All Kinds of Tied Down (Marshals 1)

“All right, two at the least, maybe up to four.”

“And then it’ll take them another few hours to get backup out here, search chopper and everything else.”

“We’ve got the whole night up here,” I surmised. “We need to find cover.”

“Unless they have night-vision goggles and dogs, we’re okay as long as we use no light and stay quiet.”

“We have to use the flashlights or we’ll walk off the side of this hill.”

“No, we—”

“Missy Frain,” Jenner said suddenly.

I turned to him. “Sorry?”

“Missy Frain,” he repeated. “Her family has a cabin halfway down the other side. It’s right on Kingman Creek that runs through the hills.”

“Which is how far?”

“Up to the top of this and down the other side,” Jenner replied. “Three hours easily, though I can’t vouch for the state of the cabin. It’s been years since I’ve been there.”

“It’s as good a plan as any,” Ian agreed. “Cabot, did you find rope?”

“Yeah.”

“Give it to me.”

So we all had water, Ian and Holley checked the rifles—I didn’t bother with the one I was carrying—and then all tied together, with my partner leading, we continued to scale the side of the hill as light rain became a deluge.

Never had I been so cold, and when I realized the clicking noise I was hearing was actually my teeth, I started chuckling like a crazy person.

“Marshal?” Holley asked.

“Sorry,” I said cheerfully, nearly walking into a tree, branches scratching my face. “I can’t feel my feet anymore, and this rain—I feel like we should be looking out for an ark.”

I got a quick pat of encouragement as we trekked on.

Thankfully, the cabin was nowhere near as far down the other side as we were led to believe, and really, descending was so much easier than ascending that I couldn’t stop smiling. The rain let up as well, changing from a raging downpour to a shower to a drizzle and finally to a gentle fluttery snow that was actually really pretty in the sky when the moon came out from behind the clouds.

Ian was amazing. Between the moonlight and keeping the flashlight beam down at his feet, he was still able to lead us without incident to the small clearing where the Frain cabin was. Or, more correctly, to the scene of what looked like had probably been a fire.

It turned out Jenner had been really generous with his use of the word “cabin.”

Since all four walls were no longer intact, the cabin didn’t really qualify as a structure anymore, but as most of the roof was still on, it would keep some of the rain and snow off us.

Ian untied everyone one by one, and when he reached me, he stepped close, leaning into my space.

“You all right?”

“Aren’t you cold?” I croaked.

“We’ll get a fire going,” he promised.

“How?”

“We just needed to get away from those guys, and there was only one way to go.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, coughing.

“I mean, we didn’t have enough guns to repel any real numbers, and not knowing how many they had and since our first priority was to secure our witness—”

“We had to go up, I get it.”

He crowded in, his lips against my ear, the warm puffs of air down the side of my neck making me shiver. “But by now, there are probably troopers on site, and I saw no evidence of anyone coming after us. There have been no lights on the side of the hill, so I’m pretty sure we’re clear.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he fisted his hand in my jacket. “If I’m wrong and there’s guys in cold-weather gear coming up behind us with night-vision goggles and machine guns—I’ll deal with it. But I’m gonna build a fire so you don’t freeze to death.”

I smiled. “Damn nice of you.”

His grin was wide and his hand slid around the side of my neck. “Stay—”

“—right by you,” I finished for him.

“Yeah.” He clipped the word before turning around.

“This is so cra-creeepy,” Cabot stuttered, having trouble walking, as wet and cold as he was. “Can I have a gun too?”

Drake picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and walked toward what was left of the dilapidated cottage.

Ian went first, testing the strength of the rotting boards, and once he was confident the floor wouldn’t give, we all followed him up the four steps into what had once been the great room. The stone fireplace was all that remained on one side, with the stone chimney and large pieces of what had been a roof.

“I bet this was a great little cabin,” Ian said as he gathered pieces of wood into a pile.

I got up to help, but a cramp in my right calf made me sit back down hard. Ian was there beside me, fast.

“What?” he asked.

“My muscles are clenching up. I’m fine.”