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Prologue
Riley had been searching for three months. Three months of tracking, of failed leads and so many disappointments. For the last six months, she’d thought of nothing else. She would find the truth and only one person knew it.
She had stopped on the side of the road to look at her GPS. This had to be the area. She’d never seen so many trees and so much of nothing in all her life. Having brought her heavy clothes and her best hiking boots, she’d planned it all out.
Pausing, she pressed the buttons on the SUV’s navigator screen. This had to be it, though it would be a treacherous trek, since there weren’t any roads after a certain point. She had her backpack all ready, everything she needed to be in the wilderness.
After another hour of driving, the road just seemed to stop. She tapped her navigator screen and saw there was no service this far out. The image fuzzed and then the map blinked out.
Gazing out the window, she could see the sky looked angry. The forecast had said snow but she still had at least three hours, right? Then she would be facing snow. She turned in her seat to check her pack.
With a sigh, she got ready to do this. This location was her last hope. If she wasn’t right about this, she would finally have to let it go. Her mouth set into a thin line. Never. She would never let it go. Getting out of the SUV, she stared up.
This mountain looked much larger than she’d envisioned. A two hour hike, the website had said. Two hours? Were the hikers wearing rocket boots?
She bit at her bottom lip. Could she make it up there before the blizzard set in? Then again, would there be anything up there?
Yes, there had to be, she’d google earthed the area and there had been a structure there. Fuzzy and out of focus, but there.
Riley locked the vehicle, strapped the backpack on, and set off up the trail.
After an hour of hiking while hearing only her labored breathing, she heard it.
Someone was coming up behind her on the trail. Stopping to listen, she realized it was more than one person. Panicked, she knew who they were, well not who but for months she had been followed. Of course, she was—there were people out there that never wanted the truth out.
Now she didn’t hike, she ran. Gasping for air, she stumbled over rocks and then the snow came down in her face to blind her. They were right behind her. She never saw anyone behind her car on that lonely county road. How had they found her?
A metallic sound ricocheted off the mountainside.
Ducking her head, she realized they were actually shooting at her. Oh, god. She was going to die today.
“Over there!” a man shouted.
More shots went off.
Panting and grabbing small saplings to propel her upward, she climbed. Maybe they would give up since the falling snow had turned into a full blizzard.
After another stretch of upward climbing, she paused while she kept her head low because her side ached so badly.
A sound like a rumbling vibrated the ground beneath her feet.
What is that? It sounds like a train. She shook her head. There aren’t any—
Her head tilted back and her eyes widened.
CHAPTER ONE
Noah Spencer gritted his teeth as he spotted a form down on the ridge. It looked small like a female. He lowered his binoculars and tilted his head. A lone female hiker? No. Out here? He raised them back up to his eyes to find the form again. What the fuck? He caught sight of her face this time. It was a woman and she was moving fast.
Not a leisurely hiker that’s for sure. He swung his nocs down toward the bottom of the mountain from where she climbed.
There. Two larger forms. They were moving fast.
He narrowed his gaze. They were raising guns. He swung the nocs over. Yes, they were aiming at her. Shit! He grabbed his rifle and slung it over his shoulder. Dammit, what the hell was this? 100 miles to the nearest anything and suddenly, his backyard was crowded.
He should let it play out and remain hidden, but he couldn’t.
Before he could even move off his porch, he froze as he heard it. A sound he’d dreaded since he arrived here.
FUCK!
They’d done it now with the shooting. The fucking dumbasses. He raised the nocs and spotted her again. She stood frozen just like he had and now he did catch full sight of her face. Creamy skin and large blue eyes that were wide and stunned. Her mouth popped open as if to shout. Then, she was swallowed up into the white.
White Death as they called it in Russia. The Abominable they called it in the Yukon. She was now under no telling how many feet of frigid snow. He swung his nocs down and saw the two men get swallowed up as well. Thank fuck, as he would’ve had to add to his kill shots if they hadn’t been buried.
