In early September an RV towing a Jeep came into the park. The RV was outdated and the black Jeep, new. Checking in for a week were Clyde and Priscilla Snowdon, originally from England. He was a professor of history from the Midwest and she was a high school drama teacher who loved photography. Priscilla hoped to get in some hiking and photographs of early fall in the mountains. They had taken a semester off to do some traveling, and with the RV they could stay in each place they visited for a week or more, really get to know their adopted country. Two days later, a couple of archery hunters arrived with a toy hauler that carried a couple of ATVs, perfect for getting around the back roads. Pete and Lucas from Phoenix. And then the next day, being Friday, the camp began to welcome some new weekenders.

For the next several days, Sierra noticed their British campers and archery hunters making the most of the area—the ATVs on the back roads, walking along trails, in town, checking out the shops and the local tavern.

The following week Cal called Sierra and asked if she could come to the barn, he had something to talk to her about. When she told him Connie was at the Crossing, Cal said, “Bring him. I want to talk to him, too.”

When they got to Cal and Maggie’s it appeared they were ready to lay carpet and the interior of the barn was looking fantastic. There was a large roll of foam padding and a larger roll of carpet.

“You’re almost finished!” she said excitedly.

“Very close with some detail work left that I’ll probably keep seeing for months, but once the carpet is in the new living room and dining room, furniture and the bar stools can be delivered. I have a couple of walls to paint and paper to hang in the nursery. Maggie!” he called.

She popped out on the landing at the top of the stairs. “Hi,” she said. “Want to see the master and the nursery?”

“Sure,” Sierra said. “You’re sleeping upstairs now?”

“Wait a minute, I wanted to talk to you about something, then you can have the grand tour. Dakota called. He’s deploying again—in two weeks.”

“How long has he known?” Sierra asked. “I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, but he could’ve given us some notice.”

“I take it it’s very short notice. Maggie’s headed to Denver on Wednesday morning, home Friday late afternoon so I’m going to pack a bag and shoot down to Fort Hood to see him before he goes. I’m going to make it a real quick trip—I want to be back here when Maggie gets back. If she weren’t working this week, I wouldn’t be leaving but she’ll be in Denver with her obstetrician. No safer place for Maggie these days.”

“My last week until after the baby,” she said, giving her big belly an affectionate rub. “I’d work up till the end but my OB doesn’t like that idea. I think it’s as much the two-hour drive as the working that’s bugging her. But—Jaycee is a mother herself and she said I’ll thank her someday for insisting I take a month before the baby comes to rest and get ready. So, I’ll have a month before my due date. Any more than that and I might go stir-crazy.”

“Do you want to go with me to Texas?” Cal asked Sierra.

“I’d kind of like to, but it’s too short notice for me. I’m scheduled to work. I know it’s not much of a job but someone has to do it. And Sully has hunters and leaf peepers around—I should spend time there.”

Cal looked at Connie. “I probably don’t have to ask but will you look out for her?”

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. “You don’t have to ask. I’m working one twenty-four-hour shift this week and Sierra promises to sleep in Sully’s house while I’m not around. They both have baseball bats now, you know.”

“I heard,” Cal said. “I’m leaving tomorrow. Just a couple of days.”

“Be sure to ask him how is best to communicate,” Sierra said. “I’ll write or Skype him every day while he’s deployed. Ask him if he knows how long this deployment is. And tell him I’m sorry—a good sister would go see him.”

“Don’t kick yourself,” Cal said. “Chances are he told me so late so he wouldn’t have to be bothered with coming out here before he leaves. Or, God forbid, Iowa.”

“He won’t see them, then?”

“I don’t think he’s seen Jed and Marissa in a few years. I’ll be back on Friday. I think Tom and Jackson are going to try to get the rest of the carpet in while I’m gone.”

Sierra let Maggie lead her around the upstairs—they’d moved into the master bedroom and the baby’s room was right next door. Maggie had a big box of letters and pictures for the walls, plus a crib yet to be assembled. There was a dresser-changing table and the closet was outfitted with shelves. And there was an adorable wooden pink rocking horse. “I couldn’t resist,” she said.

“It’s really happening,” Sierra said. “We’re having a baby.”

“We sure are,” Maggie said.

Quite beyond her deliberate control, Sierra took such comfort in these small things—a new niece making ready for an appearance, a brother and sister-in-law who were thrilled she was near and always looking out for her, a strong boyfriend and a welcoming and bucolic setting in which to live. The end of summer brought later sunrises so she was having her morning coffee with Sully on the porch, in the dark. The approach of dawn brought out those campers who thrived on the early, early morning—the photographers and the hunters—who brought their coffee to the porch before 6:00 a.m. for a visit. They were friendly, outgoing folks, typical of campers she’d gotten to know over the summer months. Private, standoffish people didn’t seem to frequent campgrounds like the Crossing.

Life really did seem so mild, safe and carefree. Sierra nearly forgot there was anything to worry about, any unknown threat of any kind looming in the back of her mind.

Until she was driving to work early Thursday morning.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.

—Helen Keller

Chapter 18

THERE WAS A car behind her and she felt the hair prickle on the back of her neck. She frowned into the rearview mirror, not understanding where that car could have come from. It hadn’t come from Sully’s and she rarely passed or was followed by another vehicle this early in the morning. She thought about turning around and heading back to the Crossing, but that would be difficult on this road.

But surely that was just an innocent car. Hunters? But hunters almost always had SUVs or trucks and this appeared to be a small sedan. As it gained on her she realized that no, it was not just an innocent car. It was someone who had been waiting for just such an opportunity. And that could only be one person. Instantly, her foot hit the gas and she sped away. The driver was a man. She could not make out his features in the rearview mirror but as he accelerated, there was only one possibility. And his car almost caught up to her so easily because she was in the pumpkin and the poor, dear pumpkin just didn’t have the kind of power most late model cars had.

And she was still so far from town, unsure she’d make it before he could crash into her or run her off the road.

On a whim, she took the turnoff to Cal’s barn. It was closer than town. There was no one there unless Tom was getting a very early start since he wouldn’t be waking the occupants. But she could get inside and lock herself in. She had a key to Cal’s house right on her key ring. And once in the house she could call for help. She could press her alarm button—the noise wouldn’t serve any purpose, lost in the countryside, but it would signal Connie’s cell phone...if Connie even had his cell phone nearby. For all she knew he could be out on a call, some early-morning heart attack out on a ranch.

But never mind, it was only important to get herself into a safe fortress and hope to be able to hold him off until help could arrive. She roared down the road toward her brother’s house. Mother Nature was trying her best to foil her—the road was blocked by a small herd of elk and she laid on the horn with all her might. They barely moved and she scooted that little pumpkin onto the shoulder and wove carefully through them. Seven of them, one bull. And apparently in no hurry.

She heard a horn and looked into the rearview mirror—they had closed ranks around him and he couldn’t move. She sped down the road, digging in her purse as she drove. She grabbed her cell phone and her pepper spray and less than five minutes later, pulled right up to the door and ran from the car so fast she didn’t even put it in Park. He was just pulling into the clearing as she fumbled with the keys. A small squeak of panic escaped her as she tried to get the key in the lock, the door open. Just as she was getting inside she saw him running toward her and yes, it was him. Derek or Craig, or whoever else he was now pretending to be. She whirled inside and locked the door behind her. She depressed the alarm button and sent the noise screaming into the air.

He rattled the door immediately. She backed away from it. She went as far back into the house as she dared to get away from the noise and yet be able to see the door. She dialed 9-1-1.

“Emergency,” the operator said.

“This is Sierra Jones and I’m being pursued by a rapist. I think his name is Craig Dixon and the police are after him. He followed me and I’m locked in my brother’s house.”

“Address?”

“Crap,” she said. “I have no idea! Conrad Boyle, firefighter in Timberlake, he knows. Please! Please! He’s trying to get in. Please!”

“Where is the house, ma’am,” the operator asked.

“It’s a barn turned into a house and it’s in the country, isolated, right between Sullivan’s Crossing and Timberlake. Crap.” She shoved her phone in her pocket and ran to the kitchen and lifted the cordless. She dialed 9-1-1 again.

“Emergency,” the operator said.

“Help! Help! The house is on fire and I’m trapped!” Then she laid down the phone with the line still open and grabbed her cell phone just as the door was kicked open. She hit the speed dial for Connie’s number but she didn’t have time to say anything. She put the phone down in the shrieking din of her alarm and backed away, holding her pepper spray behind her back. Terrified, she knew she’d have to let him get close for it to be effective. And his approach was so slow. Her alarm stopped. The silence almost echoed.