Mountain Investigation - Jessica Andersen 4 стр.


She hit the ground running. Splinters and woodchips from the clear-cutting bit into her feet, but she kept going. Seconds later, the alarms went off, emitting a mechanized buzz that sliced through the air and straight through to her soul.

She wanted to scream but held the sound in, hoping to delay discovery as long as possible. Maybe they werent even home. Maybe theyd gone to meet

Shes out. Get her! Lees shout warned that she wasnt that lucky.

Moments later, a shotgun blasted behind her, and a full pellet load blew out the top of a nearby stump as she ran past it. The next shot hit the ground behind her, stinging the backs of her calves with dirt spray.

The pain worried Mariah that shed miscalculated, badly. Apparently, theyd rather have her dead than free.

She screamed once in fear, but then clamped her lips on further cries. She wouldnt give up! Sobbing, she flung herself the rest of the way across the clear-cut zone and hurdled the low electric line with ill grace.

She landed hard, stumbled and went to her knees, her legs burning with injury and exertion. As she fell, the shotgun roared, and tree bark exploded right where her head had just been.

Blubbering, she rolled and scrambled back up, then ran for her life as Lee and Brisbane bolted across the clearing and plunged into the forest after her. The alarms cut out abruptly. She heard the mens curses and their heavy, crashing footsteps. They were close. Too close!

She didnt dare loop around to the vehicles at the front of the cabin; she couldnt trust that the keys would be in plain sight or that her captors hadnt created some sort of roadblock farther down the lane. So she ran the other way, deeper into the forest, limping on her badly abraded feet, but unable to slow down for her injuries. Her breath sobbed in her lungs, burning with each inhalation, and wetness streamed down her face, a mix of tears, sweat and panic.

There! Brisbane shouted from her right. Over there! For craps sake, get her!

Brush crashed, the noises closer now and gaining on her. Mariah kept going, but her body was weak; her legs had gone to jelly and her feet and calves screamed in pain. She stumbled, dragged herself up and stumbled again. This time she went down and hit the ground hard. For a second, she lay there, stunned.

Before she could recover, rough hands grabbed her.

Panic assailed her and she started to struggle, inhaled to scream, but someone clapped a hand across her mouth and hissed, Quiet!

Then the world lurched and he was dragging her, lifting her and wrestling her into what looked like a solid wall of thorny brush from a distance, but up close proved to be scrub covering a deep depression, where a tree had fallen and the root ball had popped up, forming an earthen cave of sorts.

Excitement speared through Mariah alongside confusion. She looked back and got an impression of a square-jawed soldier wearing a thick woolen cap, heavy, insulated camouflage clothing and no insignia. He wasnt Lee or Brisbane. He wasrescuing her?

He shoved her into the hiding spot and crowded in behind her.

Down, he whispered tersely, pressing her into the cold, moist earth and following her, rolling partway on top of her so she was beneath him and they were pressed back-to-front, with his heavy weight all but squeezing the breath from her lungs.

The fallen tree had rotted over time, providing nourishment for the profusion of vines and scrub plants that had sprung from it, forming an almost impenetrable thicket. But would it be enough to conceal them fully?

Her rescuers arms tightened around her, and he breathed in her ear, Be very still. Theyll see us if you move.

Coming from nearby, she heard the sound of footsteps in the undergrowth, and a mans muttered curse. Freezing, Mariah pressed herself flat beneath the soldier, and held her breath, praying they wouldnt be discovered.

The noises stopped ten, maybe fifteen feet away. After a moment, Lees voice called, Are you sure you saw her? Theres nothing here.

She was there a second ago. Keep looking. Brisbanes answer came from the other side of the woods, back toward the cabin. After a moment, Lee moved off.

Mariah counted her heartbeats, trying to stay calm as she exhaled slowly, then risked inhaling a breath. Another. The sounds of the search diminished slightly, suggesting that the men had moved to the other side of the cabin.

Hoping that Lee and Brisbane were walking into one hell of an ambush, she rolled her eyes back, trying to get a look at her rescuer as she mouthed, Where are the others hiding?

He must be part of a coordinated attack, right? Somehow, someone had learned that she was in trouble and had sent help.

Most likely, the FBI agentsparticularly the cold, gray-eyed bastard whod kept questioning her father even after hed started complaining of chest painshad been keeping watch on the cabin. Theyd probably identified Lee days ago and were just now moving in, knowing al-Jihad was on his way. The thought that theyd known she was in there and hadnt bothered to mount a rescue beforehand brought a kick of resentment, but it was no more than shed come to expect from the Feds. They carried out their own plans on their own timetable, and to hell with the people they hurt in the process.

But the soldier shook his head slightly. Im alone, he breathed in her ear. Quiet now. Theyre coming back.

What? Mariahs thoughts churned. It didnt make any sense that hed be up on the ridgeline alone, but she couldnt deny the physical reality of him, either. She wouldve demanded an explanation, but just then, Brisbane and Lee returned, stopping very close to the thick copse where Mariah and the soldier were hidden. The two men conferred in low voices.

Breathing shallowly through her mouth, Mariah flattened herself against the moist, partially rotted leaves and twigs beneath her. She was acutely aware of the man pressed against her. The solid weight of him was more reassuring than it probably should have been, and she fought the urge to huddle her chilled body into his heavy warmth as her mind continued to race.

What sort of soldier worked alone?

Ill call down and have the boss bring up more men, Lee said. Well fan out, search every rock and tree until we find her. The bitch has to be hiding somewhere nearbytheres no way she got away that fast with no shoes.

I told you to keep her drugged, Brisbane spat, disgusted. Told you she was smarter than you gave her credit for.

Lees voice edged toward a whine. I thought al-Jihad would prefer her awake.

Awake doesnt do us any good if shes gone. This was your idea. At this point, youd better hope to hell she doesnt make it down the ridge, or your ass is toast.

Al-Jihad wouldnt do anything to me. He needs me.

Al-Jihad doesnt need anybody, Brisbane countered. Come on, lets keep looking. Ill start over here while you call down and tell the others we need a fullfledged search party. Have them bring up infrared, night vision, the whole works. Theyll want to watch the roads, too. The bitch is bound to turn up somewhere.

Despite the warm weight of the man pressed against her, Mariah began to shiver, fear and confusion warring within her. What did they want from her? Whatever they wanted, the men were right about one thing: in the absence of help, it seemed highly unlikely that shed make it to safetythe nights were too cold, the trails difficult to manage without proper climbing equipment, never mind without shoes of any kind. If she had help, though, she might very well make it off the ridge and into the city safely.

Question was, did the man who held her count as help?

As Lee and Brisbane moved off in opposite directions, the sounds of their steps fading to forest silence, she stirred beneath the stranger, twisting around to get a good look at him. Who are She bit off the question with a quiet hiss when she recognized the cool gray eyes beneath the woolen cap, recognized the suit-clad monster in the man shed thought was a soldier. Grayson! She spat the word out like a curse.

It was Special Agent Michael Grayson, the FBI agent whod made her life a living hell and nearly killed her father in his efforts to get at a truth that had existed only in his mind.

And now she was at his mercy.

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