Tears dripped down Dani’s cheek. “I—I remember. I had the camera rolling. When they shot Josh.”
He pulled a chair up next to her and held her hand. “Don’t watch it, Dani. You did a great job getting this evidence. I’m going to make sure this gets to the authorities.”
He closed the laptop screen with the hand that wasn’t clutching hers. She didn’t need to see any more.
“Josh’s death isn’t on you, Dani. I know what it’s like to lose someone and feel the burden of failure. It’s not your fault. Sometimes things are out of your control.”
“I don’t deal well with being out of control. It’s why I work so hard to control the things I can.” She stood, renewed determination flashing in her eyes. “How are we going to expose the truth? We need to get this evidence to the authorities. For Josh.”
He checked his phone for the hundredth time. Still no signal. What was happening on the mountain that had knocked out all communications?
The storms? Or these men in the compound?
“We’ll get these guys. But whatever happens, we’re in this together. Don’t go rogue on me now, Dani.”
A snapping sound stopped his heart. Even though he was low tech, he had plenty of security features built around his cabin. And someone had just set off one of his booby traps.
He put a finger up to his lips. “We’re not alone,” he whispered.
In order to save her and get her evidence to town, Grizz would have to show Dani a side of himself he never showed anyone.
“Time to make our way to the outhouse.”
FIVE
Dani’sentire body went rigid, and she refused to move even a millimeter until Grizz gave her the all clear.
Grizz raced to the front window, his eyes patrolling his property. Dani sat at the kitchen table and tried to summon her bravery. She was not meant for this kind of life off the grid.
She hadn’t told her family or friends where she was headed before she’d jumped on the first flight to Alaska. She kept patting her pockets as if her phone would magically reappear. If she hadn’t lost her phone, she could have at least checked in with her mom and sister.
“What is it?” she whispered. Was he going to start joking about outhouses again?
If he was concerned, she was downright frightened. Nothing seemed to rattle this guy.
He didn’t respond immediately but continued his search out the window, his body language on high alert. Without taking his eyes off the window, he answered with his voice low. “Someone set off my first perimeter alert.”
He had more than one? The low-tech mountain man had earned himself a few points with his homemade security system. He wasn’t letting anything near his cabin.
“Human or animal?” Dani prayed for a bear, a coyote, or anything other than the ruthless men that had murdered Josh.
He sucked in a breath and rushed toward the kitchen. “Human. Stay where you are and away from the window. I saw a flash of camo in the woods. They’ve found us.”
“What are we going to do?” Dani tried to keep her voice even, but it came out super shrill. She shoved the SIM card in her pocket for safekeeping. “We’re sitting ducks in this small cabin. There’s nowhere to hide. And what are you doing?”
He ignored her and shoved the refrigerator away from the wall.
“We both can’t fit behind the refrigerator, not to mention we’d be trapped.” She stood and moved to investigate.
He grappled with the ancient appliance. “If you’d stop talking and just trust me for a second…I might not be a computer genius, but I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve.”
He rolled the refrigerator out of its place and crouched to pull at the floor panel. A square lifted to reveal stairs below.
Dani blinked. “A secret passage?”
He stepped into the opening, the wooden stairs groaning under his weight.
“Come on.” He motioned her forward, and she took the first steps into the dark hole. He helped her to the bottom and pulled the chain on a light.
