Standoff At Midnight Mountain. Mary Alford

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      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.

      There was something in Alex’s gaze that drew her in and made her wonder if he, too, was remembering their time here together. Back then their romance was just beginning. They had skirted around the edges of their feelings since they were teens. She’d often wondered what her younger self would have done if only she’d known the outcome.

      “Too long ago, I’m afraid.” He clearly regretted the lapse. “I’d like to say we both got busy, but I guess in truth it was just too hard.” He spared her a look and she swallowed with difficulty and looked away, her heart going crazy with possibilities. Did Alex have regrets about their parting? He certainly hadn’t showed it all those years ago.

      When Rachel had made up her mind to get out, she hadn’t realized how hard it would be. Hadn’t known she’d be walking away from Alex along with the Agency. She’d been a broken person when she came back to her hometown of Midnight Mountain. She’d spent weeks crying. Liam had tried his best to console her, but Liam was cut from the same cloth as Alex. They both ate, breathed and slept the CIA.

      For a long time, Rachel hadn’t known what to do to move on beyond Alex. She’d gone to church with the Reagans one Sunday. She had felt a sense of peace that day, realizing that she wasn’t alone in her pain. Knowing that God was with her no matter what happened in her life. It was because of this that her heart had begun to mend.

      “To tell you the truth—” Alex’s familiar voice interrupted her unsettled thoughts “—I’ve missed working with Liam...and you.”

      Her heart contracted painfully and she struggled to keep from showing how hard it was to hear him say those things. Why was he telling her this now?

      She’d buried how handsome he was deep in her heart. Now it was a painful reminder of the dreams she’d given up. He was tall and fit; his dark brown hair now almost touched his collar. Those piercing green eyes still held a hint of mischief in them whenever he smiled, as they had when they were kids growing up together. Yet the years and the job had left their mark on him. Fine lines fanned out around his eyes and mouth. She’d witnessed enough horror in her years on the job to know the reason behind those lines.

      Rachel shoved those dark memories back into the recesses of her heart. She needed to keep her focus on her brother.

      “I called Liam a couple of months back,” Alex said, surprising her. “He didn’t answer, but he called me back a little after from a phone number I didn’t recognize. For some reason, the number stuck in my head.”

      He gave it to her. She didn’t recognize it, either. She shook her head. “I’ve never heard him use that number before.”

      Alex nodded. “Anyway, we talked for a bit. He sounded...tired. Distracted, maybe. He said he was getting ready to leave on a mission to Iraq.”

      She remembered the time. “You’re right. Liam was distracted back then. Actually, for a while. At first, I wasn’t so worried. You know how Liam throws himself into his mission to the point of being consumed by it. But his behavior became increasingly more withdrawn as the weeks went by. Then he showed up at my house...and you know the rest.” She shrugged. “I think Iraq was just a staging location, though. He was heading behind enemy lines.”

      “It makes sense. The fewer people who know about where an agent is going, the better chance they have of surviving. The last time we talked, he told me a little of the same things he told you. About this new player coming onto his radar. He seemed really worried and alluded to the fact that if they couldn’t find out his identity soon, it could have deadly consequences.”

      Rachel shivered at the implication. Had Liam tracked the identity of the person and found out it was one of his own people?

      As they rode along, a tree branch snapped close to the edge of the trail, immediately drawing Rachel’s attention back to the moment. Was it just an innocent animal roaming the woods nearby? Or had an enemy found them and was closing in quickly?

      * * *

      Alex reined in his mare and listened carefully. Nothing but silence followed. The sound had come from just up ahead. Slowly, he dismounted and drew his weapon. Rachel did the same.

      Close by, the dog growled and headed for the woods in the direction of the sound, sniffing the air.

      “Stay, Callie,” Rachel ordered and stopped the dog with that verbal command. Callie sat back on her haunches, her guard up.

      “Stay behind me,” Alex said and then eased into the treed area. Once inside, he stopped for a second to take stock. At one time, he had known these woods like the back of his hand. He and Liam had hunted just about everything the forest provided since they were kids. Alex could recognize the different sounds made by animals that roamed the mountains, and the noise he’d just heard earlier didn’t belong to any of those animals.

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