Chapter Two
Mia had a moment of hope when she woke up alone in the tent the next morning. Maybe the whole bizarre interlude with the cop had just been a dream her subconscious whipped up to distract her from her brush with death yesterday. Maybe she hadn’t even really been caught up in not one, but two, slides the day before.
She poked her arms out of her sleeping bag and stretched cautiously, then groaned. It had been real all right. The muscles in her legs and back ached, and her pale skin was covered in peacock-bright bruises. She gritted her teeth and started at her toes, clenching and releasing each group of muscles to get the blood flowing and warm up her stiff limbs.
Neville had shared his warmth with her through the night, pressing his spine into hers while keeping a close watch, and a heavy paw, on the cop taking up the other side of the two-man tent. But Nev had let himself out earlier, probably to ensure the cop stayed off his territory.
A cop. Of all the people to encounter halfway up Chieftain’s Mountain, a cop and a couple of drug runners were not what she’d ever expected. He’d stripped off his leather jacket before he’d come into the tent the night before, and both forearms were sleeved with tats. Between the ink, the barely tamed black hair, and a slash through one eyebrow that came right to the edge of a light brown eye; he certainly looked the part of a low-level criminal. But, crazy as it was, his story made sense. Yesterday’s shifting winds had carried an odd chemical scent, and the peculiar angle on the treetops on the next slope could have been caused by spinning rotors. She’d been so distracted by the sight she’d got caught up in the slide.
Dismay tightened her chest at the thought of the equipment she’d lost under the rocks. Her stepdad had given her a set of binoculars on the first camping trip they’d taken after he married her mother. Their love of the outdoors had cemented what could have been a tempestuous relationship. After the cancer had finally taken him, she’d cherished the few mementos she had. The rest of her gear could be replaced, but she’d mourn the loss of those binoculars.
Her reverie was broken by the sound of splashing and laughter, and her hope that her ordeal was over vanished. So Hudson hadn’t gotten up early and wandered away after all. She supposed it was really too much to hope for. She peeled out of her sleeping bag and dug the change of clothes out of the bottom. A package of baby wipes substituted for a shower, and then she was out of the tent and braiding her hair as she walked down to the small creek that ran nearby.
Or at least it had been a small creek before yesterday’s rains. She whistled softly as she took in the changed landscape. Where yesterday the narrow stream had burbled and eddied along, today it was wider by several metres and rushed and whooshed over rocks and trees roots that had been bone-dry the day before.
Neville was delighted. As Mia fastened the bottom of her braid with a worn elastic, the dog launched himself from a large boulder that was now jetting out over the stream and did a belly flop into the water. Mia laughed out loud. Despite his intimidating appearance, Neville was a still a puppy at heart. He loved to play and run, and she sometimes felt guilty he didn’t have a pack to keep him company.
Her laughter cut off as Nev suddenly rose above the water as though being borne on a litter. His tail swished madly through the air and he tilted his head to lick the hand supporting his chest. Rumbling laughter sent the tail twirling faster and then, with a heave from below, Neville was airborne, legs outstretched fore and aft, and a drop-jawed expression of pure doggy bliss on his face. And then all one hundred and forty pounds of him hit the surface and sprayed Mia from toes to neatly braided hair.
More laughter followed. After Mia wiped the water from her eyes, she saw Neville climbing the bank and Hudson doubled over as though he had his hands propped on his knees below the water. He straightened up with a hand pressed to his stomach and exhaled through his weakening chuckles.
Her mouth was suddenly dry, and she turned away from the sight of his naked torso, ridged with muscles and decorated with a yoke of tattoos across his collarbones that fed seamlessly into the ones covering his arms.
“Good morning,” he said.
She faced him, eyes direct on his. “Morning.” She didn’t return the dimpled smile. No matter how hot, she had no use for a cop, and she needed to part ways with this one. Fast. She pointed to the sky. “There’s more bad weather on the way. We need to be off the mountain when it gets here.”
He squinted upward, then hit her with the grin again. “Seriously? Come on. Sun’s coming up strong, sky is clear. It’s a beautiful day. Aren’t you happy to be alive?”
“Ecstatic.”
Hudson leaned back and pushed off the bottom so he was floating on his back. His skin prickled in the cool morning air and sodden boxers clung to his skin. “Well, you might want to tell your face.” He lifted one had out of the water and made a circling motion in the direction of her head. “Looks like you’re at a funeral.”
She bit her tongue on a sharp retort and turned away. What he didn’t know—what she couldn’t tell him—was that if she didn’t get away from him, the funeral she ended up at might very well be her own.
She heard a splash, then a yell, and turned back to see Neville jogging after her with a pair of boxers dangling from his jaws.
Hudson’s charming smile was nothing compared to hers as she made the short trip back to camp.
#
“What’s going on? Is it always this busy here?” Hudson asked Mia.
The parking lot was full of media trucks, their logos clashing with each other and the serene landscape. A collection of smaller vehicles was clustered around a yellow school bus in the far lot. Adults and a few children stood in a semi-circle listening to an individual gesturing with a clipboard in his hand. It was totally unlike the ghost town he’d seen when he and Cain’s henchmen had shown up yesterday afternoon.
Mia shrugged. Her head moved from side to side and her steps slowed. Her hand curled around the bottom of her braid. He’d found out this morning her hair was a rusty brown that suited her green eyes perfectly. Those eyes tilted upward at the outside edges when she smiled, which he’d only been able to make her do once in the entire trek down to the old resort. And that had been when he’d let himself get distracted roughhousing with Neville, and the dog had sent him ass over teakettle into a patch of stinging nettle.
He scratched his wrist where a welt from the plant still itched. He prided himself on being able to prompt exactly the reaction he wanted from people, but Mia was proving to be the exception to the rule. Great dog, though. After their rocky start the night before, Neville had obviously come to the conclusion Hudson meant Mia no harm and had warmed up to him quickly. The dog was now trotting happily alongside Mia. He carried his own bowls and food, along with some other items, in sturdy panniers that rested over his back. She’d clipped an extendable cable leash to his collar and the other end to her belt as soon as the noise from the old resort had reached them, but Hudson was sure it was unnecessary. She and Neville were totally in sync.
“Over there!”
Hudson turned to find a gaggle of reporters and camera-crew headed toward them at full speed. A look behind him indicated nothing that would be generating such interest. Mia’s face mirrored his own confusion, and Neville took several paces forward, fur slightly spiked between his shoulder blades. And then there were microphones in their faces and the black-hole lenses of cameras trained on them.
“Were you with the missing children? Are they hurt? What are your names?”
Mia had been trying to edge away from the scrum, but stopped dead. “What missing children?”
There were mutters and groans among the crews, and the crowd dispersed as quickly as it had gathered. One reporter stuffed her recorder into her pocket and held out a hand for Neville to sniff. The dog looked at Mia and, when she nodded, moved close enough to the reporter so she could give his ears a good rub.
Mia tried again. “There are kids missing?”
The woman was on her knees now, knuckle-deep in Neville’s chest fur. “Beautiful dog.” She looked up at them, then pointed her chin at the bright yellow bus in the parking lot. “A school group came up yesterday for a guided hike. They were due back in town last night, but the guide called to say one of the kids had hurt his foot and they’d be delayed. No one’s heard anything from them since. You didn’t see any sign of them?”
Mia tugged her braid. “No, nothing at all.”
She glanced at Hudson and he shook his head slightly. He didn’t think even Gio and Raj would hurt a kid, let alone a pack of them. They were thugs playing at being gangsters. Other players were acceptable targets, but kids? Still, his heart beat faster at the thought of children being lost in the wilderness with the drug traffickers running loose. It nearly stopped entirely when he realized there was a new wrench in his plans to call in his handler to get a bird in the air to fly over the area to look for the drugs.
“Where’s Search and Rescue? Are they sending up a ’elicopter?” He ignored the way Mia’s eyebrow lifted when he put the French accent back on.
The reporter gave Neville a final scratch and stood up. “SAR teams are on their way, but they’re calling for more extreme weather, so using the helicopter’s out apparently.”
Damn. If they weren’t going to send a helo up to rescue little kids, police brass sure wasn’t going to send one up on the chance a civilian could locate a suspected crash site - even if there was a drug shipment on board. He’d just have to stay close to Mia until the weather cleared. He had the distinct impression he’d never see her again if he let her out of his sight before then.
The reporter nodded at Neville and handed Mia a card. “He really is a stunner. Give me a call if you ever breed him. I’d love one of his pups.”
Mia shoved the card in a pocket as the woman walked away. She turned to look back the way they’d come and tugged at her hair again.
“It’s fine, Mia. Search and Rescue’s coming,” he said.
She glanced at him and then away. “I know. It’s just…kids get scared, you know? One of them’s hurt and—”
“And help is on the way.” He caught sight of someone moving toward them and his pulse picked up. He reached for her elbow and tugged gently. “Is your car nearby?”
She turned back to him with a frown. Then she looked past him and her expression froze. She immediately changed direction and started walking away. Well, that was interesting. Apparently his intuition hadn’t been wrong the night before. He knew why he didn’t want to come to the attention of the local police force, but why was she so reluctant?
“Excuse me, folks. I need a few minutes of your time.”
Looked like he might just find out.
The uniformed police officer didn’t chase after them, but the command was clear in his voice, and when they looked back he was standing wide-legged with his thumbs tucked under the thick leather of his duty belt. He inclined his head to a large RV clearly marked as the mobile command centre. “This way, please.”
Hudson met the other man’s eyes briefly and tipped his chin down. He put his hand at the small of Mia’s back and almost stopped in his tracks when he felt the tremors rippling through her layered shirts. He made himself keep walking forward and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. The scattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose stood out against the sudden pallor of her skin. He’d been watching her walk all morning, thinking idly that she moved like a dancer, all fluid and grace. Now she was moving like she was held together with rubber bands that had lost their snap.
The cop opened the side door and motioned them inside. “The dog—”
“Comes.” Hudson gave him a flat stare and the cop responded with a one-shoulder shrug.
Mia glanced at him and offered up a wavering smile, bringing his grand total to two Mia smiles. In nearly twenty-four hours. That had to be a record for his worst performance.
The cop shut the door behind him and pointed to a map displayed on a huge screen. “If you could just show me where you were coming from today? And a timeline of your movements, please.”
Mia’s hand slid protectively over the GPS in her pocket before moving to rest on Neville’s head. He flicked his tongue under the side of her wrist, and she released the leash from her belt and handed it to Hudson. She stepped up to the screen and pointed to a spot that was marked as the old resort they were currently at.
“We came out at this point, roughly, what…fifteen minutes ago?” She looked at Hudson and he nodded abruptly. The less talking he did in front of the local, the better.
The other cop looked up from his note pad. “Where did you camp last night?”
Hudson’s opinion of the man sank a bit. Always better to let the witness tell the story in their own words, then take them back through it for detail afterwards. Mia’s shoulders had inched up when the cop spoke, but she nodded and moved her finger to a different spot on the screen. A dot lit up. He realized it was a high-tech touchscreen and some of his faith in the local force was restored.
“We camped here. Started down around seven, as soon as I noticed the clouds piling up. We followed the ridge line across to here.” A green line trailed from her finger—a little shaky, but not enough for the cop to wonder about—and then she made a small circle. “And we stopped for a half hour or so somewhere around here.” She took a step back from the screen. “There was a creek coming through, and a large patch of stinging nettles.” She glanced at Hudson and he kicked an eyebrow up. He was pretty sure he saw the corner of her mouth twitch, but then the cop coughed and her face went still again. “And then we followed Surley’s Pass back down to the parking lot.”
“And you saw no sign of another party?” the cop asked.
Hudson tensed. Would she rat him out? If she told the man about Gio and Raj, his case was officially over.
Mia’s gaze flicked his way before landing somewhere over the cop’s left shoulder. “None.” She hesitated , then continued, “There were no signs anyone had been in the area, either.”
“No?” The cop made a note in his book and leaned back against a table with his pen hand clasped lightly over the book. Nerves pinged along Hudson’s spine. That was a classic disarming pose. The cop was going to dig. “Would you recognize signs if you did see them?”
She met the man’s eyes, level and a little contemptuous. “Well, if I missed them, the dog wouldn’t have.”
“Ah. Yes. I see your point.” The cop stood straighter and scratched his chin with the pen before scribbling a few more notes. He checked the screen and nodded. “Add that one to the others, please?”
Hudson tried not to react when the view on the screen suddenly shifted and changed, adding Mia’s data to a bunch of other lines. He’d been so distracted by Mia’s obvious discomfort he hadn’t noticed the tech, a woman wearing glasses and a messy bun, nearly obscured by the racks of computer equipment against the far wall of the RV.
Small shaded patches appeared alongside Mia’s lines. “Does that match how far you think you could have seen off your route?” The woman’s voice was blasé, disinterested, but Mia nodded.
“Pretty close. You can extend the sight line maybe another fifty or hundred metres out in all directions from that point.” She tapped the screen. “There’s a slight incline, so we had a good view.” The tech made the adjustment and Mia nodded then studied the screen some more. “Are these all the reports you have so far?”
The cop glanced up from a stack of paperwork he was perusing. “They are.”
Mia took a step away from the screen. None of them had been as far away from the resort as they had, and none had moved to as high an elevation. She lifted her eyes to Hudson’s and he saw apprehension in the way she chewed at the inside of her lip. She sighed and returned to the display, checking to make sure she still had the tech’s attention. “What were the children doing up here? What sort of outing was it?”
The cop didn’t answer this time, just kept flicking through his paper.
The tech made an exasperated noise and looked at one of the screens surrounding her. “They were on a guided tour of medicinal plants used by the First Nations groups in the area.”
Mia nodded. “Can you bring up an orthophoto?” The tech sat up a little straighter and the tapping of keys filled the small space. A satellite image superimposed itself on the trail readings already on the screen. “And layer on the elevation readings?”
Black loopy rings printed themselves on the photo. Hudson’s nerves ramped up again, and he knew Mia was going to give them more information about what had happened to them the day before. He also understood why she felt like she needed to, but hoped she’d keep Raj and Gio out of her account
“Okay, there was a slide on the shale face yesterday afternoon around two, and then again in the early evening, maybe around six.”
Hudson shifted his weight and Neville bumped his nose into his thigh. Damn, she’d been trapped under that rock for nearly four hours. No wonder she’d lost it when she thought he was going to walk away. And no wonder she was so worried about these kids. He shuffled his feet again. Was wrapping up this investigation really more important that potentially rescuing a bunch of children?
Mia continued her explanation. “The first one was higher on the slope. The second one happened lower, about here.”
The tech was animated now and seemed to be sharing Mia’s thought process. She zoomed in on the area and panned lower, to the area below the drop-off that Mia had nearly plunged over the night before. Even though it was a more gradual slope and had more trees and outcroppings, the trickle-down effect of the slides could easily have had devastating consequences.
“Right there,” Mia said.
The cop finally put down his paperwork and moved closer to the screen. “Right there what?”
Mia immediately took two large steps away from the officer. He gave her a mildly curious glance before shifting his attention to the tech, who had stood and was flicking various pieces of equipment into action. She didn’t bother to stop or look at her colleague while she worked.
“Right there is where the washout last night would have probably trapped the kids. Best case scenario, they just got stuck on the other side of a slide too big and unstable to hike over.” The tech’s voice was even, but a slight tremor in her hands betrayed her.
The cop went into action, pulling out a list of contacts and keying up the radio. He glanced at the tech, then Mia. “And worst case?”
Mia shared a look with the other woman, then walked over to the screen and put her finger farther down the slope. It was nowhere near the area he and the others had been sent out to search. Hudson’s breathing came a little easier. At least that was one less concern. It was hugely unlikely Raj and Gio would come across the kids. As she completed the circle, the line turned red and Hudson’s stomach sank once more.
Mia took a hiccupping breath. “Worst case, they got caught in the slide and you’ll find them here.”
#
Neville nudged her with his nose, and she bit hard on the inside of her check. No way she was going to break down and cry. Not here, not now. No way. She pulled air in, pushed air out. If she acted normal, she’d feel normal.
She’d given the cop all the information he needed, and search and rescue crews were setting up as she and Hudson made their escape from the RV. But that hadn’t prevented the ball of misery that was curled in her gut. There’d been much shaking of heads as the professionals circled around the computer broadcasting the weather forecast. They wouldn’t be moving out until there was a break in the pattern. And there wasn’t a break predicted for the next twenty-four hours.
If circumstances were different, she’d have flipped them all off and already be on her way back up the hill, looking for those poor, scared kids. But things were what they were, and she just couldn’t take the chance at drawing the wrong kind of attention.
Nev beaked her again and she let her fingers curl into the long fur on his nape. She could never hide her feelings from him. Neville always knew. So when her car keys kept slipping from her nerveless fingers and Hudson gently took them from her, she let him. She also let him steer her to the passenger side of her battered old SUV. But she drew the line at letting him help her into the passenger seat, first taking the panniers off Nev’s back and clipping him into his seatbelt harness before getting in herself.
The engine growled to life and Hudson’s look of concern lifted long enough for his eyebrow to lift in surprise. “Nice.”
Mia nodded and pushed her palms down the length of her thighs. “She doesn’t look like much, but the engine is top of the line.”
He brought them onto the road down the mountain. “Why not just buy a new car?”
“There was nothing wrong with the body—other than being old—and why buy something people want to steal? I can leave this anywhere while I’m working and no one looks at it twice.”
“True enough. Most girls just like something a little flashier.”
“I’m not most girls.”
“I agree. Most girls aren’t on the run from the police.”
Her blood went sluggish and icy in her veins, and she thought for a moment her heart might stop beating. Neville whined from the seat behind her and she reached a hand back to him.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She fought to keep her voice even.
He gave her the eyebrow again. He could speak volumes with that damn thing. “Then why are you so rattled?”
She twisted in her seat. The edge of the belt bit at her neck and she yanked it away. “Maybe because there are children stuck up on the mountain, and no one’s even going to try and get to them?”
She saw compassion in his face before he turned back to the twisting mountain road. He reached over and squeezed her knee gently as he spoke. “You heard the Search and Rescue technicians. The weather forecast is even worse than yesterday’s. You could have died yesterday. You almost did die yesterday. Do you want that for the rescuers?”
Hot tears were pricking at the back of her eyes and she yanked on her hair. She was not going to cry in front of this cop. “Of course not. But the kids must be so scared.” Her throat clicked as she swallowed. “If they’re alive.”
Hudson shifted awkwardly in his seat. “Even more reason not to risk more lives today.” There was no edge to his words, but she glared at him anyway before squaring herself up to face out the windshield.
“But you’re ignoring the real topic of discussion.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Which was?”
“Why you’re trying to evade the police.”
“Really?” She flashed her hands, palms up. “You are the police and I’m right here. How is that evading?”
He shrugged. “Obviously you trust me. Why wouldn’t you? After rescuing you from the rock slide and all.”
“Rescue…? Unbelievable. I think you’ve really started to convince yourself.”
The dimples were back, and she realized he’d dropped back into the first persona she’d met. She had no doubt he won a lot of hearts with his goofy, aw-shucks, routine—in whichever accent he used—but as he’d already pointed out, she wasn’t most girls. But there was something under the shifting personalities Hudson adopted. She’d seen glimpses of it here and there. So far there was the dimples character, smooth and suave; and the French-Canadian gangster, Remy, who was taciturn and remote. He’d dropped into an accent so thick in the command vehicle she’d found herself translating for the bemused cop.
“But speaking of evading police, why didn’t you tell that cop who you really are? Why keep up the ‘Frenchy the grunt’ routine?”
His fingers tapped on the top of the steering wheel for a few seconds before he answered, “Like I said, I’m undercover.” He leaned across the console, into her space, and she retreated against her window. “Deep undercover. The locals don’t know I’m here.”
“Why not? What if you need help? Didn’t you say this was a bad group?”
He shrugged again and rested his left wrist on the steering wheel and put his right hand on his leg, leaving himself exposed. Wide open. To invite her confidence, no doubt. She snorted, and he gave her a funny look before putting both hands back on the wheel as they headed into a switchback. “No need. I have a handler with my own force. He’s my go-to.”
Something didn’t seem right with that, and despite herself, she felt a flicker of concern. “That’s it? One person knows where you are and what you’re doing? And what do you mean, ‘your own force’? Is this handler at least nearby?”
Hudson’s fingers were jumping now, and even his energy seemed to have retracted onto the far side of the SUV. He turned on the headlights in the dying afternoon, then fiddled with the radio. “Maybe some music?”
She reached over and switched it off. “No music. Words. How can you be sure you’re safe with these people? Or…”
She looked between the seats to see Neville stretched as far across the bench as his harness would allow. His cheeks flapped with the heavy breathing that came with exhaustion. Her lie detector was fast asleep and deserved every second of it. But Neville hadn’t indicated Hudson was lying to her last night, not until he’d told her she’d be safe once they were off the mountain, anyway.
“Or what?” Hudson alternated between looking at her and the road.
“Are you really a cop? Was that all lies, just to get me to bring you off the mountain? Were your buddies even up there? I didn’t actually see anyone else. It could have been a recording.” Her heart raced and her right hand circled around the door handle. If she needed to, she could bail when he slowed for a curve.
She released the door handle. Not like she was going to leave Nev behind. What the hell had she been thinking, letting Hudson drive?
A divot split the smooth skin over the bridge of his nose as his eyebrows crowded together. “No. And yes, I really am a cop. Everything I’ve told you is true—which is shocking in itself. I have never, in ten years, broken cover. And why the hell would I go to the effort of getting lost in the middle of the wilderness, bringing along a recording of two idiots and then get myself savaged by a rock slide to run into you?”
Okay, so maybe it was a little far-fetched. Abe had no reason to come after her after all this time. She’d done everything he’d told her to do—including staying away from the cops. Except, of course, for the one sitting right beside her who was going to crash her SUV because he was too busy watching her lose her nut to look at the road.
“Eyes on the road.” His gaze swung back, and she pressed her sleeve against her hot forehead. “So this is what you do? You said ten years? You go from gang to gang, convince them to take you on and then take them apart from the inside?”
“That’s the gist, yeah.” He glanced at her.
“Road.” She pointed out the windshield. It helped if he wasn’t looking at her. “How do you pull it off?”
“Good actor, I guess.”
“But how do you keep everything straight? Don’t the lies start to cross over?” That had been hard for her, in the beginning, until she’d realized the way to keep it all straight was to tell mostly the truth, and only alter the facts that needed to be hidden.
“No crossover. I finish one job and walk away, take a week or two to regroup, and then move to a new town and start again.”
“A week or two? That’s it? What about your real life? Your family, your friends?”
He shook his head. “They understand. It’s the price of the work.”
“Oh hell no. No woman in her right mind would agree to only see her husband for a couple of weeks here and there.”
“Well, you’re right about that. That’s why there’s no wife. Never will be.”
She was twisted nearly sideways in her seat by now. “Hudson, what kind of life is that? It’s horrible.” And she knew. Because it was her life. Forced on her by choices the younger, more foolish version of herself had made. It was the life she would do almost anything to leave behind, and here he was, choosing it willingly. She shook her head.
“It’s not so bad. I like the challenge of building a new cover and convincing people it’s real. I like getting bad guys off the street and drugs out of kids’ hands.” He reached over and turned the radio on, but turned the knob until the volume dropped to little more than a whisper. “Besides, cops make terrible husbands and fathers. I’m actually doing the ladies a favour.”
Just like that, the dimples were back in place and Mia knew any real conversation was over for the moment.
“Oh, I’m sure the ladies are thrilled. Whatever. Just as long as your buddies don’t come after me. I’m happy to drop you wherever you want to go, but after that, I never want to see you again.”
The steering wheel jerked in his hands, and she steadied herself on the dash.
He didn’t look at her, just pointed to a rest stop at the edge of a freeway junction. They were off the mountain. And just in time. The rain started to hammer against the roof. Neville woke with a start and struggled against his harness until he figured out where he was.
Hudson had slowed to a crawl in the downpour and pointed again to what was now the vague blur of the rest stop. “I was going to suggest we make a pit stop, but I think we might be better off stopping for an actual meal while the worst of this passes.”
“Fine.” Maybe she’d got the timing wrong. Maybe his hands had jerked on the steering wheel after the deluge started. Or maybe Mr Dimples with all the bravado wasn’t entirely convinced Mia had seen the last of his thug buddies.