I wouldn’t have it any other way.
SETH
Ithink this is it,” I say as I haul the last of the plywood out of the hardware store. I place it into the truck bed with the others, and Khalil begins tying them down for the journey. It’s the day before we leave Canada, and we, minus Aurelia, made a last-minute stop in town to grab wood to board up the cabin.
“All set.” Khalil hops down and joins me on the sidewalk.
“Good,” Thorin says as he slams the tailgate closed. “Let’s hurry up and get back. It looks like it’s going to storm, and Aurelia isn’t answering the damn radio.”
“She probably fell asleep. She’s been doing that a lot lately.” Probably storing up her energy for all the murder. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to think about it. The three of us hop in the truck with Thorin in the driver’s seat. “Do you think she’ll really do it?” I ask from the back seat as Thorin starts the truck.
Khalil peers at me over his shoulder. “Do what?”
“Get on a plane again after what happened. I wouldn’t blame her if she couldn’t. I don’t think I would either.”
“I don’t know,” Khalil answers after considering it for a moment. “I guess we’ll see.”
Thorin takes off toward home, but we don’t get more than half a mile before the red and blue lights of the sheriff’s truck in our rearview stop us. Thorin swears and pulls over, and moments later, Sheriff Kelly is standing at his open window.
“I’m glad I caught you boys,” he greets as he removes his hat. “She said I’d find you near here.”
Thorin frowns. “Who?”
“Your gal. Aurelia.”
“You talked to her?” I lean forward to get a good look at the sheriff who looks even more haggard than the last time I saw him, and notice a deputy I don’t recognize standing a few feet behind him. Must be new. “When?”
“’Bout an hour ago, I’d say. I went looking for you boys at the cabin first, and she answered the door. Said I’d find you here.” I think the three of us breathe a collective sigh of relief at the confirmation that our girl’s fine and probably fell asleep like I’d guessed.
“Who’s he?” I ask, referring to the silent deputy.
“Ah, this is Deputy Green. Brought him on two weeks ago after Plocher decided on an early retirement. His first week was nothing to write home about, but I’d say he’s had an exciting second week, wouldn’t you, Green?”
“Definitely, sir.”
Fascinating.I roll my eyes.
“Listen,” the sheriff says. “I know you boys are getting ready to hightail it out of town, and this is highly inconvenient, but I have a favor to ask.”
“What’s up?” Khalil’s friendly ass asks.
“We got some out-of-towners who went camping, and a couple of them got separated from their group last night. No one’s seen or heard from them since. I’ve got the new SAR team out there looking, but they aren’t familiar with the terrain and haven’t found diddly-squat. With this nasty squall coming, I don’t want to waste any more time. You three know those mountains better than anyone. Maybe you’ll see something they can’t. What do you say? Help this old man out one last time?”
Frowning, I sit back and cross my arms, choosing to keep my thoughts to myself.
The search could only take a few hours, or it could take a few days. It’s been a month since we decided to go after Isaac, and it feels like now or never. A delay could make us all lose our nerve,not to mention search and rescue is a dangerous job. If one of us gets hurt, we’refucked. We’re already wildly outnumbered, but that’s okay because we only have one target. Anyone who gets in our way will simply be collateral damage, but we have a way around that too.
I watch Khalil and Thorin glance at each other, and then they both look in the back seat at me, and I raise my brows because we’re obviously going to do it. Why? Because Aurelia told the sheriff where to find us, which means she thinks we should. So we will.
Our girl’s got a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She knows what it’s like to be lost out there and wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she allowed us to ignore someone else in need.
“We’ll do it,” Khalil says. “We just need time to grab our gear.”
“No need,” the sheriff states. “Your young lady already took care of that. She packed your gear, and we put it in my truck.”
Thorin blows out a breath and then waves a hand. “Lead the way.”
It’s fucking snowing. And worse, it’s late enough in the season that the shit is actually sticking and being a goddamn nuisance. I shiver in my leather jacket for the third time and pull the fur-lined collar up to protect my nape and ears.
