Had he heard her correctly?
He mentally filed that comment away for later.
She pulled out a cable for the laptop and plugged it in while wiping six layers of dust off the machine with her sweatshirt sleeve. “This computer belongs in a museum. I’m not even sure it will turn on.” She continued to untangle the cords. “Bingo.” She pulled a thin black cable out of the pile. “This is what we need to connect the camera. Assuming this dinosaur cooperates.”
He dished out more venison stew into their bowls and brought them over, sliding into a seat across the corner from her. She downed her second bowl.
She hit the power button, and the laptop chugged to life. Dani eyed him. “Why are you living like a hermit in the woods? No Wi-Fi. No television. Ancient technology. Why?”
Shehadto go there. He shrugged. “There’s no story here, Dani. It’s just my life. Sorry it doesn’t live up to your high standards.” He checked his phone. Still no cell signal. All he had was his closed-circuit cameras and security system that weren’t online.
She cocked her head. “Do I look like I give up that easily?”
If only she looked a little deeper, she’d realize there was more to Grizz than some loner living in the woods. How would she feel about him if she found out the truth? His friend Kyle had died because Grizz had trusted the wrong person.
He bit back a growl. “Just get that camera working.”
Boy, this reporter went after stories with no signs of backing down. Nothing was off-limits as far as she was concerned. The woman had a way of taking the most innocent situations and turning them into a therapy session. She seemed sure she’d find a way to get him to talk.
But Grizz wasn’t going to let her crack him, even if his admiration for her had inched up a few notches. She had zero wilderness survival skills, but she had a brand of fierceness that he couldn’t match, even if he had survived basic training in the Army.
At least she wasn’t afraid of him at the moment.
The screen lit up, and so did Dani’s face. “Well, we don’t have internet on this relic, but at least we have a screen. Let me see if I can get the card to connect.” She fiddled with the wires and laptop. “It looks like Josh has some videos on the camera too. Let’s look at the pictures. Hopefully, the images will jog my memories.”
Grizz moved to the table to look at the screen, but he stopped short of touching her shoulder. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want. We don’t know what’s in these pictures. I can look at them to make sure they aren’t too…intense.”
Dani’s eyes widened. “I appreciate the concern. But I have to know what I saw that night. I’m prepared for the consequences of seeing the truth.”
She couldn’t shoot a longbow, but the woman could stare death in the face and not flinch.
The laptop dinged and Dani clicked a few times. A square with an image popped up.
Grizz leaned over Dani far enough to smell a rather masculine-scented shampoo. His shampoo. Of course, he had nothing froufrou for her to use. But he didn’t hate the smell on her.
Josh had taken photos and videos. Dani opened the first video, which gave a bird’s-eye view of the area. Grizz figured they had to have been up on the ridge looking down on the area.
She brought up the next video, which zoomed in on the building with the smokestack.
“It’s just like I remembered,” Dani whispered. “The white smoke pouring out of the chimney.”
The video continued, and they watched an older man being dragged through the compound, flanked by two men. The camera shot got a close-up of faces.
One man had a tattoo across his neck. Dani paused the video, and Grizz sucked in a breath. The man in the still frame wore a scowl and had a gun trained on the hostage’s temple. Grizz knew he’d seen the gunman before. But where?
He racked his brain. The FBI notice. “He’s bad news, Dani. I remember now. Rio Parker sent out an alert. I think his name is Jeremiah Redding. He’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. He managed to escape when everything went down at the SOR base camp, so Rio sent out his description, including that snake tattoo.”
Dani wasn’t listening. She pointed at the screen to the man standing behind Redding. “It can’t be. How?”
“That man looks a lot like?—”
“Senator Geoff Deville. But why would he be in the compound in the woods?” There was no mistaking the tall man’s silver hair that stood out in the black-and-white footage. Not to mention Josh had zoomed in on his face.
“Could the senator be involved? I mean, this group is well-funded and well-connected. I still don’t understand how they’ve stayed hidden for so long.”
If the senator was involved, they were sitting on a gold mine of evidence the FBI would want. This could take down a dirty politician. But the reality of their find meant Grizz had to get Dani and the evidence off this mountain. If these men knew the camera footage existed, they’d be on Grizz’s front doorstep in a second.
Dani was the lynchpin to taking down this entire operation.
