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Her captor threw himself through the door, and by the sound of it, knocked the ranger over.
Alexia scrunched her knees up and aimed a hard kick at the table leg, hoping and praying the lighter was still on it and she could get it into her hands.
She got something better—an ax.
Scooting fast like an inchworm, she reached the blade and shoved the zip tie against the steel. When it popped, she issued a strangled cry and grabbed the ax to slice through her leg restraints.
In what felt like minutes but could have only been seconds, she leaped to her feet and ran out the door.
Her captor had the ranger on the ground with his boot locked on the man’s neck.
“Stop!” Alexia’s scream echoed over what seemed to be a beautiful mountaintop but one she did not wish to explore.
“I have to kill this man because of you!” her captor raged.
“No!” Looking frantically around, she found no weapon in sight. Not even a snow shovel. She wasn’t about to run back inside for the ax.
Her gaze landed on the ranger’s truck. A vehicle had served her as a weapon once before.
She sprinted to the truck and issued a cry of relief to find the keys in the ignition. When she started the engine and stomped the gas, all the events lined up in a neat chain like she hoped for.
Her captor took off for the truck. For her. He leaped in front of it, and instead of hitting the brakes this time, she locked her foot to the floor and mowed him down.
A low moan slipped past her lips. She hit the brakes on impact and watched the man who hurt her and probably killed the ranger fly a few feet and hit the melting snow.
She gripped the wheel. Oh god. She’d killed a man with a government vehicle. She was in so much trouble.
Shaking herself, she gathered her wits. What was she thinking? The man who’d kidnapped her was dead.
She reached for the CB radio in the truck and brought it to her mouth. “Mayday! I need help. I have no idea where I’m at, but Ranger Wilksbury came to the cabin and now I think he’s dead. And another man is dead too. Please send help!”
Ignoring the voices that came back at her, she gripped the wheel tight and peered at the place where the guy had landed. Was he really dead?
Was she really going to get out and check? Absolutely. She was trained to handle herself, and she had to see.
Her stomach heaved when she climbed out of the running truck and slowly approached the still body on the ground.
Blood was spattered in the snow. The man lay crumpled on his side.
Suddenly, the noise of helicopter blades ripped through the air. Thank god! Help had arrived, and she had to say those park rangers were fast on the response time. She’d be sending them a whole box of steaks for coming to her aid so quickly.
She tipped her head back to look at the chopper zipping in.
She waved frantically to bring them in, but suddenly was wiped off her feet. She hit the ground hard—with her captor pinning her down.
Tripp’s jaw was clenched so hard he could grind nails with his molars. On each thigh, his fists shook, the knuckles white.
“Can’t you fly this thing any goddamn faster?” He barely held back a roar.
“Calm the fuck down, Tripp. That’s an order!” Rafe’s sharp bark projected into the comms device in his ear, and everyone else in the military chopper too.
Oliver “Ollie” Dutch didn’t even turn his head at Tripp’s outburst. “We’re one minute out. Think you can keep your mouth shut until then?”
He huffed out a breath of air but didn’t answer. His chest was about to blow up. Pain, fear and fury were a deadly inferno that only having Alexia back in his arms would stop.
In the past, he’d always been able to use his brand of dark humor to get through tough times. Not now. The only person who could ease him right now was Alexia.
“Let’s go over what we know.” Rafe brought the situation under his lead. “The grocery store camera picked up Alexia’s Humvee driving out of the parking lot, but when we zoomed in, we saw she wasn’t behind the wheel. We couldn’t make out who was driving, only that they were wearing a mask and sat taller than her.”
