Page 34 of True Valor
Nic came around the final corner before thecar, breathing like he’d just done eight miles in the pool.Atfirst, what he saw didn’t compute.He stopped and slowly backed up,not wanting to call attention to his arrival.The man who spokewith Julie had his back to Nic.He wore a plaid wool hunting coatand looked to be near their age.
Every muscle in Nic’s body tensed as if asilent alarm had gone off.A chill touched the back of his neck.Itwas the same feeling when he was with other team members and alltheir pagers went off.It wasn’t quite the adrenaline rush ofjumping from a plane or rappelling off an eight-hundred-foot cliff.But it was the start.If there were such a thing as apre-adrenaline rush, this was it.
Before the guy could hear him, Nic backedaround the corner and was no longer in sight.He silently drew theweapon from his back and scanned the surrounding forest for thebest way to approach.From the quick glance he’d had of the guy,Nic wasn’t able to tell if he was dangerous or not.He wasn’t aboutto take a chance.
The snow cover was both a help and ahindrance to stealth.The snow muffled any sounds that he made, butit also hid stumps and branches that lay beneath.There was no wayto be silent and fast at the same time.Not with the kind ofundergrowth that littered the forest floor.But, at least the treeswere dense enough to hide him from view.
Why the hell hadn’t he been on alert?Probably, because he was thinking about her.Served him right.Theirony, of course, was that it was difficult to purposely not thinkabout something.But now he had something else to push the thoughtof making love to her, if not out of his head, at least to the backhalf.The threat of death had a way of doing that.
It would have taken only a minute to walk tothe car from where he’d stopped on the road.Going the long way tocome up on the side of the car took considerably longer.As he gotcloser though, he had a better vantage point.
What he saw pushed him to full-on alert.
When he first approached, she’d thought theguy might just be lost.But, he looked really familiar.
“We went to high school together.You’reJulie Galloway.”
“And you’re...”Julie searched her memory fora name.
“Doug.Doug Davis.We were in algebra andhistory together.”
How did he remember that?Julie vaguelyremembered her algebra class, probably because the teacher used tothrow erasers at students if they fell asleep.And having the classright after lunch heightened that probability.But history?Nope,she couldn’t even remember the teacher much less herclassmates.
“Oh, yeah, sure.Now I remember.”Julie lied.“How’s it going?You still live in Susanville?”
“Not still.Again.I, uh, left for a time.But now I’m back.And you, you never did move back did you?”
Dang, this guy obviously knew way more abouther than he should have.It was creepy.Who the heck was he, andwhat brought him here?Realization and panic washed over her inclose order, draining the blood from her body.It must have showedon her face.
Doug’s eyes narrowed and his smile turnedugly.
And then he pulled the gun.
She worked hard to pull in a breath.Tothink.
Keep him talking.
Her own gun was in the pocket of herjacket—discarded a few feet away.
Panic closed her throat.
She sucked in another breath and forced wordsout.
“Did you kill my parents?”
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“Yes.”
Chapter Twelve
That’s good, Julie.Keep him talking.Niccould hear their conversation now as he snuck in closer, stayinglow and barely moving.He still wasn’t in a good spot to take theguy out.Not without Julie knowing what to do.He needed moretime.
“Who killed them, Doug?”Julie asked.
“I’m not going to tell you that.”
