Chapter 26
Janice climbed into the SUV's passenger seat, her heart still racing from the frantic packing and loading.
The vehicle was packed full of duffels, bags, and boxes crammed into every available space, the precious cooler of samples secured on the back seat, and her laptop bag wedged at her feet. Cole slid behind the wheel.
The engine coughed, sputtered, then roared to life.
"Thank God," Janice breathed.
"Keep praying." Cole's jaw was tight as he shifted into drive. "We still have to get out of here."
Even with the tracks he'd shoveled earlier, the old lane was treacherous.
Packed snow and ice created a surface that fought the tires at every turn.
The SUV fishtailed as Cole eased it forward, the back end swinging wide before he corrected.
Janice gripped the door handle, watching the snow-laden trees crawl past at an agonizing pace.
Cole's phone buzzed in the center console. Janice grabbed it, seeing Logan's name on the screen.
"Put it on speaker," Cole said, his eyes never leaving the narrow track ahead.
She answered and held the phone between them. "Logan, we're on our way out. What's the situation?"
"Miners have reached the mining site." Logan's voice was clipped, urgent. "Sadie's got eyes on them. They're not moving toward the cabin yet, but we want to exercise caution."
"How long do we have?"
"Unknown. But this is your window, Cole. Get to town while they're occupied at the site."
The SUV's tires spun on a patch of ice, and Janice's stomach lurched as the vehicle slid sideways. Cole wrestled the wheel, muscles straining, and somehow kept them on the track.
"There's a problem," Logan continued. "Timothy and Frazier got hit by storms after they left Montana. They're stranded in southern Alaska without clearance to continue. Won't be there until midmorning tomorrow at the earliest."
Janice gasped. “The samples!”
Cole swore under his breath, his jaw tightening. "So we're on our own until then."
"For now, yes. But I anticipated potential delays.
" Logan continued. "The vetted security installation company we were going to work with on Penson’s house is Apex Security.
They're sending someone to the hotel. He'll have dry ice and proper packaging to prep the samples for overnight shipping to Janice's parents' lab.
His name is Bill Marcowitz. Should be there soon after you arrive. "
Janice felt relief wash through her, followed immediately by fresh anxiety. The samples would be safe, secured by professionals who knew how to handle evidence. But that also meant the crucial physical proof would be in transit, vulnerable during the handoff and shipment.
"The samples will be going out overnight express?" Cole asked.
"Direct to the Lynch Veterinary Clinic. I've already coordinated with Janice's father.
He'll be expecting the delivery first thing tomorrow morning.
" Logan paused. "Get Janice to the hotel and stay safe.
Once Timothy and the team land tomorrow, we'll have full backup, but in the meantime, Bill will bring items much like what you had requested Timothy bring.”
“Thanks, Logan."
The call ended, and silence filled the SUV except for the groan of tires fighting for traction. Janice watched Cole's profile, seeing the hard set of his jaw and the concentration furrowing his brow.
“What sort of things?” she asked, curiosity overtaking her passenger nerves.
His voice was firm but not harsh. "We're almost to the main road. Just hold on."
She now hated that she’d asked a question when he was working so hard to get off the icy drive.
The lane seemed to stretch forever, each foot of progress a battle against the snow and ice that conspired to trap them.
The SUV lurched and slid, tires spinning uselessly before catching just enough traction to crawl forward.
Janice found herself holding her breath, releasing it only when they'd cleared each treacherous patch.
Finally, the front tires gripped the scraped asphalt. The main road stretched ahead, clear enough for travel, the county plows having done their work overnight.
"We're out," Cole said, and the relief in his voice matched the loosening of the knot in Janice's chest. “To answer your question, I had asked Logan to send some surveillance equipment that I can plant in Penson’s house.”
Her brow furrowed. “When will you be back at his house?”
He hesitated, and her suspicions rose. Finally, he replied, “I’m calling him to say I need to come back to do some re-measuring. This will give me a chance to put surveillance in his house… to watch him.”
“Oh…”
“I was going to do it with one of the Keepers, leaving one to stay with you. But now, I’ll go myself and know that they will both be with you once they get in.”
She nodded, hating the idea of him going to the mine owner’s house again, but trusted that he knew what he was doing. Much like how he trusted her when she wanted to go back out to necropsy the deceased animals.
The drive to Cantwell took twenty minutes.
She watched the snow-covered wilderness slide past as she tried to process everything that had happened over the past few days.
And of everything filling her mind, she kept circling back to that interrupted kiss at the cabin, to the way Cole had looked at her just before his phone shattered the moment.
What would have happened if Logan hadn't called? What would happen now?
The small town appeared ahead, its handful of buildings clustered along the highway.
The hotel sat on the main road, the sign advertising "Clean Rooms, Reasonable Rates" appearing like a beacon.
Several vehicles filled the small parking lot, probably more travelers who'd sought shelter from the storm.
"My room should still be booked," Cole said, pulling into an empty space. "I paid through the week just in case. I’ll check in the lobby.”
The elderly man behind the counter looked up from his newspaper, recognition flickering in his eyes when he saw Cole.
“Hello. Is the tavern still delivering?"
"Should be. Donna's been running meals to folks who got stranded."
The old man's gaze was friendly. "You need anything else, just holler."
He walked back to the vehicle and nodded to Janice.
They gathered what they could carry, including the sample cooler, Janice's laptop, his duffel, and a small bag of her toiletries, and made their way to the lobby.
The room was small but clean, with one queen-sized bed, a battered dresser, a tiny bathroom, and a window overlooking the parking lot.
Janice set down her bags and took in the space that would be their refuge for the foreseeable future.
One bed.
Cole seemed to realize it at the same moment. "I can sleep on the floor. Or see if they have another room—"
"No." The word came out with force, and she held his gaze. "I want to stay with you."
His dark eyes searched her face. "Janice..."
"Yes, there's only one bed." She felt a smile tugging at her lips despite everything they were facing… the danger, the exhaustion, and the uncertainty of what came next. "I think if we made the cabin work, this is much better. At least this bed is big enough for two."
Something shifted in Cole's expression… maybe surprise giving way to warmth, and beneath that, a heat that made her pulse quicken.
"Okay," he said. "We stay together."
The tension that had been coiled tight in Janice's shoulders began to ease. They were safe, at least for now. They had shelter, they had each other, and tomorrow, more Keepers would arrive with reinforcements and a plan.
A knock on the door interrupted the moment. Cole's hand moved instinctively toward his weapon before he checked the peephole.
"It's okay," he said, relaxing fractionally. "The man has ID. He’s Apex Security."
He opened the door to reveal a man in his fifties, stocky and professional-looking, wearing a jacket with the Apex Security logo embroidered on the chest. He handed the ID he’d held up to the peephole to Cole, allowing him to scrutinize it.
He carried what looked like specialized packaging equipment.
"Bill Markowitz." The man extended his hand to Cole, then to Janice. "Logan Bishop said you'd have some samples that need special handling."
"That's right." Janice moved to retrieve her cooler from where they'd set it near the bathroom, still packed in ice. "Biological samples that need to stay frozen during transport. They're going to my parents' veterinary clinic in Washington State."
Bill set down his equipment and opened the larger cooler, revealing layers of dry ice that immediately began smoking in the warmer hotel air.
"I have everything we need. Double-walled insulated packaging, dry ice rated for forty-eight hours of transit, and documentation for the overnight carrier. Your samples will arrive at the Lynch Veterinary Clinic by nine o’clock tomorrow morning, guaranteed. "
Janice watched as he worked with practiced efficiency, transferring each of her carefully labeled containers into the specialized packaging.
He added dry ice around each sample, then sealed them in an inner container before placing that inside the larger cooler with more insulation.
Then he placed the entire cooler in an insulated cardboard box.
He secured the box and ensured the labeling was correct.
"You do this often?" she asked.
"Not handling lab samples," Bill said with a brief but genuine smile.
"Apex works with LSI West Coast on various projects, and now we’re proud to work with LSI-Montana when we can.
Sometimes that means installing security systems, and sometimes it means making sure important evidence gets where it needs to go without being compromised.
" He sealed the final layer of packaging and affixed several bright labels.
"Biological specimens. Keep frozen. Handle with care. "
He handed Janice a tracking number on a card. "You can monitor the shipment online. The carrier will pick it up in—he checked his watch—about ninety minutes. Then it goes to the Anchorage hub tonight, and on to Seattle during the night, arriving at the destination early tomorrow morning."
"Thank you." Janice felt a weight lift off her shoulders. The samples were the evidence that could prove everything she'd been documenting and would be in her parents' hands tomorrow morning.
Bill shook both their hands again, his grip firm and reassuring. "You folks stay safe."
"We will," Cole assured him.
And then he was gone, the precious cooler with him, leaving Janice and Cole alone in the small hotel room once more. Just the two of them.
"I need a shower," she announced, suddenly aware of how grimy she felt after the frantic packing and the stress of the drive. "A real shower, with actual hot water and decent water pressure."
"Go ahead. I'll order food from the tavern."
At the thought of pub food, she felt the tightness in her shoulders ease. Walking into the bathroom, she looked around. The space was small, but larger than what she had at the cabin. She stripped out of her snow-wet jeans and her blood-sprinkled shirt.
The hot water was glorious. Janice stood under the spray until her skin turned pink and the rest of the tension in her muscles finally released. She washed her hair twice, scrubbed every inch of herself, and let the steam fill her lungs until she felt almost human again.
It wasn't until she stepped out and reached for her bag that she realized the problem.
Her clothes were still in the SUV. The duffel she'd grabbed contained her laptop, her research notebooks, and the samples, but she didn’t have clean underwear or a shirt.
Janice wrapped herself in a towel and cracked the bathroom door. "Cole?"
He appeared immediately, concern flashing across his features. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." She crinkled her nose and sighed. "My clothes are still in the car. I only brought in my toiletries."
Cole's expression shifted from concern to amusement mixed with something darker, more intense. "I can go get them."
"I can’t even tell you what bag to look in. And honestly?" Janice shook her head and added, "Can I just borrow one of your shirts for now?"
The silence stretched between them, thick with implications neither of them voiced.
"Yeah," Cole said finally, his voice rougher than before. "Yeah, of course."
He dug through his duffel and handed her a worn flannel shirt, soft from countless washings. Their fingers brushed during the exchange, and Janice felt the contact like electricity dancing across her skin.
She retreated to the bathroom to dress. She put on her underwear and hung her damp jeans up to dry.
His shirt hung to mid-thigh, the sleeves dangling past her fingertips until she rolled them up.
It smelled like him, like pine and something warm and masculine that made her want to bury her nose in the fabric and breathe deep. I might have to steal this.
When she emerged, Cole stood by the window, his back to her. He'd changed out of his snow-damp and blood-stained pants into dry jeans and a thermal Henley that stretched across his broad shoulders. At the sound of the bathroom door, he turned.
And stopped.
His eyes traveled down her body slowly, taking in the way the flannel draped over her curves. When his gaze finally returned to her face, the heat in his expression made her breath catch.
"Food should be here soon," he said, but his voice had dropped an octave, rough with something that definitely wasn't hunger for dinner.