“They’re fine. Izzie went down for a nap. Skylar was reading a book when I left her.”
“Okay.” I let out an anxious breath I hadn’t realized that I’d been holding.
Lincoln flew down the mountain pass, a pro at taking the switchbacks in haste. He slowed as we drew near. A mess of vehicles were smashed and drove through, the ambulance already having left its wake.
“Look there!” Lincoln pointed at the tire tracks off the road and the ambulance down at the bottom of the ravine on its side. He pulled off the road and hit the brakes.
I threw open the truck door and hurried down the ravine, my boots skidding down the side of the mountain along with me. I didn’t care if I landed on my ass, as long as I found her.
Mason and Aiden were already down by the ambulance with the sheriff and several other townsfolk conversing.
“Ariella!”
Mason spotted me first and shook his head no. My stomach sank. I didn’t know if that meant she wasn’t there or if worse, she didn’t make it. I refused to accept that she’d died. There wasn’t a body as far as I could see. Unless she was in the back of the ambulance?
“Where is she?” I shouted, sliding down, my feet slipping under me, but I caught my balance. My arms out, steadying myself before running the last leg of distance toward my buddies.
“She’s not here,” Mason said, his eyes filled with sorrow. He didn’t want to be the one to convey bad news, but someone had to tell me what happened.
That wasn’t enough of an answer for me. I needed more. “Where is she?”
Lincoln came up from behind, having followed me down the slope of the ravine. He poked his head into the ambulance bay, examining the scene and any evidence left behind.
I exhaled a loud breath, my heart hammering in my chest. “Any leads?” I wouldn’t abandon Ariella. She needed me more than ever.
“Declan is back at Eagle Tactical, running surveillance and scouring the dark web for leads. Although he pulled down the bounty earlier from the net, it’s clear someone saw it and acted on it while the information was still fresh,” Mason said.
Lincoln shoved his hands into his coat pocket. “There’s not much to go on other than the ambulance was definitely not used for medical purposes. The equipment is pretty scarce in there, which means there likely wasn’t anything she could have used as a weapon either.”
“She’s smart.” She worked for the C.I.A. at one point, and I trusted that she’d do everything in her power to stay alive. She just needed to survive long enough until we found her.
Shoving my fingers into my coat, I kept my head down, examining broken branches and a single set of footprints that appeared to be a size 12 men’s that were further from the group.
I followed the trail, not sure what to expect. “Look, there’s one set of prints.” The footprints sunk into the ground potential evidence that she’d been carried and unable to walk. There didn’t appear to be a second set of prints coming back either, which meant it couldn’t have been the sheriff or anyone else helping with the search party.
“The mountain pass runs just south of here. They could have gone down the road to another pickup point. There’s no way they planned on keeping the ambulance and not being seen,” Mason said.
“Maybe, but south is that direction.” I pointed south and then continued to follow the footprints that led west. “They didn’t go to the road. It’s possible they got turned around.” If we were lucky, they were still in the forest. I held up my hand, signaling to wait. Crouching down, I examined droplets of fresh blood on the snow. “She was here.” I’d never been more certain in my life.
I hurried, following the trail of footprints and droplets of blood that were mixed and mottled, difficult to find with branches strewn everywhere.
Lincoln, Mason, and Aiden followed at my heel as we scoured the forest, making sure we weren’t being played, and the tracks had been a diversion. That didn’t appear to be the case. I wanted to scream out for her, but if we were close along with the assailant, I didn’t want to further put her life in danger.
In the distance, a cabin sat nestled in the woods, four black SUVs in the driveway. “Any chance you guys brought a gun?” I didn’t want to go in outnumbered and unarmed.
“Did we come armed?” Lincoln laughed under his breath. He lifted his shirt, showing me his gun. He then reached for his ankle holster, retrieving his spare weapon and handing it to me. “Looks like I’m saving your ass again, Monroe.”
“Just like old times,” I joked, “where you think you’re saving me, but in actuality, I’m rescuing you.”
With his gun drawn, he moved behind a tree as we grew closer. “Keep thinking that,” Lincoln said.
Aiden crouched down, pulling a switchblade from his pocket. “I’ll slash their tires and keep them from getting away.”
“Good thinking.” We didn’t want them taking Ariella off the property. I gestured for us to fan out. We needed to surround the cabin, find out what awaited us inside.
The car door of the SUV slammed shut. I snuck behind a tree, doing my best to camouflage. When I woke up this morning, I hadn’t thought this was how my day would go. I bet Ariella didn’t think the same either.
Slow and even breaths. The cold sucked the air out of my lungs and burned, but I ignored the pain in my chest. Our footprints were fresh, but that didn’t worry me as much as the sound of branches cracking under our boots. My foot came down slow and cautious as I moved from one tree with my sight on another to use as a minimal form of protection.
Aiden needed to be careful with the men outside by the SUV. I held my breath. He stabbed one tire before moving around the vehicle to hit another. The men stood outside and talked, oblivious to what happened around them. That was good. It meant they were distracted. We just needed to keep them that way while we found and rescued Ariella.
I took another step closer, coming up to the cabin. I crouched beside the window and peered in, careful not to be seen. There were gruff voices, but no one in the room faced the window.
A loud feminine ear-piercing scream echoed through the house. I didn’t wait any longer; I rushed toward the nearest entrance and barreled in through the back door, gun drawn with Lincoln and Mason right behind me. They had heard her cry for help too.