Love Inspired Suspense June 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 9
“You’re frowning,” Poppy said. “What’s up?”
He shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“You didn’t let me get away with refusing to answer your question yesterday that I wanted to ignore,” Poppy said. Her arms crossed over her chest.
“It probably sounds ridiculous now,” Lex admitted, “but back when we were engaged Teddy overheard me saying that I wasn’t sure I ever wanted kids. He pulled me aside and told me in no uncertain terms that if I wasn’t able to give you what you needed, I should step aside and let you be with a man that would.”
“Well, that’s one the dumbest things I’ve ever heard,” she said. “I’m a person not an object. I make my own choices about what I want and need, not some entitled weirdo at work.”
She laughed but irritation flashed in her eyes,
“So, both Teddy and Johnny tried to talk you out of marrying me?” she asked. “Johnny because he thought I wasn’t good enough for you, and Teddy who thought you didn’t deserve me. I’d ask if there was anyone who didn’t try to convince you that marrying me was a bad idea, but instead I’m more curious as to why you cared what anyone else thought as long as we were happy?”
He ran one hand over his face, wishing he had a good answer to that question, but realizing he didn’t. She watched his face for one long moment, as if hoping for an answer. Then she turned away, giving up, and went back to join Stormy in the sheltered part of the boat.
Help me, Lord. He never had the courage to say the words he needed to say in the past. Turned out he still didn’t now.
Finally, he saw the inlet ahead and slowly steered the boat into shore. He stopped the boat, dropped anchor and then leaped ashore and tied the rope to a huge and ancient tree jutting out of the rock for backup. When he turned to help Poppy, she and Stormy were already scrambling to shore. The dog began to sniff and within seconds she barked.
“Well, looks like we have the right place,” Poppy said. She hitched her backpack up higher on her shoulder. Despite the waves of conflicting and confusing emotions that had passed between them on the boat, Poppy was all professional now as she and her K-9 partner traced their way along the shoreline. They found more candy wrappers, potato chip bags and general garbage that lay in between the crevasses, just like they’d found back at the cabin. Even without a word he could see her rancor at seeing how the poachers had littered, as well as her frustration over the fact that it was too muddy to be worth collecting for usable prints. A well-worn patch of mud and grass made it clear the path the poachers had used to climb up and down the glacier.
Stormy barked and indicated toward the slope.
“Go ahead,” Poppy told her partner. “Just don’t go far.”
The dog licked her fingers as she reached to run her hand along the wolfhound’s side. Then Stormy turned and galloped up the slope, her long legs moving far faster than either he or Poppy would ever be able to climb.
She glanced at Lex. “I’m going to head up there and join her.”
“I’ll be up in a second,” Lex said. “I just want to take some pictures of the area. I do need to warn you, the glacier is huge. Just because the poachers used this as their entrance point doesn’t mean the blue bears are still anywhere near this area.”
“Got it.” Her eyes lingered on his face for a split second, like she was about to say something more. Then she turned and made her way up the hill after Stormy, until finally she reached the top and he lost sight of her flaming red hair in between the dark green trees.
He let out a long breath and ran both hands over his face. His heart was so heavy from every aspect of the bear poaching case, and even though he knew that right now his small son was safe and being looked after, the lingering fear of the threat made against Danny still hung over him like a pending electrical storm.
And thinking of storms, he had absolutely no idea what to make of the charged moment between him and Poppy on the boat. It was unlike him to blurt out his own insecurities, no matter how incredibly true it had been.
It was also the first time he’d seen with his own eyes how much his getting caught up in other people’s opinions of their relationship hurt her. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d convinced himself so thoroughly that the fact she hadn’t fallen apart when he’d called off the wedding meant she hadn’t cared about him as much as he’d loved her.
Maybe he’d just been projecting his own insecurities onto her.
He glanced to the sky and prayed.
Lord, this might be the worst possible time for Poppy to be back in my life. But I’m also really glad she’s the one here with me now. I can’t imagine facing all this without her. Please, help me be the man You’ve called me to be, whatever Your plan.
“Lex!” Poppy’s terrified voice cut through the air toward him, slightly strangled as if the last syllable of his name had caught in her throat, in a single word telling him everything he needed to know.
She was in danger.
“Hang on, Poppy!” he shouted. “I’m coming!”
He sprinted up the hill, even as his feet slid underneath him on the slick ground, and he had to grasp on to rough brush and rocks for stability. Finally, he reached the top and ran into the thick trees, following a path so narrow it kept threatening to disappear with every step.
Then he saw Poppy standing stock-still, her right hand raised as if telling an unseen Stormy not to move.
A large brown bear towered before her, teeth bared, snarling and poised to strike.
EIGHT
Poppy froze face-to-face with the bear as it loomed over her, its mammoth claws just one swipe away from ending her life.
Years of training in how to handle a bear attack in the wild battled the overwhelming and palpable terror that had swept over her the instant she’d heard it roar. There was bear spray in the side pouch of her backpack. But from where she stood, there was no way to get it without flinching, and that could be deadly. As for the gun at her side, she wouldn’t kill the bear unless it was absolutely necessary. Even then, considering how close it was to her, she might not even be able to get off a shot.
Brown bears were the deadliest of all the bears in Alaska.
There were two options to survive and she knew the guidelines better than anyone. Either be large—travel in groups, bang pots and make noise. Or in the worst-case scenario, become small, curl up into a ball and play dead. Neither were options now. She’d been foolish enough to walk through here alone.
Even worse, she’d put her partner in danger.
Poppy glimpsed past the snarling mass of teeth and claws roaring its intentions to end her, to where Stormy was tensed, crouched low and almost entirely hidden in the woods to her right. She’d had her eyes on the dog when the bear had reared in front of her, and hurriedly given her partner the signal to freeze. She knew the fearless wolfhound would attack the bear without hesitation. But she also knew that Stormy would probably be badly injured if she did.
Her partner might even be killed. Bears had been known to even charge at cars and other vehicles if they felt threatened. Her brave partner was just a pip-squeak in comparison. Poppy’s heart beat so hard she could feel it pounding against her chest. She tried to pray, but her mind couldn’t get further than, Help me, God.
“Poppy, don’t move,” Lex said from somewhere behind her. His voice was firm and strong, and seemed to cut through the fear welling up inside her. “Just stay calm and stay still. It’s going to be okay.”
How could he possibly know that? One wrong move on her part, and the bear would strike. And she couldn’t save her own life without risking her partner’s. She nodded as slightly as she dared, hoping Lex would see the motion and know she’d heard him. The bear growled a deep and guttural roar. Then Poppy heard Lex slowly and quietly walking into danger to stand beside her. Even without turning, she felt him lift the can of bear spray from her backpack. His arm brushed against her side and his fingers linked with hers.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Strength in numbers,” Lex said. “We look like a bigger, stronger force together.”
The bear didn’t move. Neither did Lex. He just stood there facing the bear, holding her hand and standing his ground.
“We have to protect Stormy,” she whispered without even turning to look at him. “I don’t want the bear getting her.”
Her eyes fixed on her partner’s shaggy face.
“I see her,” Lex said softly. She heard the faint plastic and metallic clink of the safety cap being flicked off the can. “Now, I need you to take a deep breath, close your eyes and trust me. Okay?”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes.
“Lord, help us.”
In one swift motion, Lex pulled her into his chest with one hand and cradled her face against him. With the other, he detonated the spray. The bear roared in rage and pain. The thick vaguely acidic smell filled the air. She could feel Lex’s heart beating against her chest and heard the sound of something crashing into the woods and felt Lex stepping back.
Then Stormy growled and Poppy opened her eyes to see the bear turn. It had finally realized Stormy was there. The disoriented bear charged on all fours toward Stormy. Snarling, the wolfhound leaped at the approaching animal, teeth bared. Partially blinded, the bear lashed out with a weakened blow that sent Stormy temporarily sprawling into the underbrush, only for Poppy’s partner to leap up again, braced and ready for the fight.
The bear hesitated, the turned and lumbered off into the woods. Stormy barked furiously at the departing animal as if warning it not to return. Then she trotted over and butted her head against Poppy’s hand. She wasn’t even limping, let alone scratched or injured. The wolfhound’s eyebrows raised as if asking if she should chase the bear. Poppy laughed. “Stay, Stormy. Good dog. You are such a very good dog.”
Then she realized her other hand was still clutching Lex’s.
She turned toward him and, as she did, her free hand grabbed ahold of his jacket collar.
“Thank you,” she said. “Also, that was the single most reckless and dangerous thing you’ve ever done. Since when do park rangers run toward brown bears? This wasn’t in any of the training I remember.”
A cross between a laugh and a relieved sob choked in her throat as she said it. He chuckled softly and dropped the canister of bear spray. His other hand brushed the hair off her face.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured. “Now, are you okay?”
Suddenly it was as if the tension holding her limbs together gave way and her legs collapsed, almost sending her tumbling to the ground.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ve got you.” He dropped her hand and wrapped both of his arms around the small of her back, pulling her into his chest. Then his right hand ran up the curve of her spine until it rested on her neck. “It’s just the sudden jolt of adrenaline wearing off.”
Poppy knew that, but it didn’t change how good it felt to be held in Lex’s arms. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around his neck.
“The bear will be fine, too,” he added. “The spray will wear off in no time with no permanent damage.”
“I know,” she said. “You’ve never been the kind of person to kill an animal when there was a way you could save it.”
“I would’ve to save your life,” he said.
“I know.” Just like she knew it might’ve been even more dangerous for him to fire a gun in a forest that dense where there was the possibility she or Stormy could be hurt. “But you’d be just as likely to wound it and then volunteer at an animal rescue to nurse it back to health.”
He chuckled. “True, but hey, my plan worked, didn’t it?”
“I said it was reckless,” she said. “I never doubted it would work.”
“I didn’t know if you’d trust me.”
“I’ve always trusted you,” she told him.
Her face tilted up toward his and his arms tightened around her.
“And I will always be there when you need me,” Lex vowed. “No matter where you go and no matter what happens in our lives, if you’re ever in danger and you call on me, I will be there for you.”
“I know,” she admitted.
Before she could say anything more, his lips met hers. Lex kissed her and she kissed him back, both of them holding on to each other as if they’d never been apart.
Stormy growled with that soft rumble, warning her of danger. Poppy pulled back out of Lex’s arms and turned to her partner, but not before she saw something like confusion fill Lex’s eyes.
“What is it?” she asked her partner. “What do you sense? Show me.”
Stormy barked and ran back the way they’d come. She followed, Lex beside her, until they reached the edge of the woods and looked down. A small nondescript speedboat had pulled up beside Lex’s park ranger boat.
A thin masked figure in fatigues stood on the deck of their boat. The second larger one was untying it from the rock where Lex had fastened it.
The poachers were here, and they were stealing their boat.
* * *
Lex reached for his weapon, praying he wouldn’t have to use it. Open cliffside lay before him, sloping down to the water below with no cover in sight. Both poachers were armed and once he stepped out of the trees he’d be an open target. But letting them steal his boat, leaving them stranded on a remote glacier, wasn’t an option.
“Go,” Poppy said. “I’ll cover you.”
Any doubt that she wouldn’t never crossed his mind.
He took a deep breath, turned and ran down toward the water, knowing his best advantage was the element of surprise. Lex fired a warning shot in the air. It arched high above the larger man in camo who’d been trying to untie Lex’s boat. The man yelped and leaped back.
But the thinner poacher wasn’t as easily deterred. He turned from his post on Lex’s boat and stepped up onto the side as if preparing to leap down. The poacher raised his weapon and aimed it directly at Lex as he scrambled down the cliff toward them. But he never got the chance to fire, as Poppy took aim. Her bullet rang off the side of the boat and ricocheted safely into the water, far enough away from the poacher so as not to risk hitting him, but close enough to startle him. The poacher slipped and fell off Lex’s boat and into the cold Pacific waters. The larger man hesitated as if debating whether to return fire. But then Lex watched the man’s face pale and in an instant he knew why, as Stormy leaped to Lex’s side, charging down the slope beside him.
The thinner poacher scrambled from the water and back into his own boat, swearing and bellowing for his partner to follow. The larger poacher turned and ran after him, splashing knee-deep into the water and barely making it into the smaller boat as his partner gunned the engine. In seconds the small speedboat had disappeared from sight.
Lex paused on a narrow ledge and gasped a breath as he felt Poppy reach his side. They kept climbing down the slippery cliffside as quickly as they dared, letting Stormy take the lead.
“The precision of that shot,” he said, “considering the distance was incredible.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”
Lex imagined she had. But there was also a relaxed confidence that hadn’t been there before. Back then she’d been so focused on the plans she’d made and guidelines she was following it was as if she believed that if she stuck to them precisely she’d be able to keep anything bad from happening to them. It had made her tense and on edge. He hadn’t realized until long after he’d lost her how his impulsive way of canceling plans and dashing off to help his friends had made the situation worse and added to her stress.
Maybe he’d been a little harsh when he’d told her that they’d never been any good at being partners. After all, he hadn’t exactly been focused back then on figuring out how to be the partner she needed.
As soon as they were all on board, the rope coiled and the anchor raised, Lex gunned the engine and they took off in the direction the poachers had gone. They searched the surrounding inlet, coves and islands for over an hour and came up empty. While the criminals didn’t have too large a head start, there were just too many places a boat that size could hide in the sprawling national park, and the last thing Lex wanted was to be lured out of safe waters into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a heavily armed foe.
Finally, they had no choice but to give up the hunt.
“The poachers won’t return to that inlet,” Poppy said. She leaned on the console beside him in the bow of the boat and looked out over the endless gray-blue water spreading out ahead of them. “They probably liked it because it was a secluded way to climb that glacier without too much risk of being noticed. Now that they know we’ve found that spot, the location is compromised. They’ll regroup and find another route to get to the bears.”
“I agree,” Lex replied. “We can assume mother blue bear and cub won’t be back to that inlet there, either, now that we know there’s a territorial brown bear in that area. I’m just sorry we failed.”
He sighed and ran his hand over the back of his head. Then, as his hand dropped back to his side, he felt Poppy take it and squeeze it hard.
“We didn’t fail,” she insisted. “If anything, we bought that little bear cub a bit more time and made it harder for the poachers to get her.”
“I hope that you’re right.”
“I know in my heart that I am. And don’t worry, Lex, we will find a way to stop them. Look, every time my team meets I’m sure we all have in the backs of our minds the knowledge that not every case we face is going to be solved immediately. Some are going to take weeks. Some might take months.” She blew out a breath. “And yeah, I have no idea when we’re going to find the missing bride or figure out what really happened up on that cliff. I don’t know when we’re going to help Eli find the Seavers for his godmother or Katie discover who’s been poaching reindeer from her aunt’s ranch. I just know it’s going to happen. Just like I know we’re going to stop these poachers.”
