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

me to stay. The truth is, I’m only a distraction to your investigation. That’s all I’ve ever been. You need to focus. I’m sorry, I thought I could help.”

He stepped closer.

That made her heart beat all the harder.

“You have helped.” Deep need resonated through his tone.

Tori fought her trembling hands. “No. I sent us both in the wrong direction.”

“But Dee James knew something,” he said. “That was not the wrong direction.”

“I think... I think he was truly concerned for Sarah’s safety and Dee was killed for the same reason someone is trying to kill me. For something they thought he knew. Something they think I know. And now tonight the guy who followed me to the safe house and who rammed us, another of our leads in addition to Dee James, is dead.”

Ryan took a step toward her, as if he wasn’t already much too close. “Tori...”

Her heart skipped around inside at the way he said her name. She pressed her fingers over her eyes. “I can’t think clearly with you standing so close.”

In the room.

In the house.

In her life.

She huffed out a breath. “Just... I need to go. You were right all along. I shouldn’t have stayed. I’ve only messed everything up.”

“Tori, I—”

She avoided looking at his face or into his eyes. That was the only way she could keep from melting right into his arms. “Go, Ryan. I’ll call a cab. I can take care of myself.”

Her words had the wanted effect. He took a step back. “I’ll wait until I see the cab pick you up.”

“Fine. Do what you need to do.”

Still, she didn’t look at him as she moved to peek through the door and window to make sure it was safe to exit. Then she held the door open for him, hating this whole scene—but she had to be cold and calculated to let him go.

For herself and for him.

Finally she lifted her gaze to meet his. Ryan studied her, then his striking features turned severe. “Safe travels, Tori. I hope you’ll share with me anything you learn.”

He turned his back on her and exited the room.

Tori shut the door and leaned against it. She calmed her breathing. The room seemed to spin a little and felt lonely and empty with him gone. She’d been fine before he’d shown up. Hadn’t she?

She concentrated on getting her act together and getting herself to the airport. Once she was back on the job, she would be safer.

At least, Ryan had kept telling her that, and now she believed it, too.

She needed distance between herself and her attacker—and access to the FBI’s resources. That was the best way to catch this guy. She wouldn’t truly be safe until she’d discovered whatever this person thought she knew, and then she would take him down.

I’m coming for you!

Tori dug through all her belongings in search of another possible tracking device—Katelyn’s or someone else’s. Her belongings seemed clean. Not that it mattered, since Ryan knew exactly where she was at the moment. She had no doubt that he would follow the cab to the airport, and that was his choice, but she wouldn’t ride in a vehicle with him again and put him in danger.

She wouldn’t stay here any longer and put her heart in danger, either.

Ryan had borrowed Katelyn’s vehicle and waited inside. He’d have to pick up a new one tomorrow at the office when he went in to file reports. He really didn’t have time for all the paperwork, with everything going on.

Like now. He should be back at the station, writing up his reports, but instead, he watched the motel near the airport for signs of suspicious activity. Anyone who might be sitting and waiting on Tori, like he was.

Waiting on Tori.

Had that been what he’d been doing for the last several years? Had he been keeping busy with his job and pretending to find satisfaction in that while deep inside, he secretly hoped and waited for the day when Tori would come back to him? Pathetic. He’d let her go, and like the adage claimed, if she came back to him then she was his. And now that she was, in fact, back, had Ryan been harboring a hope that Tori would stay because of him? That she wanted to be with him?

He rubbed his eyes to push back the ridiculous thoughts. His reaction to her cutting out on him blindsided him. He should have been encouraging her to leave instead of desperately trying to keep her here. His motivations were purely selfish. He’d own that, sure. But they’d worked together well, he thought, and they could still work together well once on the other side of this investigation. When Sarah’s killer was caught and Tori was safe and sound. That had been a secret dream of his long ago—the two of them solving crimes together, and going home together. But she’d taken a different path.

Together until death do us part.

He coughed up a chuckle. Ryan truly loathed himself at this moment. A few more seconds and he might have found himself begging her to stay. It all proved to be a real eye-opener regarding his own character.

He could berate himself in the weeks and months to come, but right now he focused back on the situation. He had to keep Tori safe while she headed to the airport. He didn’t blame her for not wanting to ride with him.

Twenty minutes later a cab pulled into the parking lot.

Ryan stiffened. If someone had followed her here, this could be the moment they took action.

He started his vehicle and watched her get into the cab. The white minivan then steered slowly through the parking lot, which seemed to take an eternity. Ryan just wanted her at the airport—checked in and through security, where she would be safest.

Finally the cab turned onto the street and Ryan followed closely behind, hoping to provide a deterrence to anyone who thought about attacking her again.

The cab’s driver seemed to inch