Take Me To The Lake: A Billionaire, Mountain Man Romance (Mountain Men of Whiskey River Book 3)

Hank really seems to love at the trap lines. He makes it easy to tell if there’s something in one of the traps because he runs up to it all excited. I’m moving fast because I want to get back to Hope. Even though it’s been quiet, I hate the idea of leaving her for too long.

We’re on the loop that goes back towards the house when Hank gets agitated. He acts like I’m taking too long. I guess he’s as anxious to get back to Hope as I am.

I tried to calm him down, but then I hear a gunshot. Dropping everything, I take off at a full run towards the cabin with Hank just ahead of me. It seems to take forever before I break through the clearing and get to the cabin.

What I find sends chills through me. Both the front and back door are wide open. Hank runs in and searches the house for her. There’s no sign of Hope anywhere. But I know I heard a gun shot, so something is up. There’s a smear of blood on the porch, along with footprints and drag marks leading into the tree line.

Only this time, they would not be captured by my hunters’ cameras because it’s as if they knew that they were there.

‘Damn it!’ I yell. Going straight inside, I call the police. Once that’s done, I get on the radio and call Axel, Phoenix and Bennett.

The cops show up, take a look at everything, and then take pictures. Even though they ask a bunch of questions, they don’t seem in any hurry to go after her. Especially since the tracks lead into the mountain and they don’t seem overly thrilled to go into the woods. They give me some spiel about not knowing the mountains and having to get a tracker before going after her.

No one knows the mountains better than me and the guys.

‘We have to go after her,’ Bennett says without hesitation and the guys agree, as if reading my thoughts.

‘Emelie and Jenna can’t go, and they can’t be left here alone,’ Axel says, looking hesitantly at his newly pregnant wife.

‘I’ll stay here with them,” Phoenix says. “We can use this as a home base. If Hope is able to get away, she will come here.’

‘But then that only leaves the three of us and the dog. From the looks of it, there were two people that took her because there are two sets of footprints and a set of drag marks heading into the woods,’ Axel says.

He’s right. If we can, its better we out number them.

‘Wait, I have an idea. Stay here and get ready. In my brother’s closet, grab anything that you think could be useful. Check under his bed, in the desk. Anything in his room is fair game.’ I tell them as I grab the keys to the four wheeler and leave.

Since he died, I haven’t touched anything in my brother’s room. But none of that matters now. Hope is in danger and I’ll ask for my brother’s forgiveness later.

I race as fast as the four wheeler will take me to Cole’s place. Though I know where his cabin is, I’ve only ever been there once. It was after we met in the woods, and he invited me over.

I waste no time knocking on the door and just as I expected, I’m greeted with a shotgun in my face. It’s pretty much the standard greeting for anyone who lives out here. We live here for a reason and particularly don’t like visitors.

Before Cole can speak, I say, ‘I don’t know exactly what you did in the military, but I know you’re a damn good tracker and I need your help. Someone just kidnapped my girl, and the cops aren’t doing anything. Not only are there tracks, but there’s blood too. From the looks of it, there were two people that took her, and I have two other guys that are willing to help. We’re going in and I could really use another man.’

Cole is a man of few words, but he nods his head and disappears into his house for a moment. Then he grabs what looks like a tactical backpack and he’s traded his shotgun for a fancy military looking gun. Then he gets on his own four wheeler and follows me back to my place.

Even though I know Cole was in the military, I don’t ask a lot of questions. He has a big scar on the side of his face, which I’m guessing is partly why he’s out here. I’ll be forever indebted to him, but that’s how it works out here. You help each other and when you ask a favor, you owe them one in return.

When we walk back into the cabin, everyone stops and looks at us. The tension is palpable in the room.

‘This is Cole. He’s my neighbor and one of the best trackers I’ve ever seen. Cole this is Axel, his wife Emelie, Phoenix and his wife Jenna, and they all live on the mountain. Phoenix is staying behind with the girls. Also, because if Hope were to get away, this is the first place that she would come trying to find me.’

I give him a rundown on everything I know from the gunshot to talking to the cops. Then I show him the tracks at both doors. Finishing up, I tell him about the footprints at the edge of my property that I had seen weeks ago and how I’d set up the hunting cameras. But how this time they avoided the cameras.

He looks over our equipment and then nods.

‘Let’s go.’ His deep, gruff voice fills the cabin. It’s commanding and in that moment I know whatever he did in the military, he was the one in charge.

We grab our stuff, and Axel says goodbye to Emelie. Hank takes control as if he knows exactly what we’re doing. He follows the tracks into the woods. My friends don’t even question me. If I trust him, then they trust him too. Especially in this situation.

‘I’ll track on foot. You two bring the four wheelers. Cash you’re with me,’ Cole orders.

While I follow him on foot, Axel and Bennett take my four wheelers and follow us.

‘This is your land?’ Cole asks.

‘Yes. It looks like these tracks lead down to a dirt road. That’s where they disappeared when I would find them on the tree line.’

He nods again, and we follow the tracks. Thankfully, we’ve had some rain last night so the ground is still wet, and the tracks are easy to follow. Just as I predicted, they lead straight to the road into a set of car tracks.

We hop on the back of the other four wheelers and follow the car tracks down to an old, abandoned driveway on the other side of the road about a mile up the road.

‘Any idea what’s up there?’ Cole asks.

‘No, but there’s quite a few hunting cabins scattered along this road. Most of them are abandoned now,’ I tell him.

We leave the four wheelers at the road and continue on foot as we stick to the trees. Then we follow up the driveway. The car tracks are clearly marked and lead right to the cabin, as predicted. It looks like it has been long abandoned. Probably, it’s a small little one-room cabin and there might be a bedroom in the back.

These hunting cabins were built for people to get away. Not for luxury, like the cabins that we have built over the years for us to live in full time. Hank takes our lead and sticks with us even though it’s clear there are people in the cabin.

Then Cole pulls out a pair of really fancy binoculars and gets the first look into the house. I’m on edge, wanting to have eyes on Hope, to know that she’s okay. But most of all, I want to know who the hell did this to her.

‘There are two young women being detained, both tied to chairs,’ Cole says.

‘Two?’ I ask. “That’s strange. I thought Hope would be the target.”

‘There’s a female standing in the room and a male entering from a back door who is also now in the room.’ He says, handing me the binoculars.

‘Fuck. The one on the right is my Hope, and the one on the left is her best friend, Jana. I’m pretty sure the other female is her mother, but I have no idea who the guy is.’ I say, passing the binoculars to Axel. who’s standing to my right.

Then I fill the guys in on everything I know about Hope’s mom. From her showing up and asking for money to Hope telling her no, to the break-in and finally, her past drug problems.

‘Both Hope and Jana seem to be knocked out,” I say, thinking out loud. “They probably drugged them, so they were easier to manage. If they drugged Hope when they took her, she should be waking up anytime. Unless their plan is to keep her out for whatever reason.’

‘If at all possible, we need the girls awake. Especially if the two that are holding them are drugged up. There’s no telling how irrational they’ll be or what kind of strength they might have,’ Axel says.

‘Possible motive?’ Cole asks.

‘Hope’s mom was asking for money. My guess is they are in need of money to fund their drug problem. But there’s a possibility they could be on the run from something they did. Hope knows they have misdemeanors on their records,’ I say.

‘Stay here. I’m going to check and see what the other side of the cabin looks like,” Cole says. Keep an eye on them and make sure that the male and the female are the only two there and that there are no other hostages.’

Then he silently sneaks behind the cabin. Without hesitation, the binoculars are handed back to me. Once I have eyes on Hope again, I settle, but I’m still on edge.

‘Jana is starting to stir, and the kidnappers are pacing back and forth talking to each other,’ I relate to the guys.

Cole is back at our side faster than I expected.

‘Okay, there are two doors, one here and one in the back. It’s a two-room cabin and from what I saw the other room is full of junk. There’s a bed that looks like it’s been used, and there are boxes and things everywhere else in the room. From what I can see, there are just the four people in there,’ Cole says.

My stomach churns at the thought that the bed was used for anything more than her mother slept there.

As we wait for the girls to wake up, we start running down different plans, ideas, and exit strategies based on possible scenarios of how things could go down.

From where we are, we don’t see any weapons, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any. The sun is starting to go down which will give us the cover of darkness and we will use that to our advantage.

At one point, Hope’s mother and who we are now assuming is her boyfriend based on the kissing that we saw, turn to the little kitchen area to make some food for themselves. Cole is able to get down to their vehicle and disconnect a few things, so they won’t be able to use it in the event that they tried to escape.

Now it’s just a waiting game. Hope has started to stir, and Jana is awake. Apparently, they didn’t like her talking, and they gagged her, but they’ve left her awake. Jana keeps watching Hope, waiting for her to wake up.

Hope’s mom leans against the counter and watches them, but she is constantly talking to her boyfriend, who seems to quietly take it all in. Finally, Hope is awake and as she starts talking, they gag her too. It takes everything in me not to blow our cover, as they have their hands on her. Thankfully, once they apply the gag they move to the other end of the room and leave her be.

Although we toy with the idea of waiting for the two of them to go to sleep, they look full of energy. Depending upon whether they actually go to sleep, we decide to take the first opportunity we get. When that time comes, we will be equipped and ready, knowing our roles.

I’ll go in through the front door with Hank as a distraction. They are expecting to see me, so they won’t think anything of it. Bennett, Axel and Cole will go in the back and detain the two of them using the element of surprise.

Once the two of them are detained, we will secure Hope and Jana.

‘Looks like now is as good a time as any,’ Cole says.

‘On the count of three?’ Bennett asks and we all nod.

‘1…’ Bennett says as he picks up his guns.

‘2…’ Bennett says and Cole nods, putting his binoculars away verifying it’s still a go.

‘3…’