“We split up to make the rounds of the campsites.” Grey’s voice was calm and even, showing no signs of worry, or of irritation that Zach was making him repeat the story for a third time. “I went east, Joel went west. He didn’t show up at the place we’d planned to rendezvous, and I couldn’t raise him on the radio. I called it in and then I combed the area for a couple of hours until dawn. No sign of him, and I lost his scent crossing a river.”
Once again, there was nothing in Grey’s story that miraculously revealed to Zach where Joel might be. No indication of what he’d been doing when he went missing, of any specific dangerous piece of territory that might have caught him up. Except the river. The mention of the river brought back his mental picture of his brother underwater, still and cold and blue.
Cal was on the phone at his desk, finishing up a call. When he hung up, Zach told him, “I need to be out there.”
Cal nodded. “I’ll be sending everyone out, but we have to coordinate the search pattern first. I’m calling in all the off-duty guys, and we’ll get everyone combing the area as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you need to stay calm. You understand me?”
Zach nodded. He felt anything but calm.
Then something touched his awareness, a feeling of warmth and support that seemed to come out of nowhere. Zach turned around, wondering if the sun had just come out or something.
Teri was standing just outside the office.
Zach wasn’t aware of the steps he must have taken to reach her, just that all of a sudden, he had her wrapped up in his arms and was inhaling her scent. Just having her there grounded him. “Thank you. You didn’t have to come.”
She was hugging him tightly back. “Of course I came,” she said. “Is there any news?”
He took a deep breath. “No. We’re going to be heading out as a search party soon.” Guilt struck him. “I’m sorry, you came all the way out here and you’re just going to have to wait while I go looking for him. I didn’t think.”
He’d just wanted his mate by his side, wanted her strength with him to help get him through the terror he felt. Did that make him weak? Shouldn’t he be able to help his brother on his own?
He’d done it for years, after all. And yes, it had been hard and lonely and he’d been sure he was screwing it up half the time...but he’d done it.
But Teri pulled back and shook her head firmly. “Don’t apologize. Of course I want to be here. I’ll wait as long as it takes. I know you’re worried to death, and I’d rather be here, as close to you as possible, than waiting at home.”
The words filled him with warm reassurance. How did she do that?
Zach kissed her. “Thank you,” he said quietly.
Then he took a step back and realized that half his coworkers were there watching. Some of them with obvious raised eyebrows.
Jeff, of course, was the first one to step forward and hold his hand out to Teri. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Jeff Hart, I work with Zach.”
“Teri Lowell,” Teri said, shaking his hand with a calm confidence that Zach admired, given how embarrassed he was to have been caught kissing at work. “Nice to meet you, although I wish the circumstances were better.”
Jeff’s face was sober. “Me, too.”
“Teri’s my mate,” Zach interjected.
Jeff brightened. “Hey, congratulations!”
“What is going on out here, people?” Cal barked from the door of the office. “We have a situation. Get in here, all of you.” He frowned at Teri. “I recognize you.”
“I volunteered here for a few summers while I was in high school,” Teri said. “I remember you ran the group for a while?”
“Huh,” said Cal. “That’s right. Little blonde thing, best one in the group. Sad when you stopped coming. Well, get in and help out, then.”
Teri’s eyes went wide, but she hurried into the office with the others.
Zach went to follow, but Jeff caught his arm first.
“Hey,” the other ranger said in a low voice. “I know you’re probably freaking out. But I’m sure it’ll be okay. My mate, Leah? She was lost in the mountains in a full-on blizzard with her baby daughter last fall, and they both got through it, got out, and they’re just fine now.”
He gave Zach a warmly sympathetic version of his usual cheerful smile and then went to join the others listening to Cal. Zach followed him, coming up next to Jeff, with Grey and Tyson on his other side. Both had their eyes fixed on Cal and their postures suggesting they were ready for action.
And right up by Cal, frowning at the map of the Park he had laid out on his big oak table, was Teri.
With a team like this, Zach knew they’d find Joel. If he was still alive, they’d make sure he was all right.