Page 65 of Hunted in Hope Town

But it wasn’t. Not anymore.

“So what’s this about, Sutty?” Colleen asked, clearly a little bored with his silences. “I don’t mean to push you along or whatever, but I’ve got things to do.”

“I just wanted to reach out to everyone I cut off while I was…dealing with everything. Apologize for it, and hopefully make some kind of amends. I really hope you’re doing well, Colleen. You were a good friend for a while.”

“A while.” She laughed bitterly. “You mean until your wife thought I had designs on you and you couldn’t be man enough to tell her to sack up?”

Sack up. That old frustration with Colleen sizzled to the surface quickly. Because she was fun to hang out with. She’d been great at an office party. But she crossed boundaries—because she was the problem, not Kirsten.

This whole bizarre scenario case in point. But he couldn’t say any of that. Well, maybe he could but he didn’t want to go digging into ancient history. He wanted to put an end to it. “I don’t… I don’t like to talk about her, if you don’t mind.” He glanced over at Boyd, who was hunched over his computer, waiting for a message from Zach.

“Maybe I do mind. Maybe I mind a hell of a lot,” Colleen said. “And maybe you’ve got some nerve calling me up out of nowhere.”

“I’m…sorry.”

“Yeah, you should be.” The line ended with a click. Ellis swore under his breath. “Was it long enough?” he asked Boyd.

“Not to get her exact location, Zach doesn’t think.” Boyd typed something, clearly communicating with Zach through some kind of messaging service. “But it was confirmed she was trying to trace you.”

“She’s the one who ended the call. She must have gotten what she wanted. So now what?” Ellis tossed the phone on his table.

“We wait for Colleen to make her way up here,” Boyd replied.

“She won’t be alone.”

“No, but luckily, neither are you.”

KIRSTEN WAS BEYOND NERVOUS, there was no denying that. Ellis and Boyd had a way of preparing for things where they talked in a weird kind of shorthand she didn’t understand, and she felt bad about constantly having to ask what they meant.

But a plan was taking shape, forward motion.

Ellis was mad at her for pushing this. He was mad at Boyd for being here. He was just plain mad, and she couldn’t even blame him.

She was a little mad herself, but mostly at a woman she didn’t understand. Maybe it was the teacher in her, or whatever had marked her childhood, but she wished she could. She wished she could find a reason for Colleen’s behavior. Pathologize it. So she didn’t have to accept that some people just sucked.

“You two will leave the cabin, talking loudly about Kirsten’s fake ailment and how you have a snowmobile not far into the woods,” Ellis was explaining, even though they’d gone over it multiple times.

This was the final plan. They were ready to enact it. Kirsten felt like she was going to shake apart, but she tried to appear brave.

Boyd was checking his guns. “I’ll even fake a call to a doctor or something. Really play it up.”

“They won’t see through that?” Kirsten asked.

“It won’t matter if they do. If they follow us, they want you,” Boyd replied. “If they go for Ellis, they want him.”

“What if there’s enough to split up and go for both of us?”

“We’re prepared. And they don’t think we are. Sometimes, all you need is the element of surprise.”

Kirsten didn’t take Boyd’s confidence at face value. She just couldn’t, but she liked that someone could pretend. It sure wasn’t her.

Ellis crossed to her and handed her a gun. “You know how to use it, and I need you to use it if it comes to that.”

Kirsten swallowed. She didn’t want to take the gun. She didn’t want to shoot anyone. But she remembered the last time, and all she’d suffered because she hadn’t been strong or brave enough or whatever to move beyond her fear and protect herself.

So she took it from Ellis and nodded, not trusting her voice to say anything. She knew how to use it.

And she prayed she wouldn’t have to.