Page 39 of Mountain Refuge

“What does any of this have to do with my investigation to find the Gunther children?”

Jack turned back around to face me. “You and I firstmet when you were hunting an escaped pedophile six years ago. I came across your name before that, but that was the first time I ever reached out to you.” I remembered. I thought the call was a hoax before I’d figured out that the mystery man’s information was too accurate to be a prank call. “I realized then how similar you and I are. We hunt evil, not for money, but because they’re evil.”

I raised an eyebrow. I was a bounty hunter; I hunted the scum for money.

“You might receive a paycheck at the end of your job, true. But your resume is filled with rapists and murderers. You pass over the thieves and other white-collar criminals.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So? I still don’t see what any of this has to do with Adam Greene, which by the way you lied to me aboutbothtimes I called you. Clearly, you’ve been helping him.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “And what makes you think I would help a child abductor and pedophile?”

I paused. Jackwouldn’thelp out a child abductor or a pedophile. He’d made a reputation out of hunting those scumbags. Hell, rumor had it that he even had a serial rapist murdered his first night in jail. Other rumors said that he had a secret prison where he held the criminals he caught and made them suffer, Hammurabi style. I wasn’t sure I believed either of those stories.

What Ididbelieve was that he would not help someone who had abducted two children unless there was a damn good reason.

I let out a loud sigh. “Fuck. Greene’s innocent, isn’t he?”

“Of being a pedophile? Indubitably.”

“And you’re helping him hide like you help out the other victims who can’t get away otherwise.” Shit. There goes my million-dollar payday.

Jack’s lip twitched. “I help out anyone who needs it.”

“And you’re showing me all this because you want me to stop hunting Adam Greene?”

Jack bobbled his head side to side. “More of, take your investigation down another path that someone might also try to follow. Preferably if that someone has a badge.”

“I won’t tamper with or plant evidence,” I warned.

“Of course not. I’d never ask you to. I have others who can do that for me or,” he indicated to the computers behind him, “I do it myself.”

Jack was playing a dangerous game. I looked up at the computer monitors, the squares on the wall making me think of a chess board. I guess it wasn’t quite as dangerous when you could see the whole board.

“And if my investigation led me back to Sebastian Gunther…?”

Jack smiled. “Well, then, I certainly won’t stand in your way.”

I nodded. If Adam Greene was innocent, the man had a huge uphill battle to clear his name.

Still, I wasn’t one to take someone solely at their word. I liked evidence. And I wasn’t willing to risk those two children’s lives just on one man’s claim of innocence. I’d take my investigation back to Gunther. If that man had hurt either child, I’d make him pay. But I would find Adam Greene eventually too. Even if it was just to verify the kids were safe, I would find them.

Chapter Sixteen

Elijah (formerly Adam)

“Annabelle Louise! Don’t you dare jump down from there!”

My daughter, laughing from her perch on the tree branch, looked down at me, who was safely on the ground, with glee. “Come on, Daddy! It’s not that high!”

It was high enough to break a bone if she didn’t land correctly. “You climbed up, you can climb back down.”

Annabelle, or Belle, as we now called her, grumbled as she started her slow descent but thankfully listened to me. I was not yet used to the number of trees, rocks, and a variety of other high items in the forest surrounding our cabin that Belle could get herself into trouble climbing. I thought winter was bad, with her constant begging to play outside in the snow. Corbin generally obliged, because my daughter had him wrapped around her little finger. He did anything she asked, just so he could make her smile or laugh.

Overall, living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. While we were stuck where we were, we weren’t stuck inside as much as I’d thought we would be. Lucas, as we now called my son, evenjoined us outside a lot. The snow had been like a barrier to the real world, caging us in but also setting us free.

As the months went by, we fell into a rhythm. Mornings were the times for lessons. Mrs. Mullaney, or Gertie as she insisted we call her, was a lifesaver. While I did lessons with Belle, Gertie entertained Lucas. Both kids were growing fast and had gained weight since our days of being on the run. Gertie kept us all fed, and sometimes overfed.

Corbin’s cabin only had one extra room besides his and his mom’s. When they’d learned that the kids and I were in danger, Gertie had immediately started rearranging their old storage room into a bedroom. Lucas slept in a crib that Corbin made himself. Apparently, my best friend was a carpenter now and made a living off of beautifully crafted homemade pieces he would bring down to Jack for him to sell in his store. Sometimes he received a commission for something specific too.

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