Both Jessie and Rick’s phone numbers were written at the bottom of the note.
Don’t tell anyone from the team where you’re going.
Why hadn’t Michael trusted his own team?
Under the best of conditions, Talkeetna, Alaska, was a fifty-six-hour drive from Colorado. Running for her life in a vehicle that was questionable at best, she’d be forced to take as many back roads as possible, which meant the drive would take even longer. Flying was out of the question. She wouldn’t make it through the first security check.
With her heart in her throat, she eased from the truck. She hadn’t felt this alone since learning Eric had been killed while on that final mission for the CIA. The days following his death had been filled with crippling grief and long, lonely nights. The pain almost physical.
Now, every little noise had her jumping, expecting the enemy. Aaron. The team she’d vowed to protect had now become her enemy and it was a bitter pill to swallow.
She’d covered only a handful of steps when a noise behind her grabbed her full attention. It sounded like...a footstep on the creaky porch. Someone was here.
Liz whirled with her weapon drawn. “Who’s there?” Her breathless voice chilled in the early morning cold.
“Drop the weapon, Liz...” Aaron’s normally smooth-as-caramel Southern drawl held a steely edge to it she’d never heard before. He’d found her. Anticipated her next move.
He stepped closer, the look in his eyes matching his tone. Just for a second she lost what little bit of hope she still clung to. Did he think she was capable of killing Michael?
“Aaron, you scared me.” Her voice shook slightly, her nerves wrecked.
“You need to come with me, Liz,” he said quietly with regret on his face.
She swallowed back the betrayal she felt at those words. She wouldn’t blame Aaron. He was just doing the job he’d been tasked to do.
“I—I can’t do that. I didn’t kill Michael, but someone wants you to think that I did.”
His face twisted with gut-wrenching pain. “I know you didn’t kill him, but running makes you look guilty. Come with me. I promise we’ll figure it out together. You’ll be treated fairly.”
She stepped to within inches of him and shook her head sadly. “If you want me to come with you, you’ll have to shoot me.” She was close enough to witness the battle raging in him as they faced each other in a silent standoff.
“Liz... Don’t throw your life away like this.”
Aaron’s cell phone rang and her already-battered nerves had her jumping at the sound.
He didn’t break eye contact as he answered the call. “Yes, Jase.” Would he give her up? Please, God, no. She had to find a way to convince him to let her go. “Not yet. I’m working a lead now. I’ll let you know the minute I have her.”
She blew out the breath and leaned over, hands on her knees. He hadn’t told Jase. She couldn’t imagine how hard that was for Aaron. Jase had been his friend for years.
“I’m sorry, Aaron,” she said once he’d ended the call. And she truly was. This wasn’t the way she wanted things to go. She turned and headed for the Jeep while silently praying she knew him as well as she thought.
“Liz, stop.” With her heart pounding in her ears, she reached for the door handle and then heard it. Click, click, click.
“Run,” she yelled, turning from the Jeep. Aaron grabbed her around the waist and all but hauled her away. They’d barely cleared a handful of steps when the Jeep exploded and fire and shrapnel blasted past them like a tidal wave sweeping them in its wake.
Liz hit the ground hard. Landing on her injured wrist, she screamed in agony as searing pain shot through her and she almost blacked out. Seconds later, the cabin nearby exploded and reality struck hard.
Someone had planted a bomb inside the Jeep to be detonated when the door was breeched. The only question was, who was the intended target? Michael or her?
Aaron slowly moved to his knees beside her. He was bleeding from his forehead and his cheek. There were cuts in several spots on his hands.
“Are you okay?” she asked in concern, immediately forgetting her own pain. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to Aaron because of his loyalty to her.
“I’m fine,” he dismissed her worry. “How bad is it?” he asked gravely when he saw the way she cradled her injured wrist.
“Not too bad,” she lied. She sucked in a sharp breath and closed her eyes as bile rose in her throat and she fought to keep the world around her from spinning out of control.
He clearly wasn’t convinced. “Liz, you need to come in with me and have that looked at. We can’t stay here. Either that bomb was intended for Michael or someone knew you’d come here and they wanted to eliminate the threat you posed. They don’t need you alive to frame you, Liz,” he added in a quiet tone. “Let me protect you.”
She stumbled to her feet. Cradling her injured wrist close, she put much-needed space between them. “You can’t protect me.” She swept the devastation with her good hand. “Isn’t this obvious? You can’t keep me safe. Let me go,” she urged passionately. “Please. I’m better off on my own.”
He came after her and she backed away, every step taunting her with the realization that alone, she wasn’t sure she was up to what lay ahead.
“I won’t let them do to you what they did to Michael,” he said and she believed he would do everything in his power to fulfill that promise, but at what cost to him?
“Then help me,” she pleaded. “I can’t stay here any longer. If nothing else, the team will have seen the explosion. It’s less than five miles to headquarters. They’ll come here to investigate. It’ll be over for me.”
Liz could see him wavering and she realized how much she needed his help. She quickly told him about the mysterious text message she’d received minutes before she’d found Michael and about the information in the envelope Michael left her. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about her missing weapon just yet.
Aaron shook his head. “It’s compelling, but it’s not enough to prove you didn’t kill Michael. According to Reyna’s time of death, Sam was killed first and you were the last person to see Michael alive.” The doubt on his face was hard to take.
“Then help me find out who’s behind this,” she forced the words out. When he didn’t answer, she went for broke. “Aaron, you know me. You know I wouldn’t do this. I loved Michael like family and no matter what Sam did, I wouldn’t take the law into my own hands. It goes against everything I believe.” Her voice stumbled for a second.
“Please, I just need time to get to Black Bear and find the evidence Michael left there. That’s all I’m asking.” She needed Aaron on her side. “Aaron, please. Help me prove my innocence.”
Something in the distance dragged her attention from the man standing close to her. She turned in time to see multiple car lights bouncing along the gravel road nearby. Michael’s property was the last place on a dead-end road. No one would deliberately come this way without good reason.
* * *
Aaron whirled as the approaching vehicles shot through the entrance without regard for the makeshift gate. Right away he knew this was not his people, which left only one explanation. It must be whoever set the explosion.
“We have to get out of here now. Come with me—I have a snowmobile parked just over that ridge.” The relief on her face was worth any amount of difficulty he knew they’d face in the future.
Before she could answer, the vehicles opened fire on them.
They ducked