Page 18 of In Too Deep
Sirens wailed in the distance.Someone had called it in.
Noah yanked off his long-sleeved shirt with his good hand and wrapped the shirt around the gash.The blood soaked through fast.But he kept his cool, set his jaw, and stared down the mountain man.“Drop it.”
The knife clattered to the ground just as two fellow law-enforcement rangers pulled up in their white SUV with the green stripe and flashing red and blue lights.
The rangers moved in swiftly.One cuffed the mountain man and loaded him into the back.The other grilled the biker and took statements from witnesses.
Noah stepped back.His adrenaline was crashing and his arm throbbed, each heartbeat sending a fresh pulse of pain.
An older woman approached from a nearby site carrying a first aid kit and a large purple sweatshirt.“I’m Joyce.Retired nurse.Let me see that.”
She unwound his makeshift bandage andtsked.“No arteries hit—lucky boy.Not too deep, but you’ll need stitches.At least eight, maybe ten.”
She cleaned the wound with alcohol wipes that stung worse than the cut itself and wrapped it efficiently.Then she thrust the sweatshirt at him and winked.“Better put this on before you make all the girls swoon.”
Noah eyed the garment.World’s Best Grandmawas written in curly, sparkly letters across the chest.Not the professional ranger image he was going for.He glanced at a group of women eyeing him from a neighboring site, one of them taking a not-so-subtle photo.Then again, his shirtless state wasn’t either.
At least the sweatshirt was a double extra-large.
He slipped it over his head.The shoulders fit reasonably well, but the sleeves were short and tight, and it rode up to expose a strip of his midriff.
Great.Just what he needed.
District manager Joe Harod sauntered over with a grin splitting his weathered face.“Looking sharp, Wilde.Purple’s your color.Should wear it more often.”
Joyce finished taping the bandage.“It’s bleeding through already.Get to the clinic pronto, before you pass out and give me more work.”
“Thanks, Joyce.I’ll return the sweatshirt—washed.”
She waved him off and headed back to her campsite, where a small dog yapped.
Joe’s expression sobered.“This is the third fight this week.Gold rumors are turning this place into a zoo.I’m ready for fall, and we’re only a week into July.”
Noah ran a hand through his hair and winced.“Exactly why I was on the phone with Virgil.We need to close the rim, Joe.Temporarily—beef up patrols, wait for reinforcements.These hunters are everywhere, and we’re outgunned.”
Joe nodded grimly.“I hear you, but Virgil’s dragging his feet.Budgets, tourism…You know the drill.Politics and money always win.”He gestured to Noah’s arm.“Go get that arm fixed.Meg’s at the clinic today.”
Noah’s stomach twisted.
Meg.
The last thing he needed was to show up like this.But the blood was soaking through, and the clinic was his only option unless he wanted to drive an hour to the nearest hospital.
As Joe walked away, Noah climbed back into his Jeep and the engine rumbled to life.
His mind raced.Virgil’s resistance was an obstacle he hadn’t anticipated.But this fight proved his point better than any report could.The park was a tinderbox.If they didn’t shut it down, more blood would spill—maybe Meg’s next time—and he couldn’t let that happen.
But as he drove, a deeper unease gnawed at him.
Something in his gut told him this madness wouldn’t end with closures or patrols.The gold was out there—real or not—fueling the fever, the greed, the desperation.Hunters would keep coming, keep digging, keep clashing until someone found it—or proved it didn’t exist.
The only way to stop it was to end the mystery, to haul those bars out into the light and let the world see.
He gripped the wheel tighter with his good hand.The pain in his arm sharpened his thoughts.He’d promised Meg he wouldn’t go back into the caves.When she’d begged him not to go with panic bright in her blue eyes, he’d nodded, pulled her close again, and whispered assurances he’d meant in that moment.
He had no desire to drag others into danger, even if Teague and Liam had already volunteered and talked about mapping the caves, going in quietly before another quake hit.
“We can do it, boss,” Teague had said.“End this for good.”
