“You did? Seriously?” Mountain asked.

  “Yes. Not as often, but then it’s hit and miss, who I see and when I see them,” she shared, looking from one to the other. “It’s not as if I was sitting around and doing nothing but stalking your military base. That is not the impression I want you to get because nothing could be further from the truth. I was out there working my ass off, trying to collect my own scientific data, so that I had something to work with, once I got back home again. So, it was important for me to not only keep Teegan alive but to keep my own work functioning and alive as well,” she said bitterly.

  “I’ve spent a lifetime on this work, and I wasn’t about to let it all go because of whatever mess you guys had going on. But I couldn’t leave Teegan for long, and that caused some complications. I had to make a lot of trips, risk being seen, and burn through a lot of extra calories. Often Elijah gave me extra supplies to make it through.”

  “Did you have any association with Elijah prior to this particular survival session?” Mountain asked. “Did you know him well from before? Do you have any personal relationship with him?”

  She looked at him in surprise, then shook her head. “I’ve seen him in prior training sessions, but I didn’t interact with him much before. However, he obviously has a heart for people, and he was just trying to help. He may well have been doing it outside his authority, and, for that, I probably owe your program some extra funding to cover the costs, but honestly it wasn’t very much. It was leftovers, pantry goods, and bandages and stuff.”

  Mountain nodded. “Nobody will begrudge you or anybody else a meal or medical supplies out there,” he replied in a casual tone. “The problems come when it’s more than that in terms of supplies, such as weapons.”

  “No, nothing like that was given to me,” she stated, with a wave of her hand. “I’m certainly capable of hunting anything I need to hunt. And I have weapons stashed out there that I doubt any of you guys would ever find.” Mountain stiffened and looked at her in shock. She nodded. “It’s suicidal to be out there without some form of self-defense,” she pointed out, looking at him, “as you well know. Absolutely no way you would travel here without something to keep you safe.”

  “I get that.”

  “And, before you ask, my weapons are all licensed, and they’re all registered,” she added.

  “Yet they didn’t come up in any search of you,” he noted, looking at her.

  “Depends on what database you used,” she said. “Essentially I come from a Canadian background, and I hold dual citizenship. The weapons are registered in Canada because I use them up here, and I don’t travel with them across borders.”

  “Right.” He frowned. “Would anybody else have known about them?”

  “Only if they saw me hunting,” she replied. “I only hunted when I had to, and it’s not my choice to kill animals unless it’s for my self-preservation or involves a predator or something like that. And, no, I haven’t had to shoot any predators or defend myself this year. In the past I have, but not this year,” she muttered. “But, yes, I hunt and can certainly hunt enough to keep me—and Teegan—alive. However, when things got a little scarce, and I was burning the candle at both ends, I wouldn’t say no to a few extra supplies, especially when I was trying to help Teegan.”

  “Right,” Mountain agreed. “Again, we won’t worry about a few groceries that you used from here, while trying to keep somebody alive from this base.” He snorted. “That would be ludicrous.”

  “All of it’s ludicrous,” Teegan stated. “We already help the village and the science camp as it is.”

  “And the village helped me,” she added, “at least a couple times. I would come and go with no regular patterns, so nobody could track me. I always made sure I was somewhere between here and there, in case I ran into trouble, so I would have somebody nearby if I needed help. Plus I have access to my own science camp, but I had to keep these trips hidden.”

  “That’s smart.”

  “I hope so. I kept an ear to the ground and paid a few people for information,” she admitted, and Mountain rolled his eyes at that. “I needed intel, in order to keep an eye on whether anybody was hunting us or was out looking. Obviously I knew about you, and of course I saw you, but I didn’t know what your relationship was with Teegan, so I didn’t know if you were friend or foe.”

  Mountain nodded. “Once we found Terrence alive, after he had gone missing, I had more hope in my heart that we would find Teegan. Even finding Yegorahn’s body gave me hope, since obviously someone else was involved in prolonging his life. I guess I always knew Teegan was alive, and I figured something had to be going on—either he was seriously injured or he was being held against his will. It never occurred to me that somebody was helping him to stay alive, keeping him hidden because they were afraid for his life. So, thank you for that.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Amelia said, “because sometimes you seem to blame me.”

  “No, I don’t blame you at all,” Mountain clarified immediately. “How could I when you saved Teegan’s life? But this whole thing is a major shit show, and, while I have a pretty good idea who is behind it all, getting the proof I need is a problem, and I’ll definitely need proof … because I doubt this person will volunteer anything.”

  “Set a trap,” Teegan suggested.

  Mountain shook his head. “He’s too wily and has been doing this too long for that. However, some shift is happening right now, and I’m trying to make use of it, though I’m not quite sure how to do it yet,” he admitted, turning to look at his brother. “I really don’t need interference at the moment.”

  “Maybe not,” Teegan replied, “but surely you could use a hand.”

  “That’s why I also have quite a few guys up here who will help.”

  At that, Teegan frowned. “What’s the deal with that new investigator?” he asked, with a searching gaze. “Something’s familiar yet odd about him.”

  “Have you worked with him before?” Mountain asked, his eyebrows going up.

  “I don’t think so, but … things are still on the hazy side.”

  “I certainly don’t have any reason to doubt that he’s a good guy,” Mountain began, “so I’m totally okay with keeping him in the loop.”

  “Still taking a chance though, aren’t you?” Teegan asked, frowning at him. “That seems odd for you.”

  “So you say,” he quipped, with a twinkle in his gaze. “You’ll find out the truth about that soon enough.”

  “If you say so.” Teegan shrugged. Then he yawned.

  Amelia immediately took his hand. “You need to go lie down.”

  Mountain rolled his eyes at her.

  However, Teegan didn’t. “Now that voice is something I remember very clearly.”

  “What voice?” she asked.

  “Yours, saying I’m in trouble, that I needed more rest. The same voice telling me to eat and to take medicine. The same voice telling me to hang on, to be still, to sleep. It’s almost as if it’s burned into my brain.”

  “Part of it is,” she said, with a chuckle. “I worked hard at burning all that into your brain,” she muttered. “It’s hardly wasted though.”

  “Maybe not, but holy—”

  She laughed, and then coughed, wincing, as her body shuddered with pain.

  Immediately Teegan stood, studying her. “I’ll let you rest. I’ll be back after I have a nap too,” he said, as he rolled his eyes at her, “if only to keep you and my big brother happy. Then I’ll pick up some dinner. Speaking of which, how about I bring you back something light and easy to eat, like soup?”

  “That would be lovely,” she replied. “I think Sydney went to get me something, but it seems she’s been held up. In the meantime, I guess I’ll have a nap myself.”

  “Sounds good,” he murmured, as he looked over at Mountain intently, “unless big brother here has a problem with it.”

  Immediately Mountain shook his head. “No, I don’t. Besides, any extra help to keep her safe will never be wrong at this point.”

  Teegan nodded at him, and, as they both looked back at her, she motioned with her hand to the door. “Go,” she told Teegan. “I’ll have a nap and talk to you guys later.” She closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

  *

  The speed with which Amelia fell asleep was pretty amazing. Mountain tiptoed out of the room, as Sydney walked back in with a tray, took one look at Amelia, and smiled. “She’s done really well, but her body needs rest.”

  Teegan looked back at her, worried. “She might have done really well, but she still seems to be quite exhausted. She went to such lengths to keep me alive. I sure don’t want anything to happen to her.”

  “And nothing will,” Sydney declared, with a cheerful smile. “As long as you guys make sure whoever did this to her doesn’t get a chance at her again. That’ll be the challenge we’ll have from here on in.”

  Mountain nodded. “That’s exactly why everybody is on guard duty. I need to put an end to this and damn fast.” At that, Sydney and Teegan both turned and stared at him. He nodded. “I do know who,” he admitted. “I don’t know how and why.”

  “You can always call on us to help, you know?” Teegan offered.

  “I know, but here’s the thing. I need to get this to stop permanently, with an actual conviction and not just a pass up the hierarchy,” Mountain explained, “and that’ll be a whole different story.”

  “The military does have a problem with that, doesn’t it?” Sydney asked.

  “Too often when there’s a problem, they move people up and down,” Mountain noted. “They’ll move someone up because there’s no proof, and that takes them from the situation without a fuss, but that won’t help us.” He shook his head. “This is bigger than that. It’s too damn big, and it’s got to stop.”

  “Do you think it goes back to Nikolai’s father?” Teegan asked.

  “Oh, that’s part of it,” he confirmed, as he stared down at the sleeping woman. He shook his head and then stopped himself from saying anything else. He closed his mouth and let it go, since they didn’t need to worry about the trouble this was bound to bring. “I’ll see you guys in a bit.” And, with that, he turned and headed down to the hallway.

  His brother came after him and called out. “You don’t have to do everything alone, you know?”

  He smiled and looked back at him. “No, but sometimes I really do. There’s a hell of a lot of difference between your position right now and mine,” he pointed out, then shrugged. “While I’m okay to lose everything I’ve gained, you’re still at the point of needing all this.”

  “That’s not helping …”

  Mountain held up a hand to stop him. “Look. If I get fired, that’s fine. I’ll walk away and be happy about it, now that I know you’re safe,” he shared, giving his brother a wry look. “Believe me, searching for you all these weeks has completely changed my attitude about where I want my life going in the future.”

  Teegan reached out and gripped his brother’s shoulder. “You and me both. Nothing like lying there dying, knowing you’re one step away from never seeing the family you care about so much. I prayed so damn hard for you to show up,” Teegan admitted, with a sigh. “Of course when you do, you bring all kinds of chaos along with you.”

  Mountain roared with laughter. “I don’t know about my bringing chaos. It seems to me that was your department this time, and you left a trail of it in your wake.”

  And, with that, he left Teegan at his room and headed to meet Samson. Mountain knocked on the doorframe, then poked his head in to find Samson waiting for him.

  “How is she?” Samson asked.

  “She’s good, bits and pieces are coming, a little at a time it seems.” Mountain relayed what she’d remembered this time.

  Samson nodded. “All of it fits, but what we don’t have is anything to brace him about, and, if we go to the brass, nobody’ll believe us.”

  “I know it.”

  “I’ve been sitting here thinking about it, and I think Chef will be our best bet to breaking things wide open.”

  “And yet that loyalty, if that’s what it is happening, is deadly strong.”

  “It is, and I’ve been doing some research into his background,” Samson shared, “so listen to this.” And he quickly relayed how the colonel had moved Chef’s son to another base, so that he would be safer.

  Mountain nodded. “I heard that from Elijah directly.”

  “Yeah, that’s what you heard,” Samson clarified, “but then I found another file. This file was buried a little deeper, and I’m sure not too many people even know about it.” And he proceeded to read off information that had Mountain staring at him in shock.

  “Well, shit,” Mountain muttered.

  “That’s one word for it, all right.”

  “So, how do we use this information to open up Elijah Williamson,” Mountain asked. “If you ask me, it seems to be a pretty underhanded trick.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Samson countered, “but something is definitely here.”

  “I was also wondering if some other person is involved, someone who has some hold on Elijah because what else would bring about this kind of loyalty?”

  “And yet he’s of an age that, in many ways, … I’m not sure he would care,” Samson said, continuing to explore and dissect their interrogation and Mason’s intel.

  “Maybe not, but I’m not sure I’m convinced.”

  “No, I’m definitely not either,” Samson agreed. “I’ve asked for more information on this second Elijah file because I don’t have anything official on it. It’s just a footnote in the original Elijah file that I have here.”

  “And those footnotes have a habit of disappearing, if we’re not careful,” Mountain warned.

  “They do, indeed,” Samson noted.

  “That’s one of the reasons why I have somebody outside looking in,” Mountain muttered.

  “That would help, as long as it won’t get their ass kicked too.” Samson laughed.

  “Ass-kicking is pretty well part of their business.”

  “Anyway, in our consideration of all this, we must be prepared that, if we can’t find any proof, anything positive, that this is likely to end up being a full wash.”

  “We can’t let that happen,” Mountain declared.

  “We don’t even know how long this has gone on.”

  “Which is one of the reasons why I requested more information,” Mountain stated calmly. “As far as I’m concerned, the more information we have, the better off we are going forward; but it won’t be that easy because some of this stuff’s been buried for a long time.”

  Then Samson’s phone buzzed, and he checked it and nodded. “This is an interesting note,” he said, as he held up his phone for Mountain to read.

  He studied the message and shook his head. “Jesus,” he swore, “if they have that in writing, something in a file, it’s just that much more ammo.”

  “It is, indeed,” Samson confirmed. “Have you checked on Elijah recently?”

  “No, I haven’t,” Mountain said, immediately getting to his feet. “It was on my mind to do so, and then I ended up back over with Amelia.”

  Samson gave him a crooked grin. “Finding it easy to get sidetracked with her around, are you?”

  “Yeah, and that’s shitty too because there shouldn’t be any getting sidetracked with all this crap to deal with.”

  “Hey, go easy on yourself. The impression I got is that you’ve not considered anybody a viable option in terms of your personal world for a very long time.”

  “If ever,” he added, with a wry look at Samson. “But I’m really not into dissecting my personal relationships just now either.”

  Samson burst out laughing and nodded. “No, I can see that would be a bit of a challenge, quite a challenge. Anyway I’ll start collating this, while you go check on Elijah and see what his mood is like. Try not to poke him too much because we’ll have a big battle coming. … Maybe see how much loyalty there is. Once you involve your kids, everything changes.”

  “As you should know,” Mountain said, with a cheeky grin.

  Samson laughed. “Absolutely.”

  And, with that, Mountain headed down to see how Chef was doing. As he walked in, he saw the big man crashed on the floor, silent and still, as if prepared to be here forever. Mountain walked over and sat down beside Chef with a thud. “Man, I sure wish you would release the burden from your soul.”

  Elijah looked up at him and replied, “That goes for you too. With the line of work that we’re in, there is no releasing of burdens, but you already know that. So, why are you asking me to? You have just as many demons in your world.”

  “God, I hope not,” Mountain said, with a mock laugh. “I have a lot, and some of them will never go away, and I know that, but the thought of having this forever? Well, that’s a little harsh.”

  “And yet you know as well as I do that it is what it is.”

  “It is, and yet …” He gave Chef a pointed look and let it hang there. “If you’re the one who takes the fall, that’s one thing, but to let the other person involved in this go free, to continue as is?” He shook his head. “That’s a completely different story.”

  It had been a shot in the dark, but, as soon as Chef’s face shifted and darkened, Mountain realized that the shot in the dark had hit a target. He nodded, giving him a feral grin. “Yeah, we know. We know all kinds of things. And believe me, it’s not making anybody happy, but knowing is a far cry from proving something.”

  “And if you can’t prove it, you don’t need to even go in that direction,” Elijah snapped, “because there’s no joy for anybody.”

  “Except you,” Mountain countered, with a wry look. “You get to be loyal to the very end, right?”

  “I am loyal to the end,” he stated.

  “What if it’s misplaced? What if that loyalty is something that shouldn’t have even happened?”

  Elijah frowned, clearly confused. “No way that’s possible. Believe me. … I spent a lifetime doing this,” he muttered.

  “But what if your son had not died?” Mountain asked.