“There,” Angel panted, jerking her chin toward a distant glow through the trees. “Lights.”
Naomi squinted through the rain. Yes—lights. Maybe half a mile away, a soft yellow haze against the dark sky. A house? A ranch? She couldn’t tell, but it was civilization. It was hope.
“We need to head that way.” She adjusted her grip on Tariah, who was starting to stir, making small sounds of distress. “Come on. We can make it.”
They changed course, angling toward the lights. The trees thinned, giving way to a clearing. Beyond it, more trees, and then the soft glow of what might be safety.
Halfway across the clearing, Tariah’s legs suddenly buckled.
“No, no, no,” Naomi grunted, struggling to keep the girl upright. “Come on, Tariah. Just a little farther.”
“She’s too heavy,” Angel gasped. “I can’t?—”
“We’re not leaving her.” Naomi’s voice cracked. “We’re not.”
But Tariah had become dead weight again, her eyes rolling back in her head. They managed another few steps before the girl collapsed entirely, dragging them all to the muddy ground.
Naomi pushed herself up, spitting mud and rain. “Tariah. Tariah, please.” She shook the girl’s shoulders. Nothing.
“They’re coming,” Angel whispered, terror sharp in her voice.
Naomi looked back. Through the curtain of rain, she could see flashlight beams cutting through the trees behind them. Getting closer.
“Help me,” she ordered Angel. “I’ll carry her on my back.”
With desperate strength, she managed to heft Tariah across her shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Each step was agony, but the lights were closer now. Maybe a quarter mile. They could make it. They had to make it.
The trees closed around them again as they left the clearing. The underbrush was thicker here, branches catching at their clothes, roots waiting to trip them in the darkness. But the lights were brighter, closer. Through gaps in the trees, Naomi could make out the shape of what looked like a ranch house. There were other buildings, too—maybe a barn, outbuildings.
“Almost there,” she gasped. “Keep going.”
Her toe caught on a root, and she stumbled, nearly sending all three of them to the ground again. But Angel steadied her, showing strength Naomi wouldn’t have guessed the girl possessed.
“We can do this,” Angel panted. “We’re almost?—”
Something rustled in the trees ahead. Naomi froze, every sense on high alert. Angel went still beside her.
A branch snapped. Then footsteps, coming toward them.
“Get down,” Naomi hissed, lowering Tariah to the ground as gently as she could. She pushed Angel behind her, her hand reaching automatically for a gun that wasn’t there.
A figure stepped out from the trees, silhouetted against the distant lights.
No!Naomi’s heart stuttered in her chest.
They’d been so close.
So damn close.
twenty-six
The fuckingrain wouldn’t stop.
It hammered down in sheets, turning the forest path into a treacherous slip of mud and debris. Ghost ignored the water streaming from his hat brim, the cold seep of it down his collar and spine. Each flash of lightning illuminated the search grid for precious seconds—enough to see that the tracks were washing away, that time was running out. Behind him, boots sloshed and voices grew weary. He didn’t care. Naomi was out here somewhere, and he’d comb every inch of these woods until he found her, until he made this right.
“Ghost!” Bear’s voice cut through the storm, edged with exhaustion. “We need to regroup. Visibility’s shot to hell.”
Ghost didn’t bother turning around. “Go back if you want.”
