Delta Force Daddy. Carol Ericson

landed another punch to the side of the man’s head. As he drew back his fist for another onslaught, a car horn blared behind him.

      He twisted his head over his shoulder, and Paige’s rental car squealed to a halt at the shuttle stop. His hand jerked to a stop in midair, and he plunged it into the man’s pocket. His fingers curled around a syringe.

      He pulled it out as Paige honked again. The man groaned beneath him and Asher jabbed him in the side of the neck with the needle.

      A few more people had gathered at the top of the steps and Asher knew the cops wouldn’t be far behind. He pulled the needle from the man’s neck, staggered to his feet and jumped into Paige’s car, which she’d already put into motion.

      She floored it out of the parking lot, and the car bounced like it was in a movie chase scene when she rolled off the curb into the street.

      “Oh my God. You’re bleeding.”

      “I think that’s his blood.”

      “No.” She reached over and rubbed his burning knuckles. “Your hand is bleeding.”

      “That’s from hitting him. I took him by surprise and he didn’t get many shots in.” He held up the needle. “He was counting on using this.”

      Paige gasped. “Throw it out the window.”

      “So somebody else, maybe a kid, could pick it up?” He dropped it on the floor of the back seat. “I’ll wrap it up and dispose of it later.”

      “I screwed up. We shouldn’t have come here.” She slammed the heel of her hand against the steering wheel. “Of course this would be the first place they’d look.”

      “We had to come here. We didn’t have a choice.”

      She pressed her fingers against her cheek. “And your poor feet, running around out there in the cold, fighting in a hospital gown.”

      “Don’t worry about me. I should’ve never sent you out there on your own. I should’ve realized someone would be staking out the ski resort.”

      She lifted her eyebrows. “You couldn’t exactly go shopping in that getup.”

      “I need to get out of this.” He plucked at the hospital gown. “I need to start feeling human...and then there’s going to be hell to pay.”

      * * *

      PAIGE GLANCED AT him as she smoothed her hands over the steering wheel. They’d finally stopped shaking, but Asher’s words sent a new jolt of adrenaline through her system.

      “What do you mean?”

      “I’m going to figure out who’s doing this to me and why, and I’m not going to stop until I have all the answers...and all my memories.”

      “Where can we go now?” She adjusted the rearview mirror and released a small breath.

      “There’s no real snow yet, right? There must be hundreds of cabins in this area, vacant for at least a few more weeks until the holidays.”

      She swallowed. “You’re suggesting we break into someone’s empty cabin and make ourselves at home?”

      “Just until we can get our bearings, and I can put some clothes on.” He jerked his finger over his shoulder. “Whoever that guy was back there, he’s out. His associates are going to figure we’ve fled the area.”

      “We should flee the area.”

      “Let’s do the unexpected.” He tapped on the window. “Make the next turn.”

      For the next twenty minutes, Asher guided her through mountain roads and turnouts like he knew the place. After surveying and abandoning several prospective cabins, he had her follow a road into a heavily wooded area where a single cabin nestled against the side of a mountain.

      “This one.”

      “How do you know someone’s not living here?”

      “Do you see any vehicles? Any pets? Any life at all?”

      Her eyes darted around the property. “No, but it doesn’t mean there won’t be.”

      “We’ll play it by ear.”

      She jabbed his thigh with her finger. “I think you forgot how cautious you used to be.”

      “I was Delta Force. I couldn’t have been that cautious.”

      “You are Delta Force, and I guess cautious is the wrong word. Maybe I mean organized. You like to plan.”

      “This is a plan. It’s the only viable one right now except to go on the run.”

      “In a hospital gown.”

      “Right. Park in the back.”

      She swung the car to the right on the dirt road that curved around the house and continued through the trees in the back. Luckily the snow had held off so far this season, or it would’ve piled up in front of them. Now they just rolled over cold, frozen ground.

      Ducking her head, she peered through the windshield. “Do you think they have security cameras?”

      “If they do, I’ll have to disable them.”

      As Paige stepped out of the car, her shoe crunched the gravel and the sound seemed to echo in the woods. She tipped her head back and scanned the edges of the roof for security equipment.

      Asher appeared next to her. “I don’t see anything, do you?”

      “No.” She pointed to his feet. “You could’ve at least put on the boots I bought for you.”

      He curled his toes into the gravel. “I’m getting kind of used to being barefoot.”

      “I’ll get them.” She buried her head in the back seat of the car, where she’d tossed the bags in her mad rush to get back to Asher fighting with the stranger. She backed out of the car with the bags hanging from her arms and turned to face the cabin, leaving her own suitcase and laptop on the seat.

      Asher waved from the cement slab behind the cabin. “I think I found a way in.”

      She strode toward him, the bags banging against her thighs. “I feel like a thief.”

      “We’re not going to steal anything...except some soap and water.” He rubbed his hands together. “And maybe some firewood.”

      A few minutes later, Asher had jimmied the lock on the back door. He rested his hand on the doorknob. “Are you ready?”