“How the hell did he find out?”
“They must have spotted us blowing through town. Let’s move out.” River jerked his head toward the small trail.
With his boots slogging through the damp underbrush of the North Carolina wilds, he stepped in behind River and Holden, the rest followed at his six.
The roar of the water grew. Mist blasted the air and he lifted his face to it. The coldness felt good on his burning forehead.
Oliver paused next to him and then started down the small rocky trail that paved its way down the side of the falls. He started the long climb downward keeping Oliver in sight.
It took longer than it should have to reach the bottom of the falls because of him. When he missed a step and almost lost his footing, Ethan called a halt.
“We found Zane’s vest and locator,” Maddox reported in fifteen minutes later.
“Roger that, Alpha team. Sending in the drone,” Sam came back.
“River? We’ll leave the vest here,” Maddox said.
“Copy,” River responded with a press of the mic.
Isaac eyed the violently surging water as it slammed against massive rocks. How the hell could Zane have made it down? How far had the river carried him? Was he badly injured?
“Fast moving river,” Oliver shouted over the noise.
He didn’t care how fast it was, he’d find Zane or die trying. Somehow, Zane had managed to stay alive going down those falls. What worried him the most was the vest, because he knew goddamned good and well that Zane would have never left his vest behind on purpose.
“Bravo team, Sergeant Gannon’s vest is one klick east of you,” Sam advised.
He ran stumbling through pine trees and underbrush, their branches pulling at his gear, threatening to slow him down. The roar of the falls faded the farther he lurched through the underbrush. At first, he couldn’t find it and then he fell to his knees, sucking in huge gulps of air. Cold water and mud drenched the knees of his pants and he yanked up the vest that held Zane’s tracking device. Clutching the vest to his chest, it felt cold. Zane’s warmth had long been lost.
It took him a moment to realize that Oliver had crouched next to him. He gazed blankly at the man.
“Come on,” Ethan said from his other side, helping him up. “Let’s keep going.”
One hour longer and the dark crept over the trees but for the full moon spattering the forest every so often with its glow. Moving became difficult in the unfamiliar terrain, but time stood still, the fatigue pulling his body a distant pain.
“Let’s make camp. We can’t do any more until daylight.” River finally called a halt.
“We’ve got goggles,” he growled. “We can keep going.”
“Isaac.” River stepped closer. “It’s not the light. Everyone is exhausted. We can’t rescue Zane on zero sleep.”
As much as he wanted to scream, River was right. If Chambers stayed true to form, he’d put up a hell of a fight.
“Wake me up for a shift.”
“No.” River gave him a dark look. “Sleep.”
With no further argument from him, he snapped out his bed roll. Tossing and turning for most of the night, he woke up from dreams of Zane calling out for him and he couldn’t reach him. He fell into a fitful sleep just before daylight and woke up in the morning with a roaring headache. Gratefully, he took the pain relievers Ethan handed him, but only after he was examined again.
“I’m fine,” he squinted.
“All right, here.” Two pills were placed in his palm. “Stay between Holden and me.”
“Why?”
“In case you take a header.”
He scowled, but stayed nearby.
Zane
A shove to his back sent him stumbling forward.
He’d lost his weapon in the fall, but still had his boots and the fucker let him keep his jacket after demanding he lose the vest.
During his headlong chase, he’d completely missed the trail that lined the edge of the massive waterfall, but Eddie Chambers hadn’t missed it. In fact, the guy hiked down the side and fished him out of the raging water. He would have thanked the fucker, but Eddie had saved him only to kill him later.
Eddie dug the rifle into his back. Plastic zip-ties cinched tightly around his wrists. Which normally wouldn’t be a problem to get out of, only his hands were cuffed behind his back.
“Keep walking.”
“Where do you think you can go where they won’t find you?”
“They won’t find me,” the ex-marine said with a guttural laugh. “Your tracker is back with your vest.”
“It’s an Army Special Forces unit. They’ll fucking find you.” He tossed a glance at Eddie.
“You think I’m alone?”
Another shove pushed him forward. “I have a whole bunch of people waiting for me. You’ll have a crowd to witness your death for taking my brother.”
“You do realize you’ve taken on the Army, right?” He tried again to talk some sense into the imbecile.
“I don’t fuckin’ care who’s after me.” He was shoved again. “You fail to remember that I have nothing to lose. I already lost the most important thing in my life.”
“What’s that, huh?”
“My brother.” Eddie shoved him harder and this time he went down. Rock and debris cut into his knees, and he twisted sideways and took the hit to his arm, just managing not to fall face first.
“Get up!”
With a grimace, he rolled to his feet and kept walking. He went from trying to talk reason into Eddie to planning his escape.
Were Isaac and the unit close? Had Isaac gone over the falls after him? All he remembered was shouting at Isaac to stay back and then he went over.
The unit had to be gaining ground. Even with his vest lying in a puddle of mud, the unit would find it and continue tracking.
They reached a dirt road and followed that for what seemed like hours before it spilled out onto someone’s property.
In the growing darkness, he
