Chapter 7
Seven
Charlie always appreciated Fifi when she had to run after a skip.
Training was never fun, but she was almost always faster than the person she was chasing, so all the sprints and intervals and long-distance runs she’d had to suffer through were worth it in the end—although she’d never admit that to Fifi.
With Kieran easily keeping pace next to her, Charlie ran for the tree line, her eyes scanning the area for any more movement in the trees that might reveal her target. There was nothing out of place, though, so she stopped where she’d initially spotted the sixth treasure hunter and looked down.
Crouching down next to her, Kieran pointed at a spot on the ground.
A few dead leaves were scattered across the rocky soil, and there was a crescent-shaped impression pressed into one that bore a strong resemblance to the back of a bootheel.
Pulling out the sheriff’s business card and her phone, Charlie snapped a few pictures of the boot print with the card next to it to provide scale.
Tucking the phone and card back in her pocket, Charlie listened, but the only sounds were leaves rustling in the breeze, a distant birdcall, and the clicking sound of someone who hadn’t turned their phone keyboard sounds off.
She glared across the gun shop’s small parking lot to see Dave had given up any attempt to be stealthy and was texting away with both thumbs.
Charlie was 97 percent sure that he was live texting her search for the sixth treasure hunter to the rest of the group.
“He could at the very least silence his phone. Remind me to break into Dave’s room at the Black Bear Inn and put fire ants in his bed later,” she whispered to Kieran in a voice so low she wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hear it.
“Send the health inspector in right after—two birds with one fire-ant-covered stone.”
Kieran must’ve had ears like a bat, just like she did, because he gave his usual clipped nod.
That almost made her laugh, since his serious expression gave her request an undeserved gravity, as if he was going to make an effort to remind her about her threat later, in case punishing Dave slipped her mind.
Her amusement slipped away as Kieran took the lead, moving deep into the trees as he followed the faint signs of the sixth treasure hunter’s trail.
Charlie narrowed her eyes at his back. Although she fell in behind him, she made a mental note to have a tracking competition later.
She was fairly sure she’d wipe the floor with him.
For now, she restrained her competitive urges and followed, although she kept a close eye on the signs, just to make sure he wasn’t leading them astray.
She also kept her head on a swivel, watching for any possible dangers approaching.
The trees were quiet, but it felt too quiet, as if the forest was holding its breath.
Kieran moved soundlessly, tracking so quickly that Charlie felt a grudging respect, suddenly less sure who would be wiping the floor with whom in their future tracking competition.
They reached a tall fence and turned left along it. Kieran picked up the pace, and Charlie followed suit. Their target was heading back toward the shop drive with its open gate—and likely a waiting vehicle just outside the fence.
“There,” Kieran said, his voice low but filled with keen satisfaction.
Peering around him, Charlie saw the back of a dark-clothed figure darting through the trees.
A thrill coursed through her as she sped up, keeping pace with Kieran as they sprinted as fast as possible over the uneven forest floor, dodging roots and rocks and entire trees.
They slowly narrowed the distance, and each time Charlie peered around Kieran’s broad form, the runner in front of them was a little bit closer… and more familiar.
All she could see were glimpses of the person’s back, but there was something about the way they moved that rang a bell. Dismissing the niggling feeling of familiarity, Charlie concentrated on running. She’d be able to get a great close-up front view as soon as she tackled the mystery runner.
Her phone vibrated against her leg, a short double pulse that meant a text. Although she was tempted to ignore it, Charlie pulled the phone from her pocket. Even in this rather urgent situation, she still needed to know if one of her sisters needed help.
A glimpse at the screen showed that it was from Rory and was a short, two-word, all-caps message.
GET DOWN
Her distraction cost her, and her toe caught on a ropy root that emerged from the soil several inches.
She stumbled, almost face-planting before she caught her balance, pushing off the ground with one hand as her feet drove her forward.
A sharp crack split the air, followed soon after by a meaty thunk.
Bits of bark peppered the side of her face and neck. Startled, she looked to the side to see a chunk missing from the papery trunk of the aspen tree a mere few feet from her vulnerable skull. Her legs worked on autopilot, propelling her forward even as her brain spun.
Rory’s text, the fresh hole in the tree, the familiar bark of sound snapped together in a flash of sudden comprehension.
Fear grabbed her lungs in a vicious bear hug as she focused on Kieran.
Thanks to her almost-fall and distraction, he’d managed to get a couple of strides ahead of her.
Lunging forward, Charlie launched into a dive, desperately hoping it would be enough, that she’d be able to reach him in time.
Time seemed to slow as she flew through the air, Kieran’s body getting closer, but not soon enough. Her body was descending too early. She wasn’t going to make it.
Stretching her arms out in front of her, she reached for him anyway, knowing it was probably a futile effort.
Somehow, her hands managed to touch his calf, and she extended her arms another impossible few inches.
Clamping her fingers around his ankle, she held tight, as if her life—or his—depended on it.
To her utter relief, her grip held, and his body began to fall forward.
There was another crack, and then another, the sound piling on top of each other until she couldn’t distinguish one shot from the next. Kieran hit the ground with a thump and a low grunt, and the earth shook slightly beneath them, as if she’d just felled a redwood tree.
Now that he was on the ground, she didn’t pause.
Instead, she belly crawled from his feet, over his legs, until she could stretch herself over his back and head, covering all the most vulnerable, important parts, the ones that made Kieran who he was.
Only then, when her body was protecting his vital organs, could she take a breath and wait for the next storm of bullets.
Instead, everything went silent.
It could’ve been ten seconds or ten thousand, but everything went still and quiet until a low, rough, unfairly attractive voice growled, “Did you just tackle me?”
The question made the world start turning again, all the clocks resumed ticking, and Charlie finally dared to raise her head. “Yes. It wasn’t my best work, but it did the job.”
“The job? Of bringing me down?” He seemed to be at the point where he was more befuddled than actively hostile, which was kind of a fun change. As much as she really, really liked cranky Kieran, bewildered Kieran was nice too. “Why did you tackle me? I almost had them!”
“So you wouldn’t get shot.” She looked up to see chunks of bark had been knocked off the trees next to them, revealing the pale inner wood.
It looked weirdly painful, despite trees not having nerve endings.
“Sorry about that, trees. It was us or you, though, and you weather a bullet wound better than we do. Probably.” She looked back down at Kieran’s oblique profile. “Does getting shot hurt a tree?”
He went still, staring at the splintered wounds for a frozen second before Charlie found herself being grabbed and rolled beneath him.
“Umf,” she grunted, squashed between his considerable body weight and the rock-hard ground. She was pretty sure there was a pine cone jabbing into her right shoulder blade too. “What are you doing?”
He ignored her question, his gaze scanning the surrounding area, his face set in grim lines.
Before Charlie could politely request that he stop squishing her into the unyielding rocky ground, her leg buzzed. With some wriggling, she managed to retrieve her cell phone from her pocket.
“At least I didn’t break another phone.” She lost and broke and drove over enough electronic devices on the regular that she wasn’t sure if her sisters would provide her with another one, and she didn’t want to have to pay for a new phone just because she needed to save a rather ungrateful Kieran’s life.
When she finally managed to get the screen within viewing range, she saw another text from Rory.
All clear
Relief swept over her, and she gave Kieran a poke in the ribs. “Let me up, Keeks. Rory says we’re all clear.”
“Keeks?” His massive form didn’t budge, and the press of his very heavy and attractive body was starting to give her hormones some inappropriate ideas.
“You didn’t like Kiki, so…” She shrugged as well as she could while being pinned to the ground.
“What’s wrong with Kieran?”
“Too long. Now move. We need to see if Rory has footage of the person shooting at us.”
“It’s two syllables. Two.” Despite his grumble, he shifted off of her, rolling to his feet with an easy fluidity. “Exactly the same number as Kiki.”
Shaking off the distraction of watching the way his muscles flexed beneath his clothes as he moved, Charlie shoved herself up with far less grace.
“You okay?” she asked, belatedly realizing that they hadn’t checked for any injuries.
She scanned over his body and then what she could see of hers.
Adrenaline could hide pain pretty well—at least until it wore off and a person realized their arm was missing.