Thrill Me (Fool's Gold #18)(55)

Near the windows, a woman in her thirties began to cry. The man at her side put an arm around her. Next to them, a boy maybe thirteen or fourteen, wiped away tears. He looked scared and guilty. Del would guess Alyssa was his sister, and he had been the one with her when she’d been lost.

“I’ll send the info about where she was last seen to your tablets,” Shep continued. “Jacob’s told us as much as he can.”

The teen flinched as his name was spoken and everyone turned to look at him. Del instinctively started toward the boy.

As he approached, he heard Kipling speaking on his cell phone. “Yeah, Cassidy went to get her horses. She won’t be back for a couple of days.”

Del looked at Shep. “Can you give me a minute?” he asked, nodding at the teen.

“Sure,” Shep said.

Del turned to Jacob. “Hey,” he said in a low voice.

Jacob hung his head. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“No one thinks you did anything wrong,” Del assured him.

“They do. My parents tell me I’m not responsible enough.” Jacob looked at him. “She’s my sister. I love her.”

“I know you do. Look, I’m the oldest of five brothers. Believe me, I know what it’s like. You’re told to watch them and you do, but they’re as fast as squirrels. You turn around for a second, and bam, one of them is in trouble. Only you get the blame.”

Jacob sniffed, then nodded. “I know.” The boy’s dark eyes were red from tears. “I was texting with a friend.”

“Sure. It’s boring out there, right?”

“Yeah. Alyssa said she saw a baby bunny. She wanted to pet it. I told her to leave it alone, and when I looked up again, she was gone.”

Tears filled his eyes again. “I called her name and ran after her, but I couldn’t find her.”

“How long were you looking?”

“About an hour.”

“By your phone or it felt like an hour?”

Jacob flushed. “It felt like an hour.”

“Great.” He put his hand on the teen’s shoulder. “You did great. Let me give the information to Shep, and then we’ll go find your sister.”

Del shared what Jacob had told him. Shep input the information to the program while Kipling passed out equipment to the various search teams.

“You know how to use this?” he asked Del.

“Sure.”

Maya moved next to him. “Seriously? You’re familiar with this?”

“You don’t go exploring in remote parts of the world without some kind of tracking equipment. Not if you want to be found.”

“I thought the point was not to be found.”

“It is, unless someone gets hurt.”

She looked at the map on the wall. “Or gets lost. Are we going to find her?”

“We’re not going to stop looking until we do.”

He and Maya joined a group of people from town. He saw that several firefighters and deputies had their own groups. The guys from the bodyguard school were also out searching. The program might only be a few months old, but it was growing. Kipling knew what he was doing.

He and Maya were joined by Angel, along with Dakota and Finn Andersson. Finn had a satellite phone with him in case the decision was made to call in a helicopter to help with the search.

“We expect to find her before that’s necessary,” Kipling said. “Good luck.”

The volunteers drove out in a caravan, with Shep leading the way. Kipling stayed behind to man the command center. The family’s outing had started at one of the campgrounds closer to town, where the trails were well marked.

“If she went after a rabbit, she could be anywhere,” Maya said.

When everyone was ready, Shep gave them last-minute instructions, then they headed out.

They walked in groups of six, spread out and moving forward in the same direction. At regular intervals, they called Alyssa’s name. Del kept track of their progress on the screen of his tablet, and had them make adjustments as they were directed by the search program.

Maya kept up easily. She scanned the area and when it was her turn, yelled for the girl. The afternoon was hot, but she didn’t complain about the temperature.

She got the job done, Del thought as they continued to search. She stepped in and did what had to be done. Hyacinth had been willing to work hard for what she wanted, but if the results in question were about someone else, she wasn’t likely to participate. She didn’t believe in putting herself out for other people.

It had taken him a while to recognize that about her. Once he’d figured out what she was thinking, he’d wondered if it was the result of being successful or simply a personality trait. Not that the answer mattered. Although she had claimed to love him, she wasn’t willing to change to make him happy. Not when she wanted things a different way. Her way.

Maya was more of a “how can we both get what we want” kind of person. There wasn’t the same level of drama or stress. She was easy to talk to. He respected her. Their night together had been amazing.

He glanced at her and wondered about the odds of a second go-round. His only hesitation in asking was that he knew Maya wasn’t one to give herself without the promise of some kind of relationship. And while the two of them were friends, he wasn’t sure that was enough.