Page 71 of A Very Titan Christmas
She pushed open the old wooden door. The cold punched her in the chest like she’d been hit by the icy fist of a yeti. Her breath fogged as she stared out at the mostly untouched snow. It covered everything, and she had absolutely no idea where she was.
An escape on foot wasn’t going to happen.
She hated to wait, but she was woefully underdressed and could die of exposure battling the elements. Bryce would have to find her.
She sat again. Her gaze bounced around the shed. Hell with this. She couldn’t just wait. Rachel glanced outside again. The snowmobile had left tracks that stretched toward freedom and escape—or freezing to death. “Be smart.” She bit her lip. “Stay calm.”
She couldn’t leave, but she had to do something.
Rachel scanned her surroundings for anything that might help her. She could use the loppers to fend off the men, but they had guns. That wouldn’t work.
Her ears pricked up. Dread pitted at the bottom of her stomach. The snowmobile was returning—except the hum was different.
She opened the door again. Not a snowmobile but a helicopter.
She ran out onto the snowmobile tracks and searched the sky. If she had something metal that would provide a flash, she could signal for help. She ran back to the shed and saw nothing helpful. Terrified that whoever was in the helicopter would leave without seeing her, she ran back outside, jumping, shouting, and waving her arms.
The helicopter didn’t come any closer.
If only she were taller. If they could see her… An idea formed in her mind as the helicopter veered away and the sound of the rotors disappeared.
They were looking for her. She had to signal to them through the trees and snow. Rachel returned to the shed and grabbed the duct tape. She tied the garden hoe to the rake and wound the tape around until she was sure it would hold. Then she added a broken shovel handle.
Now what?
She taped the brightly colored peat moss bags together into a colorful tarp that would stand out against the snow. She could attach the makeshift tarp to the pole as a flag. It might work, or it could fall apart. And how would she keep it upright?
She eyed the ladder leaning against the wall. It had one of those foldout arms that would hold a paint bucket. She could wedge a flagpole in there, couldn’t she? Maybe… There weren’t a ton of options.
Rachel dragged the ladder outside. The deep snow didn’t offer many safe places to set up the ladder other than where the snowmobile had been. With teeth chattering and fingers burning from the cold, she pulled the ladder to the part of the snowmobile trail with the most open sky overhead.
She was sweating and had no idea how that was possible. She took deep breaths as she dragged the ladder over to the spot she’d picked out, and with the gardening gloves on, she packed snow around the base of the ladder until it wouldn’t move. Probably.
Rachel returned to the shed to get the flagpole and trekked back to the ladder. She couldn’t stop shivering. Her teeth chattered. Exhaustion bled through her tired muscles. But she forced her flag into the ladder.
The wind picked up, and her bright flag shifted. It didn’t exactly lift and sway, but it was a colorful anomaly on the snow-white mountain. It might work.
She’d never been so cold, tired, and hopeful before. Someone had to see it.
Rachel wished for a helicopter. She prayed for rescue. The rescuers needed to arrive before her captors returned.
She trudged back to her shed. Rachel wrapped herself in the burlap sack and curled under the tarp. Her body shook, and her mind wandered to help—to Bryce.
He’d looked at her before they’d met with her parents like she was the only woman on earth. Like he wanted more than either of them had admitted to aloud.
What would happen with them if Titan Group rescued her?
The summit would be canceled, as these men had hoped. Titan Group would leave. She would eventually find her way back to Philadelphia. Bryce would go wherever Titan sent him. She had fallen in love with him again. She hadn’t meant to, but facts were facts, and that was one she refused to ignore since she might be dead within the day.
“Bryce, find me,” she whispered. “Because I’m not letting you leave without a fight this time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The lobby hadbecome Titan Group’s central waiting room after investigators kicked everyone out of the conference center. Bryce sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and waited for news.
The resort was quiet. The general public had been cleared from the resort. His teammates’ families were all at their cabins, and he hadn’t seen the Porters.
“Everything is too quiet,” he said to no one and rechecked his watch. It had been forty-five minutes since their last update. The sky was dark, and his hopes were fading again.
