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The roar of the river in the distance seemed to muffle all else. Blood roaring in her ears, Kerri paused to listen for anything else from her daughter.
Where was she?
Please, please, please let her be okay.
“This way!”
Kerri jerked toward the sound of Falco’s voice. He lunged deeper into the woods, straight for the river.
The underbrush slapped at her legs, but Kerri didn’t slow. She darted between and around trees. “Tori!”
“Mom!”
Kerri’s brain instantly analyzed her daughter’s voice.Terror. Extreme agitation.
Was she okay? Kerri spotted her then. Ten ... fifteen yards ahead. Her daughter stood among the waist-deep underbrush, her face pale, her body shaking like a leaf fluttering in an icy wind.
Falco reached Tori first.
He dropped to his knees, and the fear already strangling Kerri tightened like a vise. Was Tori injured? Kerri couldn’t see any blood. She lunged faster through the brush.
She pushed past Falco and threw her arms around her daughter. “Are you okay?”
Tori sobbed so hard Kerri could barely understand the confirmation that she was okay. She ran her hands over her daughter’s arms and legs, her slim waist, and shuddering chest. “You’re sure you’re not injured.”
The relief rushing through Kerri almost undid her.
“I’m okay.” Tori stared down at where Falco still crouched. “She was going to kill me.”
Kerri spotted dark hair tangled in the bushes. The air fled her lungs. She leaned to one side to see beyond Falco.
Alice Cortez.
Was she hurt? A knife lay next to her, but there was no blood.
“She was chasing me with the knife and she fell,” Tori cried. “She hit her head on that log. She won’t wake up.”
Kerri pulled her daughter close. “You’re okay now.” What the hell happened out here?
Tori drew back, stared up at her mother. “Violet was here too. The girl from Walker Academy. She was tied up in that shed. Alice was going to kill her too.”
“She’s breathing,” Falco muttered, then pulled out his cell and called for paramedics.
Alice moved a little, moaned. She was alive.
Pulse racing, Kerri searched Tori’s tearstained face. “Where is Violet?”
“I told her to run for the highway and look for help.” Tori’s thin body shook harder. “It was the only thing I knew to do.”
Kerri hadn’t seen anyone on the highway. She pulled her daughter in close again, trying to soothe her quaking body. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
She closed her eyes to hold back her own tears. Her girl was okay. She was really okay.Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.
Falco’s arms came around them. “It’ll be okay now,” he murmured.
Falco carried Alice out of the woods. Following, Kerri held tight to Tori.
They reached the lot and the warehouses, and more official vehicles had arrived. Kerri spotted Brooks, her LT, and several uniforms. Cortez was being cuffed and loaded into a cruiser. A young blonde girl was talking to a female uni.
