Back inside with the cabin door shut and camouflaged yet again, they ate the breakfast Laura had prepared. Well, the food she found. The mood was definitely lighter than it had been through the night, but Laura was now thinking about the day ahead. She wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Seth?” He stopped chewing and looked at her. “What are we going to do? I thought about it last night after I woke up, and our options are all horrible. And limited.”
“I thought about it, too. It was all I could think about, really.”
“And?”
“And? Well, I’m sure headquarters is missing me by now. I bet they’re looking. At least, I hope so. We can either stay here and wait for help to find us or we can try to go through the forest and get to safety.”
“Go through the forest? You mean the forest fire, right?” Laura sounded scared to her own ears. Too scared.
“Ideally we go up until we can go around the fire,” he said. “Or we hope that they get the fire put out and come up to see if anyone needs help. But I just don’t know.”
Well, he summed that up. The options sounded limited and terrible, even though he was a law enforcement officer of sorts and even though it was daylight and even though her daughter was smiling and talking happily to herself. And even though everything—the options were still options in name only. “So what should we do?”
“I don’t like sitting here. For one, we’d have to be still and quiet. And we’re well hidden, but there is always a chance they could find us. Then we’d really be trapped. Plus, there’s the fire.”
Laura breathed in deeply, considering his words. He was…not wrong. Keeping Abby pinned up inside, spending every night terrified to move, waiting on help to find them? Laura thought she would lose her mind the first day, especially when she knew those circumstances were going to stretch out into the unforeseeable future.
Seth was watching her, waiting patiently. She liked that he let her process her thoughts and didn’t demand instant answers. “I think waiting here is the worst of the two options.”
Seth nodded. “I agree. Every way I thought it through, trying to get down the mountain made the most sense. But this is all going to be on you, and I’m sorry about that.”
“What?”
“You know these woods. You know this mountain. I only know the public parts, but you know this part.”
He was right. Laura remembered how many times her dad had made her walk their mountain. Map it. Learn it. Come to know it on an almost instinctual level where each tree and rock and call of bird was distinct. She’d hated it. Complained endlessly about it. Been thankful when she had left this mountain and never had to do it again.
And now, here she was, sitting in her dad’s shelter and thanking God and her father for all those lessons. Seth was right, she did know the mountain. More important, she knew every way off it. She just needed some information.
“What do you know about the fire?”
“It’s on the east side of the mountain. It’s wide. Moving slowly up.”
Seth gave her all the information she needed because he knew exactly what she was asking. If she had to go through this, at least it was with a park ranger. A man who knew forests and fires.
Laura choked on air as she thought about how thankful she was that she had a park ranger here to help her. Her dad might actually be rolling over in his grave right now. Or, not. Malcolm Grant had understood so much more about the world than Laura had ever given him credit for. He would understand this situation with the same practicality that had helped him survive the Vietnam War and a hostile return to his country.
“We need to get off the east side, then.”
“Yeah. You know about the breaks?”
“Oh, yeah. The mountain at its finest when it comes to protecting its own.” The mountain was geographically set up so that a fire on one side would not spread laterally around it. There was a large river going down one side and a wall of barren rock cliffs on the other. Basically, the mountain was divided into two halves and a fire on one side would not spread to the other unless it came over the top. That had saved homes and people more than once.
“The fire looked like it was going to spread laterally as far as the breaks and then move up.”
“So we can’t go down. We can try to cross the river. Or the cliffs. Or we can go up and over, hopefully ahead of the fire.”
Seth’s eyes were serious, all sense of amusement and joviality completely gone. “That’s pretty much the conclusion I came to, too. This is where I need your expertise. Which option is the best?”
Laura really hated that she was the one with the information to make this decision. She was terrified of choosing wrong. “Those men are probably trapped by now, too. Don’t you think?”
“They have a helicopter, but they still need to hurry. The fire is spreading, and a helicopter is very noticeable up here, especially with all the firefighters and emergency personnel activated.”
“Okay. So that means they need to find us fast and then try to get off, as well.”
“That would explain why their boss had them search all night. He must know they are up against a ticking clock.”
A burning clock, really, but Laura didn’t want to make that distinction. “The cliffs are out. I’ve tried climbing them a couple of times before, and it was nearly impossible,” she said. “And that was with climbing and safety equipment.”
“Okay.” Seth didn’t question her assessment. “So the river, or up and over?”
She wanted to say neither. “I really don’t like the idea of the river. It’s wide and usually has a nasty pull to it. Plus, it’s raging right now.”
“It is high. I saw it a couple days ago, and I’m not sure I’ve seen it that full,” he said. “I don’t suppose your dad left a raft or boat hiding somewhere, did he?”
Laura’s lips quirked. “Not that I know of. I mean, he probably wouldn’t have told me anyway for fear I’d go on a joyride.”
Seth smiled slightly, too. Laura liked it. “So you think over is the best way?”
Laura hated the weight of this decision. “Maybe. I mean, yes. I do. Except we have those men looking for us, and I bet they are going to be picking the up-and-over route, too. It’s the easiest choice, for whatever that’s worth, and it’s predictable that we’d head that way.”
“I agree with you there, too.” Seth sighed, long and deep. It was a weary sound. Laura felt a similar drag and they hadn’t even started yet.
“I think we should head toward the river but plan to go up,” she said. “We’ll do the up-and-over path, but if we need to try to cross the river we’ll be close enough to attempt it.”
“You can do that? Lead us over the mountain, but also close enough to the river to use it as a Plan B?”
Laura thought about his question. There were three lives on the line. This was not the time for false bravado and ego. It was the time to assess. And be honest. “Yeah. I can. It’ll be a little zigzaggy, because the river isn’t straight. But we should have good cover. Yes. I can do it.”
Seth didn’t question her more. He nodded his acceptance and stood. “All right. Then we should start out. The faster we get going, the faster we’ll reach safety. Do you know if there are any bags or packs in here?”
Thankful to do something other than sit and worry, Laura stood. “Yes, we’ll be able to take enough supplies with us to last the trip.” If they made it, that was.
* * *
If it weren’t for the armed men and the forest fire, this would have been a beautiful walk through the forest. Seth had always liked the woods and had spent much of his childhood exploring them with his family. When he’d been in Afghanistan, he’d almost craved them. Seth had walked out of that rehab center and demanded his dad take him to the forest. Any forest. While his dad waited in the car in the parking lot, Seth had limped into the cluster of trees and just breathed. It was the first time he’d felt like he could breathe since the IED had gone off. The forest in his home state of Oregon was every bit as pretty as the one they were currently walking through.
Even though he’d been released from rehab, Seth still wasn’t able to live on his own. His injuries, both physical and mental, required almost constant care. Seth’s pride hated being dependent on his family for everything. So, he lashed out at them. Yelled at them, called them names, told them that nothing they did for him was right or good enough. He had hurt the ones who loved him.
Then, he’d been ashamed. So very ashamed of the man he was to them. The man he had become. Of the months abusing them that he could never take back. When Seth had realized how badly he’d failed his family, he could not stay there with them anymore, so he had fled. To the woods.
And he had been in the woods ever since, it seemed. Sometimes they soothed him. Healed him. Helped him understand where he had gone wrong.
But today’s trek wasn’t a stroll with God and His beauty. Laura was busy navigating their course. Abby was doing her part by playing the quiet game with admirable determination. And Seth needed to be alert for the men hunting them down. He had to stop reminiscing and start focusing or he would add even more regrets to his list. Regrets so big that the list itself might just disintegrate.
They were moving fairly quietly, and Laura was doing a great job of keeping them out of exposed or open spaces. She was carrying Abby for now, though Seth intended to insist on carrying her later. He already had an argument prepared about how they were in this together, a team.
As two people comfortable in the outdoors, they were managing to move without leaving too much of a trace. There were no broken branches. Since they were hiking through the trees, the ground was covered with a thick layer of pine needles and leaves. Seth looked behind them every once in a while to make sure they weren’t leaving obvious tracks.
Seth’s stomach churned as he looked more closely. Though adept in the forest, there were still signs of their passing. Three people could not move with any semblance of speed without leaving some trace of their route. But Seth thought that speed was more important than erasing their tracks. Especially since he didn’t know where those men were in their search pattern. There was a very real possibility that some of the men were ahead and that he and Laura would walk right into them.
A very real possibility that Seth wasn’t going to harp on. Every mission had risks. All you could do was be aware. They were. Laura had apologized earlier for all the zigging and zagging, but she said she wanted to be close to the river and stay in the cover of the trees. She had grasped the possibility of the men being in front of them instead of behind them without Seth ever having to tell her.
Laura Donovan was many things. Stupid was not one of them. No. Watching her walk confidently in these woods, barely making sound, charting a course based on trees and trees and some more trees was the opposite of stupid. It was amazing. Seth was good in the woods. He was considered a skilled tracker. He was the one who went in to find lost hikers. And yet, these woods intimidated even him. They didn’t have a map. They didn’t even have a compass. They just had Laura.
Of course, they were on Old Man Grant’s land still, and no one had ever been here before. At least, no one wearing a park ranger uniform. Seth was walking blind right now, in more ways than one.
When Laura suddenly stopped, Seth looked around in a quick three-sixty. He closed the distance between them and made sure to keep his voice low. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Laura shifted Abby in her arms and turned to look at him. “Nothing. I mean, I don’t see or hear anyone. I just don’t know where to go from here.”
“You’re lost?” Seth was more incredulous than upset. Laura moved like she was a part of this land.
“No. I know where we are. We’re just out of cover.”
Seth looked ahead and saw plenty of trees. “What do you mean?”
“The river is going to turn sharply up here. By almost half a mile. The tree cover doesn’t turn. It’s a beautiful stretch of open ground that seemed almost magical to me when I was young. It’s where my dad would take me to fly a kite.”
Seth smiled at the image of Laura as a child flying a kite on this mountain. Then his smile faded as the rest of the picture came into his mind. Laura with a mountain man. And that was it. Had she been happy trapped up here with only a grown man?
“Why do you look sad?” Laura’s voice was curious, not accusing.
“I was just picturing you up here and thinking that it must have been very lonely.”
“It was just me and my dad. And it was a great childhood.” She sounded defensive. That wasn’t what he wanted.
“I’m sorry, Laura. I’m really sorry. I don’t know why my head is so thick, but I promise I’m working on it. Forgive me?”
Some of the warmth came back, though Seth could feel the distance she was placing between them. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m a little sensitive about my dad.”
Seth could understand that. Family was family. And Malcolm Grant could not have been all bad if he raised a woman like Laura. Laura looked out ahead of her, and Seth wished he knew the layout of this part of the mountain. He hated that she had all the responsibility for this decision. She shouldn’t have to be the only one weighing the risks and fearing making the wrong choice.
“A lot of my defensiveness is because I used to agree with you.” She was still looking away, and all Seth could see was Laura’s back and Abby’s sweet face, looking drowsy and flushed as she rested her head on Laura’s shoulder. “My parents died when I was seven. Malcolm Grant was biologically my uncle.” Seth felt his eyes widen and was glad Laura wasn’t looking at him. For all the gossip about Crazy Old Man Grant, no one ever talked about the fact that Laura was not his biological daughter. “And Malcolm came to get me. I was hurt and scared and alone. I would have gone into foster care without him. You’ve heard about him—the last thing he wanted was a child. But he came and got me anyway.”
Seth heard her sniffle and curled his hands into loose fists to keep from touching her. Comforting her. “He came and he did his very best. And you know what? It was good enough. More than good enough. I’m a functional, well-loved adult. The homeschooling education he gave me helped me excel. I was a well-loved child. But even though I loved him, and I did, I could not wait to leave this mountain. I just wanted to be normal. He was my teacher and my father and all I could think about was how I wanted more.”
Her voice was thick with regret, a tone Seth recognized. One that tugged at him and made his own throat swell with longing for a chance to have done things differently. She sniffed one last time and Seth watched her straighten her shoulders and stand a little taller. Well, taller for her. She turned and looked at him then.
“Sorry. I’m done.”
Seth started to tell her she never needed to apologize for her feelings but she shook her head, holding her hand up in a stop gesture. “I can’t anymore, Seth. Let’s just decide which way we’re going.”
Seth actually clenched his jaw shut for an instant to keep quiet. He was in no position to insist that anyone talk about their past or regrets. And she wasn’t wrong. They needed to keep moving. “I hate to say this again, Laura, but it’s your call. I trust you. Which direction do you feel better about taking Abby in? The meadow closer to the river or the trees farther away?”
She looked in two different directions, back and forth. Her hand was rubbing circles on Abby’s back again. Slow, repetitive movements that were almost calming to watch. After a very long minute, Laura took a deep breath and pointed to the trees. “I feel better about the trees. If we need to, we can make a run for the river. But, like I said before, crossing the river is going to be hard. The trees at least give us a chance to hide.”
That assessment was fair enough. “Okay. I agree. Let’s head to the trees.”
Laura took a step forward, and Seth reached out to touch her arm. He tried to ignore how nice it felt to make contact with her warm skin. Instead, he gestured to Abby. “You’ve been carrying her for a long time. Please give me a turn?”
There was no long, tense wait like there had been the first time he’d asked to carry her daughter. Instead, she gestured to his shoulder. “Okay. But only if you let me carry the bigger pack.”
Seth wanted to say no. He really wanted to say no. But he’d been raised by a fierce mama and had three older sisters. Yeah, he knew exactly where a no would land him in this situation. Instead of answering, he just took off the pack and set it on the ground, reached out his arms and gathered the still-dozing little girl into his arms.
He was shocked again at how light she was. How her little arms wrapped around his neck. How her face nuzzled his shoulder without the slightest care in the world. Abby had abandoned the quiet game for a nap, and she seemed more than happy to use Seth as her mattress.
Seth had nieces and nephews. Several. He’d been deployed when they were born. Then, later, he’d been too broken to enjoy them. What did they look like now? Maybe he even had another one. One who would never know him. That was a small distinction since none of them really knew their uncle Seth.
Abby made a murmuring noise and shifted her head, and Seth realized he had increased the pressure he was using to hold her. He forced himself to relax. This wasn’t the time. It was never the time to go down that road.
Laura shouldered the pack and started walking. She stopped after a few feet, bent over to pick up a large branch and began to use it as a walking stick.
“Have you walked over the mountain before? I mean all the way?”
Laura looked surprised at his question. “Yeah. Several times. It’s been a few years, but I still remember.” She gave him a goofy grin. Seth really liked that teasing look on her face. “If I’d been able to get school credit for it, I would have a PhD in walking around this mountain.”
“All right, then, Doctor Donovan, do you have any idea how long it might take us to go over? To get to the nearest house or ranger station on the other side?”
“It’s about fifteen miles until we start to reach civilization on the other side. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll find, though, since Dad just stopped us at a certain point. But if he wanted to stop, that had to mean there were people ahead. And people means help.”
Seth looked at his watch and considered the distance they had already traveled that day. “If we keep our current pace and don’t run into any, um, troubles, it should take us about fifteen hours.”
Laura sighed. “I agree. At least fifteen hours. This is going to be one of the longest days. Ever. And I say that as a woman who was in labor for thirty-one hours.”
“Do you think we can walk straight through? It’ll be dark before we get over the mountain. Do you think we can walk in the dark or should we camp out somewhere?”
“I think we’ll probably need to camp, but can we reevaluate as we get closer?”
“Hey, I’m not in a hurry. It’s not like we have reservations or a check-in time to meet.”
Laura bit her lip, eyes wide. “The fire?”
Oh, how he wished he had a sure answer to that question. “I don’t know. But I think I’d rather hide and rest while it’s dark and risk it. At least until the smoke becomes thicker or we see flames.”
Their voices were low, hushed. It was probably wiser to be completely silent, but Seth couldn’t make himself stop the conversation. He enjoyed talking to Laura. He wanted to know about her.
“Seth?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s the plan after we get to safety?”
Seth liked that she was assuming they would make it. Belief in a mission could go a really long way. But she asked a good question. A hard question.
“I don’t know, Laura. We need to go to the police. I’m sure they’ll protect you. They’ll try to catch this guy. But with a forest fire, all resources will be stretched to the limit. Thackery is the closest real town, but it’s still pretty small. I just don’t know how much they’ll be able to do, at least in the immediate future.”
Laura didn’t argue with him, and that said too much. She knew how small the police force was. And she also had a long history of the police being the enemy.
“Laura, I know I asked you before. But things were crazy then.” His lips twitched. “Well, crazier than now. Do you have any idea what’s in that safe-deposit box?”
“No.” Her voice was a horrible cross between desperate and pleading. “I told you the truth. After Josh died, I moved home. I just boxed up his belongings and brought them with me. But I couldn’t go through them.”
“But you did eventually?”
“Last week. It’s been eighteen months and I finally felt like it was time to fully move on. Deal with the past. I found the key inside a box Josh kept under the dresser. I have no idea what bank it goes to or what is inside.”
“Mahoney didn’t mention how he knew Josh? Or how he knew you had found the key? It can’t be a coincidence that he showed up so soon after you found it. How did he know?”
“I don’t know,” Laura said. “It’s all crazy. Impossible.” She bit her lip, looking almost ill. “I keep thinking he must have been watching me somehow. But inside the cabin? Inside my home? That’s the place I’ve always been safest. I just don’t know.”
“It still doesn’t make sense, Laura. Even if they were watching you, they’d have to be really close to see a solitary key. That just seems like too much of a stretch.”
Laura gasped. “I called Josh’s old firm and asked them if they knew anything about a safe-deposit box.”
“You did?”
“After I found the key, I went to town for supplies. I used the cell signal down there to call Josh’s old firm to see if they knew about the key. Could Mahoney have been listening to my calls?”
“That sounds more likely than them visually seeing you find a key,” Seth said. “What did they say?”
“They said no.”
Seth had more questions. But he couldn’t think of how to ask them without insinuating Josh had done something wrong—something to bring all this violence to his wife and child.
So he said nothing.
They kept on walking.