“You have to talk to me the whole time, and if you take longer than five minutes, I’m coming after you.”

“You show up behind that tree, I’ll shoot you in the foot.”

“Have I told you how sexy that temper of yours is?” He grinned back at her.

She stalked out of the shelter, but her shoulders were shaking. “We should be serious.”

“Why?”

“Because there are three girls missing.” She disappeared from sight, but her boots rustled in the underbrush.

“Those girls are going to be missing whether or not we’re freaking out. Staying calm will help us find them faster.” Under the constant threat of attack in Iraq, Danny had learned that humor, as inappropriate as it sometimes seemed, could help him keep his shit together.

“I guess.”

He packed up the stuff they’d used, redistributing their supplies so he carried the bulk of the weight. Mandy’s pack got the two-pound tent and featherlight sleeping bags.

Mandy walked back into the cave. Droplets clung to her yellow jacket. “You really think we’ll find them?”

He handed her the lighter backpack. “I don’t do odds.”

She swung the straps over her shoulders. “This feels awfully light.”

“We drank a bunch of the water.” He shrugged.

She raised a brow. She wasn’t buying it.

“OK, I can carry more weight that you. We’ll move faster this way. That’s what’s important, right?”

“Right.” She nodded. “And thank you. Let’s get moving.”

They headed back to the trail. Though the rain had stopped, the air carried enough moisture to dampen Danny’s face. Patches of mist drifted through the forest. An hour later, just as dawn brightened the sky to pale gray, they emerged from the woods. The path summited and dropped into a steep decline. Beyond, a huge lake sprawled. Fog hovered over the glassy surface and clung to the tall reeds of the shoreline.

“Look!” Mandy pointed to something in the weeds on the slope. She shifted the beam of her flashlight to illuminate a silver rectangle. “Cell phone? No, it’s a camera.”

While Mandy retrieved the device, Danny scouted the area. Dawn broke over the lake. Golden sunlight gleamed off the rippled surface. The scent of organic matter and decay drifted off the vegetation near the water’s edge.

“Damn. It doesn’t work.” Mandy turned the compact camera over in her hands.

“Could have water inside.”

“Or the battery died.” She put it in her pocket. She dropped her pack and marked the spot where she’d found the camera by tying a yellow ribbon around a twig. “Maybe the memory card is still good.”

“It might not even be their camera.”

“True.” Mandy’s gaze drifted out over the lake. “I was so hoping we’d find them here.”

Danny rubbed her shoulder. “I know.”

“Where are they?”