The guttural sound of near defeat sent chills skittering along Addis’s spine as much as his demand. Because she knew when Tony said, ‘if things look like they’re going to head south,’ what he really meant was if he was somehow incapacitated – or worse, killed.

‘Please, Daddy, if you could be my guardian angel right now, we could really use your help.’ She wasn’t aware she’d whispered the plea out loud until Emerson breathed a hushed ‘amen’ into her ear.

And then all pleas and prayers flew out into the night when the truck fishtailed as Tony slammed on the brakes. This time, Addis knew her scream wasn’t only in her head.

Heart thudding, breaths panting heavily, fear tingling along her nerve endings, Addis gripped Emerson tighter when Tony’s door opened, and he leaped down from the cab, depressing the locks before slamming the door behind him with an urgent, ‘Remember, go fast and run over anything in your way.’

Too late, Addis wished she’d asked how long they should wait for a sign before leaving him behind.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Wednesday, October 9

Aside from Cord’s startled, ‘Jesus’ when the four-wheel drive they were travelling in skirted the edge of a cliff on one side with the rock mountain on the other with less than a foot to spare, and the grunts and muffled ‘oomphs’ when they hit a rut, the team was quiet as they bounced along the rough terrain.

‘There wasn’t a less piss-my-pants way we could’ve gone?’ Cord muttered when they finally cleared the cliffs.

In the driver’s seat, Victoria chuckled. ‘Maybe, but this was by far the fastest approach.’ She peeked in the rearview mirror to catch Cord’s eyes. ‘We shaved off a good seventy-five to ninety minutes this way.’

Almost half an hour later, the brake lights of the lead vehicle carrying Joe and Sandra illuminated the night with bright red. Shortly after, the distorted, vibrating timbre of Joe’s voice crackled over the staticky mic. ‘This is the turn-off to Tony’s cabin.’

The queue of SUVs stopped, their idling engines breaking through the rhythm of hooting owls and scampering woodland creatures. Communicating silently, Alyssa and Cord both climbed out of the Range Rover, walking side by side to meet Joe and Sandra who they’d agreed would take up a post near the turn-off to Tony’s just in case. None of them had verbalized what just in case might mean. Two members of the search team would stay behind with them, again, just in case.

‘We’ll radio as soon as we locate Campbell’s place. In the meantime, if anything—’

Joe’s face was a mottled shade of discoloration, made all the more unnerving by the shadows cast upon it from the headlights, as he waved away Alyssa’s words. ‘I’ll let you know. Now, go find the girls.’