Hunted

By Lisa Phillips

Danger around every corner.

When zoologist Elise Tanner is brought home to re-open a zoo destroyed by flood, she takes on more than she bargained for. This single mom is determined to set up her son Chase for his future, but the cost might prove too high when she runs into the last man she wants to see again.

US Marshal Jonah Rivers is the head of a Fugitive Apprehension Task Force hunting Elise's brother. When a threat brings them together, both Elise and Jonah must contend with their shared past. There isn't a moment of his life she wasn't a part of…until she married his brother. Connected by grief and the betrayal of his family, the future they want is just out of reach.

Torn apart, life has brought them back together.

Jonah will protect Elise and his nephew while his team works to figure out who is targeting her, as long as his feelings don't cloud his judgment. Locating her brother is the key piece to this puzzle, the answer to discovering who is behind illegal animal trading. Until an old friend proves more deadly than they ever imagined. But can they protect their hearts?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Two Dogs Publishing, LLC.
• Release date: Apr 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798885522182

Lisa Phillips

Lisa Phillips is an ex-pat Brit who crossed the pond to attend Bible College. She and her husband have two kids (because man-to-man defense is easier than zone defense) and two bunny rabbits (for the same reason). Lisa got her start writing while waiting for her employment authorization card to come through, and studied the craft with the Christian Writers Guild. She can most often be found with a cup of proper tea and her nose in a book. Find out more at www.authorlisaphillips.com

Book preview

ONE

Elise Tanner slammed the car door and stared at the entrance. The broken gate had been wedged open, and a sign that once hung on the front was now discarded on the ground. Zoo.

The parking lot was rutted and cracked. Littered with debris from a recent flood that had engulfed the whole town.

Beyond the gate, evening cast shadows between the portable buildings that housed the zoo’s offices. The treatment and feed centers were nothing but broken-down shells of facilities across the expanse of intersecting concrete pathways. The fifty-acre zoo looked menacing, even more so because of its disrepair.

Her seventeen-year-old son, Chase, switched the flashlight app on his phone and held it up, shining it around the zoo’s entrance.

Nice place. He flicked the hair out of his eyes and looked at her, his gaze wide at the state of the zoo. I’m gonna go look around.

There was a glint of excitement in his expression.

This is not a field trip.

"Okay, but this is ours now, right?"

They’d been teammates his whole life so far. To oversee reconstruction, she said. Then you’ll leave for college. She smiled at his enthusiasm, sharing his impression of a facility that might have once been impressive—before it had completely flooded out. At least as impressive as a tiny zoo could be in a small town. It might not be safe, so be careful.

He would be, she knew that. Chase had lived his whole life in a wild animal sanctuary surrounded by tigers, bears, and even a manatee. He got along better with creatures than people, most of the time, but she still couldn’t help but worry.

Most of the buildings had been condemned, and the local Oregon newspaper had reported the old tiger was still loose. Another job Elise was supposed to take care of.

They probably should have waited until tomorrow to look around, but curiosity had gotten the better of them both. It wasn’t totally dark. Yet. Anyway, what was the point in sitting around their hotel rooms when they were here to fix it up? The least they could do was get an idea ahead of time of what this would entail. Before her first day tomorrow.

Almost as soon as they’d dumped their stuff inside their hotel room, the two of them had decided to head over and check it out.

Elise began climbing the wooden steps to the office. It was late, and they’d been driving most of the day. She felt every one of her forty years tonight, and it felt good to be out of the car stretching her legs.

The stairs swayed along with her movement, the rickety wood threatening to collapse underneath her, and she couldn’t help but think it was all because of the extra fifteen pounds she now carried—the ones her best friend said were all in her head. Weeks ago, everything here had been suddenly submerged under dirty water that rose higher than anyone had expected, too fast to combat the influx. It was no wonder the stairs were now almost rotted out.

The zoo’s infrastructure had been woefully outdated even before the flooding, but the destruction that occurred was beyond imagining. Trees were downed, and fences washed away. Enclosures had been completely ruined. The water quality in the lake was questionable at best, and the zoo’s old, blind tiger hadn’t been seen since. Fortunately, the rest of the animals had been transported out of town in the initial evacuation.

Her stomach sank, her heart heavy. She was going to have to rebuild this whole place from scratch.

Elise had read about the flood online from the safety of the wild-animal sanctuary she’d been working at in Idaho. The neighboring state had been her escape from the pain and grief of losing her husband a few weeks into his first deployment. She’d spent those years pouring into Chase and the animals in that safe haven.

Now she was home. For as long as this took, at least.

Elise had no illusions. She’d been headhunted by the mayor because she’d grown up here. She was also the only person qualified to manage his zoo.

It had taken a lot for Elise to leave the place she had called home the last seventeen years, but Chase would be headed to college soon and taking this job meant his tuition was covered.

As long as she could manage to stay away from anything that reminded her of those long-ago days—at least not before she handed the running of the zoo off to someone else—she just might survive this with her heart intact.

Maybe.

Though the office was dark, she could hear someone moving inside. Elise flipped the light switch. Darkness, still. Not that she’d expected the power to be on, but wishful thinking had to count for something.

Elise pulled the flashlight from the belt of her dark green cargo pants animal worker outfit with matching buttoned shirt. There was no sense in getting her regular clothes torn or dirty from the devastation, so she’d thrown on her work uniform.

She flipped the flashlight on and shone the light at the figure. A man. Who are you?

The drab-clothed guy turned around. The eyes of a stranger, dark and dead, made the pale skin of his face even starker. Probably not much older than she was, he stared back at her.

He didn’t remove his hands from the filing cabinet drawer where he’d been riffling through papers. Those were her papers now, stored in her office.

His eyebrow rose. I think the question is, who are you?

Elise had dealt with trespassers before. But never an overly-curious one. They usually only wanted to take a souvenir or leave their mark—with vandalism.

Elise set her hands on her hips and tried to look authoritative even though she was barely five-three. She studied his face and tried to remember if she’d met him when she lived here before. She didn’t think he was anyone she used to know, and he didn’t care that she’d seen his face.

Elise lifted her chin. I’m in charge of this zoo now. You need to leave the premises before I call the cops.

Tree limbs brushed the window of the portable building.

There were two desks and a row of file cabinets, most of which had open drawers. Papers were all over the place, like a gust of wind had blown them into disarray—or this guy had been searching awhile.

He narrowed his eyes at her. Without warning, he turned from the filing cabinet and ran straight at her.

Elise tried to dodge him, but he slammed into her like a football player tackling the opposing team’s defensive line. Breath whooshed from her lungs as her back violently hit the wall. The flashlight slipped from her hand to highlight a strip of carpet on the floor.

Dazed, she was only partly aware the man had reached for her belt. When she heard the jangle of keys and felt the pull, she realized he was trying to take them from her. The retractable string holding the key ring on her belt pulled out as the man backed away from her. Then, with a vicious yank, he tore the string from its clasp and the zoo keys along with it.

Elise reached for her cell phone, but it was no longer in the holder on her belt. It must have fallen out. She looked around, the floor in shadows, and her flashlight was still on the other side of the man.

The man moved. Elise tried to track his steps in the dim light but couldn’t see much. She memorized what she could see. He wore a dark overcoat. He was taller than her, maybe five-seven. The heavy material gave the illusion of bulk, but he’d had plenty of strength to slam her against the wall.

She turned and moved toward the back door, just a step, praying the route was clear. The man swung at her and something hard collided with her back. The impact sent her to her knees.

Elise scrabbled around on the floor, praying her cell was close by. Not that Chase needed to come in here and get hurt, but he could get help. She needed the police.

Another hit sent her to the floor, and she lay prone, stunned. Pain held her lungs frozen so she couldn’t get air.

She could only watch helplessly as the man went straight to the same file cabinet he’d been looking in only minutes ago and pulled out a handful of papers. He ran past her body still lying on the floor, and his dirty loafer nearly stomped her hand as he ran out the door.

Elise tried to reach for her phone. Everything went black.

Jonah Rivers keyed the mic on his collar as he ran. The fugitive is headed into the zoo. I’m in pursuit.

The man he chased had lived on fast food and cigarettes for years, while Jonah ate as healthy as any other single deputy US marshal. He also worked out every day but Monday, because Mondays were bad enough without adding having to work out. Jonah headed up the Mountain Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, US marshals who hunted the lowest of the low—those who had escaped custody or repeat offenders who hadn’t shown up for their court appearances. Fugitives. The most wanted.

Eventually Fix Tanner would slow, and Jonah was determined to be the one to catch him.

It was what he did.

Too bad Fix had been a steady part of Jonah’s youth, though Fix always held himself separate from Jonah and his brother—the rich kids. Jonah had never considered Fix a friend, not like Fix’s little sister had been. Fix and his sister grew up in a doublewide with their alcoholic mom.

Now it was just another day, just another fugitive.

A car with out-of-state plates and a sticker in the back window was parked outside the entrance. Jonah ran, legs pumping, hands gripping his Glock in front of him. Sweat chilled on his forehead as he jumped over strewn two-by-fours, branches, and other debris. The floodwaters had reached roof height, and this place was a mess.

He’d been chasing this guy for two miles already. Had Fix found a place to hunker down?

Jonah didn’t know of any connection the man had to the zoo, now or back when it’d been open to the public. The previous manager had died in the flood, his body never found. Jonah heard they were bringing in someone new to reopen it, some wild-animal expert. But he had bigger things to worry about than an attraction he would never visit.

We’re coming in the east entrance but there’s a lot of debris. Hanning’s voice was breathy.

Deputy Marshal Eric Hanning was a member of Jonah’s team. He was also engaged to another teammate, Deputy Marshal Hailey Shelder. The two had fallen in love after they had been forced to rely on each other during the recent flood, when the team had been hunting an escaped convict.

Jonah had been shot in the stomach, and promoted, all during that same manhunt. He wasn’t just in charge of the team now, but the whole office too.

Of course, Jonah had wanted the job one day, but not under those circumstances. Because his former boss had turned bad. The team hadn’t seemed to mind having Jonah in charge, even though it had taken a few weeks for Jonah to recover from his wounds, settle in and assume the boss’s duties. Boss or not, Jonah would always be a boots-on-the-ground kind of marshal.

The man he now chased was low level. Sure, Fix Tanner skipped his court appearance, but Jonah wanted him for more than just to throw him back in jail. Fix had a boss. Fix’s boss had a boss. That made for a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, all of which were here in his hometown. Jonah wanted charges brought up against all of them.

The door was open on the first building, so Jonah slowed his pace and stepped silently up the stairs. Blood rushed to his head. Each beat of his heart pounded in his ears, louder in the silence. If one of his team radioed in now, the sound would be deafening.

While Hanning and Shelder took the east entrance, his other two team members, Jackson Parker and Wyatt Ames—a former SEAL and a former police detective, respectively—covered the west side. The zoo wasn’t all that big. Fifty acres. It should take a few minutes for them to meet in the center at the lake.

Jonah flipped on his flashlight and scanned the room.

The beam moved over a body—a woman. Jonah crouched and touched her shoulder. She shifted and moaned as though the soft touch hurt, but her warmth sent a rush of relief through him. He couldn’t help her if she was dead. Murder investigations weren’t in his jurisdiction.

Jonah pulled out his cell phone and called emergency dispatch, then informed his teammates of the woman he’d found alive.

Parker said, And she’s alive?

Yes. Jonah tried to curb his impatience since he’d just told them all that. Anyone got a location on Tanner?

Negative.

Not yet. Parker’s determination was partly due to his having been a SEAL. By nature, the man was also incredibly stubborn.

Keep searching, Jonah said. I’ll wait with her until backup arrives.

Jonah turned his attention to the injured woman. Had Fix Tanner done this? He wouldn’t put it past the guy, but Jonah wasn’t sure there had been time for Fix to have done this. He had been chasing him only minutes ago. Now Fix was who-knew-where, and this woman was hurt because Jonah hadn’t been fast enough.

Was his wound slowing him down? Sure, he’d gone back to work before getting official clearance from the doc, but it was down to a dull ache most days, and he didn’t want to keep to his desk. Of course, he also didn’t want to jeopardize the team—or anyone else.

He shouldn’t turn the woman to her back in case she was injured, but he brushed the hair back from her face enough to see if he might know who she was.

His voice was a whisper. Elise.

Flashes of the past ran through his brain like a movie reel. Cookouts, the lake, and little Elise Tanner. They’d been friends the whole time he was in high school, right up until he joined the marines.

Crumpled in a heap on the floor wasn’t just any woman. She happened to be the one woman in the entire world he never thought he would see again, and now she was here. Jonah sank to his knees beside her and checked his watch. Emergency services wouldn’t be long.

Elise? He patted her cheek. It couldn’t be a coincidence that she was here when Jonah was chasing her brother.

The years had changed both of them—that much was obvious. Both Jonah and Elise weren’t anything like the kids they’d been. Still, in his heart and memories she was the same smiling, teenage girl. Even after the day he’d come home from deployment to find she’d married his brother.

Then, Martin joined the army and was killed in action not long after.

Elise’s response was to leave town. And she’d never looked back.

For months after that his heart had warred between acknowledging that she was simply a grieving widow and the hard truth that she hadn’t wanted him to help her through it. They’d had a close relationship once, but apparently that hadn’t mattered. She hadn’t trusted Jonah enough to be there for her when she needed it. She’d just banked the death benefits and left his mom’s pool house where she lived, without so much as a note.

Chasing her down and demanding an explanation—or just making sure she was okay—wouldn’t have brought him any kind of satisfaction. Plus, she probably hated him for talking his brother into a military career. He hated himself well enough. Jonah hadn’t figured he could handle her anger on top of his guilt.

What was she doing back in town after all these years? He didn’t want to believe it had something to do with her brother, Fix, but if it did, and if she was aiding him, Jonah couldn’t call off the manhunt.

Elise. Jonah didn’t want to admit how much it hurt just saying her name. He refused to admit he missed her, even to himself.

She sucked in a breath and coughed it out.

Elise.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped, but it wasn’t Jonah she was looking at.

She pointed behind him. Jonah turned but didn’t see any danger or anyone standing there. She might’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury. Did she even know who he was? Another guttural noise emerged from her throat.

EMTs will be here in a minute. He could hear the ambulance siren—close enough it was probably turning from Hancock onto the road that led to the zoo.

Her mouth moved and formed a word he didn’t understand.

Elise, I don’t know what you’re saying. His stomach churned. What had happened to her? This woman was dressed for a safari, but the zoo was a wreck. No one should be here. It wasn’t safe.

Elise.

Her face reddened. Her mouth moved again, and she managed to say, Man.

Jonah understood. Someone was here?

She attempted to sit up and her movements showed him she was okay to move without an assessment from the EMTs.

Cold moved through him. She’d been attacked, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t her brother who’d done this.

He swiped Elise from the floor and lifted her body easily, the way he’d done plenty of times in his mom’s pool. Come on. We can meet the ambulance outside.

He burst through the office door into the night and proceeded to vault the steps before he realized he didn’t need to be in such a rush.

He wasn’t going to lose her.

TWO

He walked down the