“If the line cuts out, it’s okay because I have your location.”
“Okay, that…”
There was another pause, this one longer.
“Priya?”
“Oh no.”
Ethan took a hard right out of his property. “What’s wrong?”
“I heard someone.”
“Mute my side so I can hear you but you can’t hear me.”
“But—”
The line crackled again. Suddenly, a scream pierced the air.
“Priya?”
He pushed his truck to move faster, his SAR pack in the back. The guys would have their kits too, and Zac would have his full medic kit.
He opened the middle console and pulled out his Glock. They’d call the sheriff’s station at some point, but right now, getting to Priya was the priority.
He took a right and spotted the vehicle ahead. But there was a second car there.
He drew a bit closer, suddenly realizing he recognized the small SUV.
Icy panic slipped through his bones.
Maggie.
He pulled over in front of the cars and raced out.
Please be in your car, Maggie. The prayer was a fucking shout in his head. He stopped at her empty RAV4.
No.
Connor stopped beside him. “Is that?—”
“Maggie’s in the forest.”
Joel handed him his pack. “Come on. If Maggie saw the car wreck, she probably went in to help the person. We’ll track both of them.”
Ethan pulled a flashlight from the pack. With that in one hand and his Glock in the other, he raced to the crashed car, spotting multiple sets of prints in the dirt.
“She followed them.” Ethan sprinted into the woods. When one of the footprints detoured from Priya’s pinned location, Ethan turned to his team. “You both go to Priya. I’m following the prints. I’m counting on them being Maggie’s.” He didn’t wait for a response before moving.
Her trail was faint. A few footprints here and there. Some crushed vegetation. That was it. But he’d tracked people with less to go by.
He hadn’t been moving for long when he saw it—something on the rocks beside the river.
He stopped beside the items, cursing at the sight of her phone and a first aid kit. The kit was open, its contents spilling out like it had been dropped.
She fell into the water. And the river was moving fast.
Fuck.
