Allison Brennan - The Kill

Olivia scrambled up the last twenty feet herself. A huge gash had sliced her forehead open, and blood was dripping down her face. Zack pulled the rope off her and looked down the slope.

He wished he hadn’t.

The rock slide had widened the crevice. He couldn’t see the bottom, even with the industrial lighting. The thought that Olivia could have fallen to her death terrified him.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She breathed heavily in his arms, her entire body shaking violently.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Zack repeated. “You’re okay.”

He murmured words of reassurance in her ear, for himself as well as Olivia. He didn’t want to let her go.

He kissed her hair, her cheek, her neck. She held him tightly, her arms wrapped around his back, under his jacket, trying to be as close to him as possible. Her shaking subsided and he tilted her face to look at him, wincing at the gash on her head.

“You need to let the EMT take a look at your head.”

“Later.” She leaned up and kissed him.

He returned the kiss with fervor. Needing to taste her, to feel her response, that she was fully alive and breathing in his arms. “Liv,” he whispered into her lips. “I was so scared.”

“Me too,” she murmured. He pulled back and looked at her, wanting to understand where they were going because these intense feelings scared him, almost as much as her falling. The thought of Olivia walking away at the end of the case filled him with a terrible sense of loss.

In her eyes he saw relief and desire, the same yearning he had for her.

She buried her face in his chest. “Hold me. Just for another minute.”

He would have been happy to hold her forever.

But Chris Driscoll was still on the loose.

In the military, Chris Driscoll had learned that a backup plan was necessary for survival. Without a plan, you die.

The little bitch got away. She wasn’t an angel at all, but a demon sent to trap him. He hadn’t been thinking when he pursued her. If he had waited, she would have returned. If he had listened better, he would have found her.

He was so angry and surprised when she attacked him that he’d chased her, then lost her. She eluded him. She sent that deer into his path and he crashed.

But he’d prepared for failure, like any good soldier. He just needed a car.

He knew exactly where to get one.

Zack and Quinn spread open the map of the Cascades on the desk in Zack’s room at the North Fork Lodge.

The lodge owners, middle-aged sisters Kristy and Beth Krause, had opened their bed-and-breakfast to the police earlier in the evening, so when Zack and the others arrived at two in the morning, they already had several rooms prepared.

“The fog was too thick for the sheriff’s search teams to attempt a manhunt tonight,” Quinn said. He pointed to an area near the base of the mountain and the Anchor River. “They’ll be starting here at daybreak with dogs and at least a dozen men. We’ll have men with dogs coming from the other side.” He pointed to the place near the Boy Scout camp where Driscoll had crashed the truck.

“He could elude our men at night,” Zack said. “If he goes at a steady pace, he’ll be at the base of the mountain by morning.”

“Miranda said this area is almost impossible to navigate. He either has to follow Road 56-and we have men discreetly stationed at several places along the road-or wind around to the river and follow it out.

“There is a chance,” Quinn continued, “that he could cross Road 56 at one point, and that would put him on this side of the mountain. There are several vacation homes and public campgrounds. It’s a little late in the season, but the sheriff’s department is sending deputies to each residence to first warn anyone there, as well as inspect any vacant houses. They’ve called in support from neighboring counties as well as the forest rangers.”

“This lodge is in that area. If Driscoll crosses Road 56 he could end up here.”

“That’s why the sheriff assigned two deputies to these grounds.”

Zack ran a hand over his face. “I should have been doing all this.”

“Why? That’s why you have a good team around you. You’ve been going practically 24/7 for the last week.” Quinn slapped his hand on Zack’s back. “Get some sleep. Everything that can be covered in the four hours between now and dawn has been.”

Quinn’s cell phone rang and Zack tensed. Bad news? Or had they captured Driscoll?

“Agent Peterson,” Quinn answered. He visibly relaxed. “I’ll be right there. Love you too.” He shut his phone. “Miranda told me to come to bed.”

“She’s a good woman.”

“You don’t know the half of it. To think of all the time I wasted… “ his voice trailed off. “Um, I’ve known Olivia for a long time. She’s very important to Miranda and me.”

What was that supposed to mean? Zack frowned.

Quinn held his hand up to stop whatever he thought Zack was going to say. Hell, Zack didn’t know what he was going to say, but he felt distinctly uncomfortable, as if he were a teenager facing his girlfriend’s father after breaking curfew.

“What I should say is, Olivia has taken the world on her shoulders and doesn’t leave much time for herself. She deserves a little happiness. Especially after this.”

Zack agreed. “After we wrap this up, we’re going away for a few days.”

“Good.” Quinn nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else, then, “You know when you’re on a tough case and you’re faced with an ultimatum and no decision is perfect? That no matter what you choose to do, there are consequences?”

“There are always consequences, Peterson. You have to do what is the most right.”

“Exactly. Good. Well. Get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.”

Quinn left and Zack frowned. What was that all about? He yawned and rubbed his face. He was exhausted, but there was no way he could sleep right now. His mind was working overtime. They’d rescued Nina, but Driscoll was still out there.

He needed a shower, so he turned on the water, stripped, and stepped under the spray.

When Olivia had slipped down the crevice, he’d thought she’d fallen to her death. He’d been terrified he’d lost her. When Zack saw her alive he could at least breathe again. When he held her in his arms, he didn’t ever want to let her go. Cold fear had turned into something hot and needy. He’d never felt so close, so connected, with anyone.

She’d reached out for him, her adrenaline-induced passion pulling him over the edge. He had wanted to make love to her, right then. The fact that they were in the middle of the woods with an audience hadn’t entered his mind.

Now he wanted her twice as bad.

What was Olivia doing right now? Was she sleeping? Or, like his, was her mind too active to shut down?

He shut off the water and dried off, pulling on his boxers and pacing. He was semi-hard thinking about Olivia and her lips. Remembering her full breasts under the damp robe she’d worn in the hotel room the other morning. Remembering the way her long, soft fingers drew trails of electricity wherever they touched his skin.

He wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight until he kissed her again.

He pulled on his jeans, grabbed his holster, and left.

Olivia couldn’t sleep either.

For the first time in her life, she wanted to go to a man. She wanted to slide into bed next to Zack Travis and ask him to make love to her.

When she’d been married, not once had she initiated sex. Greg had always suggested they have a romantic dinner, which was his way of starting a romantic evening that ended in bed.

She knew why-it was being touched. It had taken a long time to get comfortable with Greg, a long time to accept his touch. But already, after mere days, she didn’t flinch at the thought of Zack touching her. She didn’t hesitate to reach out for him, even to just casually pat his arm.