Chapter 10
TEN
The arctic water stole Allie’s breath as the rapids dragged her downstream. Dakota!
She swam to the surface just in time to see Dakota jump off the cliff. She fought the current to see him splash down into the river.
He’d waited for her, made sure she was safe yet again.
Something dark on the cliff edge above her caught her eye. A dog barked. A reflective orange collar practically glowed against his black fur. It was Scout!
Before she could call to him, a man with a ponytail broke through the trees above them. He held out a gun, pointed at Dakota.
She screamed.
The gunman spotted her, but the river sucked her back under.
Allie fought against the ice-cold water. The weight of her clothes and backpack dragged her down. She kicked hard, trying to surface again, and managed to catch another breath.
It wasn’t enough.
The water pulled her down once more.
She clawed at her backpack and tried to free herself of its burden. Her feet hit a hard surface—the bottom or another boulder. Didn’t matter. She kicked off and broke through to the surface to see rocks and scrub brush passing by on the banks as she was carried along. Dakota had to be behind her somewhere, but it was all she could do to keep her head above the water and gulp in air.
Trees flew past in a blur. She finally got a few good breaths in.
Shore.
The cliff walls towered over her, but a thin strip of rocky shore gave her hope. She needed to aim for it. She pointed her feet toward the edge of the river, but the rapids spun her around. With heavy arms, she paddled enough to keep her head up.
There!
Up ahead, a fallen tree lay across the river, and beyond it a wider shoreline. The thick trunk dangled a foot or two in the air. If she could grab it, she could maybe hoist herself out of the water. At the very least, she could hold on and wait for Dakota. Maybe Scout would see her and come, and together they could make it to that clearing at the edge of the river.
She reached for the tree. Bark scraped against her hands. She fought the pain to grasp the lifeline. Dug her fingernails in. But the river carried her away under the log, submerging her as though all her efforts were nothing.
Allie tried to aim her beating strokes for the direction of the shoreline again only to be yanked under. Water thundered over her, pummeling her into its depths, filling her nose and mouth.
She kicked desperately. Her lungs burned with the need for oxygen. No! She couldn’t go out this way. She had too much to make up for!
The more she fought, the weaker her arms grew. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t kick anymore. Her vision began to fade to black. Sounds muted to almost nothing.
Strong arms pulled her up and lifted her out of the water. She could’ve sworn she heard more barking, but it sounded far away. She coughed and gagged. Tried to catch her breath.
When she could finally open her eyes again, she found herself in Dakota’s arms.
Somehow, he made it to a wide rocky shore. The river widened here, the water slowing to a gentle roll instead of the frothy white rapids. He carried her tight against his chest, his red hair plastered to his forehead, dripping water into his eyes. As soon as they were on dry land, he set her down.
“Allie?” He gasped air. “Please tell me you’re okay.” He coughed, leaned over, searching her face, pushing back her hair.
“I’m okay.” Her raspy voice sounded weird even to her own ears. But she was alive.
She couldn’t hold back the tears, and she buried her face in Dakota’s chest.
He held her tight, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. “That was close.”
Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.
Birds in the trees above them chirped and rustled. The gurgling river continued to traipse through the forest.
Allie took in each breath of fresh, pine-scented air like the gift it was. Never again would she take breathing for granted.
Every breath we take is a gift from God .
Her father’s words, not hers. But why did He keep saving her? She didn’t deserve this gift. She didn’t deserve any of it. She’d lost—wait! Scout .
Allie twisted around to scan the cliff. “I saw him. I saw Scout. Where is he?”
“I heard him, but I can’t see him anywhere.” Dakota stood up. “I don’t know how far the river carried us, but that guy is still out there. Do you think you can stand?”
She nodded. He helped her to her feet, not letting go of her hands. Everything tilted around her. Allie leaned too far over, trying to compensate. Dakota wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Whoa, there. Take your time.” Once she stopped swaying, he moved to hold her arms. He steadied her with his solid strength.
She shook water out of her ears and was able to catch her balance. “I think I’ve got it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” She took a few shaky steps.
Dakota held her hand. “Good, cuz we need to get out of here.”
Allie stopped, squeezed the hand he gave her. “We can’t go yet. We have to find Scout.”
“The shooter is after us. We can’t go back.”
“We can’t leave my dog out here on his own.”
“Allie, I know we need to find him, but we’ll have to come back later. Besides, this is good news. We saw him. We know he’s okay. And we already know that he can find us. But right now, we have to keep going.”
But they were so close. He was here, somewhere in the forest. Lost and alone. “How can I leave him?” Her voice cracked. She couldn’t turn her back on him when she’d promised herself. “I can’t do it. You can go on.”
“Allie.” Dakota shook her gently, his bright blue eyes intense, worried as he stared at her. “We have to get back and show the sheriff who this guy is. If he’s the guy Ethan and Nolan saw, then he’s killed an Army Ranger. He knows we saw him. He’ll be coming after us, and he might be after the boys. We have to go. Do you understand?”
She tried spinning around, desperate for any glimpse of the dark black fur. “I already lost a baby. I can’t walk away. Not when he’s so close. Scout needs me.” Dizziness stole all balance. Allie fell against Dakota.
“Baby? You mean, Dixie? Like a fur baby?”
She’d said baby ? She hadn’t meant?—
She pushed Dakota away and stood straight, bracing herself as she fought the dizziness. “Nothing. I—it was nothing. You’re right. We have to go.” The seal was breaking. She’d escaped one near drowning. This wasn’t the time for another. Because as soon as the dam holding back the past broke, there would be no coming up to the surface for breath. She wouldn’t make it.
“Are you sure you?—”
“I’m okay, Dakota. Let’s go.” She swallowed down the sob trying to choke her.
The sopping wet clothes and shoes weighed on her body, but as they picked their way around the rocks along the river, she slowly gained her strength back. She stopped to cough a few times, but they would wait until she caught her breath, then push on. Always pushing on. The farther they went, the deeper she pushed back the memories.
Dakota’s gaze drifted to her constantly. She tried to pick up the pace, convince him that she wasn’t about to fall apart.
“Hey, what’s that?” Allie spotted purple fabric up ahead along the water. “My backpack!” It was there, caught in the branches of an overturned tree. Nothing edible remained, but the water bottles were salvageable, and it still had Scout’s favorite toy and some gear that she would’ve had to replace had it been lost.
She pulled out the baggie. “We still have the bandana.”
Dakota nodded. “All we need now is a way out.”
“Right. Let’s keep going.” Everything was wet and smelly. But that man, the shooter, was out there in the forest, and so was her dog. And somehow, she needed to come back here and find Scout and then leave. Quickly.
Kinda the story of her life. Always running. Never finding that haven she searched for.
Either way, there was nothing else here for her but to keep moving.
Dakota had no idea what had happened to Allie there by the river, but something was broken between them, and he didn’t know how to fix it.
Allie had kinda fallen apart and then pushed him away. Wouldn’t most people be grateful after being saved from drowning? Was she that upset that they hadn’t gone back for Scout?
She wouldn’t look at him at all once that rafting party had found them and taken them back to the campground. She’d only spoken to him when she’d asked him to drive her car. And there she sat, head slumped against the passenger side window, eyes slammed shut. But with every bump in the road, she winced, so she must not be sleeping. What was going on?
Lord, if I can help here, You’ll have to guide me. But more than anything, I know Allie needs Your healing touch .
He just didn’t know why. But he had some suspicions. Lots of people called their pets their children, but?—
“So…” He kept his voice soft. “Baby?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her clipped words echoed off the window she faced.
Whoa-kay then. After all they’d been through, she still didn’t trust him. He shouldn’t be surprised. It wasn’t like they’d known each other long, but he really thought they’d connected. He’d actually seen a future with Allie.
Guess once again, he was wrong.
He glanced at her. Dripping hair, damp clothes, and shivering despite the soaring temps outside. Like it or not, it tugged at his heart. “Let’s swing by your place and grab you a change of clothes. We can shower and change at base camp and then head to the sheriff’s office. If you still want to.”
“We should go to the sheriff first.” She didn’t lift her head from the window.
“You need a hot shower and dry clothes. The sheriff can wait. Besides, maybe he’ll take us a little more seriously if we don’t show up looking like drowned rats.”
“I suppose.” Allie laid her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.
Rest was probably the best thing for her.
Thankfully, base camp was quiet, the parking lot mostly empty with most of the crew out enjoying the reprieve of a day off. They showered, changed quickly, and—after redoing his bandages, this time by himself—they got back in Allie’s SUV. He tried not to bother her with chitchat while she drove.
As soon as they entered the sheriff’s office, he spotted Ray Haroldson behind bars in the small holding cell. Dakota tried to quench the desire to knock the arrogant smirk right off his face. But being surrounded by desks, three other deputies in uniform, and a woman answering phones kept him in check. The smell of ink, coffee, and stress, and the beeping and scratchy voices on the radios had a calming effect, reminding him of his SWAT days with his own team back in Benson.
The sheriff sighed as they walked in the door. “Let me guess. You’re here as two concerned citizens again to give me intel on my open murder case?”
Dakota told him about their morning. Allie sat there, saying nothing. It was almost like the light in her had been snuffed out.
“Allie, can you show him what we found?”
“Hmm?”
He nodded to her bag.
“Oh, right. We found this.” Allie pulled out the soggy baggie with the bandana.
That was it? Didn’t she have more to say?
The sheriff studied the bag.
“And we can give you a description of the shooter in the woods,” Dakota said. “He was tall, six-four or six-five, and had dark hair pulled back in a long ponytail, but he was balding on top. He had the tattoo of a gun and a flag running up his right arm.” Dakota pointed to his computer. “I even took a picture of his face and emailed it to you.”
Hutchinson pecked at his keyboard and stared at his screen. With a long sigh he leaned back in his chair and ran his hands down his face. “That’s Earl Blackwell.”
“So, you know him?” Dakota asked.
“He and his brother are usually up to no good, but they’re smart enough to cover their tracks. We don’t have enough evidence to do anything. Besides, the feds are storming in. They want a piece of the action since the victim was a Ranger.”
“But you have two kids who witnessed a murder, and that makes them loose ends to tie up. And this Earl was shooting at us. We’ll testify.” Dakota tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.
“I’ll go out to his cabin and some of the places he’s been known to hang out, but I guarantee you, even if we could find him—and that’s a big if, since he was born and raised in that forest—he would come up with some valid excuse. He could claim you were trespassing, thought you were an intruder, or any number of reasons for shooting at you. And his brother would back him up.”
Allie sat straight in her chair. “So you’re just going to let him get away with this? You can run forensics on the bandana.”
There she was, finally coming out of whatever funk she’d been in.
“And you have two eyewitnesses. Ethan and Nolan. They’ll need protection.” Dakota would do it himself if need be.
“I tried talking to the boys, but Jen refused to let me. She also refused to tell me how she was injured or anything about the fire.”
“And you just dropped it?” Dakota tried not to sound accusing, but come on.
“I’m not giving up on anything, but I told you already, leave the investigating to me. You two could’ve gotten killed out there.”
Dakota almost jumped from his seat. “But we didn’t. We can help.”
“You wanna help? Go do your job. Protect this town from the fire that’s out of control on that mountain. I don’t need any more victims.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I will personally track down Earl. You, however, need to stay out of it. You don’t want to mess with those Blackwell brothers. Their father was Russian military. They’re dangerous. So please do us all a favor and stick to firefighting. Let me do my job.”
Good thing danger didn’t scare him, then. But obviously, they weren’t going to get any further here. And the sad stare in Allie’s eyes was back. Was she even paying attention, picking at the loose strings from her cutoffs?
“Let’s go, Allie.”
They ignored Ray as they walked past the holding cell and all the others in the open office area. They stepped out into the hazy sunshine, but he couldn’t keep going like this. As soon as they hit the sidewalk, he grabbed her hand and pulled her aside.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Her eyes filled, but for the first time since the river rescue, she really looked at him.
“Please, Allie. Talk to me. What did I do?”
One tear fell to her cheek before she wiped it away. “It’s not about you, Dakota. And…I just can’t. This is my problem. Not yours.”
“C’mon. I’ll feed you. Will that help? You’ve got to be starving.”
“Maybe.” She gave him a half-hearted smile. “But I’d rather get a new phone. What if someone tries calling about Scout?”
He might not be able to fix everything, but he could at least get her set up with a new cell and feed her. He could be a safe place for her. Maybe then she’d admit what was really eating her up inside.
They stopped for the replacement phones and found a little Mexican restaurant not too far from the store. Within minutes they had a basket of warm chips and bowls of salsa in front of them.
Dakota dunked his chip in salsa and bit into it. The fresh flavors of tomato, onion, and cilantro reminded him of his favorite restaurant in Benson. He and the SWAT guys would often meet up there after a long day. “This is almost as good as Lucita’s Taqueria back in Benson. I miss those enchiladas.”
“I always liked the chimichangas there.” Her dim smile didn’t come close to convincing him that she was okay, but it was a start. “Why didn’t you go back to Benson after rehab?”
Ah, back to deflecting, turning the questions on him. He’d play this for a while, but he’d been a decent cop for a lot of years. He knew when someone was hiding something.
“I dunno. Guess I wasn’t quite ready to face everyone I let down. I was pretty messed up. Needed a new start.”
“So where did you go when you finished at the Ridgeman Center?”
“I worked with a construction company called Workmen Not Ashamed. It’s like a halfway house. They hire addicts and we live together, work together on building projects, and have a lot of accountability as we get our feet back under us again.”
“Sounds like a really cool company. You didn’t want to stay?”
“I always knew it was a temporary gig. The work, the Bible study, the crew leaders…it was all good. Maybe even necessary for a while. But I needed to see how I could handle life when I didn’t have those accommodations. And because our room and board were included in this program, we didn’t make a whole lot. So I figured a year was a good run and it was time to move on. One of the crew leaders was a hotshot and said they were hurting for workers this year and even offering a significant sign-on bonus for new hires that lasted the first ninety days. It will help me pay back Will for the rehab.” He took a sip from his water. “What about you? What are you doing so far from home? There’s lots of places closer to Benson you could train Scout.”
“Yeah, but this was a good excuse to see Belle. We picked a park neither of us had been to, and I knew if it was closer to her place than mine, she would be more likely to come.”
“Where does she live again?”
“Twin Valley, Idaho. Not too far from my parents, actually.”
“Will you go see them, then, on your way back to Benson? Your family and Belle?”
“Maybe.” She nibbled on a chip. “I’m sure they’re all busy with their own lives.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
Her hand froze. “It’s a fact. They all have jobs, families of their own?—”
“When’s the last time you saw them?”
“Belle’s wedding last February.”
“And before that?”
“What is this? Are you interrogating me or something?” Her chuckle fell flat.
He reached for her hand. It was still cold.
“Allie, I know something is bothering you. That breakdown by the river?—”
“Don’t make more out of it than it is. I almost drowned. My dog is still out there, lost, and there’s a crazy man probably trying to kill us. If that’s not reason for an emotional moment, then I don’t know what is.” She gulped down her own water.
“You said, ‘I already lost a baby. I can’t walk away.’”
Her body tensed and she tried to pull her hand out of his grip.
He didn’t let her. He could wait her out all day if needed. Because with all the ways she’d supported him, cared for him, he wanted to do the same. To be a safe place for her to fall apart. To hold her together when that happened. But in order for them to have any future, she had to face this.
“I was talking about Scout.” Her whisper was fraught with emotion as she tugged her hand free from his grip.
“You were pregnant, weren’t you? With Christian’s baby.”
She shook her head. “I…” Her voice cracked. She looked away and swiped at the tears already spilling onto her cheek.
“You’ve never told anyone, have you? And whatever happened to that baby, it’s tearing you up inside.”