Page 27 of Hidden Ascent

One had a picture of a couple at their wedding. It looked like it was inside Peter’s barn, but she couldn’t tell from where she was.

On closer inspection, she saw the barn had been decorated for the occasion. It was a beautiful candid photo of the couple laughing hysterically about something. It must have been a time of great joy. Isla couldn’t ever remember laughing like that. She lifted the picture, studying it and wondering what had been so funny.

She breathed in, intending to let out a long sigh, but held her breath when she heard a noise from behind. Moments before, the front door had opened and closed. She’d assumed it was Peter returning empty-handed, but he would have announced himself by now.

Her muscles tightened as she quickly turned and, in a moment, assessed the situation. The man she saw standing in the doorway was a mess of matted hair and clothes. A madman who had been hired to find and kill her. How did they know where she was? She thought of Jemi outside, and, unwittingly, an image of her lying dead on the blanket with a bullet in her head appeared in her mind.

Anger surged through her, and when the man reached a hand out toward her, she hurled the picture frame at him, but he caught it one-handed almost as a casual gesture.

“How?” She shook away her confusion and grabbed the fire poker beside her, swinging at him.

“Hey, whoa—” He caught the poker before it cracked him in the head.

She yanked back, but he held onto it, using her grip on the weapon to spin her around. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, holding her tight, but she bucked, and his hold loosened enough that she got free, elbowing him in the stomach from behind as she moved toward the fire, still with the poker in her hand.

They faced off, and she lunged at him again, this time trying to land a hit on his leg to immobilize him, but he anticipated it and dodged. They faced each other again.

“You’ve got the wrong idea here,” the man said.

“Oh yeah? You a friend of Baker’s?” she said, breathing hard from the encounter. “He tried and failed, so now they’ve sent you? Did you hurt Jemi too? Because if you did, I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece.”

“No, I don’t—”

“Hey,” Peter said from the door.

The intruder turned at his greeting, and Isla took the opportunity, swinging for his head. The man saw it at the last second and tried to dodge, but she still hit him, and he dropped to the ground.

“Isla, no!” Peter rushed to the fallen man. “What are you doing?”

The man grunted and lifted his hand to his injured head.

“Thank goodness he’s still alive,” Peter said. “You’re lucky you didn’t kill him. What were you thinking, attacking him like that?”

“He came here to kill me.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Isla looked up to see Jemi at the door, leaning on the frame for support. She looked concerned, but a hint of amusement danced in her eyes.

“You’re okay?” Isla said.

“Of course,” Jemi said. “I’m sorry to say, Isla, this man was invited here by my husband. But Peter forgot to do the introductions.”

“He’s with you?” Isla said to Peter.

“Yes.”

“Who is he?”

“He’s the man who’s going to help you. At least he was. He was undecided when we arrived. We’ll see what he has to say once he’s back on his feet. But Jemi’s right. I shouldn’t have let him come into the house without alerting you. I got distracted by my concern for my wife.”

“There’s no point in shifting blame,” Jemi teased. “What’s done is done.”

“I think you’re enjoying this a bit too much.”

“Hey guys,” Isla said. “Can we stick to the issue at hand? Who is this guy, and where is he from?”

“No idea,” Peter said flatly. “I found him at the beach, like I said I would.”

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