Standoff At Midnight Mountain. Mary Alford

ground as possible until they’d reached the horses.

      “Keep as low as you can,” he told her as they mounted their horses once more and headed in the opposite direction from the shooters.

      Both he and Rachel leaned in close to their horses’ necks, almost lying flat against the beasts.

      “Can we make it to the base of the mountain riding?” Alex’s tone was strained. He glanced back over his shoulder, as if expecting the enemy to emerge behind them at any moment.

      Rachel made sure Callie was able to keep up with them. She wouldn’t leave the dog behind no matter what.

      “Yes, but we’ll have to go slower in that rocky terrain, and we will be using up valuable time we don’t have to spare. Alex, we need help.”

      The path widened slightly and he rode up beside her. With no sign of the men behind them, they sat up straight once more. “Who do you suggest?”

      In her mind, there was only two people she trusted other than Alex. “The Reagans are my neighbors and good friends. I can call Tom and have him meet us someplace. He can pick up the horses and bring a four-wheeler. We’ll make better time with it.”

      She could tell Alex wasn’t nearly as confident in the plan.

      “Alex, you can trust them, I promise. They moved to the area soon after we all went away to the university. I’ve known them ever since I came back home. They’re like family.”

      He slowly nodded. “If you trust them, so do I. Give them a call. The sooner we get to Liam’s meeting location, the faster we’ll be able to figure out what happened to him.”

      The problem was that she had no phone to make the call. “I destroyed both my phone and Liam’s right after I called the number he’d written down. I phoned you from my landline. I thought that if what Liam suspected were true, and these people are somehow connected to the CIA, a rogue group of agents perhaps, they’d pull apart my life piece by piece. Probably track his cell or mine. Or both. I couldn’t take the chance.”

      Admiration shone in Alex’s eyes. She’d put a lot of thought into destroying the phones, but then, some of her CIA training was still useful.

      “Good thinking. Hang on.” He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to her. “Use this one. It’s a burner phone and no one knows the number.”

      She smiled her gratitude and dialed her friend’s number while praying that whoever was chasing them hadn’t contacted her neighbor already.

      The short amount of time it took Tom to answer did little to settle her nerves.

      “Tom, it’s Rachel. I need you to meet me at Willow Creek as soon as possible. And bring the four-wheeler.”

      “I should be able to do that,” Tom said in an evasive tone that made her wonder if someone was listening in on the conversation.

      Rachel glanced uneasily at Alex. “I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours, then.” After a second of silence on his end, she told Tom goodbye and then ended the call. She handed the phone back to Alex while praying she wasn’t leading the enemy right to them.

      “He’s on his way. Willow Creek is due north of here. There’s some pretty hilly areas between, but we should be able to make it in an hour.” She hesitated. “Alex, Tom sounded strange, almost as if someone were there and he couldn’t talk.”

      Rachel could see right away that he didn’t like it. “You think they’re watching him?”

      She shook her head. “I don’t know, but we’d better check out the area around Willow Creek very carefully when we get there. We could have unwanted company.”

      The trail was just wide enough for the two of them to ride side by side for a bit and, thankfully, it was mostly level.

      “Where will this trail take us?” Alex asked, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding woods.

      “It will dump us out at Willow Creek after we summit Plume Mountain.”

      She couldn’t help it; she had to look at him. His gaze tangled with hers. She could see that he remembered the place, as well. They’d once spent a lot of time hiking the valley below Plume Mountain and fishing back when it had been her, Liam and Alex. Before life got complicated and their career paths took them through troubled waters.

      “When was the last time you spoke to Liam?” Rachel asked, mostly because she needed a distraction to get his attention off her so that she could reclaim some of her equilibrium.

      There was something in Alex’s gaze that drew her in and made her wonder if he, too, was remembering their time here together. Back then their romance was just beginning. They had skirted around the edges of their feelings since they were teens. She’d often wondered what her younger self would have done if only she’d known the outcome.

      “Too long ago, I’m afraid.” He clearly regretted the lapse. “I’d like to say we both got busy, but I guess in truth it was just too hard.” He spared her a look and she swallowed with difficulty and looked away, her heart going crazy with possibilities. Did Alex have regrets about their parting? He certainly hadn’t showed it all those years ago.

      When Rachel had made up her mind to get out, she hadn’t realized how hard it would be. Hadn’t known she’d be walking away from Alex along with the Agency. She’d been a broken person when she came back to her hometown of Midnight Mountain. She’d spent weeks crying. Liam had tried his best to console her, but Liam was cut from the same cloth as Alex. They both ate, breathed and slept the CIA.

      For a long time, Rachel hadn’t known what to do to move on beyond Alex. She’d gone to church with the Reagans one Sunday. She had felt a sense of peace that day, realizing that she wasn’t alone in her pain. Knowing that God was with her no matter what happened in her life. It was because of this that her heart had begun to mend.

      “To tell you the truth—” Alex’s familiar voice interrupted her unsettled thoughts “—I’ve missed working with Liam...and you.”

      Her heart contracted painfully and she struggled to keep from showing how hard it was to hear him say those things. Why was he telling her this now?

      She’d buried how handsome he was deep in her heart. Now it was a painful reminder of the dreams she’d given up. He was tall and fit; his dark brown hair now almost touched his collar. Those piercing green eyes still held a hint of mischief in them whenever he smiled, as they had when they were kids growing up together. Yet the years and the job had left their mark on him. Fine lines fanned out around his eyes and mouth. She’d witnessed enough horror in her years on the job to know the reason behind those lines.

      Rachel shoved those dark memories back into the recesses of her heart. She needed to keep her focus on her brother.

      “I called Liam a couple of months back,” Alex said, surprising her. “He didn’t answer, but he called me back a little after from a phone number I didn’t recognize. For some reason, the number stuck in my head.”

      He gave it to her. She didn’t recognize it, either. She shook her head. “I’ve never heard him use that number before.”

      Alex nodded. “Anyway, we talked for a bit. He sounded...tired. Distracted, maybe. He said he was getting ready to leave on a mission to Iraq.”

      She remembered the time. “You’re right. Liam was distracted back then. Actually, for a while. At first, I wasn’t so worried. You know how Liam throws himself into his mission to the point of being consumed by it. But his behavior became increasingly more withdrawn as the weeks went by. Then he showed up at my house...and you know the rest.” She shrugged. “I think Iraq was just a staging location, though. He was heading behind enemy lines.”

      “It makes sense. The fewer people who know about where an agent is going, the better chance they have of surviving. The last time we talked, he told me a little of the same things he told you. About this new player coming onto his radar.