Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

J agger

“She’s something special alright.”

Shephard’s voice also grated on my nerves, but at least the man was right. “Yeah, she is.”

“I thought she was waiting tables.”

“She is. Or maybe she was.”

“But she told you she was a surgeon?”

“Nope. She didn’t want to.” It was late, hours having gone by. While Bella hadn’t been required to perform any surgeries, she’d been working nonstop for hours with a single short break.

“I’ll tell her later, but share with her how grateful we are. Okay?” Shep asked.

“I will.”

“We’ll talk later.”

I watched him walk off and sighed.

She already knew I wasn’t anyone’s hero, but I’d remained by her side, helping with getting additional fresh towels and dropping bloody ones into a hamper provided by the staff members. I’d also handled a few sutures under her guidance. There’d been six victims, one of the guides minimally hurt as well. They had no idea how lucky they’d been that the entire mountainside hadn’t come down on them.

They were also damn lucky there’d been a doctor in the house. She’d even set fractured bones enough to stabilize them until the road was cleared and they could be taken to the hospital. With six of the seven already comfortable in rooms, the guide refusing any rest, Bella was finally hunkered over one of the sinks in the third kitchen scrubbing her hands.

The fact I wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of guy didn’t mean I hadn’t noticed the tension in every muscle. She’d been on her feet since ten that morning, exhaustion already taking a toll on her. She splashed her face, the slight moan tugging at me.

Here I was standing like some fucking goon admiring her voluptuous body instead of offering her some TLC.

When she reached for a towel to dry her hands, there wasn’t one. I grabbed one from the stainless-steel rack, forced to move very close to her since her eyes were closed.

“Thanks.” Her voice was devoid of any emotion as it had been with me the entire day. She was obviously still perturbed with my actions from the early morning.

Maybe I was as well.

She patted her face, drying her hands and tossing the rag before bothering to look me in the eyes. It was the first time since the trauma had begun.

“Thanks for your help today. I really appreciate what you did,” she told me.

“Well, I couldn’t walk away since you were barking orders.”

Finally, she broke out into a smile. “I guess I was. Wasn’t I?”

“Let’s just put it to you this way. You could be a damn good drill sergeant.”

“In the Army?”

“Yeah. Imagine every male recruit following your orders. Dozens of them.”

She folded her arms and leaned against the sink. “I think I like that idea. Army ranger. I bet you’ve witnessed and experienced more wild things than I have. I’d love to hear stories.”

Instantly, the tiny camaraderie that we’d developed felt strained to me, but I ignored it. I’d already told her too much about me, but her smile was driving me crazy. She was just trying to be nice. “You could say that. I’m sure the townsfolk will likely embellish on the glorious stories and scenarios they’ve created about me.”

“Stop worrying about what they think. It’s what you know about yourself that matters. Right?”

“Yeah, but they should learn to keep their fuckin’ mouths shut.” I headed for the door, but her light touch stopped me short.

“Jagger. Just like you weren’t trying to interfere in my past, I wasn’t in yours either. I was just making conversation since we seem to have a difficult time talking to each other. I don’t know why, but it does bother me.”

“What do we really have to talk about? You’re some fancy surgeon here to get away from life for a little while. You’ll head back to your life as soon as you’ve caught your breath.”

“That’s not going to happen, Jagger. I don’t have that life any longer.”

Her voice held so much pain I shifted so I could see her. We’d done everything possible not to learn anything important or life altering about the other. But it was apparent we were both fractured in some ways.

“I get it,” I told her.

“I need to apologize again. I shouldn’t have taken my shit out on you. You’ve been nothing but good to me.”

The way her eyelashes skimmed across her cheeks was strangely attractive to me. What was I saying? Everything about her was appealing from her small nose to her full lips. Trying to stay away from her wasn’t working.

I cupped her face, rubbing my thumb back and forth in lazy motions. “You are something special, lady. Whoever let you go was a flaming asshole.”

At least I made her laugh. She planted her hands on my chest and rose onto her tiptoes, pressing her lips against mine. “You’re pretty special yourself.”

Her whisper tickled my neck. Without thinking, I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her as tightly against me as possible. As I captured her mouth, the tenderness and passion we’d shared before came roaring back to the surface. I could kiss her for hours and maybe that’s what I’d plan on doing.

The sweet moment was short lived as Zoe crashed the party, her voice full of terror.

“Thank God, I found you,” Zoe said.

Both Bella and I looked around to see what was going on.

“What’s wrong?” Bella asked, pushing herself away from me.

“It’s Cally. She’s… She’s missing. She was right there and when I turned around, she’d walked out. I don’t know how that happened. There were so many kids and they were hungry.”

Bella flew by me, her face harboring the kind of terror I would feel if I was a father.

“What the hell, Zoe?” I barked at her.

“I didn’t mean to lose track of her.”

Shit. The woman was close to being hysterical. “Did you let others know?”

She nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. “People are already searching the hotel. Ten minutes have gone by.”

“Okay. Just calm down. I’m going to look for her.” I raced out of the kitchen. If I thought I could think like a little girl, I knew I was selling myself a bill of goods. The kid could be anywhere.

I ran into Hunter in the corridor, the look on his face telling me everything I didn’t want to know.

“What?” I snapped.

“You heard,” Hunter said.

“Yeah, I fucking heard. You need to hire new staff. We need to find that little girl.” I pulled away from him, taking long strides.

“Wait. We checked everywhere. Every single fucking room where she could have gone in. She’s not in the hotel, but it gets worse.”

“What do you mean worse?” I was in his face in two seconds flat. “Talk!”

“Where’s Bella?”

“Off looking for her. Talk to me or I’ll beat your ass like I used to.”

Hunter was beside himself, motioning for me to follow him. “I wanted to check with you first.” He led me to a door that led outside to a small patio area. It was close to the daycare center.

“What the hell are we doing out here?” The snow was lighter but still falling, the wind dying down as well. But it was still cold as shit outside.

“Does this belong to Cally?”

When he lifted the koala bear I’d gotten her into the light, my heart sank.

Dear God. She’d left the building heading out into the snow.

Now it was my job to find her.

And I would.

“You can’t fucking go out there, Jagger,” Denise hissed. “You’re not a ranger. You don’t know the area. And it’s dark.”

“Like hell I can’t, Denise. You don’t know a thing about me. I do know the area, including every inch of mountains and woods surrounding the resort.” I shoved my hands into thicker gloves someone had given me, thankful I had a stash of warm clothing in my office. That included heavier boots.

“Leave him alone, Denise. He’s going to go and I assure you he is one of the best trackers I’ve ever met,” Shephard told her. “I’m going with him too.”

“Like hell you are!”

I glanced at my brother, giving him a nod. Suddenly, there were several people in the room, a couple of tourists included. All were determined to find the little girl before it was too late.

When Bella took long strides into the room with a coat in her hand, I felt the same damn way Denise did about the man she loved. No way was she going.

“Don’t you dare try and stop me. Don’t you dare!” she yelled at me as soon as she walked into the room. “This is my child, my little girl. You don’t know all that she’s been through. She has to be saved. You just…” She broke down into sobs and I pulled her into my arms.

“We’ll find her, Bella. I promise you that we will find her.”

I could feel Hunter breathing down my neck. He’d be the first to tell me that I couldn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. I’d been known for doing that my entire life. No longer. This was a promise that would remain solid.

I wasn’t certain Bella was strong enough to survive losing her.

“You should know Cally has a heart condition.” I was looking directly in Bella’s face as I made the announcement. A part of me expected she’d be furious I betrayed her confidence, but she nodded, not angry with me at all.

“Then time is of the essence,” Denise stated. “Looks like we’re all going. David, ride with Jagger and Bella. From the reports I heard, you should be able to use the auxiliary road behind the resort. Cally might have been drawn there since the area is flat initially, but be careful. If you know the area, you know the drop-offs.”

I wasn’t used to or keen on anyone telling me what to do, but Denise was sharp and knew what she was doing. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Rusty. Go with Hunter and Shephard. Do you think you boys can handle the resort’s snowmobiles?”

Shephard gave her a harsh look. “I think I can handle it.”

“I’ll have the guides go with you. Anyone who needs flashlights let me know. We need as much light on the area as possible. I’ll take the tourists with me. What are your names?”

“Jack,” the largest of the group said.

“Mark.”

“Thomas.”

“You guys know each other?” she asked.

“Yeah, we work together,” Jack answered.

“Then you know how to support each other. Let’s get going. Stay alert. You will all have one walkie-talkie for the group. I don’t have additional consoles. Check in every twenty minutes. We’ll have limited time before…”

Denise shifted her gaze toward Bella. “We got it,” I told her. “But I’m not coming back until I find her.” I grabbed the walkie-talkie from her extended hand, checking to ensure it was working. Others did the same.

“She has her coat with her,” Zoe said from behind all of us. “She planned on going outside.”

“It’s light and won’t offer much protection,” I told them. I wasn’t certain if that was a good thing or not. Exhaling, I turned toward the frazzled woman. She’d been put through the wringer, her face pale. I suspected nothing like this had ever occurred in the resort.

First time for everything. Additional safeguards needed to be put in place. I gave Shephard a knowing look and he nodded. There were times my two brothers and I could communicate without using words.

Bella almost broke down again, but moved to the door, stopping long enough to bark to everyone else, “Are you coming? My daughter needs all of us.”

Shephard moved in front of me before I could follow her. “This is a crapshoot, buddy. Just be prepared.”

“No, brother. That’s where you’re wrong. I will find that little girl if it’s the last thing on this freaking earth I do. Don’t try and stop me.” I noticed the look shared between Shephard and Denise, but I didn’t care. I meant what I said.

I stormed from the room, easily catching up to Bella. I didn’t quite give a shit whether David was right behind us or not. He’d either keep up or he’d be left at the resort. Either way was fine with me.

David found us in the parking lot, jumping into the back of my Range Rover. I grabbed a duffle from the back. I’d learned long before that keeping a go-to bag with flashlights, batteries, rope, grappling hooks, weapons, ammunition, and even survival blankets was necessary. Since moving here, I’d upped the contents with bear spray, a couple of knives, a small hatchet, and a few other items including flags to mark the way.

I’d climbed a few of the rocks around here. That meant I knew how dangerous they were. With snow on the ground and on the slopes, they should be considered treacherous at this point.

A little girl in the dark would get lost easily and quickly.

With only a few people willing to go out on a night like this, the odds were against us.

Bella was now emotionless as I drove, but one of her hands was gripping the dashboard as if she was terrified. No doubt she was.

The road was partially gravel, which helped with the traction to a point. I made our first stop only a couple hundred yards in, jumping out along with the others. I grabbed flashlights and markers, along with forcing extra batteries into their hands. My flashlights were designed to withstand heat and frigid cold, but without light, people died.

“Stay in a close radius. Bella. Come with me,” I told her.

“Not a chance. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”

“Fine. Mark where you are going and leave them there. Got it? Ten minutes out. Ten minutes back.” I stared at her and the ache in my gut grew.

Maybe in my heart as well.

“That’s not enough distance.”

“We’ll go up another few hundred yards. I don’t think she’d make it further than that. We’ll revisit this area if we can. Just follow my lead. Trust me, Bella. I do know what I’m doing.”

“That’s my little girl, Jagger. If I place my trust in you, don’t let me down. I can’t handle it.”

“I don’t plan on it.” I pulled out the walkie-talkie. “Jagger reporting in.”

Others followed.

“How’s it looking?” Denise asked.

“Treacherous,” I finally said after a short delay.

As we took out, my instincts were telling me we were already too late. I couldn’t say that to Bella but at some point, she’d need to listen to me.

The twenty minutes were up too quickly, neither David nor Bella returning immediately. When they did, I was furious, but said nothing. Those who’d never tracked before had no understanding that disorientation occurred very quickly.

“You need to follow the rules.” I issued the order in a much harsher manner than I should have. Damn it. The moment I highlighted Bella’s face with the flashlight, I could tell she was ready to tip right over the dangerous precipice of emotions. “I’m sorry. We just need to keep a clear head.” I tried to choose my words carefully. “Navigating this mountain is confusing to most. Myself included. It’s easy to get lost in the daylight. Stay focused and we’ll all get back in one piece.”

“What if we can’t find her?” Bella’s voice was much smaller than I’d heard before. What scared me the most was that somewhere inside of her big, beautiful brain, she’d already accepted the idea her daughter wouldn’t return.

That wasn’t a fucking option.

Maybe if I continued thinking that, the ending would be a happy one.

Maybe…