Page 50 of One Last Stand
“You’re not in this alone, London.”
Yeah, well, maybe she should be. Her jaw tightened.
The pilot came over the loudspeaker and announced their descent into Luciella International Airport in the capital city of Montelena.
She spotted the small country, landlocked and surrounded on all sides by tall, forbidding peaks, the country itself the size of neighboring Liechtenstein. The capital city—the only city—sat in the middle of the valley, still green, a paradise with a palace that reminded her of crazy Ludwig’s Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, seated on a mountain overlooking the city.
“Are you at all concerned that Tomas could be setting you up?”
She looked back at Shep, his mouth a tight line as he glanced at Tomas, now rising, looking out the window.
“Maybe. I don’t know how the rogue agent got wind of the handoff with my CIA contact that day in Zermatt, so anything is possible.” She drew in a breath. “I guess we’ll just have to be prepared for anything.”
He stilled then, and she frowned at him. “What?”
Shep leaned over, his voice low. “I need to tell you something. It’s about that day on the mountain.”
The day he’d appeared out of nowhere, barreling back into her life. The day he’d saved her life by pulling her into a chalet, protecting her from an avalanche. The day that’d led to three days of keeping her alive.
He grimaced. “I think my Ranger team was sent there to kill you.”
* * *
He felt like a man waiting for the guillotine. And stripped nearly naked at that.
Moose stood up from the wooden bench in the hallway, unable to take one more second of sitting. Waiting for his life to end—or perhaps begin.
Inside the double doors of the courtroom of Nesbitt Courthouse in Anchorage, a judge deliberated Moose’s future.
“What does it mean to have a motion for a directed verdict?” This from Tillie.
Sweet of Tillie to come to court with him today and sit here for hours while the prosecution dismantled his life. She wore a pair of dress pants and a sweater, her dark hair down, and just being able to glance over at her from the defendant’s table and see her nod, so much trust in her eyes—yeah, he couldn’t wait to marry this woman.
Get on with his life.
If, after all this, he had a life to get on with.
Six hours of testimony, evidence, and probing in front of a jury of his peers. And no, he wasn’t a criminal—this was his civil trial. But not only had his policies, his decision making, and his past experiences been stripped open, but frankly, it’d had him reliving the entire nightmare over and over.
A callout to search for five women in a bridal party who’d gone missing in a snowstorm. All but the bride had been found—and she’d been murdered by a serial killer. So technically not his fault. But the bride’s father, Harry Benton, had sued him anyway, alleging he’d given up the search too early.
Maybe he had. Or not.Sheesh,now his own brain waged a trial against him.
“Okay, the machine was out of Snickers, but I did score you a Three Musketeers bar and a Diet Coke. Oh wait, that’s for me. I got you some bread and water.”
Moose turned at the voice, scowling. “What?”
Axel was walking down the hall, holding goodies from the vending machine. “You look like you’re a prisoner. Calm down, bro. This is going to go your way; I feel it.” He handed Moose a granola bar and a bottled water. “Upgrade.” Then he gave Tillie a bag of Sun Chips. “As you requested.”
“Thanks, Axel,” Tillie said, opening the chips. She had stayed seated while Moose prowled the hallway outside the chambers. “Sure is taking a long time. I don’t know much about the law, but this feels like an easy win. The defense has nothing?—”
“They have their hurt and pain,” said Axel, unwrapping his candy bar. “Which, in this world today, seems to be enough reason to take people to court, even if they did nothing wrong.” He bit into the candy bar.
“Yes, but even the coroner testified that Grace Benton was most likely dead when you paused the search. I mean, c’mon, it was a blizzard. Sending the Air One team back out into that snow would have been irresponsible—even lethal.” She took a bite of chip. “I have to admit, Ridge is a great lawyer, getting Mike Grizz on the stand to talk about exposure and hypothermia and how dangerous it is to keep searching when people are exhausted. You saved lives that day, Moose.” She gave him a smile that had the power to save his sorry life.
He had had a ring designed at a local jeweler’s—just needed to pick it up. And figure out when to propose.Sheesh,at this rate, he’d pull over in a parking lot on the way home and take a knee.
“Yeah, but losing someone haunts you, and Benton’s trying to park his blame somewhere,” Axel said.