Page 47 of Fall or Nothing

“Leave? After I gave you the job you begged me for?” Chris balked.

“I didn’t realize until the barn dance that I was way in over my head here.” And then I’d met Sage, but I couldn’t tell them how she factored in at this point. “Do you have a map or something I could try to figure out where this cave is?”

“Nope. Come with me. We’re going to find this placetogether.” The sheriff grabbed his hat and put it back on his head.

I jerked back. “Right now? Do I have to?”

“That night you didn’t realize you were right in the middle of a whole shitstorm. But now that you know, I need you. This case I’m working could hinge entirely on you.”

Chris’s voice cut in, firm. “Cooperate, Carter.”

Ash nodded beside me, arms still crossed. “Best thing you can do for yourself.”

“Help us now, or this could get a lot more complicated for you if I have to get a court order.” The sheriff sighed when I still hesitated. “I can’t force you, but with your assistance, we can nail Red faster. And after what the son of a bitch did to you, leaving you on the side of the road? You want that revenge, right?”

I gave in. “Hell yes. Especially after I ran into him at the grocery store, too.” I told them the final piece of it, about how I’d met Red’s wife. “But in the parking lot, Red followed me and threatened me if I didn’t leave town soon or if I told anyone about his operation. Am I in danger here?”

“Not if we don’t act fast. Can I count on you?” He stuck out his hand. I shook it, but couldn’t quell the uneasiness in my stomach.

As we left the office, Chris added one last thing over the speaker. “We’ll have a serious talk later. And by the way—you’re paying for the ruined Ferrari out of your own pocket.”

The last bit of control slipped away, all hope of quietly finishing mythirty days lost.

“The roads look different in daylight,”I muttered, what with a light smattering of snow that had also fallen all day. I sat in the passenger seat of the sheriff’s SUV at the biker bar, stomach in knots, trying to retrace my journey from that awful night.

“We started here, then turned right out of the parking lot.”

The vehicle lurched forward.

“No, left,” I switched quickly. “We went left that night, following Red’s biker buddies. I had let Red drive the Ferrari because he’d said he’d never driven one.”

Sheriff nodded. “Left makes more sense. The Amos property is that way.”

I made a couple more wrong turns, frustration building as the landscape refused to match my hazy memories. Finally, after what seemed too long, I noticed a faint dirt road branching off, covered over by brush. A fallen tree beside it was familiar.

“There. Turn here.” I pointed.

“An access route for utilities. This should lead to the Amos Ranch.” We pulled off into some brush on the side of the road when I thought we were close. The sheriff grabbed his shotgun with a scope from the back. “Stay behind me.”

The idea of getting anywhere near the cave wasn’t a thrilling proposition, but what choice did I have now?

We hiked through the brush to a low ridge. He orderedme down on my stomach like him, snaking to the edge, and peered over.

I pointed in the general direction. “See that outcropping of boulders? How the road seems like it goes around, only it doesn’t. It splits the middle of them, down into a cave.”

Right then, we watched a car doing exactly that—disappearing right into the rock face, but it was all optics.

My heart pounded at the confirmation. “That’s the place.”

“I’ll be damned. Never would have noticed it,” the sheriff muttered and reached for his phone. He called immediately for a full raid and every deputy available.

“You’re raiding now?” My voice tight, gave away my fear. I followed him back to the SUV.

“We have the element of surprise. But you’ll stay in the car and out of our way while we work.”

He coordinated the raid over his cell phone. As soon as others arrived, the sheriff and his men converged, driving in a line, right into the entrance.

Everything happened fast. He and the men launched from their vehicles, telling everyone in sight to get down. I cowered low in the seat, listening to shouts and orders. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Sage—the way she’d looked at me this morning, sweet and hopeful, wearing my shirt. If this blew up in my face, I might never get to explain.