Mary Alford - Standoff At Midnight Mountain

Alex handed the ID to Rachel. “It says his name is Victor McNamara. Does it ring a bell to you?”

She studied the photo for a second, then shook her head and handed it back to Alex. He shoved it in his pocket and then slung the assault rifle over his shoulder.

“Let’s go. The way he was carrying on, everyone within a two-mile radius will have heard him.”

They hurried past the waiting dog, who leaped to her feet. Once they were both back in the saddle, Rachel nudged the mare forward, and Alex followed.

While the horses made their way across the uneven countryside, Alex tried to make sense of what had just taken place. Why did this man look familiar? He was positive he recognized him from somewhere. He needed to figure out where and soon. Their lives and Liam’s depended on it.

The fact that they were coming after Rachel with such force gave him some hope that Liam might still be alive and had gotten away somehow. They’d need her to find her brother. Yet if Liam were still up on Midnight Mountain and if he was hurt, he could be in danger from more than just the men hunting him. The temperature at night up at the higher altitude could plunge well below freezing.

On the back of the capable mare Esther, Alex took in the passing countryside as they steadily climbed. It amazed him that through it all, Callie kept a careful stride behind them. The dog reminded him a lot of a mutt he’d had as a kid. He’d loved that dog until the day she’d passed away.

Alex took a second to gain his bearings. They were almost to the top of Plume Mountain, one of the many mountains neighboring Midnight Mountain.

He couldn’t figure out how Victor McNamara or any of the events that had taken place related to Liam’s disappearance. He was positive the name was a fake.

Frustrated, Alex shook his head. It was beyond him at the moment. Right now, with the steady climb, it took all his skills and concentration to keep on the mare.

After they’d put sufficient distance between themselves and the men hunting them, Rachel slowed the horse’s speed and Alex caught up to her.

Her brown hair was windblown. Her cheeks flushed from the ride. And she had never looked more beautiful to him...or more worried.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked when he got a good look at her expression.

She shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. What was that about back there, Alex? Why do these people want us dead? And why is someone trying to kill Liam? Liam is a patriot. He would never compromise his loyalty to our country for anything. So, if those men are CIA, why do they want him dead?”

“I don’t think it’s a matter of Liam compromising his values, but someone else compromising theirs. That man back there, to name one. I’m not sure what Liam uncovered, but he’s in serious danger because of it.” He hesitated before voicing his concerns. “Rachel, we can’t do this alone, especially when we really don’t know what we’re up against. We could both end up dead. Let me call in my team.” He pressed when she didn’t answer. “I promise we can trust them.”

She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “We can’t. Even if we can trust your team, who’s to say that someone won’t mention what’s happening here to a colleague? We could all end up dead because of it. Please, we can’t reach out to anyone connected to the CIA.”

He understood her reluctance was because of what Liam had scribbled on the back of the map, but that didn’t change the fact that they were grossly outnumbered.

“All right, I’ll go along with it for now, but the sooner we get some breathing room between us and those thugs back there, the better.” He expelled a weary sigh.

She smiled over at him and squeezed his arm. “Thank you, Alex. And thank you for coming so soon. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

To be honest, he hadn’t even thought about it. He’d just come. Her call had left him shaken. He’d gone against every instinct screaming inside of him that told him he was making a bad decision by not looping in his CIA Scorpion commander, Jase Bradford. He’d simply left Jase in the dark as to why he needed a few days off for personal time. Then he’d borrowed his buddy Aaron Foster’s plane and left Colorado right away, because something had happened to Liam and Rachel needed him.

“You know I’d do anything for Liam and for you. You guys are like family.” He watched her draw in a breath, her eyes clouding with some unnamed emotion he’d give anything to understand. There was a time when he knew what her every little expression meant. Back before he’d screwed things up.

“We should probably keep going. They could have men stationed farther up this mountain,” she murmured, looking away, breaking the spell.

Before he could answer, Rachel nudged the mare and headed up the trail once more. After a moment, he followed, while rebuking himself over letting his emotions get the better of him. He had to stay focused. The past was over and done. He was here for Liam.

So far, it didn’t appear that anyone was following them, but Rachel was right. They could have men everywhere. Until they had a better handle on what they faced, they needed to stay on the move. They’d be harder to track that way.

It took more than a heart-pounding hour before they summited the top of Plume Mountain, one of the lesser mountains that was part of a chain of them stretching through the area. There was still a long ways to travel before they reached their destination of Midnight Mountain. Rachel reined to a stop and took out the binoculars once more to scan the area below them where Willow Creek was located before handing them to him.

“I don’t see anything. Not even Tom.” She got off the horse and stretched out the kinks in her back.

After he’d checked the area and was satisfied they were safe for the moment, he did the same back stretches. He had finally gotten a sense of where he was again. He’d been away for years. It took a while to reacquaint.

“He should have been here long before us. I don’t see his truck and trailer.” She turned to Alex. “I don’t like it. What if he was being held hostage? What if they followed him here?”

He went over to where she stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. He could feel her grow tense in reaction to his touch and he hid his hurt with difficulty.

“Hey, we don’t know anything’s happened yet,” he said, and yet as much as he tried to reassure her, Rachel was right. By vehicle, the drive shouldn’t take more than a half hour.

“Where would he normally park?” he asked while trying not to show his concern. If these people were somehow CIA, they’d have the full resources of the Agency at their disposal. They could make people disappear...for good.

She pointed to some trees close to a trailhead. “Tom and his wife come here quite often. When my husband was alive, he and I would ride horses with them up here. Tom always parked over there.”

The mention of her husband was a painful reminder of the things that could have been his. He found himself being jealous of a dead man. Pitiful.

“Let’s not think the worst until we know for sure. Anything could have happened. A flat tire. Maybe it took him longer to load the four-wheeler than usual.” Alex tried to sound positive, but his worst fear was that the men coming after them had gotten to Rachel’s friend.

“Wait, I see something.” She pointed down below, then took up the binoculars once more. “That’s him. But he’s riding the four-wheeler... I thought he would pull it on a trailer behind his truck,” she said with a bewildered frown. “Something’s not right.”

Rachel headed back to the horses, ready to ride down into the valley, but he stopped her.

“Hang on a second. We still don’t know if he’s here alone or by his own will, for that matter. Like you said, something’s not right.”