Something crunched.
Brown work boots rounded the corner. Nick flung his hands to his own shoe closest to the gutter as if he were tying the shoelaces. He looked up into the eyes of a burly middle-aged man and attempted a smile. “Hi. Shoe untied.”
The man’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. It didn’t take a genius to realize this was not normal neighbor behavior.
Nick straightened to standing but didn’t take his gaze off the man. He could hear Alexis approach, so he began walking backward in hopes she’d get the hint. “Sorry to intrude,” he said. “As you can see, our dog took off after a squirrel, and we had to catch her. Had a collar issue, but it’s fixed now. One-time issue. You won’t be seeing us again. We’ll be going.”
Alexis entered his peripheral vision. She tilted her head and gave him an odd look. The man raised his phone to waist level. His right thumb was busy moving. Awareness hit Nick in the gut.
Either the guy thought they were trying to steal his drugs, or the man was a scout for the real traffickers. Both options meant they were in serious trouble.
“It’s my fault we’re on your property,” Alexis said. She took a step forward with her hand outstretched. “I’m—”
“Honey,” Nick blurted. He couldn’t let her reveal her name and become marked.
She whirled around on the spot, her dark brown eyes wild with indignation. Her forehead creased and smoothed in an instant. She pursed her lips, tilted her head and studied his face as if searching for a reason for his sudden change in behavior.
He reached out with the hand that didn’t have a leash and grabbed her wrist. She frowned but didn’t try to pull away or argue.
“We’ve taken enough of this man’s time,” he said. “We need to finish our jog.” Nick glanced at the way Alexis was dressed and knew that was the wrong thing to say. “More of a fast walk, really. Our friends are waiting back on the path.” He chanced a glance at the man’s hard eyes. “We’re visiting, and they’re eager to take us to the shooting range.” Okay, the last part might’ve been a bit too much because it was obvious they didn’t have guns on their persons. But he wanted to make it clear to the man they weren’t going down without a fight.
The sound of tires spraying gravel echoed through the trees. A vehicle was approaching at high speed. Not good.
The man straightened his torso so he looked even taller. “How about you meet my friends first?”
The coldness of his voice chilled Nick’s bones, and he knew the vehicle fast approaching wouldn’t be filled with friendly neighbors. He lifted his chin to the right. “You mean them?”
The man turned his head. Nick didn’t wait for him to realize the vehicle hadn’t arrived yet. He pulled on Alexis’s arm and yanked her around the corner of the house. She tugged her arm free but ran with him and Raven without any discussion.
A truck squealed to a stop. Nick picked a path around the thickest grouping of trees, choosing the biggest ones in hopes they’d obscure the view of the men who started yelling at each other behind them. The man’s friends had arrived.
He couldn’t make out much of what they said except two words: “Get them.”
* * *
A gunshot rang out. Alexis ducked and put both hands over her head. A scream tore from her throat. The dog answered with a bark. The bullet snapped a branch, which spun and smacked the side of her neck.
She fought against confusion. For some reason men were shooting at them and she’d just helped give away their location. She hadn’t meant to scream, but she’d never been shot at before.
Nick grabbed her upper arm again and pulled her around another tree. He kept his fingers there, tugging, silently urging her to run faster, but her sandals didn’t have much grip. It was all she could do to keep up without falling on her face.
Alexis fought a surge of nausea as several men’s voices filtered through the trees. “Use the jammer,” one shouted. They were trying to make sure she and Nick couldn’t call for help.
“Shoot only on sight. We don’t need the whole valley showing up!” It sounded like the voice of the man who had confronted them at the house, but she couldn’t be sure. Why were these men so angry they’d stepped onto the property? It didn’t make sense.
Maybe they’d recognized Nick and had a score to settle with him. What kind of man had she aligned herself with? Maybe Nick had seen something she hadn’t. It seemed too late to point out to the men with guns that she wasn’t a threat to them.
Tires squealed and covered up whatever else the man yelling had to say. She couldn’t afford to slow down to dial 911 on her cell phone, but she had an uneasy feeling that it wouldn’t work anyway.
She stumbled over a rock, and Nick’s fingers slipped off her arm. She managed to fall forward in a sloppy run but regained her balance. Nick’s golden eyes met hers for half a second before he motioned with his head which direction they needed to go. He took off without waiting for her agreement.
That was the opposite direction of where she wanted to go. Instead of heading for the path near the river, he was taking her through the trees and, in a roundabout way, back toward the front of the house. Though if they could reach the road unseen, maybe they had a better chance of escape.
There were rarely cars on the outskirts of town, so she couldn’t count on waving someone down for help. The area was mountainous, and the only reasons anyone would come out here were that they owned property or were heading for the trail.
Nick gave the leash a quick tug, and the dog stayed right at his side. She followed them around a full-grown blue spruce with spider webs running over sections of the branches. He held up a finger. Her bare calves brushed up against a prickly branch, and she cringed but didn’t move.
Stepping past her, Nick peeked around the tree, and then pivoted back toward her. He grabbed her hand and shoved her farther into the prickly foliage. She resisted slightly, not so much because of the uncomfortable pine needles but more because of the potential of spiders.
For a second it looked as if Nick wanted to give her a high-five, but he swung his hand in an arc at his side. Raven flopped down as if she was bored, though she kept her eyes on Nick. Alexis was impressed at his use of the silent command, but the crunching sound of tires nearby flung the thoughts away.
She slipped her hand into her pocket and, using tiny movements, fished her phone out. The slash through the image of the cell tower on the screen confirmed her fear. No help would be coming. They were alone.
A motor roared. She turned her head slightly, hoping she wasn’t drawing attention to herself. A white pickup truck vaulted through the trees, breaking branches left and right. Her breath hitched at the sight of men carrying assault rifles. They flanked the truck in a V shape as they marched south toward the trail and the river.
She remained frozen, her back protesting from the strain of a typical office workday. She was very aware of Nick pressed against her, especially after she lost sight of the men with guns. His face was a nice oval shape with kind eyes and a full mouth. His hair was a light brown, flared up at the crown, either from running in the wind or hair gel. He was slightly taller than she was, so probably close to five foot ten, and he obviously stayed fit.
It felt like hours passed, but the sun’s blinding glare from the west never changed, so it had likely been mere minutes. The beams filtered through the tree branches, making it hard to see if the men were truly gone.
Her heart rate sped, and her stomach churned. Her breathing remained erratic, but Nick