She’d probably left enough questions in his mind about her behavior that he might decide to do a Google search. The good news was this article reported her real name. But the picture was a dead giveaway for someone with criminal investigations experience to put two and two together. If he simply browsed Portland headlines…
What could she do about it? Anything?
She leaned back against the wall.
She could come clean, but she’d only known him a day. Long enough to know he was the kind of guy who would do the right thing. The legal thing. The thing an honorable guy would do.
Turn her in.
Maybe she should flee.
No. Not a good idea. She needed the survival skills he could teach her, as she had no clue how to live off-grid. Today only further emphasized that.
Maybe she could distract him. But how? Not with her nervous behavior, that was for sure. She could flirt with him. Get romantically involved. Then maybe he would look the other way.
That might work. After all, he didn’t do a very good job of hiding his attraction to her. And she reciprocated. She wouldn’t even have to act with him. Her response would be real, for sure.
Her stomach knotted. Man, this was getting more and more out of control. She didn’t much like the person she was becoming in order to stay out of prison for something she didn’t do.
And trying to start something romantic with him? That wouldn’t be fair to him. Lead him on. It would be downright low in her opinion. His, too, as she’d heard him talking to Ernie about his faith, and he wouldn’t condone lying. Too bad. She was already lying, right? She’d be gone in less than a week. How much could he come to care for her in such a short time? Surely not enough to really hurt him.
“But would he give in to his attraction or pull the professional card?” Either way, she had to try.
On the one hand, eager to get started, the other dreading it, she powered down the phone, wrapped it in her sock, and placed it under the mattress. She headed to the bathroom to put on makeup and dress in the cute knit top she’d been told highlighted her fair coloring and showed off her curves.
She would take a walk and accidentally run into him. Perhaps knock on his cabin door. On the property tour first thing that morning, he’d mentioned the staff cabin painted a crisp white was his. Neat and tidy outside like all the others, but more sparse without any landscaping.
She grabbed a flashlight and key for her cabin, then stepped into the shadows, clinging to the small building. Pausing outside the door, she gave her eyes a chance to adjust to the dark and peered at the sky, littered with sparkling stars.
Oh, man, how beautiful. She could get used to seeing how God planted the stars in the sky like little lights to lead the way. Maybe walk under them and the warm moon hanging high with Micha for real.
Nah, she couldn’t do that. Not with him. Not with any guy. She not only was a fugitive from the law, she was a fugitive from the life she’d always wanted for herself.
“So get your fake on, girl,” she whispered. “Charm the man and don’t feel bad doing it, or you will fail. That is not an option. Not an option at all.”
Micha had delivered his guests to their cabins for the night and settled into a chair at Shadow Lake Survival’s small meeting room, located in their training facility. The other five guys on the team sat around the table and glanced at him. He was always struck by how looking at them left no question that they were a team of former law enforcement or military guys who had stayed fit to do their best for the people they served.
Reid Maddox, managing partner, ran a hand over dark hair. “Long day. Problems?
Micha leaned back in his chair. “Took a little longer on the fire starting, but everyone finally got it, and they’re tucked in for the night.”
“I got a look at Kari,” Colin Graham, a former FBI agent who’d specialized in information technology, said. “Probably no hardship in tucking her in.”
The others laughed.
“Not going to touch that,” Micha said.
“Ah, then thereissomething there.” Colin’s brother Devan, a former Clackamas County deputy and expert in water rescue, scratched his close-cut beard.
“Yeah, maybe, but you know we don’t get personally involved with clients.” Micha shifted his focus back to Colin. “And I think she’s hiding something. No evidence to that fact. Just a gut feeling, but my gut is rarely wrong, and I’d like you to do a deeper dive on her.”
Colin took a hearty breath and let it out. “Pretty much all of our clients try to hide secrets. But we don’t go digging into things unless it interferes in the training sessions.”
“Or if we believe they’re involved in illegal acts,” Reid added.
“You thinking she’s breaking the law?” Sheriff Russ Maddox, Reid’s younger brother and the only active law enforcement officer of the team, asked.
Did he? Did he really? Could he even be objective? “Not sure, but do we want to take a chance?”
