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My head was at war with my heart. I slammed the steering wheel and scrubbed my hands over my face.
What’s the goal, Justin? What’s the ultimate goal here?
To learn and verify Kusma’s location.
How do I do that?
Interrogate Sophia.
So, that’s what I’ll do.
With renewed focus, I switched my goal from finding her in the woods, to anticipating where she could go and finding her that way. If she were alive, she was eventually going to need food, water, and shelter, maybe even medical attention.
I looked toward Falcon Creek. If Sophia really wanted to escape from me, she was going to need a ride.
I turned in that direction and hit the gas.
21
Justin
As I neared the main strip of Falcon Creek, a crowd and a line of cars had gathered on the side of the road. A deputy’s truck was parked haphazardly in the snow. Behind it, two other vehicles.
I rolled to a stop at the end of the line.
An elderly woman wearing a flannel coat over a pink robe and snow boots was waving her hands, obviously emotional.
My stomach dropped. Did the woman find Sophia?
I jumped out of the SUV and broke into a jog, pushing my way through the crowd.
The deputy was scribbling in his notebook. The woman was mid-sentence.
“... short, small, wearing nothing but a baggy gray sweatshirt and sweatpants. She had blondish hair; I could tell even though her hood was pulled up. She was just walking down the middle of the road, and that’s what caught my attention, because who the hell would be out in this godforsaken weather? I figured it was a tourist whose vehicle had broken down, so I got dressed and came outside to offer to help. But the moment I stepped onto the porch, they took her.”
“What do you mean, they took her?” I asked, earning confused glances from the crowd.
“Some man in a white truck. He jumped her and dragged her into the truck. Whoever it was was wearing a black ski mask. She screamed and everything.” Tears began streaming down the woman’s face. “She fought him, but he hit her. I think he knocked her out cold.”
Panic blew through my veins. It had to be the same people who had tried to gun her down the night before.
“Which direction did they go?”
“That way.” The woman pointed toward the mountains, where there was nothing but rugged wilderness for hundreds of miles.
“How long ago?”
“About twenty minutes.” She shot a glare toward the deputy. “Took him that long to get here.”
I spun around and sprinted to my SUV.
22
Justin
An hour later, I opened the door to a small roadside coffeehouse that doubled as a tourist center. I’d requested—in no polite terms—that Leo meet me in Falcon Creek, but he insisted on meeting closer to Anchorage, as he had an important meeting soon after.
Leo was sitting in the back corner. He dipped his chin when he spotted me.
