Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

Durango

"I don't like this at all," I say again.

"I heard you the first time," Harding says. "Trust me, I don't like it, either, but we need to get Sylvia into custody. Ozzie and I will be there in about twenty minutes. Hold on." She ends the call, and I stand there with my eyes on Sylvia, cursing her under my breath.

After our first date took a turn running into Ozzie and Piper, I planned a quiet and romantic camping trip for Willow and me the next weekend. We both enjoy the outdoors and thought this would be a great adventure.

And it has been. We set up camp yesterday, went on a hike, roasted marshmallows last night, and had a great day of exploring planned for today.

What I didn't count on was Sylvia ruining our plans. Apparently, Harding was wrong about word getting back to Sylvia that the weapons had been retrieved. Because there is no other reason Sylvia would be here looking for me other than to find the location of the now non-existent weapons.

And somehow, she managed to follow us here. I shudder to think what might have happened to Willow had I not spotted Sylvia pulling into the parking lot.

My bigger question is, how did she find me? We are at a state park and not some remote campsite, but still, this is out of the way of the city. And if she followed us, why didn't she confront us last night?

Sylvia gets out of her car and scans the lot. Then, she walks toward the campground. I run back to our site.

"We have to go," I say to Willow. "Leave everything for now."

Once we are in the truck, I pull out and curse at the slow speed limit inside the campground. I drive to the main lot and park down from Sylvia's car.

"What's going on?" Willow asks.

"The woman behind my kidnapping is here. I assume she's looking for me."

"Did she follow us?" Willow asks.

"If she did, that means she's been here since last night. And I really doubt that." Which means… I jump out of the truck and run my hands underneath. Sure enough, I feel it. An AirTag. I toss it into the trees lining the parking lot and jump back into the truck.

"She had an AirTag on the truck. I'm supposed to keep an eye on her. Harding and Ozzie will be here soon."

"Soon? How? Are they not coming from the city?"

I grimace. "I spotted Sylvia about thirty minutes ago and called Harding. I stayed in the parking lot, watching her until she moved toward the campground."

I'm angry at myself for not checking for any tags on my vehicle. But then, why would I expect any? As far as I was concerned, the CIA had this handled. Apparently, they didn't.

"If your truck was tagged, why would she wait in the parking lot for so long?" Willow asks.

"My guess is she was waiting for back up. I'm sorry to have gotten you into this mess, but I'll keep you safe." I chance a glance at Willow.

"It's all right. If she tries to grab you again, I'll stop her."

I grin, despite the circumstances. The Willow I used to know is back. Fearless and willing to dive into any situation. Tyler may have dimmed her light, but it's back.

Now I'll be dammed if Sylvia's going to mess with what we are building.

Sylvia reenters the parking lot.

"I think those men are with her." Willow points to three guys standing near a car.

They are watching Sylvia.

"Maybe." I keep my eyes on all of them.

Sylvia turns in our direction and walks toward us. I'm about to pull out when she stops and simply points at me.

"What the hell is she doing?" Willow asks.

"I don't know."

The three men haven't moved. Then, something hits my truck.

"What was that?" Willow asks.

It sounded like a rock that was thrown hard. I check my mirrors in time to see something pierce my back tire.

"Shit," I say as I tear out of the spot. "Someone is trying to shoot out my tires. Stay down in case they aim for us."

Willow bends down as I tear out of the lot. "I didn't hear a gunshot," she says.

"Probably has some kind of silencer on it so as not to draw the attention of others." I toss my phone to Willow. "Call Harding. She's the last call I made."

I glance in my rearview. No one is behind us.

"What's going on?" Harding asks from the phone.

"Someone is shooting at us. We're not sticking around."

"Dammit. Drive this way. If she follows you, we'll catch her on the road," Harding says.

"I'll try," I say. "But they shot out my tire, so we'll be on foot soon."

The road out of the park is windy with a lot of speed bumps, which isn't good for my tire. We head south on the highway but only make it a few miles before I have to pull over.

"There!" Willow says, pointing.

It's a forest service road. I take it and hope there is a place to hide the truck from view. The road we are on turned from gravel to dirt, and we are kicking up a lot of dust behind us. I'm afraid we're going to be easy to follow.

We bump down the road until I find an opening behind some bushes. I turn in order to face any incoming traffic. Although we are blocked enough that no one can see us until they are right up on us. We need a strong breeze to blow this huge dirt cloud away.

I grab my gun from the console as an engine grows louder. There is the distinct sound of gravel crushed under tires. They just turned onto this road.

"They've turned off the highway. We need to get into the woods," I say.

We exit the truck, being careful not to slam the doors shut. There are no paths into the woods, but fortunately, the undergrowth isn't too thick.

"This way," I say as I lead us south.

We've made it about one hundred yards when we hear Sylvia.

"This is his truck!" she yells.

We move faster and keep running for about a mile. I'm impressed that Willow hasn't had any trouble keeping up with me. Finally, I spot a large tree, and we both get behind it, listening for any sound to indicate they are coming after us.

No twigs break, but soon, the loud engine grows closer. We are near enough to the highway that we can hear it but not close enough to be seen.

The loud car is driving slowly but growing closer.

"Do you see them?" Sylvia yells out.

"Not yet!" a man yells back.

We instinctively duck.

"I'm going to try to get eyes on that car," I say. "We need to know if all four are in it or if they are out here, hunting us."

Willow nods.

"Please stay right here."

"All right," she says.

I don't have to go far to get a view of the road and the car. Sylvia is driving, and a man is sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the open window. The back seat appears empty.

Shit. They are in the woods.

I make my way back to Willow. "Only two in the car, which means the other two are coming up behind us. Sylvia and the man will likely come at us from the other way."

Willow nods. "So, we need to cross the highway."

"We do." Fortunately, it's a two-lane highway and easy to cross as long as Sylvia and her henchmen are out of sight.

As we make our way to the road, voices carry from behind us. The two men are close.

I turn to Willow and place my finger to my lips. She nods. I take her hand and lead her out of the forest onto the highway. There are no cars around. We run across and into the forest on the other side, continuing to walk south.

The sun has set, and it's getting dark.

I check my phone. Coverage is weak, but hopefully, it's enough. I send a pin of our location to Harding.

"We're going to have to stop. It's getting too dark. Hopefully, Ozzie and Harding will get here soon."

"Do you think they'll keep looking for us or give up?" Willow asks. She has no idea why they are after us and hasn't even asked.

"They won't give up. The woman, Sylvia, believes I have information that could make her a lot of money."

The loud engine returns, slowly coming toward us. It stops about twenty feet down the highway.

"Did you see anything?" Sylvia asks.

"Nothing," a man says.

"Dammit!" Sylvia says.

"They must have gone the other way," the man says.

"Or they crossed the road," Sylvia says. "Go search for them in there."

"We can't search. It's dark, and we don't have flashlights," a man says.

"Yes, you do. Use your phones," Sylvia orders.

Willow takes my hand and gently pulls me. I follow. She leads me to a dried-up creek bed.

"When they come up on this, we will hear the rocks crunch under their feet," she says.

We carefully cross the rock bed, and the forest gets much denser.

"Right here," she says.

With the little bit of light remaining, I take in the area. It's behind a very wide tree that will hide us both. If we hear anyone on those rocks, there are several other trees nearby that we can weave and move between while continuing to conceal ourselves.

Twigs crack about thirty feet away. They are close.

"You notice she's not willing to come into the woods and search for herself?" one of the men says.

"She doesn't have to. She's the one with the money," another guy says.

"Shut up. You want them to hear us coming?" a third guy says. "Let's go back toward the road. It's easier to see there."

More twigs break farther away, indicating they are going back toward the road and the campground. Their voices fade as well until we can't hear them any longer. Then, the loud car drives away from us. That's a good sign.

Another car approaches. Its engine is not nearly as loud. Please get here soon; I will Ozzie and Harding. I don't like that Willow is here with me being hunted.

The car stops on the highway, and two car doors open and close.

"Durango?" Ozzie calls out.

I grab Willow's hand, and we make our way toward his voice. "Here!" I call back.

We step out from the tree as Ozzie comes toward us with a flashlight.

"Let's get you out of here," he says.

We follow him back to the car and get into the back seat. That's when I spot Moose in the driver's seat.

"Hey, Moose."

"Hey," he says.

Ozzie gets in the car.

"Where's Harding?" I ask.

"She recognized Sylvia driving that loud piece of shit when we passed it, so she is following it."

"Do we need to assist?" I ask.

"No," Ozzie says. "She has someone with her."

"Thank you for the lift," I say.

Harding calls Ozzie. "Yeah, I'll tell them."

He turns to us. "Sylvia is in custody."

"What about the three men with her?"

Ozzie holds the phone to his ear and shakes his head. "Must still be in the woods."

"Let's beat them back to the campground and grab our stuff," I say.

We're at our site in less than five minutes, and we quickly work to break it down. As we pack it into the car, I notice Moose remains quiet.

"Hey, are things good between us?" I ask him.

He sighs. "Yeah. Ozzie told me you've been defending me the entire time. I really appreciate that."

"I have no doubts about you."

"Any idea why Harding's out for me?" he asks.

"I don't think she's out for you. She just doesn't like surprises, and she found out about your Russian assignments from someone other than you. That's all."

He turns to me. "She expected me to tell her? Only a handful of people even knew about that. It was kept confidential for a reason. Now I guess everyone knows."

I hold up my hands. "No, not everyone. Harding found out because she has one of the highest levels of clearance you can get. I know because she asked me about it. That's it."

"Whatever her reasons, her approach needs work. She interrogated me for two hours back at the office after we returned from Belarus."

I laugh. "Sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but that's Harding. She's damn good at her job, but her people skills are lacking. She likes to be in command and isn't fond of sharing intel. She's used to working solo but finds herself working with us often. Trust me, she's a good person once you get to know her."

"I'll have to take your word for it because I really doubt I'll be getting to know her. We should pack up faster." He walks over to help Ozzie with what he's doing, ending our conversation.

I really wish Harding hadn't been so tough on him. If he's not open to working with her, that's going to create problems for us on assignments.