Page 11 of The Unknown Colton
A black coat maybe? Black hat? Hiking boots. He could tell by the deep treads pushing the pine needles into the dirt.
Just about everybody in Shelby wore hiking boots, though, and coats and hats, too, since the evenings were cold in September. It could have been anyone, and too many trees and branches blocked Troy from getting a better look at the person. He had to get closer. But as he ran harder, the uneven ground twisted his back, and he winced.
“Stop!” he yelled at the intruder like Lakin had yelled after him. But he didn’t expect this person to listen to him any more than he had listened to her.
Troy had to find out who’d broken into her placeand why. Was this the person Hetty had told him about? The serial killer targeting women in Shelby? Even though he and Lakin had been in a relationship for ten years, she was alone so much. Was that why someone had broken into her place?
Was she the serial killer’s next target?
Frustration gripped him, making his muscles tense even more, and he had to stop running for a moment. He had to catch his breath. His lungs burning, he leaned forward, hands on his thighs and drew in deep breaths of fresh air.
Fresh air with a hint of stale cigarette smoke. Usually the woods smelled of pine needles and fresh rain. The intruder had to be close.
Troy peered around, wondering where the person was hiding. Maybe they weren’t hiding at all. Maybe they were waiting to ambush him once he got close.
He didn’t want to get knocked out, or worse, and leave Lakin unprotected. Hopefully she had run back to the office to get Parker and had called the local police. Eli and Kansas could be anywhere in Alaska, but Shelby PD was close. And at the moment Troy was more of a liability than an asset. Instead of saving her from the intruder, he might need saving himself.
* * *
The man ducked under the pine boughs and hunkered down near the trunk. He shouldn’t be discovered in the shadows. And if he was…
Maybe that would be a good thing. Getting rid of whoever was chasing him would be the smart thingto do. He couldn’t afford for someone to disrupt the plan he had painstakingly put into place. He had put in too much effort and research for it to be put into jeopardy now.
Who the hell was this guy anyway?
He’d not been around the past few weeks, not like the other men, thoseColtons. They were always around. The boys and their dad. He would deal with them in time, too.
But right now…
Now he had a more immediate problem. This young stranger had rushed headlong to her rescue, chasing after him through the woods. Except…there was no running now. No snapping of twigs and branches or rustling of leaves. Just what sounded like gasps for breath.
Whoever was trying to be her hero either wasn’t in very good condition or wasn’t used to the altitude.
It would be easy now to take him out. He would never become a problem.
CHAPTER 4
Troy was hurt. Lakin knew it even before she found him gasping for breath in the middle of the forest. She’d recognized pain on his face as he took off after the intruder. His entire long body looked as if it had protested every step he took.
“What’s wrong?” she asked when she found him. “What’s happened?”
She would have thought that the intruder had turned the tables on Troy and attacked him, but there were no visible marks on his smooth chocolate skin, no swelling on his handsome face. He looked as perfect as always but for the pain in his beautiful green eyes. His mouth twisted into a grimace, and finally he released a long breath and straightened up.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You were supposed to go to Parker, to the office, to safety…” He glanced at the trees around them, as if expecting the intruder to be hiding nearby.
Maybe they were; Lakin could smell something other than the pines, something like stale cigarette smoke. She felt that strange sensation again, like shewas being watched. She shivered and whispered, “We should go back to the cabin.”
“You should,” Troy said, and he put his hand against the small of her back, turning her away from him. “Go back to the cabin. Now.”
“Not without you,” she said. “You’re hurt. What happened?” Why wouldn’t he just admit that he’d been injured and tell her how? Not that they had time to talk here. They needed to get out of here, but Lakin wasn’t leaving without Troy.
“I’m fine,” he said. But his jaw was so clenched, she was surprised he managed to get out the lie. He clearly wasn’t fine.
“Troy!” she exclaimed with exasperation.
Branches rustled around them; something was moving in the trees.
Troy pulled Lakin into his arms and wrapped them around her, as if using his body to shield her from whatever was coming.
