Bear Mountain Daddy 1 Page 6

  “Come in dear, come in,” Rosie took her by the arm as she stood at the front of the multi-purpose building where Spider and Jarrad had left her before scattering like cockroaches in an effort to avoid her interrogation.

  “You’ve had quite the adventure from what I’ve heard.”

  “How did you—”

  “I’m the dispatcher for the rescue crew. I also handle the postal service and own the local supply stores and diner. Welcome to Big Bear Mountain, dear. Now, let’s get you some proper outdoor clothing. You’ll catch your death in that outfit.”

  Elle stopped suddenly. “I don’t have any money…” Her eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of yet another vast hole in her survival and escape plan.

  “Oh, we don’t worry about stuff like that up here, dear. You’re not in the city now. Up here, we’re just one big family and we look out for each other. I’m sure we can work something out. You wouldn’t be the first to work off their tab with a few chores.”

  Elle was about to say she had no intention of staying any longer than she had to in this tiny one horse town, assuming it even had a horse, which she very much doubted. But something stopped her. This kind old woman had a certain maternal air about her and Elle warmed to her immediately. She saw no reason to dis the generous old lady’s hometown, no matter how small it seemed.

  “Now let’s see if we can find you some good hiking boots to go with that country-girl outfit.” Rosie rested her hands on her ample hips and nodded in approval when Elle was finally dressed, ready to take on the great outdoors.

  “I don’t really plan on doing a whole lot of hiking,” she said doubtfully.

  Looking at herself in the mirror, though, she was pleasantly surprised that the outdoor apparel suited her. She went so far as to think that she looked rather good in the outfit Rosie had insisted she wear.

  “That’s pretty much how we get around up here. There’s very few trails cars are allowed on, so most of us get around on foot. You better get used to that, dear.”

  City girl Elle severely doubted that.

  Lacing the big ugly hiking boots, Rosie sat alongside Elle on a hard wooden bench which comprised the ‘footwear department’ of the town store.

  “He’s a good man, you know,” she said, not taking her eyes from the task at hand.

  “Jarrad?”

  “You know very well who I mean. You think I haven’t noticed you peering out the window to catch a glimpse of him out there every chance you get?”

  “He’d be difficult to miss.” Elle couldn’t resist another glance out the window, despite her desire to prove Rosie wrong.

  “Big man. Big heart. That’s our Jarrad. Don’t let his rugged ways fool you. He’s a big cuddly bear deep down. And he’s very seriously smitten with you”

  “Ah, yeah, about that—”

  “Has he told you already?” Rosie cut her off.

  “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Elle squinted slightly as she stared Rosie down.

  “It’s not my place to tell you, dear.” She placed a comforting hand on Elle’s knee.

  “I just wish I knew what was going on. One minute we’re…well, having a moment, next thing, he won’t let me even touch him. And then there’s the weird conversation he had with Spider on the flight down here. Something about ‘the one’ or something. I couldn’t work out if that was some kind of military talk or what.” Elle shook her head slowly, and then looked into Rosie’s eyes which, despite their age, sparkled with wisdom.

  “They weren’t talking nonsense, dear. Up here we do things a little different to the big city ways. Jarrad has been looking for someone to settle down with and start a family for a long time. We’d just about abandoned all hope for him.”

  Elle waited for Rosie to laugh and say she was only fooling messing with her.

  But she didn’t.

  Chapter 26

  “Don’t look so surprised, dear.” Rosie kept threading the laces through the countless metal eyelets as if she’d just announced Jarrad liked Bourbon instead of beer. As if it was no big deal.

  “You mean he thinks he wants to settle down and make babies? With me?” Babies—there was a word Elle never thought she’d be saying out loud for a very long time.

  Babies? Really?

  “Of course he does, dear.” Rosie rolled her eyes. “Big Bear Mountain has a certain charm to it. The men have to follow a certain ritual when they meet their soul mate and that’s what Jarrad is doing with you now. That’s why he didn’t jump you and ride you like he stole you last night.”

  “You mean he really thinks I’m his…soul mate?”

  “Of course.” She finished lacing one boot, and then picked up the other and started work on that one.

  “But I’m not ready to start having babies yet.” she responded, fascinated as the dexterous fingers of the old woman worked their magic.

  “Well, let’s just see what happens, shall we? Like I said, this mountain has a peculiar kind of magic about it. Anything is possible. It’s a peaceful place. We try to encourage hikers and campers to the area and discourage the hunters.”

  “Now I’ve brought a different kind of hunter into this quiet, peaceful place.” Her glanced toward the window again and this time she caught sight of Jarrad walking toward the store with a ridiculously large crate slung on his shoulder like it weighed nothing.

  He looked like an action movie hero, but he was right here, in real life and he looked, to Elle, like sex on a stick.

  “What’s in the crate,” Elle asked, proud of herself for acting so calm and pretending she couldn’t care less about the man who was falling for her. And she for him.

  Jarrad was sporting an ear to ear grin. He’d either just got laid or the crate contained the tech he’d mentioned earlier. Elle doubted he’d just got laid, but she reserved judgement until after she saw the contents of the crate.

  Half expecting him to find a crowbar to crack open the screwed down lid of the wooden box, Elle wasn’t in the least surprised when he simply hooked his fingertips under the edge of the lid and tore it off the box like it was made of cardboard. Inside the box, nested in foam recesses were a bunch of cables, an antenna, something that looked like a cross between a laptop computer and a tablet. Alongside was another gadget that she didn’t recognize.

  “This bunch of junk looks like something you bought at a Baggage Battles auction,” she said with disappointment in her voice. She had hoped to see a high tech rocket launcher or something equally bad-ass to fire at the cartel goons next time they showed up.

  “This,” Jarrad announced proudly, “is our BMW finder. He waved his hand over the contents of the crate like a magician performing his big reveal.

  “And just how do we do that,” she pointed to the assortment of junk in the box, “with that?”

  “This so called bunch-of-junk is a long range RFID reader. I had Spider ‘borrow’ it from an army buddy we served with. We can use it to pinpoint the exact location of the Bimmer. Or what’s left of it, anyway.”

  There was something particularly cute about a colossal, hardened army man getting his geek on and becoming so theatrical when explaining his new toy. Elle was barely able to contain herself.

  Elle remained silent and unmoved by the riveting explanation, forcing Jarrad to continue before the awkward silence became unbearable.

  “Every European car has a transponder built into the key as part of its EWS – Electronic Watchdog System. Without the transponder, the car won’t start. Your key was in the ignition, so the key should be in or near the remnants of the car, right?”

  Elle nodded, still unsure where this was leading.

  “OK,” he continued, “so this RFID reader can be configured to 315Mhz so it can pick up the signal from your transponder. There can’t be too many Bimmer’s lying around at the bottom of the mountain, so it shouldn’t be too hard to zero in on the signal and retrieve the SD card.”

  Jarrad smiled when he saw her face light up at the recog
nition that his plan could actually work.

  Maybe he’s smarter than he looks.

  Without warning, Elle laced her fingers behind Jarrad’s head, pulled him down to her level and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go Bimmer prospecting!”

  Jarrad looked over to Rosie as she smiled knowingly at them from the front porch of her humble store.

  Despite being confused by Elle’s change of attitude since last night and the incident in the helicopter, Jarrad had business to attend to. Understanding the ebbs and flows of a woman’s emotional state would have to wait, for now.

  Breaking free of the awkward embrace, Jarrad called out, “Rosie, I need to get in touch with that grandson of yours.”

  Chapter 27

  “Are you sure this is going to work?”

  They’d been at it for 3 hours and Elle was beginning to lose faith in the plan. Jarrad’s confidence appeared steadfast, but she knew that was just the military leader in him shining through.

  “Of course it’ll work. We just have a lot of ground to cover, that’s all. Be patient.” He needed to give her something else to think about. “How’re the new boots working out?” he asked.

  “Not exactly the Jimmy Choo style I’m used to, but they seem to work just fine,” she conceded.

  “Jimmy who?”

  “Never mind,” she sighed.

  “Rosie told you, didn’t she?” Jarrad, curious about Elle’s change in attitude, had asked Rosie how much she had said during the time they’d spent together.

  “Some,” Elle replied. “She didn’t seem too keen to talk about the ritual stuff, though. Apparently, you and I need to have that talk.”

  Jarrad continued waving the antenna back and forth as he walked across the rocky terrain, unsure how to answer the question Elle left hanging. He’d never had to have ‘the talk’ before. He didn’t want to have it now, but he had no choice. This was his soul mate. The soul mate fate had chosen for him. Somehow, he just knew she was ‘the one’.

  “Up here on the mountain we partner for life. You get that, right?” he began.

  “Sure. Rosie hinted that there was something mystical about this place,” she replied seriously.

  “The men of the mountain can sense their perfect mate,” he continued, “And they’re never wrong.”

  “Never?” Elle quizzed.

  “OK, never, then,” he conceded. “Not in the past 100 years, anyway.”

  Jarrad took Elle’s arm and helped her over a patch of loose rocks and tree roots before continuing.

  “But as part of the ritual we follow, we can’t actually have sex—”

  “You’re not going to tell me we can’t have sex together until after we’re married, are you?”

  “Hell no.” Jarrad looked uncomfortable and started to take his antenna waving duties more seriously.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Go on…”

  “Before we even get to the sex part of the whole deal, there’s a certain ritual. The chosen soul mate has to choose to bond with the mountain man and become his life partner before they can actually have sex.”

  “I think I get it. You’re saying I have to accept you and want to commit to you if you and I are to be…together and have sex?”

  “That’s kind of it in a nutshell.” Jarrad shrugged his shoulders, unsure how to proceed.

  “I think I’m beginning to feel the special ‘pull’ this mountain has. Rosie more or less warned me about it.” Elle asked, placing her hand on his chest to halt his search for the missing car.

  Her hand found his rock solid pec, and she recalled how good his muscles felt under her hands last night. Before he rejected her.

  “You’re not afraid, are you?” Relief washed across his face.

  “No.”

  “I wanted you from the moment I first looked at you properly.”

  “But you pushed me away last night. That’s the thing I don’t get. All this stuff about your rituals means nothing if you don’t want me and find me desirable.”

  “I do. That’s why I pushed you away last night.”

  “Oh right…the ritual. And you couldn’t explain that to me last night because …” Elle rested her hands on her hips, waiting for an explanation. And a damn good one, at that.

  “I was afraid.”

  Elle held up her hand to halt the flow of the conversation. She thought for a moment.

  “You? The combat forged ex-soldier was afraid? And now you want me to accept that I’m your soul mate so we can have sex and raise babies up here on the mountain?”

  Finally she gets it, Jarrad thought, but kept his mouth shut and his best poker face on.

  “Aren’t you just a little bit skeptical?” Jarrad asked. She was a little too understanding.

  Raising her hands in surrender Elle confessed, “Maybe a little skeptical. But can you blame me?”

  “Of course not.” Jarrad raised his brows. “You really sure you want to consider this?”

  “Are you going to look after me? Protect me? And what about the Cartel?” she asked cautiously.

  “There’s nothing me or my friends up here on the mountain wouldn’t do to protect you and keep you safe. There’s no way anybody could ever hurt you.” He gave her a look that made her feel that he really meant it.

  Having come from a dysfunctional and interfering family, Elle was touched by the warmth behind Jarrad’s words. Nobody had ever cared for her or about her, without ulterior motives, before. She liked how that made her feel. Selflessly cared for and protected. Maybe even loved?

  Chapter 28

  Two hours later, they hit pay dirt. After hearing nothing but the crackle of static for most of the day, the strange contraption being carried by Jarrad started to beep.

  “We have a contact!” Jarrad screamed, punching the air with his huge fist.

  “So, that beeping sound is a good thing?”

  “Sweetie, that beeping sound, as you call it, is the sound of your freedom. It means I know where the car is and we should be able to recover the SD card, with a bit of luck and some good old fashioned mountaineering skill.”

  “What do we when we find it? What’s the plan?”

  The plan?” Jarrad asked. “I’m the brawn in this outfit, lady,” he said looking down at his colossal body which looked more like a Russian war monument than a human being.

  “And what am I, then?” Elle imitated him and looked down at svelte body.

  “You? You’re the brains of the operation. That’s for you to figure out once I’ve done my part.”

  “The SD card was hidden in my overnight bag. We need to get the entire bag, not just the card?” Elle suggested.

  “You mean the bag with the hundred grand you stole?”

  “It’s not exactly stolen,” she replied coyly, averting her eyes to avoid making eye contact as she lied.

  “That’s not what Trooper Ryan told me when he called me to find out if I knew where you were at. Apparently, you’re wanted for questioning in connection with the embezzlement of corporate funds, to use his words.”

  “That’s what they want the police to think so they’ll come after me. If they catch me, they get their money back, too as a bonus. Besides, they can hardly tell the cops I stole a big bag of their laundered drug cash and they want it back, now, can they?”

  “Yeah, you’ve got a point.” Jarrad held up a finger. “Okay, one big bag of drug cash.” Then he extended another finger. “And one SD card.”

  “That’s pretty much your shopping list. How are you going to get them?”

  “I already told you,” he responded, then winked. “A bit of mountaineering skill is all we need.”

  “What am I supposed to be doing while you’re off doing your secret squirrel mountaineering shit, then?” Both hands rested firmly on her hips. A definite sign she wasn’t happy being left behind.

  “I won’t be long. Just wait here and let me do my thing. I can’t focus on what I
have to do and look out for you as well. You don’t know the first thing about climbing. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I don’t care. I’m coming with you.” Her hands remained firmly braced on her hips.

  Jarrad took a length of rope from his pack and threw it to Elle. It hit her fair in the chest, and then fell to the ground.

  “Good catch,” he teased.

  “Nice throw,” Elle shot right back at him.

  “Tie me a figure eight on a bight.”

  “Fine.” Elle left the rope on the ground, turned and walked toward a nearby boulder and sat down with a loud humph.

  Jarrad was a fast learner. He knew she was anything but ‘fine’.

  An hour later, sweating and panting, Jarrad climbed over the ridge where he’d left Elle with their equipment and provisions. He had Elle’s overnight bag slung loosely over his shoulder, ready to return it to her. But something wasn’t right. He surveyed the scene. Everything was where he’d left it.

  Well, not quite everything.

  Elle was nowhere to be found. The rock where she’d sat and glared at him angrily when he departed to look for the car wreck was bare.

  On closer inspection, it was not quite bare. A small radio receiver sat where Elle had staged her sit-in protest.

  Jarrad’s hands balled into fists as he trembled with rage. His inner soldier knew what had happened and he wanted to hunt them down and find his soul mate. Only then would he make them pay for messing with his woman.

  The radio squawked loudly, and then went silent. Jarrad picked it up, the small device looking absurdly small in his massive hand. He didn’t speak.

  “Thank you for being so brave Mr. Mountain Rescue and finding our money and data card.