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“Better?” Nick asked.
Cash nodded, not trusting his voice yet.
“I’ll drive while you call Burke back.”
Nick climbed in behind the steering wheel and fired up the engine. Cash already had the phone to his ear by the time he settled into the passenger seat beside Nick.
“Damn it,” Cash said. “My calls are going straight to voice mail.” Frustration and fear made his voice sound even thicker. “This can’t be good.”
Nick put the car in reverse and started moving. “Put your seat belt on.” He was calm and cool like you’d expect a federal agent to sound in an emergency. “Don’t let your thoughts wander. What’s the last location of your truck before the tracker lost its signal?”
Cash snapped his seat belt on and fumbled his phone for a second. His heavy emotions escaped in an angry snarl. Nick settled a hand on Cash’s thigh and squeezed, but he didn’t linger. His left shoulder wasn’t anywhere close to one hundred percent, and Nick needed his right arm to get them where they needed to go. Automatic headlights kicked on when Nick drove them along the winding drive through the forest. The sun hadn’t dipped below the mountains yet, but the dense canopy of trees swallowed the remaining sunlight.
“Breathe, Saint.”
Cash exhaled long and slow, then pulled himself together. The tension in his body eased up a little, and his second attempt to access the app was successful. “It says he…” His words faded into an audible gulp. “Christ, Nick. Oh fuck.”
Nick stopped to let the gate open and reached over to comfort him once more. “Which way am I going, Saint? I can’t do this without you.”
“Turn right.” Cash wheezed. It sounded and felt like he was only taking in about half the amount of air he needed.
“Deep, full breaths. Then tell me what you saw that freaked you out.”
Cash complied and didn’t speak until his breathing evened out again. “Hairpin curve.”
Nick banged his fist against the steering wheel because he knew exactly which curve Cash meant. It was sharp with zero ability to see oncoming traffic. The road was basically carved into a mountain, leaving a sharp incline on one side and a deadly drop-off on the other. Nick had remarked on the lack of a guardrail each time they drove through the stretch of road. Cash had quipped that Coloradan mountaineers don’t use guardrails. Then he reminded Nick that there were only three ranches making up the tens of thousands of acres accessible on the road. If it were a major highway, it would have more safety measures. Cash just prayed Rue wasn’t a casualty to mountaineer machismo. He wanted to believe he’d just broken down or hit something in the road that bounced up and damaged the tracker. But Rueben would’ve called him, not Burke.
“H-h-his location dot wasn’t on the road,” Cash said. “It’s far off to the left side.”
Where the road dropped off into a heavily wooded ravine. Cash wasn’t sure how far the drop was, but he surmised the fall could be a couple hundred feet. Luckily, the curve wasn’t far from the ranch, so they wouldn’t have to wait long for answers.
“You know those things aren’t always accurate,” Nick said. “Remember the time I nearly blew my CI’s cover as a rookie because I thought a suspect was taking them out on a deep lake to silence them for good?”
Cash grinned despite the turmoil pressing heavily against his chest. He could still hear Nick retelling how he learned the lake’s parking lot was a hot spot to solicit sex late at night. Neither the CI nor his tracking device had gone into the lake. Nick had wanted to bleach his eyeballs after he stumbled upon a threesome involving his CI. His team had harassed him for weeks afterward.
Cash tried to reach Burke again but got the same result. “Damn it.”
“We’re almost there, Saint.”
They could see the bright blue-and-red emergency lights from Burke’s truck bouncing in the trees below them as they slowly wound their way toward the scene. The trees were too thick and the surrounding area was too dark to see what was going on. Please let Rue be okay. Please let Rue be okay.
It only took a few minutes to reach Burke’s truck, but it felt like forever. Nick pulled over as far as he safely could before he killed the engine. He pulled a flashlight from the glove box and settled a hand on Cash’s leg when he reached for the door handle.
“Easy, Saint,” Nick said. “I don’t know how stable the ground is over there.”
Cash considered it for a second, then exited through Nick’s side. They carefully walked toward Burke’s truck. The emergency LEDs on the light bar were bright enough to burn their retinas. Cash put a hand up to shield his eyes so he could follow Nick’s flashlight beam. Burke’s abandoned vehicle was the only clue something was wrong until they got close enough for their cone of light to illuminate the horrific scene. Huge ruts cut into the grass and soil on the narrow shoulder where a vehicle had gone over the side. The saplings nearest to the road were all uprooted or mowed in half.
“Christ,” Cash whispered hoarsely. He lurched forward, but Nick held him back with a firm hand on his arm.
“Easy, Saint. We aren’t trained to scale down a ravine, and I can’t lose you.”
“Burke! Rueben!” Cash shouted.
“We’re down here,” Burke called back. His voice, though muffled by distance and dense woods, was a welcome sound. “Rueben’s conscious and talking, but he’s pinned in his truck. Help is on the way. Stay where you are. Don’t come down here.”
Cash closed his eyes and sent up a prayer of relief until he heard Nick curse. He’d aimed his flashlight down the slope and illuminated the terrifying path Cash’s truck had taken. The trees closest to the road were young and no match for the heavy vehicle. Deeper into the woods, the tree trunks became thicker. Cash’s heavy-duty black truck was almost on its side and propped up against a thick tree. They could see a good portion of the undercarriage and part of the driver’s side of the truck. A huge limb had come through the front windshield and exited the rear. The driver’s side window was busted out, but they couldn’t see Rueben because Burke was there with his back to the light. It seemed like he was holding Rue’s hand as he talked to him. Burke’s voice drifted up the hillside, but Cash couldn’t make out what he said.
Nick moved the light beam around the front and rear of the truck, and they instantly realized how precarious Rue’s situation was. If that tree went down too, nothing would stop the truck from plummeting to the bottom of the ravine. With the big truck blocking their view, it was impossible for them to see what kind of distress the tree was in. Burke had said help was on the way, but Cash became paralyzed with fear that they wouldn’t make it in time.
