Tori narrowed her eyes. “Then lead on.” Damn. Arrogant…obnoxious. She stepped aside, letting Andrea go first. The farther away she was from Cameron Ross, the better.

* * *

“Is it safe to drink?” Sam asked as he filled their water bottles at the stream.

“I wouldn’t chance it without purification tablets,” he said. “You worried about getting a little diarrhea?”

She nodded as she chewed the energy bar he’d given her. “Considering the limited bathroom options I have…yes.”

As he’d been filling the water, she’d made scuff marks in the dirt where she sat. She’d dropped the wrapper to the energy bar behind the rock she sat on, hoping he didn’t notice.

He sat down beside her and shook each water bottle several times. She assumed that was to dissolve the tablets. He was close to her and her eyes were drawn to the sheath—and the knife—strapped to his thigh. He followed her gaze, then shifted away from her.

“That knife will cut through flesh like soft butter,” he said quietly with only a hint of a threat in his voice.

“I’m…I’m sure it can,” she said. Although if she had to choose, she’d rather have a bullet to the head than have her throat cut. She mentally rolled her eyes at her morbid thought. Tori would find her before that. Right?

“So…Samantha, this partner of yours. You said you met at Dallas PD, yet you say she’s FBI.”

“Yes. And please, it’s Sam,” she said. “After Tori and I became…well, became involved, I transferred to CIU. That’s Criminal Investigative Unit,” she explained. “Tori and John became partners. John Sikes. They used to hate each other,” she said with a smile, remembering their constant bickering. “Anyway, they had a horrible case. Identical twin brothers.” She shook her head. “John almost died. He had his throat cut,” she said as her eyes drifted to his knife again. “Tori, well, she had a really hard time with it and needed a change.” She shrugged. “So FBI.”

“And you think she’s looking for you now?”

“Of course.”

He shook his head. “We’re not on a trail. We’re bushwhacking. I don’t think there’s anyone following.”

She met his gaze. “She’s coming for me,” she said with confidence.

His gaze went to the sky and he scanned overhead. “I am kinda wondering why we haven’t had helicopters buzzing around though.” He looked back at her. “Aren’t you?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Why do you think that is?”

She felt her heart sink. “They think we’re in a vehicle. On the road.”

His smile had a touch of smugness to it. “I imagine they have roadblocks set up in all directions.”

Fear set in again. “Which means you don’t really need me then.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, I’ll keep you around for another day or so. They’ll eventually figure out we’re on foot. It’ll be too late by then, of course.”

Too late for her, in other words. She looked away from him, wondering how she could possibly escape. She was still tied to him. And even if she did run, he would most certainly catch her. Or shoot her in the back. Or a mountain lion would get her. God, she wished he’d never mentioned the damn mountain lion to begin with. Every twig that snapped in the woods she expected to see one about to attack them.

She watched as he pulled what appeared to be a map from his back pocket. He unfolded it and studied it for a bit, nodding ever so slightly. He folded it up neatly again and slipped it back into his pocket.

He stood then and pulled her up. “Time to move,” he said.

She grimaced as the rope cut into the blisters on her wrist. She followed behind him, noticing that one of them had begun to bleed. Great. One more thing to attract a mountain lion.

They walked on without speaking, her following behind him. She wondered if she picked up a rock, could she use it to smash his skull? Could she knock him out long enough for her to escape? She had no clue as to where they were. Could she hide from him? Would Tori find her before he did? Or before a mountain lion did? She blew out her breath, feeling helpless. The silence between them wasn’t helping. Sam couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Angel? Can I ask you something?”

“I don’t know. Can you?”

“Smart-ass,” she murmured. “May I?” she clarified.

“Ask away. Can’t promise I’ll answer.”

“Why are you running?” She paused. “I mean, I know you killed that girl. What else?” His pace slowed just a bit but still, she didn’t think he was going to answer her.

“I killed…a lot of people.” He stopped and glanced back at her. “That girl and her family being just four.”

“Her family? You killed…a family?”

“I needed a distraction,” he said as he continued on.

“From what?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I told you, I’m a cop, I ask questions.”

But he said no more, just continued on through the trees. They had been climbing again since they’d left the stream and she looked up, wondering how high they were. Her breathing was a bit labored. She chanced looking behind her, hoping…well, hoping someone—Tori—was coming for her. Instead, all she saw was trees and rocks, the yellowish hues of autumn turning the landscape a pretty golden color.

There was no sign of Tori.




Chapter Nine



“It’s too early to stop,” Agent Hunter said. “There’s still daylight.”

Cameron sighed and bit back her retort. She’d promised Andrea she would be nice. But really, Hunter was getting on her last nerve. As if she was the one doing the goddamn tracking.

“We’ve made good time,” she said. “I don’t want to ruin that by getting off his mark.”

“You said Sam was leaving tracks,” Hunter said. “We found the wrapper by the stream. We can keep—”

“We can’t, Hunter. Okay? Will you just trust me?”

“We’re wasting time, goddamn it!”

“Jesus Christ, we’re not wasting time,” she said loudly. “There are too many shadows.” She tossed her backpack down with more force than was necessary. “We’re tired. We’re hungry. We’ll pick up in the morning.”

“I just think—”

“I don’t care what you think,” Cameron shot back.

Andrea raised her hands. “Will you two stop already? You’re driving me insane with your constant arguing.” She glared at Cameron. “Can we please try to get along?”

Cameron raised her eyebrows. Andrea was mad at her? No way. Hunter was the one being an ass about it. Hunter was the one who had questioned her every move all damn day. But the look in Andi’s eyes told her not to argue. So she nodded, then flicked her glance to Hunter.

“I need to rest,” she said. “It’s mentally exhausting trying to follow their trail when there really isn’t a trail.”

Hunter nodded too. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t think about it like that.” She ran her hands through her short hair. “I’m just…I’m not used to feeling helpless like this.”

“I’m sure you’re not. And the only reason you’re even on this trip is because Andrea told me to put myself in your shoes. So yeah, I’d have told Murdock to fuck himself and I’d have gone after her too.”

She turned away and started gathering up firewood. She saw Andi doing the same. Hunter finally took off her backpack and tossed it to the ground as well.

“It feels good to get that off,” Hunter said. “I’m not used to this. I’m a city girl.”

“I was a city girl too,” Andrea said. “Los Angeles. I moved to Sedona—that’s in Arizona—and grew to love hiking.” She looked at Cameron. “Cameron is the backpacker though. Military.”

Hunter gave a quick laugh. “I should have known.”

Cameron bristled. “What does that mean?”

“Bossy.”

Andrea laughed too. “Oh, trust me. That’s not the military talking.”

Cameron looked at her. “What are you saying?”

“Oh, sweetheart, you know exactly what I’m saying.”

Sweetheart? So Andi didn’t feel the need to keep their relationship a secret? Hunter was FBI. And not that Murdock was oblivious, but it wasn’t anything they talked about. Ever. They didn’t know Hunter. Certainly not enough to trust her with this. She looked at Andrea with a question in her eyes, and Andrea gave her the “don’t be stupid” look. Yeah. They were sharing a tent. Hunter obviously knew they were more than just work partners.

Okay then.

* * *

“We’ll stop here for the night,” Angel said.

Sam glanced up, noting the sun was still streaking through the trees. As if reading her mind, he motioned to a cleared-out area with a previous fire ring.

“Flat ground. Not many rocks.”

“Oh. That’s good. Because I slept like crap last night.” Then she smirked. “Not that I actually slept,” she added. He looked at her blankly and she held her bound wrists up. “Uncomfortable.” She didn’t mention that sleeping next to him, with his gun and knife, was even more uncomfortable.

He pulled her arms up, his brow furrowed. “You’re bleeding. Why didn’t you say something?”

She shrugged. “You intend to kill me. I didn’t think you’d be concerned with blisters on my wrists.”

He met her eyes briefly, then quickly pulled his knife from its sheath. She took a step back, wondering if she’d said the wrong thing.

“For the rope,” he explained.

So she held her arms out and he cut the rope from each wrist with surprising gentleness. She did note that the knife cut through the rope as if it were little more than thread. She immediately rubbed her wrists, then stretched her arms out to each side. She gave a satisfied moan as her muscles released some tension.

“I trust you won’t do anything stupid?”

“I’m tired,” she said. “And I’m really, really hungry. And please say there’s something other than beef stew.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’ll find something better.” He pointed to a fallen pine limb. “Gather some wood for our fire. Once we get it going, I’ll put something on your wound. I have a first-aid kit.”