Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Caleb spotted the man moving between trees, getting snagged on bushes. That one potshot had been designed to take out one of them. You missed.
But he had heard Tessa go over the edge, so maybe the guy hadn’t.
Caleb lined the guy up in his sights and squeezed the trigger. He saw the guy spin and fall. Hopefully he had repaid the favor.
He turned and tried to spot Tessa but couldn’t see her in the overgrowth that covered the cliffside. Not quite vertical, it was still seriously steep.
He grabbed a hold of the first tree trunk and picked his way down. Moving as fast as he could without losing his footing.
Careful not to make himself a victim of this day as well as Tessa or her father.
Caleb moved from tree trunk to tree trunk, bracing his weight each time so that he didn’t fall down the hill.
His thoughts full of the sound of her scream.
The feel of her hand in his. The knowledge that if she and her father were in danger, or if one of them was killed, it would be because of his case.
Because for some reason someone had involved them in it.
Caleb would never have done that, and when he found the person who had? They were going to have serious words.
He couldn’t even chase that gunman through the woods because he needed to save an innocent person.
Someone who had been put in danger because of that envelope sent to the preacher with key information about this case.
Information Caleb wouldn’t even have discovered if it wasn’t for what had happened today.
He wanted to call out to her but didn’t dare draw attention to himself if there was another gunman out here on the hill.
He wanted to be grateful for the information in the envelope, because it was his chance to take down Kessler. Meanwhile, he was setting that aside and choosing to go after her.
Since those were the actions of the man he wanted to be, Caleb wasn’t going to be frustrated. Except that she was in danger in the first place.
She seemed to be conflicted about what other people thought of her life. He hadn’t seen much of it but could appreciate the peace and quiet of low-key existence.
That was the kind of life he would have chosen outside of being a federal agent.
And maybe he wanted to choose it for this next chapter.
Helping Pops out at the ranch. Maybe even dating the girl next door.
Still, he also liked doing his job—when things went right and innocent people weren’t caught in the crossfire.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Tessa was part of the change he’d been looking for.
Not being dead on paper and at home recovering, but something more for his future that would put him on a different path.
Caleb had to finish out this case and expose the corruption in the agency first, because right now he needed to protect his future and finish up the past.
He had to balance both. Finish this. End it, taking Kessler down. Walk away clear from the Drug Enforcement Agency so that he could have… Tessa?
Can’t go wrong with a woman like Tess.
That was what Pops had said. Caleb couldn’t even believe he was thinking about it right now. He didn’t even know if she was—
He spotted her, clinging to branch. Looking shaken.
Caleb rushed to her as quick as he could, losing his footing in a couple of spots but not sliding downhill. She had her arms wrapped around a tree, her hair mussed with dirt and pine needles that had pulled the strands from her ponytail. Eyes closed.
Did she even know he was here?
He eased up to her slowly, not wanting to startle her. “Hey,” he crooned. “You took quite a tumble, didn’t you?” He crossed the last of the distance between them and crouched, touching her shoulder. “Did you get shot?”
She opened her eyes, gasped and shook her head.
“That’s good, Tess. That’s really good.”
“It startled me.”
“Me too.” He rubbed his hand across the back of her shoulders. “What do you say we figure out how to get out of here?”
She nodded, easing back on her grip on the tree. She started to slide where she sat, and he put his arm around her.
“I’ve got you.”
“I’m going to walk out of here.” She looked at him, defiance in her eyes. Because she thought he was treating her like she couldn’t?
“Okay, whatever you say.” He purposely made sure that didn’t sound patronizing. She’d been startled and fallen down the hill but still needed to feel like she was capable. Him wanting to protect her didn’t make her any less strong.
She just wasn’t used to the life he lived.
Caleb said, “I shot him, so I don’t think he’s going to be coming after us. But I also don’t think we should go back up that way.”
She looked around. “If we stick to a horizontal path, we should reach a wider trail over there.” She pointed to the east. “But it’s probably three miles away.”
“I can make it if you can.”
She nodded, lifting her chin. “I’m good.” She probably said it as much to try and reassure herself as to do the same for him.
He smiled at her. “I do that as well. Talk myself into things or tell myself it’s going to be okay. I did that a lot when I was laying in that hospital bed with bandages all down my arm wondering if it was ever going to stop hurting.”
He knew he’d said the right thing when she turned those big blue eyes to him, warmth in her expression.
“Are you hurt at all?” He had to know if she was injured, even if the wound wasn’t visible.
“More than my ego?”
“The same thing could have happened to anyone. But I’m just glad I was the one still on the ridge after he fired the first time. If it had been you, he might have had the chance to fire again and kill you.”
She shifted, wincing a little as she got her feet under her. “Are you trying to say that falling might have saved my life?”
“We can discuss it on Pops’ porch later, with a cup of hot chocolate and some blankets.” He would rather have one blanket between the two of them, but that might be a little premature. Adrenaline was running through his veins. The rush of it always made him go too fast.
Tessa was the kind of woman who probably appreciated a guy that took things slow.
Considering that was another item on the list of things the kind of man he wanted to be did, he wasn’t going to argue.
She deserved the best he could do. And when he failed, which was inevitable, she was the kind of woman inclined to forgive.
He walked a little downhill from her, making sure that if she slipped in front of him he would be able to help this time.
They’d both been startled when she fell over the hill.
Taking care of the gunman was the most important thing in that first second.
Now his priority was about taking care of her.
She moved with dexterity, picking her way across the ground with surprising confidence. Maybe not so surprising considering she told him she was a hiker.
Caleb switched to scanning around them so he didn’t get completely distracted by watching her move.
She looked around as well. “I should call Sheriff Cartwright and tell him there are armed men out here in these woods. My father has to be out here somewhere if that man is searching around looking for him.”
Caleb wasn’t sure it was quite so conclusive. “That could have been some kind of scout. The rest of them might have your father.”
“The sheriff needs to know that as well.”
“I’ll keep looking for your father out here as long as I can.”
“That’s why I came with you.” She turned back, holding onto a tree. “Are you getting rid of me because I fell over the cliff?”
“Is there even cell signal out here?” Because if there wasn’t, this was a moot point. “I would like to call Pops and ask him to come and pick you up. Only because you don’t need to keep walking indefinitely if you’re in pain.”
“As long as that’s not the only reason.”
She wanted to feel like she was an equal partner out here? The bottom line was that Tessa didn’t have the training he had. “If I run across more guys with guns intent on killing us, I need to focus on taking them out and not have that focus split because I’m trying to protect you.”
“Pops can take me to the sheriff’s office.”
“I’m still going to ask that you don’t tell them I’m here. The sheriff isn’t going to understand the scope of this case and what I’m trying to do, but if your dad is in danger out here then the sheriff can help find him.”
“Shouldn’t Sheriff Cartwright know all about this guy you’re trying to take down?”
“Nathan Kessler is an international criminal. The sheriff in this county isn’t equipped to take on that fight.”
“He won’t know what he’s going into and you could be putting his life in danger by not telling him.”
Caleb could see she wasn’t going to back down. “More people are put in danger if you tell Sheriff Cartwright the whole truth. I don’t want you to get hurt, or anyone else.”
She lifted her chin. “Then I guess you’d better drop me off and go find my father. Save him from whatever’s going on.”
“And then we have that talk on the porch?”
“I’ll think about it.” She turned around and kept going, dismissing him for the moment.
Caleb didn’t like the scenario any more than she did.
But then, in the ideal world they would be partners, and she’d have the level of training he needed in the person watching his back.
He wasn’t going to begrudge her for not becoming some kind of cop or federal agent. That life wasn’t for everyone.
He would rather not have to do all this by himself. But Tessa wasn’t the one who needed to put her life on the line to solve Caleb’s issue. He didn’t have time to train her.
He got on the phone as soon as they had signal and called Pops.
“Hey there, son. Listen, about leaving you at Tessa’s...”
Caleb interrupted him and explained what’d happened after they found her father’s car. Tessa told him where the walking trail was, a dirt track wide enough for a car. Probably some kind of fire road. He relayed the information to Pops.
“Can you come and pick up Tessa so she doesn’t have to walk around for hours when she just fell?” He tried to make it sound like he was helping her. But the truth was that he just didn’t want her to get hurt because of him. “I need to track these guys down and get her dad back for her.”
She looked at him, a mixture of emotions on her face. He couldn’t quite pinpoint which won out in the end.
Maybe she didn’t know.
Pops said, “Sure thing, son. You need anything from the house?”
“A bulletproof vest. My rifle out of the closet and two extra boxes of ammo. A couple of bottles of water, some protein bars, and my winter coat.” That should do it if he ended up being out here all night.
“Sounds like you’re going to war.”
Caleb said, “I might be. If that’s what it takes to get the preacher back.”
“Need some help?”
“Yeah, I need you to stay with Tessa until I’m back.”
“Good enough. See you soon.” Pops ended the call.
Tessa put her hands on her hips. “I don’t need babysitting.”
Caleb waved her on. “Let’s get moving.”
He knew they weren’t going to agree on what happened next. But if she wanted him to find her father, she was going to have to live with how he chose to do that.
Even if it meant going without her.
Until he had resolved the past, he couldn’t make a future.