Loose gravel crunched under the tires. The motor revved as they climbed a steep hill.
Click. Click.
“No, no, no.” Grizz hit the throttle, but their vehicle chugged to a stop.
“What’s wrong, Grizz?” They both jumped off. Grizz walked around the stalled vehicle and checked the engine.
He groaned. “Fuel line has a leak. I don’t have any tools with me to fix it, and I don’t like being out in the open like this.”
Grizz turned in a circle. Nothing but trees and mountain peaks all around. “This path leads to my cousin’s place. I think we should walk. It’s probably only another two miles.”
“I’m up for another adventure. Walking it is.” Dani tightened the backpack straps around her shoulders. She was still wearing his sister’s gray sweatshirt.
“You’re not cold?”
She shrugged. “I seem to be getting used to the weather. At least I packed water and food for us. Good thinking, since we broke down.”
“Well, let’s hit the road.” Grizz’s eyes roamed the area, and he occasionally checked behind them. If the men had heard the engine rumble, they could have followed. But hopefully Saxon was keeping them busy.
“Where exactly are we going? You said your cousin has a cabin?”
“My definition ofcabinand Mike’s are very different. Mike and his wife Seraphina bought the place and renovated it. It’s more like a resort than a cabin. But he’s working in Montana, so he won’t mind us crashing there while we hide out from deranged gunmen.”
Dani stopped short. “Wait. Mike Grizz? As in the television producer?Go Wild with Grizz?Survivor Quest? That Mike Grizz?”
Grizz nodded. “That’s my cousin.”
“I love that show.”
He started walking again. “You’re living that show. You’ve got way more survival instincts than you give yourself credit for.”
She shrugged off the compliment and changed the subject. “I can see why you love living in the mountains. It’s beautiful. But if we have two more miles to walk, I need a distraction. Mind if I ask you a personal question?”
Warning bells clanged in Grizz’s mind. He needed to tread carefully when it came to this reporter. She had a way of getting to the heart of the matter. “I’m not telling you my first name.”
“Yeah, I know. You don’t trust me enough to reveal your biggest secret. But what I want to know is whether you trust me. After all we’ve been through, do you really think I’d sell you out the first chance I get so I can land a big story?”
Grizz ran a hand through his hair. “I jumped to the wrong conclusion. But it’s hard to trust anyone after you’ve been betrayed as many times as I have. You learn who you can count on. It’s hard to blindly accept that others will be there for you in the end.”
“I get what it’s like to have people stab you in the back.” She moved a tree branch out of her way like it was second nature for her to be traipsing through the woods of Alaska.
“I’ve got my team. I know they’ll be there for me. That’s all I need.”
“But isn’t it lonely living in the woods by yourself? I know you live on base most of the time. But in the offseason? It’s so remote that your team doesn’t even visit. What about your family?”
“My sister visits with her kids, but I like having my own space. My mom moved to Anchorage after my dad passed away. I don’t see her as much as I should. Once Grandpa was gone, my family scattered.” He kicked a pebble. His grandfather had been his rock. “When I was ten, my grandfather promised to always be there for me, whenever I needed him. I loved visiting the cabin in the summer. But then cancer made him renege on his promise.”
Dani swiped her face. Tears or dirt? He couldn’t tell. Maybe a mix of both.
“That’s so hard to process when you’re young. But you’ve kept his legacy alive by keeping his cabin.”
A hawk screeched in the distance. He knew Dani was gearing up for more personal questions, and he really had nowhere to go.
She cleared her throat. “Anyone else in your life? A girlfriend, perhaps?”
A name popped into his head.Candice Jackson.
He looked at the ground and watched his feet stir up dust from the gravel. “I did have a relationship that ended badly. Things were great at first, but then she decided she wanted more. I had even agreed to move to the Lower 48 with her. Give her everything she wanted. But?—”
