Chilled (Bone Secrets, #2)(18)

“He’s gone.”

“How can you be sure?” His gaze didn’t leave the woods.

“He was just curious. They don’t usually attack.”

“Usually,” Alex said flatly.

Jim slapped Alex on the shoulder. “Put it away. We’ll hear him if he decides to come back.”

Alex slowly lowered the gun but didn’t tuck it back in his shoulder holster. “I can’t believe this.” He shook his head, his stunned gaze traveling from one searcher to another and then darting back to the forest, disbelief distorting his forehead.

Brynn sympathized with his shock, remembering the first time she’d come across a black bear while camping. She couldn’t have been more than six. The bear snatched the fish her dad had just caught and promptly ran off. She could still see the black, furry tush darting down the gravel road, a huge steelhead flopping in its mouth.

“I couldn’t see its brain,” Alex muttered.

Brain? Brynn cautiously eyed him. What in the hell is he talking about?

Ryan shouted with laughter, bent over, scooped a handful of snow, and nailed Alex with a snowball. “Next time I’ll tell it to hold real still so you can line up your shot.”

The second dose of ibuprofen was working on Alex’s head and leg as they pushed through the forest. His stomach had settled and the shakes in his hands seemed to have subsided. The relief felt as good as a heated blanket tossed over his shoulders. Could the ibuprofen be helping his withdrawal? Hopefully, Brynn had enough to medicate him for three days. Three days? He shook his head in wonder. Was he going to be in the mountain snow for three days?

Would the results of this mission help him sleep better at night?

He had his doubts.

He absently touched his coat pocket. He’d placed his Beretta in the pocket because earlier he’d fumbled away precious seconds as he’d wrestled off his gloves and thrashed under his coat for the gun. He wouldn’t be caught unprepared again. He stared hard into the trees.

“Hey! Look at that!” Ryan’s shout brought Alex out of his mental bear-encounter preparations.

The line halted as four sets of eyes followed the direction of Ryan’s hand pointing up into the trees. Something pale billowed and fluttered thirty feet above their heads. Alex’s feet froze in midstep. A parachute?

“Is that a parachute?” Brynn voiced his thoughts.

His Beretta instantly in hand, Alex quickly scanned their surroundings for signs of life, his heart in his throat. Nothing. All was quiet as microscopic flakes fell with silent speed. He raised his gaze again. Next to the white of the snow the parachute was yellowed and dirty. Ripped.

“It’s old,” Thomas muttered. “It’s not from our plane.”

Not from our plane.

Alex slipped his handgun back in his pocket and felt his lungs contract in regret and relief. Then pity. Who’d used the parachute? How long ago?

He concentrated on watching Brynn as she searched the ground, making a roundabout pattern that circled out from the trunk of the tree.

“I can’t see anything under all this snow,” she complained.

“Who’d it belong to?” Ryan whispered.

“Lots of people have gone missing in these woods,” Thomas said quietly. “Planes too.”

Alex couldn’t speak; he was nauseous. Had someone hung up there? Waiting for days on end? Waiting for a rescue that never came? Or had they died on impact? He glanced at Brynn. What was she thinking? She was still kicking at the snow, scowling and muttering to herself.

His ex-wife would have been near tears and frantic with shock and sympathy.

Brynn was looking for answers.

“Note the coordinates, Ryan.”

“Already done.” The deputy was scowling at his GPS. “This doesn’t seem right.”

Thomas glanced at Ryan’s screen then back at the screen of the GPS he’d pulled out. “Mine’s different. Way different.”

His forehead wrinkling, Jim studied the two units the men held out. He reached in his pocket and checked his GPS. Alex felt like a useless idiot. It was a foreign feeling.

“Mine’s different too.”

“What?” Brynn stopped and looked up in surprise. “How can that be? I could understand one unit malfunctioning, but how can we get three different readings?”

Alex blinked as suspicion crept up his spine.

“Something magnetic? Maybe there’s a meteor buried nearby.” Ryan sounded as confident as if he’d suggested fairy mischief.

“Could that cause it?” Brynn murmured. Everyone looked blank.

“I have no f*cking idea what would affect them,” Jim admitted. “They get their readings from a group of several satellites. Maybe the storm’s interfering. But it shouldn’t be. These things are supposed to get accurate readings in deep chasms and through bad weather.”

Alex watched Thomas. The Alaskan’s face was expressionless as he studied his GPS and then the others’. Mistrust knotted Alex’s stomach. Could someone have tampered with the units?

His gaze went to each face, studying and assessing as his jaw tightened. He was starting to like these people and it was affecting his objectivity. Not good.

In Brynn’s stooped search position, a lock of hair came loose from her ponytail and she tucked it behind her ear. The woman genuinely cared about the people for whom she went on missions. It couldn’t be her. She wouldn’t put anyone at risk for any reason. More likely it was one of the men. Or someone at base camp.