Chapter 12

Caleb stared across his plate at the woman before him. She was thoughtfully chewing on her sandwich and seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him. He couldn't blame her.

But even as he realized it was for the best, Caleb couldn't help wanting to pull her closer, just as he was pushing her away. Yet the dream came back to haunt him. He couldn't hurt her, couldn't risk that, not when she'd come to mean so much to him.

"I think you should leave the park," he said before he could change his mind. "You can either go back to your college or stay somewhere in the vicinity, maybe in Alsea. But you can't stay here."

"Why not?" she asked, finally meeting his eyes.

"You know why not."

"No," she said, a flush rising up her soft cheeks, "I don't."

Caleb growled. The woman loved frustrating him. "It's too dangerous here."

"Why? Because of the flooding?"

"No," he said, his eyes boring into hers.

"Because of the invisible miners?"

"That's part of it, but not the main reason."

"Then what's so dangerous?"

"Me," he said softly and watched her inhale sharply. "I'm dangerous to you. You shouldn't stay here."

"Caleb," she began, and he heard the let's-just-be-reasonable tone in her voice and cut her off.

"I don't want to hear another lecture. You know there's something between us. When I'm around you, I can't stop myself. I want to touch you, to hold you, to be inside you. But I shouldn't. I can't. So you have to go."

Dani looked as if she'd been slapped. "Just because you can't control yourself, I'm supposed to give up my research? Do you know how much work I've done to get here? I'm not going to toss it all away because you can't keep it in your pants."

"I'm not the only one," he said, looking at her meaningfully.

Dani scowled. "That's utter bullshit! What happened to 'I don't do relationships'? Sounds like you're the one being clingy now."

She crossed her arms, her dark eyes hooded. "I'm not leaving. Period."
It was Caleb's turn to scowl. Why couldn't she just listen to reason? Why did everything turn into a debate with her? "Well, you can't stay here. And your campsite is probably underneath three feet of mud right now, so you certainly can't stay there. What does that leave you?"

He watched her, watched the wheels turning behind her expressive eyes. He thought for a moment that perhaps she'd surrender, and he was surprised at the disappointment he felt. But he should have known better.

"The shack!" she shouted in triumph. "I'll stay in the hunting shack. It's pretty close to my campsite, so I should be able to pick up the feed from my cameras there without a problem. And we know it's not damaged. As long as you'll loan me some of your firewood, I should be able to make do until my camp can be reclaimed."

Shit, Caleb thought. He'd already forgotten about the shack. She had a point. "No." The shack was still too close. He'd know she was in there, and he doubted he could keep himself from pursuing her.

"Why not?"

"Just no."

He didn't want to let her know just how much she affected him. If she hadn't gotten the hint already, he wasn't going to say the words.

"Really?" she asked, and he didn't trust the tone in her voice. "Well, I don't think it's up to you. I have permission from the Forestry Service, and the support of Brice Masterson. So I'm staying. If you want to call up your superiors and explain to them that you can't stop yourself from popping a boner around the new scientist and therefore she has to leave, be my guest. But until they tell me I have to go, I'm staying."

"Dammit, Dani," he said, slamming his palm against the tabletop. "Why are you making this so hard?"

"Me!" she shouted, her anger ratcheting up. "You're the one making this hard! I've done years of research and now I've finally got a chance to really prove my theory and you want me to just throw that away. Why? What are you so afraid of?"

He stood and walked over, stopping in front of her, staring down into the heated pools of her dark eyes. "I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt."

He stood there, breathing in her scent, wanting nothing more than to bury his face in her neck, to run his tongue around her ear and press his lips to her soft skin. His body ached for her. He'd had her just a couple of hours ago, and he still wanted more. Needed more. She was more precious than air.

But he was going to have to learn to go without breathing.

"No one is going to get hurt," she said softly, but he read the doubt in her eyes. "We just have to stay away from each other. It's like hiding the box of cookies before you eat it all in one sitting. If we can just avoid each other, we'll avoid temptation."

"I don't know if I can."

He closed his eyes and leaned down to place a kiss on her neck. He opened his eyes and saw the purple bruise next to the place his lips had been, and it hardened his resolve. He straightened and backed away.

"Stubborn woman," he grumbled, turning his back on her.

* * * * *

Dani sighed, unsure of what to do. Caleb stood looking out the window, his back to her. She wanted to go to him, to put her arms around him and tell him that she wasn't afraid of him, that he couldn't hurt her, that it was okay to open up to someone, to trust someone, but she couldn't.

She was afraid of him, afraid of the way he made her feel. When she looked into his pale eyes she wanted to forget all her hard work and just melt in his arms.

Danielle had always been an independent woman, a woman who knew what she wanted. And she wanted a successful career in academia. She wanted respect and admiration. But she'd always expected to have to go it alone. She'd always been alone, and it was hard for her to imagine things any other way.

But when she looked at the ruggedly handsome ranger, she doubted her own goals, her own independence. And that was dangerous. She was so close to achieving everything she'd wanted, and she didn't want to be derailed now, especially by a lone wolf who was busy pushing her away even as he pulled her into his embrace. It wouldn't work, no matter how much her heart wanted to argue that it could.

So she stood there, waiting. Finally, he turned around, but his eyes would not meet hers. "Fine," he said, scarcely above a whisper. "I'll take you to the shack. And I'll leave you alone, barring any unexpected natural disasters."

"Fine." She bent to shove her computer back into her bag and then straightened to toss the remains of her lunch into the nearby garbage pail. "I've only got a few more weeks until the snow starts falling anyway. The frog population will go into hibernation soon, and when they do, I'll head back to campus and away from you. Surely nature can hold off on any more disasters until then."

"Maybe nature will be able to," he said, so softly she didn't think she was supposed to hear, "but I don't know if I can."

* * * * *

Letting the professor stay was simultaneously one of the hardest and easiest things Caleb had ever done. He'd left her there with plenty of firewood and supplies, so there was nothing to worry about.

Except that he couldn't get her out of his head.

It was as if a string was tied to his heart and stretched all the way from his cabin, across the park, and into the hunting shack. Last night he'd been plagued by dreams, all of which had featured her. They'd passed from erotic to violent and back again with such speed and intensity that he'd finally rolled out of bed before dawn, sweaty and shaking. Now he stood on his porch drinking the last of his coffee and pondering the day before him.

He had to forget about her, drive her out of his mind, at least for a few hours. So he decided to continue his search for the miners. It was time to investigate the only clue he had -- the overflow of the Alsea.

He knew the cliffs nearby were riddled with caves and decided to start there. Caleb loaded his kayak onto the ATV roof and made sure to secure his pack before taking off for the riverbank. He decided to head a couple of miles upriver to avoid the mud, and when he finally slid his kayak into the water and climbed inside, the sun was high above him.

Caleb paddled downstream, thankful that this stretch of water was far enough away from the falls to be somewhat calm. The high water still raced around him, but it was not white water. Not long after he'd started, he saw the cliffs rise up before him, and he moved closer to the bank.

Although the water was rapid, he was able to use his paddles to slow himself down as he floated in front of the rock face. He remembered there being a decent-sized entrance to the cave system coming up, and he decided to pull ashore nearby and investigate it. Caleb steered into a section of bank that was low enough to climb onto, and he pulled his kayak up behind him.

Turning to face the cliffs, he checked his pockets to make sure he had his phone. He figured it would serve to capture pictures of whatever he might find. Caleb used all of his skills to move quietly along the cliffs, seeking the entrance he knew was around here somewhere.

Finally, he found it, a dark maw that opened a hole in the rock that was nearly ten feet high and at least as wide. Caleb pulled his flashlight out of his pack and crept closer. He waited to turn on his light until he was in the cave and the natural light was no longer great enough to see by.

It was risky, exploring a cave alone, which is why he'd ignored these caverns so far, preferring to wait for the survey team. He flipped on his flashlight and shined it on the walls around him. The cave was straight for the next thirty feet before him, but then it made a gentle curve around a corner. Caleb crept forward, realizing as he made his way around the curve that there seemed to be some light up ahead.

He turned off his flashlight and waited for his eyes to adjust. Sliding forward, his back against the wall, he listened carefully. He thought he heard the hum of machinery, and as he made his way around the corner, the light grew brighter.

Finally, a large chamber revealed itself, dimly lit by an artificial light. The humming sound was obviously a generator.

I don't fucking believe it. They're here.

He'd heard Brice's warnings, even seen the footprints around Dani's camp. But he hadn't really believed that someone would have to balls to set up an illegal mining operation on state-owned lands.

It was incredibly risky, and he knew then that the risk wasn't the miners' alone. If they spotted him before he got back out, chances are he wouldn't make it out unscathed.

Caleb glanced around the cave and realized then why he had not been able to find any machinery hiding in the trees. That was because it was here, tucked away inside the cave and out of sight. There was a small dozer and a jackhammer, and a couple of other pieces of machinery that Caleb could not recognize.

It was amazing that they had been able to bring all this equipment by boat, but there was no other way they could have got it here. The operation was larger in scale than he had imagined. It would have taken months of planning and movement of equipment. Would they have hauled the machinery on massive rafts, or taken it apart and reassembled it here?

However they accomplished it, these miners now had a well-outfitted operation that had nearly remained secret. Caleb pulled out his phone and prayed that the light was bright enough to make out the evidence before him. He snapped some shots then put it away when he heard voices coming from deeper in the cave.

The voices were getting louder, and he knew that soon the miners would be in the same part of the chamber as him. He slid backward along the tunnel wall, counting on the shadows to hide him. Crouching low he listened, at last able to make out their words.

"I can't believe they finally hit the vein," one said with a laugh. "I thought for sure that rich old man was crazy, but for the pay he was offering, I figured it wouldn't matter if we found the gold or not."

"Still, I'm happy they did find it," another said. "It means a hefty bonus for all of us."

"Yup," the first voice replied. "My wife is really excited about that bonus. She's already got a necklace picked out at Tiffany's."

"You told your wife? Weren't you worried she'd gossip about it? This is supposed to be top-secret, you know."

"She knows it's illegal, and she won't tell anyone. She doesn't wanna jeopardize her acquisition of that new necklace."

Both men laughed. Caleb wished they'd talk about something more important than the first man's greedy wife. He didn't have to wait much longer, though, as the next thing they said caused his heart to freeze in his chest.

"I don't know how you can even think about you wife when we've got such a hot little ticket in the vicinity."

"You mean the frog lady?" the first one asked with a hoarse cough. "Yeah, she's choice, that one. Too bad she's off limits."
"Says who?"

"Says the boss man. He doesn't want anyone to even know we're here. He said we're not to disturb her, or that big bastard of a forest ranger. Besides, I think that asshole ranger's got dibs on her."

Damn right, Caleb growled in his own mind.

"That's bullshit," the other muttered. "No one's gotta know it's us, anyway. More than likely they'll think it's drunken turkey hunters. I've got some camo in my truck back in the lot. Maybe, later on tonight, after the boss man's left for the night, we'll paddle back here with our hunting gear and bag us a little game, if you catch my drift."

"She'll think we're hunters, huh," the first guy replied, his tone indicating that he was thinking things over. "That could work. Okay, I'm in."

"What about your wife?"

"Screw her. She gives all her attention to jewelry and none to the family jewels if you catch my drift."

The pair started laughing again, and Caleb clenched his hands into fists. It took all of his willpower to stay where he was. He wanted nothing more than to rush into the chamber and beat the living shit out of them, but he knew there were others in the cave, and he guessed that they were probably armed. So he backtracked silently, making his way out of the cave.

He headed down the path, returning to his kayak, but stopped suddenly when he saw two men dragging a canoe onto the banks next to his craft. One looked up and caught sight of him, then pointed him out to his partner, a giant wearing a pistol in the holster on his hip.

Caleb ran, breaking through the foliage, heading along the bank and trying to keep hidden. He heard the men crash through the vegetation behind him and sped up, keeping low. Still, the high water, weeds, and bushes made movement difficult.

He was unable to lose the men who were following him. Managing to stay several steps ahead of them, he ran downstream towards a shallow portion of the river where he could ford and make it back to the other side.

Soon he couldn't hear the men behind him anymore and he thought he might have lost them. He entered a clearing and sprinted across it, towards the large trees on the other side.

Suddenly from behind the trunk of a tall pine stepped a man holding a shotgun pointed straight at him.

Damn, they must have walkie-talkies. Caleb tried to skirt around him and take cover behind a tree. Just at that momen,t he heard a crash from across the clearing. The men who had been chasing him tumbled out of the woods and caught sight of him again. "Freeze!" the man with the shotgun yelled, and soon all three had converged on him.

He stopped, panting, chest heaving. "Hands in the air," the man with the gun ordered, and Caleb complied. One of the men from the canoe pulled out a plastic zip tie from his utility belt and told the ranger to put his hands behind his back.

Caleb just stood there, staring, and the man was forced to yank his arms to secure them behind his back.

"Go back and get the canoe," the giant told his companion, and he departed, leaving Caleb to face the man who'd tied him up, while the shotgun-toting goon stood behind him. "Let's put out his lights," the large man said, looking past his shoulder, and Caleb braced himself.

Still, the blow from the butt of the rifle sent up a flare of pain before he collapsed into unconsciousness.

* * * * *

Dani made her way back to the hunting shack, her muscles burning with strain. The mud was everywhere, and she'd spent several hours tramping through it, attempting to recover the cameras buried beneath the muck. She'd only been able to retrieve one before she gave in to exhaustion. Now she yanked the boots off her feet, relieved.

Since she'd lost one of her boots in the slide, she'd had to borrow an oversized pair from Caleb. Even with four pairs of his socks her feet still slid around within their confines.

Dani sighed blissfully as she sat down on the hard wooden bench inside the shack. She was able to catch her breath before the cold set in. She finally had to get up and start a fire to warm up the small room. Soon hot flames were crackling inside the belly of the old iron stove and she started to thaw out. After munching on an apple and drinking some water, she pulled out her laptop to check the feeds of her cameras.

Although she'd recovered one, the other cameras were still operational in the field. At least she hoped they were operational. She checked the feeds on the ones she had placed low to the ground first. One had escaped the flood, secure within a tree trunk and apparently out of the path of the slide.

The other was no longer transmitting, Dani realized with a curse, and so she assumed that one was buried under a foot of mud somewhere.

She still had the cameras placed in the trees, however, and both of those were transmitting. Dani decided to look over the footage for the past couple days to check for any activity she might have missed during the day of the slide and the day after. The camera that was lodged low in the tree trunk did not give her much.

It seemed the flood had disturbed the normal goings-on of the waterhole. She sped through the footage, noting down times in which frogs made an appearance for later analysis. Her grant included funds for data analysis, and she smiled at the thought of paying a couple of eager graduate students to meticulously comb through and code the data for her.

Dani switched to the feed for one of the tree cameras and sped through that on fast-forward as well. The action here was even lighter than the lower camera. She paid little attention to the blurs on the screen as it sped forward until this afternoon. Suddenly she stopped fast-forwarding and watched, her attention riveted to the screen.

She saw Caleb run onto the screen, the angle strange due to the calibration of her camera. He stopped, then raised his hands above his head. Dani gasped when she saw three men approach him, then trembled when she saw the man with the shotgun point it at him from behind.

She cried out when the ranger was hit in the head, and she watched him fall, biting her lip with concern. The men then dragged the ranger off the screen, and Dani's hands were shaking as she rewound the footage to watch it again.

Once she'd confirmed that she had seen what she'd thought she'd seen, Dani grabbed her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen. Nothing happened. She tapped harder. Nothing. "Shit!" she yelled.

She'd forgotten to charge it, and it was out of battery power. And she couldn't charge it here as there was no generator. What should she do? How could she let anyone know about the danger Caleb was in?

Dani's thoughts raced for a solution. She saw only two options. Option One: She could hike up to Caleb's cabin and plug in her phone. It would be an hour before she made it to the cabin, and according to the time stamp on the footage, it had already been several hours since Caleb had been attacked. By the time help arrived and they were able to locate him, who knew what might have happened.

Option Two: Go after him herself.

She would start at the tree where the camera was located and see if there was a trail. If she could find where they were keeping the ranger, she could then go for help and lead the authorities right to him. It was a scary proposition, but it made sense. If she called the cops before she knew where he was, their searching might tip off his captors and lead to violence, and maybe even Caleb's death. If, on the other hand, she could locate them without tipping them off, the cavalry could sweep in with the element of surprise.

It took only a second for Dani to make up her mind. She strapped back on the oversized boots, pulled her .22 out of her pack and secured it in a holster around her leg, and she headed out of the hunting shack, on the trail of the criminals who had hurt her ranger.