses to stave off the arctic air.
“Any chance they don’t know everyone on their crew?” Reed lowered his binoculars. “We could walk in like we belong.”
“Too risky. Can’t go in guns blazing, either.” Maverick pulled his balaclava down and scratched his cheek. “If they discover we’re not part of the crew, or if we alert them too early, they could kill Payton.”
My stomach clenched so hard I nearly lost my lunch.
I breathed through the sudden pain and put my binoculars away.
The door opened, and two men pushed a third person out between them.
“Listen, I’m not who you think I am.” Payton’s voice rose clear and strong.
She threw her head back, sending her blonde hair flying. Sunlight caught on her face and played across her skin.
“Shut up.” The man who’d threatened his comrade stalked forward. “I’ve had enough of your bleating. Keep your mouth shut or I’ll find something for it to do.”
The threat hung in the air, and I rose into a half crouch, every single cell in my body ready to beat the man to death with his own cock.
Reed yanked me down hard enough to slam the breath out of my lungs. “He’s trying to scare her. He wouldn’t dare damage her like that.”
“You don’t know that.”
Men had done worse for no reason whatsoever.
Payton reared her head back. “Try it and I’ll make sure you never walk again.”
Even from a distance, her beauty and sheer bravery struck me right in the heart.
She had to be terrified, but she never let it show.
“We’re getting her out of there. Right fucking now.” My patience ended. “Figure it out, Maverick.”
“Working on it.” He sounded as angry as I felt, and when I looked over at him, he wore an expression so full of death and mayhem that I patted his shoulder.
“We’re coming, Payton. Hold on a little longer.” Reed scooted backward down the hill, sliding from sight as Maverick and I kept watch on the fort.
It wasn’t every day we rescued a beautiful woman from the clutches of mercenaries.
Hell, it wasn’t every day we dealt with women or mercenaries.
The two together set my blood to pumping, the thrill of the challenge butting against my need to keep Payton safe.
She was bold and fearless despite her situation.
The two men led her to a small outbuilding, opened the door, and pushed her inside.
Whatever they told her was spoken too softly for us to hear.
“I didn’t see anyone in there, did you?” I asked Maverick.
He shook his head. “Too dark in there to be sure. Could be some kind of outhouse. Not all these old forts had indoor bathrooms.”
Right. Running water wasn’t always available at these temperatures.
Five minutes ticked past, my heart racing in double time until the door opened and Payton reappeared.
She looked the same, her shoulders set in a rigid posture that tightened the zip ties around her wrists.
The same two men led her back to the main building, and they all slid into the darkness.
“Check out the top.” Maverick ducked so low his chin brushed the snow. “Might be a way in.”
I leaned in the direction he indicated. High above the door, a rounded tower jutted out of the rock.
A single square opening gaped like a missing tooth. I nodded, relief flooding my veins. “Probably a drop straight down into the building. Don’t see any guards up there.” I rolled onto my back and slid down the hill. “Gear up, Reed. We need the ropes to rappel in.”