Page 76 of Tracking Safety

She opened her mouth to argue but couldn’t.

“I mean it. It’s written all over your face.” He held her gaze. “Liam is upset because this situation is hard, not because you did something wrong this morning. You can’t fix two years of complicated in a single breakfast.”

She looked at him—at the steadiness in his face, the careful honesty of his words. Something loosened in her chest.

“Okay,” she murmured.

He held her gaze another beat, making sure she’d actually heard him. Then he released her arms and turned back to the path.

She exhaled and followed. The only thing that mattered right now was finding Liam. Everything else could wait.

They walked another hundred feet in silence. The path flattened out again and widened slightly where the trees thinned near a shallow ridge.

Luke slowed and crouched, and Jenna almost walked into him before she caught herself.

She looked down.

The ground here was soft—darker soil, still damp from yesterday’s rain, sheltered enough by the canopy that it hadn’t dried out. The dirt cleanly held impressions.

Two sets of footprints stretched there.

The first were small with a faint, smudged tread.

Liam.

The second set were larger. Boots, deep-treaded, the impressions crisp and deliberate.

An adult. A man, from the size of them, and not a small one.

The stride was measured and even.

This wasn’t someone who’d been running or who’d been startled into motion.

This was someone who’d been walking with purpose.

Someone was with Liam, she realized.

Her head spun as fear swept over her.

Luke stood and looked up the path where both sets of prints continued into an area of heavier growth. The boot prints tracked alongside Liam’s, not behind them. Alongside. Like someone who had fallen into step with him rather than followed from a distance.

He grabbed his phone and called Caleb.

His brother picked up on the second ring. “Anything?”

“We found prints.” Luke kept his voice calm, despite the panic rippling inside him. “South path, past the ridge. Liam’s. There’s an adult male alongside his. Deep tread, large boot, steady stride.” He paused. “Someone was with him.”

A beat of silence. “I’m coming to you.”

“No. Keep searching your section in case I’m wrong. I need the ground covered.” He looked up the path. “Call Micah. Tell him we need him out here now.”

“Done.” Caleb’s voice had dropped to something quiet and hard. “Luke⁠—”

“I know.” He ended the call before his brother could say the thing neither of them wanted said out loud.

He thought about Wyatt. His brother wasn’t on the property today. But his search and rescue dog Thunder was trained and certified. One text and Wyatt would be in his truck.

He pulled his phone back out and sent it.