“Don’t worry about me.”
“Going to play the stoic hero, protecting the damsel in distress?”
He shot her a look. “Not a cliché if it’s actually what’s happening.” He shrugged. “This is where we are. We can either complain, or we can figure out how to get to a vehicle.”
“I was thinking more like go to the sheriff’s office.”
“Does he know who you really are?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not. That’s why you’re here, right?” He didn’t say anything then, just scanned the area around them. She didn’t believe they’d lost those guys. Only that they’d gotten far enough ahead running flat out that they had a second to catch their breath.
Then she saw them out the corner of her eye.
“We should—”
He didn’t need to finish. Amy said, “Hide.”
“I was going to say ‘go.’ But ‘hide’ works.” He followed her around to the back of the tree. It was big enough that it should conceal them until these guys moved on. Then maybe they could go back to the cabin, and Noah’s car.
Amy watched as the two gunmen came into view. They both looked around, and then the other gunman pulled out a phone. No, not a phone. That one had a radio.
“Probably checking in,” Noah whispered, crouched beside her. He tugged his cell from his pocket, and she saw him send a text message. Or try to. “I have no signal.”
The gunman on the phone looked to be having problems, too. He looked at the screen of his phone, clearly frustrated.
Amy leaned closer to him. “Should we make a run for it?”
Noah shook his head. “We’re safer out of sight. For now. Hiding was a good idea.” He turned to watch the two men, and she got the chance to look at his face in profile.
Strong features. He probably thought his ears were too big, but she’d always thought they fit his face. She wondered what he’d looked like as a kid. If he’d gone through that awkward phase everyone seemed to have around middle school, and into high school. Then again, maybe he’d always been like this.
Steady. Protective. He’d probably had a best friend he’d helped keep safe from bullies. Or a neighborhood kid. Like that boy with Down syndrome on her street when she’d been growing up. She’d loved handing out candy on Halloween, just because he would come and she’d get to see him smile like it was Christmas.
“Amy.”
She blinked away the memories. “What?”
He pointed over her shoulder. She turned, facing the fact she couldn’t live in her memories. The good times were long gone. Nothing in her life right now was even close to that, even though she’d been working hard to be happy. Or at least trying to find some piece of “happy.”
On the opposite side of where they crouched, huddled behind the tree, two more men approached. Gunmen, or hunters? It could hardly be a coincidence that more gunmen happened to find them here.
Had her brother sent a whole army to find her? And how was it that they seemed to be closing in on their hiding spot? These gunmen had to know where she and Noah were somehow, which meant they couldn’t stay here.
She turned back to him, ready to tell him that.
“Time to run.” He didn’t look happy about it, but if he thought they should do it, then she was going to. Noah would go with what he thought would keep her alive. She was trusting him to keep them both alive.
Amy shifted around, ready to sprint, and saw that look in his eyes. One she’d seen a few times, all of them a year ago during the trial. A look that said he cared more than he was going to say about her.
She looked away from it now, because it wasn’t going to help. During the trial she’d let those thoughts distract her. They’d been a nice distraction, taking a few seconds in the middle of the insanity to think about what might have been. Right now it wasn’t going to help. Not when the reality was that their lives were incompatible. He was a marshal. She was a witness living in seclusion.
Who knew if they would even survive today?
With every step into the snow, Noah wondered if it would be their last. Would their bodies be found in spring, when the snow melted? He couldn’t help the shudder as they trudged. Quietly. As quick as they could. Crouched down, wading through the snow.
Trying not to get shot.
“Which way is town?” His phone wasn’t loading the Maps app, so he had no idea where they were. Let alone where they were going.
“That way.” She pointed left, her arm angled behind her at the seven o’clock position.
“But…”
“Come on. I know where we can go.”
Noah frowned, but continued to follow. If he argued with her it could draw attention to them. They were far too exposed as it was. Essentially crawling through the brush and snow trying to get away from gunmen in the woods searching for them.
“Hey!”
The cry rang out. Snow drifted from the branches of a tree. It was beautiful, if it wasn’t going to be the last thing he saw before he was killed, before Amy was taken by hired guns and delivered to her brother to be executed.
“Go!” He hauled her to her feet and they ran.
Shots resounded through the forest, the sound harsh and far too loud out here in the still winter of the Colorado wilderness.
Noah spun around and fired back. A gunman fell.
He caught up to Amy and they kept going, tearing through the trees. He had no idea where they were headed but had to rely on her knowledge of this area. Presumably she’d hiked it. Maybe she’d even prepared for an eventuality such as this. Witnesses were counseled about the possible need for escape plans. Hopefully she’d taken the marshals service’s advice and done it well. He wanted to believe that. To trust her. But only time would tell. Noah had to do what was best for her.
Whether or not she liked it, or agreed with him, there may come a point when he had to make a choice.
If he was going to die for anyone—as much as he didn’t want to think about that—then he would rather it was her than someone else.
Just Amy.
A couple more shots rang out. Farther away this time.
He looked back and saw two guys in an argument. Whatever that was about, he didn’t know. But he thanked God for it and kept running.
Maybe they’d been ordered not to kill Amy, but to abduct her instead? Or none of them liked the idea of killing a US Marshal. Whatever the reason they were arguing and not racing after the two people fleeing, he wasn’t going to object.
“This way.” Amy changed directions.
Hopefully they could get far enough, fast enough, those guys would lose them. But he’d thought that with the SUV on the highway and the vehicle had pulled up at Amy’s cabin.
As though they knew exactly where she was.
Like maybe he had led them there.
Noah pulled out his phone. No signal, which meant he wasn’t being tracked. Possibly they could’ve tracked his phone to the cabin. Someone at the marshals service would’ve had to have leaked the information that it was him headed to her. Or they’d been hacked.
Seemed like they were doing a coordinated search now. Pinning them down out