mountains to be away from people—all people. I won’t go into town, and I don’t have friends. The only person who knows I’m here is my neighbor Cash because we’ve run into each other a few times since my property borders his.
So, when there’s a knock on the door, there’s not a single person I’m expecting. I grab my shotgun, fully intent on having to put a bullet through whoever is standing on the other side of the door.
So, you can only imagine my shock when I open the door and find my neighbor, Cash.
‘I don’t know exactly what you did in the military, but I know you’re a damn good tracker, and I need your help. Someone just kidnapped my girl, and the cops aren’t doing anything. There are tracks, and there’s blood. I have two other guys who are willing to help. From the looks of it, two people took her. We’re going in, and I could use another man.’
Fuck.
An innocent civilian involved in a kidnapping is not something I can ignore. I close the door and head straight to my office, where I keep a go backpack. I grab a couple of extra guns that I stash on me and put an extra pocket knife in my other boot before grabbing my semi-automatic gun and heading back out front.
I hop on my four-wheeler and follow Cash back to his place. I may not have friends, but I will say I don’t mind Cash. He doesn’t ask a lot of questions, which is great because I don’t have a lot of answers to give him.
When I walk into his cabin, I’m greeted by three other men and two women. This is a lot for me, especially as it’s been more than a year since I talked to anyone other than Cash.
‘This is Cole. He’s my neighbor and one of the best trackers I’ve ever seen. Cole, this is Axel and his wife, Emelie. Phoenix, and his wife, Jenna, and Bennett. They all live on the mountain. Phoenix is staying behind with the girls because if Hope were to get away, this is the first place she would come to find me.’
Cash shows me around his place. The back door has been busted in, and there are signs of a struggle on the front porch, along with blood. Three sets of footprints become two sets, and the track marks indicate they probably knocked out the victim, who I know is a female.
Having all the information, I nod before I speak for the first time. ‘Let’s go.’
My military training kicks in as they grab their stuff. Two guys hop on the four-wheelers, and Cash walks with me as we track the footprints back to a dirt road. Looks like they got into a car, and with the rain we had last night, the tire tracks are pretty easy to trace. They go about a mile up the road and pull into what looks like an abandoned driveway.
‘Any idea what’s up there?’ I ask, nodding up the driveway.
‘No, but a few hunting cabins are scattered along this road. Most of them are abandoned now,’ Cash says.
We leave the four-wheelers on the road and continue on foot, sticking to the trees and following the driveway. The car tracks are clearly marked and lead to the long-abandoned cabin. It looks like a small one-room cabin with one bedroom in the back.
I pull out my binoculars and try to get a look into the house. That’s when I find not one but two young women being detained. My gut churns, telling me that this mission is different, more important than any I’ve done in my life. I don’t know how that’s possible, considering I’ve worked some serious undercover classified missions, but I always trust my gut.
‘Two young women are being detained, both tied to chairs,’ I tell them.
‘Two?’ Cash asks.
‘There’s a female standing in the room and a male entering from a back door also now in the room,’ I say before handing the binoculars to Cash.
‘Fuck. The one on the right is my Hope, and the one on the left is her best friend, Jana. I’m pretty sure the female is her mom, but I have no idea who the guy is,’ Cash says.
The guys talk a bit about Hope and her mom as I formulate a plan in my head.
‘Both Hope and Jana seem to be knocked out. They probably drugged them, so they were easier to manipulate. If they drugged her when they took her, she should be waking up anytime now unless they plan to keep her out for whatever reason,’ Cash says.
‘We need the girls awake, if possible, especially if the two holding them are drugged up. There’s no telling how irrational they’ll be or what kind of strength they might have,’ Axel says.
‘Possible motive?’ I ask, wanting to have all the information.
‘Hope’s mom was asking for money. My guess is they need to fund their drug problem. There’s a possibility they could be on the run from something. They have misdemeanor backgrounds from what Hope knows,’ Cash says.
It all comes down to money. It always does. One way or another, they need money for this or that. If they’re drug users, there’s no telling what their reaction to anything will be, which makes them unpredictable and downright dangerous.
I circle the building, getting the lay of the land. As we wait for the girls to wake up, we talk and formulate our plan and get ready to head in. Cash and the dog go through the front as a distraction while the guys and me go through the back.
The plan works perfectly. Axel and Bennett have the male and female detained almost instantly. But the moment I step into the room and my eyes lock on the girl sitting next to Hope, the whole world tilts on an axis.
My gut tells me this girl is mine. Mine to take. Mine to protect.
I walk over and kneel in front of her, gently cutting through the tape binding her feet and arms to the chair.
Her arms are so limp that I gently lift them forward to her lap. They’re ice cold, so I run my hands up and down her arms to get the blood circulating again. Unfortunately, this will also bring back any pain.
The guys talk all around me, but I hear none of it. I’m focused on this gorgeous, strong woman in front of me. She’s staring at me, but it’s at me, not my scar, and that alone is doing strange things to my heart.
I help the woman to stand, but her legs give out instantly. I catch her before she hits the ground with an arm under her legs and another under her shoulders, carrying her bridal style.
‘Let’s take them to the road and wait for the cops. That way, they don’t have to be around these two,’ I say, and Cash nods.
‘We got them. They’re not going anywhere,’ Bennett says, nodding at the two detained on the floor.
I waste no time getting her away from them and heading up the driveway. The moon gives enough light to see where I’m going along the driveway where the trees aren’t as thick.
She doesn’t talk the whole way, but I can feel her eyes on me. Once we reach the road, I set her down on one of the four-wheelers as we wait for the cops.
‘Are you okay?’ Hope asks Jana.
I’m irrationally upset that her best friend asked her if she was okay before I was able to.
‘Yeah, I..’ She stops and coughs.
I pull a bottle of water from my backpack and hand it to her. She drinks it thirstily.
‘Slow down. Small sips, or you’ll throw it back up,’ I tell her.
She looks at me with wide eyes before doing as I ask.
I pull a protein bar from my backpack and hand it to her. ‘This isn’t going to taste great, but it’s got protein and some other things that will help you feel better.’
She takes it from me. ‘I was taken the night I saw you guys. They grabbed me before I walked into my apartment,’ she says, taking a bite. ‘He kept asking me all sorts of questions about you. They wanted me to call and try to get you to meet me somewhere so they could get you away from Cash. I kept refusing. When I refused, they punished me, thinking the pain would change my mind. But you’re my friend, and I wouldn’t turn on you like that. Not for anything.’
Hope gets up on wobbly legs and walks over to her. I take a step back and allow her to embrace her friend. An irrational feeling comes over me that I should be the one offering her comfort, but I push it back and let her and Hope have their moment.
When this beautiful girl starts crying, I almost push Hope out of the way to comfort her.
‘I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had done what they asked. I’d rather you stay alive. I don’t know what I would do if I had lost you,’ Hope says.
It makes her cry harder, and she just sits there hugging Hope as my gut twists with every tear that falls.
‘I had no one to come for me. When I saw you were, I was relieved because I knew Cash would come for you, and I’d finally be saved.’ She cries even harder.
I want to tell her that I will come for her. From this moment on, she will always have someone to come for her. But the words stick in my throat.
‘You have me. Cash and I were going to check on you after he got done with his traps today. We would have realized something was wrong. I would have come for you,’ Hope says.
They hug for a moment longer before Hope steps away, and Cash places her back on the four-wheeler. I move in front of her, and she looks up at me with questions in her eyes.
‘This is my neighbor, Cole. This is Hope’s best friend, Jana,’ Cash introduces us.
I open my backpack, pull out another protein bar, and hand it to Cash for Hope. Then I check Jana’s wounds, starting with her swollen ankle. I’m pretty sure it’s sprained as she can move it.
She has a few cuts on her arms and what looks like a burn mark. There are some scratches on her face and a decent size cut at her temple that looks fresh. It’s going to need stitches.
‘Can I lay down and sleep until the cops get here?’ Jana asks.
‘No, you have a head wound, and I need you to stay awake. You’re going to need stitches, and it needs to get cleaned up. When did you get this cut?’ I tap her temple.
‘Earlier today, right before they left. They gave me another dose of whatever they were using to knock me out. When I woke up, Hope was there, and they were back.’
It’s then the cops show up. I don’t know how long they take, but they ask them both a bunch of questions and take pictures of their wounds. They also ask Cash and me a bunch of questions, which makes me uneasy, but I know it has to be done for the girls to be safe. They take notes before heading down the driveway to the cabin.
‘You can bring her back to my place. We’ll take care of her and get her to a hospital.’ Cash says to me.
‘No, I can’t go to the hospital. I don’t have medical insurance. I can’t afford to go.’ Jana starts to panic,
I instinctively cup her cheek, tilting her head to look at me. ‘I have medic training. You can stay with me. I’ll stitch you up and get you all taken care of.’
Jana looks over at Cash and Hope. She doesn’t know me, and I’m sure she’s wondering if she can trust me. It’s good that she’s hesitant. I would expect nothing less after what she’s been through.
‘He’s a good guy. I trust him. And we’ll be by to check on you. He lives not too far from me. You okay with that?’ Cash asks Jana.
Jana looks back at me. Her eyes are like the sun breaking through a bank of clouds. She nods, confirming that she feels safe enough to come back to my place.
I turn her on the four-wheeler and get her situated before climbing on behind her. I wrap one arm around her waist and hold her snugly to me. Her body pressed against me has my cock as hard as nails for the first time in years, and there’s no hiding it from her.
We say our goodbyes and head off. I keep my arm firmly around her, trying to be gentle and careful of her wounds. I could move my large hand a few inches in either direction to touch her tits or pussy, which I’d love to get my hands on.
This woman is going to be trouble in the best possible way.
