Vivian Arend - High Passion

One more moment passed before she replaced her left hand on the knot, twisting it apart and pulling the rope from him in two sections. She glanced at Devon once, begging in her eyes, before looking firmly at the ground. “He’s free,” she announced.

She stepped back, cautiously placing herself far enough to one side that he couldn’t bump into her while trying to escape.

Vincent slipped on the second backpack. That was when Devon knew he was in worse danger than he’d first imagined. “Don’t you have a flight to catch?” he asked.

The other man knelt and retied the laces of his hiking boots, and Devon eyed him carefully. The formal suit was gone. In its place was an expensive outfit, but totally appropriate for the outdoors, complete with gloves and a toque. Vincent stood and smiled, the thin line of his lips barely separating as he spoke.

“I am on the plane. Records will show I caught the flight as scheduled, and after arriving in Toronto I spent the remainder of the evening quietly at home. Tomorrow morning I catch another flight, this time to Vancouver. Oh, my whereabouts are very nicely established, thank you.” Vincent pointed down the trail. “If you don’t mind.”

Devon stood his ground. “What do you plan to do? Tie me to a tree? Abandon me in the bush to die of exposure?”

Vincent frowned. “Well, that wouldn’t make sense, would it? You’re too good at surviving in the wilderness for anyone to believe you simply got lost. No. You need to have a more thorough accident. Something that might take a while before anyone recovers your body.”

The casual way Vincent talked about killing him made Devon’s skin crawl, but he didn’t move. He didn’t take his gaze off the man and crossed everything he had, hoping that what he was about to suggest would not be taken at face value. “Why exactly would I go anywhere with you, since you plan on killing me anyway? Kill me here and drag my body to where you want to hide it. I’m not making things easy on you.”

Devon wasn’t sure why he was surprised to see Vincent pull out a gun. It was pretty well established by now that Vincent didn’t care if his actions were illegal. Devon swallowed his fear and judged whether he could close the distance between them quickly enough to knock Vincent off his feet.

Only Vincent grabbed Lana by the arm, and the gun was now pressed to her temple. “You will walk, or she dies.”

They’d been waiting more than an hour for Devon to show up. To call. To do something.

Alisha jiggled on the spot, bouncing on her heels before checking her phone again. She peered out the window, turning only when Erin pressed a glass of juice into her hands.

“Drink. You need to keep your energy up.” The other woman wrapped her fingers around the glass and held it until Alisha finally closed her grasp. Erin crossed her arms over her chest. “If nothing else, it will help you do a few more laps in your attempt to wear a hole in my carpet.”

“Where the hell is he?” Alisha growled. She made a face at Erin, who stood blocking her progress from completing yet another traverse of Erin’s living room. “Fine. Drinking.”

She tilted the orange juice and consumed the entire thing at one go, more to put the glass down than to cooperate with Erin.

“He’s gone to burn off his frustrations. He’ll be back.” Erin leaned on the door frame. “You know, we could go to the RCMP station without him.”

Alisha nodded. “We will if we have to. But, dammit, now I’m worried.” Devon’s ring tone burst from her phone, and she snatched it out in a panic, speaking before Devon could get a word in edgewise. “What kind of stupid-ass move are you pulling? I get it, I pissed you off by taking my time this morning, but now I need you and—”

A combination of crying and heavy gasps interrupted her. “Alisha, is that you? Oh God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

What the hell? That definitely wasn’t Devon. “This is Alisha, who is this?”

“It’s Lana. You’ve got to come. You’ve got to come now before it’s too late.”

Alisha froze. Across the room Erin watched with concern in her dark eyes.

“Lana? What is going on?” Confusion was rapidly followed by fear as Lana answered.

“Please, it’s Devon. Vincent’s got him, and he’s going to kill him. There’s no time.”

Terror about Devon’s absence flooded her, but nothing Lana said made any sense. Still, instincts kicked in. Training procedure. Gather information, then make a judgment call. “Why are you on Devon’s phone?” Alisha demanded. “And where are you?”

“Takkakaw Falls. I’ll explain everything, but you have to call the police. Get over here and save him.”

Even as Lana continued to wail, Alisha made a decision and snapped into action. She gestured for Erin to join her, snatched up her gear bag, and was out the door even as she continued to speak with Lana. Erin ran ahead to open the trunk before hurrying into the driver’s seat. She had them headed toward Lifeline without a single question, only she did get out her phone and make a couple of calls.

“Okay, I’m on the way.” Alisha blocked out her teammate’s voice, focusing on Lana. “What happened? Why didn’t you call the police?”

Lana ignored the question, instead setting off on a rambling rant.

“Devon came to the hotel. He hit Vincent . . .” Lana moaned. “I didn’t want to do it, Alisha. I made one mistake, and once I fell for that, he had me. Vincent said I’d go to jail. That he had proof I’d drugged you. I wanted a chance to prove I could be on the team—that I had the skills. I didn’t know he would damage Xavier’s belt. I didn’t know . . .”

Her voice trailed away into more crying. Alisha wished she could reach through the phone and smack the woman, partly to get her to settle down and partly because Lana obviously needed a smacking in a bad way.

“Where is Devon now? What’s Vincent doing?”

“He’s taking Devon into the caves by the falls. Thought it would take forever for anyone to find him, and when they did it would look like an accident.” Another set of weeping interrupted her, and Alisha held on to her patience with gritted teeth. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, and once I realized Vincent was crazy, I tried to help. I stole Devon’s phone when he was unconscious.”

The idea of Devon lying helpless at Vincent’s mercy wasn’t a good picture, not in light of his recent threats. “Is Devon okay?”

“He was knocked out for a bit. I gave him my knife; I slipped it to him. My God, I had no idea Vincent would go insane like this.”

Yeah, Alisha could understand that one. “Are they in the caves already?”

“Not yet. Maybe. Probably not. It takes at least thirty minutes to hike, and Vincent had a gun on me, and we were only halfway to the caves when I tripped. Devon hit Vincent, and I ran. I don’t know what happened then because I went down the hill and hid behind a gully, and I can’t call the police because they’ll arrest me.”

They were pulling into the Lifeline parking lot. Alisha pointed Erin toward the chopper pad even as she attempted to talk sense into Lana.

“But if you don’t help, Devon could die.” She was talking to an empty phone. “Fuck.” She shoved it into her pocket as she scrambled out the door.

Erin was right on her heels. “I assume you need a ride?”

“Did you get through to any of the guys?” They raced up the stairs and into HQ.

“No.” Erin’s face twisted as she considered. “You’re not going to attempt a rescue on your own, are you?”

“Devon’s in trouble.”

That was all Alisha had to say. Erin smacked her palm against the wall and swore loudly.

The next moment she was settling her flying jacket around her shoulders. “Fuck it. It’s all kinds of wrong, but I’ll take you. I’m coming with you on the ground, and you call for RCMP backup right now, before we leave. Plus, we’re taking a weapon from Marcus’s case.”

Alisha pulled on gear as she scrambled to put her brain in order. “Police. Yes. Ground assist, yes, but what weapon?”

Erin darted into the office, shouting over her shoulder. “I don’t need long to get the chopper in the air. Just give me a second here . . . Where am I headed?”

“Toward Field town site, then north to the falls.” Alisha grabbed a first-aid kit. More rope. Shoved it all in a pack. Yanked on her boots.

Something grey and metallic was thrust into her line of vision. She jerked back in protest. “Shit, Erin. A gun?”

Erin rolled her eyes even as she tucked the firearm away and headed for the door. “You don’t even know where the safety is, do you?”

“God, no.” For all her training, guns had never been a part of it. “I’ve got bear spray.”

“Fucking princess.” Erin’s smile contradicted her insult. “Fine, I’ve got this. Now get your ass in gear; we leave in five minutes.

Erin slammed out the hangar door, her back visible through the opening as she ran full tilt toward the chopper.

Alisha paused inside HQ with her phone to her ear. She spoke with her contact at the RCMP and got transferred to Field in one step. Fortunately, by the time the chopper blades were going hard enough to make hearing difficult, the constable had gotten the message and she was able to hang up and sprint to the chopper.

She crawled in up front with Erin and yanked on a headset to catch the pilot up on details.

“We’ll be racing them to the cave entrance.” Alisha checked her watch, calculating time frames. “RCMP has to prep, drive to the trailhead, and then hike, while we can land a lot closer to the access point. They won’t be there for at least forty-five minutes.