Guarding the Witness

After scouring the kitchen and living room for anything they could use, she hurried to her bedroom and grabbed what she might need from her own possessions. The last things she put into her backpack were the camera and flashlight. Although the night was only about four hours long, they might need the light, especially if they had to find shelter in a cave.

“Ready?” A rifle with a scope clutched in one hand and his duffel bag in the other, Brody stood in the entrance to her bedroom, dressed in clean jeans and T-shirt with hiking boots, a light parka and his Glock strapped in his holster at his waist. His face still looked as though the man had used him as a punching bag. When they were safely away from the cabin, she intended to treat those cuts.

She slung the pack onto her back. “Yes. Do we have all the ammunition?”

“Yes, what there is. I wish we had more rounds for the rifle, but for the handguns we should be fine. I found a map and a compass in the ranger’s bedroom closet.” He swung around and started for the front door.

Arianna followed. “I hate leaving Mark like this.”

Brody stepped out onto the porch. “I can’t call this in. I don’t want anyone to know the assassins didn’t succeed in killing us all. I don’t know how they found us. I can’t trust anyone.”

“And we can’t even take the satellite phone with us,” she murmured, thinking about the GPS in cell phones. Great way to track someone.

“Not if we don’t want more assassins finding us. We’re on our own and I don’t intend to make it easy for anyone to track us.” Brody used the pair of binoculars hanging around his neck to scan the terrain stretching out before them.

“What happens when we reach Anchorage?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to stash you someplace safe until you can testify because I intend to get you to that trial. Rainwater isn’t going to win this one. One of my men, possibly two, are dead because of that man.” He checked the compass then descended the steps. “Let’s go.”

“If they come after us, they’ll know we’re heading for Anchorage. There aren’t too many ways in.”

“I know. That’s why we aren’t going straight there. We’re heading east toward Fairbanks, not southwest. They’ll be watching all the direct routes to Anchorage.”

“But we have to still get to Anchorage.”

“Once I find some transportation, I’ll figure out a way. I can’t see us walking the whole way to Anchorage anyway. Time is against us. If they can’t kill us, they’ll still succeed in freeing Rainwater if you don’t show up to testify.”

“That isn’t going to happen.” She’d already waited so long for the chance to testify, spending almost two months in Kentucky until the U.S. Marshals Service had moved her back to Alaska. Two months separated from her family and friends. Her employer at Guardians, Inc. only knew that she had gone into the Witness Protection Program, and after that, she had to cut all ties. “I didn’t go through the last two months for nothing.” She ground her teeth, wishing she could grind her fists into the face of the person responsible for giving the cabin’s location away.

“Even if you didn’t get to testify, I doubt Rainwater would want you alive.”

Arianna slanted a look at the harsh planes of Brody’s face. Determination molded his features and steeled the hard look in his brown eyes. “That’s my thinking, too. If I have to give up my life, I want it to be for something.”

After Arianna took a picture of the third assailant, she and Brody headed toward the trees. The sun hung low on the horizon as it started its ascent. A dense stand of spruce, willow and birch up ahead offered them shelter from being in the open. Brody increased his pace the lighter the day became. When the thick wooded area swallowed them into a sea of green, he slowed his gait.

“If you need to rest, let me know. I tend to push.”

“That’s fine by me. But I do think we need to stop and take care of your cuts. Did the guy have a ring on?”

“You know at the time I didn’t think about that. I was just trying to stop him.”

“The cut over your eye is oozing blood. So is the one on your right cheek. Doesn’t the scent of blood attract predators?”

“I guess it could. I didn’t think about that, either. Too busy trying to figure out the best way to proceed. We’ll stop for a brief rest after we’ve gone a little deeper into this forest.”

“Maybe the U.S. Marshals Service will discover we’re missing before the bad guys realize their assassin team didn’t succeed.”

A frown descended on Brody’s beat-up face. “But who do we trust? I still can’t figure out how they knew where we were. Few did. And the map that guy had was very precise.”

“And another burning question is Kevin’s whereabouts.” Arianna pictured the young marshal with the ready smile. Did he betray them? What happened to him? Money lured a lot of people to do evil things. “I don’t want them to find him dead, but what if he gave the cabin’s location away? That was the first time he was on duty outside, and the assassins just happened to get inside the cabin without anyone knowing. They surprised Mark or we would have heard a commotion.”

“That’s what I’m wrestling with. I don’t want to think it’s one of us, but I have to consider that. Or—” Brody paused for a long moment “—it was someone from the first team at the cabin, especially because of the detailed map. Until we were flown in, I couldn’t have drawn the kind of map they had. If it was Kevin, how could he have gotten the map to them ahead of time?”

“It has to have been an inside job, especially in light of the safe house being compromised in Anchorage. I don’t believe in coincidences. Two places compromised in a case? Doesn’t happen without inside information.”

“And Rainwater has deep pockets. He’s a crook but money can be influential.”

As they went through a thicker area of trees, branches slapped against Arianna’s arms while she threaded her way through the woods right behind Brody. “In a perfect world, money and power wouldn’t count.”

“It does in this world, and Rainwater has a lot of both. But somewhere along the line, we’re going to have to trust someone, especially if we want to figure out who’s behind this.”

“I have to. My life will depend on that. I can’t go into the Witness Protection Program with the thought that some marshal might have betrayed me and could do it again. Rainwater, even if he gets off, won’t stop until I’m dead.”

“Agreed.” He halted and faced her, intensity vibrating off him. “We have to discover who is behind this and get you to Anchorage to testify.”

Blood trickled down his cheek. The urge to touch him and wipe it away assailed her. “This looks safe enough to stop for a few minutes. I need to take care of your cuts. You’re still bleeding.”

“A limb hit me in the face. Probably opened a few cuts that had clotted.” Brody glanced around. “How about over there?”

“Fine.” Arianna trekked to a less dense patch under a group of mountain alders. Dropping her pack on the ground, she relished the weight being off her shoulders for a few minutes. “Sit while I clean your cuts and bandage a couple of them.” She retrieved the first aid kit and opened it.

“Did I tell you I’m not a good patient?”

“No, but too bad. I can’t afford for you to get an infection.”

“I doubt—” At that moment, she wiped the deepest cut on his cheek with a pad doused in alcohol, and he yanked back. “It’s obvious you’re no Florence Nightingale.”

She grinned, winking at him. “Never claimed to be. I’m sure we shouldn’t stay here long so speed is important.” She moved on to the next wound.

“Yeah, the farther away we are from the cabin the safer we’ll be.”

He stayed perfectly still, his gaze fixed on her. She tried to ignore it, but it was hard. Her stomach clenched into a tight ball. His eyes seemed to penetrate deep into her—as though trying to discover her innermost secrets. She had no intention of sharing those with him or anyone.

“Close your eyes. I want to take care of the one near your left one. I wouldn’t want to get alcohol in your eye.”

His gaze narrowed for a few seconds before he shut it completely. She dabbed the pad on the cut, relieved for the short break from his intense look. Slowly the knots unraveled in her gut. With his eyes closed, she got a chance to scrutinize him without him seeing. His features weren’t handsome, but there was a strength and ruggedness to them that gave a person the impression he knew how to take care of himself. That appealed to her. Probably too much.

Caring about a person who was protecting you wasn’t wise. Just as caring about a person you were protecting wasn’t wise. Her hand quivered as she pressed a small bandage over the cut near his eye, then proceeded to put two more on the other ones that kept bleeding.

“What made you go into the private sector as a bodyguard?”

His question surprised her, and yet it shouldn’t have. He no doubt was assessing her and deciding if he could trust her to protect his back. Whether he liked it or not, they were in this as a team. “Instead of law enforcement?”

“Yes.”

“Money and the freedom my job allows me. When I left the service, I knew I wanted to use my skills to protect people. In my different tours in the army, I saw a lot of defenseless people who were victims of their circumstances. Guardians, Inc. is a business but Kyra Hunt, my boss, also helps people who can’t usually afford to have a paid bodyguard.”

“When I knew I would be protecting you, I did some checking into Guardians, Inc. It’s a top-notch company with a good reputation.”

“Kyra only employs the best.”

“And she hired you?”

She laughed. “I’ll try not to be offended by that remark.”

“Don’t be. I’ve read about your assignments. You’re very good at your job.”

Ignoring his remark, she taped the last bandage into place. “I’m finished. You’re not as good as new, but it will have to do.” She put the packaging from the items she’d used back into the first aid kit, not wanting to leave any evidence they had been there behind for someone to find.

His eyes remained closed.

“You didn’t fall asleep on me, did you?”

“No, I was running through my mind what went down at the cabin, trying to figure out what happened, how they might have known where we were. How did they get there? Who would have talked with them?”

“Any clues?”

His eyelids slowly rose, and his look snared hers. “No, and now we don’t have the time to dally and try to figure it out. Let’s go.” He pushed to his feet.

Arianna stood, stretching to ease the tightness in her shoulders and back. “I’m ready.” She reached for her pack when a roar echoed through the stand of trees. A familiar roar.

She shot up and whirled around. Through the woods a large grizzly bear standing on its hind legs stared right at them.

THREE

Forty yards separated Arianna from the grizzly, still perched on its hind legs. Watching. “Is this the same one that was at the cabin?”

“Don’t know. I don’t see any cubs around.”

“Oh, good. Another bear. What do we do? Run? Climb the tree behind us?”

Brody turned his head slightly but still kept tabs on the brown bear by slanting a glance toward it. “Don’t look directly at it.”

“But—”

Before she could finish her sentence Brody straightened as tall as he could, raised his arms and waved them. “Bears are curious. I’m challenging it. Follow suit.” Then in a shout he said, “Leave us alone,” over and over.

Arianna mimicked what Brody was doing, hoping he knew what he was doing. She was all for spinning around and running as fast as her legs could carry her.

The grizzly dropped to all four legs. It charged them but stopped about twenty-five yards away.

“This isn’t working.” Arianna’s heartbeat sped, her mouth dry. She might not have to worry about Rainwater’s men.

“Back away slowly, still waving your arms and shouting.”

“Isn’t this calling attention to us?”

“Yep, but a gunshot would make more noise. Carry farther.”

One step back. Then another. Arianna looked sideways at the bear. It stood on its hind legs again, pointing its nose up in the air as though the grizzly was sniffing it. She kept moving, going between two trees.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t climb a tree?”

“Grizzly bears can climb a tree.”

“What else can they do?” Arianna asked, watching the animal lower itself onto all fours again.

“Swim and run fast.”

The bear roared.

Arianna gasped while Brody brought the rifle up.

The grizzly gave one last vocal protest then loped off toward the east, disappearing in the thickness of a stand of pines.

Brody rotated around. “Let’s get out of here before it changes its mind and returns for us.”

“Now you’re talking.” But as she hurried away, she glanced back every few steps to make sure the bear wasn’t behind them. The pounding of her pulse echoed through her mind.

“We need to keep moving. It’s been several hours since we were attacked. If I was running that mission, I’d be wondering why my men hadn’t come back and go investigate.”

“The Marshals Service will investigate when you don’t call in this morning.”

“Yes, so the best thing for us is to put as much distance between us and the cabin. We don’t want anyone to know where we are, not even the marshals. When we get to Fairbanks, we can check the news to see what, if anything, is being said.”

Arianna slowed her pace and twisted around once more to make sure the bear wasn’t following them. She’d heard stories about a bear tracking a person, appearing every once in a while then attacking. She didn’t want to be one of those stories. All she saw was a thick, green forest around her—a perfect place for someone—or some animal—to hide and wait for the right time to strike.

* * *

After a couple of hours of walking as fast as they could through dense woods and rugged terrain, Brody spied a place that probably had been used as a campsite in the past. Thankfully it showed no signs of recent use. “Let’s stop and eat something.” He pointed at a crop of rocks. “I’m going up there to scout out our surroundings.” He took out his compass. “And make sure we’re going in the right direction.”

“Did I tell you I don’t cook?” Arianna said with a laugh. “So all you’ll get is something easy. Like peanut butter sandwiches without the jelly, and I’m afraid the bread has been squashed.”

After finding his first foothold, Brody peered at Arianna already digging into her backpack. “Right now anything sounds good. I’m starving.”

“So am I.”

Her gaze linked with his, and he glimpsed the toll the past hours had taken on Arianna. There were many people he guarded in the Witness Protection Program, but some were criminals. The ones like Arianna always got to him. The ones who weren’t trying to cut a deal or avoid the consequences of their actions, but were simply testifying because it was the right thing to do, no matter what the cost. He couldn’t imagine giving up his life and having to start a new one. But she would have to once the trial was over.

He climbed the outcropping of rocks until he reached a perch where he could lie down and scope out the area without being seen. He was most concerned with the terrain between them and the cabin.

The wind whipped against his face, carrying the scent of burning wood. A campfire nearby? Frowning, he focused the binoculars in the direction they’d come. A roiling mushroom of dark smoke billowed into the sky.

Was the cabin burning? The forest around it?

He trained his binoculars on the area, trying to see anything that would give him an idea of what they were up against. He couldn’t tell. After checking all the surroundings, he scrambled down the rocks and hurried to Arianna.

“We need to keep moving.”

She handed him a sandwich. “Take a few minutes to eat.” Studying his face, she pushed to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a fire behind us and the wind is blowing this way. I’m guessing it’s four miles back, but it has been dry in this part of Alaska, so there’s a lot of dry timber between us and the forest fire.” He took a bite of the sandwich, hefted his duffel bag and then slung his rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ll eat and walk.”

“You think Rainwater’s men started a fire at the cabin? Why would they do that?”

“Maybe to cover up any evidence. To cause confusion. They had to know the U.S. Marshals Service would know when something happened at the cabin.”

“The fire means a lot of firefighters will be in this area.”

“Making it harder for us. Rainwater’s men can infiltrate the firefighters, using that as a cover for being here.”

Arianna nodded as she finished the last of her sandwich. “Which way?”

“There’s a river up ahead of us.” He checked the compass then pointed northeast. “We’ll have to cross it. It should be low because of no rainfall in the past month, but we’ll still have to swim.”

Arianna slowed her gait. “Is there a way around the river?”

“It stands between us and Fairbanks. Why?”

“I can’t swim well. Just enough to get by.”

“You can’t?” He’d never considered that. “Why not?”

“I almost drowned as a child. I was caught in a flood. Rushing water scares me. Is this river like that?”

“Yes. At least when it’s low you can see the rocks.” He wished there was another way to get across other than swimming. Arianna had already gone through enough.

She stopped and swept around toward him. The pallor on her face highlighted her fear. “I can do a lot of things. Climb up tall structures. Parachute out of a plane. Snakes, rats, spiders don’t bother me, but rushing water does. I’m only okay in a pool—still water.”

He hated to see the fear in her eyes, but there was nothing he could say to make it better. “We don’t have the time to find a way around the river. We have to cross it and there isn’t a bridge for miles. Besides, those will be watched.”

Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath. “Okay.”

She rotated back around and started forward, her strides long. But Brody had glimpsed how scared she was and wasn’t sure how they would get across the river that was a favorite of those who liked to ride the rapids.

* * *

Brody came down from climbing a tree to check the progress of the fire. His grim expression spoke of their dire situation even before he said, “It’s moving fast. Faster than us. Animals are fleeing the area—an elk herd is off to the right of us. But what is even more alarming is that I saw three dogs with several handlers—all armed. No uniforms on so we need to assume unfriendly.”

Dogs. Tracking dogs were hard to evade. Determined and relentless described the ones she’d worked with in the past in the service. “We’re boxed in then with the river on one side and the fire and dogs on the other.”

“Yes, and they are about two miles ahead of the fire so let’s getting moving.”

Arianna thrust a bottle of water into his hand. “Drink, and eat this protein bar. We’re gonna need to keep our energy up.”

After taking a swig of water, he started out at a fast clip, making his own path through the forest. “We’ve got to eat on the run. No other way.”

As she set into a jog, Arianna wolfed down her food. Her muscles burned from exhaustion and only her strong determination kept her putting one foot in front of the other. She refused to dwell on what she would face at the river. The scent of the fire intensified even as they moved away from it. When she inhaled deep breaths as she ran, she couldn’t fill her lungs with enough oxygen. Pain in her side stabbed her, her breathing grew more labored with each stride she took.

She periodically looked over her shoulder, checking the area behind her. At any second she had to be prepared to encounter people. Whether friend or foe didn’t matter because they couldn’t take a chance on being seen.

Brody came to an abrupt halt, his arm going up to indicate he heard something ahead of them. Arianna nearly collided with him but managed to stop in time.

He pointed to the left then whispered into her ear, “Someone’s coming.”

Arianna glimpsed something orange where he’d indicated. She scanned the forest, saw a place they could hide and tugged on Brody. She just hoped it wasn’t a tracker with a dog or their hiding would be in vain.

As quiet as possible, she crept through the underbrush with Brody at her side. Lying down on the forest floor beneath some dense foliage, she pulled her gun, praying she didn’t have to use it. Brody brought the rifle around and aimed it in the direction where he saw the orange.

Two men dressed as hunters, rifles in their hands, trekked toward the fire. While in Kentucky, Arianna had familiarized herself with every person known to be associated with Joseph Rainwater. She had planned on going back to Alaska as prepared as she could be. The larger of the two that passed within ten yards of their location was Boris Mankiller, an appropriate name for him because he was believed to be one of Rainwater’s most valuable guns for hire.

Mankiller and his comrade halted about twenty feet away. Mankiller made a slow circle, his rifle raised as though he sensed them nearby. Her heartbeat hammered so fast and loud she wondered if he heard it.

Brody signaled he had his rifle pointed at Mankiller. She lifted her Glock and targeted the man’s comrade, her breath bottled in her lungs.

One minute passed. Mankiller pointed at the sky in the direction of the fire. Arianna glimpsed the growing smoke, obscuring the sun and leaving a dimness in the forest as if it were dusk instead of the middle of the day.

The two parted—one went to the left while the other moved to the right and slightly toward the fire, fanning out. She saw through the foliage another pair of guys a hundred yards away. She leaned toward Brody and whispered, “They’re trying to close in on us.”

“They may be part of an inner ring around the cabin. We need to watch for any people forming an outer circle. Let’s go. It’s even more important to get to the river.”

When he said the word river, a ripple of fear snaked down her spine but her fear of the water was far outweighed by fear of the men after her. In this small part of the forest she knew that Rainwater had four men looking for them. Multiply that over the large area of this wilderness and he must have hired a small army to look for her and anyone left to protect her.

Sneaking out from under the brush, she ran while crouched right behind Brody, swinging her attention back every once in a while to make sure no one had spotted them. Her back hurt from being hunched over and her thighs screamed in protest at the punishing pace Brody set but she didn’t dare voice a complaint.

Forty-five minutes later, Arianna stared down at the raging river, its water churning like a boiling pot of liquid. She froze at the sight.

Brody came up beside her. “You okay?”

She opened her mouth to answer him, but no words formed in her mind, her full attention glued to river. Reminders of when she had been young and swept away from her parents in something similar inundated her. Her younger sister had died in the flood. Arianna had tried to save her, but her grip on Lily had slipped away. The last thing she remembered was her sister’s scream reverberating through her head against the backdrop of the gushing sound of the water—a raging turmoil.

Brody grasped her arm and swung her around. He waited until her gaze latched on to his before saying, “All you have to do is get yourself across the river. I’ll take care of everything else. Okay?”

She nodded, her mouth so dry she should be happy to immerse herself in water. She wasn’t. Fear held her immobile, unable to take a step toward the bank.

She hadn’t known how hard controlling her fear had been until her army unit had been forced to cross a swollen river. Watching one of her comrades swept away by the power of the water brought her childhood trauma to the forefront after years buried deep in her subconscious.