Two hours later, he pulled Brandywine up next to the mule and stopped. “You hungry?”
“No.”
“You’re quiet.”
“I don’t think there’s much else to say.” For the first time in a while, she looked at him. Jake almost wished she hadn’t. The anguish in her eyes made his chest ache.
“But I would like to know one thing,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“I need to know if you believe me.”
“Abby….” He sighed, not sure what to say next.
She looked away abruptly, blinking rapidly. “Okay.”
“That’s not a fair question,” he said lamely.
She raised her hand, silencing him. “That’s enough. That tells me all I need to know. Forget it, okay?”
“Damn it, it’s not that simple.”
“Yes, it is, Jake. It’s infinitely simple. Either you do or you don’t. Evidently, you don’t.” She stared at him, her expression level and far too calm. “I can accept that. I just…after everything that’s happened, I…needed to know.”
“Abby, I—”
“Don’t say anything else. Please.”
“Listen, whether I believe you is not the problem.”
“Then what is the problem?” she cried.
“That I do believe you, and I don’t have the slightest idea what I’m going to do about it!”
She stared at him, her expression stricken. Tears shimmered in her eyes like liquid amethysts. Then she simply broke. Lowering her face into her hands, she began to cry. It was the first display of weakness he’d seen in her and it tore at him like claws.
“If you take me back, it’s over,” she choked. “I can’t let you do that to me.”
“I’ll make sure you’re protected from whomever is trying to get to you.”
“Forgive me if my faith in the criminal justice system is a little shaky right now.”
“I’ve got some contacts in different police agencies. These guys are sharp. They know the ropes. Hell, I’ll look into your case myself. I’ll do everything in my power to—”
“Let me go, Jake.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Damn it—”
“You can’t survive up here in the high country by yourself! Look at the problems we’ve had since we’ve been up here. The storm. You falling through the ice. The sniper. I’ve been doing this since I was old enough to walk. You don’t have that kind of experience. You don’t have any gear. You don’t have supplies. You don’t even have a compass. Another storm comes along and you won’t make it out of these mountains alive.”
“I’d rather die than go back!”
Anger and guilt churned like hot tar in his gut. He pointed his finger at her, felt his lips pull back in a snarl. “Don’t let me hear you say that again.”
“Why not? I’m dead either way. At least if you leave me up here, I’ll have a fighting chance.”
The thought of her dying such a needless, senseless death sickened him. “That’s a chance I’m not willing to take.”
“You take me back and it’s out of your hands.”
A cold fist of dread twisted savagely in his gut and for a moment he couldn’t take a breath. “I know the ropes, Abby. I’ll talk to D.O.C. I’ll—”
“Do you actually think the cops are going to believe you after…this? They’re going to take one look at…us and the accusations will start flying.”
He didn’t want to believe it, but he knew it was true. A male officer and a female inmate trapped in a cabin for two days was fair game for anyone’s imagination. “They’re not going to know anything happened between us.” God, he hated the way that sounded. Officers of the law who took advantage of female inmates were lower than scum in Jake’s mind. Saying out loud what he’d allowed to happen between them made it sound as though he was no better, as though he’d taken advantage of a situation. That was twisted as hell, and it made him feel lousy.
“If you feel the need to tell someone about what happened, then you should,” he said evenly. “I’m not going to ask you to protect me. I was clearly out of line.”
“Stop being so damn honorable, will you?”
He didn’t see anything honorable about anything he’d done since setting foot on this mountain with her, but he didn’t say as much.
“Jake,” she said quietly, “the moment you speak out on my behalf, you know what the reaction is going to be.” She looked down where her hands twisted on the horn. “Tell me someone isn’t going to jump to conclusions about…how we spent two days together in that cabin.”
She had a point. A filthy point that stuck in his craw like a needle. Jake hated it more than anything. Taking off his hat, he raked his fingers through his hair and cursed.
What a mess.
He was about to suggest they get going and discuss this on the way, when sudden pain streaked through his left side, just below his rib cage, as if someone had slammed a red-hot branding iron into him. Jake grunted, the impact nearly knocking him from the saddle. An instant later, a rifle retort echoed in the distance.
Vaguely, he heard Abby’s voice call out to him. He looked down, saw a tear in his duster. Opening it, he saw blood coming through his shirt on his left side, just above his belt. Oh hell, he thought dully. He’d been shot.
Glancing up at the ridge to the north, he thought he saw movement, and slid the rifle from its sheath. Taking aim, gritting his teeth against the pain, he squeezed off two shots.
Behind him, he heard Abby urging the mule closer. “Jake!” she cried. “My God, you’re bleeding!”
“I’m okay.” He motioned toward the line of trees. “Take cover!”
But she kept coming, and there was only one way to keep her out of the line of fire. Leaning forward, he grabbed the mule’s lead rope and nudged his mare into a gallop.
“Hang on!” Clutching his side, Jake took them down a treacherously steep ravine toward a copse of aspen, praying the bullet wound in his side wasn’t as bad as it felt.
CHAPTER 11
Abby should have been accustomed to medical emergencies. She’d been an ER nurse for more than four years at Mercy General, after all. She’d seen all kinds of injuries from motor vehicle trauma to heart attacks to sprained ankles and broken bones. She’d even seen a bullet wound once when a local police officer had gotten into a shootout with a robbery suspect.
She wasn’t sure why she was panicking now, but she could taste it at the back of her throat like the bitter aftertaste of rank medicine. At least she’d survived the ride down the side of that blasted ravine. Jake must have been thinking she was some kind of trick rider, taking the animals down a treacherous slope like that. As she slid off of Rebel Yell, she promised herself if they ever got out of this mess, she was going to kill Jake Madigan.
He was already off his horse and lashing the reins to a low branch of a nearby pine when she reached him. His back was to her, but she could hear him cursing.
“Son of a—”
“Let me see it,” she said, coming up behind him.
On an oath, he turned to her. Worry quivered through her when she saw the sweat beading on a forehead that was nearly as pale as the snow.
“I think he just winged me,” he growled. “But it hurts like hell.”
“I’m a nurse. Let me see it.”
Clutching his side, he walked over to a fallen tree and leaned against the gnarled trunk of a piñon pine. Abby followed and brushed the snow from the trunk. “Sit down,” she said.
Jake yanked off his duster and jacket, then pulled his shirttail out of his jeans. “Damn it, it burns like a son of a—”
“Yeah, well, bullets tend to do that when they rip through flesh.”
He scowled at her. “I was wondering when you were going to get around to your smart remarks.”
“Just trying to keep your mind off the pain.” Lifting his shirt, Abby glanced down at the wound and swallowed hard. The bullet had dug a jagged path ju
st over his lowest rib. It would require a few stitches, but it didn’t look as if there was a hole so the slug probably hadn’t lodged inside his body. Of course, it could have broken that rib….
“It’s just a graze,” she said.
“Lucky me.”
“It’s bleeding pretty badly, but I don’t think it’s life-threatening.”
“Things are definitely looking up,” he said through clenched teeth.
Her hands trembled when she reached up to unbutton his shirt. She tried not to look him in the eye as she worked the buttons, but she could feel his gaze on her. Like the sun warming her skin—and her knowing it would be burned later. She wasn’t sure if it was the remnants of adrenaline or being this close to Jake, but her blood was pumping furiously.
“I need to stop the bleeding,” she said.
“I’m leaking bad, huh?”
“Bad enough. You’re going to need stitches. Where’s the first-aid kit?”
“Saddlebag. Right side.”
Rising, Abby jogged over to Brandywine and flung open the saddlebag. She took out the kit and walked back over to Jake and knelt in front of him. “This is probably going to hurt.”
“It already hurts.”
“Well, then it’s going to hurt even more. I’ve got to apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding. Bullet bounced off your rib. I think it may be cracked or even broken.”
“Just my luck.”
She tore open the cover off a sterile gauze, set it against the wound and pressed it down with the palm of her hand.
Jake groaned. “You weren’t kidding, were you?” he snarled.
“Sorry. The rib?”
He jerked his head. “Yup.”
She hated hurting him, but they were both medical professionals and knew there was no other way to stop the bleeding. “This should only take a few minutes.”
“Take your time,” he said dryly.
Trying to ignore the sight of his naked abdomen—and her reaction to him—Abby maintained pressure for several minutes. His abdomen was rock hard beneath her fingers and rippled with muscle. She was aware of Jake leaning back against the tree, his arm raised so she had access to his side. She was aware that his body was damp with sweat despite the frosty air—and that every thirty seconds he looked over his shoulder toward the trail.
“I keep wondering how that sniper found us,” he said after a moment.
Abby lifted the gauze and checked the wound. Much to her relief, the bleeding had slowed. “I’m going to disinfect, okay?”
Jake nodded, but his eyes were still on the ridge above them and to the north. “If RMSAR hasn’t found us yet, how the hell is this bozo doing it?”
He winced when the antiseptic hit the wound. Abby tried not to notice his muscles tightening beneath her palm. Or the thin layer of fine black hair that ran down his washboard belly to disappear into the low rise of his jeans. But her every sense was honed on Jake. His closeness. His scent. That he knew how to kiss a woman senseless….
“I don’t get it,” he said. “The only people who knew I was coming up this way to look for you were the people in the briefing room the morning I left.”
“Yeah?” Abby secured the bandage over the wound. “Who was that?”
“Buzz Malone. He’s the team leader. A couple of medics. Tony Colorosa, our chopper pilot.” He paused. “And two suits from D.O.C.”
A chill climbed up Abby’s spine. A chill that had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature. And everything to do with the possibility that someone in a position of power within the Department of Corrections didn’t necessarily want her to make it back to the ranger station. At least not alive.
She lowered Jake’s shirt. When she looked at him, his eyes were already sharp on hers. “Any idea what’s up with that?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said slowly.
“Reed’s a doctor, right?”
Her pulse jumped at the mention of his name. “A surgeon.”
“He’s well connected?”
She nodded. “A philanthropist. Charismatic. And very wealthy.”
“Money can buy a lot of things.”
“People included. What are you saying?”
“Just thinking out loud, mostly.”
“You think Reed is behind all of this, don’t you?”
“Don’t you?”
She thought about it for a moment. “He knows I’m on to what he’s been doing. I mean, I’ve got a big mouth. I’ve been telling anyone who would listen.”
“Can’t blame you for that.” Jake contemplated her. “Let’s think about black market organs for a second.”
“Okay.”
“Hypothetically speaking, who are his clientele?”
“Wealthy people from all over the world. People who need transplant organs or whose children need them. Most of these people are already on a recipient list. But there just aren’t enough organs to go around. I mean, when it comes right down to it, money doesn’t really matter when you’re waiting for a heart or kidneys or a liver. All the money in the world can’t make there be enough organs for everyone who needs one. Everyone is pretty much equal. I mean, at least when it comes to money. Age is sometimes taken into consideration.”
“So, there’s a donor list,” he began, “but because there aren’t enough donors, sometimes the people on the list die before a viable organ becomes available.”
“Maybe Reed found a way around that little problem.” The thought made Abby feel sick to her stomach. The organ donor programs across the country were vital, life-saving programs, and made possible by generous people who were kind enough to sign up so that someone who desperately needed donor organs could live. That Reed would take such a worthy program and sully it for the likes of money outraged her.
Another thought occurred to her then. One that made her blood run cold. “If we don’t make it back, no one will ever know.”
His eyes turned to steel. “We’re going to make it back.”
She wondered how he could be so sure when he was sitting there with a bullet wound in his side. “Lady Luck has a bad side, Jake. I’ve seen it too many times in the past year and half to discount it now.”
“I’ve got a bad side, too,” he said fiercely. “Believe me, you don’t want to see it.”
Abby looked over her shoulder at the ridge to the north. “Do you think your search and rescue friends are out looking for us?”
“No doubt about it. The chopper is out. Maybe the ATV in the lower elevations. The snow is hindering them. But they’re looking. You can count on it.”
“I’m sorry I destroyed your radio, Jake. That was really a stupid thing to do.”
He looked at her soberly. “If you hadn’t, you’d be in a six-by-six cell right now and no one would ever know about Reed.”
The mention of a prison cell made her shiver, but she quickly shoved the feeling away. She couldn’t think about going back or all the things that could happen when she did.
Then the realization of what he’d said struck her. She looked at him and blinked, realizing belatedly that he was watching her.
He must have deciphered her thoughts from the look on her face because he smiled. “You were wrong about me,” he said quietly.
“What I am, Jake, is confused. I have no idea where I stand with you.”
“I believe you about Reed,” he said after a moment. “I believe you about all of it. The only question that remains is how we’re going to handle it.”
Abby had never been much of a crier. Even before this mess she’d never been prone to tears. But hearing those words put a fist solidly in her throat. Tears burned behind her eyes. She blinked rapidly to suppress them, but they spilled over anyway.
Gazing steadily at her, Jake took off one of his gloves and thumbed a tear away. “That was supposed to be good news.”
“It is.”
“Don’t cry. That really tears me up.”
“Don’t let it get to you too much. I mean, you?
??ve been shot.”
He smiled wryly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Using the sleeve of her duster, she rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know where that leaves us, Jake.”
“That leaves us with a big problem.”
Her heart stuttered. Another tear slipped down her cheek and he caught it with the backs of his fingers. “I’m in a position to help you. I’ll do my best. No matter what happens, I want you to believe that, okay?”
Disappointment cut her, but Abby steeled herself against it. She didn’t have room for disappointment. Jake was going to help her. He was an officer of the law. Just because for one crazy second she’d wanted more didn’t mean he was going to oblige.
Abby didn’t want promises. Invariably they ended up broken. Jonathan Reed had left her with enough broken promises to last her a lifetime.
Drawing a shaky breath, she looked around. “What do we do now?”
Jake stepped back, worked his hand into his glove. “Our number one concern is to avoid that sniper.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. How do we do that?”
“We head south. It’s rougher terrain, desolate as hell, and will end up taking a little longer, but these animals are experienced trail animals. The sniper is on a snowmobile. He’s got speed, but we’ll hear him coming from a mile away.”
“What about food?”
“We’re down to our last two protein bars.” He scowled. “We need to be sure to take in plenty of fluids. I’ll melt some snow later. We’re at nine thousand feet. Between the cold and the altitude, it’s easy to get dehydrated.”
“Right.”
His expression turned serious. “If the weather turns, Abby, we could get into trouble.”
She saw the worry in his eyes and her heart melted a little. He wasn’t worried about himself, she realized. He was concerned about her. Aside from Grams, she couldn’t remember the last time someone had been concerned for her, certainly not a man. “The weather’s going to hold,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“I think we’ve already used up all our bad luck.”
He chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“How long before we reach the ranger station?”