Behind the Lies (Montgomery Justice #2)(47)

“Oh, Sam. No,” Jenna cried out. She gripped Zach’s shoulder hard. “He saw us,” she whispered.

Zach squinted at the screen. Sure enough. The small boy’s face watched through the screen door as Zach kissed Jenna breathless. Hurt and anger twisted the boy’s expression.

Sam spun around and ran toward the back entrance. Zach switched the camera view even as dread washed through him. Sam ran out the door, tears streaming down his face. The camera caught him disappearing on the north side of the cabin into the woods.

Zach cupped Jenna’s devastated face. “It’s not your fault.”

She pulled away from him. “Of course it is. I kissed a man who wasn’t my husband. No matter what’s Brad’s done, he’s still Sam’s father. Sam had every reason to feel betrayed.” She bowed her head. “How will I ever regain his trust?”

“First, we find him,” Zach said. He glanced at his watch. “It’ll be dark before long.”

Jenna’s face paled and with desperation she scanned the room. “Please tell me something in your high-tech lair can help us find him.”

Zach grabbed his handheld thermal imager.

“A video camera?” Jenna asked.

“Not quite. This will pick up Sam’s heat signature. It’s more sensitive than most. I can even track footprints up to about thirty minutes.”

Jenna didn’t pause. She rushed up the stairs, and Zach hurried behind her. He grabbed his emergency backpack from the closet and threw her a jacket before donning his own. He searched his pocket for his phone. Where had he left it? No time to look. He grabbed the last prepaid phone, stepped onto the porch, and scanned the sky, noting the sun sinking over Fools Peak. There wasn’t that much light left, and a lot of ground to cover.

“The sun will set around eight thirty,” he said. He led Jenna to the small clearing they’d seen Sam disappear into. He looked through the thermal imager’s lens. A raccoon, a few birds, a couple of rabbits, but no footprints.

“He’s so small the heat from his footprints dissipated too quickly.”

Jenna glanced around and clutched at Zach’s arm, anxiety driving her fingernails into him. “Which way?”

Zach scanned the ground, his vision catching some misplaced pine needles. “Over here,” he said. They followed the trail for a good half hour. Shadows darkened the forest’s floor. Fingerlike outlines clawed up the trees. A foreboding chill clung in the air.

Every few minutes he scanned the surrounding areas with the imager.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way? He could have veered off in any direction.”

The fear in Jenna’s voice peppered Zach like a spray of bullets, but she had every reason to be frightened. Sam had been raised in California. He didn’t know the first rule of hiking in the mountains—never, ever hike at night. He could walk off into nothing and not even know it.

Zach couldn’t imagine Jenna would recover if they didn’t find Sam alive and well. He paused, and Jenna halted behind him. He pulled her close and pointed to a tree. “See how the branch is bent. Sam walked this way.”

“It could have been an animal.”

Zach bent down near a bed of pine needles next to the tree. He outlined the edge of Sam’s shoe. “Do you see it now?”

Jenna nodded, her eyes wide and wondering. “How did you learn how to do this?”

“My dad. Unlike my brothers, I could take or leave baseball or football, but I loved skiing, mountain climbing, flying. My family has a cabin a ways north of here, near Kremmling. He took me hiking there. Said if I was going to be crazy enough to run up and down the Rocky Mountains, I better know how to survive in case I got lost.”

“He sounds like an amazing dad. He must’ve been proud of you.”

Her misplaced words grabbed, twisted, and tore at Zach’s heart. His father couldn’t have been proud. He shoved the memories away. “We better get a move on.”

He could feel her gaze boring into his back, but she didn’t say anything. Thank goodness. The light had dimmed. He paused and rescanned the terrain using the imager.

Small footprints shone through the camera. “We got him,” he said to Jenna. He refocused and followed the footprints leading off toward…crap…Sam was heading directly toward a drop-off of over three thousand feet.

He grabbed Jenna’s hand and picked up his pace.

“What’s wrong,” she panted.

“Sam’s heading toward a cliff.”

“Sam!” Jenna called out, her voice frantic.

The sound echoed through the woods. Zach slapped his hand over her mouth. “He’s hurt and angry. I don’t want him running. We need to get to him before he reaches the edge. He won’t see it coming. There’s a line of trees and then…nothing.”

“Oh my God.” Jenna pressed the ball of her hand against her mouth.

Zach echoed the prayer that they’d get to him in time.

He stopped. Jenna plowed into his back, but Zach didn’t budge. He raised the camera to his eye. Sam’s footsteps had turned from a blue-yellow to yellow-red in color. “We’re gaining on him.”

Jenna bit her lip hard. They both scanned the darkening horizon. A glint of orange and purple reflected over the mountaintop. The shadows grew deeper.