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Twenty-seven hours, and one nasty night spent shivering in a cheap motel later, Tenaya white-knuckled the steering wheel as her tires slid on a patch of ice. In September. How was that even possible? It was ninety degrees the morning she’d left Los Angeles. And sure, this was the Rockies, but ice? Seriously?
The Lexus fishtailed, making her heart slam into her ribs. She gritted her teeth and eased off the gas until the car caught traction again. An LA girl through and through, she could count on one hand the times she’d driven icy roads. She could count on zero fingers the times she’d enjoyed it.
She’d left straight from the office, stopping at a big box store on the way out of town to buy a few clothes, none of them nearly warm enough for this unexpected mountain weather. Who knew late summer was more like winter up here?
At least the road looked to be straightening out ahead. On the other hand, the pavement ended—simply stopped. She braked, considering her options. The dirt road looked well-graded. She checked her cell signal just in case. Full strength. Okay. She’d nose the Lexus down the track, but if the signal faded, she’d call it quits and head back to the one-gas-pump town twenty-five miles back down the mountain.
The dirt didn’t seem to bother the car, probably because the road was frozen solid. After a quarter mile without any sliding, she relaxed. A little.
“Hey, Dad,” she practiced aloud. “Longtime, no see. So, I need a favor.”
She made a gagging noise and started over. She couldn’t call him dad. That name was reserved for her wonderful, caring, stepfather, Dale. The man who had come to every piano recital. Every graduation. The man who taught her to drive, who nurtured her into the capable, independent woman she was.
Until Victor stole her life.
She cleared her throat and started again. “Hi. I’m Tenaya. Your daughter.” And he’d be Graham. Father sounded too stilted, and Dad was out of play.
At least she had one thing settled. Now, if she could just find this creepy cabin of his…
Dusk descended on the rugged landscape, leaching the color from the towering pine trees and casting the rocky outcroppings into shadow. The September air held a biting chill this high in the mountains. Tenaya shivered and cranked the heater as the temperature plummeted with the fading light.
Above the jagged horizon, stars flickered to life one by one. She engaged the high beams, twin cones of light carving a path through the black woods. She blinked against the strain of peering into the void, anxious to catch the first glimpse of her destination.
Mountain driving was bad enough. Doing it on two hours of restless sleep was pure madness. But what choice did she have? Her only hope of escaping Victor and finding a way to help the police stop him was begging help from the last person on earth she wanted to see—her biological father.
Exhaustion weighted Tenaya’s limbs as she navigated the switchbacks leading her up and over yet another mid-sized ridge. She blinked fiercely, struggling to focus. She couldn’t stop now. Desperate times and all that.
She never imagined having a reunion with the deadbeat, and to do it begging for his help…
Bitterness threatened to choke her.
She pictured Graham’s face from the handful of photos her mother kept—stubbled jaw, fatigue bruising the skin under his eyes. Even then, he’d been distant, caught up in his covert duties.
The one reason she was reaching out. According to her mother, the man had spent his entire Special Forces career in undisclosed locations, doing undisclosable things. Dangerous things. Things that had earned him multiple honors for valor.
Just the man to go head-to-head with a monster like Victor. Plus, Graham had spent decades at it. He’d have intelligence connections the LAPD couldn’t match.
Finding a crazed real estate developer couldn’t be much of a challenge for a man with Graham’s reputation.
The memories stoked the banked rage that had fueled her for so long. But weariness suppressed the fire. What she wouldn’t give to have anyone else to turn to.
Rounding a curve, she peered into the void, searching for any sign of the cabin. She strained her eyes—there. Several hundred yards ahead, a dirt drive cut a swath into the forest.
The Lexus jounced over ruts as she turned off the main road. Cabin lights glowed warmly through the trees ahead.
The cozy scene socked her straight in the stomach, stealing her breath. What if Graham had a new family? The thought had never occurred. She could be walking straight into a minefield.
Her body reacted before her brain, slamming on the brakes. The car skidded forward before lurching to a stop. What if his new wife opened the door?
The thought of the painful reunion ahead magnified in her mind ten times. Facing dear old Dad was bad enough, but a new wife—kids—? The thought made her want to retch.
Think. Think. Think.
She rubbed her hands up and down the steering wheel, her logical, lawyer-mind engaged. No problem. If he wasn’t alone, she’d make an excuse, retreat and make a new plan. Lost tourist ought to cover it. Between the Lexus, the California plates, and her obvious lack of mountain wear, it was a plausible story.
Plan B in hand, she continued down the drive, parking beside a battered Jeep sporting a serious-looking snow plow on the front. She switched off the engine and stared through the fogged windshield at the beautiful dwelling. The warm wood siding complemented the deeply pitched roof and the oversized-windows exuding welcoming lights. More Modern Mountain Living than Mountain Hermit.
When she thought about Graham at all, she imagined a broken-down trailer, or maybe a one-room cabin with a sagging roof. Not this stunning place.
