What Doesn't Kill Her (Cape Charade #2)(44)

“Yes.”

“Your daughter is how old?” Ranger Nicolson asked.

“She’s seven. Rae Di Luca. She thinks she should run the world. I’m pretty sure by the time she’s eleven, she will.” Max smiled the way he always did when he talked about Rae.

The rangers did not return his smile.

Max continued, “I’ve done a bad job of saying this, but I’m trying to rescue my girlfriend from my daughter. I can’t contact them. My girlfriend’s cell phone is going to voice mail. Now you tell me they could be dead?” His voice rose. He wasn’t acting out for drama’s sake; Kellen had taken a dangerous job, Rae had stowed along and somehow the job had gone sour. This delay and the knowledge he’d gleaned from the rangers only made him more anxious. “I need to find them. Can you help me?”

“We don’t have communication right now any more than you do,” Ranger Holt told him.

“What about the Restorer? Can you reach him?”

Ranger Holt laughed, brief and bitter. “Zone—the Restorer—avoids contact with us.”

“When we get to a place where we can send out an alert to the other rangers, we will,” Ranger Nicolson said. “Can you give us a description of your girlfriend and daughter?”

“I’ve got photos,” Max said. “Same pocket as the note.”

Ranger Nicolson looked and passed the photos to Ranger Holt, who ran a scan on the photos with her phone. Nicolson returned the photos and passed Max’s backpack to him.

Max slung it over his shoulder. “Do you have transportation I can borrow?”

“We’re on foot, and no motorized vehicles are allowed in this area.” As if he’d uttered a blasphemy, Ranger Holt narrowed her eyes at him.

Ranger Nicolson seemed less inclined to judge him with every word he spoke. “You can rent a bicycle at the Northwest Mountain ranger station—”

“Where is it?” Max asked eagerly.

It turned out to be eight miles in the wrong direction.

“Then I’ll hike.” Max started past them. “I’ll run. Because there’s a killer on the loose.”



22


Kellen pedaled across bridges made of a single flat log, up hairpin turns and down them and ignored her imaginings of crumpled bikes, broken bones and bloody gouges.

The group stopped every hour to rest, eat and compare bruises, and every time Rae danced from one to the other, spouting a constant burble of exclamations, questions and pure joy. By the time they reached the trailhead, she had charmed even Wade. He gave her a giant baggie of granola—the kid was never going to be constipated again—and promised to send her grandmother the recipe, and privately, he gave Kellen his phone number and told her to let them know if they made it out alive.

Reassuring guy. Kellen figured as long they didn’t have to descend any more vertical slopes on a bike, their odds of surviving were good. After all, she’d fought off mercenaries before.

Although Horst hadn’t had a chance, tethered to the tree as he was, and—what kind of killer did that? Slashed a helpless man’s throat? Maybe someone inclined to random violence, but that would be a coincidence. More likely, it was one of his team. “When you get back to cell service, call Di Luca Winery. Ask for Verona. Tell her Rae is with me and unharmed.”

He nodded. “Will do.”

The Cyclomaniacs got to the end of the trail and slammed to a stop. They flipped their bikes around to face back the way they’d come.

Liz dismounted, shook Kellen’s hand briskly, accepted a hug from Rae and pointed up the narrow, steep, challenging path. “He’s that way. Here’s some goose jerky and dried fruit. Good luck.”

The group mounted up and pedaled back the way they came.

“Bye!” Rae shouted after them. “Someday I’m going to have my own bike and I’m going to come and ride with you!”

She got a couple of waves in response before they disappeared so swiftly Kellen figured they’d attained light speed and vanished.

“Rae, let’s not shout.” Kellen touched the Triple Goddess’s wrapped head. “The bad guys are out there.”

“Yes, Mommy. I know. A bike!”

“Yes, Rae, I know,” Kellen mimicked. “See that?” She pointed up the same path Liz had shown them. “We’ve got to get up that way as fast and quietly as possible. We want to dodge the headhunters and reach Horizon Lookout before dark.” She adjusted the backpack and gave Rae a little shove.

Rae ran up the first slope. “Mommy, I want a mountain bike!”

Of course you do. “Let’s speak quietly.” As if you could. “I think a mountain bike for you is a good idea.” Max would have a fit.

“We can go mountain biking with Daddy!”

“I can’t.” Kellen was firm. “Mommy’s a chicken.”

Rae stopped, incredulous. “Why?”

“Mommy doesn’t like going down those mountains at that speed.” Kellen gave her another little shove.

Rae remained stubbornly in place. “You’re not afraid of anything!”

“I guess I am. You’re braver than me.”

Rae thought about that for a minute. “That’s because I’m LightningBug and I can fly.”