Her legs tingled, but she managed to get to the point she thought they would work. She had to almost crawl out of the little nook she was smushed back into. She slithered over until she could get one leg onto the mountainside. When she was in a better spot, she grabbed her backpack and put it on. She took her time stepping off the rock ledge, respecting the drop below.
Once she was back on the mountainside, she started to pull herself up the hill, grabbing onto branches and even some tree trunks, hoping they would hold. She came close to the top and lay down on her belly, peering over the edge.
No one was there.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she hoisted herself back to her feet and climbed onto what felt like solid ground for the first time in hours. The stars shone above, smattering the clear night sky. A great horned owl hooted in the distance. There was no dead body. No vehicles. Who knew what had happened to her rental car. It was as if the horrendous crime she’d witnessed hadn’t happened here or at all. Elena had played the images over and over in her head while hiding. Why did that man shoot Amber? Why did he come after her?
Letting her backpack drop to the ground, Elena thought about the contents inside dealing with the homicide of the senator’s beloved daughter, Sydney. Ref had told her to leave this alone. What did he know that he wasn’t telling her? Did he snitch on her? Too late to find out now. He’d mentioned powerful people, but was any of this the reason Amber had been shot? Or had Amber gotten in more trouble than she’d admitted when she was here in January?
Should she try to get back to town? Find a cop. Tell them about Josh Colten. Or would they even believe her? There was the blue code among many cops not to turn on their own officers. She’d experienced it as a prosecutor and she was certain even small mountain departments had that issue. There were way too many questions and variables. She didn’t know any of the answers, which frustrated her to no end. But Elenadidknow she didn’t have the ability to spend the night outside. She’d learned in her team-building survival class that she’d need shelter, water, fire, and food.
She didn’t have any of those items, but at least she had grabbed her warmer jacket. And she’d worn tennis shoes rather than pumps. Amber had been dressed up in slacks, a nice blouse, and high-heeled boots. Probably to try to impress Josh. When Elena wasn’t at work, she was into comfort, so she wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweatshirt. Now she was grateful that she wasn’t into fashion. It had paid off in this case.
Making her way back down to the road, Elena thought she knew the direction to town. She could see the beam from a vehicle coming down the road. Maybe she could flag someone down and get a ride. Then she noticed there was only one headlight, along with another light. A spotlight—stronger than a flashlight—searching the trees.
Elena whirled around and took off into the thickest trees, finding one large old evergreen with a thick trunk and large branches. She tucked herself into the tree and held her breath. The glow shone near her feet, and she was about ready to take off as the vehicle pulled into the same spot where she and Amber had parked previously.
Then the dark SUV pulled back out and continued. With one headlight out, it had to be the same vehicle that the man who shot Amber was driving. She hadn’t been able to get a license plate number before or even a clear color because of the sunlight.
Pulling her cell phone out of her backpack, Elena brought up the map app. She had service. Barely, but enough to get the map to come up on her phone. Most of it was green and marked national forest land. She needed to figure out how to get to town, but not by hiking along the road.
The men were out at night in the cold searching for her. That couldn’t be a good sign and she knew why. Whatever the reason Amber was killed, Elena was the one witness. She’d lived long enough in Chicago to know that it wasn’t good to be the only witness. People ended up in Lake Michigan with cement shoes for less.
She pushed the map around and saw something that gave her hope. Tucked back into the national forest land was a sliver of private properties. Based on the small branches off the main road, maybe there was even more than one house.
If she hiked along the snow-packed road labeled Dead Man’s Pass, then she could probably get to this neighborhood. If you could call it that. Maybe there would be someone home and she could stay there and call 911. Then it hit her. She was thinking slow with the cold, but she could call 911 right now. Why hadn’t she done that before? Was she safe to call 911? If Josh Colten was involved with this, it might tip him off.
She had to take a chance. She opened her phone to the keypad, but as soon as she had the number dialed and heard ringing, the lone headlight and spotlight returned from the other direction. Fear overwhelmed her. Elena turned and took off running, still slipping in the mushy snow that hadn’t frozen yet. The SUV parked as her call dropped. Could this be the same men? Or was she getting paranoid?
Elena muttered some choice words. She hated to do this and she had no idea if her 911 call had gone through, but she ran to the steep mountain slope and threw her phone as hard as she could. If they were tracking her through it, then it was no use to her. She’d worked on some cases where the cops had been able to geolocate suspects from their phones. She figured these men, especially if it was Josh Colten and another officer, could have access to that technology. If that was true, they’d find her before she could get help. And one of the homeowners in the neighborhood she’d found would probably have a phone anyway. It would be better if they didn’t know where she was going.
She wanted to sprint but knew she had a good head start. If they were tracking her phone, she had time to escape. Now that the sun was down, Elena didn’t have a good sense of direction, but according to the map, she had to follow what apparently passed as a road in Colorado. What she wouldn’t give for the busy streets of Chicago right now.
Elena kept her steady pace, following the road. It wasn’t bad as far as jogging. There were some divots and rocks, but the snow was still thick enough in areas to create softer footing. She would sink into some deeper drifts and her feet were now soaking wet, but she kept going, glad that she hadn’t given up running back home.
She wasn’t in shape like she had been for the Olympic trials, but at least she was still plenty fit. Even better, she hadn’t heard any vehicles since she’d left the spot near the main road. Her legs started to shake and she came back to a walk, trying to stay in the tire tracks for the most part as then she had a path through the snowdrifts.
Keep going, she told herself.Keep running. One foot after another. You’ll get there as long as you don’t stop.
This was the same mantra she used when she was training for the championships. This race was different, though. This race was for survival.
Just when she thought she was hitting a wall, she spied the first house off the road. From what she remembered from the map, this road would keep going and go over a mountain pass and into another town. The road ran along the back side of the houses. Now she spotted the moonlight glinting off a metal roof on the house closest to the road.
She could see another house tucked back into the woods. Both houses were large log homes, with decks out back and groves of trees around them. She opted for the house closest to her and she didn’t see lights on, but she also knew it was getting late. In the city, people would still be out, eating dinner or even working. But up here in the mountains, she guessed that most people were asleep. She didn’t want to scare anyone and get shot, but she really needed to wake someone up.
Traipsing down to the house closest to her, she went up to the front door and peered in the window next to it. Her heart sank. There were sheets draped over the furniture and it didn’t feel like anyone was home. She hit the doorbell anyway and then waited. No one answered.
Maybe she’d have better luck at the next place. Her legs were like Jell-O as she followed the street, realizing that it hadn’t been plowed and there were no tracks into any of the driveways. Maybe these were summer homes or something. She tried the doorbell at the next place, but no one answered.
Another idea formed. If she found a rock and broke a window, then maybe she’d set off an alarm. With an alarm, there’d be police. She didn’t even want to think about the response time out in this area and she was still debating if the local cops were safe. She decided she had to take the chance and see if she could get an officer to respond. If the cop looked like Josh Colten, she would take off again.
Elena walked around the house. Most of the property still had snow on the ground, but she found a landscaped area. There was a rock small enough to pry loose and pick up. She went to the back door and threw it into the window.
The sound of glass shattering pierced the night, but no lights came on. There were no barking dogs or people yelling. Not the city. Apparently out here in the woods, no one worried about people breaking in. Go figure.
Elena carefully stuck her arm through the broken glass and felt for the lock and turned it. Maybe now there would be an alarm? She opened the door and stepped inside. Nothing. Elena tiptoed through the house, double-checking that no one was home, although she didn’t think most people would sleep through a rock being thrown into a window. No one was home and there was no landline phone. That probably meant that the homeowners now used cell phones here because maybe they had service. Or maybe they had Wi-Fi calling. It didn’t really matter. She needed a phone.
Feeling bad about vandalizing the property, she found a broom and dustpan and cleaned up the glass. Then she duct-taped a plastic bag over the opening. Not exactly a good fix like plywood, but it was the best she could do for now. When killers weren’t chasing her, she’d try to pay for the repair.
