Alaskan Mountain Pursuit Elizabeth Goddard (best short novels .TXT) 📖

was time to admit they needed another plan. There, standing in the darkness, he felt like he’d failed somehow. Yes, Summer was still alive, for which he was thankful, but he hadn’t been able to handle keeping her safe on his own. He hadn’t been able to eliminate the threat completely.

He hated when it felt like the bad guys were winning. He knew that, thanks to God and His plan, evil never won in the end. Ever. But sometimes on earth that wasn’t how it felt. And it grated against his sense of justice, against all the reasons he’d become a cop after high school in the first place.

I don’t know how to handle this, God. Help.

Noah stepped out of the building. Shook his head.

And Clay knew it was good that Summer had decided about the safe house on her own because at least she’d feel better about it that way.

Because he was pretty sure Noah was no longer giving her a choice in the matter. And Clay didn’t blame him. Whoever was after her wasn’t stopping. And her life was growing more dangerous every day.

When the Moose Haven Fire Department finally left, having declared the building safe, Summer was still standing in the parking lot, staring at the lodge. A light rain had started to fall as dawn broke across the sky, but she didn’t care. Let the rain fall.

She had to leave.

Summer wished tears would come, anything to give her some way to work through the overwhelming wave of emotions crashing against her right now, but none did. She just stared ahead, aware that Clay was close by talking to some other police officers, that her siblings were nearby. And yet, she’d never felt more alone in her life.

She’d fought for her chance to lead the hikes at this lodge, and she’d checked as recently as last week—occupancy at the lodge was up since she’d started doing them. Summer didn’t know why people seemed to care so much about whether or not she was there. She was a has-been mountain runner, but that one season she’d spent in Europe, even placing in some races, had helped her make just enough of a name for herself that it appeared she really was good for business.

And now she had to leave. Because rather than helping her family’s lodge recover from economic setbacks, her presence was hurting it. Of course that was the secondary reason she was leaving—hers and everyone else’s safety being the first priority. Still, she felt the sting. For the first time since the man had grabbed her in the woods, Summer let a dark thought flicker through her mind.

Was this all punishment for the way she’d lived a few years ago? For the choices she’d made?

She let the thought linger. Considered it.

“Summer?”

She blinked. She’d almost forgotten she wasn’t alone because it felt very much like she was. She looked at Clay.

“It’s me, you and Noah. And we need to leave as soon as possible.”

Summer nodded, looked back at the lodge and wished one more time for tears that didn’t come. “I’ll go pack.”

Not long after, Summer had her turquoise backpack strapped to her back and was dressed for hiking. After feeling so overwhelmed earlier, she felt strangely calm now that they were about to drive to the trailhead for their family’s cabin, the location they’d decided made the most sense as a safe house. She had failed in how she wanted to help her family, for now. But that didn’t mean this was the end. Once the danger was over and she was able to come back, she would do better, try harder, somehow make the lodge work and make up to her family for how she hadn’t been there for them in the past.

The ride to the trailhead was quiet. Neither of the men seemed like they were in a talkative mood and Summer definitely wasn’t, so no one spoke. There was no need to talk as they began hiking, either. Summer and Noah both knew where they were going and Clay just followed close behind.

How much longer was this going to last? Summer wondered as she pushed her pace faster, not from any sense of danger but because she needed to feel her muscles burn, needed to feel alive. She’d always loved the way hiking focused her, making her feel like if she could conquer this hike she could conquer anything. But today, the hike wasn’t enough to clear her mind. How much longer would she have to live like this, with someone after her?

She kept putting one foot in front of the other. The next right step, the next right thing, just like the pastor of the church in town her family attended had told her to do when she returned to town and wanted to know how to make things right with God, with her family.

The next right thing with her family had been to stay at the lodge, devote herself to helping it succeed. At least, that had been the plan.

The next right thing with God?

Summer had never stopped long enough to figure out what it was. Only knew it was there, hovering just out of her reach and feeling like if she just tried hard enough, focused hard enough, she’d know. Whether or not it would be something she’d be willing to do, she wasn’t sure. But right now she didn’t even know what it was.

Thinking in that direction made her feel unsettled, a feeling she’d had quite enough of lately, so she turned her thoughts to Clay.

He’d said nothing about her past, about the conversation they’d shared. Of course when had he had the chance? They’d been too busy reacting to events they couldn’t control.

Summer flinched when she thought that. Was that what her life had been the last three years? Just a chain of reactions to events because she knew she wasn’t ultimately in charge of her life and so she felt perpetually like she was spinning out