Page 24 of Manhunt in the Narrows
“I got it.” Taking the roll from her, he sectioned out four pieces, handing them off one by one. They worked together to press the dressing into place.
“I’ll take another look at it in a few hours to make sure there’s no signs of infection. Until then, try to keep it dry and don’t jar it.” Repacking her supplies back into the kit, she swallowed the urge to close those inches between them. To lose herself in him all over again. That deep-rooted need would have to wait. The killer had been watching them since they’d stepped onto the trail. There was no telling if he’d attack again, and she wasn’t going to distract Elias from doing his job. Sayles rushed through organizing her pack and inventorying what was left. Seemed the killer had only taken her multi-tool. Probably in case she decided to stab him with it while he forced her help. “We have a couple hours of until sunset, but I’m not in the right headspace to keep pushing. We’d be better served getting some rest until tomorrow morning.”
Because Elias had been right. This wasn’t over. Surviving a serial killer hadn’t done a damn bit of good. He was still out there.
A calloused hand covered hers. Pinning her in place. Elias slipped a finger beneath her chin, directing her to meet his gaze. Understanding and a hint of concern etched his expression where she’d only been met with frustration and disappointment from her ex. She wasn’t used to this. This consideration. She didn’t know what to do with it. “I’m not going to let him get to you again. I give you my word.”
“I’m not sure that’s something you can promise.” Against her best defenses, her chin wobbled as the burn of tears crested, but she wouldn’t break. Not because of the bastard who’d shoved her off the trail. She wouldn’t let him haunt her. Ever. “You were right before. He wanted me to lead him to the end of the Narrows at Big Spring to cut west, but I don’t think he’s as experienced as we assumed. He’d started suffering from acute mountain sickness, getting dizzy the higher we climbed.”
Elias let his hand drop away from her face, and she instantly regretted the loss of connection. “Did he say anything else?”
“Told me his name is Patrick, but I can’t be sure he wasn’t lying.” A heaviness she’d refused to acknowledge seeped into her muscles, into her bones. The adrenaline brought on by sheer survival had left her raw and unstable. The crash was coming. It was only a matter of how long until she turned into a psychopath. “And he certainly liked the moniker you’d given him. Went straight to his head. But I didn’t get the impression he’s doing this for fun. He had a plan.”
“What kind of plan?” He sat back on his heels, every inch of his muscled frame fighting against his sweats and T-shirt. So unlike the suits and ties and slacks she’d been expected to iron up until a few months ago. Her ex never would’ve felt comfortable in a tent this small. Or camping in general.
Sayles hauled her pack to the side of the tent, out of the way, and summoned everything she had left into crawling into her sleeping bag. The rough material aggravated the cuts across her hands, and she fisted them close to her chest. “He wouldn’t tell me. Said he had his reasons for killing those people. I tried…”
“You did good, Sayles.” His voice sounded close. “I’m proud of how hard you fought today. Not everyone can say they survived like you did.”
A swell of emotion worked to reinvigorate her mission, but her eyes slipped closed. Dragged into near unconsciousness within seconds. She couldn’t get settled. Like there was something she was forgetting. She rolled onto her side, then onto her back and repeated the cycle all over again.
Movement registered behind her, the rustle of his sleeping bag as he climbed into it too loud despite the rush of the river mere feet from their position. It wasn’t until Elias secured his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his front thather nervous system released her from the fight. “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch. I won’t let him take you from me again.”
The words carved through layered defensiveness and flipped some kind of switch in her brain that told her it was safe. That he would protect her. He would fight for her.
And she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
There was no going back.
Elias made quick work of packing their gear before setting onto the trail. Muscles he hadn’t known existed ached as he grabbed for his pack and took that first step back onto the Narrows. They’d cleared the tent and set out in record time, barely saying more than a few words to each other. Working in comfortable silence. He’d learned Sayles’s morning routine over the past couple of days, and she’d silently fixed his backpack Tetris game with a smile. Yeah. Nearly dying tended to bring people closer.
They’d reached a comfortable partnership. So different from the years he’d been assigned to work cases with Grant. This was…pleasant. And Sayles wasn’t trying to suffocate him with too much body spray.
Sayles handed off one of her protein bars. They hadn’t eaten nearly enough in the past two days compared to the effort it’d taken to come this far, and Elias shoved the bar down with a few swigs of water, then got into his own supplies for a sloppy peanut butter sandwich. The bread had been squished during moments of survival and panic, and condensation had built up in the baggie, but his stomach didn’t care in the least. He caught Sayles going for seconds, too. As if she understood what lay ahead.
Blue sky touched with a hint of wispy clouds at the edges slowly flared to life as they traversed Wall Street Corridor. Themorning crest of sun reflected off 1,500-foot walls closing in on either side of them, merely twenty-two feet across, and cast rays of purple down weather-worn rock. Evidence of drainage stained blinding red stone in white streaks and dark patches. The canyon itself curved, cutting off any chance of scouting the trail ahead of them. They were going into this section of the trail blind. At a disadvantage. The only comfort was their killer would be, too. There was no escaping this portion of the trail if another flash flood hit. The Hitchhiker Killer would be caught right along with them. Hell, a storm might even flush him out. But the weather seemed to be cooperating this morning.
Sayles arched her head back onto her shoulders, slowing a few feet ahead of him. A body-wide sigh released the tension in her neck. “This view never ceases to amaze me. There’s just something about this specific spot before heading into Wall Street Corridor that gets to me.”
He couldn’t argue. While he’d never been an outdoor explorer, even when the other kids in his neighborhood growing up went out on hikes together and spent every minute figuring out how to, Elias felt a sense of…peace here. Of soul-deep quiet. He couldn’t say he’d still feel that way if it weren’t just him and Sayles on this trail, but something in his chest released as he took in the natural monument overhead. The rough edges of rock, the smoothness of where rain and a natural waterfall had rubbed away the harshness, the differing colors of wear and age. The river itself had quieted through this section and reflected that same blue of the sky above. He couldn’t remember a time he’d allowed himself to slow down and just…be. He couldn’t describe the beauty of this place. Made even more extravagant by the woman urging him to notice it. “I can see why you’re out here as much as you are.”
Though he wasn’t sure he’d step foot on this trail again once the investigation was closed. In a little under two days, they’dnearly drowned—twice—been shot at, he’d been stabbed by a tree and watched Sayles go over the edge of a cliff. He’d just about soaked up all the nature he could handle. But turning back wasn’t an option. Not with the killer still out there. With the improbability of getting a signal out of the canyon, NPS had no reason to believe they required assistance or rescue, which meant he and Sayles were on their own for now.
“At first it was a way to escape. To hide from the gossip that still followed me. To avoid any chance one of his friends may want to do him a favor, even from prison.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. As much as she wanted to play off the trauma she’d survived, Elias understood it would always be there. Always shape her choices, her relationships, her way of thinking. It would determine who she allowed to get close and bar anyone she deemed unsafe from experiencing the fighter beneath that guarded gaze, but damn, she was a sight. In her element. Worth every pain, every second of fear. “The more I came out here, the less it became about the hiding, and the more I found myself. Just hours in my own head, forcing myself to face what’d happened. And figuring out who I wanted to be next. It’s probably weird to consider a trail like the Narrows capable of saving my life after everything we’ve been through these past couple of days, but that’s what happened.”
Sayles set that green gaze on him, and he could see it, feel it. The life and the brilliance bleeding to the surface, past her defenses. This wasn’t the park ranger who’d built walls to avoid getting too close to her cohort or make herself small enough the FBI wouldn’t notice. The mask had come off, leaving nothing but the woman who’d ensnared him from the beginning, and he didn’t have the discipline to look away.
No. He wanted to stay right here. Just the two of them and these cliffs. Pretend nothing else existed outside of this perfect bubble they’d created together. In another life, he’d just be oneof the millions of hikers who came here each year and she would be a ranger working to keep him from doing something stupid and dying on this trail. Because…paperwork. Of course, he’d notice her right away, and she’d politely stir conversation to the specifics of the park and her job. She might not be interested in him at all, but he’d keep trying. Ask her to take that leap of faith and trust in something again.
“Do you have something like that back home?” The spell broke as Sayles guided them farther upstream. Water rippled away from her charge forward and collided with the base of the cliffs on either side. “Something that makes you happy?”
Was it too cheesy to tell her that over these past couple days she’d made him happy? That their back-and-forth had kept him from ruminating on all the mistakes he’d made in the course of his last case? That she’d resurrected some part of him that wanted a partner in crime that didn’t come with Cheetos fingers and burping the alphabet in a too-hot FBI-issued car? Yes. Too cheesy.
Elias gripped his pack tighter to counter the hole spreading through his chest. He’d managed to tie both straps together to make it easier to carry but still couldn’t strap it to his back. “My job. Bringing killers to justice makes me pretty happy. Knowing that they won’t hurt anyone else because I was able to put it to a stop.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.” Her retort didn’t come with the expected judgment or disappointment.
