Wilderness Secrets. Sharon Dunn

Stupid Brent. How could she have been so naive? Just because a man holds a girl’s hand in church every Sunday doesn’t mean he’ll be faithful. At least she’d dodged a bullet and found out before they were married. Tears warmed her eyes and she sniffled. That didn’t make the heartache go away.

      She glanced one more time up the mountain where Jesse had gone. She couldn’t see him anymore. She had half a mind to go up there and demand an explanation. She turned and took several more steps toward the trees.

       Let it go, Abby.

      This was just about the pain of the breakup. Pain too easily turned to anger, and she was considering taking it out on the person in closest proximity, namely Jesse. She stomped forward. Getting into an argument with a client was never a good plan.

      If he wanted to navigate himself down the mountain, fine. If he had never intended to go fishing, fine.

      The truth was, she had never experienced betrayal at the level of Brent’s. Her father had been a good man, a faithful man who had taught her everything about wilderness survival, just like he’d taught her three older brothers. Her throat tightened, and she swallowed to push down the heartbreak that kept nagging at her.

      Would she ever be able to trust a man again?

      She stopped abruptly when she heard a noise coming from the trees. A sort of rustling and moving around, almost indistinguishable from the other forest sounds. Animals were usually stealthier as they moved through the forest.

      And then a sound that resembled a grunt reached her ears.

      Her breath caught. Her heart pounded.

      That didn’t sound like a bear or a deer. The noise was human.

      DEA agent Jesse Santorum perched on the mountain peak and drew the binoculars up to his face. At this high point, he had a view of the landscape down below to the west and to the east. To the west, he saw the woman who had guided him up here headed toward the trees. Abigail Murphy walked with a determined stride despite the weight of the pack she carried. Even at this distance, he could see her long blond braid flopped over the backpack. She walked with such intensity, almost like she was mad.

      Though he’d been up-front with her, she’d seemed agitated that he only required her services to get him to this point. In fact, she had been a little huffy toward him for the three days they’d been together. She seemed distracted, as well. At one point, she’d led him down the wrong trail, and they had to backtrack several miles.

      He hated not being totally honest with her about why he’d come up here, but he had no choice. For her own safety, it was better that she didn’t know the real reason he was in these mountains. He’d needed her expertise to get to this remote location. He told her only part of the story to keep her out of danger.

      The truth was, he had a different way to get out other than hiking. He turned and stared through the binoculars to the east. Camouflaged with tree branches, the downed drug plane was right where Lee Bronson, another DEA agent, had said it would be. If he had told Abigail about the plane, it would have made her a target. The cartel would stop at nothing to get information out of people.

      He had a pilot’s license. His plan was to fly the plane out. It was Lee’s fingerprints all over the drugs, not his. The hard drive that contained the original photographs and audio tape that Lee had doctored and given to the DEA was in there, too.

      While they’d been running an operation down in Mexico, Lee had been hit with a fatal bullet. His dying confession was that he had framed Jesse for the drugs he’d stolen. Now the DEA thought Jesse was the turncoat, and the cartel was after him for the drugs Lee had taken for personal gain. He’d gone rogue, not knowing who would believe him at the agency and who would turn him in. Agents in the field who worked with Jesse knew his character, but he was uncertain how much Lee had poisoned the higher-ups in the organization against him. If he had evidence, he might be able to clear his name.

      He glanced back down to where Abigail was about to disappear into the trees. She stopped and lifted her head, as though she’d heard something.

      Two men emerged from the forest and grabbed her, dragging her back into the evergreens.

      His heart squeezed tight as he bolted up from his hiding place. He grabbed his handgun from the backpack where he sat it on the ground, and raced down the mountain. He’d sent her away to protect her, to ensure her safety.

      Maybe those men who’d gone after Abigail lived up in these mountains and would be aggressive toward anyone because they weren’t used to people.

      As he sprinted around the rocks, navigating the steep incline with ease, he realized that a showdown with crazy mountain men would be a best-case scenario. At the back of his mind, he wondered if the cartel had tracked him to Montana because they desired revenge and wanted their product back.

       Oh, God, let that not be the case.

      He slowed down as the terrain leveled off, seeking cover behind rocks and bushes. He entered the forest. With his weapon drawn, he pressed his back against a tree and listened for any sound that might be out of place.

      He took in several ragged breaths and then moved deeper into the forest. His heart drummed in his ears and his muscles tensed, ready for a fight.

      He swiped any images of violent things happening to Abigail from his mind. He was no good to her if he let himself be distracted by his own fear. He needed to use the fear to focus, to stay strong, to keep any harm from coming to an innocent woman like Abigail.

      With his gun raised, he took one careful step forward. A sort of crashing sound to his right caught his attention. He eased toward where the noise had come from. Through the trees, he saw a flash of movement and color.

      He stopped when he heard voices.

      A male voice said, “You two are in this together.”

      “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Abigail’s words were filled with anguish. “I was hired to guide him up here.”

      Jesse pressed his back against a tree and closed his eyes. This was the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. He had to get Abigail away from these men.

      The same male voice responded, “You’re protecting him.”

      “No, I was hired to do a job. That’s all I know,” she said.

      “You will take us to him,” the other man shouted.

      Why hadn’t Abigail said that she’d last seen him going up the ridge? Was she trying to protect him at the expense of her own safety?

      “Please, let me go. I don’t know anything. I dropped him off by the lake. He was going to do some fishing. I don’t know anything. Who are you, anyway?”

      “We ask the questions.”

      The second male voice piped up. “I bet we can use her to lure him out.”

      Jesse squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his gun even tighter. How dare they use her as bait?

      “How do we know he’s not sitting in the cockpit of that plane?” asked the first voice.

      “Nothing’s shown up in the sky yet. Besides, he’s not going to leave his partner behind.”

      “I’m not his partner. I told you that. Please, just let me go. I won’t say I saw you.”

      Jesse stepped a little closer to assess exactly what he was dealing with. He crouched and moved toward the voices, one careful step at a time. When he was close enough, he hid behind a tree and peered around it.

      There were three men. One of them held a rifle and wore a backpack. His job appeared to be guarding and watching. He walked the perimeter around Abigail and the other two men.

      Jesse’s heart squeezed tight when he saw Abigail on her knees, her head down. They must have dumped her backpack somewhere. At least she wasn’t tied up.

      Both