Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(89)

Branches slapped at my arms and my face as I ran. Howard yelled after me, nonsensical things I couldn’t completely make out. I only caught every third or fourth word—my name, stop, obey.

All it did was make me go faster. My muscles trembled, the drugs in my system wreaking havoc on every part of me. But I had to keep going.

My head swiveled as I ran, looking for anything even vaguely familiar. I’d lost myself in these woods more times than I could count, searching for peace amidst the nightmares. I needed that now—a little of the hope I’d found in every incarnation of the sky above.

The breeze moved the trees, and sunlight lit a path up ahead—a trail. My eyes strained. There was an old, gnarled tree trunk. A pine that had been struck by lightning. One I knew.

Relief charged through me. I could follow that path. I knew where it would lead. Back to Ramsey. Back to my home.

A hand snatched out, grabbing my hair.

I screamed as Howard yanked me back against him. His chest heaved, his sour breath filling my lungs. “You can’t run from me. You’ll never escape. I should’ve seen it from the beginning. You were always meant to be mine. I’ll break you and remake you into the perfect wife.”





46





RAMSEY





“They’ve got a location.” Hayes was already moving towards his sheriff’s department SUV.

I jogged after him. There was no way I was letting him go without me.

“Where’s your backup?” Calder called, hurrying behind us, the rest of the family on his heels.

“All our search parties are in the opposite directions. It’ll take them at least thirty minutes to get there. We may not have that long.” Hayes beeped the locks on his truck.

“I’m coming,” Calder immediately said.

“Me, too,” Hadley echoed.

Calder turned on his wife. “Hads…”

“Oh, so you can play cop, but I can’t? Because I’m a woman?”

Calder framed Hadley’s face with his hands. “Because I have firearms training, and you’ve never held a gun in your life.”

I didn’t miss the Glock holstered at Calder’s hip as if he’d known he might need to step in.

“I’ll come, too,” Gabe offered.

“Dad, you’re the only other person armed. We need someone to stay, just in case any trouble winds up back here,” Hayes argued.

Gabe’s face hardened, but he nodded. “Call me the second you get her.”

“You know I will.”

I slid into the passenger side of the SUV, and Calder climbed in the back. Hayes cranked the engine. Rocks flew as he sailed down the drive. “You know how to handle a weapon?”

I hit the button for the gate on my phone. “Had my own ranch since I was eighteen. What do you think?”

Hayes inclined his head to the glove box in front of me. “Got my personal backup in there. Take that. Code to the lockbox is 8-8-2-1.”

I leaned forward, opening the glove box and entering the code. I made quick work of checking the weapon and then slid the holster onto the side of my jeans.

“Backup is twenty-five minutes out,” Hayes said, obviously repeating something someone had shared through his phone’s earpiece.

“How many?” Calder asked.

“Got about eight officers in this first group. Everyone else is on their way.”

That was good. The more people looking, the quicker we’d find Shiloh. But all I could think about was what could happen to her in the time between now and then, and all the ways she could be hurt—or worse.

I gave my head a hard shake, trying to clear the images. Hayes took a sharp left, moving deeper into the forest. The trees towered above us, blocking out much of the sun as if the world around me knew that I was in danger of losing my light.

Hayes hung a right and screeched to a halt in front of a rundown cabin I’d had no idea was even in the area. We were all out of the SUV in a flash.

“I’m lead,” Hayes clipped.

Calder and I fell into step behind him. Everything was quiet. Too quiet.

No birds called overhead. It was as if even the wind had gone completely still. From years of working with animals, I knew what that meant: a predator was near.

The door to the cabin was wide-open. Hayes raised his weapon. “Carson County Sheriff’s Department. Announce yourselves.”

“Back here,” someone called. The voice was weak, barely audible.

Hayes picked up his pace but didn’t drop his weapon. He cleared the living area we passed, then made his way down a short hallway.

As we stepped into a tiny bedroom, my gaze instantly moved to Ian Kemper sprawled on the floor. Calder immediately holstered his weapon and knelt beside him.

“Damned gut shot,” Ian wheezed.

Calder lifted his shirt and winced. “We need EMTs.”

“They’re already en route in case of injuries,” Hayes said.

On their way because he thought there was a good chance Shiloh could be hurt. I turned to Ian. “Where are they?”

“I gave her a chance. Told her to run. She took off for the woods. Looked like she was heading north. My dad was on her heels, though. August right behind them.”

I started in that direction, not waiting.