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[29] Hunted
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Nick had considered himself fit and healthy, but this was a supreme physical effort for which he was unprepared. Besides that he’d been up nearly twenty-four hours straight in preparation for snatching her, lugging even Teri’s petite body over his shoulders for miles and juggling two backpacks and the shotgun was making it difficult to manage passage on the rough terrain. Especially without leaving much of a discernable trail.
Plus, he still had another miserable mile to go just to reach the canyon’s end. Though the climb out was traversable, it was still over steeply sloping topography, slippery with loose rock, pebbles and sand. Over such treacherous ground, he’d be unable to carry the unconscious woman. Since there was absolutely no way he was leaving his prize behind, the sooner Teri woke the better.
He’d seen Erikson attempt to land the small aircraft and have to take off again, bu
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“We need shelter.” Crouching next to Jim with Teri clutched against his chest, Marcus glanced around, then contacted Frank Shepard. “This is Agent Leigh,” he shouted over the whining wind. “I’ve recovered Teri Munro.”Above the noise, Shepard replied, “Where’s Johansen, Marcus?”“Dead. He fell over a cliff at my current coordinates. I’ll give you the details later. How far are we from an extraction point?”Hearing that question, Jim lifted his head, alert for the answer.“Mile and a half. As the crow flies,” Shepard’s garbling voice grated over the radio. “It’s the closest we can get a vehicle.”“Not in this.” Jim shook his head. “None of us are dressed for it. Tell h
Antiquarian's Precious Find [1] Trojan Horse
Soon to come from a new story, In Our Midst:Marcus opened the door to the River Oaks apartment he shared with his girlfriend to discover her pacing slowly before the floor to ceiling living room windows, her cellphone pressed to her ear. Beside him, the apartment’s security system beeped a warning, announcing his return, and she glanced over at him, flashing a heart-stopping smile.Closing the door, he silenced the alert, and tossed his keys onto the granite top kitchen island beside an old cardboard storage box with a lopsided pile of papers tipping towards the floor on the other. Miria had brought work home again.Straightening the stack of manilla folders and legal pads next to the box, tucking in misaligned pages and unfolding creases, Marcus waited as she finished her conversation.“No. I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
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Teri tucked the last of her daughter’s lunch into her lunchbox, glancing at the time on her cellphone. Seven-twenty-four. “Zoe! Get your stuff together! We’re late!” It wasn’t true, but usually it was the only way to get her perpetually tardy daughter to school on time.Touching the email icon on her phone’s menu, she leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping her coffee as it loaded. Down the hall came a thundering ruckus, terminating when Zoe stormed into the kitchen, frustratedly tossing her dangling backpack onto one shoulder only to have it slip and fall down her arm again.“I’m getting my shoes!” Zoe snapped moodily, dropping her backpack to the floor with a heavy thunk and taking a seat at the table.Unperturbed, Teri ignored the behavior, carrying the lunchbox to the table as she skimmed the new email contacts from her website. T
Antiquarian's Precious Find [2] Remote Sensing
A few weeks later, Teri flew into the Canyonlands Field airport eighteen miles north of Moab to discover, much to her chagrin, she’d arrived during the annual event, Jeep Week.Appalled to find the small city glutted with all manner of 4x4 vehicles there for the series of day long trail rides along the canyons and rims, she nearly declined to revise her bid for the generous contract that instant, regardless of the outcome of her additional testing. If this was any indication of how summer tourism expanded the city’s population, she worried about camps and care for her daughter while she was working.But when she reached the medical campus, the hospital staff assured her the city would return to its typical idyllic demeanor after the end of the yearly off-road festival and that even though summer tourism did increase the population, it wasn’t the same crowd as for the 4x4 challenges.
Antiquarian's Precious Find [3] A Monumental Finding
They departed for Moab in the RV the week after school let out for summer. Arriving to find the temperatures warmer than home, Teri and Zoe had immediately taken advantage of the weather, visiting Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park and the Nature Conservancy's Matheson Wetlands Preserve the week after they arrived. The RV resort was positioned to offer astonishing views of the unique rock formations set alongside the Colorado River and was a perfect spot for a surprising variety of outdoor activities.Since their arrival at the RV resort for the summer, the tourist traffic into the city had increased steadily, particularly on weekends. Visitors funneled in, drawn by opportunities to visit the local national parks, or participate in another of the myriad activities in eastern Utah’s scenic Grand County.This week in advance of the Memorial Day holiday, the influx of travelers and vehicles had multi
Antiquarian's Precious Find [4] Provenance
Though just past noon, the bright sun in the clear blue sky getting baking hot as they reversed their earlier path, waiting in the limited shade in the bakery’s parking lot until their online order was ready. Teri dashed inside to collect their food, then drove them home, grateful for the RV’s air conditioned interior and the tall cottonwoods that shaded their pad by mid-afternoon and into the evening.Beneath the kitchen table, Evie slept at their feet as mother and daughter ate and talked over lunch. Teri’s first day of work was rapidly approaching. Zoe had yet to choose a day camp for that week but was inclined towards one of the programs offered at the dinosaur museum, which was part of the impetus for their forthcoming visit.She’s growing so fast, Teri thought, listening to her daughter easily read the detailed descriptions of several week-long camps at the dinosaur museum as she cleane
Antiquarian's Precious Find [5] Catastrophes
“Zoe! Get your lunch and your pack together and get your shoes on!” Annoyed, Teri tossed her daughter’s shoes from the bathroom where she’d spent the last half hour stumbling over them as she readied for work. Pulling her blouse over her head, she finger-combed her hair into place and hurried into the bedroom for her own shoes.“Don’t wear the boxy black ones!” Zoe ordered bossily from the table as Teri emerged.“What’s wrong with them?” Her eyes skimmed over the very shoes, already in hand.Tucking her lunchbox into her pack, Zoe zipped it then hoisted it onto one shoulder, raising her brows in an expression she’d learned from her mother. “They make you look like those old women from that movie – with the monsters and the kids with weird powers. The women that could control time and turn into birds.”
Antiquarian's Precious Find [6] Surface Survey
Teri slept little, tossing and turning and ruminating the long night’s hours about the biker on the ridge and wishing she had a glass of wine to slow her thoughts.Jim is in Moab, she forced her mind to acknowledge, staring into the nebulous shadows of her bedroom. What are the odds he just happened to be biking about and spotted me from the ridge on the only evening I’ve been at the pool?That’s ridiculous. I’m being paranoid. What reason could he possibly have for seeking me out? He didn’t want me, or Zoe, years ago. Besides, that real estate agent was right. He probably has plenty of women chasing him, he doesn’t need me.Still, the old ache of Jim’s loss throbbed at the thought.It was early morning, as the sounds of crickets faded and birdsong began, when she’d finally decided she was making a mountain out of a mol
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Soon to come from a new story, In Our Midst:Marcus opened the door to the River Oaks apartment he shared with his girlfriend to discover her pacing slowly before the floor to ceiling living room windows, her cellphone pressed to her ear. Beside him, the apartment’s security system beeped a warning, announcing his return, and she glanced over at him, flashing a heart-stopping smile.Closing the door, he silenced the alert, and tossed his keys onto the granite top kitchen island beside an old cardboard storage box with a lopsided pile of papers tipping towards the floor on the other. Miria had brought work home again.Straightening the stack of manilla folders and legal pads next to the box, tucking in misaligned pages and unfolding creases, Marcus waited as she finished her conversation.“No. I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
Antiquarian's Precious Find [30] Providence
“We need shelter.” Crouching next to Jim with Teri clutched against his chest, Marcus glanced around, then contacted Frank Shepard. “This is Agent Leigh,” he shouted over the whining wind. “I’ve recovered Teri Munro.”Above the noise, Shepard replied, “Where’s Johansen, Marcus?”“Dead. He fell over a cliff at my current coordinates. I’ll give you the details later. How far are we from an extraction point?”Hearing that question, Jim lifted his head, alert for the answer.“Mile and a half. As the crow flies,” Shepard’s garbling voice grated over the radio. “It’s the closest we can get a vehicle.”“Not in this.” Jim shook his head. “None of us are dressed for it. Tell h
Antiquarian's Precious Find [29] Hunted
Nick had considered himself fit and healthy, but this was a supreme physical effort for which he was unprepared. Besides that he’d been up nearly twenty-four hours straight in preparation for snatching her, lugging even Teri’s petite body over his shoulders for miles and juggling two backpacks and the shotgun was making it difficult to manage passage on the rough terrain. Especially without leaving much of a discernable trail.Plus, he still had another miserable mile to go just to reach the canyon’s end. Though the climb out was traversable, it was still over steeply sloping topography, slippery with loose rock, pebbles and sand. Over such treacherous ground, he’d be unable to carry the unconscious woman. Since there was absolutely no way he was leaving his prize behind, the sooner Teri woke the better.He’d seen Erikson attempt to land the small aircraft and have to take off again, bu
Antiquarian's Precious Find [28] Crosshairs
Jim had hoped to be home before Teri left for work, but the location of one of the undocumented sites had been mapped for them incorrectly by the reporting individual. Unwilling to chance when there’d next be a break in the weather, he’d spent several frustrating minutes searching from the air, circling at decreasing elevations around the given landmark before he’d spotted it.Making a wide circle, he angled the plane northeast towards Moab and the airport, his thoughts wandering. It needled him, what Teri’d done, setting up her own defenses above and beyond what the FBI had. Okay, so it wasn’t that she’d felt she’d needed to, even if that did mean neither of them had much faith in the FBI and other local authorities, he acknowledged mentally. It wasn’t even that she hadn’t told him.It wasn’t any of that.She’d designed her a
Antiquarian's Precious Find [27] Fox and Hounds
Oh, sweet submissive Teri! Nick almost groaned aloud.Timid as a hare, she shambled towards him with hesitant steps, much to his delight, her slim hand still clutching her phone, holding it like a magical weapon between them, her face drawn in a frightened grimace. When she was close enough to grab, he snatched the device, tossing it towards the lifeless contractors.With another trembling whimper, she tried to bolt away, and thrilled with how perfectly Teri fed him his every desire, he gave chase. Through he tripped over the dog doing it, Nick caught her by the slim ankle, bringing her crashing to the ground with a hard whump and pained cry.Releasing the shotgun to catch at her with both hands, he half-dragged half-crawled up her petite body, pressing his crushing weight down on her and pinning her scrambling hands behind her neck.“Attempt to do that again and I’ll kill the next person I see. Do you understand?” he snarled at her ear and beneath him her delicate body trembled fierce
Antiquarian's Precious Find [26] Concoctions
Good morning, Gorgeous.”Jim leaned over Teri and kissed her temple sweetly, dropping a handful of Estelle’s magic morning sickness candy cures on the bedside table where she could reach them and she sighed gratefully. “Good morning. And thank you.”Reaching for one, she unwrapped and popped it into her mouth, eager to have done with the nausea.“I’m walking Zoe over to Patrick and Abby’s. Abby’s going to take her to school with Beth.”Rolling to her back, Teri stared up at him. “What did our oh-so pleasant escort have to say about that?”Shoving his hands in his jean pockets, Jim shrugged, wearing a lopsided grin. “Not much. They were less pleased to find out I’m going out to the airfield.”Teri’s brows lifted inquiringly, promp
Antiquarian's Precious Find [25] Machinations
They think they’re so smart.Nick’s steely gaze followed the bulky figure of an undercover agent from behind a newspaper as the man left the window bar of the coffee house where he’d been idly staring at his phone and picked up his order at the counter.Three cups in the drink carrier for the second day in a row. That answers that question, he thought, shifting in his seat so he could confirm the license tag on the agent’s vehicle as the man entered it. It was the same as the one he’d seen follow Teri’s white SUV from the hospital to Erickson’s house the afternoon he’d returned to Moab and happened upon her there.His gaze flicked to the coffee house employees behind the counter, recognizing one immediately. The assistant manager, a twenty-something stoner he’d treated more than once in the ER for mountain biking and skiing injuries, the
Antiquarian's Precious Find [24] Prey
It took maybe quarter of an hour and two of the tart hard candies, but Teri did feel better. Significantly better than she had in the previous few days and with any of the other morning sickness remedies she’d tried.That Estelle. She’s a wonder, she mused. Still, Teri eased herself first to a sitting position, then to her feet in slow increments.Overnight the mercury had plummeted into the forties, and she shivered padding across the rug-strewn floor to the closet for her terrycloth robe, insulating her body heat against escape, then, chaffing at her arms to increase the warmth and circulation, slid her feet into slippers. The house seemed unnaturally quiet with everyone gone but her, though that would be short lived. Jim would be home long before and by ten, the two-man construction crew would arrive to continue work on the basement and things would get noisy again.Fortunatel
Antiquarian's Precious Find [23] Predator (**trigger warning--rape mentality**)
Lay on your left side. Lay on your right side. Ginger. Lemon. Watermelon. Dry biscuits. Peppermint. Magnesium supplements. Gah! None of it works. Why does none of it work? Teri moaned to herself, trying to lie still, breathe, and not vomit. Morning sickness had been nowhere near as ferocious with Zoe as it was now.Or maybe it had. Maybe she’d been so relieved escaping everything else happening in her life with Zoe she hadn’t noticed how bad the morning sickness was. She couldn’t imagine how she’d missed it, but obviously her life had been filled with stranger things at the time.“Mama?” Zoe whispered from the door. “Are you awake?”“Yes, kiddo. Come over here, please.”“Gently,” Jim cautioned as both he and Zoe came around the bed into view. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed beside T
