Chapter Sixteen
Hollis
Jada kept staring at me with what I could swear was condemnation. Eddie had been gone for about five minutes when I realized he was right. I cursed and went up to the house to dig out Jada’s old search harness. She’d know it was business time when I put it on her.
The moment I pulled the harness out of the closet, Jada went wild. She knew exactly what it meant, and I was kinda surprised. It had been at least a couple of years since we did a job, but she would barely hold still while I snapped the harness into place.
As soon as I let go, Jada took off for my truck like a bat out of hell. “Good girl,” I said. “Let’s go find Harris.”
She had no idea who Harris was, but Jada let out an excited bark none the less. I hadn’t realized how much she missed work. For a moment, I remembered how the volunteer firefighters had asked me to sign up for search and rescue with Jada. I’d told them no, and a twinge of guilt hit me in the gut. Perhaps it was time to reevaluate that decision. I’d said no because I figured I didn’t owe the people of Silver Valley my help, but Eddie was right. I’d stooped to their level, and Jada was missing out on an opportunity to do what she loved because of my stubborn pride.
When I got to the town square, I found Mead and Eddie standing near Bran. I ignored my half-brother and approached Mead with Jada at my side. He looked like hell, but when he saw Jada, a bit of relief spread across his face.
Sheriff Tyler was handing out quadrant searches to the volunteers and he looked pissed as I walked up to Mead and Eddie. I didn’t care. It was time to let that shit go. Even if he couldn’t, I could. Whatever it took, I was determined to be the bigger man.
“Hollis, you brought Jada,” Mead said. He choked up a little bit as he tried to speak.
“I did. Do you have something with Harris’s scent on it. Jada will be able to track him with that.”
“I do,” Harris said and got a small, raggedy teddy bear from a nearby picnic table. “His mother gave it to him before she died. He always brings it with him when he comes to work with me. I can’t lose him too,” Mead said, and broke down into sobs.
Eddie put his arm around Mead and tried to comfort him while I showed the stuffed bear to Jada. She sniffed it for a few seconds, and then we took off toward the woods.
Harris was only about a quarter of a mile into the trees, but he’d fallen and hit his head. It didn’t take Jada long to find him, and I pulled out my cell phone to call for an ambulance.
He’d hit his head worse than I thought, and the paramedics ended up airlifting him to the children’s hospital in the city. He was still alive and had a chance, though. If I hadn’t brought Jada and found him when we did, the doctors said that the brain swelling would have killed him a short time later.
The sun was starting to set as they took off in the helicopter. When the adrenaline rush of doing the search began to wear off, I found myself exhausted.
To my surprise, Eddie had appeared at my side. He looked wiped out too.
“What do you say we swing through the drive-through and get some veggie burgers and fries before we go home and crash?” I asked hopefully.
“I’m too tired to tell you no right now,” Eddie said, but I could tell something was off.