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

hand down his face. “Are you sure he was lurking? As in, watching this house?”

She shrugged. “What else would you call it when someone gets that close to a house on private property and seems to be hiding in the trees? You said to tell you if I saw anything.”

“I’m glad you did, but I need all the facts, Shawna. Are you sure he was on the property? Not just in the public woods?”

“I haven’t actually gone out there to mark off the property line.” Shawna was growing irritated at his questions. “But even if he wasn’t on the property, if he was standing behind a tree to watch the house, that’s something to note.”

“You’re right.”

But he couldn’t fathom that someone had found Tori yet. He didn’t want it to be true.

Ryan retrieved his weapon from his holster. “After I leave, lock the door. If you haven’t already checked all doors and windows, please do so now, and then stay with Tori and keep her out of sight. Remain aware and on the lookout for someone outside trying get in. I’ll communicate with my radio.”

“But what about you?” Shawna asked. “Do you want me to call for backup?”

“I’ll check it out first. It could be nothing. If you hear gunfire, then you can call.”

Weapon ready, he made his way to the back of the house in search of an exit. Then he carefully slipped out through a door in the mudroom. The surrounding woods were vast, offering way too many opportunities of places to hide.

He waited and listened to the sound of wildlife—insects and birds. A squirrel jumped from a tree branch. A golden eagle screeched in the sky. If someone was close, they could disrupt those sounds, but the natural world gave him no hint of a man’s presence. Ryan calmed his breathing.

If someone had come for Tori, that meant this safe house was no longer safe.

Please let Shawna be wrong about this.

But despite his wishes, he knew that Shawna was no fool. Keeping to the shadows, he crept to the other side of the house, his eyes searching for movement in the woods. These woods were thick with evergreens—red-and-white fir, Douglas fir, a variety of pines. Mountain mahogany and junipers also thrived. Underbrush was thick here, as well, and would make getting to the house difficult.

It could also make tracking someone easier. If someone was in those woods, he had to find them. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want to leave Tori behind.

Holding his gun at low ready, he left the house behind him and entered the forest of evergreens, watching the pine needles and underbrush for signs of humanity. After half an hour of traipsing through the woods, he found no evidence that someone had been lurking.

In the nearby distance, a vehicle roared to life. Ryan took off running through the woods, jumping over underbrush where necessary, dashing around trees and pushing his way through underlings. He ran toward the sound until he made it to the river.

Gasping for breath, he watched a Jeep utility vehicle driving away on a dirt path. He wished he had his binoculars so he could catch the license plate, but he had left them in the house. Still, he made note of the make and model, and the kayak sticking out the back.

Ryan hiked his way back to the house, palming his pistol. How could he know if someone had simply taken that path to kayak the river, or if someone had intentionally crossed the river to try to get closer to Tori? And if they had made their way to the house deliberately, then how had they found out where she was staying so quickly?

By the time he made it back to the house he was frustrated and breathing hard. Ryan spotted a vehicle through the trees exiting on the long drive. Panic spiked through him. He sprinted to the door and tried the knob. Fortunately, it remained locked. He rang the doorbell.

Shawna let him in. “Did you see him?”

“No. But I spotted someone exiting the drive. Did anyone come to the house while I was gone?”

She shook her head.

Despite her reply, Ryan knew one thing. “That’s it. This house is obviously compromised. I can’t be sure that Tori will be safe here. Would you mind helping her get her things? I’ll take her somewhere else.”

“But where?”

“I’m the only one who will know this time.”

“I promise you, I told no one,” she said.

“I know I can trust you,” he reassured her. “There are at least three other people who know we’re using this house for a safe house, and there are many other ways to find out.”

He was most worried about those other ways.

TWELVE

Tori couldn’t believe that she was standing in the living room of Ryan’s home.

“Your house? Really, Ryan? What are you thinking? I might as well move back to Sarah’s bungalow since it’s only a few houses down.” That is, as soon as the crime scene was released and construction work made the place livable again. Oh, she couldn’t believe any of this.

“It’s temporary, okay?” Ryan scraped a hand down his face. An action she’d noticed him doing an awful lot of lately.

“Okay.” She tried to soften her earlier incredulity.

“It’s just until I can figure something else out. And don’t worry about—”

A door opened and shut somewhere in the house, interrupting what he might have said. Ryan palmed his weapon, and Tori grabbed her own. Had whoever found her at the big dream house followed them here?

“Hi, honey, I’m home,” a lilting female voice proclaimed.

Jealousy snapped through her. Ryan... He had someone? Who was—

Ryan’s twin sister, Katelyn Bradley, strolled into the room with a large reusable grocery sack that she set on the counter with a thunk.

Tori relaxed and put her gun away.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Ryan returned his weapon to the holster at his waist. “I forgot you were coming over.”

“See,” Katelyn said. “This is why we never get together. You forget