Brandon smacked his flashlight against his hand, then tilted the waning beam into the thick brush. Six of them had spread out in opposite directions, but so far there was no sign of Jodi. She’d simply vanished. Trudging through the underbrush, he weighed his limited options as the panic mounted. If they didn’t find her soon, he’d have to head down the mountain toward the base camp. But even that route would more than likely be another dead end. If the rebels had kidnapped her, wouldn’t they take her to their nearest hideout rather than to the mountain’s base camp where they’d started their climb?
Stepping over a fallen log, he tried to comprehend the mind of the rebels. What sort of motivation drove a person to burn down villages and murder their own people? Greed? Revenge? Desperation? Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter now. He should have listened to the voice of common sense and insisted on cruising the Mediterranean for their honeymoon. Living life on the edge — if it cost him Jodi — wasn’t worth it.
He stumbled over a fallen log and tried to recount how many shots he’d heard. One had killed Robert. A second, one of the porters. He’d heard three shots, maybe four. His jaw clinched, grinding his teeth together. There was no way to know. No way to know for sure if Jodi had been one of their victims.
But that didn’t stop his mind from playing out the apparent scenario. Rebels had entered the tent, shot her, and she’d tried to escape. She wouldn’t have been able to find the trail in the dark, so she’d simply run . . .
A rodent skittered across the white beam of his flashlight. No. His mind refused to accept that possibility. People died from altitude sickness and heart attacks on this mountain. No one was supposed to die from a gunshot wound.
Something rustled in the bush behind him. His nerves tensed. Slowly, he turned toward the noise, trying to differentiate between the night sounds of monkeys and insects as well as the dark shadows swaying in the moonlight.
He took a step forward, then froze. A branch snapped. “Jodi?”
Holding his breath, he moved in a slow circle. The beam of the flashlight cut through the darkness. Something — someone — was out there, waiting, watching —
A bushbuck scampered into the brush. Brandon let out the lungful of air he’d been holding and cursed. She had to be here somewhere, but nothing but the rustling sounds of the disappearing animal answered him.
He stomped through another ten feet of heavy bush and mud, straining to see what the darkness held. His mind worked to focus. If she’d tried to run from the rebels, she could have ended up off the path with a sprained ankle. Besides the rebels, there were plenty of dangers lurking in the surrounding dense forest. Snake and even leopard sightings weren’t uncommon on the lower altitudes of the mountain.
“Jodi?”
His shoulder scraped against the rough bark of a tree. The darkness of the forest closed around him. He couldn’t see more than half a dozen feet ahead of him, and she could be anywhere. Continuing would only end up with him lost . . . and do nothing to find Jodi. But if Jodi had taught him anything, it was persistence. He’d never met a woman with so much perseverance. It had carried her through eight months of painful physical therapy, and it would get her through whatever she was facing at this moment.
He turned back toward the camp, doing his best to retrace his steps in case he’d missed a clue that she’d been here.
The only explanation that made sense was that someone from among the rebels had seen Ashley and decided her stash of electronics was worth the climb. But if they’d wanted a hostage as well, why risk taking Jodi when there were dozens of hikers at the base camp who were far more accessible than those eight thousand feet up the surface of the mountain?
Entering the camp, he made his way back to his tent and began shoving items into his pack. Someone had dumped Jodi’s things across her sleeping bag. He grabbed for the headlight and flicked on the strong beam. If they’d forced her to leave the tent, she wouldn’t have had time to grab her things, but her cell phone and camera were gone. Which helped substantiate what he already believed to be true: the rebels had been here. But what had they done with Jodi?
Brandon grabbed his backpack and stood, scraping the top of the tent with his head as he exited.
Mosi approached him from the other side of the camp. “Anything?”
Brandon shook his head. “Her cell phone and camera are gone, as are mine, but there is no sign of where she might have gone. What about you and your men?”
“We can’t communicate without radios, but three have just checked in having found nothing. We’ll keep looking until we find her.”
Brandon slung the backpack onto his shoulder and headed past the flickering fire toward the main trail that led toward the base
camp. “I’m heading down the mountain. If they did take her and I hurry, I might be able to catch up with them.”
“And then what?” Mosi moved to block his way. “No. You cannot leave.”
“I can and I will.”
“You do not understand the risks.”
Mosi grasped his shoulder, but Brandon pulled away from the older man’s grasp. “What I do understand is that my wife is missing and I have to find her.”
“How? By running down the mountain in the dark? You will never find her that way.”
“I will if you send one of the porters with me. They know the way better than anyone, which means we can catch up with them.”
“We don’t even know if that is where they have taken her. And then what do you do if you find them? You have no weapons. Nothing to fight against them. It is better to simply wait here until help arrives.”
Brandon shook his head. Waiting here was not an option. “If I go, I’ll be able to alert the authorities at the base camp.”
Mosi didn’t look convinced. “This is not the United States. Resources are scarce in my country, especially now. How much time do you think our army can spend searching for one missing woman when they’re not even able to control the armed rebels murdering their own people?”
Brandon dropped his arms to his sides. “So you want me to just give up.”
“Of course not. I am only suggesting that we wait until the porter I am sending down the mountain returns with help. Besides, finding her in the dark will be almost impossible.”
Brandon didn’t agree. Jodi could be out there bleeding to death for all they knew. And in a situation like that, every minute counted. If she was out there, he was going to find her. “I’m not willing to sit here and just wait. And the fact that no one has found her, means that more than likely they’ve taken her — ”
“We have no way of knowing that they took her.”
“Then where is she?” Brandon’s booming voice split the quiet night air.
Mosi dropped his gaze. “I do not know where she is, but I still believe it is best to remain here.”
“No.” Brandon brushed past Mosi before stopping and turning back to face him. “I might not have any idea where she is, but I do intend to find her. And I’ll never find her standing here arguing with you.”
Ashley ran up beside him as he started for the trail, her fancy backpack bouncing on her back. “You’re going down to the base camp.”
Brandon grimaced. He didn’t have time to deal with her. “News travels fast, but I don’t have time to babysit.”
“You don’t understand.” Panic laced Ashley’s voice. “I can’t stay on this mountain another second.”
Her eyes still swollen from crying, Ashley looked anything but the stuck-up actress who’d joined them twenty-four hours ago. He felt sorry for how she’d lost her father in such a brutal way, but even her desolate expression did little to erase his irritation. The bottom line was that she’d slow him down, which wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. Wherever Jodi was, she was in trouble and the more time that passed, the more difficult it was going to be to locate her.
“Please?”
“I said no.”
“They murdered my father — ”
“They took my wife.” He stopped and caught her gaze. Her eyes pleaded with him to reconsider, but being saddled with someone who would just slow him down wasn’t an option. “Listen, I understand what you’re going through, but I can’t be responsible for your well-being.”
“Please — ”
Something crashed through the brush on the far side of the camp. Brandon swung around, ready to attack if need be. If the rebels had returned . . .
One of the porters emerged from the trees, his dark face lit up by the yellow flicker of the dying fire. “We found her.”