“This way!” he yelled. “A woman is injured, and we need help.”

Carla’s brothers had been forced to leave before they’d dug up all the gold. They’d taken most of it, but some of the bars remained at one edge, half-covered in dirt.

He looked down at Finley, pleading silently for her to come to. If something happened to her, his life was over.

“Here!” Luke called. “We need help.”

People crashed through the foliage. Not rangers, as he’d expected. Police. Four of them. A thin, dark-haired, middle-aged officer ordered him to put his hands up.

Luke did so. “She’s hurt and needs medical treatment. She has an injury to the back of the head.”

Two knelt next to Finley.

“Ma’am,” one officer said as she bent close to assess Finley’s head wound. She didn’t try to move the vest still pressed against it. “Ma’am?” When Finley didn’t react, she rubbed her knuckles against Finley’s upper chest to wake her. “Ma’am. Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes and let me know how you’re doing?”

The middle-aged officer patted Luke down with the efficiency of a veteran. “I’m Detective Romano, Blairsville Police.” He nodded as he stepped away, letting Luke know he could lower his arms.

The officer beside Finley checked her airway, then reached down and wrapped a hand around Finley’s wrist, feeling for her pulse.

“She fell approximately ten feet,” Luke said, “and has been unconscious since then.”

“For how long?”

“I’m not sure. Twenty minutes? At least.”

“Transporting her to the road will be difficult,” the female officer stated, “and it might take a ground ambulance forty-five minutes to meet us.”

“Call a medical chopper to evacuate her,” Romano said. Then, to Luke, “Do you two have identification?”

“In the backpacks.”

Another officer moved to search the backpacks.

“Your names?” Romano asked.

“I’m Luke Dempsey. This is Finley Sutherland.”

“What’s your relationship?”

“She’s my . . .” Everything. “Girlfriend.”

“We received several reports from people who heard shots fired. What happened here?”

“We learned that her father buried something for her here years ago. We didn’t know what. We came tonight to dig it up.”

Romano accepted the IDs the deputy handed him and turned away to radio their names to dispatch.

The female officer remained crouched beside Finley, monitoring her vitals.

“There are gold bars here,” a deputy said.

Romano neared. “You’re saying this woman’s father buried gold bars for her?”