Page 83 of Tracking Wolfe

My head spun as I wondered why my thoughts seemed so… off.

“Agree with what?” I asked, still in utter disbelief that this was happening.

“Don’t act stupid.” Something shifted in his face then—the careful, apologetic register dropped away, replaced by a kind of fraying desperation. Like he’d worked himself so far into a situation that he couldn’t find a way back out of it anymore. “I love my sister. I know this is messed up. But what am I supposed to do? Just watch her keep fighting for something she’ll never get without someone in her corner? You have fucking everything. Money, connections. I just need you to share a little of it.”

“Jake.” I kept my voice as steady as I could, even though I was quickly realizing my body was incapable of getting me back down the mountain in my current state. “I’m not feeling well. I think I need to sit down.”

He looked at me with narrowed eyes. “You shouldn’t feel that bad. Only a little relaxed so you’ll stop stressing and help us.” He curled his hands into fists as if trying to keep control of himself. “I know what you’re doing. You’re exaggerating the effects to stall me. It won’t work.”

“A little relaxed?” The words came out slurred, finally slotting the truth of the situation into place. “Did you…?” It was too terrifying to put into words. Had he fucking drugged me?

The horror of it was how he seemed to think it was reasonable. As if any of this was justified because he was in a difficult situation.

“I knew you wouldn’t make this easy,” he said, an undercurrent of grit in his voice that scared me.

The realization that I was no longer in control sat heavy and dull in my stomach as my arms and legs tingled. My vision dove and swooped like waves in a storm. My brain was having trouble holding on to the thoughts floating through it. One minute, my pulse was sluggish and strange. But the next, it began racing, pounding out a beat of danger, danger, danger.

The self-defense lessons Dad and Trace had drilled into me from childhood clicked in, Trace’s voice ringing in my ears.

The most dangerous situations came from ordinary people pushed too far past reason.

Get him talking. Assess the threat. Remain calm.

I needed to get to safety. To Trace. I knew he’d come if I called him.

Where was my phone? It used to be attached to me like a limb back in San Francisco, but on this trip, I’d made a deliberate effort to stay offline and present. I cursed myself for that now.

I patted the exterior pockets of my daypack, confirming I didn’t have the phone. At least the journal was still in there, which seemed like a good thing. But could he have taken pictures? Fuck.

After slipping the pack onto my front and fastening my rain jacket around it to keep it dry, I forced myself to step back onto the trail. To make my way down the mountain before the rain made it nearly impossible. If I could move my body, maybe I could make the drug metabolize faster. Was that even how it worked?

“Other way,” Jake said. “It’s a loop. This way’s faster.”

I shook my head. I was definitely not going deeper into the woods with this guy. “No. Going back the way we came.” I sped up, stumbling down the trail as quickly as I could, even though the ground was getting wet from the worsening rain.

“You think you know better than me which way to go?” he snapped. “I fucking live here!”

His anger only worsened my fear. I tried to calm him down by bringing us back to the topic at hand. And I made the mistake of trying to negotiate. I kept my voice as steady as possible. “What if I agree to introduce her to my dad instead?” Surely Papa would understand when I explained⁠—

“You’re not listening!” he shouted.

“The video!” I yelped. “I know. You want me to record a video with Shay. I’m… I’m thinking about it.”

I wasn’t. I wasn’t thinking about anything but the danger I was in and how much I wished Trace were there. And how stupid I was for coming on this fucking hike.

The cold mountain air carried the sharp scent of pine and damp earth between us, but sweat slid down the side of my neck and into my collar as raindrops seemed to sizzle on my hot skin.

“Thinking about it,” he repeated. His voice thinned. “Jesus, Wolfe. I’m going to need you to do more than that. I’m trying to save my sister. Our future.”

“I know,” I said. “I hear you. I do. I’m just… I’m not feeling well.” I didn’t have to fake how my hand shook as I pressed it to my temple. “I can’t possibly record a video now. I need some water. And to get back to the campground so I can lie down. We’ll talk later, okay? Once I can think straight.” I tried to navigate the trail ahead of me, even though the rain had darkened everything underneath the canopy of the trees.

He shook his head. “You’ll go straight to your friend and his law enforcement friends.”

Even hearing Trace’s name made me want to sob in desperation. “He won’t⁠—”

“He will.” His voice was very quiet now. “You’ll get down that mountain and you’ll go straight to him and he’ll talk you out of it. And then I’ve got nothing and Shay’s got nothing and we’re right back where we started. I can’t let that happen, Wolfe.”

I licked my dry lips and tried to keep my heaving stomach from revolting. “Jake. I really don’t feel good⁠—”