Mary Alford - Standoff At Midnight Mountain

Before he could voice his obvious doubts aloud, a noise in the distance captured both their attentions. It sounded like a car on the gravel road nearby slowly coming to a halt.

“That seems really close.” She turned her anxious gaze to his.

“You’re right. If they’ve found us again, we’d better hurry.” Rachel led the way to the pasture where she kept a couple of mares stalled.

“The horses know this terrain better than I do. They’ll get us out of here, but it will be slow going. Do you still remember how to ride?” she asked with a hint of teasing in her tone.

He shook his head, managing a smile for her. “Don’t worry about me. I think I can remember well enough to keep up.”

The woods expanded into fertile pastureland and Rachel headed toward the barn where the horses were stabled. Behind them, nothing but eerie silence could be heard. Had the car turned around and left already or were they coming after them on foot?

Alex obviously still had concerns. “The sooner we’re saddled and riding, the better.”

“There are a couple of sleeping bags and some camping gear stored at the back of the barn on a shelf there. We’ll need the gear for staying overnight.” She pushed open the barn door and went inside. One of the mares neighed when she spotted Rachel.

“It’s okay, Naomi.” Rachel went over and patted the horse’s head. “You ready for a ride?” Next to Naomi, Esther, the second mare, whinnied.

Alex and Rachel worked quickly to saddle the mares and within no time they were leading them out of the barn.

“Let’s grab the rest of the supplies from inside,” Rachel said. She and Alex went back into the barn and brought out the sleeping bags along with camping gear, then split the load between the two horses. Rachel quickly mounted Naomi and headed down one of the trails behind the house. Alex did the same with Esther.

“There’s a ridge not too far from here. It has a great view of the house and the surrounding area. We can get a better idea of what’s going on down below,” she told him once he’d caught up with her.

Both mares covered the rocky countryside easily enough, with Callie keeping good time behind them. Once they neared the ridge, they dismounted and tied the horses in a treed area some distance from the ridge and hiked the rest of the way up.

Rachel brought out the binoculars that had been part of the camping gear and homed in on the road near the house.

“The vehicle is parked on the edge of the road close to the driveway. There’s no one inside.” She frowned as she studied it. “And it’s not the same one that was at my house.” She handed Alex the binoculars.

“Where are they?” he murmured as he focused on the wooded area between the road and the house. “Wait, I see something.” Alex zeroed in on a particular spot.

“What do you see?” She barely got the words out before he turned and grabbed her around the waist. “Get down.” Alex tugged her into the shelter of his arms and hit the ground as the world around them exploded with gunfire.

Alex’s body protected her from most of the blowback from tree branches splintering and dirt kicking up around them as the bullets hit all around. Close by, Callie whined pitifully and tromped for cover.

“Let’s get out of here. There’s enough firepower down there to take down a small village. They could have snipers anywhere.” The tension in Alex’s voice somehow got through the shock that had kept her immobile.

He got to his knees and took her hand. Together they crept as close to the ground as possible until they’d reached the horses.

“Keep as low as you can,” he told her as they mounted their horses once more and headed in the opposite direction from the shooters.

Both he and Rachel leaned in close to their horses’ necks, almost lying flat against the beasts.

“Can we make it to the base of the mountain riding?” Alex’s tone was strained. He glanced back over his shoulder, as if expecting the enemy to emerge behind them at any moment.

Rachel made sure Callie was able to keep up with them. She wouldn’t leave the dog behind no matter what.

“Yes, but we’ll have to go slower in that rocky terrain, and we will be using up valuable time we don’t have to spare. Alex, we need help.”

The path widened slightly and he rode up beside her. With no sign of the men behind them, they sat up straight once more. “Who do you suggest?”

In her mind, there was only two people she trusted other than Alex. “The Reagans are my neighbors and good friends. I can call Tom and have him meet us someplace. He can pick up the horses and bring a four-wheeler. We’ll make better time with it.”

She could tell Alex wasn’t nearly as confident in the plan.

“Alex, you can trust them, I promise. They moved to the area soon after we all went away to the university. I’ve known them ever since I came back home. They’re like family.”

He slowly nodded. “If you trust them, so do I. Give them a call. The sooner we get to Liam’s meeting location, the faster we’ll be able to figure out what happened to him.”

The problem was that she had no phone to make the call. “I destroyed both my phone and Liam’s right after I called the number he’d written down. I phoned you from my landline. I thought that if what Liam suspected were true, and these people are somehow connected to the CIA, a rogue group of agents perhaps, they’d pull apart my life piece by piece. Probably track his cell or mine. Or both. I couldn’t take the chance.”

Admiration shone in Alex’s eyes. She’d put a lot of thought into destroying the phones, but then, some of her CIA training was still useful.

“Good thinking. Hang on.” He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to her. “Use this one. It’s a burner phone and no one knows the number.”

She smiled her gratitude and dialed her friend’s number while praying that whoever was chasing them hadn’t contacted her neighbor already.

The short amount of time it took Tom to answer did little to settle her nerves.

“Tom, it’s Rachel. I need you to meet me at Willow Creek as soon as possible. And bring the four-wheeler.”

“I should be able to do that,” Tom said in an evasive tone that made her wonder if someone was listening in on the conversation.

Rachel glanced uneasily at Alex. “I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours, then.” After a second of silence on his end, she told Tom goodbye and then ended the call. She handed the phone back to Alex while praying she wasn’t leading the enemy right to them.

“He’s on his way. Willow Creek is due north of here. There’s some pretty hilly areas between, but we should be able to make it in an hour.” She hesitated. “Alex, Tom sounded strange, almost as if someone were there and he couldn’t talk.”

Rachel could see right away that he didn’t like it. “You think they’re watching him?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, but we’d better check out the area around Willow Creek very carefully when we get there. We could have unwanted company.”

The trail was just wide enough for the two of them to ride side by side for a bit and, thankfully, it was mostly level.

“Where will this trail take us?” Alex asked, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding woods.

“It will dump us out at Willow Creek after we summit Plume Mountain.”

She couldn’t help it; she had to look at him. His gaze tangled with hers. She could see that he remembered the place, as well. They’d once spent a lot of time hiking the valley below Plume Mountain and fishing back when it had been her, Liam and Alex. Before life got complicated and their career paths took them through troubled waters.

“When was the last time you spoke to Liam?” Rachel asked, mostly because she needed a distraction to get his attention off her so that she could reclaim some of her equilibrium.