Backfire. Elizabeth Goddard

wrong.

      Considering the way their brief encounter had affected him the first time he’d met her, David had made it his policy to steer clear, never involve himself with her. He shouldn’t get involved now, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her reaction. Couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wanted her to be safe, but he knew it went much deeper than that.

      He was more confused than ever.

      * * *

      Finally at home, Tracy gave Solomon a much-needed bath and fed him. Then she took a hot shower to wash away the events of the day as well as the chill from her body, then put on a pot of coffee to brew. She needed to stop her shivering limbs. But as she slipped into her comfortable, warm sweats, she was still shaking. The real source of her trembling had nothing at all to do with getting chilled on the mountain.

      No. Her trembling had everything to do with the strong possibility that Carlos Santino had somehow found her.

      The tattoo that Jay had described was the tattoo worn by Santino and his gang members.

      Fear crept over her again as she recalled Jay’s words.

      “Numbers and a scorpion with flames on the wrist... I thought it was cool. Asked what the numbers—” Tracy knew what those numbers meant. She knew more about that particular tattoo than she’d ever wanted to. Every kind of gang—ethnic or otherwise, street gangs or prison gangs—had their coded tattoo system and tattoos symbolizing membership.

      The scorpion and flames identified Santino’s gang, and the numbers identified how many kills. As that number grew, other tattoos would tell the story elsewhere on the body.

      But Santino was supposed to be in a prison in California—over a thousand miles away. As far as she knew, no one in this region of Alaska had even heard of Carlos Santino or his gang...except for her.

      How could that be a coincidence, especially when you threw in Jay’s attempted murder? Had he finally found her so he could pay her back for her testimony against him? He’d threatened her, warning that he would find her and kill her with his own hands. And that had sent her running.

      Hiding.

      There was only one thing to do next. Find out if Santino had escaped. Tracy dug through the drawers in the old rolltop desk that came with the cottage, her nervous fingers creating a mess of the contents and making it more difficult to find the card she needed. She should have memorized the number. But she’d wanted to put that part of her life as far behind her as possible. Find some normalcy.

       Lord, why did this happen?

      She huffed a laugh. She was asking Jay’s question now. She hoped they would both get answers.

      There. She gripped the corner of the card at the very back of the drawer. Of course. Tracy slid it to the front and lifted it from the drawer. The insignia at the corner was a marshal’s badge similar to those worn in the Old West movies, only this one had an eagle embossed over the top of the badge. It read “US Department of Justice, United States Marshals Service.” Then “Jennifer Hanes, Deputy US Marshal” was printed beneath those words.

      Jennifer would have handled Tracy’s transfer into the WITSEC program if Tracy had chosen to go that way. She had told Tracy to call her if she ever needed her.

      Tracy’s hand shook so much, she couldn’t read the number. She placed the card on the desk. Though she dreaded the call she had to make, Jennifer would be able to give her answers. The problem was Tracy wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what the woman had to say. Still, she needed to know if Santino was still in prison or if he had escaped.

      She moved around the cottage until she found a good signal and made the call. It went to voice mail and Tracy left a quick message. She didn’t detail what had happened; only asked if Santino was still in prison.

      “Please call me back,” she said. “Something’s...happened.”

      Tracy ended the call. She had thought she’d never talk to Jennifer again. She hadn’t imagined she would ever have to. Setting the phone on the desk, she admitted that she’d really just hoped and prayed she would never have to contact Jennifer again.

      The call made, there wasn’t anything more Tracy could do until she heard back. She’d told the Mountain Cove police everything that had happened today. Everything except about her past and why she’d come to Mountain Cove. Telling them a killer could have followed her here when she was still considered relatively new to the community might make her look like a troublemaker. She’d been afraid to take that risk.

      Though she’d lived here only a couple of years, Tracy loved Mountain Cove, and up until today, she had thought she’d found a place she could finally call home. She could never go back to live in Missouri, where her family lived, or Sacramento, where she’d worked as a newspaper editor and where she’d met Derrick. Where all her troubles had begun.

      Of course, if Santino had actually come after her here, then she needed to tell the police everything so they would understand what they were up against. She wondered if other law-enforcement entities would get involved, too, swarming down on Mountain Cove. Then the community would wish they had never seen Tracy Murray.

      At the moment all she needed was time to think things through. Then if she confirmed it really was Santino she would proceed according to plan, whatever that was. Unfortunately, she didn’t know where else she could go.

      How could anyone have found her here?

      In the old comfy chair by the fireplace, Tracy tugged her knees up to her chin and watched the flames. Even though it was summer, the evenings were cold enough in Mountain Cove, Alaska, to justify lighting the fire. Soaking in the warmth, she tried to calm her nerves. Until she received a return call from Jennifer she would be on edge, trying to figure out what to do next.

      She lived rent-free with Solomon in a small cabin as part of her pay for working at Jewel of the Mountain Bed and Breakfast. The job and her living situation had fallen into place so easily after her arrival and had made her feel as though she was exactly where she was supposed to be. Finding Mountain Cove in the first place had been providential. It was the perfect place where she could hide as well as train Solomon for search and rescue. And it was so far off the beaten path, so distant from the world she’d known before, that she’d felt completely hidden and totally secure. But after the events of today, it didn’t appear to be far enough away to keep her safe. There was still a chance that her testimony, given years before, would get her killed.

      She hadn’t been the only witness to Santino’s crimes, but the other guy had taken the get-a-new-life card and run with it straight into witness protection. He’d left everything behind to escape having to live his life in fear that Santino would come for him one day.

      A knot grew in Tracy’s throat and lodged there. Had she made a mistake by choosing to stay out of the program, trying to keep from losing everyone else she loved? Hadn’t losing Derrick been enough? Had her decision backfired on her?

      Though Tracy had feared for her life during Santino’s trial, and the potential retaliation should he be convicted, her biggest fear had been losing her family. Her father had refused to change his name and move the family to start a new life with her. He’d refused to be forced away from the life he loved, surrounded by lifelong friends and extended family. He’d refused to leave behind the oil business he’d built. That wasn’t something he could easily build up again elsewhere.

      And Tracy had refused to leave her family behind—never seeing them again. Never making contact. That kind of price was too high for the added security of witness protection. It was as though she was the one being punished for doing the right thing.

      Instead, Tracy had moved to Alaska, to a place that couldn’t even be approached by car. A person could reach Mountain Cove—in the Inside Passage of Southeast Alaska—only via floatplane or boat. Hiking in was out of the question.

      And this way, she could still go see her family anytime she wanted, while protecting herself by being almost completely isolated from the rest of