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“This is so stupid. They could be hiding anywhere, and we wouldn’t find them. None of us have high-beam flashlights that could really penetrate the darkness,” Ann said.
“Shut up, Ann,” Randy said.
“You know we’re bound to get lost, and then what? We’ve been walking around forever, and we’re not going to find anyone—”
“You’re in on this as much as everyone else. If they get away and call the law on us, we’re all going to get caught.”
She shut up then, but at least now Nate knew Ann was as much involved in whatever had gone down. He just wished they’d say what. The murder of DurhamManning? Most likely because they had seen the news report where he and Kayla found the body. Why would they care about the murdered victim and who found him otherwise? Committing the heists? Maybe. If Manning was responsible for the thefts and that tied them into why he had to die. Making Phil disappear? Probably. Since they were the last ones to see him and there were such mixed messages among the friends. Gerald’s inference that he might be implicated in a crime still stuck in Nate’s thoughts. Ann denying seeing the fight in the bar. Everest’s disinterest in speaking about Phil’s disappearance and not being worried about his friend vanishing. But neither Ann nor Randy was discussing anything.
“Ow, damn it.” Ann paused. Randy kept going. “Wait for me!”
“What’s wrong now?” Randy sounded like he could kill her because he was so angry about Nate and Kayla getting away.
“My hair is tangled on a branch.”
Randy came back and broke the branch off, and Ann cried out. “That hurt!”
“Keep moving or walk back to the cabin by yourself.”
“What if they returned there?” she asked.
“We got their phones. They slashed my damn truck tires and their own, so they can’t leave except by foot any more than we can until Gerald gets his ass out here with some replacement tires. If they’reback at the cabin, just hide in the woods until we return. The PI and his girlfriend can’t notify anyone they’re in trouble. That’s why we have to find them before they reach anyone to call for help.”
“What if I don’t find my way back by myself? Not that you will be able to either.” Then Ann mumbled, “Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”
“Shut up, Ann.”
Chapter 20
Nate howled to let the rest of the team know he’d found a couple of the people they were searching for, since Randy and Ann weren’t revealing any secrets that they needed to know.
“Wolves,” Ann squeaked. Then she ran away from where Nate had howled. But she wasn’t headed in the direction of the cabin. She was running toward the river.
Randy tore after her. “Hey, wait up! Are you sure this is the way back to the cabin?”
“Who cares? If the wolf is in the other direction, we have to get away from it. If the cabin is that way, we can’t go that way anyway!” she bit out, her breath short while running. “Ah!” She fell and lost her cell phone. “Damn it!”
Randy was there, and then he reached her and helped her up. “Come on, damn it!”
“Wait, I lost my cell phone.”
Nate was following them, hunting them, keeping them in sight.
Randy and Ann were searching for her phone and finally saw it half-buried in leaves where she’d dropped it, the light partially hidden. Randygrabbed it from the ground and handed it to her. “Put it in your damn pocket or something. And don’t drop it again.”
She put it in her jeans pocket and didn’t move. “I don’t know which way to go now. I don’t know which way the wolves are.”
Nate was amused she called them wolves when he was the only one who had howled. Then he heard a couple of people moving in his direction. Bad guys or Nate’s friends?
If they were his wolf friends, they could smell that he and Randy and Ann had gone this way. So he didn’t need to howl. Unless the ones headed in his direction weren’t any of his friends. He figured for good measure he’d howl. If any of them were Nate’s friends, they’d let him know. He lifted his chin and howled.
That sent Randy and Ann into a panic. “Shit, he’s almost on top of us. He’s chasing us,” Ann said as she began to run and stumble and cry.
“Keep calm. Wait! Stop! Let’s climb a tree until it goes away,” Randy said.
“Do you see any trees we can climb? Wait, oh, we’re in a clearing. The river. Can wolves swim across the river?” Ann asked.
“Hell,wecan’t swim across the river! Not in the dark. Can you even swim?”
