Page 64 of Colton in the Wild
“I hate it that you’re right,” she muttered. “But I’d only be a hindrance out there.”
“Call my folks,” he said, more to give her something to do than because he thought this might really be something. “Just tell them you saw something and I’m checking on it, so Dad will be on standby.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “If I know your father, he’ll be on his way here by the time I get the second sentence out.”
In an instant, the atmosphere shifted as he laughed at the pure truth in her words. “You obviously do know him.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek before saying, “Which is a good thing. It’ll make our life easier.”
He saw in her eyes that she’d registered what he’d meant. Definitely our life, together.
She walked, still noticeably favoring her left leg, which reinforced his certainty that he was right to make her stay here, over to the counter and grabbed up the two RTA walkie-talkies that sat there.
“Every five minutes,” she said in a flat, no-compromising tone.
“Make it ten,” he bartered back. “And no voice, if possible. I might need the silence. Two clicks is ‘all’s okay.’ Three is ‘tell Dad to hurry.’”
He said the last words jokingly, but Hetty didn’t take them that way. He’d never seen a more solemn gaze from her, even when she’d been so hurt. He registered the magnitude of that, wanted to kiss her for it, but there was no time.
“Be careful,” she said, and it sounded as if she’d had to force the words out past a lump like the one he felt in his own throat.
“More now than ever,” he promised. And meant it. But the bigger promise, made only to himself, but the one he had to keep right now, was that he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Still, as he went quietly out the door, he found himself hoping to run into Sasquatch instead of a hitman.
Chapter 34
Spence left out the front door, thinking his quarry might be watching the back of the house, where he must have seen them standing. He walked downhill, quickly, away from where Hetty had seen the man, but only because he knew the edge of the thickest part of the forest curved around the west side of the house and he’d be able to work his way back under cover. He entered the trees there and, once under their cover, started up the hill toward that big tree. Another Sitka spruce, he’d noted when she’d pointed it out. The big evergreen with the very Alaskan name seemed to figure large in their story. Which seemed appropriate, somehow.
It was up to him to see to it their story had a happy ending. Because in all the time he’d lived here, there had never been a trace of another human skulking through those trees. That one would show up now was just too much of a coincidence. Sure, it could be just some lost hiker, but Spence wasn’t going to assume that.
He wasn’t going to assume anything, not when Hetty’s safety could be at stake.
Yet even as he moved through the woods, as quietly as any native to these parts could, he found himself smiling. She was one of a kind, his Hetty. When it came to the crunch, she’d weigh the options and make the right decisions. Just as she had when that engine had quit on them.
For just a few seconds, he let himself think of their life ahead, what it would be like to have her with him all the time. To have her loving him as much as he loved her. To maybe starting a family of their own, with the best examples of their parents to guide them.
He felt a weird sensation he’d never known, because, despite Dad’s enthusiasm for grandkids—and the glint in his eye when Spence had told him they were losing their houseguest—he’d never thought about it seriously before. Never imagined what it would be like, to be a father. And now, here he was, heading out to maybe face down a killer, and wondering if their kids would have her green eyes or his blue.
He shook it off and focused on the feeling he’d been lugging around ever since that day she’d been shot. The feeling that it wasn’t over yet, that the hired killer wasn’t about to leave witnesses behind. He might be a city guy out of his element here, but sooner or later, he could get lucky. And Spence damned well wasn’t about to lose what he and Hetty had finally found together. Neither was he willing to spend time that should be spent building the new life he wanted with her in constantly watching their backs.
This needed to end, and now.
He put himself in stealth mode; that way of thinking and moving that he used when he wanted to get closer to some wild, wary creature he wanted to watch. He played it like the very first time he’d come across the lynx family, among the wariest of animals, especially when there were kits to be protected.
I know the feeling now. That need to protect above all else.
And he knew it would apply tenfold to those kids he’d never thought about until now.
He knelt behind a thick cluster of prickly wild rose. He stayed there for several minutes, rifle at the ready but motionless, listening. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on his other senses, a lesson he’d learned early when his father had taught him that even a human’s pitifully weak sense of smell could be useful, and how to focus on things other than what he could see.
Spence was about to start moving again when he heard it. A slight rustle then a distinctive snap. Something—or someone—had just stepped on a downed branch, up the hillside.
He knew what his vote was.
Everything changed in that moment. His question had been answered and he was no longer just checking, he was sure. Hetty had been right; she had seen someone out here. And as far as Spence was concerned, the way that person was acting put them in the enemy category. And right now he had only one: the man who had nearly killed Hetty.
He moved slowly, silently, careful about where he made every step. This was like stalking an already-spooked wild thing. It was going to take some time, but the ending—peace and safety—would be worth it. And he had one thing going for him the intruder did not…he knew this ground. This was his own backyard, in essence, and he wasn’t about to cede it to some city guy who thought he could just come here and start killing people.
Welcome to Alaska, chump.
