Just A Little Bit Dangerous Part 17

"Well, then it's going to hurt even more. I've got to apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding. Bullet bounced off your rib. I think it may be cracked or even broken."

"Just my luck."

She tore open the cover off a sterile gauze, set it against the wound and pressed it down with the palm of her hand.

Jake groaned. "You weren't kidding, were you?" he snarled.

"Sorry. The rib?"

He jerked his head. "Yup."

She hated hurting him, but they were both medical professionals and knew there was no other way to stop the bleeding. "This should only take a few minutes."

"Take your time," he said dryly.

Trying to ignore the sight of his naked abdomen-and her reaction to him-Abby maintained pressure for several minutes. His abdomen was rock hard beneath her fingers and rippled with muscle. She was aware of Jake leaning back against the tree, his arm raised so she had access to his side. She was aware that his body was damp with sweat despite the frosty air-and that every thirty seconds he looked over his shoulder toward the trail.

"I keep wondering how that sniper found us," he said after a moment.

Abby lifted the gauze and checked the wound. Much to her relief, the bleeding had slowed. "I'm going to disinfect, okay?"

Jake nodded, but his eyes were still on the ridge above them and to the north. "If RMSAR hasn't found us yet, how the h.e.l.l is this bozo doing it?"

He winced when the antiseptic hit the wound. Abby tried not to notice his muscles tightening beneath her palm. Or the thin layer of fine black hair that ran down his washboard belly to disappear into the low rise of his jeans. But her every sense was honed on Jake. His closeness. His scent. That he knew how to kiss a woman senseless....

"I don't get it," he said. "The only people who knew I was coming up this way to look for you were the people in the briefing room the morning I left."

"Yeah?" Abby secured the bandage over the wound. "Who was that?"

"Buzz Malone. He's the team leader. A couple of medics. Tony Colorosa, our chopper pilot." He paused. "And two suits from D.O.C."

A chill climbed up Abby's spine. A chill that had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature. And everything to do with the possibility that someone in a position of power within the Department of Corrections didn't necessarily want her to make it back to the ranger station. At least not alive.

She lowered Jake's s.h.i.+rt. When she looked at him, his eyes were already sharp on hers. "Any idea what's up with that?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said slowly.

"Reed's a doctor, right?"

Her pulse jumped at the mention of his name. "A surgeon."

"He's well connected?"

She nodded. "A philanthropist. Charismatic. And very wealthy."

"Money can buy a lot of things."

"People included. What are you saying?"

"Just thinking out loud, mostly."

"You think Reed is behind all of this, don't you?"

"Don't you?"

She thought about it for a moment. "He knows I'm on to what he's been doing. I mean, I've got a big mouth. I've been telling anyone who would listen."

"Can't blame you for that." Jake contemplated her. "Let's think about black market organs for a second."

"Okay."

"Hypothetically speaking, who are his clientele?"

"Wealthy people from all over the world. People who need transplant organs or whose children need them. Most of these people are already on a recipient list. But there just aren't enough organs to go around. I mean, when it comes right down to it, money doesn't really matter when you're waiting for a heart or kidneys or a liver. All the money in the world can't make there be enough organs for everyone who needs one. Everyone is pretty much equal. I mean, at least when it comes to money. Age is sometimes taken into consideration."

"So, there's a donor list," he began, "but because there aren't enough donors, sometimes the people on the list die before a viable organ becomes available."

"Maybe Reed found a way around that little problem." The thought made Abby feel sick to her stomach. The organ donor programs across the country were vital, life-saving programs, and made possible by generous people who were kind enough to sign up so that someone who desperately needed donor organs could live. That Reed would take such a worthy program and sully it for the likes of money outraged her.

Another thought occurred to her then. One that made her blood run cold. "If we don't make it back, no one will ever know."

His eyes turned to steel. "We're going to make it back."

She wondered how he could be so sure when he was sitting there with a bullet wound in his side. "Lady Luck has a bad side, Jake. I've seen it too many times in the past year and half to discount it now."

"I've got a bad side, too," he said fiercely. "Believe me, you don't want to see it."

Abby looked over her shoulder at the ridge to the north. "Do you think your search and rescue friends are out looking for us?"

"No doubt about it. The chopper is out. Maybe the ATV in the lower elevations. The snow is hindering them. But they're looking. You can count on it."

"I'm sorry I destroyed your radio, Jake. That was really a stupid thing to do."

He looked at her soberly. "If you hadn't, you'd be in a six-by-six cell right now and no one would ever know about Reed."

The mention of a prison cell made her s.h.i.+ver, but she quickly shoved the feeling away. She couldn't think about going back or all the things that could happen when she did.

Then the realization of what he'd said struck her. She looked at him and blinked, realizing belatedly that he was watching her.

He must have deciphered her thoughts from the look on her face because he smiled. "You were wrong about me," he said quietly.

"What I am, Jake, is confused. I have no idea where I stand with you."

"I believe you about Reed," he said after a moment. "I believe you about all of it. The only question that remains is how we're going to handle it."

Abby had never been much of a crier. Even before this mess she'd never been p.r.o.ne to tears. But hearing those words put a fist solidly in her throat. Tears burned behind her eyes. She blinked rapidly to suppress them, but they spilled over anyway.

Gazing steadily at her, Jake took off one of his gloves and thumbed a tear away. "That was supposed to be good news."

"It is."

"Don't cry. That really tears me up."

"Don't let it get to you too much. I mean, you've been shot."

He smiled wryly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Using the sleeve of her duster, she rubbed her eyes. "I don't know where that leaves us, Jake."

"That leaves us with a big problem."

Her heart stuttered. Another tear slipped down her cheek and he caught it with the backs of his fingers. "I'm in a position to help you. I'll do my best. No matter what happens, I want you to believe that, okay?"

Disappointment cut her, but Abby steeled herself against it. She didn't have room for disappointment. Jake was going to help her. He was an officer of the law. Just because for one crazy second she'd wanted more didn't mean he was going to oblige.

Abby didn't want promises. Invariably they ended up broken. Jonathan Reed had left her with enough broken promises to last her a lifetime.

Drawing a shaky breath, she looked around. "What do we do now?"

Jake stepped back, worked his hand into his glove. "Our number one concern is to avoid that sniper."

"Sounds like a solid plan. How do we do that?"

"We head south. It's rougher terrain, desolate as h.e.l.l, and will end up taking a little longer, but these animals are experienced trail animals. The sniper is on a snowmobile. He's got speed, but we'll hear him coming from a mile away."

"What about food?"

"We're down to our last two protein bars." He scowled. "We need to be sure to take in plenty of fluids. I'll melt some snow later. We're at nine thousand feet. Between the cold and the alt.i.tude, it's easy to get dehydrated."

"Right."

His expression turned serious. "If the weather turns, Abby, we could get into trouble."

She saw the worry in his eyes and her heart melted a little. He wasn't worried about himself, she realized. He was concerned about her. Aside from Grams, she couldn't remember the last time someone had been concerned for her, certainly not a man. "The weather's going to hold," she said.

"How do you know?"

"I think we've already used up all our bad luck."

He chuckled. "I was thinking the same thing."

"How long before we reach the ranger station?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Can you travel?"

"Hey, no problem. Bullets bounce right off me, you know? Ribs of steel." He straightened, but Abby could see it was an effort for him to keep from grimacing. She'd seen the bullet wound. Even if it wasn't life-threatening, she knew how much pain it was causing. And she knew it wasn't going to be easy for him to travel rough terrain on horseback in hip-deep snow.

"You'll need antibiotics," she said. "Maybe a teta.n.u.s shot."

"It'll keep." He looked up at the sky. "We might get lucky and see the chopper. I've got a couple of flares."

"In the saddlebag?"

He walked over to the saddlebag and removed a cylindrical flare. "Just hold the flare dead center, like this." He demonstrated. "And strike the tip against a tree or a rock. One end will flame and start smoking like crazy."

"I'll remember that."

"Let's make some time."

Jake smelled it before he actually saw the rising steam or heard the gurgle of water.

"What on earth is that smell?" Abby asked.

He stopped his horse and peered into the gathering darkness. "Sulfur," he said.

She parked the mule next to Brandywine and stared into the trees. "Sulfur?"

He glanced over at her and his heart b.u.mped hard a couple of times against his ribs the way it always did when she was close. They'd been traveling over rough terrain and deep snow for nearly four hours. But even exhausted and scared and cold, she was incredibly beautiful. At some point her hair had come loose and coiled like springs around her shoulders. Fatigue shadowed the fragile skin beneath her eyes. But her eyes still had that vital light that was the force of her personality. He'd found himself watching her a dozen times throughout the afternoon hours. Found himself wondering if anyone had ever loved her. If a man had loved her. If Abby had loved him back....

Banking the thought with ruthless precision, Jake clucked to the horse and moved into a small clearing surrounded by jutting rock and pion pine. Near an outcropping of jagged granite, fog rose out of the earth like ghostly fingers.

"I feel like I'm entering the enchanted forest," Abby said from behind him. "What is this place?"

He grinned. He almost couldn't believe it. "A hot spring," he said.

"I've never seen anything like it." She gaped at the bubbling water and thick bank of swirling fog that hovered above. "It looks...surreal."

"There are quite a few hot springs in the area. There's one not far from Aspen. It draws a lot of tourists year-round and from all over the world."

"Can we...get in?"

"As long as the water temperature isn't too hot."

She stared at the rising steam. "I don't know about this...."

"I don't know about you, but I've never been so glad to see hot water in my life." Turning in the saddle, Jake glanced over at her and grinned. "You'll love it."

Careful not to jar the wound in his side, he used the stirrup and dismounted. He lashed Brandywine to a st.u.r.dy lodge-pole pine, loosened the girth of the saddle, then proceeded toward the bubbling pool. "A couple of young park rangers were seriously burned up in Yellowstone a few years back when they jumped into a hot spring."

"How awful."

"We'll be a little bit more cautious." He could feel the heat even from three feet away. After two days and two nights of hard riding and sponge baths, he was more than ready for a dip.

"How are you going to check the water temperature?" she asked from behind him. "We're both pretty cold. You know what long periods of exposure to cold does to a person's sense of temperature."

Remembering the first-aid kit, he walked back over to Brandywine, opened the saddlebag and removed a thermometer from the kit. "I knew I'd need this someday."