by Sloan Parker
He gave me a slight smile. “I’m okay.”
“Let’s go,” Luke said, tugging on Alex to get him moving.
The sound of a car engine came from the direction of the path out front.
Richard reappeared in the open window before we’d made it across the room. “Get your asses out here. We’re not alone anymore. A car’s coming down the path.” He helped Alex slip out the window first. Then Luke gestured for me to go next. When we were all out, we hightailed it for the trees, Richard providing support for Alex. We kept our heads low and moved as fast as we could, which wasn’t all that quickly since Alex was unsteady, physically weak from his captivity.
We hadn’t gone fast enough.
“Stop!” came a voice from behind us. A shot rang out, smacking into a tree five feet to our right, the bark splintering on impact.
Not again.
“Jesus Christ,” Luke muttered.
The shot was close. Too close.
My adrenaline kicked into high gear. Determination flowed through me. There was no way I was letting anything else happen to Alex. Or to Richard and Luke.
I moved to Alex’s side opposite Richard, lifted Alex’s arm over my shoulders, and jerked him forward. “Everyone, move!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“I think we lost them.” I shifted Alex’s arm higher on my shoulder. “We need to stop for a break.”
Since we’d taken off from the cabin twenty minutes earlier, Alex had been sagging against Richard and me more and more with each step. The rain had started up again, coming down harder than earlier, darkening the sky overhead. The storm, as well as our zigzagging route, had likely aided our escape through the forest, but the almost torrential rainfall also seriously impeded our progress. It was nearly impossible to keep the rain out of our eyes or to hear if anyone was following us. At least the lightning was holding off this time.
“All right,” Richard said. “I don’t think they’re behind us, or they’d have shot at us again.”
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “But let’s not stick around here for long.”
“Okay.” I pointed toward a downed tree. “There.” The substantial log lay at the base of another tree. The pair would give Alex a backrest, and the thick limbs above would provide some cover from the rain. We started toward it, Alex stumbling on his last step. Richard caught him before he went down and then eased him onto the makeshift seat. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Alex leaned back against the upright tree. When he was settled, I sat beside him.
His soft smile was full of relief. “Are these your partners?”
“Yeah. This is Luke and Richard.” I indicated each in turn.
He gave a nod to one, then the other. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for saving my life.”
Luke snorted out a laugh. “That was all Matthew. He had this crazy idea you might just be alive out here. Everyone else thinks you’re dead or you took off.”
“I wasn’t sure,” I said. “I just had this strong feeling that I had to find the cabin that we saw in your video.”
“You found my phone?”
“Yeah.”
“You got it with you?”
“We hid it once we realized there were people that would kill us for it. We didn’t want to have it on us if they caught up to us.”
“Good. That’s good.” His eyes fell shut.
I turned to Richard. “He needs to rest. We should stay here for a bit.”
“No.” Alex’s eyes shot open. He shook his head so emphatically I thought he might hurt himself. It was the most animated he’d been since we’d gotten him out of the chair at the cabin. As if that movement alone had been too much for him, he tilted his head back to rest on the tree behind him. Deep breaths poured out of him as he spoke again. “You need to keep going. You should leave me here, and you guys go for help.”
“We’re not leaving you anywhere. What if they find you and take you again? And this time they kill you?” I looked to Luke and Richard.
Luke got the last partial bottle of water from his pack and offered it to Alex. “Here. Drink this.”
When Alex had finished off the water, he handed back the empty bottle and then closed his eyes again. A minute later, he was barely awake.
Richard turned away and kept his back to us as he scanned the forest the way we’d come, looking for someone who might’ve found us.
When he faced us, I said, “He needs more to drink and something to eat.”
Luke checked his bag. “I’ve got nothing left.”
“Matthew…” Richard started.
“I know. He won’t make it back to one of the main trails, much less the road out of the park.”
Lightning struck overhead, followed by an enormous crack of thunder.
Richard examined the sky. “We should get moving. This looks like it’s just going to get worse.”
“But where to?” Luke asked. “Matthew’s right. Alex can’t go much farther.”
“I can make it.” Alex held his eyes closed for a moment more. Then he met my stare. “I can. But we can skip the trails. They’ll be looking for us on those. You got a map?”
I pulled out his map and held it out for him.
“If we head due west, eventually we’ll end up here.” He pointed to a location along the main road on the west side of the park. “And then it’s only five miles until we’re out of the park and at Windtree.”
Richard examined him. “We gotta keep moving or those friends of yours will find us. They’ve got search dogs.”
“I’ll make it. I have every intention of seeing my son and wife again, and meeting my new baby.”
Richard nodded. “All right. Then let’s get going.”
I helped Alex stand, but he didn’t last for more than a second. He fell forward to his knees. I caught him before he landed face-first in the mud.
Richard and I got Alex up and on the downed tree again. “You okay?”
He shook his head. “I don’t feel so well. My stomach…”
“When did you last eat?”
“Maybe yesterday. Or the day before. They usually fed me once a day, but I haven’t had anything lately. They only gave me enough to keep me alive.” He took in a couple of deep breaths, really struggling now. “I think you might be right. I don’t think I can walk much farther.”
Luke looked to Richard. “Can you carry him?”
A deep voice came from behind us. “I’ll do it.”
We all swung toward the voice. It was Gus, wearing his uniform and the same Detroit Tigers baseball cap we’d seen him in earlier.
Richard bolted in front of Alex and me. “Don’t come any closer.”
Gus glared at him in surprise. “What the hell?”
“Thanks for sending your pals after us at the bird-watching station.”
“I didn’t send anyone after you. No one was at the station when I got there. I waited there for you for hours, tried calling you, but it just went to voice mail.”
“Sure.”
“Listen…” Gus started forward.
Richard held up a hand. “Stay back.”
Gus stopped. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on here, but I’m going to check on my friend.” He started forward again. As he did, Richard tugged me out of his path. It was clear Gus wasn’t going to give in until he talked to Alex.
Gus crouched down in front of him. He expelled a slow breath of relief as he took in the sight of the other man. “Damn, it’s good to see you, old friend. I thought you’d died out here.”
“I almost did.”
“You look like it. What the hell happened to you?”
“Long story. How’s Natalie?”
“She’s good. No baby yet.”
“You’ve seen her? Tomas too?”
“Yeah, almost every day. She had to go to the hospital yesterday, but it was just false labor and some cramping. They kept her for a bit to make sure everything was okay, but she’s back home now.”
Alex lowered his eyes in relief, then opened them again. “I knew you’d take care of them for me.”
“Absolutely. I gotta say, though, it wasn’t easy. When you first went missing, Natalie wanted to hike out here and search for you herself. As big as she is, I was surprised I kept having to remind her she was pregnant and about to give birth.”
Alex snorted out a laugh. “She’s stubborn, that’s for sure.”
Richard stalked to them and stood beside Gus, towering over him. “So you just happened to come across us out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Yeah. Been looking all over for you.”
Richard scrutinized him with suspicion. Luke too.
I knew what they were thinking, but were they right? Was it too much of a coincidence that Gus had found us not long after we’d located Alex, not long after we’d been shot at by his ranger pals and the deputies?
Richard asked him, “Did you call anyone after you talked to us?”
“Only when you didn’t show up. I started asking around. The sheriff said you’d found Alex’s truck, but when his deputies got there, they found no sign of the truck or you. He’s got his deputies and several park rangers all out looking for you.”
“I’m sure he does. If they’re the same crooked cops and rangers as the ones that are behind Alex’s disappearance, then they’re not here to help us. They’re trying to kill us. We weren’t lying to you about that.”
Gus looked from Richard to me, then to Alex.
Alex nodded. “People from both agencies are helping drug traffickers use the park to store and distribute heroin.”
Luke approached the group and asked Gus, “Do you have a phone? Or a radio?”
“I’ve got my phone, but I don’t have a signal here. I stopped nearby on the trail to try calling Natalie and check in, but I couldn’t get through. That’s when I heard your voices.”
“There’s a trail near here?” Richard asked, clearly nervous we were so close to a marked path.
“Yeah. Not far that way.” Gus pointed into the trees to our right.
Richard told me, “We’ve gotta get moving.”
Luke held out his hand to Gus. “Let me take a look at your phone first. Maybe I can come up with a way to boost the signal.”
I doubted that was true. My guess was that Luke wanted to see if Gus was lying about not being able to make a call.
Gus appeared to come to the same conclusion, but he said, “Sure,” and handed over his phone.
Richard turned to me. “Let me see the map.” After I gave it to him, he faced Gus. “Show me that trail you were on.” They moved into an opening in the trees under what limited daylight there was and inspected the map together.
I knelt down before Alex and spoke low so only he’d hear me. “Is that your Tigers hat that Gus is wearing?”
He looked to Gus. “No. We both got the hats at a game last summer. Mine is more faded than that.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Gus? With my life.”
“He wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, then?”
“Absolutely not.”
“What about the rest of us?”
Alex studied me with dismay. “He’s not working with those people.”
The clouds grew darker overhead, and the rain shifted to sharper, stinging drops.
I said, “I had a feeling I could trust him when we first met him, but I don’t think Luke and Richard agree.” They were both talking with Gus now, Luke using his body to try to block the rain from soaking the map. Then Richard folded the map and tucked it in his back pocket.
He approached us. “Gus said his truck’s parked just off an access road near that trail he was on. We’ll head for the truck.”
“It’s not too far from here.” Gus crouched beside me so we were both facing Alex. He dug into his pack and removed a bottle of water and a protein bar. “Think you could make it about a mile?”
“Yeah.” Alex swallowed a gulp of water and started in on the protein bar. “This’ll help.”
“Once we get on the trail, it’ll be easier going.”
Richard shook his head. “We aren’t taking any trails.”
Gus gaped up at him. “I’ve been on them all day and haven’t seen a soul. No one’s out in this weather.”
“No trails.” Richard reached down and gripped my arm. “Come here.” He gestured for Luke and me to step aside, far enough away that Gus and Alex couldn’t hear us. “I don’t trust this guy.”
“Me either,” Luke said. “We should tell him to get lost, that we’ll be fine on our own.”
“No,” I said, then hesitated. Was I right about Gus? Was I wrong to trust my possibly faulty instincts when it came to reading people? The only answer I could come up with was that if I didn’t trust my gut, I would regret it. “I think we can trust him.”
“He works with the assholes who shot at us,” Luke added in a raised whisper louder than the beat of rain smacking the ground all around us. “For all we know, he could be the one in charge of this whole operation.”
I glanced back at Alex and Gus. Gus was still crouched before Alex, removing the wrapper from another protein bar. He passed it to Alex.
“We can trust him. I know we can.” Although, I’d also thought that about the sheriff, but I forced that thought from my mind.
Richard sighed. “Gus could have people waiting for us at his truck.”
“How about this?” Luke said. “We skip Gus’s truck altogether, find someplace else to rest up, and take a different approach when the rain lets up.”
“Wait.” I gestured for Richard to give me the map. “I know what trail Gus was talking about. It leads to the Windtree Valley Caves.” I opened the map and showed it to them. “See.” I returned to Alex and Gus and held the map out for Alex, pointing to a particular spot along the trail. “The caves that are located here. They’re made up of a series of tunnels, with multiple entrances, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And there’s a little shack outside one of the entrances?”
“Right. For the park employees. They do tours through the caves a couple of times a month. The booth wouldn’t have power, but…” He shot a knowing look up at me. “It should have a radio. I’ve seen them using it.”
“We can call for help and hide out in the caves while we wait.” I nodded, calculating how far we’d have to hike.
Alex must’ve got what I was thinking. “I can make it that far.”
“You sure?”
“I’ll make it.”
“Okay.” I looked to the others. “I say we go for it.”
“All right.” Richard approached Gus. “In the meantime we’re holding on to your phone.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t think to tell us about that radio and you must’ve passed right by the booth outside those caves.”
“So you don’t trust me because I forgot about a damn radio in the woods?”
“Yep.”
Gus scoffed in irritation but then gestured to Luke. “We should check my phone for a signal as we move.”
“Sure,” Richard answered for Luke. “We can do that for you. You’re going to stay in front of me where I can keep an eye on you the whole way.”
“Fine. But when we get there, I’m still going for my truck. You’re not going to stop me from getting my friend to a hospital.”
“There’ll be no need. We’re going to find that radio and call for help long before you can get to your truck.”
With that plan in place, I knelt before Alex again. “You ready?”
“I think so.” Despite his words, he seemed unsure.
I gave him a nod of encouragement. “We got this. Together.” Gus and I helped Alex stand. “We’re going to get you back to your family.”
He gripped the hand I had on his arm. “Thank you.”
I offered another nod in response, then faced the others. “Richard, you and Gus take turns carrying Alex. Luke, you stay b
ehind Richard so you can be on the lookout for anyone following us. I’ll take point.”
Luke raised his eyebrows. “Point?” He shot a stunned look to Richard. “Guess we better stop calling him kid if he’s gonna be this bossy.”
Richard laughed. “Maybe.” He waited until Gus had Alex lifted in a firefighter’s carry, and then Richard tipped his head at me. “Okay, lead the way.”
Despite everything, I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I got moving in the direction of the caves. I’d always loved that they called me kid. Which was funny considering how much I still felt like a kid sometimes. Although when they said it, there was nothing about the gesture that made me feel naive or inexperienced. It was a sign of their affection for me, and it always reminded me of the night we met.
They’d been right when they said I was more of a man than my father ever was. I didn’t give up on people. I hadn’t given up on Alex, and I wasn’t giving up on us—or myself.
Chapter Thirty-Four
When we arrived at the main entrance to Windtree Valley Caves, a curtain of rain pummeled the forest—and us—stronger than ever, demonstrating the true power of nature and making the last steps of our journey a frigid struggle. Thunder continually rolled through the air above. Day had almost turned to night as the sky had grown eerily dark, and the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees.
We checked out the shack first. No radio. Just a battery-powered lantern, first aid kit, and brochures for area attractions similar to what we’d seen at the ranger station. Since no more than two of us would fit in the booth, I grabbed the lantern and we headed inside the main cave to get out of the rain.
A short, narrow passageway led into an open room.
Luke pointed to two other passages at the far end of the cave. “Where do those go?”
“More caves,” Gus said. “And exits.” He got Alex situated on an outcropping several feet from the main entrance. There Alex could sit off the ground with his back against the cave wall.
Luke shot a quick glance into the other passageways. “Guess that’s better than getting trapped in here with only one way out.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think it’s our best option right now.”