Manhunt (A Rocky Mountain Thriller Book 1) Read online

  MANHUNT

  Ann Voss Peterson

  AVP

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  MANHUNT (A Rocky Mountain Thriller, Book 1)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  THANK YOU

  Books by Ann Voss Peterson:

  About the Author

  Copyright Notice

  MANHUNT (A ROCKY MOUNTAIN THRILLER, BOOK 1)

  A RELUCTANT HUNTER…

  Desperate to provide for her young daughter, accountant Shanna Clarke accepts an invitation to go on a company hunting trip in the Wind River Mountains, even though she’s never shot anything in her life. If she can get through it without embarrassing herself, maybe that sought-after promotion will be hers.

  But then her boss starts shooting… at her.

  …BECOMES THE PREY

  Dodging gunfire and struggling to survive in the Wyoming wilderness, Shanna stows away in the back of a rancher’s truck. A snowstorm, a grizzly bear, and a murder rap can’t keep Shanna and rancher Jace Lantry from discovering why she was targeted. But knowing the reason is only half the battle… the rest has a good chance of killing them both.

  The first book in Ann Voss Peterson’s Rocky Mountain Thriller series, Manhunt is a fast-paced, pulse-pounding novel of suspense and romance. It is approximately 54,000 words long.

  An earlier draft of this novel was previously published under the title Wyoming Manhunt.

  CHAPTER ONE

  SHANNA FELT THE SOUND OF the gunshot more than she heard it. The first sharp report jangled her nerves. The second cracked through her ear and jaw, so close she could almost feel the air stirred by the bullet.

  Releasing her mare’s reins, Shanna dove for the ground. She hit dirt, neck snapping to the side, air exploding from her lungs. Her horse’s hooves pounded the dry earth, the sound fading into the distance.

  What had just happened?

  Shanna raised her head. Dry brown grass swayed in front of her, sparkling with frost. White caps of mountains rose all around her. Silence hung heavy in the morning air.

  Obviously someone in her hunting party had seen deer and taken a shot… and Shanna had let the sound scare the sense out of her.

  Shanna’s cheeks heated. She’d told Mr. Barstow she was no hunter, but this would make her the laughingstock of not only her hunting party, but also all of Talbot Mining. She could hear her friend Linda’s giggle now.

  Shaking her head at her own ridiculousness, Shanna struggled to her feet. As long as her overreaction to the first rifle shot didn’t lose her a promotion, she would laugh along with the teasing that was sure to come. No one could say Shanna Clarke wasn’t a good sport.

  Brushing her gloved hands over her orange jacket and insulated pants, she looked in the direction of her fleeing horse. The mare had reached the outfitter’s pack mules. The other three members of the hunting party gathered several yards away. Mr. Barstow, the CEO of Talbot, stood on the ground. Behind him, Ron Davis, the chief financial officer, and Sheriff Gable remained astride their horses. Mr. Barstow raised his rifle to his shoulder and took aim.

  At her.

  Shanna fell back to the ground. Didn’t he see her? She glanced around, expecting to spot a mule deer behind her, hoping to…

  Nothing was there.

  Shanna’s pulse pounded in her ears. Her lungs seized, making it hard to breathe. She had to be mistaken.

  She raised her head, peering over the long grass once again.

  Her boss’s rifle was trained on her.

  She ducked.

  Another gunshot cracked through the air.

  It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. Barstow was shooting at her. Shooting at her.

  Think…think…

  Shanna had to get out of here. For her little Emily’s sake. For her own sake. She didn’t want to die.

  Forcing herself to her hands and knees, she started to crawl through the tufted, brown grass. If she remembered correctly, there was a rocky slope in this direction. Once she started down the slope, Barstow wouldn’t be able to see her. She’d be able to stand without fear of being shot.

  At least until he caught up.

  The frozen earth was hard under her knees and hands. Her breath rasped in her throat, making it impossible to hear anything else. She imagined the sound of hooves, pounding across the valley faster than she could ever hope to move. They’d catch up to her in no time.

  The ground grew rockier, digging through thick pants and gloves. She pushed herself, waiting for the pounding hooves, waiting for the crack of gunfire, waiting for the bullet.

  A report shattered the air.

  Gasping, Shanna glanced behind. Nothing but dry grass swaying in the wind. She kept crawling.

  The ground sloped downward. Gray rock replaced waving grass. Forcing her legs to work, Shanna scrambled to her feet. She crouched low, stumbling over rock. Boots slipping and skidding, she picked her way down the slope. They’d be on her soon. She had to find cover. She needed a place to hide.

  Another shot echoed through the mountains.

  Shanna glanced behind, expecting to see horses on the edge of the slope, a rifle barrel pointed at her, but they hadn’t reached her. Not yet.

  The ground fell out from under her feet.

  She rolled and stumbled, trying to right herself. Scrub brush scraped at her face, ripped at her coat. Jumbled sound filled her head. She landed on her hands, the smack shuddering up her arms, and then she pitched forward onto a shelf of rock.

  Pain seized her neck. Swallowing a wave of nausea, she focused on breathing. In and out. In and out. She must have wrenched it. Who knew how badly. But she couldn’t lie here. She couldn’t wait. Barstow was coming. If he caught her…

  Bracing against the pain, she rolled to her side and struggled to her knees. Her neck screamed. Her legs felt boneless. She forced herself to move, scrambling along the shelf. The rock above tongued outward, creating an overhang. She slipped underneath. Lying on her side, she curled her back into the crevice and pulled her legs in tight.

  She could hear them now. The beats of hooves. Or maybe it was her imagination. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t check. If she peeked out from under the rock, they’d surely see her.

  “Shanna?”

  She tensed at the gruff sound of her boss’s voice. So it wasn’t her imagination. He was there. But where exactly? At the top of the ridge? Or closer? She held her breath.

  “I’m sorry I scared you, Shanna. I didn’t see you. I wouldn’t have fired if I knew you were down range. It was an accident.”

  An accident? She tried to replay what had happened in her mind. The sound of the shots. The sight of Barstow lining up for shot number two. Could it have been an accident?

  “Come on, Shanna. You can’t think I was trying to shoot you.”

  Had she thought that?

  Yes, she had. As soon as she saw that rifle barrel she’d thought exactly that. But did it make any sense? What possible reason could Mr. Barstow have for wanting her dead?

  “You’re not hurt, are you?”

&n
bsp; He sounded worried. Shanna tightened her grip on her legs, hugging them close. She wanted it all to be a mistake. She wanted Mr. Barstow to be telling the truth, to be worried that she was hurt. But was he really? How could she have gotten everything so wrong?

  “Shanna? Talk to me, honey. Tell me you’re all right. Please? Shanna?”

  She opened her mouth and drew in a breath. But she couldn’t get the image of him raising the gun out of her head. She closed her mouth and pressed her lips tightly together.

  “Make a sound so I know where you are. I’ll get the others and we’ll come down for you.”

  She wanted to call out. Her throat ached with it. She needed to make this nightmare go away.

  The broken hiss of a whisper rode across the wind, too faint for her to catch the words.

  Unease prickled all the way up her spine. It was Barstow. She was sure of it. Even in a whisper, she could recognize that commanding, gruff voice. He must be talking to someone. One of the others from the hunting party. But why whisper?

  Because he didn’t want her to hear.

  Shanna stifled the whimper struggling to break from her lips. There was no more time to think. No time to wish things were different. If she wanted to get out of this alive, if she wanted to see her little girl again, she had to move. And she had to do it now.

  She tilted her head back. Pain shot through her neck. Sucking in a sharp breath, she blinked the tears from her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings. The shelf of rock stretched at least a hundred yards. If she moved carefully and quietly, maybe she could shuffle her body under the shelf. Maybe she could put some distance between her and the men without them seeing. Maybe she could get away before they found her.

  She had to.

  CHAPTER TWO

  A crash sounded from up the slope.

  Jace Lantry glanced up from the long, clawed footprint in the patch of snow and scanned the rough terrain that rose behind his ranch. Something was running through pine and fir. Maybe the grizzly that had left this footprint. Maybe its prey.

  Tilting his hat low, he squinted at the trees, the wide brim shielding his eyes from the morning sun. He didn’t have anything against the bears. Hell, the land was theirs long before humans moved in. They’d never messed with his livestock. Grizzlies rarely did. They ate plants, most of the time. But he’d better make sure the fortress he built around his garbage cans would hold. The last thing he wanted was a momma grizzly deciding his cabin would make a nice restaurant. If that happened, there was no telling what she’d assume was on the menu.

  A flash of blaze orange bobbed through the clump of trees.

  Not bear. Hunter.

  When Jace had agreed to lease land to his neighbor for hunting season, he’d specified Roger could only use acreage east of Gusset Ridge. This wasn’t the first time this season that a wealthy hunter had wandered past the cutoff point and gotten himself lost. Roger might be a good outfitter, but he was awful when it came to controlling his rich clients. The guy was too damn nice.

  Fortunately, Jace didn’t have any qualms about laying down the law to a straying hunter. He’d bought this ranch in the Wyoming wilderness so he’d never have to look out for anyone but himself again. The last thing he was going to do was provide some kind of hand-holding to a wealthy SOB who didn’t think he had to follow the rules.

  Wait a second.

  The hunter broke from the cover of Engelmann spruce and ran along the forest’s edge. Shoulder-length blond hair peeked from under the orange stocking cap. The unmistakable curve of a woman’s hip was evident under the boxy orange coat. She stumbled through the dry grass and occasional patch of snow, no rifle, no concern for frightening her game. In fact, she looked like the frightened one.

  The crack of rifle fire reverberated through the trees.

  The woman ducked. She fell to her knees them scrambled back to her feet. She ran, zigging through the edge of the forest, as if certain the gunshot had been meant for her.

  Jace didn’t have to have been a cop in his previous life in order to figure out that something wasn’t right. And judging from the woman’s present course, she was running straight for his homestead.

  Oh, shit.

  An eye on the woman, he headed for his cabin. He’d moved to the mountains to escape trouble. But it appeared she had found him anyway.

  ______

  Shanna crossed the open slope, running flat out for the small log cabin and outbuildings nestled along a stream. Her boots skidded in a patch of snow. Her breath rasped in her throat, making her ears ache almost as much as her head and neck.

  Crawling under the rock shelf and the rough terrain of the slope had given her a head start against the mounted men. But that last crack of gunfire proved Barstow was still on her heels. And it wouldn’t take him long to figure out where she’d gone.

  Shanna had to find someone to help her, a vehicle she could borrow, or at least a place to hide. The cabin was closest, separated from the other buildings by split-rail fencing. She made a beeline for it. Sidling up to a mullioned window, she peered inside. The place was rustic and simple, with the kitchen, dining area, and living room all visible from the side window. She didn’t see anyone.

  She also didn’t see a phone.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to take a long breath. She might be able to break in to a simple little cabin like this. But if there was no phone, that wouldn’t get her very far. When she thought about it, she had no clue who to call anyway. The sheriff was with Barstow. He’d watched while her boss had lined up his shot. For all she knew, he was the one Barstow was whispering to on the ridge.

  She had to get out of here, and she had to do it now.

  She scanned the distance to the other buildings. A pole barn dominated the ranch, surrounded by a fence. Past the corrals and next to the barn, dirt ruts led into a square structure.

  A garage?

  Shanna peeked into the cabin again, this time scanning countertops and the area around the front door for anything that looked like car keys. Nothing. But maybe that was a good sign. Maybe whoever owned this place kept his keys in the garage.

  Giving the rocky slope behind the cabin a glance, she ran for the garage. She reached the first fence. She stepped over the lowest rail and ducked under the second. Sharp pain shot down her neck. She ignored it and pushed on. If Barstow caught her, a sore neck would be the least of her worries.

  Shanna ran across the corral’s bare dirt, struggling to hear over her breath rasping in her throat, her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Horses looked up from the round bale they munched on. One spooked and darted through an open gate and into the larger field beyond.

  Her nerves stretched taut. She tried to run faster. She had no cover. If Barstow and the others cleared the evergreens while she was still crossing to the garage, she was done for. They wouldn’t have any trouble hitting her with their high-powered rifles. And she doubted Barstow would allow himself to miss this time.

  She reached the other side of the fenced pen and ducked under and out. She raced to the garage. Grabbing the doorknob, she held her breath and twisted.

  It turned under her hand.

  She pushed the door open and slipped inside, leaving the door open a crack behind her.

  The garage was dark, but with the door cracked, not too dark to see a hulking shadow parked in its center. A truck. A way out. She just had to find a key.

  She strained to see in the dim light and groped the wall around the door, hoping to find a key hook or nail. Nothing but studs and steel. She crossed to the truck and opened the driver’s door. Light shone from the cab. Fear thickening in her throat, she used the extra light to quickly scan the area for any sign of keys. Coming up empty, she climbed into the pickup’s cab and closed the door.

  Plunged back into darkness, she willed her eyes to adjust. She felt for a key in the ignition switch, then groped under the floor mat. Nothing. Where else might someone hide a car key? She slipped a hand betwee
n sun visor and roof.

  Her fingers hit metal.

  A whimper catching in her throat, she grasped the key. She tried to keep her hand steady, tried to fit key into switch.

  The passenger door jerked open. Light flared all around her. And Shanna stared into the barrel of a shotgun.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  ______

  Jace waited for some kind of sound to come out of the woman’s open lips. Her throat moved, but not so much as a squeak broke the silence. Hell. Looked like he’d have to help her out. “Trying to steal my truck?”

  “No. I mean…” She looked down at her hand, as if just realizing she held the key. She looked back at him with a pair of the biggest green eyes he’d ever seen. She raised her hands. “I’m sorry…I didn’t…I had to…Please, don’t shoot.”

  He canted the barrel to the side. Why he should feel guilt over frightening a thief, he didn’t know. But one look at those wide eyes, those trembling lips, and the need to rush in like some sort of damn savior pulled at him like a physical force. Once a cop, always a cop, he supposed. “You can put your hands down.”

  She did.

  “Okay, start by telling me what’s going on. I don’t want to shoot you. But it looks like not everyone feels the same.”

  She took in a shuddering breath. “My boss.”

  “Your boss?”

  “He’s the one trying to shoot me.”

  “Boss from hell, huh?”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. Why is he trying to shoot you?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Hard to believe. It was always the same. Under interrogation, every criminal was completely innocent. Every scumbag a victim through no fault of his own. “You sure about that?”

  Tears welled in her eyes. She raised her hands in front of her, as if totally at a loss. “I don’t know what’s going on. I swear. I thought I was up for a promotion.”

  “Talk about not reading the signs…”

  “I’m telling the truth.”