She nodded, though her heart was rattling louder than that snake ever could have.
“Andthatis why I grabbed my gun.”
All she could do was nod once more. Sometime later when she found her voice, she’d say thank you.
They pushed deeper into a small canyon. Brady stopped, sniffing frantically at a cluster of mesquite bushes. Josh crouched down. “Hold up.”
Katie moved closer, shining her light where Josh pointed. In the dirt, perfectly preserved, was a massive paw print. Too big for a dog. No claw marks.
“Mountain lion,” Josh murmured.
Marvelous. As if snakes weren’t enough of a threat for a lost little boy, now they had mountain lions to contend with. Her gaze followed Brady. Snagged on a thorny branch, fluttering in the wind, a scrap of blue and white fabric had captured the dog’s attention. “The lovie.”
“He was here,” Josh whispered, his gaze carefully surveying their surroundings.
“And the lion?”
Josh shook his head. “No idea if these are fresh or old tracks. For all I know, Luke was never here and it was the lion who found and carried off the small blanket.”
If it were up to her, she’d vote for old tracks and Luke would be nearby. But then again, if she had any say in life, everyone, including Luke, would be home safe and warm in their homes. Trudging forward, she had to hold on to that vision, everyone safe and sound in their homes. Including little Luke. She just had to.
Chapter Sixteen
Exhaustion had begun to set in. Katie’s legs felt heavier with every step. Even Raider, though determined to continue, was favoring his bad leg. More than once Katie considered it might be time to take the poor dog home, but every time she opened her mouth to broach the subject with Josh, Raider looked at her with big soulful eyes that seemed to be pleading with her to let him keep looking. A small part of her would have argued the dog had no idea why they were here or who they were looking for; after all, he had not sniffed Luke’s jacket as Brady had, but looking in his eyes, no one was going to convince her that the dog was not fully aware of exactly what was going on—and what the stakes were. So they pushed on.
When she wasn’t watching Josh, the dogs, or the horizon, she looked over her shoulder. After she’d told Alice that they’d found the lovie, the family matriarch had texted that backup was coming to help search that area. That was over half an hour ago.
“The sun is beginning to set.” She’d just stated the obvious, but there was no ignoring how the sun was hanging lower in the sky already.
Josh stopped. “I hate to think of him spending another night out here alone.”
She couldn’t agree more. Texts had been bouncing back and forth, search teams reporting little other than where Luke wasnot hiding. Even though more people were coming their way, no one was giving up anywhere else. But as long as Brady still had a scent to follow, backup or not, neither she nor Josh, nor the dogs, were ready to give up.
Moving forward, keeping her eyes out for more snakes or, heaven forbid, the mountain lion, Brady alerted. His ears pointed forward, his nose twitched, and he gave a low sharp bark, loud enough to announce, not so loud to alarm Luke. How the dog knew that she did not understand, but she was glad as heck for it. Brady pulled toward a dark opening in a crop of rocks ahead. She had no idea there were caves out here. Only as they got closer did they realize this was not an organic cave. The beam of the flashlight revealed rotted timber framing and a rusted metal sign that hung crookedly from a post:DANGER. KEEP OUT.
Josh shone his light into the gloom. “Looks like an abandoned mine.”
“You think he went in there?” If he did, that poor kid had to be scared to death.
“It’s a shelter from the wind. And if that cat was stalking him…” Josh didn’t finish the sentence. He unclipped Brady’s leash. “I’m going in. You stay here.”
He might have been talking to her, but Brady was having none of it. Pressing against Josh’s leg, he poked at the lead with his nose.
“All right.” Josh heaved a sigh. “I suppose if anyone knows how to walk gingerly it would be you, boy.” He looked up at her. “You two stay here. If I find anything I’ll let you know.”
“I don’t like it.” Every internal alarm she had was going off. If she’d been on an old sci-fi television show there’d be a robot shoutingDanger, Josh, danger. “It does not look very stable.”
He shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. But if Luke is in there, we don’t have a choice.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Not sure what possessed her, but she lurched forward, grabbed hold of his arm, leaned in, and gave him a good hard kiss on the lips. “Be careful.”
Eyes wide, he stared for a moment before a hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “You too.”
Her gaze remained on him until they disappeared into the black mouth of the shaft. Raider pulled at her, twisting at the end of the leash. “Take it easy, boy. They’re okay.”
The dog did not like what she had to say. He continued to tug and twist and was actually trying to wiggle his way out of the leash.
Pulling out her phone, she shot Alice a text about the cave.
