Cold Snap (43 page)

Nothing.

Then a whisper. A slight rustle of leaves.

Sean hid behind an old oak that just barely blocked his frame. He peered around the side. A stick broke. Another rustle. A voice. Female.

Lucy came into view a moment later, and she wasn’t alone. She had found Micah.

Sean stepped out of hiding. “Lucy.”

Relief relaxed her face and she took Micah’s hand and walked over to Sean.

“Micah?” Sean asked, though he knew it was.

“Yes. He found me.” She hugged Sean tightly. She was shaking, just a little.

“What happened?”

Lucy stepped back and Sean saw her wrists were red and raw. He held up her arm. “What’s this?”

“Ann was trying to get me to go another way, and I should have known there must be some reason why. We came across an old cemetery. Except”—she hesitated, barely glancing at Micah—“there was a fresh grave. Micah said Ann is one of a group of people who killed his mom and buried her there. They are living in trailers; I don’t know how far but Micah said it’s an hour walk from the trailers to the lake.”

“Trailers? How did they get them out here? There are no roads.”

Micah was standing close to Lucy, his hand clenched tightly around hers. Sean softened his voice. “Do you know how, Micah?”

“We came from the other way. It’s a service road, like for fires. It’s locked, but the ranger let us in. He’s one of them, too.”

“Why?” Sean glanced around, worried about Ann’s whereabouts and concerned that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no backup.

“They’re cooking meth,” Lucy said. “Micah’s mother was living with Jeff. She tried to leave for some reason; they took her to the woods and killed her.”

“Because she started using the product when she wasn’t supposed to,” Micah said in a matter-of-fact tone that belied his age, but also suggested that he was repeating something that he’d heard.

“Ann took all my stuff. And your gun. I’m sorry.”

Sean hugged her again. “Don’t apologize. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Micah said, “Ann hit her on the head. I didn’t think she’d wake up.”

Sean squatted and looked Micah in the eye. “But you stayed and looked out for her. Thank you for that.”

“She got out of the zip ties all by herself,” Micah said, obviously impressed. “Broke them, just like that.” He grinned. “She’s really strong.”

“In every way,” Sean said.

“It’s not strength,” Lucy said, “you simply—”

Sean kissed her and she stopped talking. “You can teach the kid your trick later. For now let’s get to my car and call the FBI.”

“But you promised—,” Micah began.

Lucy put her hand on Micah’s shoulder. “Sean, they’re packing up to leave. They have a ranger in their back pocket, involved with the drug network, and they know we’re out here and we have contacts. I slipped up—I told Ann I was in the FBI when I was trying to get her to trust me.” She laughed humorlessly. “As soon as Ann and Jeff get back to the trailers, they’re going to leave. Micah has a little brother, Tommy. He’s only six, we have to find him. Micah says that they use their cell phones at the trailers, so if we go that way we’ll be able to call in help, and find a way to stop or delay them.”

Sean wanted to help the kids, but they had no gun, one phone, and Ann and Jeff knew exactly where they were camped.

“Lucy, think about this—”

“I have.” She tilted her chin up and Sean knew then that she would not back down. And could he blame her? There was an innocent kid at risk and a killer on the loose, and justice demanded action. It’s why he loved her, and why he feared for her.

She handed him a .22. “Micah thinks that this is the gun they used to kill his mother. He found it near her grave. The magazine is missing two bullets.”

Sean checked the weapon and handed it back to Lucy. “Keep it.”

She sighed, obviously wanting to argue with him, but she didn’t. “We need a plan.”

“We’ll go to the campsite and pack up,” Sean said.

“What about Jeff and Ann?”

“While I was searching, Jeff grabbed his things and left. I know which way he went; we can follow the trail.”

“I know a faster way,” Micah said.

“He’s been out here, alone, for three days,” Lucy said. She had her arm over his shoulders.

“We still need to pack up—I don’t know how long we’ll be out here, and if we have to hunker down at night, we’ll need our sleeping bags. But in case Jeff comes back, I don’t want you anywhere near the site.”

“We’ll stay hidden,” Lucy said.

Sean handed each of them a water bottle and energy bar. They ate while walking back to the campsite. Sean found a good hiding place a hundred yards into the woods where Lucy could easily see anyone approaching, but with a natural tree barrier to protect them from being seen. Then he went to pack up. He hid the tent, not wanting to be encumbered by the weight, but the sleeping bags were essential. Lucy’s backpack was gone, and in it all her clothes. All she had was the sweatshirt tied around her waist. And the boy needed something more than the thin hoodie he was wearing.

Sean wasn’t confident that they were making the right decision, but he understood why Lucy felt they didn’t have much of a choice. A six-year-old was in danger, and if Ann and Jeff really planned to disappear, they didn’t have much time to save him.

*   *   *

Micah said he knew a faster route to the trailers than either following Jeff’s footsteps or the ATV tracks, but Sean was skeptical. Lucy said to Micah, “Can you give us one minute?”

The boy looked from her to Sean. The sadness and determination in his eyes broke Lucy’s heart. No child should have to go through what he did. To be forced to grow up so fast.

He shrugged. “Okay.” He walked thirty feet away and sat at the base of a tree. Lucy kept one eye on him while she spoke quietly to Sean.

“He’s been hiding from the people who killed his mother for three days. He’s
nine years old.
But he’s a survivor. If we don’t find the trailers right now, his brother will be gone. Tommy is all he has left.”

“Lucy—why do I feel roles are reversed? You’re usually the one demanding we call in the authorities. What’s changed?” Sean glanced at Micah.

“Nothing’s changed. This is a completely different situation. And of course we need to call, but if Micah is right and one of the rangers is helping them, we can’t put out a blanket call for help until we get Tommy out of danger. We’ve got to find a way to delay them. But first, we get Tommy and Micah to safety.”

“How many people are we dealing with?”

“Three men, two women. Jeff, Ann, Cynthia, and two guys Micah called their muscle. There are two ATVs at the camp. I need to see the layout but I think I have a plan.”

“You want to rescue Tommy and steal the ATVs.”

“That’s about right.”

Sean was thinking, and Lucy pushed. “Daylight is fading fast. We don’t have time. Our car is in the opposite direction of the drug camp. Micah knows where he’s going, Sean.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but five against two with two kids in the middle?”

“They don’t know we have Micah, and they don’t know we’re going after Tommy.”

He took her hand and squeezed. “We’ll go his way. But Luce—tell me you’re on your game here.”

She frowned and tensed. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You’re attached to him.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Let’s just say you bonded quickly with Micah. Don’t be reckless, Luce.”

“I’m not.” Lucy didn’t know what Sean was getting at, but she definitely wasn’t planning on doing anything stupid. “We’re a team, you and me.”

Sean rubbed his eyes. “All right, let’s go.” He motioned for Micah. “You’re leading, kid. How long?”

He shrugged. “Less than an hour?”

“We have about an hour of light yet, and I don’t want to have to bring out the flashlights. That might give us away. This only works if we can sneak up on them.”

Micah nodded. “I can move fast.”

“You’re on.”

They followed Micah in silence. The kid kept a good pace, and though both Sean and Lucy were athletic, they were doing their best to keep up over the uneven terrain.

Lucy realized why Jeff and Ann had chosen another way to their camp. They were maneuvering through dense trees and foliage. It was darker and colder in the woods and difficult to get a sense of direction since they couldn’t see the sky except in brief glimpses through the treetops. A good place to escape, and to hide.

Sean was getting frustrated, however. Lucy could feel the tension in his body. He was worried about all of them, and not knowing what they would be facing, not having more information, and not having the ability to communicate was probably worse for him than for her.

He said, “How much farther?” It was nearly dark and Micah was barely visible ten feet in front of them.

Micah turned and put a finger to his lips.

Lucy listened. She heard a distant metal door slamming. A truck, maybe. A voice, but it was too far away to make out what it was saying.

He motioned for them to walk carefully. Fifty feet ahead, the ground nearly gave way to a sheer drop of three stories. In front of them was a wide, sloped clearing, a valley almost completely surrounded by a ring of trees. Some of the trees appeared charred. The ground looked too green and fresh. It was brighter here, as the setting sun cast the entire valley in colors. But the light wouldn’t last long.

Three trailers were lined up twenty feet apart. She could only see two pickup trucks, each with an ATV in the bed. They would only be able to haul two trailers away, either because they planned to come back, or they didn’t care that they abandoned the others.

A trailer with a metal attachment extending the entrance was distinctly separate from the group. The meth lab? Probably. That’s where three men were talking. One was Jeff. Two went inside and Jeff walked across the clearing to the living quarters.

Lucy said, “We have to be careful there—the chemicals are extremely dangerous.”

Sean turned on his phone. “No signal.”

Micah pointed south. “Walk along this ledge. Ann used to go to the rock grouping down there to call people. Phones work in the valley, but they drop off all the time. The rock is higher. But you might be seen.”

“Text messages can often get through as long as there is a minimal signal,” Sean said. He handed his phone to Lucy. “You know who to call.”

“I’m not going to leave you.”

“We agreed—we need backup. We’re going to sit here and keep an eye on the place. If they look like they’re moving out, we’ll change the plan. For now, we watch and wait.”

Lucy agreed. “I’ll be back as soon as I get through to someone.”

Micah looked worried. “What if they see you? Ann is real mean.”

Lucy rubbed the bump on the back of her head. “I know. But it’s nearly dark, I’ll be careful. You, too.”

Sean watched Lucy weave through the trees to avoid being seen by anyone below. He motioned for Micah to step back a bit and dropped his backpack behind a fallen tree. “We’ll stay here for now.”

“Is she going to be okay?”

I hope.
“She’s good. She won’t be seen.”

“I don’t want Ann to hurt her again.”

Sean glanced at him. “You saw what happened?”

He nodded, his eyes wide. “I thought she was dead. Ann hit her, then tied her up and took her stuff and left.”

Sean wanted to deck that bitch.

A vehicle was approaching; it sounded like a truck. Micah moved forward, but Sean held him back. “Stay.”

Staying low to the ground, he ventured toward the edge of the cliff. It was quickly getting dark, and all he saw were the headlights of a truck. Then it turned and Sean noted a seal on the door and emergency lights on the roof. U.S. Forest Service most likely. The corrupt ranger. There were loud voices, shouting, but Sean couldn’t make out what was being said.

He pulled out his binoculars and looked at the scene. Ann and the ranger were arguing about something. It appeared that Ann won because the ranger looked pissed and stormed off into the meth trailer. Two men came out when the ranger went in and walked over to Ann. Damn, Sean wished he could read lips.

He looked around the camp. He hadn’t seen any sign of Micah’s little brother. But he spotted two dirt bikes, one small, one larger, next to the trailer closest to the cliff.

He went back to Micah. “Is your trailer the one closest to us? With the bikes?”

“Yes,” Micah whispered. “Did you see Tommy?”

Sean shook his head. “You said Tommy’s father is in jail?”

“That’s what Mom said. They never got married. He was this guy my mom was seeing for a while. He left when she got pregnant. Just like my dad left.” He frowned. “She said they didn’t want kids, but she loved us enough for two parents. She always said that.”

“Then believe it.”

He shrugged. “We wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t brought us.”

“She was under a lot of pressure.” Sean didn’t know what else to say to Micah. Lucy would know exactly the right words to make the kid feel okay about his mom and himself. Sean agreed with the kid: what mother would bring her young kids into the middle of this? But it couldn’t have been easy for her, a recovering drug addict raising two boys.

Sean glanced at his watch. Lucy had only been gone ten minutes. It felt much longer.

“I hate drugs,” Micah said.

“So do I.” Sean glanced at him. Now that the sun had gone down, the temperature had dropped substantially. He pulled out his extra sweatshirt and handed it to Micah. Micah put it on. It went to his knees. Sean rolled up the sleeves for him. “My oldest sister, Molly, overdosed on drugs. I was little, younger than your brother, when it happened. I barely remember her, but my parents were so sad and angry and they blamed themselves.” He paused. Like Justin’s murder had forever changed the Kincaid family, Molly’s overdose had a similar effect on the Rogans. “You’ve been strong for three days, Micah. I admire that. Your brother’s going to need you.”

Micah didn’t say anything for a minute. Then, “Do you hate your sister?”

“Of course not. She didn’t want to die. Drugs are addictive, they destroy people. She didn’t know how to stop. Even with all the help my parents gave her, she couldn’t seem to get out of the cycle. Sometimes—well, I was really small, but my parents were sad, and my brothers were sad and angry. I think they were mad at her but they also loved and missed her.”