Sharon Dunn - Wilderness Secrets

Still trying to clear his mind, he placed his hands on his hips. What now? They needed to get off this mountain before the thugs found them. “Can you guide me back down to Fort Madison?”

She crossed her arms and glared at him, then angled her body so she had a view of the smoldering plane.

“Look, I understand your suspicions, and I’m sorry I wasn’t up-front with you.” The less she knew the better, for her own safety. “I’m a drug enforcement agent. I was set up by another agent so it looks like I was working with drug dealers. I needed to get this plane back. It has evidence that could clear me.”

“And you came up here all by yourself? Don’t you people usually work as a team? Even if you are a DEA agent, I’m sure they end up on the wrong side of the law all the time.”

Without the evidence, he had no idea who in the home office would even believe that he’d been framed. As far as the agency was concerned, he’d gone rogue. Though DEA work involved a level of deception with undercover work, he knew it was for the cause of justice. He was a man who always tried to do the right thing. It bothered him that his character had been so smeared by Lee’s frame-up. The only thing that bothered him more right now was the way Abigail was looking at him with suspicion.

“Look, we both need to get out of here and back to civilization as fast as possible.” He took a step toward her.

Her mouth twitched, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Please trust me. I’m one of the good guys.”

“ Trust you?” The word seemed to upset her, when he had hoped that it would build a bridge between them.

“Abigail, what are you going to do? Those men are armed and they still have gear and food.”

Again, she studied him for a long moment, probably considering her options.

He took a step toward her. “I need your expertise to get out of these mountains as fast as possible, and you need my protection in case those guys do catch up with us.”

She stared at him, her mouth drawn into a tight line. “I wish I had my backpack.” She turned sideways in the direction from which they had come.

He let out a breath. At least now she seemed to be in problem-solving mode. Maybe she was starting to come around, regardless of what she might think of him. “Going back for your gear is not an option. The fire is dying out in that plane. I’ll go back in there and see if there’s anything we can use.”

A raindrop hit his nose. Good for drowning the fire, not so good for staying dry.

Abigail jogged toward the forest. “We can stay drier in the trees.”

He liked the use of the word we . She seemed to understand the need for them to stay together. Really, he needed her more than she needed him. She was an experienced guide. She probably knew how to defend herself against man and animal. He was a city boy and could not navigate his way out of a paper bag in an environment like this.

By the time he reached the edge of the forest, the drizzle had turned into a downpour. The fire would be put out that much faster. Unless other people were close by, the chance of the smoke alerting someone other than the criminals that a plane had crash-landed was close to zero. The fire hadn’t burned long enough and the smoke hadn’t risen high enough for it to be seen in town.

It was possible that there were other hikers in these mountains who might alert authorities once they returned to Fort Madison. But Fort Madison was a three-day hike away. Help from the outside was not something they could count on.

Abigail found shelter underneath the long branches of an older evergreen. She crouched down and pulled her knees toward her chest. He sat down beside her. The rain pelted against the higher branches, but he and Abigail remained relatively dry.

“We need to assess what we have to work with. I have a Swiss Army knife I always carry with me, an energy bar in my jacket pocket and waterproof matches,” Abigail said matter-of-factly.

He liked that she was thinking about how they were going to get off this mountain. “I have a gun with eight bullets left in it.” He rifled through the pockets of his jacket. “And a metro pass, a very old piece of hard candy, a couple of paper clips, a pocket Bible and a tire gauge I forgot to put back in my toolbox the last time I checked my tire pressure.”

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. “That is not very helpful. Even MacGyver would say that’s not much to work with.”

He laughed. “You watch that show, too?”

The faintest hint of a smile, a spasm almost, lit up Abigail’s face. “I might have caught a rerun a time or two. That show’s been around forever.”

He liked her smile, however brief it had been.

Her expression turned serious once again, eyebrows drawn close together. “You didn’t follow my instructions. When I told you how to pack, I said there were some essential things you needed to have on your person at all times.”

“I know. I didn’t think I’d be hiking out,” he said.

“Rule number one about being in the mountains—you always hope for the best but plan for the worst.”

“Yes, I remember you said that.” He leaned a little closer to her. “Sorry I’m such a bad student.”

She pulled away. She was still a little prickly. Maybe her coldness was about something more than just him.

“By landing where we did, we have gotten quite a ways from the main trail, which is the most direct route back into town,” she said.

“But you can get us back into Fort Madison?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I can. It’s what I do for a living.”

“We can’t wait here much longer. Hopefully, that fire will die out.”

He listened for a moment to the rain falling on the higher branches, creating a sort of melody.

“Yes, I suppose we need to get moving as quickly as possible.”

He imagined that she was thinking the same thing he was. Though they had a head start on the three men, waiting for the plane to stop burning would cost them valuable time, but hiking with no supplies could be costly, too. It was just a matter of time before the men tracked them to this spot.

With the rain still falling, Abigail ventured out of the trees to look at the plane wreckage. She was grateful for the baseball hat she wore and the waterproof jacket. Though it was spring, the mountain temperatures could still dip into the teens. She had dressed in layers. She was grateful to be warm and mostly dry.

Jesse followed behind her as they stepped out into the open. The plane was smoldering, and the stench of smoke and melting plastic was still heavy in the air. Her eyes watered.

She removed the bandanna from around her neck and placed it over her mouth.

Jesse coughed. “You think of everything, don’t you?”

“It’s called being prepared.” There was a slight edge to her voice that caught her by surprise. Searching a drug plane for something that might help them survive with a man who might be a criminal was not her idea of a good time. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound snippy.”

“It’s all right.” He touched her shoulder. “I should have listened better when you gave me instructions before we left town for this trek.”

Again, that stab to her heart sent waves of anger and sadness through her. Brent had destroyed her ability to trust her own judgment. She had no idea if Jesse was being honest with her or not about being framed. He seemed apologetic and almost...nice. She clenched her jaw. Nothing is as it appears.

She was certain of only one thing—they needed to work as a team if they were going to get back to town. When she stepped into the plane, the toxic smell of burnt plastic was even stronger.