23
Cy was growing desperate. They had found where Reagan and Carter had spent the night, and they’d found hoofprints in the mud leading to the stream; hopefully, that meant they had found Miss Mambo. However, they also found a bullet lodged in a tree. And it was no old hunting shot from a previous deer season. It was fresh.
Robyn had been working nonstop. Her tongue hung out of her mouth and her normally perky tail was starting to sag. She was now resting in Ahmed’s arms as the group stared at the broken vines around a tree trunk and a brown leather belt with a brass-plated nametag that read CARTER ASHTON on the ground.
“Who was tied up?” Will asked as he bent to pick up his son’s belt.
“And where are they now?” Cy asked the question they were all wondering.
Robyn growled low in her throat as she tensed in Ahmed’s arms. “What is it, Spawn?” Ahmed cooed quietly to the red dog. He set her down and using her hunter-pointer instincts, Robyn faced the woods, lifted her front paw into a point, and froze.
It was then Cy heard it. A rustling deep in the woods.
“Someone’s coming,” Miles said tensely. “Nash.”
Miles didn’t need to say more. Nash took off down the path and disappeared silently into the woods as Cy and Miles went the opposite direction before disappearing into the woods. They would surround whoever was coming, hopefully Mick, and then find Carter and Reagan.
Ahmed and Cy already had their guns drawn and had taken defensive positions behind trees. Cy pointed to a large tree for Will to hide behind as they waited. They tensed as the rustling turned into footfalls and then those footfalls stopped at the tree where the vines had been broken.
Cy looked to Ahmed, and when he nodded, they made their move. Robyn leapt from the brush, teeth bared, as Cy and Ahmed stepped out with guns leveled.
“What are you doing here?” Cy asked with surprise.
Matt and Annie stared at them with hands on hips as Miles and Nash stepped from the woods with their guns lowered.
“We followed Mick. His trail comes out here. What are you doing . . . oh no.” Annie looked at the vines and then over to Will, who was still holding Carter’s belt in his hand. Her eyes scanned the ground and the tree as her body tensed. “There’s blood on the tree.”
“I know,” Ahmed said quietly, his eyes darting to Will’s.
“Blood? You didn’t tell me there was blood.”
“For what it’s worth, I can tell you it’s not Reagan’s. It’s too high up.” Nash walked around the tree and pointed to the back. “Someone was tied in a sitting position. You can see where the vines rubbed on the bark until they broke.”
“So either Mick or Carter is injured,” Will said. His square jaw, so similar to his son’s, was working hard as he ground his teeth together with worry.
“What did we miss?”
Cy turned when he heard Cade’s voice to see him and Marshall jogging down the path toward them. They had called out as soon as they had a visual on the large group huddled around a tree.
“Yeah,” Marshall yelled. “What are you all doing here in the same place?”
“This is where all our paths converged,” Ahmed told them as they stared at the tree and then at the ground around them.
“Mick, Miss Mambo, Carter, and Reagan were all here?” Cade asked, kissing his wife who nodded the answer to his question.
“The question is, were they were all here together, and who was tied to the tree?” Cy asked rhetorically.
“I see horse hooves and three sets of footprints. Whether or not they were here together, they’re all headed the same direction,” Nash called out from farther down the path.
“Which means we need to hurry. We can’t be far behind them now. Come on. Let’s get our kids back,” Cy said tightly as he took off jogging down the path. Robyn and Ahmed trotted behind him as the rest filled in. Cy was beginning to feel a familiar tightness in his chest. It was the same feeling he got when he was on a mission and knew his cover had been blown. Time was running out.
Gemma looked to her right at Porter and nodded. She looked to her left at Parker and nodded. Together they walked forward into the shadowed woods. They’d been walking all morning but had seen no sign of Reagan, Carter, Miss Mambo, or Mick.
Miss Vilma had been able to find two more rifles locked in her women’s club for Porter and Parker before they took off into the woods, so at least Gemma felt protected. Dr. Ava was escorted a short distance behind her by Dale, whom Luke had ordered to stay with her to protect her in case they came across Mick. At the last stop they made in a clearing about two miles from town, Luke had pulled Ava aside and asked her if she’d rather turn back. Ava had assured him she was more than capable of hiking through the woods. Ava was just as determined as the rest of them to find Carter and Reagan. Knowing they had a doctor with them calmed Gemma a bit. Somewhere in the great big forest that stretched across the mountains were her daughter and Carter. And somehow she had to find them before they were hurt. Everyone knew time was of the essence.
Reagan laced her hand with Carter’s as they strode down the path. She kept looking behind her. Her heart would seize until she saw that Mick wasn’t behind them. Then it would resume beating again.
“Carter, I can’t help but think we should take a different route.”
“Does it matter? He knows where we’re going. The faster we get there, the faster we can have the police capture him.”
“I know. It’s just that I can’t help but feel he’s behind us.”
Carter looked around them and then nodded. “We can cross here. Try to find another animal trail on the other side.”
Carter had Miss Mambo’s lead in one hand and Reagan’s hand in the other as they began to slowly cross the stream. It was deeper now, hitting Reagan at her thighs. Gone was the worry about taking off shoes. Gone was the worry about having dry clothes. It was now all about survival and moving quickly.
“Thanks,” Reagan said over the sound of moving water. “I feel better—”
Bang!
Miss Mambo reared up in the air, yanking her lead from Carter’s hand and racing from the water. Carter was knocked off balance and fell into the stream, taking Reagan with him. Before she landed in the water, she saw Mick with a pistol raised and shoved Carter’s head underwater a second before Mick fired at them again.
Pulling Carter’s hand hard, she dragged him underwater with her as she swam downstream for all she was worth. She swam until her lungs burned and her vision became spotted. Only then did she dare to surface.
“How did he get free?” Carter sputtered as he helped pull her to the shore from the water that was quickly turning to rapids. Swimming was no longer an option.
“Who cares? He’s free now, and he’s after us.” As if to prove her point, Mick fired again. The bullet sank into the water near her feet as she scrambled out of the stream and up the embankment.
In the distance, they heard Miss Mambo tearing through the woods downhill from them. Now all they had to do was follow.
“Wait!” Reagan hissed as she went onto one knee behind a tree on the bank. “Let’s give him something to think about.”
Reagan waited until Mick came running into view, and she fired off a shot. Mick fell backward, her shot hitting him in upper chest near his shoulder. Mick would be in pain, but it was questionable where she hit him—high by an inch and he’d be fine. Low by an inch and he could be bleeding out. Right now she’d give anything to have her own rifle.
“Now let’s go.”
Reagan stood and Carter spun her toward him and kissed her. The kiss was hard and fast. “I’m marrying you the second we get into that town. Now go.”
Reagan winked as she ran past him. Her cheek throbbed and her ankle was sore, but at least the shooting pain from both injuries was gone. And she felt powerful. She was not defenseless. She was going to bring Mick to his knees, even if it mean she had to shoot them out.
“Reagan!” Gemma shouted as soon as she heard the gunshots in the distance. After living with her husband for more than thirty years, Gemma knew the distance of a gunshot. That one was at least a mile or two away, but now she knew where to go.
Porter and Parker were already racing ahead of her. Gemma hurried after them as Luke pulled her back. “Let us handle this!”
DeAndre and Ryan were converging from the right and left of Gemma, followed by groups of volunteers they had been leading when they had spread out through the woods.
“Like hell! That’s my daughter!” Gemma shoved Luke’s hand off her arm and ran. Luke easily passed her, but he didn’t try to stop her again.
“Gemma!” Gemma turned to see tears running down Kenna’s determined face. “Save my son!”
Gemma nodded and took off running again. Kenna was coming, but she was farther back and unarmed.
“Come on, Mrs. D. We’ll get there together,” Ava said, slowing her pace to run beside Gemma. Gemma wasn’t out of shape, but she wasn’t twenty anymore either. Pure motherly instincts to protect her child had her passing many of the volunteers as every fiber of her body drove her toward her daughter.
Gemma said a quick prayer that they wouldn’t find Carter or Reagan shot a second before she heard the distinct sound of a rifle returning fire. Two guns. Gemma smiled. Her daughter was armed and that changed the whole situation.
Cy stumbled to a stop at the sound of the first gunshot. He looked to Miles and then to Ahmed. Without a word, they begin running toward the sound. Matt and Nash were already ahead of them. Robyn tugged at her leash as she practically dragged Ahmed forward. He reached down and pulled off the bright orange vest and unclipped the tracking leash. “Heel, Spawn!” he ordered as Robyn slowed to run right by his side.
“Matt, Nash, flank,” Ahmed gave the command and neither young man stopped to ask what it meant. Matt went to the right, Nash to the left. Ahmed and Cy and the rest of them went straight down the center of the path.
Minutes later, a rifle shot was heard. Cy grinned. That was a different gun. His daughter was fighting back. “Hang on, baby.”