Alaskan Ambush. Sarah Varland

mind putting that away?” Micah stepped inside, letting the door shut behind him.

      His voice was even, not in the least flustered, but he was out of breath and now that she’d had a minute to study him she could see that he was bleeding from one arm. Not the one holding his weapon, but his right hand.

      “Are you the one shooting at me?”

      “No.”

      “Do you know who is?”

      “Yes.”

      Kate lowered the gun. “All right, tell me.”

      Micah shook his head, holstered his own weapon. “There’s no time. I don’t know where he went but he saw you come in here and you can be sure if he intended to kill you earlier, he’s not going to leave you alone until he’s...” His voice trailed off and Kate raised her eyebrows as she studied the expression on his face. If she’d had any questions about whether or not he still saw her as a kid, his friend’s little sister, they were answered in his eyes and his hesitation. He was still trying to protect her, still saw her as a child, or at the very least like someone fragile who needed special care.

      “Killed me?” she finished.

      He winced like she’d hit him. Instead of feeling reassured, knowing that he did care about her well-being, she was frustrated. She was tired of her brothers treading lightly around her, trying to protect her because she was the youngest Dawson. Because she’d been through events that had almost taken her from her family.

      Those things had happened after Micah had left town. But small-town gossip was a strong force and news had probably found its way to Anchorage. Now he’d be overprotective like all the rest. As long as he didn’t whisper, like some people did, that would be enough for her. She’d heard someone in the grocery store just last week. That’s the one, Kate Dawson. She never did seem the same after that avalanche...

      “So what’s the plan?” she asked him, because he knew who they were dealing with. Generally she preferred to be the one making decisions. A lifetime of leading search-and-rescue work had gotten her used to it.

      “Stay out of the Delaneys’ way until I can get back to Moose Haven and call for backup and arrest them.”

      “Who are the Delaneys?” Kate knew everyone in Moose Haven, at least the year-round residents. The town grew in size substantially in the summer and she didn’t claim to know all the tourists who had seasonal cabins around the area. But this was winter. Not exactly high tourist season.

      “It’s a long story. Seriously, we have to go. He’s out there somewhere.”

      “He didn’t hit us earlier, so he can’t be that good a shot.” Kate tried to keep her voice even, rolled her eyes for effect, even though her insides were shaking. For all the high-risk situations she’d been in, she’d never been shot at before. She didn’t like it at all. Put this adventure down on the “do not repeat” list.

      “They killed my partner.”

      She swallowed hard, no response seemed appropriate. Her flippant comment about him not being a good shot stung now, but she didn’t know how to make it right.

      “I need your help, Kate. I wouldn’t ask if I had any choice, and I’d rather just whisk you away and keep you safe and be some kind of superhero, but I can’t.”

      “I’m not asking you to—”

      “I know. But I’m asking you.”

      “What do you want?” Again, she struggled with her voice, to keep her fears, her feelings out of it.

      “We need to get off this mountain without getting shot. We need to get to town so I can report everything that’s happened.”

      “I have a satphone. We can call now.”

      “It’s enabled with tracking, correct?” Micah asked.

      Kate saw his point. She had the phone off now, but when it was turned on she had it set to give regular updates about her GPS location. It wouldn’t take someone exceptionally good with technology to access that data. And while she didn’t know if the people after her were tracking her, it wasn’t worth the risk.

      Micah continued, “When we were kids you knew these trails even better than Noah and I did. You notice things other people don’t, Kate. At least you always used to. Since I found you out here, alone, in the dark, I assume you haven’t changed.”

      The admiration in his voice didn’t escape her notice and Kate felt her face warm with the praise. Should what he thought mean so much to her still? Whether or not she wanted to deny it, it did.

      But he was wrong about one thing—she had changed. But not in that way. She was still the best tracker Moose Haven had, and she appreciated that Micah remembered, had confidence in her that wasn’t swayed by her small size, her gender. She’d had to convince more than one new SAR volunteer that she was, indeed, in charge of their team and capable of it. Kate nodded. “I can get us off the mountain.”

      “I’d appreciate it. If there was any other way, if I could lock you up here and know you’d be safe and find my way down alone...”

      “But you can’t.”

      “I know. But just...know that I would.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I hate that I’m dragging you into this.”

      “You aren’t.”

      The way he narrowed his eyes made it clear to Kate she wasn’t the only one who struggled with past familiarity with someone warring against a suspicious nature. Micah Reed, suspicious? She could see him as a cop. He’d always wanted to help people and it was a way to do that, a noble one. But he had been one of the most trusting people she’d known, back then.

      Maybe they’d both changed.

      Maybe not for the better.

      “Seriously, Micah.” His name rolled so easily off her tongue, and she wondered for half a second how it would feel to start a friendship again with this man, who’d been one of her closest childhood friends—she’d always found it easier to be friends with boys than other girls. “Someone is after me. I’m already dragged in.”

      “Who?”

      Kate raised her eyebrows. “The guy who was shooting at me. So are you going to tell me who he is?”

      “Later. I have questions too, but if we don’t leave now...”

      Micah moved toward the door and Kate followed, then hesitated. “Actually maybe it’s better if we stay. You know?”

      “Why?”

      “He hasn’t shot at us lately. We have shelter here. He could be waiting outside the door.”

      Micah shook his head. “No. We need to leave.”

      “Why?”

      “Call it gut instinct.”

      “I don’t believe in instinct—I believe in observations and making choices based on those.”

      Was that a snort she heard from him? “Kate, come with me. I really think—”

      A sudden shot shattered the glass, which rained down on the cabin floor in a spray of shards. Kate felt the world slow as Micah reached out, took her in his arms and moved between her and where the shot had come from all in one smooth motion. “Run. I’ll follow you. But pick the best, most isolated path down this mountain that you can.”

      Kate nodded, and went for the door.

      “On my count,” Micah said as another bullet came in the open window and pinged off the edge of one of her metal stools. “One... Two...”

      “Three.”

      She shoved the door open, stepped into the blackness.

      Before her eyes had even adjusted,