But then what? Hit the SOS button on the GPS communicator? It would take hours for the float plane to come.

And what about Reed? There was no way he would simply walk away, give up on the prize that he had killed Sandy, and Olivia, and Peter to get. Reed would become the hunter, moving through the woods with the agility and speed of a wolf, while Max would have to protect both Pip and a wounded Lyle.

And even if Max managed to get them all out of the Boundary Waters alive, that would not end things. Reed would bide his time and strike again. He would keep coming for Pip until he got him—or until someone put a stop to Reed.

Max could stop him. He had one shell left; that was all it would take. He had done it before. He put Pip down and looked toward the back side of the ridge. For all of the unknowns that swam through Max’s head, one fact was clear: In that five thousand square miles of forest, there was one small patch of land where Reed was guaranteed to make an appearance—the clearing where he had left his son.

He set Pip down. “Pip, I need you to do something for me.” Max kept his voice low as he looked around for a place to hide the boy. He spied a cluster of small pine trees and he carried Pip to them and set him down in the middle. “I need you to lie down here—just for a few minutes.”

“No.” Pip gripped Max’s sleeves, panicked.

“Shhh. It’ll be okay. I promise. I need to go back and get your sleeping bag. It’s gonna be cold tonight. You’ll need your sleeping bag, right?”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I need you to help me. Can you do that? Can you help me?”

Pip looked at Max like he was peering over the edge of a steep cliff.

“I’m gonna get you out of these woods, Pip. I’m gonna get you home, I promise, but I need you to do one little thing for me. It’s very important. I need you to lie down here until I get back. Don’t make a sound—like hide-and-seek. You know how to play hide-and-seek?”

Pip nodded.

“It’s like that, except I’ll know where to find you. Nobody else will, but I’ll come back and find you. Can you do that for me?”

“I’m cold.”

Max took off Lyle’s coat and wrapped it around the boy. “You recognize this coat? It’s your grandpa’s. He gave it to me so that when I found you I could use it to keep you warm.”

A smile crept onto Pip’s face and he pulled the coat close.

“I won’t be long, I promise. Just lie down.”

Pip sat down on the pine needles but didn’t lie down, a compromise Max could live with. “Now stay here and don’t make a sound, okay?”

Pip nodded.

“Good boy.”

Max walked to the back-side slope and paused one last time to listen. Hearing nothing, Max crept down the hill.