by Sloan Parker
“Not the sheriff,” I said. “He doesn’t sound familiar. Maybe the deputy from the video.”
Richard took a look out into the clearing again. “I don’t think they can see us in here.”
The man shouted once more. “You might as well give us what we want. Sheriff Emerson isn’t sending anyone to help you.”
Richard slapped the tree trunk. “Fuck.”
With those words, my head spun. Someone had shot at us, and the sheriff sent them to do it. “You were right.”
Luke held up Alex’s phone, and Richard immediately shook his head. “We give them that phone, what’s to stop them from killing us? It might be the only thing keeping them from actually hitting us with those bullets.”
“Right.” Luke tucked the phone and charger into his pack and slipped the backpack onto his shoulders.
The distinct whine of a dog came from the meadow.
“Shit.” Luke shot a look to Richard. “They’ve got search dogs.”
“Matthew and I left our packs back there. They’ll have our scent. Come on.” He gestured toward the gorge. “We’re getting out of here. Now. You two first. I’ll bring up the rear. Stay low and get to the river.”
“I’ll take the lead.” Luke started moving, keeping low to the ground. I followed with Richard behind me.
No shots rang out, but the fear racing through me made it nearly impossible to move.
The fear. And the guilt.
Someone had shot at Luke and Richard. Because of me and my brilliant idea to search the largest state park in the Midwest for clues to a man’s disappearance.
What the hell had I been thinking?
* * * * *
When we reached the water’s edge, we heard a dog barking behind us. Faintly, but still…
Did the barking mean the dog was on to our scent? Getting closer? Was the dog alerting its handler to our presence?
Richard waved us on. “It’s too deep to cross here. Keep going. Follow the river but keep inside the tree line.”
Luke led the way again, staying several yards from the water’s edge, which kept us well hidden in the trees as we made our way through the forest. We jogged at a quick pace and heard no one behind us, no more bullets or shouts. When we stumbled upon a narrow bend in the river ten minutes later, we paused.
Richard pointed to the surface. “It’s shallower here. Let’s wade through the water as long as we can, maybe get the dogs off our scent.”
Luke and I nodded, and we stepped into the river, making our way through the waist-deep water, over the slick rocks and gravel of the riverbed. Luke held his pack above his head to keep it dry. Once the water rose higher, making the trek more difficult, we headed for the other side and picked up the pace again, racing along the far bank.
Eventually, when we’d run farther from the river and the forest had grown even denser around us, we were so bone-tired we could barely keep going. We stopped to catch our breaths. Luke and I dropped to the ground while Richard remained standing, his complete focus on the way we’d come.
We were all panting heavily, and no one uttered a word for over a minute, as if just discussing our options would make this crazy situation more real.
Luke sat up and reclined against a tree, his forearms on his bent knees. “Why the hell does this shit keep happening to us? I’m so fucking tired of people aiming their guns at us. And shooting at us.”
Richard gave him a pointed look. “I’d had enough of that the first time.” He kept standing there, watching the forest for another minute. Then he eased up and moved closer to me. “I don’t think we’re being followed.” He asked Luke, “Did you get a good look at any of them?”
Luke shook his head. “What the hell do we do now?”
“We have to call someone for help,” I said.
Luke scoffed. “What? 9-1-1? They’ll just contact our good buddy the local sheriff and his deputies.”
Richard shot a stern look our way. “We get the hell out of this park, that’s what we do. Then we’ll figure out what’s next after that.”
Luke waved a hand through the air. “We can’t just keep on running and hope they don’t catch up to us.”
“You got a better idea?” When Luke offered nothing more, Richard added, “We’ve got to get to one of the main roads. Or back to the Jeep.”
“Richard…” Luke gestured back toward the way we’d come. “They’re gonna be waiting for us at the Jeep. And we need to stay off the trails. Whoever those guys are, they were fucking hunting us back there. We’re talking armed, murderous, asshole law enforcement officers who probably know this park a hell of a lot better than we do. They’re not going to stop until they bury this.”
Bury us.
“Oh God.” I shook my head, barely able to breathe. “We never should’ve come out here. This is all my fault.” I bent forward and gulped in several rapid breaths until I was practically hyperventilating.
Richard moved to sit at my side. He stroked my back. “Take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay. Just breathe deep.” He asked Luke, “Got any water in that pack?”
“Yeah.” Luke handed it over.
Richard held the bottle out for me. “Here. Drink some of this.” As I drank, he repeated, “It’s going to be okay.”
I gave the bottle back to him. “I didn’t know someone would—” I shook my head. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
“You did. You said it wasn’t safe. If something happens to either of you because I dragged you out here—” My breath quickened again.
With a hand to my chin, Richard forced my head up. “Everything’s going to be fine. We’re still together and no one got hurt. That’s all that matters. And now, we’re getting out of this park. Right now.” His confident green eyes remained locked on mine.
He was right. I couldn’t lose it now. I had to make sure they were safe. I sat taller. “I can get us out of the park. I know which way to go.”
“Without using the trails?”
“Yeah. I’ll use the compass and the map to take us a different—” I shot a look back the way we’d come. “Shit!”
“What?”
“The compass and map are in my pack back at the truck. Wait.” I removed the plastic bag from my back pocket and took out Alex’s map. The bag had kept it dry during our trek through the river. “I have this.”
With raised brows, Luke said, “Even if we don’t stop, it’ll take us two days, maybe three, to get to one of the main roads on foot. Longer than that to get to the cabin. And they’re gonna be all over looking for us, probably waiting at the cabin too.” He paused for a moment. “We could call the state police or the feds.”
I shook my head. “Alex said not to trust anyone.”
“Every law enforcement officer in the state can’t be involved.”
“We talk to the wrong person, and we’ll have more people shooting at us.”
They both seemed to be thinking that over.
“We should call Gus.” I fished out his card and held it up. “Maybe he’ll know who to trust.”
Neither said a word, and I knew what they were thinking.
“He’s a friend of Alex’s. He wouldn’t be involved in hurting him.”
“He’s still a park ranger,” Luke said. “You saw that video.”
“I know. But Alex trusted him. We can too.” At least I thought so. I’d made such a bad call where the sheriff was concerned. I didn’t want to fuck up again, but I also wanted to trust my instincts. I wanted to believe I wasn’t completely wrong about everything.
Richard hesitated as if thinking it over, then finally nodded. “All right. If you think so, I say we take a chance and see what he has to say. If it sounds like we can trust him, then we’ll see if he can help. Maybe he knows someone in the sheriff’s department who’s not in on this. If we don’t like what he has to say, we hang up before we tell him anything about where we’re at right now. Then we take the battery out of the phone so
they can’t track us.”
Luke dug his phone out, turned it on, and handed it to me. “Go for it.”
I dialed, and Richard added, “Put it on speaker.”
As soon as I did, Gus came on the line. “Hello.”
“It’s Matthew. From yesterday. We’re in trouble.” I explained that we’d found Alex’s truck and then told him what had happened to us since.
“Christ. Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah. For now. We think we lost them.”
“You sure the sheriff is involved?”
“Yeah, pretty sure.”
“And they want Alex’s phone? Why? What’s on it?”
Richard shook his head, and reluctantly I lied. “We don’t know. It was dead when we found it.”
“Okay. I’ve got a friend in the state police. Let me call him and see if he can help.”
“Alex said not to involve any police. Are you sure you can trust this guy?”
“Absolutely. I’ve known him for years.”
“All right.”
“I’ll call you right back.”
Luke’s phone rang less than fifteen minutes later. I put the call on speaker again.
Gus said, “He and another detective are coming to talk to the sheriff. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
Luke snorted out a bitter laugh. “To talk to the sheriff?”
Richard grabbed the phone. “Did you tell them we were shot at? And that the sheriff and his deputies are in on everything?”
“Of course. The state investigators are going to look into it. If you ask me, they didn’t sound surprised to find out Sheriff Emerson was involved in some kind of criminal activity. Maybe they’ve already been investigating him. They also want to talk to you three. I told them I’d pick you guys up right away and make sure you’re safe. Then when they get here you can give them your statements. Where are you?”
Richard reached out and hit mute on the phone. “What do you think?”
Luke shrugged, and they both looked to me.
“I think we should go for it. If we don’t have his help, those guys with the guns might catch up to us before the state police get here.”
“Okay.” Richard turned the phone off mute.
I told Gus about the meadow where we’d found the truck, how far we’d gone since then, and in what direction.
“Okay,” he said. “I know where you mean. Stay right there, and I’ll find you.”
“No,” Richard said. “We’re still too close to the truck. We gotta keep moving.”
“You think they’re coming for you?”
“Hell yes. We still have Alex’s phone.”
“Gotcha. Let me think.” Gus grew quiet for a moment. “Okay. Here’s what I want you to do.” He gave instructions on where to meet him, and I used Alex’s map to find the location. “It should take you about two hours to get there on foot. You’ll have to cross the river again.”
“All right,” Richard said. “We’ll meet you there.”
“Good.” He sighed and didn’t say anything more for several seconds. Then quietly he asked, “You think they killed Alex?”
I bit my bottom lip, hating having to admit to that possibility again. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
He let out a ragged breath, then said, “I’ll see you in two hours. Be careful.” He hung up.
I passed Luke his phone. He hit the power button and removed the battery.
Richard gestured to Luke’s backpack. “What supplies do you have in there?”
“Not much. A flashlight, one of the sleeping bags, my clothes, a couple of those energy bars, and another bottle of water. You had the tent in your pack this time.”
“Right.” Richard stood. “Okay. Let’s get going.”
I gave a nod, and Luke and I got up. I slid the map into my back pocket, then handed the plastic bag with Alex’s letter and the photos to Luke. “Could you put these in your pack?”
“Sure.”
When he had everything situated, we headed out, moving as rapidly as we could on foot. An hour later we stopped for rest. The terrain had become rocky again and far more challenging to traverse. We sat on the large boulders lining a creek and had the last of the bottled water. Richard leaned into my side. “You okay?”
“I was just thinking about Tomas. If Alex really was killed, Tomas lost his father because of some stupid asshole criminals.”
“But thanks to you, he’s going to know the truth. He’s going to know his dad was a good man.”
“Yeah.”
“Even if he doesn’t see it right away, that’s a huge thing for him.”
It was.
We got moving again. Another hour and I spotted the structure Gus had described sitting in an open field. “There it is.”
The two-story wooden bird-watching station sat at least fifteen feet off the ground, elevated on stilts. A ladder situated along one of the structure’s supports allowed access to both levels. The top level was an open-air deck. The lower section was enclosed, probably so people could stay out of the wind and cold weather and still enjoy the view. On that level, a large opening took up nearly one full wall. With no light on in the station, it was impossible to tell if Gus was waiting inside.
I started forward, wading through the thick vegetation and fragrant wildflowers that surrounded the station on all sides.
Without warning, Luke grabbed me around the waist and tackled me to the ground. “Richard, get down. Now!”
Richard hit the dirt, half of him landing on top of Luke. “What did you see?”
“A police uniform. Could be state police. I’m not sure.”
“Maybe Gus brought someone with him,” I said.
“Hang on.” Richard slowly made his way onto his hands and knees and shot a look over the brush toward the station. He hastily dropped back down to his stomach. “It’s a state trooper.”
“See anyone else?” Luke asked.
“Yeah.”
“Gus?”
“No. The state cop is standing next to a sheriff’s deputy. The same guy from the video, the one who shot those hikers. Gus screwed us.”
I gaped at him. “No.”
“I’m sorry, Matthew. Looks like he wasn’t such a good friend of Alex’s after all.”
Goddammit. I had believed in the wrong man. Again.
So much for trusting my instincts.
My instincts sucked.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Richard shifted so he lay over both of us. He whispered against my ear, “It’s okay. We’ll figure something else out.” He gave my arm a quick squeeze and moved off us, inching backward on his hands and knees.
Luke and I followed. When we were out of sight from the bird-watching station, we got to our feet.
“What is that sound?” Luke asked.
I heard it too. A faint buzzing. Coming from above. We scanned the sky but couldn’t see anything.
“Shit.” Luke waved frantically for us to get moving again. “It’s a drone.”
We raced toward the trees and ducked inside the forest for cover. We didn’t stop there, just kept on running. When we were about half a mile from the station, we stopped under a thick canopy of trees, not far from another creek.
Luke searched behind us. “The drone’s gone. I don’t think anyone saw us.”
“Me either,” Richard said.
Light-headed, I leaned against a tree. Before I even realized it, I was sliding down the tree, my ass landing on the ground with a thud. Tipping my head back, I stared up at the awning made of green leaves. A brilliant red bird with black wings jumped from one branch to the next. I was completely mesmerized by its movements. With the bird’s chirping song and the thin streaks of sun filtering through the leaves that swayed in the wind, the moment had an enchanting quality that was in direct contrast to what was happening to us. I felt oddly detached as the sounds of the forest around me faded from my consciousness.
It was as if everything I’d come to know about myse
lf was all wrong, and I had no idea what to think or feel. So I just kept focusing on that bird that was fluttering, almost dancing, from branch to branch. “That’s a scarlet tanager.”
“What?” Luke studied me with confusion.
“That bird. It’s beautiful.”
He came to sit next to me. “Hey.”
I rolled my head his way.
“Everything’s going to be fine.”
“How can you say that? I put us in danger.” I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. I felt the air shift before me. When I opened my eyes, Richard was crouched in front of me.
“You did what you thought was right. We all did. And nothing is going to happen to us. You’re going to get us out of here.”
Luke bumped shoulders with me. “Damn straight, you are.”
The trust and confidence on their faces had my senses rushing back to me. I once again heard the high-pitched chirping of the birds above, the wind rustling through the trees, felt the cool forest-shaded air sweep across my face. I nodded. “I am.”
“All right.” Richard turned to Luke. “Your phone still got a charge?”
Luke pulled his phone out of his bag. “Damn.” He held it up. The screen was smashed in. He reinserted the battery and tried to turn the phone on but had no luck. “It’s junk now.”
Richard indicated Luke’s pack. “I thought my knee landed on something back there. And Alex’s phone is dead?”
“Yeah.”
Richard shook his head in agitation. “Fuck.” He stood and strode a few feet away, keeping his back to us. “Okay.” He spun around. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Matthew, you’ll lead us back to the closest road. We’ll try to find a car, a hiker, anyone with a phone.”
“Who do we call?” Luke asked.
Richard tapped a hand on his thigh as he thought that over. Luke seemed to be doing the same.
“The feds.” I looked to Luke. “You still have the name of that agent from everything that went down with your dad?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. We’ll call him, report what’s going on here. He’ll know what to do.”
They nodded their approval. I tugged the map from my pocket and reviewed it for a path through the forest that would lead us to the closest public road.