Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

off the beaten path. She won’t be easy to locate. This will give us some breathing room since we know she can’t stay in Sarah’s home or with her parents. Besides, if someone actually finds her, it’s not going to matter how many windows there are.”

He opened the door again, though he had more to say. “Don’t worry, I’ll check in on her. But I don’t want a lot of people going back and forth here. Other than Jasper and his mother, only you, me and my captain know that we’re using this location. Let me know about anything suspicious. Anything at all.”

Frowning, she nodded, clearly not happy with the location. “I’ll do my best, Detective.”

“That’s all any of us can do,” he said and turned again to leave.

“Ryan...” she shifted to a more personal tone “...it’s her, isn’t it? This is the woman you hadn’t gotten over yet back when you and I dated.”

He subtly nodded. He was afraid to ask her what gave him away. Not wanting to get any further into that conversation, he took another step out the door, officially shutting any more questions down. “I’ll check the perimeter before I leave.”

With that, Ryan finally closed the door behind him. He got a pair of binoculars out of his vehicle and then hiked around the house. The log cabin was positioned on a ridge on the north side, so at least they didn’t have to worry about an intruder from that direction. No one was going to climb the ridge to enter the house. Still, he peered through the binoculars in all directions and saw nothing but nature and wildlife for miles around.

Satisfied they were utterly alone out here, he marched back to his vehicle and made to open the door.

“Ryan!” Tori called as she jogged over.

“Something’s wrong already?” He left the door open but didn’t get inside.

“No.” She shook her head, then said, “I mean, yes.”

He crossed his arms and waited.

“Right before the explosion in the bedroom, I found something. Remember I mentioned looking for a trigger?”

“I remember.”

“I found a picture of Sarah and me together in Crescent City. She’d wanted to spend time with me on the coast before I moved.”

“And that’s the trigger?”

She nodded vehemently. “I thought it could be her alias.”

“And you’re just now bringing this up to me, why?” He dropped his arms and fisted his hands.

Tori blinked. “I couldn’t know for sure.”

His heart rate jacked up. “And now you do.”

“Yes.” Her right cheek hitched up with her half grin. “I found her alias, and I think you should stay.”

ELEVEN

Tori couldn’t read Ryan’s expression. She had hoped he would be as excited by this breakthrough as she was. Was he disappointed in her for not telling him right away?

“Look, an explosion got in the way of me telling you right when I noticed the picture. Okay? That and, well, I wanted to make sure. Why waste your time if it was a dead end? You understand, don’t you?” Why was it so important to her that he did?

He shut the door and locked up his vehicle, then walked with her back to the house. “It’s not important now. But next time, please share anything with me right away, whether you think it has merit or not.”

Shawna held the door for them, and Tori led Ryan through the house to the spacious breakfast room, which had a view as amazing as the one from the great room. Her laptop sat open on the table.

At the stern expression remaining on Ryan’s face, Tori tried to lighten his mood. “If only I could have this view every day while I have my morning coffee.” Ugh. She really had to come up with something better to say than going on about the log cabin.

He shifted a bit to look her full in the face, and then offered a weak grin. “I couldn’t agree more.”

His words pushed into her and through her, along with certainty that he wasn’t talking about the view through the window. Her pulse kicked up. This isn’t happening. This can’t happen between us.

Tori forced her eyes to her laptop while she calmed her heart. She pulled out a chair at the table to sit in front of the computer so she could show him what she’d found. But Ryan remained standing.

“Well, are you going to sit down?” she asked.

“I’m fine here, thank you.”

And she had the distinct impression he was working hard to keep space between them. She understood completely.

She awakened the laptop and showed Ryan the webmail screen. “She used the server she was familiar with, only she probably always logged in from a public computer when she was using this email. Like I said, she always used the same password. And if she was using an alias that no one should associate with her, why come up with a new password?”

“I think it would have been better to give the tech guy the alias, Tori. You’re stepping onto shaky ground here since we have the warrant for digital evidence. We want things processed correctly.”

“You said you wanted my help.”

“I do.”

She could feel his warmth, his breath against her face as he leaned close to peer at the screen.

“Do you want to look at her emails or not?” Her voice sounded too tremulous.

“Let’s see them.” Ryan’s voice, however, was firm and confident.

Still, she sensed that her nearness affected him the same way his impacted her. Time to focus on the task. She blew out a breath.

Together, they opened and read several emails.

“I can’t believe this,” Tori said. “It sounds like she was digging around in the environmental group. Like she was involved as an activist to find out about their ecoterrorism activities.” Tori let out a sigh. “Honestly, that sounds more like Sarah. I can’t believe she would ever be involved in illegal activities even for a cause she believed in, or threaten anyone, like Dee James suggested.”

Ryan finally pulled up a chair to sit next to Tori. “I don’t