Trailhead
Gage LaChance couldn’t contain the grin as the mama lynx looked directly at him and then away without any stress. The animals were returning to the hollow log after a night of hunting and Gage’s presence didn’t disturb the reclusive cats at all.
He’d been visiting since their birth a couple of months back, watching the extraordinary growth rate of these gorgeous felines.
Gage was sure the snowshoe hare population was learning to avoid the trails where the family of lynx watched and waited.
Once the family was settled down for the day, Gage eased back from the area as silently as possible. Even hobbits had nothing on Gage’s stealth.
He’d been learning how to read the bush since he’d learned to walk. His brothers and sister loved the bush too but he didn’t think any of them would have been able to find the lynx hideout. And none of them would have been able to sit still long enough to get mama to accept them.
Lil would have been snapping pictures with her latest fancy-pants camera, making enough noise to have the lynx rolling her eyes.
The twins might have better luck, but not much. Jaz had been quieter since returning to Bloo Moose but the interest wasn’t there. Rayce had more patience than anyone he’d ever met with an injured creature, but observing for the sake of observing wasn’t his thing.
By the time Gage reached the tree where he’d stashed his backpack, dawn was peeking through the branches. He tugged the pack out of the knoll and slipped it onto his back. It was lighter than when he’d headed out three days ago but still carried enough weight to make it a good work out.
Aiming south, he knew he’d have to keep up a steady pace. Lil would be calling and if he wasn’t in cell phone range, she’d worry.
As the oldest, he tried hard not to cause any of them worry but especially the youngest and only girl.
Lil was basically a bundle of emotions tied together with her crazy hair and sunny smile.
Even the thought of her made the day a little better.
Which was tough. The scars from Lauren’s death a decade before should have healed by now, but they continued to run deep.
The twins would check on him too. They’d show up with the pretense of having a beer and hanging out. Max would probably show too.
Being away at school, Lil would have to make do with a call.
Family.
Had to love them even when he really would rather just be alone.
His girlfriend had been with her family on vacation when some nutcase with a snapped mind and an AK47 had mowed them down in a shopping mall parking lot of all places.
The FBI had known the man was volatile but hadn’t done a thing to stop him. Hadn’t had enough evidence they said. Even though their agents had suspected he was ready to snap.
Eight lives cut short.
And countless more affected all because the FBI hadn’t bothered to stop a man with a gun and a grudge.
Gage yanked his mind from the past and focused on his surroundings.
Summer in Vermont was beautiful. No matter the season, the state was the best place on earth.
Gage focused on the trees and the forest floor, looking for traces of wildlife, mentally cataloging what he saw and heard.
He stopped briefly to grab a bite and took a detour to check out a red-tailed hawk’s nest.
Still, Lauren’s memory refused to leave him alone. If only the FBI had acted earlier. If only he’d gone with her family, they might have not been in the parking lot. Or, he might have noticed something. Might have been able to save them.
Gage was still hours from home when he crossed into cell phone range. Only a few minutes later, his phone rang with the tone he’d set for Lil.
“Hey, squirt.”
“Hey yourself, Old Man. Where are you?”
“Couple hours north of home.”
Lil’s sigh easily crossed the miles. “Is it helping?”
Straight to the heart of the matter.
“How’s school going?”
“Really? Changing the subject already?” Her laugh would make anyone smile. Even him.
“Yep. I’m fine. Have you made any decisions about your major yet?”
“Fine. Diversion accepted. For now. Yes. I’m doing a double major.”
Gage knew his own sigh would be audible. “Seriously. You’re adding another couple of semesters? You were almost at the finish line.”
“Not all of us hate school, Gage. I like learning.” Then why didn’t her words ring true?
“Why computers?”
Another sigh. “Your memory going, Old Man? As I’ve said so many times before, I like computers. Knowing the ins and outs will help my photography improve. It will help me run my business independently. I’ve always liked math and computers. You know this.”
But it still didn’t sit right. Something else was going on. He needed to see her, chat with her in person. Wear her down. She wasn’t the only one who could nag.
“My turn to change the subject. Are you going to bite anyone’s head off when you get back home or did the kazillion-mile week-long hike help?”
A gruff laugh barked out of him. Lil might be the youngest, but she held her own. A fact that made him damn proud. “Three days and only a bazillion miles.”
He could hear her smile across the miles. “Good. Find anything cool?”
As he walked, he told her about the latest hawk sighting, the fishing he’d done in the streams, the shooting stars and the lynx family.
“I don’t suppose you bothered to take any pictures?”
“Not a one.”
“How are we even related?”
“Not a clue, squirt, but I’m glad we are. Hitting the climb so I gotta go. Talk to you soon.”
“Love you too, Gage. Be good to yourself.”
Gage pocketed the phone and kept moving. The load was a little lighter.
Rebecca Lin snuck another peek at the boy sitting in the back seat of her rented sedan. He hadn’t moved much except to turn the pages of his book.
A dead-tree book, not an ebook.
They’d had to leave behind any of their personal devices but Matteo Diaz claimed he preferred “real” books anyway.
Who read from paper books these days?
At least he was a reader so they had something in common. Although the dragon on the front of his book suggested that maybe that wasn’t true. Not too many dragons in case reports or true crime novels.
Even as a kid, Rebecca had read nonfiction. Her parents had explained very early on that fiction was fantasy and you couldn’t make the world a safer place when your head was stuck in the clouds.
And her job was to make the world a safer place. Just like her parents. And grandparents. Five generations of law enforcement were counting on her to uphold the traditions.
And she was doing just that.
Even if it meant going into hiding with a ten-year-old boy. A boy who had to be terrified at the possibility of losing his dad, the only parent he had left. A man who was now in surgery while they drove out of the state and into the middle of nowhere.
Technically, Bloo Moose, Vermont wasn’t nowhere. But it had to be close.
When Rebecca had been called into the town a few months ago to investigate the case of a crazed stalker attempting to kill a former tennis pro, she’d never expected to return.
She’d never spent any time in a small town. Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Sacramento. Those were the places she considered home. Places she felt as if she belonged.
But the FBI needed to hide Matteo from the Acosta Cartel and you couldn’t get much more hidden than Bloo Moose.
Now she had to figure out how to talk to this boy. Her empathy rating might be high, but her knowledge of children was less than limited.
Keeping him safe was her primary job and that didn’t worry her. Even if she didn’t particularly like her job, she was damn good at it. The men who’d shot Rick hadn’t made it out of the alley. She wished it was her job to make the cartel members talk, not the boy.
Matteo, not the boy.
“We’ll be there soon, Matteo. How are you doing?”
Without making eye contact, he shrugged. “Okay. And I like to be called Matt.”
She should have known that. “I’ll remember that, Matt.”
Another few minutes of silence passed before Rebecca came up with something else to say. “Have you ever been to a small town before?”
“No.”
Apparently small talk wasn’t his strength any more than it was hers. She could talk about cases with her colleagues without difficulty, discuss true crime novels and, in a pinch, explain how to make kimchi following her grandmother’s recipe.
Being a serious-minded introvert hadn’t been much of a problem in her life. Until now.
Her heart ached for this child who had to be so afraid for his father and wary about leaving him behind to go with a stranger. But an aching heart didn’t tell her how to connect with him, how to communicate.
If she’d had more than a twenty-minute warning, she could have researched it. Now she was without her laptop and phone. Sure she had multiple burner phones but they were for check-ins and emergencies only.
If they’d headed to a big city she could have taken the boy—Matt—to libraries and museums and science centers. Boys liked that, didn’t they?
“Do you like museums?”
That brought Matt’s deep eyes up to meet hers in the rearview mirror. “Do they have museums in Bloo Moose?”
Rebecca blinked. “I don’t know. We’ll have to find out, but I doubt it. It’s not a big city.”
Matt nodded and looked back at his book. Probably wondering how the dingbat driving could possibly manage to keep him safe from a drug cartel.
She couldn’t tell him that was the easy part of the assignment.
They passed a sign announcing the town was only five miles away, but her GPS had her taking the next side road off the highway.
LaChance Lodge was in its own bay north of the town. It was where the stalker had tried to take out Kami Rogers, the tennis player. Only the stalker hadn’t even known how to make an efficient Molotov cocktail.
Another skill she had but couldn’t share with Matt.
The Lodge owned several cabins they rented out. Each secluded from the others by not only distance but plenty of trees and bushes.
She worried a bit about people hiding in the woods to take them out but she was counting on no one finding them in the first place. As soon as any chatter pointed to them being found, they’d be on the road to Plan B.
The Lodge was a solid Plan A, so they shouldn’t need to use B. Not that the decision-makers had bothered to inform her of the details of the backup plan. Apparently, as the one in charge of the boy, she wasn’t need-to-know.
The road narrowed and Rebecca slowed the car. She saw Matt close his book and look out the window.
The show of interest had to be good.
A large carved wooden sign welcomed guests and pointed visitors in the right directions. Lodge. Docks. Camp Store. Rentals. Cabins. RV Storage.
The LaChance family knew how to diversify and run a business.
Rebecca felt the frown appear at the thought of one family member. She’d done her best to ignore the thought of him but it was hard.
Well over six feet, carved out of granite, skin and eyes showcasing his indigenous heritage. The man rivaled any actor or model anywhere with his gorgeous looks.
When Rebecca had been investigating Kami Roger’s stalker, they’d met. And it hadn’t gone well.
Gage LaChance had been pissed about someone trying to hurt his cabins. At least that was the image he’d portrayed. Warrior man protecting his property.
Rebecca had ignored him and done her job. She excelled at evidence and analysis. Paperwork too.
People skills? Not so much.
Gage had made her nervous.
The combination had her implying he was more worried about the property than the intended victim. And that the Lodge’s security was lacking.
While the second was accurate, the first couldn’t have been more wrong.
Not that anyone thought a fishing lodge in the backwoods of Vermont needed high-tech security.
The man had glared daggers at her for the rest of her time in Bloo Moose.
And now Rebecca was walking right into the wolf’s den.
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