Chapter Eleven

Griff was still buttoning his shirt as they slipped deeper into the woods. The sound of the cabin's front door being kicked in had his heart banging harder against his sternum. He wasn't sure how many there were, but he suspected more than two.

How long would it be before they realized the cabin was empty and his truck was still there?

Five, six minutes at most.

His heart rammed harder with worry. Had to get Meg out of here. He ran faster, dodging trees and clusters of shrubs in hopes of minimizing the noise from their desperate race. The stars and the moon weren't providing much in the way of light to see where the hell they were going. But the longer they were in the dark, the easier it was to see. Meg stayed close behind him. He gave himself a mental shake. Not Meg, Elle—Eleanor.

Not that it mattered what he called her. She had planned to leave him. Disappointment and no lack of hurt twisted inside him even now with trouble not far behind them.

That whole make-out session had been about getting him in a vulnerable position. The reality added anger to the emotions throttling inside him. Damn it.

As if she'd sensed his anger, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to a jarring halt. He glared at her as she leaned close. Close enough to have his body reacting as if she hadn't shown her cards already, as if he were a fool and would fall for her tricks again—and he was.

"We need to hide now," she murmured against his ear.

He forced back all those distracting emotions. Had to think a moment. The sound of air sawing in and out of his lungs had his brain struggling. Or maybe it was just her. Didn't matter. Focus!

Where exactly were they? He closed his eyes and pictured the area in daylight on one of those many summer days he and Ernie had played here as kids. Had prowled around like hungry bears as teenagers. The images flashed one after the other, and then he knew. There was a good hiding place nearby. It was not exactly the safest place to hide, considering snakes were on the move this time of year, but it beat the hell out of the hired guns who would be coming up right behind them any second now.

He took her hand, held it tight in his and moved more slowly, this time going westward. Whenever a twig cracked or undergrowth brushed his leg, he flinched but didn't stop. He paused at a massive tree he recognized the dark shape of, felt over the bark for the place he had carved his and Patty Hall's initials into the bark. There. His fingers traced the letters. A smile nudged his lips. They were close now.

He eased forward, free hand extended until he hit the outcropping of massive boulders. Large clumps of eerie grayness in the near darkness. There were all manner of stories about how the giant stones had ended up piled in this spot, but Griff wasn't sure which, if any, of those tales were true. He and Ernie had used the pile for everything from a pirate ship to a castle. He knew all the gaps between the rocks and all the hiding places beneath the overhangs of ones levered atop others.

Moving cautiously, he reached into the gap he knew provided the best cover from anyone passing by. He locked his jaw and held his breath as he felt around inside, swiping at overgrown weeds and what felt like spider webs. He encountered nothing that reacted—like a snake or raccoon or maybe a possum that might have taken refuge inside. The spot wasn't ideal for a bear or bobcat.

He tugged her closer. "Feels clear in there."

"Go," she muttered, the single syllable a frantic sound.

He climbed in, twisting his body so that he eased through the slot between rocks.

She moved in next, nestling her bottom against his lap. Not that there was any other way for two of them to fit together in the space. Then she tucked her backpack next to their legs and leaned against his chest. Instinctively, his arms went around her waist in a protective manner, despite the weapon nudging into his gut. He doubted she would appreciate the effort. She didn't need his protection. She was more than capable herself. Maybe he just needed to feel the comfort of her body in his arms.

As if he'd said out loud that her weapon was poking him, her hand slid between her back and his stomach and retrieved the weapon. A few seconds later he understood that the move hadn't been about his thoughts. The sound of undergrowth brushing fabric and boots crushing wild grass whispered across his senses.

The bad guys were close.

His arms tightened on her waist. She placed a hand on his clasped ones and squeezed reassuringly. He realized then that she had been only too glad for him to climb in first. Of course she had. That way her body shielded his. He locked his jaw and barely resisted the urge to shake his head. He should have thought of that—not that it would have done any good. She didn't take orders from him. She'd made that clear. If she had her way, she would be long gone and he'd never see her again.

For his protection.

He closed his eyes and focused on controlling his breathing. No need to allow his anger and frustration to show more than it already had. He damned sure didn't want her mistaking his tension for fear. He wasn't afraid, damn it. He blinked. Maybe he was. But not for himself. For her.

Given that these people from her past wanted to kill her—at least that was what she'd said, and he had no reason to believe she was lying about that aspect of all this—she would be safer if she could disappear. Rather than selfishly wanting her to stay, he should work harder to help her escape, to disappear. These scumbags would follow. No question about that. Griff and Meg were hiding in a pile of boulders with two or more armed killers tracking them like deer in open season. The intent was undeniable.

He'd been certain if she would only trust Ernie and Sheriff Norwood that they could sort this out. He'd even considered waiting until she fell asleep and using her phone to call his friend but he understood now that wasn't a gamble he was willing to take.

Urging her to stay, hoping she would, wasn't the right thing. If he wanted her safe—and he did—he should do everything in his power to help her disappear.

The reality crushed against his chest, made getting a breath nearly impossible.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. They were really close now. He reminded himself that unless the bad guys knew about the pile of rocks, there was no reason for them to veer in this direction. The rocks were dozens of steps in the wrong direction, in fact, back toward the cabin. He hoped these bastards assumed he and Meg were heading away from it. The clouds had shifted, so moon-and starlight were minimal. They should be okay. Yet, even knowing the trouble likely wouldn't come to the rocks, it was near enough for him to understand most of the words being muttered. A new thread of tension tightened inside him.

"They couldn't have gotten far," a man said. "Not without flashlights. It's dark as hell out here."

A crash followed by a "son of a bitch" had Griff biting back a laugh. Someone had obviously run into a tree. The idea made him inordinately happy.

"I hate the damned woods." Female voice.

Not the Darlene woman. She was likely still in custody. Someone else.

"We should go back." Man's voice. Not the first guy who had spoken. Someone else.

Meg's body tensed noticeably. Griff's did the same. She recognized this voice, he suspected.

"If they had gone back to the cabin," the second man said, "we would've heard gunshots. Grayson has orders to shoot on sight. Trying to find them in the dark like this is an exercise in futility. We'll wait them out. They'll have to show up someplace, somewhere they feel safe, maybe with someone they can trust."

"I'm with you," the woman said.

"We'll get them," the first guy commented. "You can't cover much ground on foot in the dark in terrain like this."

Unless, Griff thought, you know your way around.

Their noisy departure faded as the group moved farther and farther away. Meg turned her face toward Griff's and held her finger to his lips.

He was just guessing here, but she apparently suspected the overheard conversation might be a ruse. She didn't move. He did the same. The natural night sounds enveloped the darkness once more. Now that the danger appeared to have passed—possibly—Griff wrestled with his body's reaction to her butt being pressed into his lap. He thought about the animals back at his place. He thought about the video he'd watched of her slicing that guy's throat. None of it alleviated the situation. His body just kept hardening.

He was on the verge of going over the edge, and if she moved, that would be the end of his control for sure.

Rustling grass snapped his thoughts away from the tension building between them.

The beam of a flashlight flickered in the trees.

Griff held his breath.

She had been right to wait. At least one of them was still out there.

The light danced over the rocks.

Holy hell.

The threat moved closer. Grass crushed under footfalls. Fabric rustled against fabric. The beam of light skipped over their location, thankfully not pausing long enough to reveal the crevice in which they remained packed like sardines.

He or she—probably he, judging by the sound of the footfalls—made their way around the small mountain of large rocks, pausing here and there and shining the light into gaps. Slowly, the person reached all the way around to where they'd begun. The light bounced over their location again.

Griff's breath stalled in his lungs.

The light shifted back, landed right next to his shoulder, then after five frantic thumps in his chest, it moved on.

Footfalls faded as the person walked away.

Griff managed a breath. The bastard had missed them.

The minutes ticked past, and still Meg made no move to emerge from their hiding place. He was in no hurry either. At this point, he would be a fool not to trust her instincts. She clearly knew her way around this sort of situation.

Finally, she leaned forward and poked her upper body between the rocks. Then she eased all the way out.

Griff's legs had gone numb, and other parts of him remained stiff and at full attention. It took a minute, but he managed to get up and thread his body through the opening as well. Not nearly as gracefully as she had, but he got out all the same.

She moved in close to him again, whispered against his ear, making his body tingle despite the gravity of the situation. Damn. He had to get a hold of himself.

She said, "We need to go back to the road, around the cabin where we can see but they can't. Can you find the way?"

He nodded.

She tugged her backpack on her shoulder once more, tucked her weapon into her waistband at the front this time and reached for his hand.

He closed his around hers, and his heart clutched. He wanted desperately to keep her safe, but she sure as hell appeared better at this than he would be. He'd have to follow her lead on that part. But he knew the woods, and that would be his contribution to saving their lives.

MEGHELDTIGHTLYto Griff's hand as he started the slow, laborious process of moving soundlessly through the woods. She followed his steps precisely to avoid bigger clumps of wild grass and underbrush. Not to mention trees. It was so dark. Even though her eyes had adjusted well enough, it was still like walking blindfolded. The clouds had moved in, blocking the meager moon-and starlight. Probably had saved their lives back there. She sure as hell wasn't going to complain now.

The air was crisp at this hour. She couldn't be certain what time it was, but she estimated around midnight.

She struggled to stay focused on getting out of here. The struggle lay in the voice she had heard back there while tucked into that rock crevice.

His.

She would know that voice anywhere, anytime.

Kase Ridley. They had worked together off and on over the years. Had been on-again-off-again lovers. Friends. Or at least she'd thought so. Then he'd disappeared on an operation, and she'd been sent in to find him—dead or alive. But she hadn't found him. All she'd found was serious trouble, trouble that almost got her killed, and then she'd had no choice but to disappear.

Now she understood. He was alive. And he was working for the other side.

Fury roared inside her, but she had to push it down. Getting the hell out of here alive was all that mattered just now. She would deal with the Ridley issue later.

The progress was slow on the route Griff had chosen since the trees were thicker, which meant the undergrowth was as well. Occasionally she caught a glimpse of the cabin light, so they weren't far from their destination. She was immensely grateful for Griff's ability to navigate these woods.

They moved beyond the cabin close enough to hear the sound of voices. The four remained gathered there. Likely looking for any clues that might suggest where she and Griff had headed next. One of the scumbags was going through Griff's truck. Another stood by and watched the search or kept a lookout. The other two were inside ransacking the cabin by the sound of it.

Griff moved faster now and she was glad. They needed a certain level of a head start when they reached the vehicles the thugs had left at the road. It would be fairly easy to call one of Griff's friends to pick them up, but that would only draw someone else into this mess. Calling an Uber or other hired car would waste too much valuable time and put those drivers at risk too.

When they cleared the tree line and started toward the road, Meg broke away from him and ran. There were two sedans. Both black of course. Hopefully at least one was unlocked.

Not the first one. Damn it. She dug her knife from her backpack and passed it to Griff. "Take care of the tires," she murmured.

He gave a nod and set to work on her request.

The driver side door on the second one opened. Meg smiled. The fob lay in a cupholder. "Sloppy," she murmured as she slid in.

Griff rushed around the trunk of the second vehicle and dropped into the passenger seat. Ensuring the exterior lights were off, she started the engine and eased backward along the narrow gravel drive until she was on the pavement, then she cut the wheel and drifted out onto the road. Once she was on the road, she gave it some gas. Not enough to squeal tires but enough to get moving in a hurry.

She drove a mile or so before turning on the headlights.

"What now?" he asked.

"I have a backup vehicle in a storage unit. We pick it up and dump this car."

"Sounds like you thought of everything."

Not everything, or she wouldn't have been caught off guard by the voice she'd heard in those woods. Not all that she should have, considering Griff was with her. She glanced at him; his profile was set in stone, his beard-shadowed jaw tense. She could just imagine the thoughts going through his head. None of which would be good.

Just drive.

She focused forward and drove as fast as she dared until she hit the main road, and even then she was careful. Getting pulled over would not be a good thing by any stretch of the imagination. She couldn't afford the wasted time or the potential that Ernie had put out a BOLO for them. The one thing that would keep them alive with any certainty was staying a step ahead of the thugs Lorenzo had sent.

She blinked at the idea that Ridley was one of them.

Was it possible he was undercover? That he really wasn't one of them?

No. He'd said they had orders to shoot on sight.

Would he have shot her? Killed her?

She shuddered inside. Every instinct she possessed warned he would have.

Taking the back roads to her destination, she surveyed the dark houses. The world was sleeping. They had no idea that killers were so close, that there were people—like her and Griff—who were running for their lives. Running right past the homes where they slept. Wouldn't it be nice to enjoy the sleep of ignorant bliss? Sure, the news could be scary, but the news never told the whole story. The stories about those who sacrificed their lives to find the whole truth, to bring down the worst of the worst. The stories that no one ever heard.

The stories of those who could never be honored for their heroism. Never be publicly thanked for what they had sacrificed.

Didn't matter, people like her didn't do it for the shiny awards or the kudos. They did it to see the bad guys pay for their evil deeds. To see that justice was served—no matter the cost required to make that happen.

"You okay?"

The sound of Griff's voice startled her from the unfortunate musings. "Yeah. You?"

"I'm good."

She smiled as she thought of the way his body had responded to hers while they were stuffed between those rocks. She had longed to shift around to face him, straddling him in a way that pressed her more intimately to him. Part of her wished now that she'd acted on the attraction that had sparked between them from the very beginning. But she had known that getting so close wouldn't be a good idea. Wasn't one now. Still, she was only human. She had needs. Needs that had been ignored for about two years now.

They drove the rest of the way to the destination in silence. She wasn't looking forward to any questions he might have, and the more they talked, the more likely he was to ask things she didn't want to answer.

The storage facility office was closed, but there was twenty-four-hour access to the units. She pulled up the gate, entered the code and it opened. She drove through and worked her way along the maze of units until she reached the one that was hers. The units for storing vehicles were at the back and were set a broader distance apart from the others to facilitate pulling in and out. She parked the car to the left side of the door and grabbed the fob as she emerged. Not that she didn't trust Griff, but on some level, he had to be afraid of what would happen next. Fear made people do desperate, generally unwise things. She didn't want him making a mistake.

She entered the code for the unit and raised the door. The small SUV waited, full of gas and with a trickle charger to keep the battery fully operational. She removed the charger, closed the hood and climbed in. The car started without hesitation. She eased it from the unit and parked it to the far right of the door.

She backed up the stolen car and then pulled it into the unit. She then closed the door and set the locking system. Good to go.

Griff followed her to the SUV she'd had stored and climbed into the passenger seat.

When she'd driven out of the facility, he asked, "What now?"

"We find a place to lay low and figure that out."

She eased along the dark street. Breathing unhindered for the first time in hours.

"You recognized one of those guys."

It wasn't a question. He'd likely felt the tension in her body. The unexpected shock had disabled her ability to hide her response to the voice she hadn't heard in two years.

"I did."

"Was it someone you worked with before, when you were Angela Hamilton?"

"Yes."

"Is he the reason you're on the run?"

Meg drove for a bit before figuring out the best way to answer without revealing too much. "In part."

"Was he more than a colleague?"

The change in his tone told her he hadn't wanted to ask that question but hadn't been able to stop himself. She should be flattered that he was jealous, obviously. But what she felt was fear. Jealousy was the kind of emotion that got a person into trouble faster than most others.

"Sometimes."

Griff stared out the window at the closed shops of downtown Chattanooga.

"Sometimes," she went on, deciding it would be better to assuage whatever he was feeling than to allow it to smolder, "when you're deep into an operation and everyone around you is the enemy, you grab onto the only one who is in the same boat as you."

"He's one of the good guys?" He didn't attempt to conceal his doubt.

"When I knew him, he was." Obviously, that had changed.

"If you can no longer trust him, is there anyone in your old life you can trust?"

That was the problem. She couldn't be sure.

"I wish I knew the answer. But I don't. I'm on my own here, and I'll just have to wing it until I see some other way."

"You've still got me."

The words were spoken in such a heartfelt manner she could hardly breathe. Griff really meant what he said. But it was the biggest mistake of all. If only she could make him see that.

"I appreciate that you still want to help after all that's happened," she said carefully. "But helping me has already put you in grave danger. Has caused you serious trouble. They now recognize that you're with me because you want to be and not because I'm forcing you. That's a dangerous place to put yourself in all this."

He stared straight ahead into the night, his jaw working with mounting tension. "I'll take my chances."

"Everyone loves a hero, Griff." Meg drew in a breath. "Except the family and friends he leaves behind to grieve the loss."

"But what would the world do without heroes?"

He stared at her profile. He wanted an answer. Wanted her to look him in the eyes. She wasn't sure he was going to like the answer she had to give.

She braked for a red traffic light and turned to him, looked directly into his eyes. "Don't be a hero for me, Griff. Save it for someone who actually deserves it."