chest. What if she wasn’t there, and he wasted all this time to get there? This endeavor could take him much too long as it was, and the blizzard didn’t help.
“What about a helicopter? Don’t you fly them?”
“Nah. That’s Wayne’s job. We have other pilots. No one is going to take a helicopter out in this weather. But I know this country too. Together we can do this.”
Samara stepped in front of him. “Ivan, are you sure?”
The big man softened. He leaned in and kissed her, then he held her arms and looked into her eyes. “I love you.”
“Don’t say that as if you’re not coming back.” She hung her head, then lifted it again, her eyes glistening. “I . . . Yes, to the question you asked earlier.”
“It takes a crisis for you to answer me?” He chuckled. “All these years and finally I can make you my wife.”
“I said yes because Tawny is okay. She’s going to be okay. I couldn’t think of anything else until I knew that for sure.”
Liam didn’t want to poke holes in Samara’s belief, but if Zoey held the last piece of that code in her head, she was still very much in danger.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Bridger-Teton National Forest
Rae paced the living room. She’d thrown another log on the fire so she would be warm enough. After finding a flashlight, she’d looked through the place. It was elegant and cozy—like the Saddleback Resort. Same designer? A beautiful carving of a geothermal pool had been carved in the logs. There was nothing she could use for a weapon. Someone had been here before her though. Someone had torn something from the walls.
Maybe she could somehow set the whole place on fire and someone would see the fire and help would come.
Right. The blizzard stood in the way of help getting to her.
The wind had picked up and was howling eerily through the home. The fire flickered in the fireplace almost as though it might go out. She held her breath. That couldn’t happen, could it?
She plopped on the sofa and thought about the words she’d heard Wayne say.
Awful words.
This cabin was one of the places used. Had Zoey been here?
Rae fought back tears. She had to find a way out of here. What could she do?
God, am I going to die here? Is this my war zone? Am I going to die on this battlefield?
The wind’s howl twisted with another sound. Rae sat up and angled her head. What was that? A snowmobile?
Panic seized her. That couldn’t be. No one was going to come out here during this storm.
She rushed to the window but couldn’t make anything out. How was it possible someone was out there in this? Was this person coming to kill her?
Her knees shook—what would he do before he killed her? She had to act now. She glanced around the cabin. She rushed back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She tried to push the heavy pine bed over to block the door, but it barely budged. The mattress. She lifted the mattress and shouldered it over to the door.
Then while this person tried to get in, she would climb out the window and take his vehicle.
Yes! That was it.
With her heart pounding, she rushed to the window and unlocked it. It was stuck. Either nailed or glued or maybe it wasn’t even meant to open. She grabbed the quilt and wrapped it around her elbow, then shoved it against the glass. Again and again.
The front door shut. Someone was in the house.
Fear threatened to weaken her limbs. She wouldn’t succumb to that. Rae kept working on the window. There was no other way. Finally a crack. Then it shattered.
Using the quilt to protect her from the broken glass, Rae climbed through the window and landed in snow that went up to her waist.
Inside, someone pounded on her bedroom door. “Rae Burke, let me in. I’m here to help you!”
The voice was vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t risk it. She pushed through the deep snow without her coat—that had been taken from her to prevent her from going far.
Even if she got on that snowmobile, how would she survive? Still, she pushed on—walking around the house, huffing as she pushed through the snow. Her legs and feet were already growing numb. She made it to the front of the cabin and there . . .
A snowmobile.
She had to get away from here. Staying wasn’t an option. She would die and