If Rich had only given him more information he could have prepared.
He couldn’t have imagined he’d be following a trail of blood and snowmobile tracks to find Olivia out here in the wilderness searching for her brother. And now as he looked at her, he saw the girl he’d once loved had grown into a beautiful, capable woman. Her reddish-brown locks spilled from beneath the helmet, curling around the collar of her black-and-pink snowmobile suit, and the eyes that stared at him now could hurt him all over again if he let her.
But that wasn’t important.
What mattered most was that he had to keep her safe and track down her brother before the shooters killed them all. And find out why someone was shooting at them. Olivia and Rich’s life depended on Zach now. The irony! He’d relinquished the job he loved and was no longer a police officer or a detective.
Maybe he was no longer officially sworn to protect, but the motto remained in his bones.
If only he hadn’t failed to protect when it mattered most.
Olivia screamed as bark splintered from the trees next to them. Why was someone shooting at them?
Zach’s solid form shielded her, protected her. As much as she didn’t like his proximity, she couldn’t think what else to do.
He grabbed her shoulders, his face near hers. “Stick close to me, we’re getting out of here, but keep low. Once we slide down far enough that the hill can protect us, we have to run for it.”
Dazed, she stared at him.
“Are you listening?” He shook her shoulders.
She nodded but still struggled to comprehend what was happening.
“Think, Olivia, where are we going to run to? Where can we hide? You have to take us there.”
“Okay, I got it.”
Would anyone hear all the rapid gunfire? If they did, she doubted they would think much about it. People often took to the woods to practice shooting.
God, please let someone come to investigate and help us!
She pressed herself deep into the snow like Zach had done and slid down the slope. Except they left a big fat trail that anyone could follow.
Now she wished the snowfall would break completely through the canopy and cover their path. If they could make it to a clearing, or where the trees weren’t so thick, maybe they could lose the shooters. But then they’d be easy targets. No good solution presented itself.
“Hurry,” Zach whispered.
He’d already dropped to the brook. Olivia’s pounding heart leaped to her throat.
Shoving, pushing hard, she slid until she was far enough down the hill that she could crouch without getting hit by a bullet. Then she hiked the rest of the way down to Zach.
Determination flashed in his gaze as he grabbed her gloved hand. Together they followed the nearly frozen brook, running where they could, and slowing in places where the snow grew too deep. With the effort, white clouds puffed out as her lungs labored to supply oxygen to her frantic heart.
Life and death.
This was a matter of life and death.
Hadn’t she wanted a quiet life? She’d moved here from Portland to put distance between her and tragedy. And now...this. Anger churned inside, fueling her strides.
Rich had done this. There was no other explanation. Olivia had asked why he’d come back to the States and he’d replied that he was finished working for the private military contract security company in the Middle East. He’d been restless, if not distressed.
Oh, Rich. What have you gotten yourself into? What have you gotten us into?
He’d brought these men here after him. She knew that in her gut. And now they were after her, too. Her and Zach. The man she wanted to forget, along with all that had gone wrong in her life, was in the mix, as well. Though he’d taken the lead, she pushed ahead of him. He didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know the area like she did and had said as much.
Still, she needed to hear from him. Did he have any ideas? An escape plan? “Where do you want me to take us, Zach? Where should we head?”
“Let’s lead them away from the snowmobiles, lose them, and then we can backtrack so we can ride out of here.”
She ducked under a branch. A bullet sliced across her helmet.
“Olivia!” Zach pushed her to the ground again.
“Will you stop doing that?” She pushed him off.
“Get behind the trees!”
She did as he asked, and together they crawled over and hid behind a thick-trunked pine—wide enough they could both press their backs against it. Catching her breath, she looked up and watched huge flakes dance on the air and flutter down toward her. They landed on her face and stuck in her lashes. She blinked them away.
Pulling her helmet off, she examined the damage. That had been close, much too close. She stashed it to the side, intending to leave it behind. The bright pink of the helmet had been intentional, meant to be visible in the woods to prevent hunters from shooting her by mistake. But now wasn’t the time for visibility.
“Good idea.” Zach peered at her, nodding his approval. “If anything, that helmet makes you an easy target.”
His icy blues turned more intense. Olivia peered out into the woods, looking anywhere and at anything except Zach. Sitting this close to him when she’d wanted to forget him, and having him with her in this far too surreal situation, would be her undoing if the shooters didn’t get her first.
“But without the helmet, you’re far too exposed.” He tugged his white helmet off. “Take mine.”
She whipped her gaze around to his. Yeah. Much too close. “What? No. Zach,” she whispered. “I’m not wearing your helmet. So put that back on.”
“I didn’t ask.”
Fury boiled inside. “I don’t need your protection.”
Hurt flickered in his gaze then vanished behind a stone cold stare. Oh... I didn’t mean to say that. She hadn’t meant to hurt him. When would it ever end?
Her legs trembled with fear and her lips weren’t far behind. She wouldn’t let him see her like this—a weak, scared little girl—though why she wanted to hide that from him she wasn’t sure. After all, someone was trying to kill them and she was scared. There wasn’t any reason to be ashamed of that. But she didn’t want him to protect her. She didn’t want to be that vulnerable.
Did she have a choice?
And wasn’t Zach scared, too? Trying to read his mind, sense his emotional state, wouldn’t do either of them any good. Again, she averted her gaze, listening, watching for the shooters as she caught her breath.
Zach gently touched her chin and turned her to face him. “Are you okay?”
It hurt when he touched her like that, all gentle and caring. She didn’t want that from him, or for him to see that she was absolutely not okay. But he probably already knew. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
He studied her, his blue-eyed gaze seeming to soak up every inch of her face. For a split second, she worried about her appearance. But she’d long ago given up the smoky eye shadow, snow plum blush and deep mauve lipstick she used to put on for him. Her self-consciousness fell away as she realized he hadn’t donned the helmet after her refusal to wear it, and that gave her ample opportunity to take him in up close and personal.