Page 137 of Freefall

“Can you trace it?”

“The phone connected to a tower when the message was sent, but that only narrows it down to a sector.”

“Fuck.” I slam my fist against the wheel.

“The image, though,” he says calmly. “When I cleaned up the background, I found part of a sign. I think they’re at a state park near Bear Mountain.”

“Give me the coordinates,” I demand.

“Nate, the police are already on their way.”

“Don’t fucking play with me, Seb. Give them to me.”

He mutters something about breaking the law before rattling off a string of coordinates, which Jace punches into the navigation system.

“Nate,” he says again before I can end the call. “You should be prepared that…there’s not great service up there. The picture could have been sent much earlier and only just got to you.”

I don’t even want to think about what he’s implying, so I simply thank him and end the call.

The GPS leads us to a dirt pull-off barely visible from the road where a truck sits crooked at the park entrance. We both hop out of my SUV, neither of us bothering to close our doors, and run over to the truck. As soon as I spot Harper’s camera bag resting in the back, I run toward the tree line with Jace on my heels.

At first, I hear nothing except my own breathing and the crunch of leaves under my shoes. Then a scream tears through the woods.

I follow the sound.

“Harper!”

Another scream echoes.

I break through a wall of brush, and that’s when I see them.

Harper is still tied to the tree, fighting against the ropes. Several feet away, a man claws through the leaves, looking for something. Harper spots it at the same time he does, and they both dive, but the ropes yank her back.

He stands, dirt clinging to his clothes, something clenched in his right hand. I catch a flash of metal before he swings it, bringing the back of the object down against Harper’s head.

My heart stops as her head lolls to the side. In the next second, I’m running so fast my legs almost give out. The man’s head jerks up when he sees me, and recognition slams into both of us.

He’s older. More muscular. But it’s him.

“Taylor.”

His mouth twists into a morbid grin. “Came to watch the show?” He raises the object, which I can now see is a gun. “Your girl has some fight in her, I’ll give her that.”

I can feel Jace tense behind me as Taylor lowers the gun and points it in Harper’s direction.

“Go to her,” Jace whispers.

“What?”

“When I say so.”

Something cold slips into my hand.

Taylor clicks off the safety.

“Now!”

Everything happens at once. Jace lunges as Taylor’s fingers close around the grip. He slams into Taylor from the side, sending them crashing across the forest floor. At the same time, I rush to Harper, grabbing the pocket knife Jace slipped me, and begin sawing through the rope.