Chapter 33 Lara
Lara
“Damn.”
I lifted my head, pausing mid-tie on my left boot. “What is it?”
Calder stared intently at the sat phone, the hard lines of his face sharpening. I rose and went to him, careful of my loose lace.
“Calder—”
“Callum got a hold of the private investigator hired by Hannah’s parents.
Apparently, he found two other women who were in relationships with Braun that transformed into a threesome with Maxwell.
They said he was very controlling, though not usually violent.
Things ended when he wanted them to move to Wyoming with him on a property he’d just purchased. ”
Eden’s Children. I banded my arms. “Why didn’t they come forward?”
“There was nothing to accuse him of. The relationships were consensual.”
“So he started targeting Dr. Julia’s clients.” Women who were more vulnerable and easier prey to his coercion.
“Hannah’s boyfriend, Jack, told the PI that he thought Braun might have letters Hannah wrote to him. Before he could find any proof of what happened, Maxwell and Braun disappeared.”
“I wonder if they wanted Hannah to come out here with them and she refused.”
I could only imagine what it would be like for someone yearning for attention, to receive it from a man who captivated like Braun—like Eden had captivated his crowd yesterday, only for him to take that twisted love away. Or threaten to if she wouldn’t leave.
I forced myself to keep breathing, focusing on tying my boot and not giving in to the urge to vomit.
All I wanted was to get back up there and get my sister. When I rose, Calder was right in front of me.
“What’s the rule out here?” he murmured, taking my face between his palms.
“Obey.”
He started to pull away, and then, like he couldn’t help himself, his mouth came down on mine, warm and possessive, like the dawn reclaiming what had previously belonged to the night.
It was more than an ache for him that I felt that morning. It was an ache for us. For what came after this was all over. An ache for something that was wholly my own.
“Let’s go.” And then he was striding around our shelter like if he didn’t walk away now, he wouldn’t be able to.
Familiarity and adrenaline made the climb to the compound quicker, and before I knew it, we were at the edge of the trees.
Calder looked at me, waiting for my ready.
I nodded and he rose from his crouched position and headed along the wooded canopy until he reached the third cabin down where he’d be able to see the center of the compound.
He moved from the trees with the stealth of a panther, prowling to the back of the structure and flattening himself to it.
My breath stuck in my lungs as he drew his weapon from the holster at his back, keeping it pointed at the ground as he peered around the corner and then turned back to me, giving me the go.
Heart thudding like cannon fire into my chest, I darted for the door to the cabin.
Even though it wasn’t visible from the congregation area, the door was still exposed to the interior of the compound.
If anyone wasn’t at the morning congregation .
. . was walking around . . . but there was no one to see me. Calder made sure of that.
My hand was slick as I grabbed the doorknob, flinging it open like I’d expected it to be barricaded, the ease of its movement tempering my hope.
No one was being held prisoner or by force. They were here because they actually believed him.
I froze as soon as I saw my sister perched on the edge of the massive bed, her knuckles white where they gripped the blankets.
“Rachel.” I forced myself to breathe deep, the scent of baby oil clogging my nostrils.
Disbelief and confusion warred over her face.
“Lara?” Her dilated pupils took a second to focus on me, and I quelled the fresh burst of rage. She was drugged. “What are you doing here?” She stood suddenly—too suddenly—and started to sway.
Forgetting the open door, I went to her and grabbed her shoulders, and she stared at me like I’d just become real. “Lara.” She cupped her hand over her mouth, and a sob broke from her chest.
“It’s me. I’m here.” I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight. “I came for you. I came to bring you home.” The words felt thick in my throat.
“I’m sorry,” she croaked into my chest. “I’m s-so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault. Not at all.” I scraped through her hair to draw her head back. “None of this is your fault.”
She stared at me, her lip quivering. “I thought it was something good. I thought Dr. Julia was helping—I believed—”
“Shh. I know. I know what they did,” I promised, but I couldn’t explain everything to her now. “But we have to go now, okay?”
“How did you find me?”
I turned us toward the exit and stopped short. Matthew stood in the doorway.
No.
“You have to let us go,” I said, keeping Rachel behind me, protected with one arm. The other lifted like the flat of my hand could stop a man like him. “Please. Eden drugged her because she doesn’t want to be here. Please, just let us go.”
His eyes narrowed as he stepped into the cabin.
Shit.
I scanned around us, but to get to any of the windows meant going toward him, not away.
I stepped back into my sister, feeling her stumble slightly. “Please, I’m begging you, Matthew. Please let us go.”
He stopped, and I thought it was because of what I’d said. It wasn’t. There was some noise outside. His head cocked toward it, and then he drew his weapon.
Rachel whimpered, and I felt blindly for her arm, giving it a squeeze.
Think, Lara.
I had Calder’s knife with me. He said it was in case Rachel was restrained, but I knew there were other “in cases” it was for, too.
I could try to get it, but I knew I wouldn’t be fast enough.
Not against a man with a gun. I wasn’t like Calder; I didn’t have an expertise in weapons, but I did know the adage to never bring a knife to a gunfight.
Maybe if I rushed him, hit his low center of gravity, it would knock him off balance enough for Rachel to get by. If she could make it behind the cabin, Calder would see her—help her.
Matthew’s head snapped back to me. I started to bend, the balls of my feet pressing hard into the ground.
“Rachel, find Calder—”
“Wait,” Matthew uttered harshly, and disbelief grabbed me by the throat as he lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
What? I didn’t move. This couldn’t be real. He had to be lying. It was a trick to stop me. He holstered his weapon and with his other hand brought a finger of silence to his mouth.
What was going on?
I froze, balancing on the fulcrum of trust, waiting for his next move to prove whether or not I could believe him.
He kept his head turned slightly—listening—for another second and then strode toward me so quickly, I wasn’t sure I could’ve stopped him even if I had been prepared. But he wasn’t coming for us. He veered to the right, motioning wordlessly for us to follow him.
Where does he want us to go? And why—I looked back to the front door, now hearing the voices he had, and they were getting closer.
Taking my sister’s wrist, I went with my gut.
I followed the large guard through a door on the side of the bed into the bathroom.
There were two showers on the back wall, and Matthew went straight for the one on the left.
Opening the glass door, he stepped inside.
There wasn’t time to wonder what he was doing before he grabbed one of the shower nozzles—one that existed in the left shower but not the right—and twisted it.
A latch popped, and a hidden door opened to the outside.
Holy shit.
I didn’t want to think about why Adam Eden needed this kind of exit from his own cabin because I had a feeling he wasn’t the one who used it.
Matthew peered through the door. Left and then right, and then looked back to me, motioning that it was clear.
All I wanted to know was why he was helping us. Was it for Dr. Julia? Did he realize what Adam was doing to her? Was he trying to get her out, too? As much as I wanted to know, my sister was my only priority.
I led us through the shower, going as quickly as her unsteady steps made possible.
“Go,” Matthew clipped when he saw me start to thank him, then went back inside Eden’s cabin, the door closing up its invisible seam.
Voices—commotion—reached a crescendo from inside the cabin.
Was it Adam? Had he found Matthew? Would he tell him which way we went?
I squeezed Rachel’s hand and buried the hammer of my heart the way I did when a patient coded.
Panicking wouldn’t bring them back to life.
Chasing unknowable questions wouldn’t restart their heart.
And worrying what was coming for my sister and me wouldn’t help us get away any faster.
“This way.” I pulled her into the trees.
I pressed my hand to the rough bark of each trunk, pushing off them like it helped us move faster.
Whether it was the drugs in her system, the fear, or both, my sister hardly made a sound behind me.
I looked back to her only once and saw tears streaming down her face; after that, I knew I couldn’t look again until we were truly safe.
Once we were far enough onto the ridge, I stopped and brought us to a crouch.
“Wait here for a second.” She nodded, and I stood again, climbing back up the ridge to look for Calder.
I searched for him through the trees, expecting him to appear by my side any second like the silent hunter he was, but he never did.
He should’ve been right behind us. That was the plan.
He kept a lookout on the cabin, and once I led Rachel out, he would rendezvous with us here on the ridge to go back—Oh god.
Calder was waiting for me to bring Rachel out the front. He didn’t know about the secret back door. He didn’t know we were safe. He didn’t know Matthew entered the cabin to help us, not harm us.
I lurched forward and a shot rang out, the distinct echo cascading down the slope.
“Whatever happens, get back to the shelter. If I’m not with you, call Callum.”
Calder . . . I brought my fist to my mouth and bit into my knuckle, my heart bleeding beats like it was being ripped from my chest.
Obey.
Save Rachel.
Spinning, I rushed back to my sister. She was shaking.
“Lara—”
“It’s okay,” I told her, burying my own sob. “Just follow me. We have a shelter lower on the ridge. We’ll be safe there.”
Taking her hand, I followed the path Calder had marked with single broken branches on trees.
Who had fired that shot? Was it Calder? Every step, every crunch of the underbrush, morphed into that lethal sound. The kind of situation that would force him to draw his weapon wouldn’t be a good one; he avoided that kind of force whenever possible. But the alternative, that it wasn’t him . . .
My heart stopped just as the pattern of the tarp materialized ahead.
Obey. Save Rachel. Call Callum. Calder’s words drove me forward, and I led my sister into our shelter.
“Lara . . .” She looked up at me in a daze as I guided her down to the sleeping pad. “You went to Calder?”
The vise around my throat tightened. “I didn’t know where else to go,” I told her even though what I really meant was he was the only one that I could think of.
The only one I’d ever thought of.
“Lara . . .”
“Shh,” I cooed and rested her head on Calder’s pillow. When she was steady, I pressed my fingers to her neck and checked her pulse. Slow and stable.
Reaching for the sat phone, I called the only programmed number.
“Everyone okay?” Callum’s weathered voice answered.
“It’s Lara,” I replied, somehow knowing it was an answer to his question. If Calder was okay, I wouldn’t be calling.
“Your sister?”
“She’s with me. They gave her some kind of sedative”—I looked over my shoulder—“so she’s sleeping right now.” It was a miracle we’d made it here before the drugs had taken full effect.
“Okay. Police and park rangers are on their way. Unless the campsite is compromised, don’t move.”
“But Calder—”
“Don’t worry about Calder. He’ll survive.”
Survive.
The sentiment was meant to be calming. A relief. But all I felt was nauseous. All Calder had ever done was survive. The wilderness. The solitude. The loss. The responsibility. And he’d done it alone.
“I have the sat phone with me. If anyone gets close to the camp, call me,” I clipped. “I’m going to look for Calder.”
“Lara—” Two gunshots tumbled in tandem down the ridge.
“I’m going.” Those words ended the call.
I hung up on Callum and crouched by my sister’s side.
“Rach, I’m going to find Calder. Just rest here, okay?”
Her head moved in a slow bob.
“I’ll be right back.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. Above me, the whir of Callum’s drone echoed closer. If I could at least get back up to the ridge and see what was going on—see if Calder was okay.
I reached the edge of the shelter when I heard them—a single set of footsteps rushing down the ridge.
Calder.
The gait was uneven. He was injured.
My heart leaped just as quickly as my feet. I sprinted out from under the canopy, my pulse banging as I scanned for him. My mind filtered movable from immovable, blurring the stable forest setting and sharpening on the flutter of movement between the trunks.
“Calder!” I took two steps in his direction and stopped as he appeared through the last of the trees.
Oh god. No.
Ice-cold fear dumped into my veins as I stared at the battered man in disbelief. I blinked twice, but neither time revealed Calder, only the slow sneer of a man I never thought I’d see again.
“Find him.” Dr. Julia’s orders whispered in the back of my mind. She hadn’t been talking about Trent or Calder. She’d been talking about him. The man in front of me. The man who’d been tied unconscious to a tree the last time I’d seen him.
“Ben.”
“It’s my lucky day.” His mouth contorted into a snarl. “I came here for what I’m owed, and I found something better.”