Page 32 of Mountain Target

11

Beau

Beau’s training and experience had conditioned him to respond and work through multiple dangers out in the mountains.

An earthquake should have been no different.

And yet, the erratic beat of his heart, minutes after the earthquake has stopped, told him this time was different.

You could have lost her.

You almost lost her.

He could feel the bruising along the right side of his body from where he’d thrown himself to the ground in a desperate effort to reach her. And he’d made it just in time—could still feel the pressure of his fingers on her wrist, reminding him how close he’d come to losing her.

So fucking close.

He pulled her around a fallen tree trunk, unwilling to let go of her hand for an instant.

He wished Bristow were here. The scientist might have been able to estimate the likelihood of this being a foreshock, rather than the main event.

Beside him, Valentina whimpered softly.

“You okay? Do you need to stop?”

She shook her head quickly. “No. We’re not stopping. Where is she …”

“We’re going to find her, Valentina,” he said again, and he realized as he spoke that he needed to hear it as much or more than she did.

Because if something had happened to Ren, he knew it would break Valentina.

And then, suddenly, a light came on and blinked off. Then again, two more times rapidly, followed by three slow flashes and three quick ones.

“SOS,” Beau breathed.

Valentina gripped his hand. “That’s her. That’s Ren,” she cried out. “Her mom taught her the sequence when she was a little girl. She would remember.”

She let go of his hand and bounded down the slope, heedless of the risk of running in the dark with a headlamp.

“Ren! Ren! I’m here!”

Cursing, Beau took off after her, terrified that he would lose Valentina, at the same time keeping his sight on the spot where the light had last flashed, high above them.

Valentina stopped so suddenly he almost crashed into her.

“Oh, God.”

Beau followed her eyesight, letting the light from his headlamp illuminate the girl, who was standing precariously on a ledge halfway up a cliff, her arms wrapped tight around a square object.

“Her mom’s ashes,” Valentina said quietly. “Those are Camille’s ashes.”

For a moment, Beau couldn’t figure out how Ren had managed to get up there. Then he saw the earth and rock piled to the side of the cliff, and realized the earthquake had caused part of the path to collapse, leaving Ren trapped up there.

“Stay there, Ren,” Beau said, projecting his voice loudly. “Hold on. I’m coming for you.”

He took off his backpack, though he didn’t need to look inside to know the obvious—the green and red coil he’d brought was too short.

Why the fuck didn’t I grab the extra rope from the trunk?