A Forever Christmas(56)

Everyone could do with a few hours’ rest.

“We can get started again at seven,” he said over the two-way radio to his deputies and the other volunteers. Each group of searchers had been outfitted with the radio so they could stay in touch, and alert the others if they found Jason.

“Read you loud and clear, Sheriff,” Gabe said over his own unit. Finished, he released the button that ended not only the exchange between Rick and the other groups, but the high-pitched squawking sound the unit was emitting, as well.

He didn’t need to look at Angel to know that, although she was beat, she still wanted to continue. But pushing on, exhausted, wouldn’t help.

Braced for an argument, he already began forming his rebuttal.

“A little rest might do us all some good, and besides—” He didn’t get a chance to finish because Angel had her hand up and was motioning for him to be quiet. “Look, Angel, I know that you—”

“Shh!” Cocked her head a little more, straining to listen. “Don’t you hear that?”

He listened—and heard nothing. “Hear what?” he pressed.

“That,” she emphasized impatiently. How could he not hear that? “Someone’s crying.” And with that, she hurried off in the direction of the crying she claimed to be hearing.

“I still don’t—Angel, damn it,” he cried, stunned to see her take off like that after he’d strictly told her not to. “Don’t go running off,” he ordered, raising his voice so she could hear.

“Then follow me!” she shot over her shoulder. The next moment, she was picking up her pace, running in the general direction of the crying sound.

He was more worried than angry now. She didn’t know this terrain, and not only could she get lost, but she could also wind up going over a ledge. Some paths ended abruptly out here.

Just like the one the day he first met her.

Remembering, his anxiety level tripled.

“Angel, you can’t just—” Whatever else he was going to say was forgotten as, still chasing after her, Gabe thought he could make out the sound. “You’re right. It is crying,” he realized. They’d managed to locate Jason, even in the dark.

He slowed his pace just an iota in order to switch on the two-way radio. Calling Rick over the device, Gabe followed up his salutation by declaring with no small excitement, “I think we might have found him!”

Rick immediately ordered him to “Forward your position!”

Trying to keep Angel within his line of sight, Gabe rattled off his coordinates, estimating them as closely as possible. He looked down at the radio for a split second. When he looked up, Angel had disappeared.

There was an instant knot in his stomach, pulling so hard he couldn’t breathe. “Damn it, I lost Angel!” was all he said before dropping his two-way radio and racing up ahead.

For a second, he’d abandoned all his training—and came precariously close to going over the ledge that had ended abruptly without warning. He caught himself just in time.

Four feet below where he stood right now was another, far more narrow ledge. And Angel was on it. Angel and the now-shaking, very frightened and cold little boy who was clinging to it.

“We’ve got you, Jason,” Angel was saying to the boy. “It’s going to be all right,” she promised. She congratulated herself on sounding exceedingly calm, considering the fact that she’d just barely managed to hang on to this ledge when the other had suddenly stopped short and her misstep had sent her falling. Her heart still hadn’t regained its regular beat. She’d come very close to getting killed, she realized.

But at least she’d found Jason.

“Who are you?” Jason asked, staring at her wide-eyed.

She mustered the biggest smile she could for his sake. “I’m Angel.”

“A real angel?” he cried in wonder. “Does that mean I’m dead?”

“You’re not dead,” Gabe called out to the boy. “But she is a real angel.” He glared down at her, knowing she couldn’t make out his expression in this darkness. “Just one that doesn’t listen very well.” And one who almost gave him heart failure when he realized that she’d gone over the ledge, he added silently. Worst moment of his life ever, he emphasized.

“Told you I heard something” was all Angel said in her own defense.

The boy was shaking uncontrollably. Stripping off her jacket, she draped it around the boy’s shoulders and closed the two sides around him to try to keep him warm.