He and Digger were still at the airport, in the plush private jet. This was a rental because Cyrus’s personal jet had been impounded. Ice wondered if Cyrus had really left the country. He doubted it. Digger probably knew exactly where Cyrus was, but he wasn’t saying. Royal hadn’t spoken to Cyrus and hadn’t asked to when Cyrus called. But he was reading between the lines and bet that Cyrus planned to go after Chevy himself. If he really had defeated the ankle monitor, he should get his butt out of the country. The last thing Ice wanted to see was Cyrus in Oregon with a string of marshals and FBI agents on his tail.

Besides, Ice had already been through amateur hour with Gage. If Cyrus did show up, Ice wanted to talk Cyrus out of what he was planning but figured he had at least a few hours before the man arrived. Till then, he needed to rest up, heal up, and plot his revenge against the crazy woman with the shotgun.

–––

Tess felt a little heaviness lift after her prayer. Her dad and Oliver were what you could call prayer warriors, and she needed the strength they seemed to get from the practice. She even made a promise to try harder to go to prayer first, instead of after she felt all worn-out.

Once on the ATV, Tess saw there was a clear trail to follow behind the mobile home park, the remnants of an old logging road, and in spite of the dark, Bender chugged up the road without any problem. Tess sat next to him while Yarrow took a seat in the back cargo area. They traveled up into the forest for nearly an hour before Yarrow told Bender to slow.

“We need to go by foot from here. This is where I caught them on the cam. There’s a big cave about a quarter mile in.” The cave was directly on the route to the back of the Faith’s Place property.

Yarrow had explained to them that he checked the caves regularly, thinking Blakely might use them. “I never caught him there or saw any evidence he’d been there. But one thing for sure: that guy always does the unexpected.”

Stiff and cold, they climbed off the ATV and, with bright flashlights shining, followed Yarrow through the trees. Like Tami’s rescue after an improbable trip down the river, Tess believed they would need just as big a miracle now where Janie was concerned. She felt a headache coming on at the thought of what Blakely might have done with Janie. What a stroke of bad luck that he crossed paths with a killer more cold-blooded than him before he could deliver his ransom note.