Nicole Helm - Wyoming Cowboy Marine

He watched her expression change as he spoke. A kind of confusion as if she’d never considered how over the top the cabin’s protections were. But then those eyes trained on him, determined all over again. “But you’re inside with me, instead of out there with them.”

She didn’t seem scared exactly, but she did seem concerned and puzzled. If she had a clue what her father’s dealings were—whatever they were—she would have more fear than confusion. She also wouldn’t have gone to the police and she certainly wouldn’t be letting him be in here with her. Not when she was clearly capable of shooting someone.

“What could they want?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head and scowled, reaching behind the monitors and turning them off. She grabbed a tarp-looking thing off the floor and threw it across the screens. “We’ll hide for now.”

“Hide?”

“Well, I’m not going to shoot them.”

“You shot me.”

“Accidentally,” she said, striding into the closet again. She ordered the dog to come and it obeyed. Then she looked expectantly at him.

“What do we accomplish if we hide?”

“Maybe we hear something they say. Maybe they take something and we know what. Maybe—”

A cracking sound echoed through the cabin, as though the people outside had broken something on the door. Cam quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket and brought up the voice-recording app. He placed the phone on the floor, under the desk.

It wouldn’t pick up anything unless someone came into this room and talked, but it was worth a shot. He heard the slow creak of a door opening and slid into the closet with the woman and the dog.

She pulled the door closed. It was a small closet, but it was obvious a lot of the space was taken up by a false wall and the array of weapons the woman was now covering up with some kind of panel that fit perfectly into the opening.

Cam was having a harder and harder time believing she was some innocent bystander. Who lived in a shack with this kind of hidden weaponry, an array of surveillance, and people missing and breaking in? Because if she wasn’t involved, surely she’d be more than mildly perplexed.

He couldn’t hear anything outside the closet except random muffled noises, but he wasn’t unused to waiting in still silence, unable to move or talk no matter the cramped, uncomfortable circumstances. He knew how to control his breathing and avoid panic. This was all part and parcel with what his adult life had been.

He was a former Marine. He could stand quiet in a closet for a little while.

There was the small and unusual factor of having to do it with a civilian woman he wasn’t sure whether to trust or suspect, though.

He couldn’t make her out in the dark space, but he could hear the soft inhale and exhale of her breath, could occasionally feel the faintest brush of her arm or leg or the dog’s.

The closet smelled of the tangy hint of mothballs, and the dog clearly hadn’t had a bath in a while, but cutting through those disparate smells was her. Wood smoke and leather.

Rough, outdoorsy smells, but her hair kept wisping across his cheek, soft as a feather.

He didn’t care for the fissure of unease that spidered along his skin. Something was wrong. She was wrong. Everything about the situation told him she was not what she said she was.

And yet, he believed in her. Felt better served keeping her safe in here rather than engaging with the strange men who’d broken into her house. Regardless of what she wasn’t telling him, what the truth was underneath all this confusion, he couldn’t help but believe this woman was a victim of...something. That was what his gut told him.

Except she wouldn’t even tell him her name. He’d accepted that when they’d been outside and he’d been trying to gain her trust, but her giving him a gun changed things. It meant he had some power—he’d be loath to use—and it signaled her trust was building. You could at least tell me your name , he thought.

But before he could ponder further, the low sound of murmuring voices infiltrated the closet. The woman moved into a crouch, and Cam realized she was doing something to keep the dog from growling or barking.

Cam held himself still, straining to make out what the voices were saying. He couldn’t, but he had to hope that if he could hear a murmur in the closet, his phone was picking up actual voices.

Cam had no idea how long they stood there, quiet and trying to breathe carefully and silently. The voices disappeared, but the occasional creak or groan of the house kept them in place. They couldn’t leave the closet until they were sure the men had gone, and every time he got close to suggesting they ease their way out, a new sound was heard.

He couldn’t figure out the sounds he heard now. Almost like water pouring, the occasional snap that sounded like someone stepping on a twig. It was a shame they couldn’t have brought her extensive security monitors in here with them.

Something acrid tinged the air, and it only took him a moment to recognize the odor. Cam swore and began to feel around for the doorknob.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Smell that?”

“Smoke, but... Oh my God. You don’t think—”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Cam said grimly, trying to find the knob in the dark. “We have to get out of here. Now.”

* * *

CAMERON HELD HER back as he struggled to open the door. She was about to tell him to back off when the door swung out. Then all she saw were flames. Huge red flames licking up the walls of her father’s bedroom.

Her mind went completely blank for a moment, and she just stood there staring at the horrible sight in front of her. The flames danced and moved and took over more and more space. The smell and smoke stung her eyes and nose, and her throat began to burn.

And still she stood in the closet, even as she realized the buzzing in her ears wasn’t a side effect of shock, but the actual sound of fire eating through wood.

It took her a few seconds to realize Cameron had moved. As if nothing was on fire, as if this was completely normal. He walked right across the room to the small window and used the butt of the gun she’d handed him to break it.

He held his arm over his mouth and quickly and efficiently pushed as much glass off the edges as possible. Then he grabbed the linens off her dad’s bed and threw them over the windowsill.

He looked back at her, and something about the way he just seemed to know what to do reengaged her brain.

“Grab the dog,” he commanded.

Her eyes were stinging so badly she could barely see through the painful tears, but she crouched down and wrapped her arms around Free. It wouldn’t be easy with Free’s weight and size, but she whispered calmly into the animal’s ear as she hefted her up and struggled toward the window.

Cameron’s arm brushed hers as he reached around Free and helped to lift her high enough so they could give her a gentle toss out the window. She landed on all fours and immediately began barking incessantly.

“Now you,” Cameron said, and his firm, calm tone steadied her. “Be careful. I cleared it as best I could and the sheets should keep you from getting any cuts but don’t put undue pressure anywhere.”

She nodded and leveraged herself out the window. It was awkward and painful, but she managed to tumble to the ground without any major injury. Free rushed over, licking her face and whimpering. Hilly got to her feet, petting the dog in the process. She looked at the house, completely engulfed in flame, and couldn’t begin to wrap her head around what was happening.

But one thing she could wrap her head around was the fact Cameron hadn’t climbed out after her. She rushed toward the broken window. “What are you doing?” she yelled as Cameron moved deeper into the room.