Mountain Secrets by Elizabeth Goddard (good books to read for teens txt) 📕

“We’ll go a little farther.” Jason checked his rearview mirror. His real fear was that Nick was onto them and had pulled off the road, waiting to come up behind them.

Isabel lifted off her seat a little and pointed. “There.”

Up the hill was a large warehouse-looking building teeming with activity. Nick’s truck was parked outside, as were several others illuminated by the outdoor lamps. Light glowed in the windows of the building.

Jason turned off the main road. There was a car in front of him headed in the same direction as well as one behind him. Something was going on.

He pulled into the parking lot. Nick was not in his truck or anywhere around the building.

“What is this place?”

Jason shook his head. “We’ve come this far. Let’s have a look around...together.”

She reached over, wrapping her fingers around his forearm. “I feel safe staying close to you.”

He nodded. Her touch warmed him to the bone.

The two other cars parked and the drivers got out and headed around the side of the building without a backward glance at Jason’s vehicle—which probably indicated that a lot of cars coming into the lot was expected. Something was going on inside that building.

“Okay.” Jason pushed open his door as his heart skipped a beat. “Follow me.”

Snow came down even harder as they hurried through the parking lot, ducking from car to car. Jason pressed against the side of the building with Isabel leaning against his back. They couldn’t just walk in. They had no idea what they were facing.

The door popped open. Jason dived for the trees surrounding the property as a man dressed in a snowsuit headed in the other direction.

He signaled for Isabel to follow him, then skirted through the trees and bushes close to the building. If they could find a window, they might be able to peer inside and figure out what was going on in there. It didn’t seem like the smuggling operation would be so aboveboard as to be operating out of a building.

They ran around to the far side of the building, still not finding any windows.

“Are you up to sneaking inside with me?”

She nodded. The door on the east side of the building was the only one no one had gone into or out of.

He reached for the handle and eased it open. He stared at metal shelving that ran from floor to ceiling containing boxes and what looked like auto parts. “I don’t see anyone. Come on.”

As Isabel placed her hand in his, he prayed he hadn’t made a mistake in letting her come with him.

Isabel’s heart pounded as they stepped inside what looked like a storage area for an auto-parts store. She could hear voices faint and indiscernible.

Jason held her hand as they rushed around the shelves of parts toward an open doorway. He signaled for her to crouch by the door while he got on the other side and peered out.

The three-story warehouse-like structure was built into the side of the hill, and they had actually stepped into the middle floor. One floor up was a glass wall that looked to be some sort of office. Two people, a man and a woman, were talking. The woman, dressed in a fur coat, threw back her head and laughed. Something about her seemed familiar. The man reached out and gathered the woman into his arms and kissed her. He was a broad-shouldered man with a belly. Judging from the gray hair, he was substantially older than the woman.

Isabel scooted over to where Jason was so she could look down below. If they had gone around to the final wall of the structure, it would have been obvious what they were dealing with. Down below on the ground floor were four huge garage doors and four snowplows. Men, including Nick, were standing around talking. Suited up and ready to get on the snowplows. One of the garage doors opened, and a man headed toward a plow, leaving Nick and two other guys. The rest of the ground floor looked like a repair shop with a scattering of tools and machines and one plow blade.

Jason whispered in her ear. “He’s just going to work?”

“He takes odd jobs. Nothing permanent,” she said. “So I guess this is a dead end.” Disappointment colored her words. She wished she could place the woman in the glass office. Why did she look so familiar?

Nick glanced up in their direction. Her heart skipped a beat. She shrank back against the wall.

“We’d better get out of here.” Jason hurried toward the door and Isabel was right behind him.

Jason pressed along the wall, preparing to ease around the corner if the coast was clear. He put a protective arm on her, letting her know it wasn’t safe to go yet.

Several inches of snow had fallen in the short time they’d been up here. It was coming down fast and heavy.

Jason peered out again, then pressed his back against the metal wall. “They’re starting to get busy. They didn’t seem alarmed by our car. But I don’t want to take a chance that they would know we didn’t work here. I think this is a legit snowplow business but something still feels off to me. We should circle through the trees and then down into the parking lot.”

That would take an extra ten minutes at least. Jason dived behind the bare brush that was part of the landscaping close to the building. Isabel followed as a man came around the corner from the parking lot.

He shone a light in her direction just as she dipped behind the bush. “So it’s you. What are you doing here?” the man shouted.

Her heart beat faster. She’d glimpsed the man’s face. “That’s the guy with the gun from the Wilsons’ house.”

They both sprinted deeper into the trees, knowing that Mr. Gun would probably come after them.

It took only a moment before Isabel heard the footfalls behind her. Following the path Jason chose,