Incriminating Evidence (18 page)

“I don’t know. The fact that your cabin was hit by Airwave last night seems damning, but also convenient, if someone wanted it to look like Apex was involved.”

“I don’t like it,” she murmured, taking a step toward the slope.

“The Apex connection?”

She shook her head as she stepped onto the slope. She took three steps sideways, each slightly higher than the previous. As expected, the rocks rolled, and she slid down, gaining only a few inches of elevation from her starting point.

She met Alec’s gaze. “I don’t like this slope. Why would Vin climb it? He was alone—and had already been lectured about hiking alone by Dr. Larson—and the slope is too active. A fall would have been a foregone conclusion. It’s a terrible hike with no benefit. The summit is below the tree line and from looking at the map, it appears to back up to an even bigger hill. There’s no view. No way in hell did Vin climb this slope.”

Alec slapped at the cloud of mosquitos that had swarmed around them as soon as they paused at the base of the steep hill. “According to his write-up of the incident, there was a rockfall trail through the talus, indicating Vin had fallen—and then rolled—about thirty feet.”

She faced the slope again and kicked at the rocks, triggering a small slide. The truth settled in her gut. “Godfrey lied.” She glanced over her shoulder at Alec. “Why wasn’t he at my cabin last night? Or, for that matter, at the shoot house this morning? The rest of Falcon was both places. It crossed my mind last night that he could have been the one who shot the bear bangers and set off Airwave.”

Alec frowned. “He quit on Thursday. He was recruited by Apex.”

“So it could have been him.”

He nodded. “When we get back to the compound, I’ll ask the FBI to check on his whereabouts.”

She reached down and scooped up a rock, then chucked it at a high point in the slope. The impact caused yet another mini-avalanche of stones. “Vin must have seen this during the training. He’d have remembered hiking this area, but because he was unconscious when he was found and didn’t come to until he was inside the compound, he didn’t know what hill he supposedly fell down. One look at this slope and he’d have known Godfrey lied, or that if he really
was
found here, that someone had to have dumped him at the base and made it look like a fall. It must have been jarring to realize he didn’t remember what really happened that day.” It had been odd enough for her last night, and she’d only lost thirty minutes.

“Tell me about it,” Alec said with a hint of bitter humor. Then he sighed. “My guess is, your brother believed the dream was just that, until he returned here and things stopped adding up, or maybe being here triggered a memory. Like I was able to remember the pain of infrasound after reading Vin’s description.”

“And I was able to remember the earthquake in my living room after you told me you heard an explosion. It’s like the memories are there, but only accessible with a trigger.” Even now her recall was vague, more like snapshots in a photo album, viewed from outside, disconnected from her thoughts and experience. She glanced around and attempted to wave off a dozen mosquitos that vied for her blood. “So Vin saw this place and remembered something. Maybe.”

Alec nodded. “Maybe.”

“T
he group was camped here,” Alec said, pointing to the spongy ground beneath a stand of tamarack trees. “According to the trainees, Vin slept over there—set off from the group. There were four of them—three trainees and Vin—and they each had a two-hour watch shift. One of the soldiers—a nineteen-year-old boy who’d yet to complete a combat tour—probably dozed on his shift. When another soldier woke to take over, they noticed Vin was gone.”

Alec circled the small area. “They assumed he’d stepped away to take a leak, and made a bird call signal, one Vin should have repeated. He didn’t.” He paused and scanned the hills that jutted from the landscape a hundred yards away. Beyond the foothills were glacier-covered mountains, nothing but wilderness for hundreds of miles. “It dawned on one of them that Vin’s gear was gone too. But instead of worrying and raising the alarm, they assumed it was some sort of test. They figured Vin had moved a distance away and was watching them to see how they’d do in survival training without an instructor.” Alec rubbed a hand over his face. That first night, Vin had still been alive. If the trainees had followed protocol and radioed back to the compound, a search party would have been formed. They might have found him. But it wasn’t until twelve hours after Vin had disappeared that anyone in Raptor was informed one of their own was missing.

He finally turned to meet Isabel’s gaze, not knowing what he expected to see. This was different from visiting the place where Vin had supposedly fallen—which had been a puzzle with possible answers. She’d been quiet from the moment they reached this area, and now tears fell unchecked down her cheeks, and he felt like a complete and utter ass for not having made arrangements for her to visit this place months ago.

His lawyers had said many times it was unwise, and he damned himself for listening to them. One problem with growing up in an überwealthy family was the perpetual lawsuits. He’d had his own team of lawyers since he was sixteen and a fender bender—in which he’d been the middle car, rear-ended by a distracted driver and shoved into the stopped car in front of him—triggered his first frivolous lawsuit.

His father had freaked when Alec told him he intended to spend his inheritance on Raptor. Companies like Raptor were a tort lawyer’s wet dream.

But Alec had moved forward, knowing he could turn Raptor into something special. The mercenary organization—and the Alaska training ground in particular—would teach soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines life-saving skills. All branches of the military would receive specialized training that was desperately needed to defeat terrorists and insurgents and suicide bombers and all the new threats that had developed during the ongoing war on terror.

He didn’t give a crap if he was sued. He didn’t give a damn about his family’s money. He only cared that the company and assets didn’t fall into the wrong hands—as they’d been under Robert Beck’s ownership.

But still, he had attorneys. Legions of them. And, to a man, they’d insisted Isabel Dawson not be taken to the place where Vin disappeared or where he died. They were certain she would try to take Alec and Raptor for everything. Not that she’d succeed, but that allowing her inside invited the threat. He was fairly certain several lawyers, eager to present her case, had approached her. As far as he knew, she’d turned down every one.

Isabel had even refused the insurance money for Vin’s accidental death, because she didn’t want any legal documents to show she’d even tacitly accepted Vin’s death as an accident. The money sat in an escrow account, unclaimed.

Now, after meeting her, he was certain he’d never had to fear a lawsuit from her. Money played no part in her motivation.

She stared at the last place Vin was seen alive, with silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Alec crossed the soft, mossy ground and took her into his arms. She stiffened at first, but then settled against his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she let out her first audible sob.

He stroked her hair, which was every bit as soft as he’d suspected, but this was
not
what he’d imagined for the first time he tangled his fingers in her beautiful curls. “I’m sorry, Iz. I should have brought you here months ago.”

She nodded. “I know why you didn’t.”

“Because I’m an ass.”

She laughed even as she cried. “Well, sure, but I also know you were warned I’d sue you for everything if I could.”

“I’m sorry I listened.”

She looked up at him, her green eyes glistening and beautiful and sad. “Thank you.” She rose on her toes and pressed her lips to his. A soft kiss of friendship and acceptance that gave him hope she could forgive him.

If she forgave him, maybe they had a shot at more than friendship, more than sex, which he realized in that moment was what he wanted. Last night he figured he could be satisfied with a no-strings physical relationship, but they’d passed that point. He wasn’t sure when. Maybe when they flirted over breakfast, or when he’d had a visceral, negative reaction to the suggestion she play the role of hostage. Maybe
when
didn’t matter.

He ran his thumb over her chin. “You ready to go to the place where we found him?”

She nodded. “I’d sort of hoped to look around—to see if we could find a cave—but I don’t suppose we have time.”

“Not today. I promise, we searched this area, and the area around the talus slope where Godfrey said they found him, thoroughly. There aren’t any caves until you get into the higher foothills—and we didn’t find any petroglyphs in those.”

“I’ll still want to look.”

He nodded. “Maybe Tuesday. I need to finish prep for the upcoming training first.”

“I could go by myself—”

“No. It’s not safe.”

She frowned. “I hike by myself all the time, Alec. It’s part of my job.”

“I’m not worried about bears. I’m worried about whoever killed Vin.”

He caught the widening of her eyes. Had he not said it outright before? He wasn’t sure, but even if he had, it was clear she wasn’t used to hearing it. “He was murdered, Iz. And we’re going to find out who did it.”

She gave him a sharp nod and said, “Let’s go.”

They walked for nearly an hour before they reached a narrow footbridge that crossed the river. “We think Vin crossed a mile downstream the day after he disappeared. I’ll take you to where we think he crossed after I show you where we found him.”

“Were you part of the search team?”

“Yes. The day he was reported missing, I caught a flight from Maryland and joined the search. Brad Fraser and I found Vin.”

She took his hand in hers and squeezed. “Brad never told me that.”

“He wasn’t under orders not to—he probably felt it would be hard for you—or that you’d pressure him to take you there.”

“Probably the latter. And, honestly, I would have.”

She didn’t release Alec’s hand, which surprised him. He had a feeling Isabel wasn’t really a hand holder, but she was facing her deepest grief and needed a hand to hold. He was damn glad that he could provide it.

Mosquitoes swarmed in the late summer heat. He waved an arm to disperse them but didn’t release Isabel’s hand to dislodge the worst offenders. No way was he letting her go now that he had her.

They reached the glade where he’d found Vin eleven months ago. Back then, snow had dusted the ground and Vincent Dawson’s body. Between the snow and his camouflage clothing, he’d blended into the landscape, and Alec hadn’t spotted him until they were just yards away. Today Alec was glad for the bright afternoon sun and the late summer wildflowers, which lent the clearing a peaceful beauty.

“It was snowing when he walked here, and continued snowing for several hours after he died. There was a faint, single set of footprints leading to his body.”

A granite marker rested on the exact spot where Vin had lain down and died. Isabel gasped when she saw it and dropped to her knees, tracing the letters of her brother’s name etched into the stone. She looked up at Alec. “Did you…?”

“Yes.”

She smiled at him, and he was surprised there were no tears. “Thank you.”

“Do you want to have a ceremony here on the first anniversary? You can invite friends and family. I’ll make sure my people leave you alone.”

Now her eyes did tear. “Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’d like that. We don’t have any blood relatives, but there’s a military family I lived with in high school, when Vin was deployed. It would mean a lot to them to be able to visit.”

“I’ll pay for their trip.”

Her brow furrowed.

“No strings, Iz. I’m just doing what I should have done months ago.”

She stretched out a hand, and he pulled her to her feet. She stood before him and slid her arms around his neck and rose up on her toes. She kissed him again, not with passion, but not exactly platonic either.

She dropped back to her heels and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s go to the river, then head back to the compound.”

He nodded and took her hand again and led her toward the low, wide stretch of the river that was the only shallow crossing for a mile in each direction.

Isabel studied the rapid flow. “How high was the water when Vin crossed?”

“About the same as it is now. It snowed that first night, and again the last night, before we found him, so the ground was slick on the bank. There were footprints on the far side that indicated he’d stumbled and fell into the water.”

“That’s when he lost his pack?” Isabel asked.

“We think so, but continuing across after losing his gear has never made sense. He knew the compound buildings were on that side of the river. Plus, there’s a prove-up cabin, where he could have gotten warm, just a half mile away.”

She dropped to the damp ground above the bank and unlaced her heavy hiking boots.

“You want to cross?” he asked, surprised.

“It’ll be faster than hiking to the bridge.”

He wanted to caution her, but if anyone knew how to cross a rapidly flowing river in Alaska, he had a feeling that person was Isabel Dawson. She tucked her socks into her boots and tied the laces together, then draped the boots around her neck. Next she hiked her pants above her calves and cinched them in place by tightening elastic bands built into the cuffs.