Hero (Alpha Mountain 1)

We’d been hiking for two days, and Glacier Lake was visible in the distance. The boys got excited seeing it and picked up their speed. “Mom! We’re almost there!” the younger one, Eli, called.

“I know, hon. I see it!” She said, letting him run off in front.

I smiled. Despite the urgency I felt to get back and see what Ford had thought about the video–and of course, to work things out with him–moments like this were why I led outdoor adventure trips.

I loved feeling like I was an ambassador to the wild. I adored these mountains and loved to share them with people who could appreciate them. Normally, the type of people who booked a multi-day camping trip were the kind who already had a bond with nature and a reverence for the beauty this mountain held. But paying for a private guide meant inside knowledge of the area, plants, and wildlife, which I knew. And we could go at the group’s pace, which with two pre-teens, wasn’t slow.

We crested a hill, and the boys ran down the other side.

“Someone is there,” Laurel, one of the moms said, jerking me from my thoughts.

“What?” My breath caught when I saw the boys talking to a man in army green pants and a black t-shirt.

It was unusual to find other campers up here. In fact, in all my years of making this trek, I never had. That was why I’d insisted Brandon make it one of the offered trips. Still, I had to assume he was friendly. There was a certain camaraderie amongst serious hikers and campers. We looked out for one another.

I scanned the perimeter of the lake but couldn’t spot a tent or the rest of his party.

The boys ran on, and he stood looking in our direction as if waiting for us.

I gave a friendly wave as we approached, but even then, something seemed off. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up even though there was nothing threatening about the guy’s stance or demeanor. It wasn’t until we were close enough to see his face did I realize how fucked we were.

It was Cameron Tully.

From the video. From his Facebook page.

I didn’t even know how that was possible, but here he was, standing between a boulder and a clump of columbine, watching my face.

My heart had taken off at a gallop, and my mind raced, but I kept my face smooth. No reason for him to know I recognized him, right?

Except… he must already know. Otherwise, why would he be here? There was no way he could have randomly bumped into me at the Seed n’ Feed or the grocery store in town. That would have been plausible. Barely, seeing as this was Sparks, Montana, not a big city. And since the only connection we had was the video and Buck. But up here in the wilderness? We’d driven ten miles out of town to the trailhead and then hiked in from there. We’d abandoned the well used trail the day before. There was absolutely no coincidence.

There was only one way he’d have known where I was. Brandon. How did Tully get out here ahead of us? Oh. He knew where we were headed, not where we were on the trip. So he’d taken a more direct route to beat us to the lake. To ensure he found me. Were there others or was he alone?

I suddenly understood why Ford had wanted to keep me from poking into Buck’s death. He’d been right–it was far more dangerous than I’d ever imagined. A murderer had tracked me into the wilderness. And now, it seemed I’d somehow made myself a target.

Time seemed to slow down. The final steps to meet the guy took forever. “Hello,” I said politely when we reached him. Sweat ran down between my breasts.

Laurel and Jeanne greeted him as well, having no clue that this was a really, really bad situation. Fuck, I wished we were facing a mountain lion. That would have probably been safer.

“Howdy.” He kept his gaze pinned to me.

Fuck.

I needed to protect this family first and foremost. If he came here to kill me, I had to separate myself from them. I could leave them with my GPS, and they could push the emergency button and get through to help. I just had to somehow orchestrate that.

I stopped walking. “You two want to go scout out a good location for our tents?” I asked my clients brightly. “Close to the lake will be great.”

“Sure,” Laurel said.

I unbuckled the small emergency kit from my larger pack–the one that had the GPS and medical supplies–and handed it to Laurel. “Here, will you take this for me?”

She gave me a strange look as she accepted it, opening her mouth like she was going to ask why, but I interrupted with a curt, “Please?”