Christy Barritt - Mountain Hideaway

TWO

Tessa froze at the sound. Someone was shooting! There was more than one person who’d shown up here. She should have known better.

Before she could react, the man—the intruder—dived back into the house and slammed the door. “Get down!”

She must not have been moving fast enough, because he threw himself over her. The knife flew from her hand and clattered to the corner.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” he grumbled.

She stiffened with alarm at the very suggestion. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I’m not the one firing at you.” His breath was hot on her cheek, and his closeness caused heat to shoot through her. She’d been so isolated that human touch seemed foreign, surreal. In order to survive, she’d been forced to keep her distance from people.

“This could all be an elaborate scheme on your part,” she said through clenched teeth. “Elaborate being the key word.”

“I promise you that I’m on your side. I don’t want to die, either, and if we stay here, that’s what’s going to happen.” He looked at her a moment. “Can you trust me?”

“I don’t even know you! Of course I can’t.”

“You’re going to have to decide who you trust more, then—me or the men shooting outside your house.”

“Neither!” Her answer came fast and left no room for uncertainty.

As a bullet shattered the front window, his gaze caught hers. “Please, Ther—Tessa. I don’t want you to get hurt. Your family would be devastated if you were. These men must have followed me here.”

Something in the man’s voice seemed sincere, and the mention of her family softened her heart. What if they had hired someone to find her? She could see them going to those measures.

She’d known when she disappeared they would worry. But what else could she have done? Leo would kill them, too, if they knew too much. Leaving without giving them a reason had been the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Tessa snapped back to the present and realized that she had little choice at this point but to go along with this Trent guy. Hesitantly, she nodded. “Fine, I’ll trust you for now.”

“Good. Now we’re getting somewhere. We’ve got to get out here and make it to my Jeep. I’m sure those men outside have got their eyes on the doors. Are there any other exits?”

“The basement. We can escape from the storm cellar. The door opens at the other side of the hot tub. The exit is hard to see, especially with the leaves covering the ground at this time of year.”

“Perfect. Show me how to get there.”

With trepidation, Tessa crawled across the floor. As she passed the iron poker by the fireplace, she briefly entertained the idea of grabbing it and knocking out the man beside her. Maybe she could get away on her own and take her chances. But Trent had proved himself to be quick and able. Besides, that would only cost them more time.

She reached the basement door and nudged it open. Blackness stared at her on the other side, so dark and thick that her throat went dry. The basement was the last place she wanted to go. But what choice did she have?

She half expected Trent to push her down the stairs, lock her in the damp space and later gloat that she’d fallen for his ruse. Ever since Leo, Tessa had a hard time trusting people. The situation at the moment felt overwhelming with all of its uncertainties.

“You’ll be okay.” She heard the whispered assurance from behind her.

He seemed to sense her fear. She nodded again and forced herself to continue. When she reached the first step, she stood, still hunched over and trying to make herself invisible.

Another window shattered upstairs. Someone was definitely desperate to kill her. She only hoped she hadn’t trusted the wrong person.

Just as she reached the basement floor, her foot caught. She started to lunge forward when a strong hand caught her shoulder and righted her. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she whispered, still shaky.

When her feet found solid ground, she expected to feel relief. Instead, her quivers intensified. She couldn’t see anything down here. Someone could be hiding, just waiting to attack.

Trent gripped her arm. “Can you tell me where the stairway that leads outside is?”

“To the right.”

He propelled her forward, not waiting for her to gather herself. Before she realized what was happening, he led her up another set of steps, through some cobwebs, and then stopped.

“Stay right here,” he whispered.

With measured motions, he slid the latch to the side and cracked the exterior door open. Moonlight slithered inside, along with a cool burst of air.

As she listened, her heart pounded in her chest with enough force that she felt certain anyone within a mile could hear it. This could be it. She could die.

Leo and his minions had finally found her. She’d known it was only a matter of time before her ex located her and ensured she remained silent about his prestigious family’s dealings with terrorists.

What she wasn’t sure about was this man with her now and his role in all of this. She knew this: there were people out there prowling around and searching for victims, for people to take advantage of. She’d never be that person again, not if she could help it.

The man was closer now, too close. Near enough that she could feel his body heat, that she could smell his leathery aftershave. Unfortunately, he was also close enough that she could catch a glance of his breathtaking, although shadowed, features. Even in the dark, she spotted his chiseled face, his perceptive eyes, his thick and curly hair.

“How fast can you run?” he whispered.

“I was a sprinter in high school.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she clamped her lips shut. Why had she said that? Why had she given any indication of who’d she’d been in her past life, her life before hiding out here in the mountains of Gideon’s Hollow, West Virginia?

“You’re going to need to utilize some of those skills now,” he muttered. “On the count of three, we need to make a run for it. Jump in my Jeep and go. No hesitating. No looking back. Can you do that?”

She nodded before finally choking out, “Yes, yes, I can do that.”

“Take my hand.” A wisp of moonlight slithered through the crack and illuminated his outstretched fingers.

She swallowed back her fears and slipped her hand into his. She’d act now and think later. She had no other choice.

“One. Two. Three!” With that, he burst out of the basement and flew like a bullet toward the woods.

She hardly had time to think, to breathe. All she could do was try to remain on her feet as trees and underbrush and boulders blurred by. Somehow she avoided falling or tripping or tumbling forward. It had something to do with the strength that emanated from the man in front of her. He seemed so in control, even in such a precarious situation.

A shout sounded in the distance. She thought she heard more scurrying, but everything moved too fast for her to put it together. Another gunshot rang out.

Something straight ahead glinted in the moonlight. The next moment Trent pushed her inside a dark vehicle that had been concealed by the nighttime and the thick woods. Before she could catch her breath, he hopped in the driver’s seat and they squealed onto the road.

Her heart pounded out of control as she tried to absorb what had just happened.

She’d just survived one attempt on her life. Now she braced herself for what this man might do with her next.

* * *

“Put your seat belt on!” Trent yelled, snapping his own in place.

Thankfully, Tessa listened, though she could barely carry out the request. Her hands trembled too badly. Finally the mechanism clicked in place.