“Now, Liz. I’ve got this.”
With one final look his way, she crouched low and hurried for the truck while Aaron shot at the approaching vehicles, forcing them to stop. Several men got out and returned fire.
Out of the corner of his eye, Aaron saw Liz tuck Michael’s note with the map to the cabin inside her boot. He’d seen her do that many times in combat. Usually, the enemy didn’t think to look inside a person’s boot.
Once he was sure Liz was safe, he ducked deep into the woods and zigzagged up to the ridge until he caught up with her. “They’ll hear the engine noise, but I know this land like the back of my hand. I’ve lived here for years.” He hopped on the machine and she got on behind him. “Hang on tight. It’s pretty rough back here.”
Aaron shoved the machine into high gear and took off at a fast speed through the wilderness without any lights. At least the men following them would have to work to find the direction he and Liz had gone.
As they bounced over the rough terrain, he struggled with what to do. He knew Liz hadn’t killed Michael—or Sam for that matter—but it appeared someone was trying to set her up to take the fall. If he took her into custody, would he be signing her death certificate? Whoever was behind the murders had proven they could get to whomever they wanted at any time. He couldn’t let that happen to Liz. With his head screaming what he needed to do, his heart wouldn’t let him. Right or wrong, he wasn’t going to let her down.
“I can’t keep Jase in the dark for the four days’ time it will take to reach Black Bear. Too many things can go wrong in between and we risk the chance of being caught by those men or our people. We’ll need a faster way to get there. If we can reach my place, I have a plane I bought and restored a few years back. I keep it at the small airstrip I built on my property.”
Truth be told, owning his own plane had been a dream of his for years. Even as a child in Texas, he’d loved the idea of flying. As a teen he’d taken lessons. And when his family moved to Colorado, he’d continued to hone his skills. Then he’d used his flying experience to excel in the military. After he’d left the military, Aaron had become a trainer for special ops. His expertise in flying along with his training skills were some of the reasons why Jase Bradford had initially recruited him for the Scorpions.
Since joining the team, he’d flown just about everything imaginable in all sorts of dangerous situations.
“We can refuel in Talkeetna and then go on to Black Bear once we’ve spoken to this Rick Evans Michael mentioned in his note.” She squeezed his shoulder and her gratitude was worth every risk he knew they’d have to take.
The snowmobile bounced over the snowy landscape strewn with remnants from a recent forest fire. It took all his skills to keep from burying it multiple times while he continuously checked behind them.
The explosion had left him jumpy. So far, they weren’t being followed, which he didn’t like at all. The men would have reached the destroyed cabin by now. They had to hear the noise of the snowmobile and the direction it was heading. These people were smart. Why weren’t they sending people after them?
His hands clutched the handlebars in a tight grip. It seemed like forever before the lights appeared from his makeshift airstrip. He’d smoothed the area out himself. Under normal conditions, there would be no problem taking off or landing, but these weren’t normal weather conditions. It had been snowing for a while. Clouds blanketed the mountains from view, and it was still dark out. He dismounted the snowmobile and headed for the hangar. With just the two of them, would he be able to protect her? He didn’t dare call in backup; Liz would never make it to Black Bear and her chances of staying free would vanish.
Liz was his friend and he’d seen how violent these men were. They’d gone after Sam in a heavily guarded facility. They’d killed a federal agent. They had nothing to lose. Liz wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. He wasn’t about to let her fall victim to these monsters.
Like it or not he was all-in, which meant they were on their own.
Something disturbing tore his attention to the edge of the landing strip. Additional vehicles were closing in. Now he understood why the men hadn’t followed them. Whoever was behind Michael’s and Sam’s murders wasn’t taking any chances. They’d stationed men where they believed Liz would go for help. Michael’s place and his. Which meant they knew about his friendship with Liz. They’d anticipated this move.
“We have to get airborne now if we stand a chance at escaping. I need your help,” he yelled over his shoulder.
She didn’t hesitate. Once they reached the hangar where the plane was stored, Aaron threw open the doors. Liz helped him unpin the jet and then they got inside. Aaron fired the engine and taxied down the runway.
More than half a dozen vehicles charged the airstrip trying to cut them off. Aaron dodged the two lead vehicles, then swerved hard and managed to keep a somewhat steady path in spite of multiple rounds of gunfire coming their way.
With a silent prayer for their safe assent, Aaron throttled the plane sharply and they were airborne. Once he’d reached a safe height, Aaron veered right, and headed over Painted Rock Mountain while the men below continued firing to try to bring them down.
He grabbed his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Liz asked on edge. It hurt that she thought he’d betray her.
“Jase needs to know what just happened back there.” He squeezed her good hand. “Please trust me.” She stared at him with those worried eyes before slowly nodding.
Nothing about what happened over the past few weeks made sense. He’d imagined once Sam was in custody, they’d locate the missing weapons and everything would be finished. Yet reality hadn’t proven that to be the case.
Time was quickly running out for the investigation to remain with the Scorpion team. If they didn’t figure out what was going on soon, Liz would be left to take the fall for everything and they might never find out who was behind the killings or locate the missing weapons.
It took forever for the call to finally go through and once it did the service was so sketchy that he lost it several times.
When he could hear Jase clearly enough, Aaron quickly updated him on what had taken place at Michael’s hunting cabin and then again at the landing strip. He didn’t mention Liz.
“I know she’s with you, Aaron. You need to bring her in for her own safety. This thing is escalating and there’s more. We have uncovered some financial records that show a large amount of money was transferred into Liz’s bank account recently.” The moment he heard those words the bottom fell out of Aaron’s stomach. Coupled with what Jase had texted him earlier, things looked bleak.
“I’ll get Gavin and some men on the way to your place and Michael’s. Whatever else is going on here, bring her in for her own protection, Aaron. And before the stink of this thing lands on you.”
Aaron disconnected the call without answering, his thoughts reeling. Jase was smart. It wouldn’t take long before he realized Aaron had disobeyed his orders and they’d both gone rogue.
He needed to go dark and soon. Aaron slipped off the back of his phone and took out the battery. They could trace the phone easily enough when it was on. Taking the battery out would make it more of a challenge. The first opportunity possible, he’d destroy it.
“Where’s your phone?” he asked when she stared at him without understanding. “They’ll keep coming after us. They’ll find a way to track us. We won’t have much time.”
“It’s my burner, Aaron. I left my personal phone at the house. No one on the team has this number,” she assured him.
He remembered what she’d said about the text message. “Someone knows it. They texted you the warning.”
She squared her shoulders. “We need some way to contact Rick Evans when