The Lookout: A Gripping Survival Thriller Read online

  “That’s where you’d be wrong.”

  She chuckled. “Please. You expect me to believe a guy doesn’t place priority on the way a woman looks over everything else?”

  “Not every man’s like that.”

  “So you’re interested in what? Her hobbies? Her social life?”

  Travis tapped the side of his head. “The mind. There’s a lot more to be found inside there,” he said. “Besides, eventually looks fade, hobbies and interests change but the stuff that’s up in there, that’s where the real gold is to be found. Unfortunately not many people open up and show that side of them, you know — the deeper parts, the light, the darkness, what really makes them tick, and who they are when no one is looking.”

  Kelly was intrigued by his response. Though she wasn’t sure if he was pulling her leg or being serious. She sat back and breathed in deeply. “Give me an example.”

  He gestured to her. “You for instance. Would I be wrong to say the image you portray isn’t who you really are?”

  “That depends.”

  “On?”

  “Who you ask. Ask my mother you’ll get one answer, ask my agent, you’ll get another.”

  “Ask a fan?” he asked.

  She stared back at him. “I can’t share my whole life with fans.”

  “But you already have, have you not? Don’t all authors put some of themselves into their work?”

  “Sure. Or maybe they’re just exploring a segment of society that intrigues them, shining a light on it and giving their perspective. Not really saying it’s them but how they perceive it.”

  He nodded slowly. “It still reveals a lot about who they are. Don’t you agree?”

  She smiled. “I think if we journey down that rabbit hole, we may never come back.” She chuckled as she shifted the conversation away to anything that didn’t involve her book or her personal life.

  They continued to talk for several hours, until they had drained a pot of coffee. Then they began to clean up. Earlier she’d hung his uniform over a line that was slung between two hooks. While checking for damp spots, she noticed the nametag was missing. It seemed odd being as it was a metal pin. The chances of losing it were slim. “Huh. You know you’re missing your nametag.”

  “It’s not missing. I forgot to put it on. And trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve forgot. I don’t do it on purpose. It’s just when I throw it in the wash, and then I’m in a hurry the next day, it happens. Oh you should hear my boss, he gives me heck about it all the time. Unprofessional,” he said forming quotes in the air.

  “Oh.” She nodded. “Well the rest of your clothes are nearly dry.”

  “Hey look, Kelly, I really appreciate all you’re doing.”

  She gave a thin smile. “No problem.”

  As Kelly was straightening his clothes, something he said in the early hours of the morning came to mind. It caught her as unusual and although she didn’t want to make the situation awkward at the time, Kelly had to ask now. “Earlier you said you could see the town from here.”

  “No, I said you might be able to see the town’s lights.”

  “Uh. No, you said you could, which implies you have seen the lights from up here before. And since it’s winter, it wasn’t when you came up. How would you know that?”

  He stopped washing dishes and gave her a puzzled expression. “I mean we’re at a high elevation, right? It seems to me you would be able to see it.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “Would, could, they are two different things.” She squinted at him and then looked back at his uniform. “Something doesn’t add up here.” Before she could say anything more he interjected.

  “All right, all right, I didn’t want to tell you but… I’ve been here before.”

  “What?”

  He took a dish cloth and wiped his hands, then tossed it over his shoulder all nonchalant like he was conveying something she already knew. “As a guest. I stayed here, last year. That’s how I knew about the place. I figured it would be empty.”

  She looked at him with a confused expression.

  “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”

  “Because I could tell you were nervous. I didn’t want to put you on edge any more than you were,” he swallowed hard, “… are, I mean.”

  “When were you here?”

  “Last year.”

  “No. Month, week… day?”

  Travis shrugged. “I can’t remember the exact date. It was like mid-July. It was a weekend.”

  She was away on vacation in July, a couples retreat, Cole’s idea to try and work on their marriage. What a joke that was. Erin had been handling all the bookings at that time. There wasn’t a lot to collect: name, number, payment was all handled by a third-party company that she’d partnered with to make her life easy. They forwarded the funds to her bank. Any personal details collected were basic.

  Kelly crossed the small space to a drawer just to the right of him and pulled out a folder and flipped it open. She thumbed through pages until she reached July of last year. Her finger slid down one page, then the next.

  “Why I am not seeing you in here?”

  “What is that?” he asked leaning in.

  “A guestbook. I ask that everyone sign and leave a comment. It gives me a way to see what people liked or what I can improve later.” She tapped the paper with her index finger. “There is no Travis Barnes in here.” Kelly turned to face him, suddenly feeling very vulnerable again, the same way she had when she let him in, the same way she did before Cole hit her.

  He got a serious look. “That’s because I never signed it.”

  “Well that’s obvious, the question I’m asking is why? And don’t lie to me. Cause I will find out. A friend of mine who handled the booking at that time is coming up today, and believe me, in her line of work, she has a knack for remembering names.”

  He shrugged. “Listen, I never saw this book, and I wasn’t told to fill it out. So, I’m sorry if that changes things or makes you feel any less trusting of me but the rest is true. I was here. And that’s how I know about seeing Emery.”

  She eyeballed him to gauge if he was lying. Under most conditions she would have told him to leave but she was stranded in the middle of the woods, hours from civilization and if anything happened no one would know. If she attempted to run… where could she go? The snow was too deep, it would be like trying to run through waist-deep water.

  There had been a few instances of people not signing, though that wasn’t for a lack of them knowing, they just chose not to. She stood there for a few seconds unsure of what to say. The atmosphere was even more awkward. “Okay,” she said not wishing to make waves.

  He raised an eyebrow. “We good?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You sure?”

  “It’s fine,” she said closing the folder and sliding it back into the drawer.

  “Look, maybe you can tell me about your book or what you’ve been working on. I gather you must be working on something, right?”

  She waved him off. Her mind was like a minefield. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”

  “But I’m interested and we don’t have TV or internet to entertain us… but I did eye a copy of your book.” He crossed to the bed and reached beneath the countertop where there was a library of classic novels, magazines and non-fiction related to outdoor living. A Call to War was among them, and it was definitely not one she’d put there.

  “What the…? I never put that there,” she said, as he showed her.

  Travis shrugged. “Well someone did, and… while I know you don’t seem too keen on having people know you wrote it… but uh… your face is on the back,” he said turning it around. “Kind of hard to mistake you, unless you changed your hair or…”

  “Had plastic surgery,” she said as they both laughed. “That’s what I told my agent.” Her chuckle faded as she took the book from him and her eyebrow rose. “You didn’t put this here, did you?”

  “I wou
ld love to take credit for that but, sadly, no.”

  She wasn’t sure whether to believe him. “Good.” She glossed over the front cover one more time and put it back between one of Jack Kerouac’s novels and The Big Burn. The truth was it wasn’t the book, or the response from fans that bothered her, it was its connection to the first time Cole had hit her. The night she received news of hitting the bestseller list. It was meant to be a night of celebration, instead it ended up with her on the end of his fist. The only way he could bring her down was to attach himself to its publication, to justify his reaction by reducing her to his level and making her regret writing it. She hadn’t told anyone that.

  “Hey, c’mon now,” he said taking it back out. “I told you about the EMP because you were interested… fair’s fair…” His lip curled. “I’m interested in this.”

  She frowned, hoping he would change his mind. “Really?”

  “How often does someone wind up in a remote fire lookout with a bestselling author — and the book to boot? Please.” He pointed to a chair and then took a seat across from her. “Just a few words. I’ve always loved a good story.”

  Kelly grumbled under her breath as she took a seat, opened the book and looked at the first chapter. It had been years since she’d written those words, years since its publication, and a long time since she’d done a public reading. Even as she began to read the first line, it felt strange. Though the words were familiar, they reflected a very different place and time in her life, and that was both exhilarating and scary.

  8

  Pick your moment. Act too soon and you stand the chance of winding up in the ER. Act too late and the ER might not even be able to help. It’s the one thing every person learned from an abusive relationship. Man. Woman. It didn’t matter.

  Kelly didn’t trust him. She wasn’t a fool. All the red flags were there. There were no two ways about it. Lie once, and there was a damn good chance he would do it again, the question was why? In a relationship people lied for many reasons, to avoid an argument, to avoid petty retribution, or in her case, to avoid a backhand, but a stranger — what reason could he have to withhold the truth?

  No, play it safe, Kelly. Don’t rock the boat. Go along with it for now.

  Wait for the right time to make your move.

  That afternoon, Travis hunched in front of A Call to War, sipping on hot tea as she prepared lunch. As she folded foil over a pile of meat, veggies and potatoes to cook inside the fireplace, she eyed the gun on Travis’ duty belt that hung over the corner of the headboard. It was hard to ignore — an ever-present threat or opportunity. Earlier she’d gone through a variety of scenarios, ways she could escape, and yet some part of her couldn’t help but wonder if she was blowing things out of proportion. Was there truth to what he’d told her? If he had wanted to hurt her he’d already had plenty of opportunity, and if he’d wanted to rob the place, again, he would have done it by now, which made her second-guess and question if her fears were rational. Okay, so he’d withheld information about being here before, and he hadn’t signed a guestbook, and his nametag wasn’t on his shirt… but he’d been right about the snowmobile not working and the cell phones not operating, perhaps her instincts to protect herself after years of living under Cole’s thumb had made her more wary than she needed to be.

  Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Manipulation was a key component in any power struggle. She’d experienced first-hand how twisted and clever a person could be. Kelly remembered the way Cole would turn arguments around on her and make it seem as if she was the mentally unstable one. He had this knack of making her question whether she was at fault, that maybe she’d brought it upon herself, and that his lashing out was a natural consequence of a man driven to his breaking point.

  It wasn’t like he was prone to violent outbursts. His position as a police officer forced him to be in control, to remain calm and composed in stressful situations. That’s why close friends had a hard time believing her — in the eyes of those who knew him, he was kind, caring and very much in control of his emotions.

  She knew otherwise.

  “Hey, um, we’re running low on logs. Would you mind going down and bringing some up?” Kelly asked. “Then I’ll get this lunch on.”

  Travis looked up from the book. “Sure. You know, Kelly, you’ve written one hell of a novel. And I say that from someone who is very picky about reading material.” He dog-eared a page and set it down before reaching for his Forest Service coat.

  “Oh you know, that’s not dry yet. But you can use this one,” she said taking a thick jacket that belonged to Cole off a hook near the doorway to the deck.

  Travis smirked as he shrugged into it. “I know what you’re doing, Kelly.”

  Her stomach dropped. Remain calm. She gave him a puzzled look. “And that’s what?” Her stomach twisted, a feeling that he was on to her. Had she stared too long at the gun?

  “You’re fatting me up for the kill, so to speak,” he said. “Like the wildlife out there.”

  “Ha,” she replied chuckling and pointing at herself. “You got me.”

  As he lifted the hatch and climbed out, he continued. “I saw you had a bottle of red wine on the counter, maybe we can have a glass with lunch, what do you say?”

  “I’d say I know what you’re doing, Travis Barnes.”

  He chuckled. “And what would that be?”

  Her eyes flashed. “Taking advantage of an isolated woman. Getting her drunk.”

  Travis couldn’t hold in his amusement. “Dang, and I thought my plan was airtight,” he said in jest as he disappeared down the ladder, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was out of sight, Kelly’s smile faded. She waited a minute or two until she couldn’t hear him on the stairs before she rushed to his duty belt and took out the gun. The magazine chamber was empty. She rifled through the mag pockets but they were gone too. What the heck? Setting the gun on the counter, she bit down on her lower lip gently, thinking for a second. Then, without wasting another moment, she fished into his pocket for his cell phone.

  Once she had it, she tapped the button on the front but nothing happened. She turned it over and checked the edges looking for a power button. Convinced he would return soon, she got up and went over to the window. Travis was loading several logs into his arms while a heavy snow blasted him.

  Flash. The screen blinked on.

  Kelly looked down in surprise.

  While looking out she’d been holding down the button on the edge, fully expecting nothing to happen, but then the screen came alive with the manufacturer’s logo. What the heck? This shouldn’t be working. He said it wasn’t working. It took less than two seconds for it to load. Before her was a lock screen and the wallpaper was set to an image of a middle-aged woman with short blond hair, attractive, with her arms wrapped around two children who couldn’t have been more than ten years of age. Kelly noticed a wedding band on the woman’s ring finger.

  You said you weren’t married, and you didn’t have kids, she thought.

  Another lie?

  Her mind began racing.

  If his phone was working, was hers?

  The sound of boots on the staircase far below caught her attention.

  Quickly, Kelly tucked his phone back into his coat pocket and went over to where her phone was plugged into the solar charging unit. She fumbled with the power button but got nothing. Had there been less power in the battery than she thought? She recalled it being in the yellow when she’d plugged it in. Had he unplugged the cable? The light on the unit wasn’t on. His footsteps were getting louder. She was about to check the cable at the back of the panel to see if it was loose but that meant pulling it out and there wasn’t time for that. That’s when she noticed the cable that went to her phone was loose. It was in, but wasn’t fully connected. She could have sworn she’d checked that.

  Click. She pressed it back in.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  His boots pounded th
e steps.

  Any second now that trap door would rise.

  She backed away from the solar charging panel and returned to the lunch she was preparing. No sooner had she placed her hands on the foil than she noticed out the corner of her eye his gun, still out of its holster, set on the counter.

  Shit. She reached for it just as the trap door opened.

  “Whoa,” Travis said. “Don’t shoot.”

  She chuckled, holding it away from him. “Well that would rely on it being loaded.” She flashed the empty butt end of the gun. “It helps to have magazines — if you want to protect yourself,” Kelly added, acting all calm and collected as he climbed inside and dumped the logs where the others were beneath the counter. She returned the gun to its holster. “I hope you don’t mind, my ex used to carry a Glock. I was interested in seeing what forest rangers were packing.”

  He gestured to the gear. “Pretty much the same. Glock, two mags, ASP baton, OC, cuffs, radio, taser and a flashlight.”

  She tapped his duty belt. “It appears, though, you’re missing the most important equipment. But I expect you forgot to include them in your kit, like your pin, right?” Her eyes narrowed. It felt like a chess game and she had sandwiched him on all sides.

  Travis leaned against the counter, wiping snow from his forehead, studying her. “Nothing gets by you, does it?” He took a few steps toward her and she felt her insides tighten. He stopped inches away, then brushed past and reached into his jacket. He proceeded to remove three empty magazines.

  Too focused on the pocket he’d placed the cellular phone in, she didn’t check the other. “The international emergency sign for distress is three of anything: three shots, three blasts on a whistle, three flashes of a mirror, or three fires evenly spaced apart. When I got lost I fired off what rounds I had in the hope that one of my colleagues would hear me. With hypothermia setting in, I got a little desperate, you might say. I blew through what ammo I had. Does that answer your question?” He handed the magazines to her with a deadpan expression and turned and sloughed off his winter gear. He had this wry smirk on his face. If he was lying, he was good, but would he have an answer for the married woman and two kids displayed on the lock screen? Kelly looked down at the cold metal magazines in her hand. Yeah, of course he would, he’d just say it was his sister and nephews. But… one thing he couldn’t answer was why his phone had power, unless there wasn’t an EMP, and he was mistaken, in which case, why then was her snowmobile not working? Why hadn’t her phone charged? And why had he lied about his phone not powering on?