Olympic Mountain Pursuit
Author
Jodie Bailey
Reads
18.4K
Chapters
19
ONE
The sound of the east fork of the Quinault River raging against the rocks in the narrow gorge was louder than Everly Lopez had ever heard it.
She lowered her binoculars to give her eyes a rest. She’d spent all day in the dense foliage of Olympic National Park, tracking black bears. With the Pony Bridge Trail and several others in Enchanted Valley closed due to washouts and high water from unusually heavy rains, animal activity was increasing in the absence of hikers and park visitors.
The quiet was nice, a return to her refuge after a harrowing season during which a series of bombings had wreaked terror in the park. With the bomber now in custody, Everly finally felt as though she could relax again in the one place that always felt safe.
She’d been on her way back to the trailhead when she’d spotted a large male black bear chasing a cougar away from a downed deer near Pony Bridge. Black bears were known for stealing a kill, and watching these two battle for their lunch had distracted her from her own safety. While it was still early in the afternoon, Enchanted Valley was growing dark from clouds and the mist that always seemed to hang in the rain forest.
It was time to pack it in for the day and make the two-plus-mile hike back to the trailhead. Everly’s friend Tara kept her daughter, Amelia, during the day and, if Everly headed in early, maybe she could go for a late lunch to a fast-food place with a playground. It would be a treat for them all.
One more peek, then she had to get moving. It was tough to leave, but the weather didn’t give her much choice. Not only was the data she was collecting as a Black Bear Habitat and Outreach tech going to help the Department of Fish and Wildlife, it was also going a long way toward bolstering her research for her PhD in environmental science.
With a slight grin, Everly raised her binoculars and scanned the lush green underbrush and trees until she found the bear again, now resting on his backside and staring in her direction.
Had he spotted her? Everly stilled, grateful for the bear spray in a holster at her hip but praying she wouldn’t have to use it.
Something rustled in the trees behind her and she whipped around, lowering her binoculars. With cougars emboldened by a lack of foot traffic on the trail, she should have been watching her back. While the big cats rarely attacked humans, they wouldn’t be shy about it if they were hungry enough.
Letting her binoculars dangle at her neck, she grabbed the bear spray from its holster and prepared to act as the aggressor. Hopefully, the critter would back down without her having to deploy spray in its face.
Her grip faltered when she faced her would-be attacker, but her fingers tightened just in time to keep a hold on the canister. This was no rain forest animal from the Cascade Mountains.
This was a man.
And he was pointing a gun at her.
Everly’s foot slipped on a mossy rock as she instinctively stepped back, lifting her hands. Her mouth went dry. “Can I—What do—” The words required force to bypass the lump in her throat. “What do you want?”
The man maintained his position about twenty feet from her, but he adjusted his grip to center the pistol’s aim on her chest. “I want you.” The matter-of-fact tone made the words even more chilling.
Her breath stuttered. Her knees threatened to drop her to the hard-packed trail. She was alone out here. With the trails closed, no one would hear her if she screamed. No one would come to her rescue. It was just her, this man and a rapidly darkening sky.
If only that bear would suddenly attack...
Bear. She was still holding the spray, which was nothing more than industrial-strength pepper spray with a thirty-foot range. She glanced at the canister in her chilled fingers then back to the man. If she could turn the canister a half inch, then she’d be able to—
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” He stepped closer, his blue eyes icy beneath military-short blond hair. He wore jeans and a dark blue windbreaker, likely to ward off the damp mist and approaching rain. “This might only be a tranquilizer gun, but I promise you it will hurt. Also, you don’t want me to carry you out of here over my shoulder, because the more trouble you make for me, the more I make for you, Dr. Ward.”
Everly’s eyes widened as she gasped. Ward. She hadn’t been Dr. Everly Ward for over four years. Not since her husband was murdered. Not since she’d testified against Kassandra Rennish, the human trafficker who’d pulled the trigger when she discovered Noah was gathering evidence to be used against her.
Kassandra had smiled directly at Everly as she’d been led from the courtroom, and Everly had known even before the verbal threat...the woman would do all she could to destroy her.
That was the reason she’d accepted a new life for herself and her daughter in the witness protection program, away from her home and family and all that she knew.
But now she’d been found.
She had to get out of this forest and back to her daughter. Then she had to do the unthinkable... To call the US marshal assigned to her case and let him know that death was no longer stalking her.
It had found her.
But first, she had to save herself from the man who was casually leveling a tranquilizer dart at her heart.
Bear spray worked on bears, but so did a show of authority. Maybe it would work on this man. If she bucked up to him, maybe she could distract him long enough to use the one weapon she had at her disposal. If he’d wanted to tranquilize her, he’d have already done it. Chances were high he’d do everything in his power not to haul her dead weight along a two-and-a-half-mile trail on foot.
A drop splashed her temple and slid down her cheek.
In the rain.
He tilted his head, glancing at the sky then back to her. “Put the bear spray down, and this will be easier on both of us.”
“Why would I do that?”
As more drops fell between them, the man hefted a heavy sigh as though she bored him. “Because I get an extra ten thousand if I bring you in alive.” He reached behind him at his waist and pulled something forward with his left hand.
A pistol.
Everly froze.
He aimed the gun straight for her heart. “But I still get a payday if I prove you’re dead. Don’t make me decide that ten thousand isn’t worth the hassle of dragging you out of here.”
Everly’s pulse pounded in her head so hard that dark spots rhythmically throbbed in her vision. She was going to pass out. When she did, he’d probably kill her and move on to save himself.
She had one shot. One chance to get back to her daughter.
“Okay.” Slowly, she leaned forward as though she was going to lay the bear spray on the ground, rotating the canister slightly as she did. She flicked the safety with her thumb and pressed the lever.
The man howled like a wounded bear and dropped both of his weapons, clawing at his face.
Everly turned and bolted toward the trailhead. It was two and a half miles of slippery rocks and narrow path, but she had a head start she was determined to keep.
She was two paces away when the skies opened up, the oversaturated ground allowing the water to run in an instant creek along the trail. The weather would slow her getaway, but she couldn’t let it stop her. Salvation lay with her vehicle in the trailhead parking lot.
Up ahead was the wooden Pony Bridge about fifteen feet over the narrow gorge, where the swollen Quinault River surged beneath. Normally only a few feet deep, the water was running incredibly high now, the current strong. Past that, there was nothing but forest between her and the parking lot. She didn’t dare slow to see if her phone had a signal. She just needed to get out.
As her foot hit the bridge, heavy footsteps crashed through the brush behind her.
He was coming, and he’d be raging mad from the pain.
She was halfway across the bridge when another figure materialized out of the rain in front of her, blocking her path. His raised hood shadowed his face, and the rain obscured his form. “Everly!”
She skidded to a halt, her foot sliding on wet wooden slats, taking her down to her knee before she scrambled up. One man behind. One man before.
The river beneath.
Jumping could kill her. Though the current was swift, the water wasn’t deep enough to support a dive.
Still, she’d take her chances with nature over humans every time.
Climbing onto the slippery rail, she leaped, curling into a ball as the man called her name again. She thought she heard a dog barking as her body slammed into the surging water.
What had—
Had Everly just jumped?
Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit Officer Jackson Dean glanced after his partner, a Doberman named Rex, who was barreling across Pony Bridge. The protection K-9 had obeyed Jackson’s shouted command and raced toward the man who’d chased Everly Lopez out of the forest. Rex’s deep bark said he was still in pursuit.
But Everly had gone over the wooden rail and into the river.
Did he back up his partner or rescue the witness as he’d been assigned?
Jackson evaluated the swiftly rushing water. Several yards downstream, Everly surfaced, then dove again. It was tough to determine if she was trying to hide or if she was struggling in the unusually high water.
He couldn’t let her drown. Couldn’t watch someone else he was supposed to be protecting die.
Especially not Everly.
Kicking off his shoes and shucking off his backpack, Jackson gauged the river’s depth and jumped, tucking his knees into his chest as he hit the water, chilled by mountain runoff even in July. His lower back grazed rocks at the bottom and he straightened his legs, pushing toward the surface. He charged forward with the roiling current, searching for Everly. Several days of flooding rains had swollen the Quinault, which charged angrily through the narrow gorge. The surging water and pounding rain from the deluge that once again fell from the sky was deafening.
Fighting to keep his head above the water and to shield his body from the gorge’s rocky walls, Jackson scanned for evidence that Everly had surfaced again. He prayed for a small beach, though any that typically existed were probably under several feet of water.
There. To the right. A narrow trail led up from where a thin strip of land usually existed. The river ebbed in the hollow of the rock, quieter away from the current and as it spread over a small cove.
Everly Lopez stood in water up to her knees, scanning the river with fear-filled eyes. Her dark hair hung in streaming rivulets, clinging to her cheeks. Her jeans and green T-shirt were soaked.
As soon as she spotted Jackson through the torrential rain, she turned and tried to run for the trail, the water slowing her progress. It had been clear that, in her panic, she hadn’t recognized him.
Jackson made a shallow dive and plunged forward. He had to reach her. There was no way of knowing how many of Kassandra Rennish’s hit men were roaming Olympic National Park in search of Everly. The young mother’s testimony as an eyewitness to her husband’s murder had put an end to Rennish’s transnational trafficking operation. But the moment Kassandra had escaped from prison, she’d probably redoubled her efforts to locate Everly.
If so, that meant any number of Rennish’s killers could be searching for Everly, intent on a payday.
Adrenaline drove Jackson forward, and he hit the shallow water near the beach, scrambling to his feet.
Everly had just reached the rocky trail and was struggling to gain a foothold.
“Everly! Stop!” He tried to race forward against the river’s current, but the water was like running through wet concrete. He reached her as she started climbing and grabbed the back of her shirt. “Everly, it’s me. Jackson Dean.”
She twisted and fought as he dragged her away from the rock face. As her feet splashed into the water again, she found her footing and ripped away from him, rounding on him with fire in her eyes. Her fist flew, and Jackson barely had time to step sideways. The blow caught him in the shoulder, and he stumbled back.
Whoa. The woman had strength. She’d definitely done some working out since he’d last seen her. The Everly he’d protected when he was in the Marshals Service hadn’t possessed that kind of physical power.
Rotating his shoulder against the blow, he reached into his collar and pulled out the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit badge he wore on a chain around his neck. “Everly.” He tried to keep his voice even. Yelling at her earlier probably hadn’t been the best course of action, but he had to get her moving. She could be in a sniper’s crosshairs even now. The thought made his skin crawl. “It’s really me. Jackson Dean.” She had to recognize him. They’d been through a lot together.
Everly’s eyes went wide and she backed away until she was against the rocks, holding tight as the current tugged at her knees. “You don’t look like him.” She shook her head and, to add to the twist in Jackson’s gut, tears filled her eyes. “I don’t care who sent you, just please...don’t kill me. My family has been through enough.”
Letting the badge fall against his chest, Jackson held up both hands. She’d never seen him soaking wet or with the beard he’d grown since he joined the PNK9 team. In her panic, she probably wouldn’t even recognize herself in the mirror, let alone a man she hadn’t seen in four years.
He had one more piece of information. One more way to prove he was who he claimed to be. “I was at the hospital when your daughter, Amelia, was born.” Surely she remembered? He’d been her point of contact, practically a constant in her life.
This time when her eyes widened, it was in recognition. “Jackson?” She stepped closer. Her voice trembled, probably from the chilled water as much as from fear. “Why are you here? You left the Marshals. Left—”
Us. She was going to say us.
There wasn’t time to talk about that. He had to get her to safety. He needed to return to Rex and make sure his partner was safe. This was no time for a reunion. “Deputy Marshal Collin Anderson fell off the grid two days ago. That’s why I’m here.” Anderson had been assigned as Everly’s point of contact when Jackson left the service. Anderson hadn’t answered his phone, nor had he been into the office. A search of his home had come up empty. Even his vehicle was missing.
Jackson didn’t want to think about what that could mean, especially since Kassandra Rennish had escaped when members of her organization ambushed a prison transfer eight days earlier. With Rennish in the wind, Anderson missing and Everly facing off against a thug in the deep forest...they could be facing the worst-case scenario every protected witness had nightmares about.
“Deputy Marshal Anderson has always been quick to answer if I needed anything, even if I was just feeling paranoid. Something’s wrong.” Everly looked upstream and down, then over her shoulder at the steep climb to the top of the gorge. “That man on the bridge knew who I was.”
“I know.” When PNK9 Chief Donovan Fanelli had informed him the Marshals wanted him to track down Everly in the rain forest, Jackson had already assumed the worst. Learning that Anderson was missing had doubled down his resolve to find her. Knowing she’d already faced the barrel of a gun had him past the edge.
He had to get her to safety until a team from the Marshals Service could relocate her.
One thing at a time, though. Now that he’d calmed Everly down and made certain she was safe, he wanted nothing more than to get back to his partner. “I’m with the Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit, a specialized law enforcement team assigned to Washington’s national parks. My K-9 partner, Rex, is trained in protection. I sent him after the guy who came at you, and I’m hoping Rex took him down, but I have no way of knowing if he did or where your attacker is now. I’d really like to know Rex is okay, if you’re ready to start moving.”
Jackson had texted for backup as soon as he’d come upon Everly and her attacker. Officers Isaac McDane and Danica Hayes should be on their way, but there was no telling how long it would take them to get to the trailhead or to hike the trail with rain pouring down over them.
He felt for his phone to send an update.
The holster was empty. He turned a slow circle, searching the water at his feet. No phone. Great. Chances were high that he’d lost it in the river. It would have been toast anyway after the dunking he’d just endured. “Did your cell survive the plunge?” It was a long shot, but maybe—
“I don’t know.” Everly patted her hip pocket, then checked the others. “It’s probably in the water. Cell service is hit or miss out here and, given we’re below the walls of the gorge, it wouldn’t help you anyway.” Worry lines creased her forehead. “My daughter... She’s with a friend, but...”
There was no need for her to finish the sentence. They were in the wilderness without communication, and she was cut off from her child. “Let’s move.”
Everly was making her way up the slick rock trail before Jackson could say more. He had no doubt she wanted to reach Amelia even more than he wanted to get back to his partner, who was alone on the trail with an armed man.
Thankfully, he hadn’t heard a gunshot, but between the roar of the river and the pounding of the rain, they’d have been hard-pressed to hear anything.
At the top of the riverbank, Everly scrambled onto flat ground and waited for him before she headed along the narrow path that wound above the river through dense green underbrush. In the rain forest, trails had to be used daily or they became overgrown quickly. Recent closures in the park had given plants an opportunity to reclaim ground lost to the footsteps of more humans than the Park Service could count.
They reached Pony Bridge faster than he’d anticipated, given that it felt as though they’d been in the river for hours. He prayed Rex was safe and had been able to hold the suspect at bay.
The deluge began to taper off as they stepped onto the rain-slicked boards of Pony Bridge.
Jackson tucked Everly behind him and rested his hand on his pistol, grateful it had remained strapped in its holster during the excitement. It was wet but it should operate just fine if he needed it.
He prayed he wouldn’t need it.
Reaching down, he picked up his backpack and passed it to her instead of taking the time to put it back on. “Stay behind me, no matter what. If this goes south, run and I’ll cover you.”
He hoped she heard him, because she made no sound.
Crossing the open expanse of the bridge with Everly wasn’t his ideal choice, but there was no way he was leaving her without protection.
He strained to hear above the water rushing beneath them or the rain dripping from the trees, but it was impossible. “Rex, speak!”
There was no answering bark.
“Do you think he’s okay?” Everly’s voice was low, but her concern was evident. She’d been a veterinarian before disappearing into WITSEC. Animals held her heart. Setting her up to work toward another doctorate and to study forest creatures had been a natural fit.
Jackson didn’t have the heart to answer her question. He also didn’t have the heart to consider that everything might not be okay.
As they reached the other side of the bridge, something orange caught his eye beside the trail. Kneeling, he picked it up. Everly’s bear spray. He passed it to her, admiring the bravery it had taken for her to defend herself.
As they stepped deeper into the tree line, Jackson slowed and drew his weapon. The trail was too rocky and too wet to hold prints of any kind, but he walked slowly, searching. The sound of the river had muted behind them before he saw what he dreaded most.
Rex, collapsed in the center of the trail, motionless.
