Cold Pursuit - Carla Neggers [109]
He thought of Moose, who really was a hero. “No one’s indestructible.”
“Figure of speech,” Myrtle said. “You know what I mean. Let me buy you a cup of coffee. We can talk about the vice president’s son, a dead ambassador, his best friend, his stepdaughter and assassins.”
“And Drew Cameron,” Grit said.
Reporter that she was, she pounced. “Who?”
“Coffee first.”
“Not here. We’ll take my car,” she said, eyeing the cedar tree. “I don’t do well with rats.”
Thirty-One
Staying low, Jo crept to the back window of the cabin. Elijah was checking the window on the side wall. Weapons drawn, they’d taken turns on watch overnight. It was first light, and the storm was over, leaving behind eight or ten inches of wet snow. The branches of the spruce trees surrounding the cabin drooped under the weight of the snow, but the cabin itself had remained dry. Even the worst of the winds hadn’t penetrated its weather-tight walls.
Leave it to a Cameron, Jo thought as she noticed Nora stir. Devin was already awake, just not talking. He’d slept little and had tried several different positions before he’d found one that was the least painful, propping himself against the woodstove. He hadn’t moved since.
Nora sat up, her sleeping bag twisted around her, and tried to smile. “I wish the woodstove was hooked up and we could build a fire.”
“A fire would confirm to Kyle that we’re here and you and Devin survived,” Jo said. “Are you warm enough?”
Nora nodded, then gave Devin a worried look. “You okay, Dev?”
“Yeah.” His lips barely moved as he spoke. Any movement seemed to cause him pain. He was clearly miserable, but he said, “I’m fine.”
As the storm had raged around them, Nora had quietly related how she and Devin had been conducting their own background check of her father’s fiancée. Both Jo and Elijah had forbidden the use of flashlights, and with the storm, there was no moonlight or starlight to help ease the darkness on the mountain. She’d heard the pain, grief and loneliness in Nora’s voice as she’d told her story.
“I’ve made a mess of things,” she’d said, almost tonelessly. “I’m sorry.”
Elijah had spoken up at that point. “Sorry for what?”
“For putting you all in this position.”
“Did you hit Devin? Did you chase yourself into that gully? You’re not the enemy here, Nora. You’re a kid. If you made mistakes—hell, why should you be exempt? Put them behind you. Focus on what you can do right now.”
“I can’t do anything. I’m useless.”
“You can stay warm and dry and get some rest.” When he’d paused, Jo had felt his smile as he teased. “I’ll have all I can do to carry Jo down this mountain.”
Of course she had protested, and Nora had sniffled and laughed, at least a little, Elijah’s comment providing the distraction it was meant to.
He and Jo both checked on Devin regularly through the long night.
A.J. knew his brother had hiked out to the north side of the mountain, and that Jo had followed him. When they didn’t turn up, he wouldn’t sit around for long. Neither would his family. Her paramedic sister, her firefighter brother—and her father, the former police chief. They’d all be raising hell by now.
Then there was Beth’s trooper boyfriend. Jo smiled to herself as she stayed to one side of the window and peered out at the snowy landscape. Scott Thorne would just love to rescue a Secret Service agent and Special Forces soldier.
But she knew that wasn’t exactly true, either. Scott would want what they all did—a good outcome. Kyle Rigby in custody, explaining himself. Devin and Nora safe. Jo and Elijah back on the lake.
“Everyone down!”
It was Elijah, intense. Jo dropped, even as a sharp crack shattered the silence and, simultaneously, the front window splintered and shards of glass crashed onto the cabin floor.
Another shot went through the same window as the first and struck the solid wood beam above the back wall of the cabin.
Staying low, Jo dived for Nora and Devin. Nora had already thrown herself onto Devin and was half dragging him, half rolling with him across the plywood floor around to the back of the woodstove.
She