Aunt Inla’s expression hardened, her face appearing carved from stone. “My nephews need to know.”
Yes. She was taking charge. I was too frazzled to figure this out on my own.
She left me to shoo tourists out of the store and lock the front door, switching the Open sign to Closed. Then she returned to the storeroom and strode over to grab her radio off an upper shelf. Her fingers fumbled with the dials, twisting them this way and that.
“Odd thing,” she muttered. “Dungar set it up for me and showed me how to use it, but I can’t figure it out.”
She pressed various buttons, but only static emerged from the speaker. Precious seconds ticked away. My chest tightened with every unsuccessful attempt.
I took it from her and tried myself, with the same result.
“We don’t have time for this.” I grabbed her arm. “Holly’s bakery is closed. She or Sel can call the others from there.”
Aunt Inla nodded and opened the side door I’d missed on one wall. “Sel will know what to do.”
We hurried down a narrow hallway spanning the back of the row of buildings, Tressa leading the way.
The scent of fresh bread that normally brought comfort now turned my stomach. How could the world go on as normal when Hail was in danger? Every minute that passed might mean pain for him.
We tumbled out into the main room of the bakery where we’d met with Detective Fernandez that morning.
The bakery was only moderately busy, but it was late afternoon. Holly looked up from behind the counter, her smile fading when she saw our expressions. Sel wasn’t in sight.
“Max, watch the register,” she said to her son, a lanky teenager who nodded solemnly.
Holly ushered us into the back room. “What’s wrong?”
“Will’s people took Hail.” I pulled out the note, my hand shaking. “They gave me forty-five minutes to reach them or they’ll start cutting pieces off him.” The words caught in my throat. Saying them aloud made the threat more real. I fought down a wave of panic. Hail needed clear thinking, not hysteria. “It’s been maybe twenty minutes already, so I have about twenty or twenty-five minutes left to do something.”
Holly’s face paled. “Sel just left, but he took our radio with him. There was an emergency with one of the trail rides, a tourist fell from their sorhox. He and Becken took supplies to help. Ruugar was leading the ride. Beth stayed behind this time.”
“Can we call the saloon?” I asked. “Jessi might know where the other brothers and Detective Fernandez and his team are.”
Holly grabbed the phone, punching in numbers, and I was grateful when someone answered. “Jessi? It’s Holly. Is Greel there?” She paused, listening before handing me the receiver. “Jessi wants to speak with you.”
“Allie?” Jessi’s voice came through a moment later. “What’s going on?”
“They took Hail.” I forced my voice to remain steady. “Will’s people. They left a note telling me to come alone and a map with a location marked with an X. It looks like it’s in the woods on the north side of the valley.”
I gripped the phone so hard my knuckles turned white. The fear I’d been holding back threatened to overwhelm me, but I pushed it down. Breaking now meant Hail would pay the price.
“Dammit.” Jessi’s voice hardened. “Greel spotted a suspicious vehicle earlier. He called Ostor, Dungar, and that detective. They went to investigate about twenty minutes ago but haven’t come back.”
My heart sank. The timing was too perfect to be coincidence. “Do you know where they went?”
“West side of the valley. A cabin where a tourist who went riding today told us they saw signs of someone breaking in. We think they could’ve been hiding there all along.”
They’d created a diversion. A tremor ran through me as I realized how carefully this had been planned. How long had Will been watching us, waiting for this moment?
“What about Tark?” I asked, hope fading with each passing second.
“Tark’s not answering his radio. I’d say Ruugar and Sel are at least an hour out.”
I checked my watch. Twenty minutes left. The room seemed to tilt around me, and I steadied myself against the counter.Only twenty minutes until they began cutting off Hail’s fingers, one by one.
“I’ll be right there,” Jessi said, reading my silence. “Don’t do anything until I arrive.”
“Be fast. We don’t have time!”
