"For what?"
"Hiking boots. Those sandals you're wearing won't last five minutes on the trail."
"The trail?" she echoed. "Robert asked you to meet him somewhere that involves hiking? That doesn't make any sense." She shook her head in confusion. "Robert hates the outdoors. He doesn't even like to take walks. And I can't imagine him climbing a mountain." She paused as the word
mountain
ran around in her head. Robert's words from his cryptic phone call several days ago flashed through her mind, and she found herself saying them aloud. "
It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
What does that mean, Reid?"
"Exactly what it says. Sometimes the mountain is just a metaphor for life."
"I like metaphors. So, you're saying we're not going to climb an actual mountain?" she asked hopefully.
"I'm not saying that at all, Shayla, which is partly why I didn't want to bring you along."
"I can hold my own. I'm a Callaway. I've been camping since I was a kid."
"Really?" he shot her a quick look. "Now you've surprised me. I thought you'd be a girl more comfortable in a library."
"I did that, too, and I have to admit that camping wasn't my favorite activity. But with eight kids, camping was one of the things we could all do together that didn't cost much money. And my father was big on teaching survival skills. Not that there was any chance I was ever going to get lost in the woods. But if I did, I could find water, make a fire with stones and sticks, and maybe even be able to put up a rough shelter."
"Maybe I should be glad you're coming along. You can take care of me."
"I haven't actually done any of those things since I was about twelve years old, so I may have forgotten a little of what I was taught. What about you? Are you a camper?"
"Yes. I can do everything you can do," he said lightly. "My grandfather made sure of that. And what he didn't teach me, the Army did."
"I don't think I've heard anything about your grandfather. Is he still alive?"
"No, he died when I was seventeen."
"What was he like?"
"Hard, tough, and spiritual."
She had been about to say he sounded like Reid until he got to the last word. "Spiritual?"
Reid nodded. "My grandfather was Native American, part of the Northern Paiute tribe that roamed the mountains above Yosemite."
She had to admit she was surprised by his answer. She couldn't really see any Native American in him, although maybe that's where he got his olive skin and strong jaw. "Is this the grandfather on your mother's side or father's side?"
"Mother's side. My grandmother was white, so my mother was half Native American, and I'm a quarter. My grandfather was a carpenter and worked construction for most of his life. But his real love was nature and the outdoors. He built a cabin in the woods, and after my grandmother died he would spend six to nine months a year up there. Robert and I would go in the summers. During the day he'd take us fishing, teach us how to hunt, how to survive off the land. At night he would tell us stories about coyotes who tricked people into doing bad things." He gave Shayla a quick smile. "Every story had a moral, some very thinly disguised. As I got older and more rebellious, I think he made up stories that were just for me."
She smiled back at him. There was affection in his voice when he spoke of his grandfather. Reid hadn't been close to anyone else in the family, but he had had someone in his life who had meant something to him. She was happy about that.
"My grandfather would tell us over and over again to pay attention to what he was saying. He was afraid that after he was gone we wouldn't know anything about our heritage," Reid added. "And he was probably right."
"But now you can pass the stories on." She could totally see Reid taking his son up to the mountains and teaching him the ways of his ancestors, because Reid valued history and tradition and the land. Of course whether or not he'd commit to a woman and have a child was impossible to know. "What about your father's parents? Did you know them?"
"No, they lived back East. And they passed away before I was in my teens. I remember them from a few Christmas visits, but not much else."
"Well, at least you had one grandparent to spend time with, and it sounds like you were close."
"I wouldn't say close. He was a hard man to get close to, but he was someone who taught me a lot about challenging myself, setting high goals, not being afraid to tackle what appears to be impossible. He told me not to let fear ever stop me from doing what I wanted to do."
"It's not the mountain we conquer but ourselves," she said again. "I get it now."
"I took that saying with me into the Army. I enlisted a month after my grandfather passed away. I told him I was thinking about it right before he died. And he told me that whatever I did I should do it well. I should make him proud."
"And you did."
"I tried."
"You didn't just try, you succeeded, Reid. Please, no false modesty now. We both know you have a healthy ego."
He laughed. "Good point."
"So, are we going to your grandfather's house?"
"Yes. Grandfather left me the place in his will. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to spend much time there. The last time I was up there was about three years ago. I have no idea what condition it's in now. But I'm pretty sure it's still standing."
"And no one knows about this house? Isn't it possible that Robert told Lisa about it?"
"Very doubtful. Robert hasn't been up there in twenty years. He hated going to the mountains. It was not his scene at all. It's very remote and hard to get to, which would make it a good place to hide out."
"How far away is it?"
"Three hours of driving, and then we'll have to hike in." He gave her a brief smile. "I know you wanted the metaphor, but we're going to climb an actual mountain, Shayla."
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
Chapter Twenty
Reid kept a close eye on the traffic as he drove toward the mountains of the Sierra-Nevada. There was no sign of the sedan he'd seen in San Francisco. Hopefully, he had lost the tail for good. He mentally kicked himself for not taking better care of Shayla. He'd gotten so caught up in her at the wedding that he hadn't even looked in the rearview mirror on their trip back to the boat. All he'd been able to think about was taking Shayla to bed.
He should have been thinking more about keeping her safe.
He'd had a definite lapse in judgment. He wouldn't have made the same mistake a year ago. Although, a year ago he would have been in the Army, operating under orders and with a professional team behind him, not going out on an unplanned, mysterious mission to save his brother.
He couldn't change what had happened, but he could do better in the future.
"I'm going to call Matt," he said.
"Can you put the call on speaker? I'd like to hear what he says."
"Sure." He punched in Matt's number.
"What's up, Becker?" Matt asked.
"I picked up a tail by my place. Black sedan, two men inside."
"Where are you?"
"I'm out of the city now."
"Do you want to be more specific? I can meet you."
He thought about that. As much as he'd like to involve Matt, he didn't want to go back to San Francisco. "I think I've lost them, so I'm going to keep going."
"Going where?"
"To meet Robert."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Matt said, a serious note in his voice. "I have some new information, Reid. My team has been able to tie the attack on the clinic in Colombia to a bank account in the U.S. It's a dummy corporation, and it's going to take us some time to get a real name, but the assault wasn't random."
"Mercenaries," he said, his stomach tightening. He'd wondered why Shayla had been spared, and now he knew why. But he still couldn't stand the thought of her being that close to men who killed for money and sport.
"Looks that way," Matt said. "My guess is someone wanted to destroy that clinical trial."
Reid glanced over at Shayla. She looked shell-shocked. Her face was pale, and her eyes were way too bright.
"I can't believe it," Shayla said. "Three people died in that attack. They didn't just destroy the clinic and the trial, they killed people."
"The deceased were part of the trial from what I know," Matt said. "That tells me that there's a reason those three were targeted."
"And why I wasn't killed," she murmured. She put a hand to her mouth as if she might be sick.
"Do you want me to pull over?" Reid asked her.
She shook her head. "No, keep going. I want this to be over."
"Anything else, Matt?" Reid asked.
"My gut tells me that your brother was also a target. But somehow he wasn't there when it all went down. I don't know if he had some advance notice or if it was just luck, but obviously he went into hiding afterwards, so I figure he knew something. If you meet him, you're going to put a target on your back."
"I think it's already there."
"You should at least drop Shayla off somewhere. I'll come and meet her."
"No, I'm going with Reid," Shayla interrupted. "This is my deal, too. I was in Colombia. I saw those people die, and I want to do something now to get justice for them. It's the least I can do."
"We'll be in touch," Reid said, seeing the determination on Shayla's face. He'd see if he could find a way to drop her off later when she wasn't so fired up.
"Tell me where you're going," Matt said.
He wanted to tell Matt, but he didn't want to give the information out over his phone, "I'm not sure yet. I'll let you know. In the meantime, get me a name. I want to know who ordered that hit on the clinic."
"I'll do my best. Be careful."
"I'll do my best," he echoed. He set his phone down and looked at Shayla. "You hanging in there?"
"It doesn't make sense to me that Abbott would destroy their drug trial. Maybe it was Hanover Chemical—the rival firm. If they took out Abbott, then Branson Biotech would be more interested in buying them instead of Abbott."
"That makes sense."
"It would also make sense that Robert was a target, because without his research, his talent, Abbott was going to have a difficult time bringing that drug to market."
"That's not what the people at Abbott seem to think," he reminded her. "Lisa told me that Hal said Robert had been screwing up for months."
"That was a lie." Her brows pulled together in a frown. "Robert was not replaceable, Reid. They needed him."
"Okay, let's go down another road. You said Robert was distracted, that he told you there were problems with the trial. Maybe it was a bust. Maybe the results weren't what Abbott wanted, and they decided to shut it down."
"Isn't it a little drastic to kill people in order to do that? They could have just called it off."
"Not when millions of dollars are at stake. If that drug wasn't going to be the miracle they were hoping for, then their purchase price was going down. Maybe they would be worth nothing at the end. This way, the trial looks like it's been stopped by random violence. By the time they get a new trial going, the merger is already done."
She ran a hand through her hair as she pondered his theory. "I hope that's not true, because it seems really sick. I don't want to believe a company that makes drugs to save people's lives would do something like that."
He wished he could tell her that they wouldn't do that kind of thing and that he was wrong. Then her view of the world could stay intact. But he couldn't honestly say any of that. However, he could provide another theory. "It's possible that it's not Abbott behind the assault. It could be Hanover Chemical as you said. Or it could be a rival researcher, someone who wanted to destroy Robert and his success. It might not have been a corporate maneuver but a very personal attack on my brother, which would make sense since Robert obviously knew he needed to hide out."
She nodded. "I guess all that matters now is that we get to Robert before someone else does."
"That's the plan."
* * *
Two hours later Reid pulled into the parking lot of a camping supply store in a small town in the foothills near Yosemite National Park. After picking up hiking boots for Shayla, they grabbed sandwiches and food from a nearby deli and then got back into the truck. As Reid was about to start the engine, he saw the sign for a motel on the other side of the gas station. He glanced at Shayla, knowing she was going to fight him, but he had to try.
"I think you should stay here," he said. "There's a motel over there. I'll call Matt to come and meet you."
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm going with you."
"Shayla, I don't know what we're heading into."
"We're meeting Robert. That's not going to be dangerous unless we bring trouble with us. And we're not doing that, are we?"
"I hope not. But the truth is I don't really know. And I don't want to put your life on the line."
"You're not doing that, I am." Her blue eyes were determined. "I was there, Reid. I was in Colombia. This is my battle even more than it's yours."
"I can forcibly take you out of this car."
"I suppose you could, but I'll find a way to follow you. I'll call your parents. I'll get them to tell me where the cabin is. You know they will, because they'll be worried about Robert and about you."
He sighed. Her quick mind was no match for his. "Why are you so eager to get into a bad situation? Aren't you the woman who isn't sure she can work in the hospital E.R.?"
She frowned. "Yes, that's me. I've been an anxious, panicked mess since I got back from Colombia. And that needs to change. You told me the only way to get over fear is to face it, to walk past it."
"I was talking about doing your job, not this."
"Right now, this is what's going to get me back to doing my job. I may be afraid, but I'm not going to let fear stop me, just like your grandfather said.
He was both angry and impressed by her resolve. "All right. I'm done arguing."
"Thank goodness. We're wasting valuable time."