“I got it,” Jayce hollered over the wind—its howls mixing with the wolves’.
Joel stiffened and reached for his county-issued weapon only to realize he’d done so out of habit. Being a sheriff wasn’t just what he did, it was part of who he was. Who God created him to be. His shoulders drooped as a realization struck. He hadn’t brought his gun heli-skiing. He should have at least grabbed one of the kitchen knives. Something for a weapon just in case.
“I got it,” Jayce said again.
“Got what?”
The rope slacked as his brother walked back to his side. “Brady’s beacon signal.” Jayce held up the transceiver he’d brought. “We must be in range now.”
“Smart, bro.”
Jayce studied the instrument. “That can’t be right.”
“What can’t be?” Joel shifted his legs back and forth in a stay-in-place march to keep them warm and the blood flowing.
“It’s at the outer bans of the reading capacity. Several hundred feet north, then another fifty or sixty west.”
Joel shook his head. “That’s way past all the outer buildings.”
“What do you think he’s doing all the way up there?” Jayce asked.
“We’re about to find out.” Joel moved forward, the rope gaining tautness between them.
Moving uphill went far too slowly for Joel’s liking. Perhaps Brady got turned around and lost in the whiteout. But going so far north didn’t line up. Guys like Brady possessed an internal compass, just like he and Jayce.
The pelting frozen mix battered against them like an invisible, unmovable wall in their uphill battle.
“Zeroing in,” Jayce hollered, and then the rope went slack.
His chest squeezed. “Jayce?”
“Yeah, I’m here. A dozen feet to your one o’clock. Hang on to the rope and I’ll tug you to me.”
Joel did so, and soon he was standing by his brother and the oversized oak tree they loved to climb as children when their parents weren’t looking. But now as an adult, he couldn’t blame them for warning them off it.
Half the boughs hung over the drop-off. It looked bottomless when he was a kid, but it couldn’t possibly be as far down as he recalled.
“Where to?” he asked, seeing no sign of Brady.
“I’m afraiddown,” Jayce said, leaning toward the cliff’s edge.
Please let Bradybe okay.
But his gut screamed otherwise.
Thirteen
IT’DSEEMED FOREVERsince Joel and Jayce left, but in reality, it’d been less than a half hour, but a half hour in this severe weather and below-freezing temps was pushing it.
And the one fire trying to heat the wide expanse of the room they all huddled in ... it just wasn’t happening.
Cassie sat forward in the chair she was settled in, her leg propped on the ottoman. “I have an idea.”
“Okay?” Penelope perked up.
“What is it?” Iz did as well.
“Joel didn’t want us separating outside of pairs, but that works perfectly for what we found.”
