“I won’t tell Logan’s moms about that either. Ditch the dirt bike. Get in the truck.” They could all squeeze in. He needed Seth, but he had a feeling Seth wouldn’t leave Logan behind and besides, an extra gun never hurt.
They piled into the truck, and Seth started giving instructions on how to get to the signal.
Mel started the truck down the highway.
He’d worked with the top SEAL teams and with the very best intelligence operatives from across the globe. Now he was stuck with an insane alien hunter, a kid who would either take over the world or spend a lot of time in jail, and Logan, who just didn’t want his moms to find out anything. This was his team.
He prayed they had what it took. John Bishop wasn’t a man who prayed. He figured God had left him alone a long time ago, but for the first time since he was a child, he reached out to whatever was out there in the universe.
Just let her be alive. God, just let her be alive.
Chapter Ten
The cold hit her first and then the pain.
Where was she? What had happened? Why was her head pounding?
And why was it so cold? She’d been warm before with Henry’s arms wrapped around her. All she had to do to get warm was to look at him, to remember how he kissed her, like she was the only woman in the whole world. She’d been toasty warm in the hot tub, his skin as hot as the water.
But now everything was cold. It invaded her bones. She was shaking and it was so, so quiet that she could hear her teeth chattering.
The accident. It came back in flashes, small scenes that brought Nell back to reality.
Kelly crying as she drove. Lyle spitting bile. The horrible sound the car had made as it began to roll.
She tried to tell him that she couldn’t make it down the far side of the mountain. Her hands shook even as she tried to steer. Nell had been sitting beside her, trying to keep everyone calm even while Warren Lyle told her all the things he planned to do to her.
You cost me everything, bitch. I’m going to make you pay.
He’d pulled her hair, yanking at it, and she’d had to stifle a scream. She couldn’t give in to her fear. She had to stay calm. No matter what happened, she wouldn’t go out in fear. She would go out doing what she always did. She would try to make things better. She would use reason.
Warren Lyle had been one of the vilest cases she’d ever had the privilege of working. He’d owned a firm that specialized in dealing with medical waste and was about to be handed a deal to store waste for one of the biggest nuclear plants in the country. His firm had been going places, but Nell had discovered he was exceptionally sloppy about his storage techniques. He’d already had a resounding effect on the ecosystem by the time Nell called in the EPA.
It’s just a fucking desert. No one gives a fuck about the desert.
Nell did. She’d tried to explain to him that it wasn’t just the desert. There were underground rivers that connected all the way through the country. His radioactive waste could have gotten into drinking water. It could have hurt a lot of people. It could have hurt his own children. She’d kept calm, though tears had been streaming down her face.
Lyle had slapped the side of her head. His wife had left him. He didn’t see his kids anymore, and it was all Nell’s fault.
And then the world had upended and gone black.
An accident. They had been in an accident. The car had careened off the road. There had been screaming and terror, and all she’d been able to think about was Henry. She’d just found him. How could she lose him now? She’d prayed that her mother was right and that soul mates found each other again and again because she’d just found her home and now she was dying.
Home wasn’t necessarily a place. It was a heart that mated to her own.
She forced her eyes open and a wave of nausea hit her gut. Something was wrong. She couldn’t see and something was floating around her eyes. She reached up. It was her hair. Why was her hair hanging like that?
Now she could feel the seat belt cutting into her chest. She flexed her hands, moved her toes. She was freezing, but everything seemed to work. She took a long breath. She needed to get out of here. She had to get help.
There was a low moan that came from her left.
Nell forced her head up despite the pain. She was suspended by the seat belt. She needed to get out, but if she did it too fast and the car was on the edge of a cliff, her weight dropping could shift the car and cause them to roll again. Patience. She couldn’t panic. She had to stay calm.
“What happened?” Kelly asked.
“Shhh. We need to be quiet. I think he’s still out.” Above all else, they needed to get out of this car and away from Warren Lyle. They couldn’t be too far from the main road. She could make her way back up the mountain to the resort or around it to the Harper Ranch or Mel’s place. She had to find some help, but she couldn’t do that if the jerk face was shooting at her.
And she had to find a way to help Kelly. Kelly hadn’t done anything to draw Lyle’s anger. She was completely innocent.
“I hurt really bad, Nell. I’m so scared.”
There was no way to figure out where they were without getting out of the car. She forced her legs to straighten, pointing her toes until she could almost touch the roof of the car. Luckily, Kelly was a considerate driver. She drove a compact that was fairly earth friendly if one ignored the whole fossil fuel–use thing.
She reached across her chest and let her hand find the cool metal of the seat belt. Pressing the button, she let her feet find the roof and stopped her fall by shoving her hands out and bracing against the ceiling.
“Can you move?” Nell asked quietly.
“I think so. Are we upside down?” Kelly whimpered as Nell reached across her body. The lights were still on, but the top of the car was buried in snow. A spark of illumination shone out over the bank they had rolled into. The driver’s side door was crushed inward, glass coating the roof. It was hard to see, but she thought it was a tree they had rolled into. It had likely stopped their roll down the mountain and saved their lives. So much for deforestation. It was always bad. There was nothing at all good about it.
“We are. I’m going to unbuckle you. You’re going to fall. I don’t want you to hit the steering wheel so I’ll leave my arms here, okay? I’m going to catch you.” Nell clicked the buckle, and Kelly’s body slumped forward. Her slight weight hit Nell’s arms.
Kelly moaned, a deep sound that came from her chest. “I can move.”
“I’m not going to leave you.” She’d gotten Kelly into this mess. She had to get her out.
“I’ll be okay. I can definitely walk, maybe even run. We need to go.” Kelly started to move. “Damn, it’s so cold.”
Kelly was wearing a parka. She shouldn’t be complaining. Nell was in a robe and it was a flipping satin robe. She was wearing a pair of boots, but her legs were uncovered. Her knees were knocking together in a vain attempt to stay warm.
“Yes, it is cold, but we need to move. I don’t think he’s awake yet.”
Even as Nell said the words, a low groan came from the backseat. It made all the hair on her arms stand up straight screaming danger.
They had to get out of here and now.
Nell pushed the passenger’s side door open using her right leg to force it. A blast of cold air filled the small cab of the car, threatening to freeze Nell’s lungs. How far away was she from the resort? They had driven away from the resort, but she’d been concentrating on talking to Warren, on making him understand that what he was doing wasn’t logical. She hadn’t been paying attention to just how far they had gone.