Page 77 of Tracking Safety

Need Thunder. South woods at Refuge Cove. Come fast. Liam’s missing.

The reply came in under a minute.

On my way.

Luke turned back to the path.

The prints continued ahead, pressed clean into the soft earth.

He followed them with his eyes as far as the terrain allowed. Then the ground rose and the path bent.

Whoever had left those boot prints knew how to move. The stride was even, the spacing consistent. They belonged to someone who knew where he was going.

Luke began to move faster.

He tracked the prints, keeping to the edge of the path to preserve what was there. He watched the ground and the spaces between the trees in equal measure. Behind him he heard Jenna keeping pace, her breathing controlled, and her footfalls deliberate.

She was scared. He heard it in her silence.

Truthfully, Luke was scared also.

He didn’t let himself dwell on it. Fear had its place and time, and right now wasn’t it. Right now there were prints to follow and ground to cover and his eight-year-old son somewhere ahead of him in these woods.

Liam . . .

He’d taught his son about these woods. Had walked this path with him a dozen times, had shown him where the creek crossed and where the old fence ran and what poison ivy looked like. He’d told him what to do if he ever got turned around. Told him that he should stay put, make noise, wait for someone to come.

Would those skills come in handy now?

The terrain dropped slightly, and the path narrowed again. The roots pushed up through the soil in long, knotted ridges. Luke stepped over them without slowing.

Behind him came a sharp intake of breath—then a thud, the unmistakable sound of someone meeting the ground hard.

He turned.

Jenna was on one knee in the dirt. One of her hands was braced against the path, the other waving him off.

“I’m fine.” She was already pushing herself up.

“I can see that.” He reached for her arm anyway

She straightened, her legs wobbly.

When she looked at him, the careful composure she’d been holding all morning disappeared.

Her eyes went bright with tears she refused to release. Her jaw looked hard, the way it got when she tried not to fall apart.

The thought of it caused his heart to thud as memories overtook him.

Without thinking, Luke pulled her toward him.

She went still for a fraction of a second. Then her arms came around him, and she pressed her face against his chest.

He held on, and neither of them said anything.

He’d thought hugging Jenna again would feel strange. He’d convinced himself that too much between them had changed. That the distance between who they’d been and who they were now was too wide to step across without feeling every inch of it.

Right now, holding her didn’t feel strange.