Page 42 of A Rebel's Shot

And what had he done?

He shook his head in disgust at himself, handed the glass to Merritt, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued down the beach. He’d barely gotten his feet wet before he ran back to safety, hiding in the wilderness from anything that might stretch him beyond what was comfortable.

He couldn’t even succeed at that, not with how his business was one season away from bankruptcy.

No, he was like the shells… broken and useless.

SEVENTEEN

Coming out to meet Dr. Erikson on her own had to be the most idiotic decision of Merritt’s life to date.

She liked to think of herself as an intelligent woman.

Her experience around the world and even over the last weeks running HGR proved that she had smarts.

So why had she ever thought that driving thirty miles away from Fairbanks into the remote Alaskan wilderness by herself to meet a man who had disappeared after her father’s mysterious death was a good idea?

Sure, the two-lane drive along the Chena Hot Springs Road was gorgeous with the way the river snaked along beside it. Towering birch swayed along the roadside while spruce, so dark they almost looked black, covered the mountains that stretched up on both sides of the road.

Even the section of forest that had suffered a recent wildfire was beautiful.

None of that helped lessen the anxiety that crawled further up her throat the farther she drove.

She was freezing, even though she had the heater cranked and her hooded sweatshirt on. Her entire body trembled from the inside out, and if she didn’t pull herself together, she was liable to shake herself right off the road.

The computer voice told her to turn in a hundred feet, startling a squeak from her.

She turned onto the dirt drive lined by trees that tunneled over the road. Her heart pounded harder and harder against her ribs until she thought it might bust through.

About a quarter mile in, the forest opened up to a small metal building in a clearing. A few dump trucks and a backhoe parked against the trees, but from the look of the small cleared area behind the building, the equipment hadn’t really been put to work.

Parking the car at the door, she took one more fortifying breath before she jerked her door open and marched to the door.

“Okay, Lord. Clear my mind. Make it sound and keep my fear from overrunning me.”

As prayers went, it wasn’t eloquent, but it was what she had. Her rap on the metal door echoed eerily around her.

A raven took off from a tree with a violent flapping of wings and creepy squawking. A gust of wind rushed past her, ripping at her hair, and she almost booked it for the car to speed away.

The door screeched open just enough to see in, cutting her thoughts of retreat short. The only thing she could make out in the dark gap was movement.Every muscle in her body tensed. She was a sitting duck.

“Merritt Harland?” The raspy voice barely reached her as another gust of wind howled through the clearing.

“Yeah.” She clenched her hands into fists so she wouldn’t cross her arms and curl in on herself.

“Come. Hurry.”

The door swung open, and a disheveled man gripped her arm tight and yanked her into the building. She yelped as darkness surrounded her, and the door slammed shut.

Light flooded the room, causing her to blink against the sharp, painful brightness. Metal scraping against metal, she whipped her head to where the man turned the deadbolt.

He slumped against the door, heaving out loud, raspy breaths. When he jerked his gaze to her, she couldn’t stop her step backward. His eyebrows winged beneath his unkempt hair, and he lifted his hands in front of him like she was a spooked horse.

Considering the last few minutes, the sentiment wasn’t far from the truth.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just… scared.” He huffed out a laugh, then cringed.

Merritt’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the disheveled man before her. She swallowed hard, trying to find her voice amidst the fear that wanted to consume her.

---