Please God, let his little brother still be alive.
He stepped up to the table and focused. He wasn't going to get Joel back by falling into a haze of anxious imaginings.
Cal was saying, "So he was last seen here," one thick, calloused finger resting on the map.
"There's that ravine here," Teri said thoughtfully, her finger looking incongruously small and delicate by Cal's as she traced a line away up the mountain. "That's a tough spot. If he fell..."
Cal nodded. "It's a possibility."
"I went along it for a ways," Grey put in. "But it splits off here and there, with smaller crevasses along the mountainside. There wasn't time to check every spot someone could've fallen, it would've taken all day."
"All right," Cal said, "then you get a marker and show us every spot you already checked. With the understanding that if he's mobile, he could've ended up somewhere Grey already looked."
Grey nodded and picked up a Sharpie. But befo
re he could set it down, a panicked voice echoed in the hallway. "Help! Help, excuse me, I need help! My son is missing!"
The rangers turned as one to look at the woman shouting out in the hall. She seemed to catch the movement from the corner of her eye and darted into the office. "Hello, can you all help me? My son is missing!"
"Ma'am, please stay calm," Cal said, coming forward immediately. "We'll help you find your son. How old is he?"
"Eight," the woman said, sniffling. "He ran off yesterday evening, we looked for him but we couldn't find him, and our radio was out of batteries. A ranger stopped by our campsite, but we haven't heard from him since!"
Cal exchanged looks with Grey. "What was the ranger's name? What time did you see him?"
"His name—God, I can't remember. Joe? I think it was Joe. And it was about eleven PM. He said he'd find Andy and bring him back as fast as he could, but then he didn't come back! The second it was light I started back here to get help. My husband's still up there at the campsite in case he finds his way back. Please, you have to find him!"
"We'll do our absolute best, ma'am," Cal assured her. "Can you come up to this map and show me where your campsite is?"
The woman came and stared at it. "I'm not sure..."
"Here's the road," Teri told her in a soft voice. "You probably came up from the main road here, right?"
The woman nodded, visibly calming down as Teri talked to her. "Yes, that's right," she said. "We left our car here and started hiking..." She put a finger on the map and slowly traced her way up. "This is the path."
"Good," Teri said encouragingly. "Where did you make camp?"
"Right here." The woman's voice was more confident now. "I'm sorry, I do know how to read a map. I'm just so..."
"Don't worry about it." Teri's voice stayed warm and calm, coaxing the woman along. "So you camped here and the ranger came by at eleven. Did he say anything about where he was going to look?"
“Yes, he said there was a rocky area just up the slope that was exactly the sort of thing a kid would want to run around in. But we looked there when it got light this morning, and we didn't see anything!"
Teri traced her finger up the slope. "There's a crevasse in there, I think." She looked at Cal for confirmation.
Cal nodded grimly. "Grey, did you check in there?"
"Nope, it was too far off the main ravine," Grey said. "You think that's it?"
"There's a good chance."
“Let’s get going, then,” Zach said, unable to keep quiet any longer. “Let’s see if he’s up there.”
Cal was already in motion. “We’re going. Zach. You’re coming with us, but I want you calm and level-headed, I don’t want you doing anything dangerous or foolhardy, and I want you to let Grey take the lead on any rescue attempt. Do you understand me? If you take any unnecessary risks, you’re fired as of that moment.”
“I understand. Don’t worry.” Zach’s leopard was growling at him to forget caution, to get out there and rescue his brother. But he knew Cal was right. Most of the rangers here were more experienced than he was, and charging heedlessly into a crevasse wasn’t going to help anything.
“Ma’am,” said Cal to the woman whose son was missing, “we think we might know where our ranger and your son are. We’re going to go do our best to find them.”