Chapter 17 #2
His eyebrow arched and his mouth tipped up at the corner in a way that made her heart do a funny bump. “I think your concern is based on self-preservation.”
She smiled across the table at him. “True. But also, I care about you.” And the truth in the words wouldn’t be denied. She more than cared, but at the moment that was all she was willing to admit.
His eyebrows rose. “Really? I had the feeling you wanted to keep me at an emotional distance.”
She grimaced, realizing he was referring to their conversation in the SUV earlier.
What she’d told him was true. They both had agreed they weren’t looking for romance and she didn’t want to mess with their partnership.
However, she hadn’t told him everything.
Like the fact she was fighting to keep her emotions in check.
She was falling for him big-time. But she didn’t want growing attachment to impair either of their judgments or their professional work ethics.
So instead, she teased, “Is someone feeling sorry for themselves?”
He made a face and took a big bite of the sandwich.
Colt’s phone buzzed, then rang. He looked at the caller ID. His audible intake of breath caught as he glanced up at Maren. “The US Marshals.”
A mix of hope and concern dropped into Maren’s stomach, and she set down her fork, pushing the rest of her lunch away.
Colt put the phone on speaker and turned the volume to low. “Colt here. I’m with Officer Maren Anderson. What news do you have?”
“Hello, Colt. Hello, Maren. This is Deputy Walker McCane with the Denver Marshals office. I wanted to let you know our protectee, Vinnie Homer, received a text from Opal Anderson with information for where to meet her.”
Maren grabbed a napkin and a pen from her backpack and wrote down the information as Walker gave it. “Can we trust Vinnie?”
“That, I’m not sure,” Walker said. “The guy’s still detoxing. If given half a chance he’d rabbit.”
Maren remembered how desperate Vinnie had been for a fix, and he would run away like a scared rabbit if the marshals weren’t careful. “You can’t let that happen.”
“He needs to stay clean,” Colt added. “We can’t lose another person to these drugs.”
“We’re doing our best,” the marshal said.
“Thank you, we appreciate the info,” Maren said and pushed the end button on Colt’s phone. “Let’s go.”
“Not so fast,” Colt said, holding up a hand. “What if this is a setup? What if Shadow got to him somehow?”
“That’s the chance we have to take to find Opal,” she said. There was no way she was letting an opportunity to find her sister pass by.
“I understand and admire your determination,” Colt said. “But I don’t like the situation. We have no way of knowing what we will be walking into. It could be a trap. Shadow has to be aware by now that you’re not Opal.”
Maren weighed his words. “The risk is worth it to me.”
“We’ll need reinforcements.” Colt sent off a text to Emmett, alerting the task force leader to what was happening.
Colt’s phone dinged with an incoming text. He glanced at it. “I was expecting a reply from Emmett, but this looks like a text message from Walker.”
Maren’s heart lodged in her throat. Had something happened to Opal? “Read it.”
“It says, ‘This is a text from Opal on Vinnie’s phone that I’m forwarding.’ Below, the forwarded text reads, ‘Tell the jumping bean I can’t wait to see her.’”
Tears misted in Maren’s eyes. “That’s Opal’s childhood nickname for me.”
“Because of the gymnastics,” Colt said.
She gave him a watery smile. “You remembered.”
“Yes.” His green gaze bore into her. “I have a feeling I’ll remember everything about my time with you.”
His words settled over her like a cozy blanket. As much as she wanted to reciprocate the sentiment, she couldn’t. Not now. Not when she was close to finding her sister. That had to take priority. But she didn’t look forward to the day when she and Colt separated and went their own ways.
Despite his misgivings, Colt accepted the body armor from Emmett. After informing the task force leader that they had heard from the US Marshals and there was a meet set up with Opal in Pike-San Isabel National Forest, Emmett had insisted that Colton and Maren gear up.
They’d headed straight for the task force’s armory located in a large room adjacent to the training center, filled with various types and sizes of Kevlar vests, ammunition and weapons.
“Here, use these Bluetooth ear comms,” Emmett said, handing both Colt and Maren a small box. “You’ll have about a mile range. But be aware, in the forest, the service can be spotty.”
Colt put the earpiece into his ear canal. “I’m still not sure this is a good idea.”
Maren’s gaze snapped to him as she strapped on a thin black bulletproof vest over the task force T-shirt she’d changed into earlier that day. He missed the flowing dress she’d worn at his parents’ house and the way she’d let her hair cascade over her shoulders. Now, it was braided in a thick pleat.
“I told you I will do whatever is necessary to get my sister back,” Maren stated, her tone firm. “Coming in with the full might of the task force would scare her. She would never trust anything I said if I came after her with a small army. It has to be just me.”
“Not just you,” Colt said, donning a Kevlar vest. “Where you go, I go.”
“You can rest assured,” Emmett said, “that the task force will be on standby. We won’t be seen, but we will be in the vicinity.”
That gave Colt a measure of comfort. He’d elected to call in the task force rather than the DEA because he wasn’t sure if there were more moles within the agency.
But if this was a setup by Shadow, things could go south before backup arrived. He grabbed two extra 9 mm magazines and stuffed them into the pockets of his tactical cargo pants.
Seeing Maren struggle with the sleeve of her task force windbreaker, he moved to help her.
She jerked away. “I’ve got it.”
He frowned and lifted his hands. “Just trying to be helpful.”
Her face softened. “I’m sorry. It’s just all the anxiety. What is Opal doing in the middle of a national forest? Has she been sleeping in the elements? What about the baby? Has she been eating? Does she have water?”
Aware of Emmett, Colt restrained himself from taking Maren into his arms. “Opal reached out. That has to be enough for now. All the questions will be answered in due time.”
Holding his gaze, Maren nodded. “It’s all so maddening.”
He understood. The waiting, hoping and praying. Having to accept that sometimes God said no, or not right now, stretched a person’s faith.
“Let’s get the dogs and head out,” he said, hoping if they were on the move maybe Maren would feel better.
She gave him a grateful smile. “That seems to be our MO, doesn’t it?”
He gave her a half laugh. “Seems so.”
After retrieving Rusk and Haven and securing them in the back compartment, he drove as fast as he dared to the trailhead on the edge of the national forest halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs, just outside the small town of Manitou Springs.
The ultra-prominent Pikes Peak was one of the highest and most popular summits along the Rocky Mountains.
At the base, timber stretched as far as the eye could see, climbing up the mountain and interspersed with craggy rocks and pink-hued, jutting formations of granite.
They left the SUV in the gravel parking lot and hiked on foot until they came to where the hiking trail veered to the left, heading up the mountain.
Maren surveyed the area and turned to Colt. “My sister has to be somewhere on the valley floor. Give me at least a fifteen-minute head start before you follow.”
They’d agreed on the way over that he would trail behind her and Haven. Making sure that they were within a mile’s distance of each other so that they could be heard over the wireless comms.
She and Haven trekked into the forest off the trail.
Rusk whined and stared up at Colt.
He smoothed a hand over the dog’s sleek head. “I know. We’ll have their backs. Just from a distance.”
He prayed that would be enough.
* * *
Maren and Haven picked their way through the underbrush, trying to discern any sort of path her sister might have taken.
Haven’s ears twitched and her body quivered as she strained at the lead, pulling Maren forward until they came to a small grove.
Maren’s breath caught and held in her chest. A small tent had been erected beneath the canopy of two trees that had grown into each other.
“Opal,” Maren called out. There was no movement inside the tent.
“What did you find?” Colt’s voice sounded in her ear.
In a low voice, Maren replied, “A tent. I’m going to approach and look inside.”
With every fiber of her being, she braced herself.
What if Opal was— No, she couldn’t even let her mind go there.
Her sister had to be alive. But she could be ill or injured.
Maren decisively unzipped the tent and pulled the flap back.
Inside was an empty sleeping bag, a half-used case of water and a stack of boxes filled with various kinds of protein bars. Where was her sister?
Feeling a tug on Haven’s leash, Maren backed out of the tent to focus on the Doberman staring at a clump of trees.
“Opal, are you there?”
From the shadows, her sister emerged. She’d lost so much weight.
Her hair, once the exact glossy honey brown as Maren’s, was dirty and matted to her head.
Her clothes, the army green jacket and black pants, were the same as what she’d worn the last time Maren had seen her in front of the Barren Valley Clinic.
They hung on her slim frame and slightly rounded belly.
Every cell in Maren’s body rebelled at the sight of her twin in such a state. And worry chomped through her over the pregnancy given all that Opal had been through while in hiding. Was the baby okay?
Her instinct was to rush to her sister, but caution had her moving slowly in case she startled Opal into running. Opal’s gaze went to Haven, and she backed up a step, fear pinching her face. Halting to reel Haven to her side, she put the dog in a down position and dropped the lead. “Stay.”
Confident Haven would obey, Maren proceeded forward until she was standing right in front of her sister.
“You came,” Opal said, her voice barely audible.
“Of course, I came. I will always come for you,” Maren said, emphasizing her words. “All you ever have to do, Opal, is call me.”
Big tears welled in Opal’s eyes. “I wasn’t sure. I mean, I’m such a disappointment.”
Groaning as her heart folded in on itself, Maren gathered her sister into her arms. “You are not a disappointment. I am so sorry I wasn’t a better sister.
I was too caught up in my own grief and anger to notice how you were spiraling.
By the time I had the wherewithal to pay attention—you were gone. ”
Opal’s arms came around Maren, squeezing tight. “You’re here now.”
Feeling the baby bump, Maren pulled back. “Are you and the baby well?”
Opal put a hand on her tummy. “I think so. I ran out of my vitamins, though.”
“We’ll get you more and seen by a reputable doctor,” Maren assured her. From now on, Maren would protect both Opal and the baby.
A deep growl came from Haven.
Maren twisted to look behind her. The dog was still in the down position, but her ears were pricked upward, and her teeth were bared in a snarl. But the dog wasn’t looking at Maren and Opal. She was focused away from them, toward the trees.
She was alerting to danger.
Heart jackknifing in her chest, Maren said, “Come.” Haven jumped up and ran to her side. To Opal she said, “We have to get to safety.”
They’d taken three steps toward the concealment of the forest when gunfire rang out. Bullets whizzed through the air, slamming into the trees. Maren grabbed Opal and pulled her to the ground, covering her body with hers. Haven barked, furiously. “Down.”
Haven dropped to her belly beside Maren’s prone body.
In her ear, she heard Colt saying, “Maren, what’s happening?”
“Taking gunfire,” she said. To Opal, she said, “We have to make a break for it. We’re sitting ducks out here.”
Crouched, they ran for the safety of the trees as bullets peppered the ground around them, whizzing past their heads. Maren took them in a zigzag line. Why were they missing? Were the shooters trying to push them farther into the forest? Maren and Opal scrambled behind the trunk of a thick tree.
Opal’s face twisted with horror. “Are you working with Shadow?”
Aghast that her sister would even contemplate such a horrible thing, Maren could only stare. “Opal, why would you think that?!”
“Then who are you talking to?”
“My partner,” she told her sister.
In her ear, Colt said, “We’re coming.”
Then Emmett’s voice also sounded in her ear. “On our way.”
“Hurry.” Maren withdrew her weapon and shot toward the trees where the shooter seemed to be located.
Haven gave another loud, warning bark.
Maren turned in time to see Opal running away and disappearing into the thick forest.
“Opal!” Maren screamed and took off after her sister.