Untraceable (10 page)

Cade and Jason signaled from below when Rhea was safely at the bottom, and Isaiah pulled the rope and harness back up. He glanced at Zach.

“You’re next.”

“What, and leave you and her here to run off? Not going to happen.”

The last time, Isaiah and Heidi had rappelled after the last person was lowered. But Zach wasn’t willing to trust them this time.

“Look, man, we’re not going to leave Cade behind. We’re not running off. You don’t have a choice, unless you can climb.”

“I can.”

Suspicion crawled over Isaiah. As if he needed another reason to be wary of this man. He shared a look with Heidi. Zach had kept silent about his skills, keeping it from the SAR team and his partners. What was the man up to? “Why didn’t you say something before?” What other skills did he possess? Maybe he really knew how to handle that gun.

“There was no call. I couldn’t scale the mountain that night without goggles anyway.”

True, all true. That had been one of the toughest mountain-climbing experiences of Isaiah’s life. But he suspected the man had other reasons for keeping his climbing skills to himself. Whatever his reasons, the others would find out now.

“So you’re next, and I’ll rap down with Heidi last.”

Isaiah’s chest squeezed. Maybe this is how it felt for Heidi when she couldn’t breathe. No way would he let that happen. He stepped in front of her, blocking Zach’s view. “That’s not how it’s going to be. I don’t know how strong of a climber you are. It’s you and me.”

On that point Isaiah wouldn’t give. Setting his face like flint, he made sure Zach felt it in his gaze. Zach fingered the weapon in his pocket, but his hesitation was evident.

Heidi moved from behind him, and Isaiah instinctively knew she wanted to protest. She, in fact, was the better climber. He thrust his hand back and gripped her arm, willing her to stay still, to understand.

“You and me then.”

“But—” Heidi stepped forward.

“You take the harness and we’ll drop you down, Heidi.” It was quicker and Isaiah didn’t want to give Zach a chance to change his mind.

Heidi’s expression told him she didn’t like the way he’d handled this, but neither of them wanted to argue in front of their mutual enemy. After she was secured in the harness, Isaiah and Cade worked to lower her. There just wasn’t enough rope to do it any other way. This was what it felt like to not be in control of your life. He’d much rather cling to the mountain—feel the grip of solid rock beneath his fingers. Somehow, he was sure Heidi felt the same way. Especially when he caught her glance up at him, the fear tracing across her face.

Then it was time for Isaiah to see just what skills Zach had to offer. And it was time for Isaiah to ask the question that had been burning in his gut from the beginning.

He reworked the ropes so he and Zach could rappel, bringing the rope down with them as they went.

“Why’d you do it? Why’d you commit a robbery?” And how much money had he robbed? Had to be a lot if it was an armored car.

Zach looked surprised at his question. “Why do you want to know?”

They started down, Isaiah first, setting the rappel stations, and Zach following. This might be the only time he had the guy alone. “I’m not sure how to explain that.”

Despite the temperatures and the snow and ice, the sun warmed him beneath his coat. “You’ll be on the run for the rest of your life,” he added.

As he rappelled, he gained clarity in his thoughts and emotions. The fresh air and exhilarating climb pushed adrenaline through him. He found the reason and held on to it. He wanted to understand because, in a way, he was like Zach. Isaiah was running, too, only he hadn’t committed a crime. But that hadn’t seemed to matter. People were suspicious of him all the same, and it had been enough to ruin his life. Make his neighbors and friends wary of him in the small Montana town where the murder had occurred.

He would never have chosen to leave, if not for those circumstances out of his control. And yet, it had been within his power to stop. He’d veered slightly and that small tangent had taken him far off track.

Zach grunted above him, making his way down. He hadn’t answered Isaiah yet. Maybe he’d never considered the question, or never thought that it would be asked. But when he drew near so Isaiah could hear, he answered.

“I was a nobody from nowhere, that’s why. Nobody paid me any attention—that is, until I started planning the heist. Now I have Rhea, a beautiful woman, by my side. And she’s jealous of Heidi.”

Now Isaiah understood. Zach was using Heidi for more than leverage against him and Cade. But the way he said it, Isaiah knew the man believed that Heidi returned his attraction.

Isaiah would never purposefully harm someone, though he’d been questioned by the police for the murder of a woman he loved, but anger burned so deep, and protectiveness ignited so bright, that he could almost imagine himself causing Zach to fall to his death. He reined in the thoughts, knowing that God was watching. Always watching. And that wasn’t the way to handle their predicament.

He hadn’t been able to prevent Leslie’s murder. God help him, but he wanted to protect Heidi.

He should have done something to protect Leslie when it became clear that her fiancé had a violent history. But what? The police hadn’t listened when it mattered.

And this time, even with God looking on, would he have to actually kill someone to protect another?

* * *

At the bottom of the cliff, Heidi watched Isaiah and Zach scale the cliff face, grateful that snow and ice hadn’t clung to the rocks on this side. She’d been as stunned as Isaiah at the news that Zach could climb. But right now, her pulse thrummed in her neck—would Zach do something to harm Isaiah? The man had seemed to look for a reason to hurt Isaiah from the beginning.

Not to mention that Isaiah had stood up to Zach moments ago and Zach had backed down. Would he want to exact some sort of twisted revenge?

Cade discussed their path to the ice field with Jason, while Rhea sat on the bags, nursing her imaginary wounds from the trauma of being lowered to the bottom. She ranted, going on about how she hated amusement parks. Could never ride the roller coasters. That this had been the worst day of her life.

Granted it was quite a breathtaking drop, and Heidi understood Rhea’s pain. But, though Heidi hadn’t liked sitting in the seat harness either, she couldn’t help but harbor some satisfaction in Rhea’s discomfort, and smiled to herself before glancing back up to Isaiah.

Even in April, the days weren’t that long, and especially up here, the sun dipped below the mountain range far too early. High in the sky, the sun now prevented her from seeing Isaiah, so she moved closer, into the shadows of the cliff he rappelled.

Isaiah and Zach. What an odd pair they made.

They were moving at a good pace and worked together as though they’d been doing this for years.

“Come on, Isaiah, slow and steady,” she whispered under her breath.

I’m here for you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.
The moment he’d said those words they’d wrapped around her and squeezed, sending her heart and mind back into a raging battle. Oh, how she wished those words were true, that she could count on him, could trust him. He cared about her—she’d seen it in his eyes—and yet he’d been the one to sever whatever connection they’d had together. And Heidi had experienced too much heartbreak since then. There was enough hurt and pain in the world, and she wouldn’t subject herself to it ever again.

Hot tears surged in the corners of her eyes.

Oh, not now. Not now! She refused to swipe at them and give herself away. In her peripheral vision, she saw Rhea push from the bags and meander toward her. Not again. Heidi didn’t want to talk to the woman. Why did she have to be fixated on Heidi? For that matter, why did Zach have to be fixated on her? Heidi kept her focus on the two men almost down the rock-faced cliff.

Zach had made Rhea hate Heidi with his smiles and attention. If only there was a way that Heidi could avoid interacting with either of them, but Rhea had given her those creepy eyes from the first moment she’d seen her. That should have been warning enough. Now she was making her way over to Heidi.

“How are your knees?”

The gall.

“They’re fine. I’m fine.”

“Could have been worse.” Rhea laughed her deep, hoarse laugh. The laugh of a smoker.

Yeah. Thanks for nothing.
Heidi didn’t appreciate her facetious jab at almost killing her.
God, what do I say to this woman? What do I do?

Hiking in this terrain was no easy task, and if Rhea was a smoker she had to be struggling. Even though she’d wanted to avoid Rhea altogether, Heidi turned to her. “How are you holding up? This has to be really hard for you.”

And she meant the words. Would Rhea see that? The woman studied Heidi, searched her gaze as though she wanted to believe her. Heidi recognized the questions in Rhea’s eyes. How could Heidi sincerely care about Rhea? How could she be sympathetic or wish her well? In truth, Heidi struggled with those same questions, but she reminded herself that Rhea was misguided. How would she ever make it off the wrong path if no one stopped to show her the way?

For an instant, Heidi thought Rhea trusted her, had received her kindness. But if she had, even for a moment, Rhea hid it behind her narrowing gaze.

“Oh, you’re good, really good. Trying to make me think you care.” Rhea hiked away from Heidi toward Zach, who’d finished his climb down. She glanced back at Heidi. “You watch your back.”

Why had she wasted her breath on that woman? Bile rose in her throat—she hated her reaction to Rhea’s threat, but couldn’t overcome it.

Carrying the ropes and gear, Isaiah hiked toward Heidi, his tall frame and lithe form filling her vision, and unfortunately making her heart swell. Heidi imagined they were in another time and place and Isaiah caught her up in his arms. But that was in a world where people didn’t cheat on each other, didn’t forsake each other. That wasn’t this world.

I’m here for you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.

But
you
hurt me, Isaiah. You.

Even though Isaiah’s look begged her to believe in him, she allowed the sound of Cade’s voice calling her name to cut through the power that held her there, and she turned her back on Isaiah.

TEN

W
ith only a few hours left in the day, they pressed on, making as much headway as they could while light remained. Isaiah leaned his head back, gleaning a little warmth from the sun as it broke through one of the few clouds skittering across the heavens. It almost seemed strange to finally see deep blue sky after the bombardment of storms they’d been through. So far the clouds had abated, and the group was left to trudge toward their ominous destination without any hitches.

Once again, Cade led the pack, not that Isaiah resented him. Cade had grown up in the region, knew everything there was to know about it, even the coastal range that bordered with Canada.

Isaiah thought back to his disagreement with Cade, who wanted to deliver this group to the ice field and hope for the best. He wasn’t up for risking an escape or going for the guns. He believed David would send a SAR team to find them, and would probably be among the searchers himself. Adam, too. Isaiah prayed for the best outcome, too, but he wasn’t one to do nothing if there was another way. At least he and Cade could search for that way out, but it looked as if Cade was given to his own plan. The guy hadn’t said two words to Isaiah since their disagreement. Not that there was much opportunity for conversation with a killer pressing at their backs. But Cade had been more aloof with Isaiah, tossing him cold, accusing stares. Willing Isaiah to follow his lead and not stir up trouble for them.

He had a point on that. Isaiah didn’t want more trouble.

Sounded as if Zach had enough trouble within his own ranks, though. The killer, who was pulling up the rear, was engaged in a disagreement with his cohorts.

Unfortunately, Heidi trailed Isaiah, forcing her to walk closer to crazy Zach and his girlfriend, who looked a little off, too. But a glance behind him told Isaiah that Heidi no longer walked next to Zach, who had slowed even more to argue with Rhea.

Isaiah had made Heidi a promise. He had the gut feeling it was a promise she didn’t want, maybe didn’t need, but he was more worried it was a promise he couldn’t keep. Regardless, he’d made it—and Heidi had no idea what drove him to want to protect her. She could never know.

Isaiah suspected the reasons went much deeper than the trauma of his past. Even if he hadn’t been close to a murder victim, blamed himself for her death and been considered a person of interest, he would have made the promise to Heidi.

There. He admitted it. Felt good, too.

He’d forced emotional distance between them to protect her from him, and to protect himself. But more often than not, he wondered if that had been a mistake. He couldn’t deny he was drawn to her and every time she looked at him he saw the hurt in her eyes, though it decreased every day.

She was getting over the hurt. That was a good thing, wasn’t it?

Yes and no. Isaiah couldn’t help but feel the pain of loss. But none of that mattered in this insanity. What mattered was that Isaiah would protect Heidi. He’d never doubted that, but now he’d voiced the words to her, and that made her even more vulnerable because she might just trust him enough to follow through.

Sure, she could hold her own, and true, her brother Cade would do anything it took to keep his sister safe, but Isaiah wanted her to know he was there for her, too. He would make a difference when it counted. He
had
to make a difference this time.

Isaiah had been hiking fast enough to keep up with Cade’s relentless pace, but Isaiah slowed, letting Heidi catch up with him. She kept her head down for the most part, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. This was an endurance test they would all have to pass.

Behind them, Rhea continued to argue with Zach. Jason grumbled, as well. When Heidi looked up at Isaiah, he recognized the concern in her eyes over the discontent among the criminals. He felt it, too.