Cody arrived at the Search and Rescue staging area to find it swarming with reporters. All the other networks had picked up the story, and he saw unfamiliar vans belonging to stations that must have come from Anchorage. He tried to keep his head low as he walked into the building, not wanting to be dragged into an interview by any of them.

Josh was already there and handed him a cup of coffee.

“It’s a circus out there,” he said. “This is more press coverage than we get for the Iditarod. Did you hear Cassie’s been all over the national news?”

“I heard,” Cody said.

The mention of her name was a punch in the gut. The feel of her skin was still with him, the scent of her hair still lingering in his nose, the way she’d whispered his name as a throaty, sensual plea less than an hour ago.

Pull your shit together, he told himself. At least you got a proper goodbye.

The search team would be going out on the helicopter again that day, searching a new area along Riley Creek. It had been a cold night with temperatures below freezing, and the arrival of many of the Boy Scouts’ parents had brought new pressure onto the sheriff.

“We need more eyes, so if there’s anybody you know who’s equipped to be out there looking, get ’em on the phone and down here,” the deputy said at the morning briefing.

Warm, fresh cinnamon buns were passed out, courtesy of the North Star Café, which reminded Cody of eating there with Cassie. He expected that everywhere he went now—the fire station, the brewery, the river, his own cabin—would remind him of her. He thought he was probably ruined for any other woman, because he couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Cassie.

Morose, he geared up and rode with Josh from the staging area to the airport, watching a distant gathering of clouds on the horizon. The meteorologists were saying the good weather would hold for only a day or two more. They had to find the Scouts soon.

The three helicopters took off with search crews on board, and as Cody listened to the tactical channel over the headset, he was surprised to hear a fourth helicopter pilot on the band.

“Glad you could join us, Channel Eight,” said the pilot of Cody’s helicopter.

“We have a very persistent young woman around here,” said the news helicopter pilot. “She wouldn’t give up about the station renting out the chopper to help the search. She’s on board with her cameraman.”

That’s my girl.

Cody grinned, imagining Cassie’s brash New York attitude brought to bear on the decision makers at KFLS. They didn’t have a dedicated news helicopter, but did have a contract with a local pilot to fly their camera crew on the rare occasion it was needed, usually only when the Iditarod was coming through town or there was a major fire.

After a forty-five minute flight, he, Josh, and Sean were dropped off in a meadow to begin their search along the creek. They did a comms check with their radios and set off looking for any sign of human activity: clothes, candy bar wrappers, footprints, evidence of campfires. They saw nothing. As they moved upriver, the terrain grew more rugged and rocky. The trees thinned. In a few places, the creek was forced through narrow gorges that made it run both deeper and faster. Cody hoped no one had tried to cross it at those points.

After a couple hours of hiking with no sign, the three men took a short break. Sean passed around a Thermos of hot coffee. They ate protein bars. In the silence, Cody could hear the distant whine of a helicopter and wondered if it was Cassie.

“Let’s get going,” Cody said. The more he could occupy his mind with hiking, watching his step, looking for traces of human activity, the better because it meant less time to think about Cassie.

They set off again and soon came to a point at which the gorge became more defined. They could either continue along the riverbank or climb up and walk along the cliff above it.

“What do you think?” Sean said. He was looking at the rocky bank as if anticipating a rolled ankle.

“Cliff,” Cody said.

“Yeah, better vantage point,” Josh said.

They headed upward. It was still difficult to see much around the trees and the rocks, but it was better than it would have been right next to the river, which rushed about thirty feet below them.

The helicopter grew louder. They came around a bend and then Cody could see it: the news helicopter. It was circling an area about a mile upriver.

He turned up his radio, sensing something was happening, and then the pilot’s voice crackled over the channel.

“This is Channel Eight in the sky. We have what might be a visual on a space blanket next to Riley Creek. It’s a narrow area so we can’t get closer, but—wait—yep, there’s someone down there! They’re waving their arms! Two adults.”

But where are the kids? Cody thought. He pushed the transmit button on his radio. “This is Search Team Two. We have a visual on your helicopter. We’re about a mile downriver from you, on the north side, over.”

“The two guys are on the south side of the river. We’ll send GPS coordinates so one of the other choppers can get access to them, over.”

Cody and the others continued to make their way up the gorge at a steady but quick pace. Even if they couldn’t reach the two adults from across the river, they might be able to ask them where the rest of the troop was.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the spot where the helicopter was circling. The two men were camped on the side of the river. A gleaming silver space blanket covered one of them, and Cody could see he was sitting on the ground with what looked like a splint on the left leg. The relief on the men’s faces at seeing Cody, Josh, and Sean was palpable.

“Hey there!” Cody shouted, waving across at them, hoping the men could hear him over the rushing water. “We’re with Search and Rescue! Someone’s on their way to get you. Where are the kids?”

“Another mile!” The man pointed upriver. “Your side!”

Cody suddenly understood what must have happened. One of the men fell in the creek, and the other tried to help him out. An injury happened. They were swept down to this point but on the opposite shore from the boys. There was nowhere to cross, and the injured man couldn’t be left by himself.

“We’ll go for them now!” Cody shouted, and both men nodded and waved.

He got on the radio.

“This is Cody Bradford again with Search Team Two.” He knew Cassie could probably hear him in the chopper above. “They told us the kids are about a mile upriver on the north side of the creek. We’re continuing on that direction.”

“Roger, we’ll take a look ahead of you,” said the news helicopter pilot. “The DPS bird is on its way to these coordinates for the two adults.”

The terrain grew steeper and harder. After a few minutes the pilot came back.

“We have a visual on the Boy Scouts! We count all ten. They’re waving at us.”

Cody could imagine the jubilation back in Golden Falls for the families listening, and he felt damn glad it looked like a good outcome was in sight.

It took roughly half an hour to reach the spot on the cliff above where the Boy Scouts were camped.

“Hey, guys!” Sean shouted down at them.

“Everybody okay?” Cody said.

“We’re doing good, sir!” one of the boys responded. “Did you find my dad? On the other side of the creek?”

“Yep, we talked to them and rescuers are on their way,” Cody said. “We’re gonna rappel down to you and take care of you until more help can arrive.”

They got out their ropes and climbing gear and set up a belay system around a sturdy tree trunk. Cody was the first down. He could feel the eye of the camera in the news helicopter on him as he rappelled down.

“Thank you so much.” One of the younger ones crashed into him with a bear hug. “We were really scared.”

“You boys did exactly the right thing by staying put,” Cody said, looking around as Sean and Josh made their way down the cliff. “You’ve built yourselves a decent shelter and kept a campfire going. I bet it still got pretty cold, though.”

“We were almost out of firewood,” said one Scout.

Cody saw that the area around them had been picked clean of firewood.

“Yeah, and we ran out of food yesterday,” another one said.

“You’re in luck.” Cody reached into his backpack. “I brought candy bars in case we were the ones to find you.”

He only had five, but the boys divvied them up equally without being told.

“Do you think you guys could hike out of here if we brought you up on the rope?” Josh said.

“Yeah!” “Yep.” “How far is it?”

“About five miles to a good landing spot for the helicopters,” Josh said.

Once the boys packed up their stuff, Cody climbed back up the cliff and they hauled the boys up one at a time. He also radioed their intention to hike to the pickup point.

On the way, the oldest one relayed the story of what had happened, which was just about what Cody had guessed. They’d been taking a break. Everyone had set down their packs, and one of the leaders stepped closer to get a look at the creek. It had been a false bank and collapsed under his weight, sending him plunging into the icy water. The surprise of it had made him gulp water and lose footing, and he emerged barely able to stand in the swift current.

The other troop leader went in after him, and the current combined with the piled, tumbled boulders to catch his leg. He twisted and either broke or sprained his ankle, and when he fell, both men were swept away in the current.

The Boy Scouts knew better than to try to go in after them, and they’d waited with as much patience as they could. An hour later, the uninjured leader had appeared on the other side of the creek and told them to set up camp where they were and wait for rescue. One of the boys had a slingshot and managed to send over the space blanket and a box of waterproof matches.

Cody imagined the adults were in worse shape than the Scouts. If all they’d had was a blanket and matches for four days …

“You know I got lost in this area once myself,” Cody said. “But I wasn’t smart like you.”

“What happened?” the Scout asked.

“Well, I was on a fishing trip and my truck broke down. I was way up on an old jeep trail that no one really knew about. So I decided to walk out. Took me the better part of three days, fifty miles.”

“Jeez,” said the Scout.

“Yeah, he’s not very smart,” Sean cracked.

The boys laughed.

The troop leaders had already been picked up by the time they reached the spot where they’d been stranded. A couple miles away, he saw the black dot of the news helicopter, going in for a landing at the rendezvous point.

And Cassie will be there.