“In this weather, he’ll slow down soon.”
Caleb held onto that glimmer of hope.
“Wait, something’s happening,” Novak’s voice interrupted.
Caleb heard it more than witnessed it on the screen. “That’s an engine,” he told Rhett. “Wax has transportation.” It wouldn’t take long for them to lose him on the scanner. “Hurry, Rhett. We can’t compete with four wheels.”
“We’re coming. Don’t give up.”
Caleb ended the call and tried to hold onto the hope that help was on the way, but it was hard. As bad as he wanted to keep going after her, they’d never catch the machine. They needed to take refuge from the storm before it overwhelmed them.
“We can follow the tracks once the Arctic Cats get here,” Jace assured him. “We’ll get her back.”
It wasn’t good enough. He shifted to Novak. “She may still have her phone. Can you track it?” The FBI would have the best cutting-edge technology. There had to be a way.
“I’ll get started on it, but there's an option we can try in case he’s tossed her phone.” Novak told him the Bureau could use their dedicated satellite to home in on moving coordinates. “We can lock in on the hot spot location before it fades.”
Caleb blew up his phone’s screen and snagged the coordinates. “Got it.” He showed them to Novak.
“I’m uploading them to our satellite and... got him.”
He showed the screen to Caleb.
“They're heading toward Black Veil Peak. That’s over fourteen thousand.” There’d be no place for the choppers to land up there. It would be up to the team here and the Arctic Cats to rescue Ava.
The peak remained buried in snow save a few months a year. As far as Caleb knew there’d never been any mining inside Black Veil because of the extreme weather conditions.
But Wax knew the layout of this mountain chain. He’d created a labyrinth of tunnels using the existing mining shafts.He’d know how to disappear into the cold winter night without a trace.
And that’s what scared Caleb the most.
???
She stirred. Tried to move. But there was no room. Her body felt doubled over on top of itself.
“Caleb,” she murmured. Where was he?
Blasts of hot air brushed across her face.
“He’s not here.” The voice from her nightmares whispered close. “It’s just me, Ava. And the moment we’ve both been waiting for.”
No! No! No!Her head screamed the word over and over again.
“She’s waiting for you. I saved her just for you.”
The fog from whatever type of drug he’d used to subdue her wore off enough for her to realize Wax was talking about Rachel.
Truth dawned quickly. He planned to kill Rachel in his sick ritualistic way while Ava watched.
Somehow Ava held back the scream. She couldn’t show weakness in his presence.
“Where is she?”
She tried to move her arms and realized they were now zip-tied together. She was in some all-terrain vehicle moving at a slow rate of speed.
Think!
She glanced toward Wax who was focused on driving. Through the dashboard lights, she could make out his profile and realized Wax was no longer wearing his mask. The thought was chilling. He wasn’t trying to hide his identity any longer.
