“Oh my god!” I rushed from Silas’s side to Sabrina, throwing my arms around her back.
She drooped against my chest as I scanned her battered face. Both of her eyes were red and swollen. She had a gash on one cheek and another near her scalp. Her lip was puffy and split in the center.
“What happened?”
“I’m in a bit of tro—”
“Hey!” Kenny interrupted before she could finish. “Can I get paid so I can get the hell out of here and back to civilization?”
“Sorry,” Sabrina said. “Can you pay him?”
I nodded. “Sure.” Looking over her head to Kenny, I asked, “How much?”
“Five thousand dollars.”
“What!” I yelled, then looked down to Sabrina just to make sure she’d really agreed to pay this kid five thousand dollars. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I don’t have any money.”
“Kenny, I hope you have a PayPal account.”
He nodded and I turned to Silas. “Can you run inside and get my phone?”
He frowned, but when I mouthed “please,” he turned and jogged inside.
“Sab—”
“Don’t!” she blurted.
“What?”
“Don’t say my name,” she whispered. “I’ll explain when he’s gone. Okay?”
“Oh my god. You’re in deep, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much.” She started to slip so I shifted my feet and hands to help support her better. When I squeezed around her ribs, she flinched and moaned in pain.
“Here.” Silas returned and handed me my phone.
“Thanks.” I turned to Kenny and started questioning him rapid-fire so I could transfer him the money.
When he confirmed it was in his account, he gave Sabrina a sad look. “Good luck, Lois.”
“Thanks, Kenny,” Sabrina said. “Remember, this trip was just a nice little vacation all by yourself. And if anyone asks where you got the money, it was from an old friend paying you back for a loan.”
“Got it. I’ll be glad to forget today ever happened.” He rushed back to his car and backed away from the barn, spinning his wheels as he zoomed away.
When his taillights were out of sight, I asked, “Lois?”
“I didn’t want him to know my real name.” She stepped out of my hold. “I’m what you’d call ‘on the lam.’ ”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “Let’s go inside and you can tell us what’s going on.”
She nodded and started to limp forward but Silas said, “Here. Let me help.” He picked her up and carried her inside as I trailed behind them.
She gave him a small grin. “Thanks, Sexy Silas.”
“Sounds like you know who I am. Who are you?”
“This is Sabrina MacKenzie,” I answered, “my best friend, who is about to get the biggest ass chewing in the history of the world.”
“Better you than me,” he teased to lighten the mood. “Nice to meet you, Sabrina.”
“You too.” She looked over his shoulder and asked, “Any chance an apology will save me from that ass chewing?”
“No way in hell.”
She sighed. “I figured.” When Silas set her down on the couch, she rolled her hand in the air. “Commence ass chewing.”
“It has been weeks!” I yelled. “I had to call your boss and your doorman just to make sure you were still alive. I have been fucking worried! You made me stalk you and now this?”
“I’m sorry but I can explain.” She brushed her fingers against her swollen lips and winced.
Damn it. She was in pain and didn’t need me scolding her right now. I took a breath and reined in my anger. “Have you taken anything?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“I’ll get you something.” After handing her a glass of water and a plethora of painkillers, I sat next to her on the couch. I took her hand in mine. Blood was peeking out under her French-manicured nails.
“I knew something was wrong,” I said. All of my initial anger was gone and now I was just really, really, really worried. “I should have pushed harder to get in touch with you these last couple of weeks. I should have flown to Seattle and kidnapped your skinny ass.”
She laughed but then winced, using her free hand to clutch her ribs.
“Where exactly are you hurt?” Silas asked. He was sitting on the coffee table across from us on the couch.
“My face, obviously. I know it’s probably a wreck, but I haven’t seen it. How bad is it?”
I shook my head. “It’s not good. What else?”
“My ribs on this side where I got kicked. My ankle is pretty swollen and I think it’s sprained. I can’t put much weight on it.”
“Anything else?”
She shook her head.
I studied her battered face to see if she was hiding anything more.
“Nothing else. I promise,” she whispered. “Just the beating.”
That was bad enough, but I said a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn’t been raped.
“Okay.” I brushed her long blond hair out of her face.
It was strange to see her hair so dirty. Sabrina was willing to leave the house without makeup but her hair had to be perfect before she went out in public. She was going to need two rounds with the shampoo to get it back to its normal light blond, but that was going to have to wait until we got back from the hospital.
I looked to Silas as I stood from the couch. “Let’s take my car to the hospital.”
“No!” Sabrina grabbed my arm. “No hospital.”
“Why?”
“No one can know that I’m here.”
“But you’re hurt. What if—”
“No hospital, Felicity.” Her tone was as unwavering as her stare.
“How about this,” Silas said before I could keep arguing. “Let us call someone to help you. I’ve got a friend that used to be a nurse. She could come here and get you checked out.”
Sabrina thought about it for a moment but shook her head. “I’m in a lot of trouble. I’ve already taken a big risk by coming here. Anyone that knows I’m here could be in danger.”
“Let us be the judge of that. How about you tell us what is going on and then we’ll go from there. Okay?”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay.”
Silas squeezed my hand, nodding for me to sit. Perched on the edge of my seat, I held my breath, waiting for my best friend’s explanation.
Sabrina took a deep breath. “I’ve been working on a story to expose a prominent family in Seattle with ties to the Russian mafia.”
“Shit,” Silas clipped at the same time I stood and yelled, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I knew you would react this way. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“Of course this is how I would react! You don’t mess around with the mob, Sabrina. Everyone knows that! We used to watch The Sopranos together, for Christ’s sake.”
“Calm down, babe,” Silas said. “Let’s get the rest of the story before your head explodes.”
“Fine.” I frowned but plopped back down on the couch. It was a good thing he had an iron grip on his temper because I was about to boil over.
“It all started when I met this guy,” she said. “We hooked up a couple of times last summer but then I got busy at work and never called him again. I didn’t know much about him other than his first name and number. Not that I needed more. We were just casual and I didn’t plan on seeing him again after the last time.”
She shifted a little on the couch as she struggled to find comfort. I was sure that having spent hours in the back of a Prius had done nothing but make her aches and pains worse.
“Fast forward a couple of months, and my boss pulls me into his office to talk about an organized-crime story. He’d been sent an anonymous file with evidence showing that guns were being smuggled into the country by the Russians. Not a surprise, but for once there was a chance to prove it. So I’m sitting in his office, thumbing through this file, when I land on a picture of this guy.”
“What’s his name?” I asked.
“Anton Federov.”
“As in Federov Shipping?”
She nodded. “The Federovs are alleged to be one of the wealthiest mafia families on the West Coast but no one has ever been able to take them down.”
“So of course you felt the need to give it a shot,” I said dryly.
She shrugged. “I figured it was worth a try.”
Over the next half hour, Silas and I learned all the details about Sabrina’s investigation. She had been working tirelessly through the fall and winter and had managed to collect enough documentation and evidence to send the Federovs to prison for the rest of their lives.
“How big of a smuggling ring are we talking about here?” Silas asked.
“From what I can tell, almost every international cargo shipment has at least one illegal container. Hundreds of thousands of banned weapons have been coming into the country over the last ten years.”
“Shit,” he muttered.
That meant a lot of money was involved. If Sabrina’s story threatened to cut off that illegal income for the Federovs, she was in serious danger.
“How does all of this lead to you being driven to Montana by our friend Kenny?” I asked.
“I had an inside source but everything he gave me led my investigation to shell companies. If I ran the story or handed it over to the cops, the port authority would have gotten a slap on the wrist and nothing would have changed. So I called up Anton and we started ‘dating.’ I figured if I was his girlfriend, I might be able to find evidence that tied him and his family to the gun shipments.”
“And he found out?” Silas asked.
She nodded. “This morning. I had been using a fake last name, but somehow, he learned who I was and that I was a reporter. He came to my apartment in a rage,” she pointed to her face, “and did this.”
“He could have killed you.”
She unzipped the collar of her jacket, revealing angry red bruises on her throat. “He almost did.”
I gasped and clamped a hand over my mouth as my stomach rolled. No wonder her voice had sounded hoarse.
“I almost died today. I really fucked up.” Her hopeless whisper brought tears to both our eyes.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and reached for her hand. “But you didn’t” was all I could say.
We sat quietly for a few moments, both processing the gravity of the situation. I had almost lost my best friend today and I could still lose her. The Federovs could be on their way to Montana at this very moment.
“How’d you get away?” Silas asked.
“I got lucky.” She swiped at her eyes. “Anton was choking me but stopped. He said before he killed me, he wanted to . . .”
“Rape you.” I finished her sentence.
She nodded and a tear fell down her cheek. “He must have thought I was too weak from his punches and kicks because he left me on the floor and stood up to unbuckle his belt. When he did, I kicked him in the balls as hard as I could and then ran for the door. I twisted my ankle when I was running down the stairs.”
“How’d you find Kenny?” I asked.
“I left through the alley exit and ran to the CVS on the corner. I begged the clerk to call an Uber. When Kenny showed up, I told him I’d pay him five grand under the table to drive me the twelve hours to Montana.”
“And Anton has no idea where you’re at? There’s no way he could have followed you?” Silas asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “With any luck, before they can find me, each of the Federovs will be in prison. Yesterday, I sent a file to the FBI that has evidence directly linking Anton, his brother and his dad to the gun smuggling. My boss is running with the story as we speak.” She turned to me and with a small grin. “I got the bastard.”
I grinned back. She’d gotten herself into an epic mess, but she had always been committed to making the world a better place. And now she had.
Silas stood from the coffee table and raked a hand through his hair. “You’re in a fuckload of danger.”
“I know.” Her frame deflated and she shrank into the couch. “What am I going to do?”
I didn’t have an immediate answer. Families with mafia ties were not known to just let their enemies go free. But there had to be a way to figure this out. We could—no, we would find a way to keep her safe.
“Let’s start by getting you cleaned and bandaged up.” She opened her mouth to protest but I held up my hands. “No hospital.”
Her shoulders fell as she breathed, “Thank you.”
I took a quick inventory of her clothes, but none were salvageable. Her black leggings were ripped and her pale-pink zip-up was spotted with dried blood. Her matching pink tennis shoes were also spotted but would have to work because her feet were two sizes smaller than mine. “While you take a nice, hot shower, I’ll find you something else to wear. Then we’ll regroup.”
She nodded. “Good plan.”
I helped her to the bathroom and brought down some clothes from the bedroom. As the shower turned on, I met Silas in the kitchen and let him pull me into his arms.
“I’m scared,” I whispered. “This is bad. I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
I needed Sabrina in my life. She loved me for me and I loved her for her. We confided in one another. We always told each other when jeans gave us mom butt. We were going to be nursing-home roommates. We were a pair.
Silas kissed the top of my head. “You won’t lose her. I’ll make sure of it, but babe, she can’t stay here. I don’t want her anywhere near you until this blows over.”
“She has nowhere else to go. We can’t just kick her out. Can’t we think of something?”
He answered by pulling out his phone from his pocket.
“Who are you calling?”
“Reinforcements.”
The first to arrive after Silas got off the phone was Maisy with a sleeping Coby in her arms. Our next guest was my brother toting his gun and Gigi’s massive first-aid kit. Lastly, Beau Holt arrived wearing the same angry frown as Jess.
Even if he was grumpy, my brother’s presence eased a lot of my worries. I was confident that between Silas, Jess and Beau, we could come up with a plan to keep Sabrina out of the Federovs’ grasp.
“When are the women of this town going to stop causing so much trouble?” Jess asked as we stood around and waited for Sabrina to come out of the shower.
“I’m telling Gigi you said that,” Maisy said, joining us in the kitchen.
Jess grumbled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Shit. Thought you were upstairs.”
“Is Coby still asleep?” I asked.
She nodded. “He could sleep through an earthquake.” Turning to Silas, she asked, “Where’s my patient?”
“She’s in the bathroom. When she comes out, can you take a look at her face and ribs?”
“No problem.” She started inspecting the contents of the first-aid kit. Maisy had once been a nurse, but after being kidnapped, held captive and nearly killed in the hospital, she’d given up her career to take over Prescott’s motel.
“Thanks for coming to help,” I said. Luckily, Maisy had been willing to come over so we hadn’t had to call over a pregnant Gigi.
“No problem. I’m glad to be—”
She stopped talking when the bathroom door opened. Everyone’s eyes swung to the hallway as Sabrina limped out and came right to my side.
“Sabrina, this is my brother, Jess. Remember I told you he’s also the Jamison County sheriff?”
“Hi,” she said dismissively and turned to me with a frown. “Did you forget in the last thirty minutes that I was in hiding? Who are these people? And you brought in a cop? We can’t report any of this.”
“Don’t worry,” Jess said. “I’m off the record.”
She relaxed a bit so I continued introductions. “This is Maisy Holt. She used to be a nurse so she’s going to take a look at your injuries.”
“Thanks,” Sabrina told her. “I’d appreciate that.”
Lastly, I introduced Beau. “And this is Beau Holt, Maisy’s brother. We were in high school together.”
Sabrina tipped her head way back to meet Beau’s stern scowl. She was a couple of inches shorter than me, which meant he stood almost a foot above her. “Nice to meet you,” she said but his face didn’t soften. Sabrina assumed a scowl of her own and asked, “I get why the cop and the nurse are here, but what’s your role in all of this, Goliath?”
“Sabrina,” I hissed.
“What?” She feigned innocence.
Before we could start debating the appropriateness of her affinity for nicknames, Silas interjected. “Beau’s here to help figure out where we can stash you for a while.”
“Stash me?” Sabrina asked. “I thought I could just hide out at Felicity’s place.”
“Not happening,” Silas stated at the same time Jess and Beau chorused, “No.”
“Sit down.” I pulled out a stool and patted the seat. “Maisy can get to work on you while we all brainstorm what to do.”
“How about we get the full story first?” Jess asked. “I’d like to hear this from the beginning.”
Thirty minutes later, everyone knew Sabrina’s story. Maisy deemed none of Sabrina’s injuries too serious and said the wounds on her face would heal with minimal scarring. Deciding the less she knew the better, she collected Coby to go home. The minute the door closed behind her, Jess started grilling Sabrina about the evidence she’d sent to the police.
“You’re sure you got enough evidence for a conviction to stick?”
“I’m sure. The FBI should have taken down an illegal handgun shipment,” she glanced at the clock on the oven, “six hours ago. With my intel, Anton should currently be sitting in a jail cell.”
“You trust the federal agent you contacted?”
She nodded. “I’ve worked with him for years. He’s a good guy and an even better cop. He’s solid.”
“If he’s such a good cop, why’d he let a reporter do an investigation meant for the FBI?” Jess asked.
“You kept it a secret, didn’t you?” I asked Sabrina.
She nodded. “No one knew what I was doing.”
“Reckless,” Jess huffed. “Just like coming here. You should have gone to your FBI guy instead.”
“Probably,” she admitted. “But I panicked and my first thought was to run. I’m not all that confident in protective custody and really don’t want to enter witness protection.”
Jess shook his head. “The Federovs aren’t going to stay in jail for long. They’ll be after you if they aren’t already.”
“I know but as soon as my story breaks tomorrow, they’ll be hounded by the press. They won’t be able to go anywhere without an audience.”
“That still doesn’t make it safe for you to go back to Seattle,” I said.
“And you can’t show your face in Prescott,” Silas added. “The first place they’ll look for you is with family and friends.”
“You need to be off the grid,” Beau rumbled.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Jess said. “You got any ideas?”
“Maybe one of the outposts? The one on the north side of Fan Mountain? I could take her up there and get her settled. Stick around for a while and clean the place up. Then make trips up and down to keep her in supplies.”
Jess and Silas shared a look. Were they grinning? How was this funny?
“I think that would work,” Silas said.
“What’s an outpost?” I asked.
Jess smirked. “Think of it like a cabin in the woods.”
“Wait a minute.” Sabrina’s face paled. “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll just promise not to go out in public, stay tucked away in Felicity’s closet or something. I’ll be like Harry Potter living in my tiny cupboard.”
“I’m sorry, Sabrina,” Silas said gently, “but I’m not having you anywhere near Lis.”
Silas, my protector. My heart warmed and I gave him a small smile.
“I can understand why you’d say that,” Sabrina said. “I don’t want her in harm’s way either, but I’m not going to disappear into the wilderness with a strange man.”
“Then what are you going to do?” Jess asked.
She lifted a hand and twirled a lock of hair. She was worried. Really worried. That hair twirl was her one tell. “I don’t know. I need a new ID. Maybe a car. Can you lend me some money?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay. What else?” Sliding off her stool, she hobbled across the living room to a big window and stared into the dark night.
“Talk to her, babe,” Silas said quietly. “Going with Beau is the safest thing for her. She shouldn’t be on her own and out in the open.”
I nodded and turned to Beau. “What’s this outpost like? The truth?”
“It’s not much, but there’s water, power and heat. We use the outposts for forest-fire crews and the one I’m thinking about is really secluded. She’d be as hidden as it could get.”
Damn it. They were right but this was not going to be an easy sell. “She hates nature. She hates dirt and bugs. She gets weekly mani-pedis and spends every Friday afternoon shopping. This will be like torture for her.”
“If she goes out on her own and fucks up, she’ll hit their radar in seconds and then she’s dead,” Jess said.
I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around my stomach. I couldn’t bear to think about what the Federovs would do if they tracked her down. She’d be tortured, raped and killed, of that I had no doubt.
This outpost was her best shot at life.
“Talk to her.” Silas rounded the island and tucked me into his side. “She’ll listen to you. When she sees how worried you are, she’ll go with Beau.”
I nodded, leaving the men in the kitchen, and went to the living room and stood next to Sabrina. Taking a few moments to stare into the dark night, I formulated my speech, then dove right in. “I think you should go with Beau.”
“No way,” she fired back immediately.
“Please, hear me out? They’ll track you down if you’re using my credit cards. The five thousand dollars I gave Kenny is going to show up as a huge red flag. They could find you here in the time it would take you to get a fake ID. It’s not like you can jump on an airplane. So what does that leave? You driving around the country like a vagabond, living out of the back seat and cheap motels?”
“That sounds better than living in a shack in the mountains.”
“Really? Are you sure about that? I’ve heard three out of ten motels have bed bugs.” That last part wasn’t true but it helped make my point. She would be miserable constantly running from one place to the next and there was no way she’d be able to afford top-of-the-line hotels for however long this lasted.
She took a deep, loud breath and dropped her forehead to press against the glass. “Fuck. You’re right. I’ll go with Goliath.”
“Thank you.” I pulled her in for a gentle hug. “He’s a good guy and I know he’ll keep you safe. Think of it like a rustic adventure. Maybe write a story about it.”
We spent the next two hours rushing around Prescott buying food, picking up supplies from Beau’s house and getting Sabrina clothes and linens from mine. By the time we came back to the ranch, it was well after midnight and Beau’s truck was packed to the brim.
Standing outside the barn, I wrapped my arms around Sabrina and held tight. “I love you. Watch your back and listen to Beau.”
She nodded. “Love you too, lady. Be safe.”
We hugged until Silas’s hand stroked the back of my hair. “Time to go.”
“Take care of her,” she said to Silas at the same time I said those words to Beau.
Both men nodded and I hugged my friend once more. Please don’t let this be the last hug we have. My silent wish floated into the dark night sky. When Beau’s truck disappeared down the gravel road, I found myself wrapped in Silas’s arms.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?”
He sighed. “I honestly don’t know, but I hope so.”
“Me too,” I whispered. Me too.