Mary Alford - Standoff At Midnight Mountain

Alex collected his straying thoughts. “Not looking over your shoulder all the time sounds like a good thing. I’ll be right back.” He excused himself and went upstairs, grateful for the chance to get control of his emotions. He thought he’d left Midnight Mountain behind for good when he went away to college, yet so many of his childhood memories were tied to this place. And to this woman...

After he finished checking the upstairs rooms, he was more ready to join her again. At the foot of the stairs, he noticed that the dog had settled down close to Rachel’s feet.

“There’s no sign anyone’s been up there in a while...” He stopped when he noticed her staring strangely at the desk in the corner of the room. “What is it?”

Rachel visibly shivered. “Even though it’s a half hour drive from my home, I still come here every couple of days to make sure the place is okay. I’m pretty sure that drawer was closed when I was here yesterday.”

He stared at the desk and then at her. “Someone’s been here.” He stated the obvious. “What was in there?”

She shook her head. “That’s just it. Nothing was in there. There isn’t anything of value here besides the horses.”

“But they weren’t looking for something valuable.” Their gazes locked and a new fear entangled him in its clutches. “Whoever was here was looking for something connected to Liam.”

No doubt the people behind Liam’s disappearance had known about his connection to Rachel all along, including this house.

“You said you keep horses on the property?” Alex’s thoughts snarled together. What she’d told him about Liam was disturbing. That Liam had left her the location where he was scheduled to meet his asset seemed to indicate he had been concerned something might happen to him up there.

“That’s right. Why?” she asked innocently enough.

“Because they may be our only way out of here.” Alex glanced out the front window at the breaking dawn. They’d need to keep moving. Get up on the mountain as soon as possible.

“The stalls are behind the house a little ways down near the south pasture.”

“Good. Then we should probably head out. Are you ready for this?” She didn’t hesitate. Rachel had been one of the best agents he’d had the pleasure of working with. She might be a little rusty, but she was more than capable.

If something had happened to Liam, each day that passed whittled away at his chances of survival. Rachel said she’d had no word from her brother in more than a week. As a former CIA agent herself, she would know that it was common practice for agents to carry burner phones as a means of communicating without being tracked. If Liam hadn’t reached out to her by now, then something bad was wrong.

It bothered Alex that Liam seemed worried about something. It wasn’t like his friend to show fear, but from Rachel’s account, he’d definitely been concerned when he showed up at her place. He had told her he was close to bringing down a new player in the terror field. He’d mentioned something similar the last time he and Alex had talked.

Did Liam’s disappearance have anything to do with what he’d uncovered about the terrorist threat? If so, then whomever he was chasing seemed determined to silence anyone who got in their way or attempted to uncover their identity.

As he and Rachel headed out into the new day dawning, with Callie at their heels, Alex could almost feel her uneasiness growing.

He touched her arm and she slowed her steps and faced him. “We’ll find him, I promise. And don’t forget, Liam’s tough. He’s been through much worse than this.”

She smiled without answering. Did she believe him?

He needed to get a look at the map. It would give some indication as to where exactly on the mountain they’d be heading. “Do you have the map Liam left you handy?” he asked, and she dug it out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Once he’d opened it, he recognized the location right away. It was more than a twenty-four hike under the best of conditions and over some very rugged terrain.

“This is where Liam was going to meet with his asset?” he asked with a sense of foreboding.

She nodded. “I think so.”

Even if they headed straight there, they’d still have to find a place to make camp for the night before hiking the rest of the way up. Darkness came early to the mountains. They’d never make it to the site before nightfall. The weather would definitely play a factor, especially with the mountains making their own conditions. It might be early spring, but snow and ice weren’t unexpected this time of year. Up on the mountain several feet of snow still clung to the crevasses.

“I hate going into a situation blind like this, and we don’t know for sure what’s really happened to Liam. Maybe something went wrong with the meet and he was injured. Or maybe his asset sold him out.” Alex glanced around, expecting trouble.

Rachel hesitated a second too long. Right away he could tell something was wrong.

“What is it?” He almost dreaded her answer.

“There’s something else I haven’t showed you, Alex. It’s on the back of the map.”

He turned it over and saw the phone number and initial Rachel had mention previously. But it was the words that were scribbled below them that increased his concern for Liam’s well-being tenfold.

Agency. Dirty. Trust no one. Especially anyone in authority. It was a message Liam had intended for Rachel alone.

Alex stared at it and then her. If true, the magnitude of what they now faced had grown beyond anything he could have imagined.

Rachel dragged in a breath before she delivered the worst news possible.

“Alex, I think the person Liam was chasing, this new terrorist threat that he’d uncovered...I think it involves someone from the CIA.”

TWO

The expression of shock on his face told her how hard it was for him to wrap his head around the idea that someone from the CIA, both her brother and Alex’s own team, might be responsible for harming Liam.

“Rachel...” Her name came out on a frustrated-sounding sigh. Alex couldn’t hide his doubts. She certainly understood. As an agent, his head wouldn’t let him go there.

“I know how crazy this sounds, but you weren’t there when Liam came to see me. He was spooked, and Liam doesn’t spook easily. I think his disappearance is in some way connected to the new threat he’s been chasing. Maybe he uncovered information that connected someone in the CIA as possibly being involved with this terrorist somehow.”

She looked up at him, willing him to understand. “It makes sense, Alex,” she said.

Yet he couldn’t hide his skepticism. After all, Alex was still part of the CIA, and there was a bond between agents that was unbreakable. In his mind, it would be unimaginable to think someone you trusted with your life might betray you in such a deadly way.

Still, she tried to make him understand. “Just think about it. Those people who showed up at my house obviously knew about Liam’s meet location. They managed to connect my name to Liam, even though it’s an alias. They probably knew who he was meeting with as well, and those arrangements are kept confidential for the agent’s safety. So how would they possibly know about it without having some inside information?”

His gaze locked on hers; he was clearly surprised by what she’d said. “What are you talking about? You don’t know that they knew who Liam was meeting.”

Rachel blew out a breath and explained. “I do. I overheard something one of them said. They believe Liam and someone else, probably his asset, are still up on the mountain. Alex, I know you don’t want to think it’s possible, I didn’t either in the beginning, but this is Liam and his life is at stake. We can’t afford to discount anything. If they’re right and he’s somewhere up there still, he could be hurt. He needs our help, because no one else, the CIA included, is going to help him.”