Page 26 of Mountain Target

It was midnight by the time they dropped the scientists off at the hotel. They’d agreed with the colonel that Damien’s team would pick them up at seven a.m., and they would all regroup at eight in a meeting with the mayor and Yvette Legrand, the mayor’s chief of staff. Beau knew the timing of the meeting wasn’t just due to the urgency—the mayor wanted to have this meeting on the hush hush, without any of it leaking out to the press. Beau couldn’t care less about the secrecy or political repercussions, as long as the right decisions were made.

Beau said goodnight to his men and got back on his bike. He rode slowly, his eyes gritty with exhaustion. At the start of the long driveway, he got off the bike and pushed it forward. He didn’t want to wake Valentina and Ren up if he could help it.

Except you’re not waking them.

Because the lights on the top-floor apartment were on—and because that was Valentina, racing down the stairs, her eyes round and wild.

Valentina

"Valentina?” Beau grabbed her shoulders as she flew off the last step, successfully stopping her momentum. “What’s wrong?”

“Ren,” Valentina gasped, unable for a moment to find her voice.

“What about Ren?” Beau asked, his voice calm. He hadn’t let go of her shoulders, and his warm touch grounded her.

She took a shaky breath, and then the words came in a torrent she was unable to control. “I can’t find her. She’s gone. We had dinner together. Everything was fine. Or as fine as …” She left that thought uncompleted, stifling a sob. “She was in her room, doing her homework. I was watching TV. I must have fallen asleep on the couch. When I woke up, I went to her room to check on her.”

Panic enveloped her.

“Are you sure she left voluntarily?”

Val’s stomach turned. She hadn’t even considered the alternative. What kind of par—what kind of guardian didn’t consider that alternative …

You are unfit to be Ren’s guardian.

But no, she’d seen the proof.

“The door was locked from the inside when I went to sleep, but unlocked when I woke up. Only Ren could have done it.”

“How long did you sleep?”

Val looked at her phone. “It must have been ten thirty when I sat down, so around two hours. Oh God, what if something’s happened to her? This is all my fault.”

Beau’s throat made a grumbling sound. “No. This isn’t your fault. Ren is an intelligent thirteen-year-old. She knew exactly what she was doing, so you need to think of where she might have gone that she didn’t want you to know about. With a friend, or …”

“I don’t know,” Valentina sobbed. “She only just started school. She’s met some girls, but it’s only been a couple of weeks. It’s only been—“ A thought slammed into her, cutting her breath. She pulled out of Beau’s arms and raced up the stairs again, through the front door, which in her haste she’d left wide open, and into Ren’s bedroom.

Her closet.

It was in her closet.

She pulled back the hangers, not caring if half of Ren’s clothes fell to the floor in the process, looking desperately for the box.

It’s not here.

“It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?” Val jumped at Beau’s words. She hadn’t even noticed he’d followed her. Her hands formed a shape in the air, of a box the size of a watermelon. “Her mom’s ashes are gone. And tonight is … tonight is the one-month anniversary of her death.”

Val sat down on Ren’s silvery duvet cover, unable to stand on her legs anymore.

“Oh, my God. I think I know what she’s doing.” Her gaze connected with Beau’s deep gray stare. “She went to spread her mother’s ashes.”

Beau looked around, taking in the mess in Ren’s room, the half-done homework on the desk. “Okay. That’s good news. It means she didn’t run away.”

Tears rolled down Val’s face. “But she’s all alone out there. In the middle of the night. She’s only thirteen. And it’s so cold,” she finished, hugging herself.

“It’s going to be okay, Valentina,” Beau said decisively. His eyes narrowed. “Think, though. Where could she have gone? It has to be somewhere she knows, somewhere not too far from here.”