Page 20 of Manhunt in the Narrows
Sayles was smart. She knew this trail better than anyone. If there was a chance of survival, she would’ve taken it by getting to higher ground. He scanned the domineering cliffs watching over him and anyone else who came through this insane maze. From this position, there was no telling whether he could climb higher. Everything looked too smooth. He’d try farther downstream and hike back if needed, but his gut told him she’d gotten out. That she’d saved herself.
“I’m coming.” He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince more, Sayles or himself, that he wasn’t going to stand by and fight this alone. That he wasn’t going to fail her like he’d failed the witness in his last investigation. Exhaustion slowed him down, but he wouldn’t let it get the best of him. His partner needed him, and he’d be there for her the same way he’d be there for Grant if he were in this situation.
Water had long infiltrated his gear and pooled in his boots. He didn’t want to imagine the blisters he’d leave this canyon with, but he was sure Sayles would help him with those as she’d helped him before. That was the kind of woman she was. She’d guarded that heart of hers against any threat thanks to her ex, but there were still pieces that couldn’t be killed off. And for the first time since that disaster of a date two years ago, Elias found himself wanting one of those pieces. Wanting more of her smile. More of her determination and courage and intensity in his life. The backtalk and teasing and biting comments. He wanted it all. She’d lit something in him that’d been buried in him. Made him feel alive. He wasn’t ready to give that up.
Every muscle in his legs protested the downstream descent, but he caught sight of a thin edge of rock that seemed to lead higher up the cliff face on the opposite side of the trail. If Sayles had escaped the flash flood, it seemed the perfect spot to gain the advantage until the storm died down. Rain kept pummeling down on top of him, weighing him down and increasing the risk of crossing, but there really wasn’t any other choice. Not when it came to Sayles. He’d dragged her into this mess. He would be the one to get her out.
Elias charged through the raging currents, avoiding whitecaps and sticking to the boulders still peeking above the surface. It took longer than he wanted with the injury in his side, but within a few minutes, he’d reached the opposite riverbank. The edge of rock climbing overhead was nothing more than a thin, graveled trail rangers had likely advised hikers to avoid, but he’d take the chance. To find her.
His thighs screamed for relief as he ascended the incline, one foot after the other, until he’d reached a flatter section ending in nothing more than a half cave that provided little to no protection against the onslaught of rain and wind. Except there was something…functional about the small cavern. A flat rock took up residence in the center with fine grain sand kicked up around it. As if someone had indeed used this undersize barricade to escape the floods of the past two days. Heavier drops of water collected along the arched entrance and tapped against his shoulders and scalp as he moved inside. He barely managed to stand at his full height. Could stretch his arms out straight and brush both walls with his fingertips.
Someone had been here.
The footprints in the sand had gone undisturbed. And there. Against the wall. Elias crouched to a spread of tracks, picking up a tube of antibiotic ointment. The same brand she’d used to tend his thigh wound yesterday. Sayles. She’d been here. Right here.Had left this tube as a message, knowing he wouldn’t stop the search, which meant she hadn’t been alone.
He pocketed the ointment and turned to face the arched entrance. They had to be close. On the move. Stepping out into the storm, Elias hiked higher. “I’m coming for you, partner.”
Chapter Fifteen
She was going to die.
Sayles fought to keep her balance as they hiked 2,000 feet above the Narrows on a goat trail no more than two feet in width. Park visitors and rangers alike were warned against setting foot on this path. With no handholds and the potential for falling rocks, no one had wanted to take the risk. Until now. A nudge from behind tightened the muscles in her jaw and neck. “Unless you want to take a dive headfirst off this trail, stop crowding me.”
“Come on now, Ranger Green.” Another brush of his hand against her waist. Purposeful. Meant to show domination. Show her who was in charge, even out here. “You and I have the same goal. To escape. That should make us friends.”
“You don’t know anything about me.” The added weight to her pack threatened to pitch her backward into his frame. The rock she’d hidden wasn’t much, but it might be the difference between escape or ending up dead whenever the bastard was done using her.
“Well, that’s just not true.” His voice took on a more distant tone, not quite directed at her. Like he was scanning their surroundings. She didn’t dare to look back to confirm one way or another. “I know your name is Sayles. That you’ve been a ranger here in Zion for the past five months. Came all the way from Colorado, didn’t you? Alone. With an art history degree of allthings. Not a whole lot of work in that arena, but that’s not why you ended up in one of the most isolated national parks in the west. Something must’ve scared you. Made you run from your hometown.”
The ache in her jaw intensified. She wasn’t going to give him the details. Wasn’t going to give him anything other than a reason to regret forcing her help. “You read my résumé. Congratulations. You’re officially a detective.”
That oily laugh dredged through her and turned her stomach.
“Why try to escape through the park? It’s all just wilderness at the end of this trail. There’s nowhere for you to run.” Gravel shifted under her weight. The storm hadn’t let up, turning solid ground into inches of wet sand. She had to watch her footing. One wrong step and she’d end up a park statistic.
“That’s not really any of your concern, is it?” He kept pace with her better than she expected, dashing her hopes of gaining distance in order to run. “Getting me through the park without being noticed by the backcountry patrols. That’s what you should be focusing on.”
It was getting harder to breathe at this elevation. The oatmeal she’d eaten dry was beginning to turn in her stomach. Her heart rate had risen into fleeting, shallow pulses. Every step higher brought on the risk of altitude sickness despite Zion’s 4,000-foot dominance above sea level and her acclimation over these past few months. Turning her head slightly, she kept the killer at her back within sight. Searching for those telltale signs of slowing down, vomiting, dizziness. If she caught him off guard, she might be able to survive. “That hiker you killed at the bottom of the trail. Why him?”
“You’re mighty curious, Ranger Green.” He studied her as a scientist studied a bug he didn’t like. “Could it be you’re trying to pump me for information to hand over to the FBI in hopes of making it out of this alive?”
She locked down the shudder taking her by surprise. Sayles wouldn’t let him see the effect of that thought. Of dying within the very park that’d gifted her a new life. One of freedom and choice. “If you plan on killing me once we get to the end of the trail, what’s the harm of unburdening yourself along the way?”
“You think I feel guilty for killing those people?” Not with that smile she didn’t. “You’d be barking up the wrong tree.”
“So all of this is just some sick game to you?” Scanning the trail ahead, she tried to come to terms with her situation. Of being alone 2,000 feet up on a too-narrow trail with a man who could end her right here if the thought crossed his mind. She hadn’t fought for this new life to end up dead now. Not without going out on her own terms. “You’ll kill anyone who gets in your way without so much as thinking it through?”
“All I’ve been doing is thinking this through.” The words were nothing more than a whisper nearly lost to the winds. Something maybe she wasn’t supposed to hear.
Sayles didn’t know what to say to that, what to think. It didn’t matter. She’d never hiked this trail, wasn’t sure where it led or if there was an end. For all she knew, she could be leading them straight over the edge of a cliff. Goats could jump up cliff faces. Humans not so much. Either way, she was running out of time before her usefulness was all used up. She had to act. To give Elias and his partner something if this ended poorly. She owed him that after he’d saved her life yesterday. “Do you at least have a name? Or should I just call you the Hitchhiker Killer?”
“It’s got a certain ring to it, doesn’t it?” He cocked his head as a predator might when confronted with prey. “But if that’s too much of a mouthful for you, you can call me Patrick.”
“Not your real name, I’m guessing.” The trail crested the top of the north cliff overlooking the Narrows. She could see the river below, identify the curve leading into Wall Street Corridor. Most hikers turned around at this point where the river splitinto an upstream branch leading east into Orderville Canyon. Park visitors were prohibited from heading that way due to the canyon walls becoming so narrow they were virtually impassable and the clay soil making the trek too slippery. They were close to that junction. Right where she’d intended to lead Elias to set up camp before they’d had to stop to treat her hypothermia symptoms. Even now, that base chill refused to let up, and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep beside Elias’s heat. To inhale his earthy and masculine scent that clung to her hair and skin where she’d touched him.
“You’d be right.” The killer didn’t offer anything more.
Sayles caught the slight change in his step. A little too close to the edge. She’d picked up her pace, forcing him to keep up, to ascend several hundred feet too fast. Depending on his elevation experience, acute mountain sickness could set in as quickly as a few minutes. This was her shot. The one chance to get away. The goat trail they’d commandeered became even thinner ahead with a slight decline on the other side. She didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want Patrick—or whatever the hell his name was—to reach the end of the trail. Because who knew if the FBI would be able to catch up? Who knew how many more people would get hurt or killed if she helped him reach Big Spring? The lie slipped from her mouth with that in mind. “I need to stop. I’m getting lightheaded.”
