Free Taking Aim by Elle James

finally rounded the curve leading back the other way. An all-terrain vehicle with seating for four stood smashed against a rock. Two bodies lay motionless, one slumped over the steering wheel, the other crumpled down in the passenger seat.
    Without making a sound. Zach stood so still he could have blended in with the rocks themselves, his gaze panning the immediate vicinity and the rocky ledges above. Nothing moved; nothing made a sound. Several vultures circled high above.
    Zach stepped out into the open, crouched low, ready to duck and run if shots rang out. He eased over to the vehicle and checked for a pulse. Both men were dead, their bodies stiff, skin purple and eyes sunken. Rigor mortis had set in. These men had been dead for at least four hours.
    Zach climbed halfway up a slope and stared around. As far as he could tell, he was alone.
    As he puckered to whistle, a movement caught his eye at the base near the corner he’d just come around.
    He reached for the rifle and stopped when he realized it was Jacie, doing as he’d done, easing around the base of the canyon walls, sticking to the shadows.
    Zach’s jaw tightened and he slipped quietly down the slope coming up behind Jacie as she worked her way toward the vehicle, her attention on the bodies within, not the world around her.
    Zach waited between two rocks until she came within range.
    “Bang. You’re dead,” he said.

Chapter Six
    Jacie gasped and swung her rifle around.
    Before she could point it and pull the trigger, the man hiding in the crevice knocked the weapon from her hands, spun her back around, twisting her arm up between her shoulder blades. He cinched his arm around her neck, limiting her air.
    “Let me go.” She bucked against his hold, her body stiff, her feet kicking outward to throw him off balance. “Or I’ll—”
    He held her steady, as if she were nothing but a child. “Or you’ll what?” he whispered against her ear. “You’re in no position to threaten or bargain.”
    “Zach?” She froze, all the fight left her and she sagged against him. “Damn it, Zach, you scared the crap out of me.”
    He turned her in his arms, refusing to release her yet. And frankly Jacie was glad. She hadn’t liked it when he’d walked away and stayed gone for so long she thought he’d fallen over a cliff or had been captured. His strong arms around her brought back that feeling of safety at the same time it spelled danger of a completely different kind.
    “I could have been one of the drug runners.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek, pushing a strand of her hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. “You could have been shot and killed or worse—taken in by the same terrorists who have your sister.”
    Her breath hitched in her throat, and her blood rushed through her veins like the Rio Grande in flood stages. His body pressed to hers, warm, sexy and overwhelming. “You’ve made your point. I should have stayed put.”
    “Yes, you should have.”
    “I couldn’t stand waiting, not knowing whether you were all right, or if you’d found Tracie.” She stared up into his eyes.
    He kissed her, a brief brush of his lips, and set her at arm’s length. “She’s not here.”
    * * *
    J ACIE ’ S LIPS TINGLED and she fought back the urge to cry. Instead she squared her shoulders. “So, what’s all this?” She waved her hand toward the abandoned vehicle and the dead men. “What can we learn from what we found? There has to be a clue as to who took her.” She moved toward the four-by-four, bracing herself for what she’d see. The two dead men last night had been partially cloaked in darkness and still looked fairly normal. These two had been dead longer and were a waxy zombielike purple. “How long do you suppose they’ve been here?” Her gag reflex threatened to choke her.
    “At least four hours. Maybe longer.”
    “Not long after they took Tracie,” Jacie noted. A shiver shook her from head to toe. She had to remind