Rocky Mountain Showdown. Victoria Austin W.
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But I can help you. My name is Seth.”
Laura snorted. “You think you can help, huh? Just wandered up here on the off chance I needed some help?”
His eyes were still wary and confused. “Yes. There’s a fire out there. I got caught up in it while doing patrol. The only way out was up the mountain toward your land. I passed your cabin on my way and stopped to warn you. That’s when I found you.”
Laura bit her lip for a second. Okay. That rang true. And, more important, his vehicle sounded like a way to get off the mountain. Mahoney had slashed her tires earlier. Right in front of her. Just to show her how completely trapped she really was. “All right. Let’s go.” She jerked her chin, indicating that he should walk in front of her and she would follow.
Seth looked unsure. “Yeah. We’ll go. But what did I walk in on? Why were you unconscious on the floor? Are you okay? I mean, what’s going on?”
Laura swallowed, increasing the pressure of her arms around Abby even though she had already been holding the girl tightly. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here.”
Bringing his hand back to his face, he rubbed the place where she had hit him and looked at Abby. Then he nodded and turned to walk through the living room and out the cabin door.
Laura took a deep breath and kissed Abby on the top of her head. “Okay, honey. Okay. We’re going to go away from this now. It will be all right.” Abby just pushed farther into Laura’s front in response.
Seth had walked out. Laura needed to follow.
She exited the cabin’s front door and saw a park ranger’s truck parked in front. Seth really was a ranger. Once Laura was off this mountain, she would appreciate the irony of a ranger saving Malcolm Grant’s daughter.
Seth was standing by the passenger side of the truck, holding the door open and waiting for her. She was a couple yards away, walking quickly, when the gunshot came from her left. Out of the forest. Seth was to her before she realized he’d moved. He grabbed her and began to pull. Away from the gunshot. Before Laura fully comprehended what was going on, she and Seth were back inside the cabin, and he slammed the front door shut.
“I only heard the one shot, but that doesn’t mean there’s only one shooter.”
Seth didn’t sound nearly as shaky as Laura felt. He had walked over to one of the windows and was peeking through the curtains with a gun in his hand. She hadn’t seen him take it out. Belatedly, stupidly, Laura realized she was just standing there holding Abigail.
Reaching for an empty loop on his pants, Seth patted around his belt with a force that matched the intensity coming off him as he looked down. He let out a deep huff. Before Laura’s brain could catch up with her runaway nerves, he was focusing all that intensity on her. “My radio must have fallen off when I ran. Please tell me you have one. I radioed in about the fire before I got here, but I need to call in for help with a shooter.”
Laura was shaking her head before Seth even finished the question. “No. We don’t get cell service this far up the mountain, and we don’t have a radio.”
“What about for emergencies? If you or Abby needed help?”
Laura’s mouth tightened. “We rely on ourselves up here on the mountain. We don’t like outsiders.”
Laura watched his face, her stomach tightening. She knew the rumors surrounding her father. People said Malcolm Grant was the stereotypical ex-soldier turned recluse. Antisocial. Living off the grid and holding himself accountable to no law or authority. They were wrong, of course. But Laura had given up defending her father to people like park rangers long ago.
The man quickly moved back to the window, peering through the curtains. He spoke to her without looking her way, his voice curt but not entirely mean. “I think now is a good time for you to tell me what in the world is going on.” He was moving as he talked, pushing the couch in front of the door.
The ranger moved through the living room, pushing the table against the back door. The cabin was really only four rooms—the living area/kitchen, two bedrooms and the bathroom. Now that both outside doors were blocked, Seth was looking out the windows again.
Laura didn’t know where to start. Or what to say. “There is a man named Victor Mahoney. He is trying to kill me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Seth looked ready to argue with her when a second shot sounded. Laura heard it hit the outside of the cabin. She thought she could feel the walls shake from the impact, even though she knew that had to be her mind playing tricks on her.
Seth’s face turned grim. “We need to get out of here.”
How had all this happened? Laura didn’t know. But she was trapped in the cabin with a park ranger. And Mahoney was outside still trying to kill them.
So now she was relying on the park ranger for help. He’d saved them. Maybe. Park rangers were always the enemy. Twenty years of being her father’s daughter had taught her that. She’d watched park rangers harass, and even arrest on occasion, her father more times than she could remember. Her father refused to follow their rules. He wasn’t hurting anyone, but the rangers couldn’t let it go.
But, when faced with Victor Mahoney, this particular one was probably the lesser of two threats. Maybe.
Help us, Lord.
Laura had closed her eyes as she prayed. Habit. When she opened them, the ranger had this look on his face. An almost gentle expression, though the gentleness was offset by the tight lines around his mouth. As quickly as it had appeared though, it was gone. He went to check the other window again.
Laura’s head hurt. She missed her dad. He would know what to do. From the day he’d adopted her, he had known what to do. She looked at the cabin door and could hear her dad’s gravelly voice in her head. So rough and blunt, but never cutting. “Get it together, girl. Be still. Assess. Plan. Try.”
“Okay, Ranger, let’s make some plans.” When she spoke, the ranger turned from where he had been peering out the window.
“Seth.”
Laura was jolted from her imposed calm. Disjointed again. “Seth?”
His smile was slight and his voice did not betray the urgency of the situation. “I told you, my name is Seth. Seth Callahan. Maybe you can say it without the venom you use with the word ranger.”
The smile was absorbed by hard lines again as a third shot came in through the window, sending glass flying everywhere.
* * *
Yep, he had definitely walked into something. Something bad. His routine patrol had turned into an unexpected fire had turned into a detour onto Old Man Grant’s property. Seth had suspected that he might receive a hostile welcome when he walked up to the cabin door, but this was beyond hostile. This felt like a siege.
Once Seth ventured another look out the now-broken window, he could see at least two men out there. They were dressed in black, wearing dark sunglasses, and had earbuds. This wasn’t good. Seth didn’t need to rely on his military training to recognize an assault team when he saw one, though it certainly helped to solidify the feeling of dread in his stomach.
At least they hadn’t fired a second shot into the cabin. Yet, anyway.
The doors were blocked. For now. But a couple pieces of furniture were not going to keep those men out for long. They needed a plan. And some serious help. Please, God. Show me what to do. Give me the strength to do it. That prayer had almost become a daily plea when Seth had been in Afghanistan. And an hourly one when he was in the hospital and rehab center. And now it was back, seemingly his default mode when his life fell apart.
Seth took a deep breath, trying to be as calm as possible around Laura. Whatever this was, she was clearly hurt and upset. And, well, she should be, given