Mountain of Lies

Chapter 1

Mia stopped struggling and rested her cheek against the wet rock as she focused on moving air in and out of her constricted lungs. She was an idiot. She knew better than to linger on an unstable shale surface, especially in a torrential downpour, and now her rain poncho was pinned firmly under a bolder, straightjacketing her to the slope. It was a ridiculous way to die.

Her heart rate slowed and she let her eyelids drift closed. Would that be so bad, really? She'd spent most of her life fighting to save Canada's pristine wilderness and the multitude of species that called it home. Maybe a nice, quiet grave on the Coast Mountain range was a fitting end. Irony twisted her lips. After all, it had started right here in the peaks of coastal British Columbia.

She'd never thought she'd come back to the west coast, but the contract for the environmental impact study for a new resort had been too good. Besides, it had seemed like the stalker she'd acquired on her last visit had finally lost interest. There had been no flowers for a couple of years and the mysterious run of bad luck that had plagued her, and anyone she got close to, had eased off. But now this?

Maybe it was karma. A recognition of her unpaid debt. So maybe she'd just let her eyes stay closed and turn her face from the life-sustaining drizzle of rain. Her mother would stop looking for her eventually and go on with her life.

Except she wouldn't. Mia would miss their regular check-in email, her mother would wait a week or two, or as long as her nerves could stand it, then she'd break every rule Mia had carefully laid out. She'd tell the police her daughter was missing and everything she knew about who might have made that happen. And somehow, if he was still out there, he'd know. And then he'd go after her mom.

The thought roused her and she managed to shift one hip enough to wiggle her hand free. She grimaced as the blood started to flow again and her hand lit up with pins and needles. Rock grated on rock as her movements caused a trickle of shale to slide down the slope. The nails on a chalkboard sound of sliding stone was coming from above her, and Mia tucked her chin into her chest as fear iced her spine. All it would take was one good hit.

Rock chips bounced off her head. A large rock slammed against her back, flattening her lungs. She fought the panic of suffocation and shook tears from her eyes.

And then she heard the voices.

"This is stupid. What the hell he expect us to do? Wander around the damn mountain until we just happen to find it? He playin' us, man."

More rock slithered down the slope and Mia frantically willed enough air into her chest to make a sound. When that didn't work she switched to creating motion to draw the men's attention. There was no cell reception up here, so unless this guy was talking to himself, there had to be at least two of them above her. Surely one of them would look down.

"Shut your pie-hole, Gio. You want to be the one tells him to find it hisself?"

She could see movement out of the corner of her eye. Boots and denim-clad legs angling carefully down the slope.

"Where you goin', Frenchy? Think you gonna walk home?"

The owner of the boots made a sound in the back of his throat. "Need to go. Wanna watch?" His accent was Quebecois, heavy but understandable. He slid another few feet, now farther down grade than Mia, so she could see that the legs extended into a lean torso, inadequately garbed for the changeable mountain weather in a scruffy leather jacket. The man twisted sideways, glancing up the slope and pulling down his zipper. Mia squeezed her eyes shut and the first trickle of air made its way back into her lungs. The anticipation of rescue was taking the edge off her panic and her lungs were gradually re-inflating. Even if his friends above missed her, the Quebecer had to see her. She'd let him finish, then call out.