Page 10 of Mountain Struggle

“I do,” Damien said immediately. He realized there was no doubt in his mind that Tess would protect his child—if she was able to do so.

But what if something’s happened to her? What if—

I have to find them.

Damien made a strangled sound. He’d go crazy if he kept thinking this way.

“Come on,” Drake said, opening the passenger door to Damien’s car. “I’ll drive you home.”

Damien nodded. He was in no shape to drive himself anywhere.

Chapter 4

Tess

Tess ran as if the devil were behind her—which he was, in every sense of the word.

It’s not like she’d never seen a gun before. When she was little, her grandfather lived out in the country, and kept a rifle in his house for wolves. Damien also carried a gun—he’d showed her the safe he kept it in when he was home, to make sure Jamie never played in that area.

But she’d never, until today, had a gun pointed at her face—or, something she’d found even scarier, pointed at Jamie.

She tightened her hold on Jamie’s wrist. The boy was fast for a six-year-old, but he was tiring, and she was almost dragging him behind her at this point.

She’d tried to make it sound like a game—we’re going to run as fast as we can as quietly as we can—but Jamie was too smart to fall for it. He’d looked at her with those ethereally blue eyes of his, so similar to his dad’s, and spoken softly. “I can be quiet, Tess. Don’t worry.”

Then he’d started running, as fast as his little legs could carry him.

But now he was tiring—hell, after six months in Chamonix she was in the best shape she’d ever been in her entire life, and she too felt like her heart was going to burst.

She slowed down marginally to look behind them. There was nobody there.

Have we lost him?

Is he even alone?

Her head shifted from side to side so fast she almost gave herself whiplash.

Yesterday, the man had come up to them shortly after she and Jamie had reached the waterfall. They’d only just sat down to enjoy the homemade cake they’d bought in the bakery. Afterwards, they were going to pick up some leaves and rocks for a project she wanted to do next week. Then they were going to head back down into town.

The man had been dressed completely in black, his face almost hidden behind a cap, dark sunglasses, and a thick brown and gray beard. Tess realized she still did not know what he looked like underneath under that paraphernalia.

He’d said good afternoon and asked her for the time—very politely. She realized now he was probably waiting to make sure there was nobody else around.

She cursed herself now, but her spidey sense hadn’t been triggered at all. One moment she’d been looking at her phone to tell him the time, the next moment he’d lunged for her, grabbed her phone, and thrown it over the edge and into the waterfall below. Even then, it’d taken a moment for her brain to catch up with what was happening.

A dark, shiny gun had appeared in the man’s hand. He’d forced them to take off their backpacks—hers containing their water and snacks and Jamie’s containing a few toys, and tossed them over the edge as well. He’d then signaled for her and Jamie to walk ahead of him, further into the mountains. None of her questioning, pleading or cajoling had served any purpose.

At one point, Tess had noticed a bright spot of color on the ground. She knew exactly what it was—she’d stubbed her feet on them often enough at home—and looked at Jamie. The boy’s hand was in his pocket. He had a few Lego bits in his pocket and was dropping them, like breadcrumbs.

Clever kid.

She looked behind to make sure their kidnapper hadn’t noticed. She couldn’t see exactly where the man was looking because of his dark sunglasses, but his expression didn’t change, so she took that as a win.

When Jamie had started crying from exhaustion, the man had waved the gun in the direction of the boy’s kneecaps. Tess had quickly stepped in to lift him onto her back piggy-back style. She didn’t know what was going on but wasn’t about to give him any excuse to hurt Jamie.

Finally, when she didn’t think she could go one step further, they’d arrived at a ramshackle hut, half-hidden behind some trees.

The man had motioned them inside with his gun. He hadn’t said a single word since he’d asked her what time it was.