Wounded (a mystery and a sweet romance)

Wounded: Chapter 11

As the baying of the hounds floated up the hillside, Tara pulled up tufts of grass along the road and tried not to worry. But with every bark and bay, she thought the dogs sounded more excited, closer to their prey. The noises weren’t getting any closer to her, so Malcolm must have succeeded in drawing them off. That didn’t reassure her. The troopers shouldn’t do anything to her if they caught her; he was another story.

Around midnight, a single light came around a bend in the road. Thinking it a flashlight at first, Tara eased back into the brush. Malcolm had been using nothing more than moonlight as a guide. Though this ought to be his contact, she wanted to make sure it wasn’t part of the search party before revealing herself.

The light was moving faster than she would expect from someone walking, and it swerved side to side. It must be a bike lamp, she realized, its driver attempting to avoid potholes in the road. Though Seattle had its bicycle police, she had yet to see a state trooper hunting for criminals in anything that wasn’t motorized. This had to be Malcolm’s contact.

The bike slowed down as it neared her location. Tara stepped closer to the road, though she was nervous about calling out to the guy when he had been expecting Malcolm.

“Jason?”

The bicycle halted and a thump sounded as feet hit the ground. “Yeah?”

Tara thought he might shift the handlebars, so the beam pointed at her, but he flipped the light off instead, and darkness bathed the road again. Not before she had a glimpse of that tufted beard Malcolm had mentioned, along with stringy hair that fell to the man’s shoulders. A waft of body odor drifted to her nose as well.

“I’m Tara. I’m with Malcolm. He went back down the hill to... deal with something.” She didn’t know what Malcolm had told this fellow, but he seemed like the type who might be alarmed if he knew the law was around.

“Those dogs?” Jason asked.

“Maybe. Or maybe he left the oven on and went back to turn it off.”

“Uh huh. You got any money?”

Tara took a step back, aware that she was alone in the mountains with a stranger. She had assumed Malcolm wouldn’t have left her to meet with someone dangerous, but running off the dogs hadn’t been a part of his original plan. “For what?” she asked.

“Trade. My information for your money.”

“Malcolm didn’t mention anything about paying you.”

“That’s because we usually trade information, but I figure you don’t know much about the biz. I gotta have something to make riding out here in the middle of the night worth my time.”

Tara had a few dollars, but doubted her latte money would be enough to satisfy this guy. She usually paid for everything with her debit card. “I’m low on funds.” She tried to think of something else she might offer, fearing that he might suggest something sexual if left to his imagination. “How about some wine and good chocolate in trade?”

“Chocolate? You have any of the white kind with those little cookie bits in it?”

Tara wouldn’t have guessed the candy would have been what snagged his interest, but she would go with it. “No, but I have a nice bar of dark with almonds and sea salt. Real good stuff.”

“Yeah? Let’s see the wares.”

Tara handed him the wine bottle, then dug into her purse and held out the last bar. A phone display flared to life. It wasn’t a smartphone, so no flashlight app, but the glow of the screen was enough to illuminate the wrapper.