Yacine’s trail curled down, around and up through small valleys and rises. At times Fortin glimpsed the view of the fragrant forests, clear water streams sparkling in the sun, and the soaring mountains that went on forever.

Suddenly, Fortin’s feet slipped.

He hit the ground hard, sliding on pine needles, knocking against trees, reaching to stop his fall at branches that only slipped and sliced through his hands. His body rattling, bumping down, down, down, stopping in a shaded glade of soft moss.

Fortin groaned, cursed and got to his feet.

He’d lost time.

Gathering his strength and with bruised legs and bloodied hands he stumbled up the slope, getting back on the trail.

He caught his breath and kept moving.

-Chapter 50-

Jade Falls, Washington

Yacine doubled over.

Again.

He had to keep going.

Legs numb. Sides aching, lungs sore, his throat dry and ragged from strained breathing, he ran, trotted and walked as fast as he could.

The faint, distant sound of the helicopters and planes compelled him to keep his rest stops short. He had to keep moving. He scrambled along treacherous ridges and ledges. Dipping into forests only to gain elevation or traverse a difficult section.

It was the only way Yacine could stay ahead of those searchers.

He continued moving as fast as he could for much of the day.

At times he ran for the high country for a spot atop a jagged zone of high cliffs, which was dotted with forests.

The ledges overlooked a sweeping valley from several hundred feet up.

Yacine felt that somewhere out there was a highway.

It was close.

He could feel it.

Freedom.

-Chapter 51-

Near Jade Falls, Washington

For Ren, Seattle was some three hours away.

But Lee was in her heart.

As she drove, she was catapulted back through the tender moments of her life; to the delivery room where she’d first held Lee, minutes after he was born. Chet was over the moon, his chest nearly bursting with pride. Then she remembered Lee taking his first steps, speaking his first word: “Mum.” Going off to school, then the way he had meticulously fussed with the part in his hair before Chet drove him to Lucy Moreno’s house on Prom Night.

Ren remembered her pride and her fear when Lee had enlisted in the Marines, her relief that he’d come home safe, only to face what they had to face.

That awful day when they lost Chet.

Ren remembered the day Lee married Eileen, how joy filled his eyes. She also remembered the agony in them the day they buried Chet.

Ren brushed away her tears, reached for Tipper and pulled him to her, feeling his warmth, his unconditional love. As her Jeep threaded through the mountains, she bargained with God.

“Please don’t take him. Eileen and the kids need him. I need him.”

Hadn’t her family endured enough?

-Chapter 52-

Near Jade Falls, Washington