Sydney gave her a hard look. “Don’t trust anybody here,” she declared. “Honest to God, until we know what’s going on, let’s keep the dogs separated, and let’s make sure that people don’t come in here. We were trying to keep your condition a secret, but the fact that you were up and around and moving has caused a certain amount of renewed interest.” She stood with her hands on her hips regarding her. “Good thing I took the catheter out beforehand. You could have hurt yourself even more.”

  “Of course, but obviously I’m still not quite capable of heading out and running, although if it came to a choice between that and something else,” she muttered, “believe me. I would be long gone.”

  “Got it.” Sydney nodded, then walked to a small cubicle and pulled out Amelia’s clothes. “Having said that, I do think that Magnus had a point about somebody hoping you’ll try to jackrabbit out of here. Here’s what we have of your clothes. They are washed and salvageable. I didn’t have to cut anything off because they were so loose on you.”

  “Yeah, I’d lost a fair bit of weight, so pretty much everything I had was getting baggy,” she replied, with a wry look. “I am quite grateful to have clothes.” She got up and slowly walked several steps around the room. “Even after falling and my short trip down the hall, I feel stronger. Just something about being on your own is so uplifting.”

  Sydney gave her a commiserating smile. “Absolutely,” she agreed, with a laugh. “Teegan mentioned the same thing not that long ago.”

  She looked down at her clothes and once again settled on her bed, her clothing nearby. When a ruckus came at the door, the dogs immediately stood at attention, and Bandy barked. Amelia placed a hand on their collars, as the door opened, and Joe stepped in. Then immediately the two dogs surged toward him.

  He smiled, looked over at her, and nodded. “I guess this is where the missing two dogs are. How are you doing today?”

  “I’m doing fine, thank you,” she replied, with a nod and a beaming smile. “Thank you so much for looking after my dogs.”

  He nodded and didn’t seem to be too bothered, as he was on his knees, hugging both of the dogs. “They’re mighty fine animals,” he declared, looking at her, “and you’ve done a good job with them.”

  “Even when we were a little short on supplies,” she admitted, with an eye roll.

  He chuckled. “They aren’t suffering, and they’ve been tanking up pretty well now, while they’ve been here.” He eyed her critically and added, “Looks as if your dogs are doing a better job at that than you are.”

  “I am starting to get a decent appetite,” she shared, “but I lost a lot of weight this last month.”

  He nodded. “That’s what living out in the north tundra will do to you. You need to put on that blubber, not lose it.”

  “Not a whole lot of blubber on me to begin with,” she noted, with a smirk.

  He smiled, then turned around to look at the place. “Are you keeping the dogs in here?” he asked in some confusion, then asked Sydney, “Is that wise, considering it’s a medical clinic?”

  “Just for the night,” Sydney noted.

  He hesitated and then nodded. “That’s fine then,” he said, as he stepped out. “I’ll make sure the other two are taken care of.” He looked around intently. “Where are they, anyway?”

  “Magnus took them back to the dog barn,” Amelia replied. “And I really do appreciate all the care you’re giving them.” He held up a hand and waved, then quickly stepped out the door. As soon as he was gone, Amelia was filled with a sense of disquiet and turned to Sydney. “You do realize that, if the dogs have already made friends with somebody from the base, I’m the furthest thing from being safe with them here.”

  Sydney nodded, a shadow crossing her face. “Are you talking about Joe, or are you talking about any of the million people who have been through his quarters and all the care that they’ve given to the dogs? So much so that any of the dogs know all the men and your dogs now too.”

  “That’s the trouble,” she agreed, with a shrug. “If anybody wanted to make friends with the dogs, particularly so they could get close to me, we gave them the means to do so. And not only did we give them the means to do so, they also have the means to get close to me. These dogs not only won’t stop them, they’ll probably welcome them. I kept the two most defensive guarders of the four, but, seeing their reaction to Joe right now, it won’t make a damn bit of difference if they’re here or not.”

  And, with that, she got up and determinedly started dressing.

  Sydney walked over and asked, “What are you planning?”

  She shook her head and said in a confused tone, “I don’t know, but I can’t stay here.”

  “Why? Why now?”

  “Here in this clinic, I’m a sitting duck. I’m on the pond, and they’re on the shore, but this pond is pretty damn shallow. Even without a weapon they can reach me,” Amelia explained. “I need a place to hide, and I need to go there fast.”

  Sydney nodded. “Let me help you.” She quickly reached for her clothing and helped her get them on. Then she called Magnus to send someone to return Bandy and Jackson back to the dog barn.

  *

  Mountain opened the door to Elijah’s cell for Samson. “You need to hear this.” He tried hard to keep the urgency out of his voice, but, damn it, this was what they’d been waiting for, and they needed action right now. He shut the door, as he looked back at Elijah. “Is Amelia in any danger?”

  Chef shrugged. “I don’t know anymore,” he admitted miserably. “Ever since we came up here, things have gone crazy.”

  Mountain turned to Samson, eyeing him. “I’m surprised to see you down here.”

  “Are you, though?” Samson asked, with half a smile. “When the shit hits the fan, usually those of us who are used to dealing with shit get called in to help.”

  Elijah nodded slowly. “I really did try.”

  “I’m sure you did,” Samson replied, as he sat down. He looked over at Mountain, who even now found it hard to control his pacing. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Amelia. I get the feeling something is wrong.”

  He looked at him and then shrugged. “So, what the hell are you doing here then? Elijah can talk to me without you here. You already have the information, but I don’t. So, as long as it’s safe, get yourself out of here.”

  And, with that, Mountain nodded. He turned and looked at Elijah, who just waved him off. “Yeah, yeah, go on. Don’t let that girl die. She’s good people.”

  “She is good people,” Mountain confirmed, as he bolted from the room. He raced to the medical clinic. He noted Magnus taking two dogs down the hallway, and the clinic door was open. Sydney stood in the hallway, watching Magnus leave, while rubbing her arms. Seeing her there, Mountain calmed down immediately. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey,” she replied, then took a deep breath. “She didn’t feel safe. She wanted to leave.”

  “Oh no, no, no,” he cried out, but then immediately lowered his voice, as he had attracted attention from others in the hallway. “Where did she go?” he asked urgently, pulling the doc back inside the clinic and shutting the door behind them.

  She quickly explained the conversation they’d had about the dogs and the fact that Amelia felt like a sitting duck in the clinic. “She told me that she’ll find a place to hide in the compound, and, if that didn’t work, she was leaving.”

  “How the hell will she hide here?”

  She gave him half a smile. “I asked her that, and she shook her head and told me that it was better if I didn’t know. As she left, she told me, Mountain will know.” He frowned at her, but Sydney added, “I’m really hoping that’s true.”

  He shook his head, but his mind raced through various possibilities. “What condition is she in to handle the cold?” he whispered, not wanting others to hear.

  “Not good enough,” she stated bluntly. “Not unless it was an absolute life-and-death emergency and the only other choice.”

  “Did she really think it was that bad?”

  “I think we should trust her instincts, so I helped her get dressed. It was clear she would do it anyway,” she shared, throwing up her hands in frustration. “Magnus was worried about this earlier and had warned her that the killer’s taunts to scare her could well have been intended to spook her into running. She understood that intellectually, but she didn’t feel safe in the clinic. At that point, I knew I couldn’t keep her here without an altercation, so I told her that she needed to find a place inside the base, where she felt safe. She agreed but noted there weren’t many places like that. Still, she thought she might know of one.”

  “How?” he asked. “She’s been unconscious in the clinic most of her time here and only just recently walked down the hallway.” He shook his head, growing more frustrated. He didn’t have a clue what space could even possibly be considered safe in the base right now. “Anybody else come by?” he asked hesitantly.

  She shook her head. “There’s been a steady activity of people in the hall today. There were several when Magnus came through with the dogs, then again as Joe came to see about the two missing dogs. Later, when we opened the door to let Amelia out, a couple glanced our way and kept on walking. She waited until it was completely clear before she left.”

  “Which direction?”

  She gave him a ghost of a smile and pointed. He was gone instantly and now he wished he had a dog to track Amelia. She seemed to think he would know wherever the hell she had gone to hide, and that blew him away, since he didn’t know her that well. Yet part of him realized that he absolutely did. He knew what she was like. He knew how well she had protected his brother and had looked after herself, so where the hell would she go?

  Then he had a flash and stopped, shook his head, and pondered this thought, as he slowly changed course. As he approached his own quarters, he hesitated, then, without warning, stepped inside and closed the door quickly behind him.

  There she was, curled up in his bed, sound asleep.

  “Jesus Christ,” he muttered.

  She blinked her eyes open. “I’m not sleeping, honest.”

  “Yeah, you were,” he countered, with a smile on his face and tenderness in his heart. “After that much exertion? … Getting dressed and leaving the clinic exhausted you,” he muttered, as he sat down, his hand immediately going to her forehead, checking for a fever.

  She smiled, her whole face wrinkling up in delight at his action. “I only came from the clinic,” she stated, “just a few feet away.”

  “I know, and you’re already beat. What the hell made you think you would be safe here?”

  “Of all the places somebody would choose to make trouble,” she explained, “I figured this would be at the bottom of the list.”

  “How the hell did you know it was my place anyway?” he asked. The relief he felt when he realized she was okay was immense. That she’d chosen to come to his place warmed his heart, but still he wanted to rail at her for being so stupid.

  Yet he knew what it was like, when you felt that instinct to bolt. When something was going so wrong in your world, and it seemed you had absolutely no choice, sometimes that need to run was overwhelming, and you could do nothing but give in to it. He settled down, unable to help himself, as he gathered her up gently and pulled her into his arms.

  She didn’t argue. Instead she curled up and rested.

  “Even getting dressed must have hurt like hell.”

  “It was better than I thought,” she replied, against his chest, “but Sydney was a help.”

  “Of course she was, and she’s also pretty worried. Worried sick actually. Especially when she didn’t seem to know where you were going.”

  Amelia smiled. “I knew you would figure it out.”

  “I almost didn’t,” he admitted.

  “Yeah, but you did, so almost didn’t doesn’t work for me.”

  As that was something Mountain’s own father would have said, and his grandfather too, over the years, Mountain held her close.

  “It was the voice,” she added, “that taunting voice. That’s the thing that got me.”

  “Yeah, and I have a pretty good idea whose taunting voice that is,” he shared. “You just may not have heard it used in that way.”

  “I’m torn between two possibilities.”

  “I wasn’t even thinking we had two. I was pretty sure it would be the one.” When she told him her guess of the two names, he nodded.

  “I’m surprised at the one, … but, ever since you mentioned Joe and what he went through and his family connection to Elijah, that makes sense in a way,” Mountain noted.

  “You really think it could be anybody else?”

  “I’m pretty sure it is somebody else,” he murmured. “The problem has been trying to prove it. In a case like this, you can’t accuse somebody of these types of crimes and expect to walk away from it or have anybody believe you. So it’s absolutely imperative that we get the proof so we can put a stop to it.”

  “You don’t think you can do anything to put a stop to it yourself?” she asked bluntly.

  “Oh, absolutely,” he replied, his tone equally blunt. “A bullet would do it.” When she winced, he nodded. “As much as I’ve been tempted to drop this asshole, I still have doubts, and therefore …” Then his voice fell away.

  “And therefore,” she added, “you can’t shoot him because it’s the wrong thing to do.”

  He smiled and gently kissed her forehead. “As much as I’m glad that you knew where to come to be safe, I still wish you were back in the clinic, so I would know you are safe in a medical sense.”

  She snorted at that. “No, you don’t wish I was back there. You’re happy I’m here.” She got another squeeze for that, as he admitted she was right.

  “Maybe, but the timing could be better.”

  “I don’t think timing has anything to do with it,” she muttered. “I don’t trust easily, and neither do you.”

  “No, I sure don’t,” he admitted, with a sigh. “Yet you earned my trust, by keeping my brother alive.”

  She tilted her head back, looked up at him, and smiled. “And I didn’t even know I was being tested,” she teased.

  “You weren’t. … You were absolutely not being tested in any way,” he replied, “but still, that’s the good news because you came through with flying colors regardless.”

  “How would you feel about …”

  He looked down at her and immediately shook his head.

  She glared at him. “You don’t know me well enough to know what I’m thinking,” she snapped.

  “And, if you didn’t think I knew you that well,” he argued, tapping her nose gently, “you … wouldn’t … have … come … here. And, no, I won’t use you as bait.”

  Her shoulders sagged against him, and he cuddled her close. He didn’t know what the hell was happening, but it was obvious to both of them that something was here, something precious, something he did not want to take any chances with.

  “We have to do something,” she muttered in exasperation.

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it has to be using you as bait.”

  “So, use somebody else then,” she suggested immediately. “Somebody my height, somebody capable of looking like me.” She pulled back to look at him, and his lips twitched. “I can’t keep living in fear. Either I give him an opportunity to take me out or I ensure that I’m a long way away. I’m not even sure why I’m a target to begin with.”

  “Because whoever was lining up for a shot that day is somebody you saw.”

  “Right, I remember that,” she murmured. “Yet I didn’t think I saw him-saw him.”

  “You did presumably, or he thinks you did. Or …” Mountain hesitated. “Or he’s just an asshole, and you’re on his list, and, for whatever reason, you made that list, and now he’s bound and determined to put a checkmark by your name going forward.” She shook her head at the thought, but he nodded. “You know I’m right.” At that, she glared at him, and he chuckled. “See? There are two sides to this reading your mind thing.”

  “Yeah, I’m seeing that,” she muttered. “Doesn’t mean I like it though.”

  “Of course not. There’s an openness, a naked vulnerability in knowing that you can know my thoughts and understand who I am and what I’m saying, without saying it,” he shared. “Can’t say it’s particularly comfortable on my end either, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re both here in this situation, whether we like it or not.”

  “We can always walk away,” she suggested.

  “We could,” he noted, “but I won’t, and neither will you.”

  Her lips twitched. “I’m not even sure what this is,” she admitted, with an eye roll.

  “No, and that’s why we have to figure out the rest of this mess, to then focus on us,” he shared, with more cheerfulness than he felt. As he pondered her idea further, he nodded. “I think you’re right. Somehow though, it has to look like it’s you, and it has to appear that you’re sneaking out because this asshole will know quite well who is involved with you.”

  “Because he’s always there, watching, like Joe.”

  “And yet I’m pretty sure it isn’t Joe,” he admitted.

  She winced. “I would hate to think that anybody who loves dogs the way I do would be capable of this.”

  “The thing is, … this mess isn’t about dogs, although two were injured when someone shot at Magnus early on. The thing is, while Joe does love dogs, a part of him … absolutely despises people.”

  “Yeah, I know,” she said, “but we already think we know who the real killer is. We know who we’re being pointed at, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same thing as finding the right man.” She sighed, resting against Mountain.

  He nodded. She was too tired; he could tell that from the way she was acting. “I sure as hell wish you were a long way from here.”

  “Me too,” she murmured. “I wish I hadn’t come in the first place.”