Standoff At Midnight Mountain. Mary Alford

didn’t understand what was going on, but the couple that came to her house knew about her brother. They’d known Liam had been up on the mountain along with someone else, presumably his asset. They believed he was injured and possibly still there. Would she and Alex be too late? Would they find her brother dead? She couldn’t bear the thought.

      Lack of sleep made it hard to keep her thoughts focused, but she had to try. Liam needed her.

      “Did Liam ever mention knowing someone whose name starts with the initial D? A friend maybe?”

      She watched as Alex tried to recollect any such name. He shook his head. “No, never. But one thing’s clear. Liam would never have left those things behind if he wasn’t worried about something. He wanted you to have them in case...”

      He left the rest unsaid but she knew what he meant. In case Liam didn’t make it down from the mountain.

      “Did you check Liam’s phone for calls? Maybe someone he called can help us figure out where he’s at?”

      She had checked, and the results were disappointing. “I did. It was as if he’d deliberately cleared out all the numbers.”

      Rachel could tell this didn’t sit well with Alex, yet he tried to reassure her. “Maybe he was afraid the phone might fall into the wrong hands. He could have been expecting those people to show up at your place.”

      None of these options helped ease her fears any, and he must have seen it.

      “First things first. We need to get out of sight as quickly as possible. Once we have a chance to breathe, we can come up with a plan to locate Liam.” Alex smiled and then turned his attention to the road ahead while uneasy thoughts churned through Rachel’s mind.

      Who was this new player Liam had uncovered and how were they connected to her brother’s vanishing? There had to be more to the story than what Rachel knew, because right now, all she had to go on were bits and pieces of a puzzle that might well lead them to a deadly conclusion. And every minute they didn’t know the answer, Liam’s life was in danger.

      * * *

      Alex was still shell-shocked by the things that had happened since he’d returned to his hometown of Midnight Mountain; his head burst with unanswered questions. His fear for Liam’s safety wasn’t eased one little bit by what Rachel had told him.

      While they might have lost the men chasing them for now, they weren’t out of the woods yet. Without knowing why those men were coming after Rachel and Liam so mercilessly, he had no idea what they were up against. There could be more armed men saturating the surrounding countryside and staked out in town waiting to ambush them.

      Alex made several more evasive turns as a precaution before they shot out onto the outskirts of town in the opposite direction from the house where Rachel was living.

      A quick glance in the rearview mirror assured him they weren’t being followed—yet.

      He slowed the car’s speed and glanced over at Rachel. “They’ll be looking for this car. It’s not safe to be out in the open like this for long.”

      Alex tried to recall some of the back roads they’d once used as shortcuts when they were younger, but he’d been gone from the area since his parents passed away in a car wreck his senior year. He’d graduated high school and went away to college. After that, he’d joined the CIA and his work had taken him around the world. He hadn’t been home since.

      Rachel pointed up ahead. “There’s a county road a little ways from here. And I know where we can hide out for a while. Maybe they’ll think we’ve left the area and they’ll move on if they can’t find us right away.”

      Alex turned onto a less-maintained road filled with potholes. As much as he wanted to believe it, these men had proven themselves ruthless.

      “At least we’ve lost them for now.” He sounded much calmer than he felt inside. In the space of a less than eight hours, his life had been turned upside down. His friend was missing, and he and Rachel were working together again to try to figure out what had happened.

      There was little doubt in his mind that Rachel’s worry for Liam’s safety was valid. She wasn’t the type to jump at shadows.

      “Those people were there because of Liam. They thought he’d be at my house.” She turned in her seat so that she could look Alex in the eye. “He’s in serious trouble. He’s up there on Midnight Mountain somewhere...and I’m not sure if he’s still alive.”

      What she said struck like a blow to the gut. “You think Liam may already be dead?” Alex couldn’t allow himself to even contemplate the possibility. He and Liam were closer than friends. They’d grown up together. They were like brothers.

      “I don’t know.” She shook her head, her tone conveying her fear for her brother.

      In spite of what had happened today, one thing bothered Alex a lot. Why was Rachel so convinced that Liam was in trouble with very little to back up the conviction? Was he missing something, or was there more to the story than what she’d told him so far?

      “How do you know for certain that Liam’s not still on a mission? You must have something more to go on than the fact that you haven’t spoken to him in a while and he left his phone and a map at your place. I know the two of you are close, but you realize it’s not uncommon for an agent to go dark for a long time when he or she is working a lead.”

      He barely got the words out before she rejected his theory. “It’s more than that, Alex, and I know it.” Her words wiped away what little bit of hope he still held on to. His heart wouldn’t let him go there. He couldn’t imagine losing Liam.

      “Have you spoken to his handler?” He sure hoped she’d overlooked something. While Alex knew the information the CIA would give out to a civilian was limited, she was different. She’d once been one of them.

      “I’ve tried. Seth isn’t answering. And when I called his boss, he gave me the company line. He said he couldn’t discuss any details concerning Liam’s mission. When I told him I was worried Liam might be in trouble, he pretty much dismissed me. He told me that I, of all people, should know that when an agent is on a mission, they go radio silent.”

      Alex felt his hands were tied as to what to do next. “I need to reach out to Liam’s boss right away. Perhaps he’ll talk to me.”

      He barely finished the sentence. “No, you can’t.”

      Alex stared at her, his eyes wide with surprise. “Why not?”

      Rachel turned away in a defensive manner. There was something she didn’t want him to know. “You just can’t, okay.”

      She didn’t fully trust him yet and that hurt like crazy. Was it because of what happened between them, or who he worked for?

      He blew out a frustrated sigh and agreed to go along with what she wanted for the time being. “All right, I won’t make that call just yet.”

      It would be up to him and Rachel to put the pieces together and bring Liam home alive.

      Alex glanced in the back seat where the dog had finally settled down, although she still kept a close eye on Alex. It was clear the dog was protective of Rachel.

      “Who’s your friend?” He nodded behind them when she looked at him in confusion.

      “Oh. Her name is Callie, and she’s been my good friend for a very long time now.” Something bordering sadness shadowed her eyes. He wondered about her husband. Where was he when all this was happening to Rachel? Why was she alone at her house?

      Alex would give just about anything to ask that and the question foremost in his mind: Did she still hate him for the way he’d ended things between them? He glanced her way. Saw the closed-off expression in her eyes. They weren’t there yet. Emotionally, she was on the other side of the earth from him. She’d put up a wall between them that didn’t encourage him trying to scale it.