High meadow, p.26
High Meadow, page 26
A lot of our downtime is spent running the ranch but these days we’re hired more frequently to track down and rescue missing individuals. Some of them go missing accidentally, but in a few cases their disappearance had been intentional. A few months ago, we assisted law enforcement in tracking down a couple of escaped domestic terrorists responsible for a pair of deadly bomb blasts outside state buildings.
Over the summer we’ve had our share of missing hikers, not just around Libby, but all over Montana’s northwest. I like the work, it’s unpredictable, can be challenging, is mostly gratifying, and definitely feeds my craving for adventure. In addition to that, I get to take a couple of days off every fall during bowhunting season.
I grunt when I see the busy parking lot at the grocery store full.
Great.
For a second I contemplate stopping at the smaller Libby Empire Foods, but Ama prefers the coffee at Rosauers. Besides, I’m pretty sure the parking lot at the other store won’t be much better. It’s Saturday afternoon, everybody is out and about.
I find a spot around the side of the building and manage to snag a cart on my way in the doors. Afraid I’m going to forget otherwise; I aim for the coffee first. The din inside the store grates on my nerves so I tune out, keeping my eyes focused on the shelf halfway down the aisle.
I don’t even notice the woman hanging onto the shelves at first. Not until I accidentally brush my cart against her legs and she startles, landing with her ass in my cart.
“What the fuck?” slips out before I can check it.
Staring up at me are big eyes, that weird color somewhere between brown and green.
“No need to swear,” she says in a clipped tone as she struggles to get out of her precarious position. “Especially since it was you who knocked me off.”
“I barely touched you and I wasn’t the one climbing the damn shelves,” I grumble.
This is why I avoid people.
The woman’s lips press tightly together as I grab her under her arms in an attempt to dislodge her from my cart. There is some grunting involved before I can set her on her feet. Standing in front of me she barely makes it to my chin.
I size her up in two seconds flat. Middle-aged spinster. She has a few silver streaks in her hair, is wearing ill-fitting clothes and serviceable black shoes, and has a pair of glasses on a chain around her neck. In addition, the contents of the half-full basket on the floor are as drab as the woman in front of me.
“I had no choice, they’re too high,” she huffs, shaking her shoulder-length waves from her face. “And my brand is up there.”
She points at a single, red can of coffee sitting well back from the edge of the top shelf before smoothing her hands down the front of her plain, white blouse.
I reach up, grab the can, and drop it in the basket by her feet.
Without another word I move past her, tossing Ama’s coffee in my cart as I aim for the produce section.
Fifteen minutes later when I push my cart out the doors, I just catch a glimpse of her behind the wheel of an older Dodge Caravan.
She’s so close to the steering wheel, her nose almost touches the damn windshield.
HIGH STAKES is available HERE.
Also by Freya Barker
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High Mountain Trackers:
HIGH MEADOW
HIGH STAKES (Apr 2022)
HIGH GROUND (Aug 2022)
HIGH IMPACT (Dec 2022)
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Arrow’s Edge MC Series:
EDGE OF REASON
EDGE OF DARKNESS
EDGE OF TOMORROW
EDGE OF FEAR
EDGE OF REALITY
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PASS Series:
HIT & RUN
LIFE & LIMB
LOCK & LOAD
LOST & FOUND
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On Call Series:
BURNING FOR AUTUMN
COVERING OLLIE
TRACKING TAHLULA
ABSOLVING BLUE
REVEALING ANNIE
DISSECTING MEREDITH
WATCHING TRIN
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Rock Point Series:
KEEPING 6
CABIN 12
HWY 550
10-CODE
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Northern Lights Collection:
A CHANGE OF TIDE
A CHANGE OF VIEW
A CHANGE OF PACE
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SnapShot Series:
SHUTTER SPEED
FREEZE FRAME
IDEAL IMAGE
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Portland, ME, Series:
FROM DUST
CRUEL WATER
THROUGH FIRE
STILL AIR
LuLLaY (a Christmas novella)
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Cedar Tree Series:
SLIM TO NONE
HUNDRED TO ONE
AGAINST ME
CLEAN LINES
UPPER HAND
LIKE ARROWS
HEAD START
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Standalones:
WHEN HOPE ENDS
VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE
BONUS KISSES
SECONDS
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
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Driven to make her books about 'real' people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.
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Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We've Read All Year Award for "Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
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Freya Barker, High Meadow
