Page 22 of Storm Warning

The gusts died down along with the rain, giving a reprieve for who knew how long. She could actually hear the water dripping through the trees over the crashing waves. This storm would be great to watch in the daytime, nestled in a comfy chair by a fire in asafecabin, in which there was no chance the cliff would give out beneath them. She’d love to take some photographs, and she could just imagine she might even have the good fortune to capture a face in the waves again.

She would put her photographs out there for the world to see—not just in this lodge—if she wasn’t here to hide. But she hadn’t done a great job, after all, and maybe subconsciously she’d wanted someone to find her.

And they had.

Two someones.

Someone to warn her.

Someone to kill her.

Remi waved the flashlight around, catching a couple of cabins in the distance. “The lights are off. The power must be out.”

Movement in the trees caught her attention.

She gasped and grabbed Hawk’s arm. “Did you see that?”

8

At the warning in her voice, the hair at the back of his neck lifted. “Down!”

He urged her to crouch with him behind a tree, then shined the flashlight in the direction she’d seen movement. He didn’t see anything. Turning off his light, he leaned in close to whisper. “Turn off your flashlight. What did you see?”

She turned her light off, throwing them into complete darkness.

“Someone,” she said. “I could have just panicked. Maybe someone else is lost. We should just call out.”

“Keep still and quiet. You didn’t call out because you instinctively sensed danger.”

Or she was being paranoid, but after what had already happened, he would err on the side of caution. If someone was actually out in the storm intending to harm her, then Hawk and Remi weren’t going to make it back to the lodge without fighting off another attack.

“Let’s go back to the cabin,” he said. “I need to think.” At least they’d be protected from this new threat.

“What? No, we can’t stay there. I don’t want to hike all the way back. Let’s just keep going to the lodge.”

He ran his hand down his wet face. He would already be barreling through the forest but for the terrain and an unseen enemy. Maybe it was that lunatic who had attacked her on the road.

He palmed his Colt handgun, the sensation of being trapped unsettling him. They were in a forest, but a cliff’s edge was at their back. Trees and the darkness closed in around them even as the threat of erosion pushed them toward the unseen threat.

“The risk at the cabin is less than the risk of hiking through the woods with someone out there waiting to pounce.” Once they turned on their flashlights, they would be easy targets. Of course, the potential attacker could be wearing night vision goggles and watching them even now.

Remi leaned in close. “Hawk, if it’s the attacker from earlier today, then I agree with you. The cabin is probably safer for now. But we can’t know that.”

“Wait here.” He leaned closer to make sure she heard. “I was law enforcement before, remember, so let me do this.”

Shining the beam of light would give him away. With no moon or lightning to guide the way, the night was pitch black. He stepped from the tree and found another one, then crouched. He could see candlelight or flashlights inside the other cabins, and that gave off faint light. His eyes adjusted and he searched the darkness, but he really needed to illuminate the deeper shadows, and he turned on his light.

“Watch out!” Remi shouted.

He ducked, then turned to engage an attacker, dropping the flashlight. The beam cast eerie shadows. Was this the same man who’d attacked Remi before? The attacker punched Hawk in the gut, then the mouth. He tasted bloodbut didn’t miss a beat as he responded with thrusts and parries.

He could pull out his gun and stop this, but he didn’t want it to turn deadly. The assailant brandished a knife and threw it. Hawk shifted away.

Thunk.

The knife pierced the bark and stuck next to Hawk’s head. Too close. His stomach lurched.

Why was he holding back? Hawk was so done with this and reached for his gun, but the man rammed him into the tree trunk.

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