“It’s Jude,” I said. When my words were lost to the din, I repeated them, yelled them. “It’s Jude.”

“I’ll stay.” Free pulled back. Nothing she could have said or done would have surprised me more. “I’ll take care of NATO.” She had to shout to be heard, but the look on her face was far fiercer than her tone. “Duchess and I will stay here, but Kira goes. Gabriel, too.”

Free hated being left behind. She hated being left out. She was fearless—but she would stay if it meant that I didn’t have to. She would take care of Jude’s dog the same casual and no-nonsense way she took care of Jude and me.

One for all, and all for trouble.

Cady shook her head. “Kira, I can’t let you—”

Free folded her arms over her chest and offered Cady a dangerous, glittering smile. “If you think I’m not resourceful enough to somehow rustle up an airlift of my own for Kira and Gabriel,” she commented pointedly, “you’d be wrong.”

Chapter 53

Stepping foot into a grove of giant sequoias was like walking back into the Jurassic age. All around me, trees that had stood for thousands of years stretched skyward, as tall as twenty-story buildings and thicker through the base than some apartments. In my entire life, I’d never seen something so majestic, so primal.

“There are dozens of groves in the Sierra Glades,” Bales said, his voice echoing through the silent forest. “Ness marked one of the smaller ones on her map.” He paused. “This one’s the largest.”

“And you think we’re in the right place why?” Gabriel asked.

“I don’t think,” Bales replied evenly. “I know, because I know her.” He lingered on that statement for a fraction of a second before returning to military strategist mode. “We’ve got a thousand acres to cover and depending on how competent the official search teams are, we could have less than an hour’s head start.”

None of us asked what Bales thought might happen if the FBI got to Ness and Jude first.

“There’s upward of twenty thousand trees in this grove,” Bales continued, his enunciation crisp. “Ness and Jude could be anywhere. The rest of you will take the dogs and search in pairs. Stay aware. With the drought, we’ve had more than our fair share of dying branches, and from that height…” He angled his head toward the breathtaking treetops. “Any falling item could be lethal.”

“What about you?” Cady asked, staring at her father with an expression on her face that I couldn’t quite parse.

“I’ll head west,” Bales replied. “I know a thing or two about hiding, and I might not need a K9 to pick up her trail.”