Page 48 of Line of Resistance

Once again, she was picking up something he’d missed completely. “There was nothing on the road.”

Eloise’s head tipped to one side. “That’s weird, right?”

“Not if they want to make sure no one else knows where to find us.” He turned back to the counter, topping off the water bottle he’d started filling. “It wouldn’t be hard to figure out the moose wasn’t taken down by someone hunting, or by a car. Anyone from Alaskan Security would have been able to recognize the bullets and they would have known it was me who killed it.”

“You have special bullets?” Eloise sounded a little intrigued by the possibility.

“We special order our ammo.” He moved onto the next bottle, driven by a sense of urgency that was climbing higher the more they discussed what happened on the roadway.

He needed to protect her. To get Eloise out of here and as far away as possible. Somewhere no one could find her. If that meant no one from Alaskan Security could find them either, so be it. At least she’d be safe.

“That means they’re going to try to find us, right?” Her voice went up a little in pitch and her skin paled. “Otherwise they wouldn’t care if Alaskan Security could find us.” Eloise let out a shaky breath. “But maybe they didn’t even know we were there. Maybe they don’t even know we’re out here.”

He had the same thought initially, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized there was a flaw in that possibility. “They probably kept their eyes on where our cars were. When no one came to tow them, they would have realized we hadn’t simply been picked up.” Nate finished filling the last bottle and capped it before spinning toward the front window and peeking outside. “How long have we been here?”

Eloise checked her watch. “A few hours.”

“Shit.” Nate went back to the closet, yanking out a backpack hung inside before tossing it onto the bed. “We need to get moving.” Eloise nodded, abandoning her cup of cooling coffee on the counter. She went to the back door and yanked it open then stepped out. She came back a second later with a bowl full of snow and went to the stove, opening it up and tossing it into the fire. She quickly closed the door, stealing off the billowing smoke trying to rush free. “If this thing is hot they’ll know we were here.”

“If they come this way they’ll know we were here regardless.” He glanced out at the falling snow. It was coming down decently, but not fast enough to hide their footprints completely. Definitely not the ones they would leave on their way out. “The faster we can get out of here, the better off we’ll be.”

He grabbed anything that might be useful from the cabin. Extra socks. More gloves. Two more blankets and all the bottles of water, splitting them between the backpack and Eloise’s large duffel bag. Once everything was packed up he grabbed her coat, moving in to pull it around her body. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a better option than her heavy grey outer layer, so they were just going to have to work with it. “We’re going to have to move fast.” He zipped her up and lapped over the panel of snaps. “If it gets to be too much, I need you to let me know, okay?”

Eloise nodded as he pulled up her hood and cinched it down. “Okay.”

Nate pulled on his own coat, grabbing the larger, heavier duffel bag and slinging it over one shoulder before helping Eloise into the backpack. Then they were out the back door, moving through the falling snow.

He took the lead, both to make sure his was the body on the line if they crossed paths with anyone, and to provide a semi-clear path for her to walk in. Eloise was silent as they hiked, keeping up with his punishing pace without a single complaint. He sent up a silent thanks to the man who raised her because that could be what saved both of their asses.

They reached a thick line of trees and Nate pushed in, carefully holding back branches as Eloise followed behind him. The canopy was thick and the fir trees were abundant, making the snow thinner here and in some places completely nonexistent. He kept to the areas of lesser snow, hoping to give her a break and obscure their trail.

And it was turning out to be one hell of a long trail. He was relatively familiar with a decent portion of the outskirts of Fairbanks, but at this point they were pushing into territory he didn’t know as well. Territory where the trees just kept going and the incline started to pitch upward.

Nate paused, turning to both check on Eloise and ask a question. She was breathing a little heavy and a slight sheen of sweat glistened on her brow, but other than that it didn’t seem like she was struggling. “Do you know where we are?”

She hesitated, chewing her lip as she looked back the way they came. “Does your phone have a compass?”

Nate grinned as he pulled his cell free, powering it on and passing it off without worry since there was no chance of having service this far out. And therefore, hopefully, no way for anyone to trace it.

Eloise took it, eyeing him warily. “What?”

“Nothing.” He watched as she opened the app. “Just glad you’re the one out here with me.”

Eloise shot him a look that wasn’t quite the glare he’d gotten used to before refocusing on the compass. She turned in place, orienting herself before pointing toward the east. “Based on where we were last night and how far we’ve walked, I think we’re straight north of Two Rivers.” Her lips pursed. “But there’s no way we can get there from here. We’re not really prepared to cross the mountains.”

“Agreed.” Nate moved closer, zipping her coat higher and re-cinching her hood. “What’s our best shot at getting back to civilization without crossing anyone’s path?”

Eloise considered it a second before meeting his gaze. “I still think we should head south. North and east are too treacherous and west will put us too close to the road.”

Nate took his phone back, switching it off before sliding it into his pocket. “South it is.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ELOISE

SHE WAS A little surprised at Nate’s immediate change of trajectory. More than a little surprised, actually.

But she didn’t have much time to think about it, because before long, all her mind could handle was focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and keeping up. Besides a quick pause to eat a couple of protein bars and make sure they were still on track, they didn’t stop moving all day.

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