Best he stay safe.

Gabe’d checked the tracks as they started out. From the footprints, Audrey had at least five or six captors. Not good.

Audrey’s footprints were smaller. He’d spotted when she’d fallen. How she’d staggered to one side—probably from being shoved. But she was on her feet. Alive and moving.

He tried to take hope from that.

Gabe’s group—Bull, Caz, and Knox—were all hardened Alaskans. Needing speed more than anything else, they’d weaponed up with handguns. And they moved fast—hopefully faster than the Outsiders ahead. Unfortunately, as trails branched, he’d had to stop and search for sign in the rain and dim light.

As he led the men upward, the trail sign got fresher.

The rain was a bitch, but damned if he didn’t bless the weather. Thunderstorms weren’t common in Alaska, and chopper pilots hated them. The lightning and heavy clouds would delay Spyros’s helicopter for a time.

As they hiked ever upward, and the worst of the storm passed, icy mountain winds created a thick cloud layer. With the vertical mountainsides and tall forest, and the dense fog covering the landing site, a pilot wouldn’t risk coming in.

Not yet.

Knox touched his arm.

Gabe held up his fist, bringing everyone to a stop.

“See how the trees open ahead? There’s a cabin up past this curve,” Knox said in a barely heard voice.

Gabe looked around at the others, all wearing the silent camo raingear they used for hunting.

This time they were hunting human game.

Despite the muffling effect of the drizzling rain, an alert sentry might hear them. “We go slow and quiet.” Gabe eyed the trail. “Knox, stay right behind me and tap my back if you need my attention.”

A few minutes later, Gabe stopped in the shadows at the forest’s edge. Glimpses through the fog showed a level, wide clearing—one adequate for a helicopter landing.

A rough log shanty with moss-covered wood shingles sat at the west edge. Probably an old trapper’s cabin. Under the low overhang, a man stood guard outside the plank door. He had his pistol out and ready. Gabe growled low.

A stack of logs and split wood lay beside a rock-ringed fire pit in front of the cabin. To the right was a massive fallen spruce surrounded by dead branches.

Gabe frowned. How many were here, and how were they armed? The small cabin window beside the door was shuttered, providing no hint of what was inside. He kept his voice low. “Knox, is there another window?”

“Seems like it had a window in the back wall. Too small for anyone to wiggle out. No glass. Shuttered to keep the wildlife out.”

The urgency to see if Audrey was all right was fucking with Gabe’s brain. He made himself stand still. He didn’t have enough information to formulate a plan of attack.