Sarah Varland - Alaskan Ambush

The sound of another gunshot gave him a chance to pinpoint Delaney’s location. There. Not far from the cabin the woman was running into.

Micah couldn’t let him reach that cabin.

He fired two rounds at Delaney when he had a clear shot, thankful that the last bit of daylight was enough. Any darker and he’d have had no choice but to put his weapon away. Micah had learned gun safety here in the woods, from Alaskans who took their weapons too seriously not to be safe with them.

Delaney fired back, reminding him of earlier, outside the Delaneys’ cabin. Remnants of the firefight echoed in Micah’s mind and he swallowed hard, his partner’s yell so loud in his ear he could almost promise it was happening right now.

He couldn’t get derailed by that, had to focus on right now.

Micah returned fire. God, help me keep it together. Make him stop shooting, and let me check on that woman. His prayers were disjointed but sincere. He shouldn’t be alive right now; that bullet his partner had taken had been meant for him. And this had been primarily his case.

God must have some purpose in keeping him alive. And that meant He wasn’t finished with Micah yet.

Help me, God.

Seconds passed. Nothing. Only silence.

Micah swallowed hard, moved through the trees toward the cabin, around to the opposite side where Delaney had been shooting. Darkness was almost all encompassing now, providing him the cover to get to the door. Hopefully.

He pushed at the door, surprised it wasn’t locked.

And found himself staring down the barrel of a .44 Magnum.

Held not by one of the Delaneys, but by a woman who looked uncannily like a girl he’d known fifteen years ago. She wore a winter hat that her dark hair spilled out of at the bottom, in silky brown waves he’d always wondered what it would be like to touch. Her eyes were mossy green. Focused right on him.

“Kate?” He barely breathed the word, heart squeezing in his chest.

Of all the things Kate might have expected would happen in quiet Moose Haven, getting shot at was not one of them. She’d once longed for a life in law enforcement, and if that had happened, maybe it would make more sense. But right up there with being shot at was seeing Micah Reed again. That is, if the uniformed man in front of her, decked out in Anchorage Police Department gear, was Micah. Could the guy with the well-over-six-foot frame and broad shoulders really be the same kid who’d hung out with her older brother and practically been the third Dawson brother in two years of high school?

And then he’d just left. Not even bothered to say goodbye to her. Apparently she’d never been more than Noah’s pesky younger sister, despite thinking they might have been friends.

Okay, and despite the fact that her ridiculous fourteen-year-old heart had harbored a small crush and wondered if they might be something more. When they were older. If he had stayed.

“What are you doing here?” She lowered the revolver slightly even as she glanced at the window, wondering if the person shooting at her was still outside.

Or if he was right here in her cabin. She raised the gun slightly again, heart pounding in her chest. It was impossible that Micah could be the shooter, wasn’t it? Time could change people; she knew that better than most. She couldn’t assume she was safe just because she’d known him years ago.

“You mind putting that away?” Micah stepped inside, letting the door shut behind him.

His voice was even, not in the least flustered, but he was out of breath and now that she’d had a minute to study him she could see that he was bleeding from one arm. Not the one holding his weapon, but his right hand.

“Are you the one shooting at me?”

“No.”

“Do you know who is?”

“Yes.”

Kate lowered the gun. “All right, tell me.”

Micah shook his head, holstered his own weapon. “There’s no time. I don’t know where he went but he saw you come in here and you can be sure if he intended to kill you earlier, he’s not going to leave you alone until he’s...” His voice trailed off and Kate raised her eyebrows as she studied the expression on his face. If she’d had any questions about whether or not he still saw her as a kid, his friend’s little sister, they were answered in his eyes and his hesitation. He was still trying to protect her, still saw her as a child, or at the very least like someone fragile who needed special care.

“Killed me?” she finished.

He winced like she’d hit him. Instead of feeling reassured, knowing that he did care about her well-being, she was frustrated. She was tired of her brothers treading lightly around her, trying to protect her because she was the youngest Dawson. Because she’d been through events that had almost taken her from her family.

Those things had happened after Micah had left town. But small-town gossip was a strong force and news had probably found its way to Anchorage. Now he’d be overprotective like all the rest. As long as he didn’t whisper, like some people did, that would be enough for her. She’d heard someone in the grocery store just last week . That’s the one, Kate Dawson. She never did seem the same after that avalanche...

“So what’s the plan?” she asked him, because he knew who they were dealing with. Generally she preferred to be the one making decisions. A lifetime of leading search-and-rescue work had gotten her used to it.

“Stay out of the Delaneys’ way until I can get back to Moose Haven and call for backup and arrest them.”

“Who are the Delaneys?” Kate knew everyone in Moose Haven, at least the year-round residents. The town grew in size substantially in the summer and she didn’t claim to know all the tourists who had seasonal cabins around the area. But this was winter. Not exactly high tourist season.

“It’s a long story. Seriously, we have to go. He’s out there somewhere.”

“He didn’t hit us earlier, so he can’t be that good a shot.” Kate tried to keep her voice even, rolled her eyes for effect, even though her insides were shaking. For all the high-risk situations she’d been in, she’d never been shot at before. She didn’t like it at all. Put this adventure down on the “do not repeat” list.

“They killed my partner.”

She swallowed hard, no response seemed appropriate. Her flippant comment about him not being a good shot stung now, but she didn’t know how to make it right.

“I need your help, Kate. I wouldn’t ask if I had any choice, and I’d rather just whisk you away and keep you safe and be some kind of superhero, but I can’t.”

“I’m not asking you to—”

“I know. But I’m asking you.”

“What do you want?” Again, she struggled with her voice, to keep her fears, her feelings out of it.

“We need to get off this mountain without getting shot. We need to get to town so I can report everything that’s happened.”

“I have a satphone. We can call now.”

“It’s enabled with tracking, correct?” Micah asked.

Kate saw his point. She had the phone off now, but when it was turned on she had it set to give regular updates about her GPS location. It wouldn’t take someone exceptionally good with technology to access that data. And while she didn’t know if the people after her were tracking her, it wasn’t worth the risk.

Micah continued, “When we were kids you knew these trails even better than Noah and I did. You notice things other people don’t, Kate. At least you always used to. Since I found you out here, alone, in the dark, I assume you haven’t changed.”

The admiration in his voice didn’t escape her notice and Kate felt her face warm with the praise. Should what he thought mean so much to her still? Whether or not she wanted to deny it, it did.