Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries, #5)(53)

Ball chuckled. “Good point.”

They walked for another mile or so, then took a break off to the side so others could pass without issue. Everly saw a boy named Carl talking to two other kids.

Did you guys see that dude about a half mile back?

What guy?

No.

I didn’t get a good look at him. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans. He was off to our right in the woods. I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

“Ball,” she said, not looking away from Carl.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“Carl said he saw someone in the woods.”

“Where? When?”

“He estimated about a half mile behind us.” She looked up at him. “Should we be worried?”

Ball didn’t look freaked out, which settled Everly’s nerves a little bit. “Ev, this is public property. There are a ton of people out and about hiking today. Just because someone was in the woods doesn’t mean they’re stalking us. Okay?”

She nodded. But she obviously didn’t look convinced, because he took her head in his hands and leaned close. “I’ll talk to Meat, and we’ll be on the lookout, but don’t overthink this. We haven’t heard anything from the cops out in LA, and even the FBI said that they hadn’t found anything that suggested this was a huge trafficking operation. Even if it was, they aren’t going to send someone all the way out here to the Springs to track Elise down. It’s too risky. They’re all about doing things the easy way. Okay?”

“What if it wasn’t trafficking?” Everly asked the thought that had been haunting her since they’d found out the FBI was moving on to other cases because of a lack of evidence in Elise’s and the other girls’ kidnappings.

“The same logic applies. Colorado Springs is a long way from Los Angeles. No one in their right mind would come all the way out here to look for Elise. It’s just not logical.”

“And a psycho who kidnaps girls uses logic?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Okay, good point. But it’s been a month. She hasn’t heard from the mysterious Rob, so he’s probably moved on. Just in case, like I said, I’ll talk to Meat, and we’ll be on the lookout.”

Everly nodded. The kids were getting restless, so Ball jogged over to Meat to tell him what Carl had seen before they headed back out.

It took another hour to get to the point where they were going to turn around. There were a few strategically placed rocks that the kids sat on to eat their lunches. One boy and girl started to walk off the trail toward a large rock that they obviously wanted to climb.

Ball yelled, “Don’t go off the trail!” forgetting that he was with a group of deaf children. He swore under his breath at his stupidity when the pair didn’t even flinch and kept going. Before Everly could do anything, he was jogging toward them. He came back toward the group with the couple and asked Everly, “Will you translate?”

She nodded.

“It’s not safe to go off the trail.”

But there are, like, a million people around here, one of the kids signed.

“Right, and what happens if a million people all decide they want to wander to look at a bush off the trail? A rock? A bug?” Ball didn’t wait for an answer. “Then this place becomes less of a nature trail than a tromped-down piece of dirt. Staying on the trail is as much for your own safety as it is to preserve nature.”

But I’ve seen that guy going on and off the trail all day, a boy named Scott said as he pointed off to their left.

Meat was moving before Everly could even focus on what Scott had pointed at. She saw Meat heading for a man in his midforties. He was wearing black jeans and a dark-red T-shirt. The uneasy feeling returned, and she stepped closer to where her sister was talking with a girl named Ruby.

Meat had a short discussion with the man, then started back toward their group. He smiled and gave them a thumbs-up as he came back toward them.

“Breathe, Ev,” Ball said from beside her. She felt his hand brush against her shoulder blades before he stepped away. That was something he did all the time. Ball was always touching her. Light caresses that were never inappropriate and always made her think about Me-Maw and Pop. Her grandfather once told Everly that touching his wife was a way to make sure she knew he was thinking about her, and to remind himself how lucky he was to have her in his life.

“It’s okay,” Meat said, and Everly quickly stepped in front of the group to translate. “I mean, it’s not okay that he’s not on the trail, Ball already covered why, but he’s geocaching.”

Of course all the kids wanted to know what that was.

“It’s like treasure hunting with a GPS. Someone hides a box, or a film canister, or any kind of container, and puts the coordinates online to where it is. Then anyone can look them up on a website and go find it. The finder signs the log inside and puts it back for the next person to find.”

Immediately the kids wanted to know if there was an app, and when they found there was, they were all downloading it and checking it out.

Meat walked over to Ball and Everly. “Are you sure that’s all it was?” she asked.

“I’m sure. I saw the compass open on his phone screen. No one’s touching one hair on these kids’ heads, Everly. Relax.”

She nodded. Easier said than done. As a cop, it was pretty much ingrained in her to see the boogeyman behind every rock and tree. She wasn’t sure she’d ever relax her guard when it came to Elise. The days when she’d been missing had been pure hell. She couldn’t go through that again.