Chapter 32
Nick and Arlo froze behind a tree when they spotted two clearly armed men trekking down the hiking trail.
The armed men were both in camo pants, matching waterproof hooded jackets, and heavy-duty boots. Clearly prepared for the weather and environment.
And they were carrying assault rifles with ease.
Rain and excess water was bad for weapons in general and increased the chance of malfunction, but none of that mattered now. He and Arlo had to get close enough to these guys to incapacitate them. Kill them if necessary.
Because these men weren’t hunters. Gun season had ended a couple weeks ago and this was connected to a national park.
No, whoever had lured Berkley here was working with these guys, he’d bet everything he owned on it.
He looked at Arlo, who was hunkered down behind a tree ten feet away.
Arlo nodded when Nick motioned with his hands. They’d never served together, but they were both former military and had enough experience to take down two assholes.
Using the rain to cover their sound, they made it to the next layer of trees.
The men stopped ahead of them, one of them talking into a radio.
Nick was too far away to hear what the person on the other end said, but could hear the man’s response.
“No one’s come through here yet. Yeah, I’m sure.” The man looked up and down the trail, as if the person on the other end could see them. “I’m telling you, no one has come through. And there’s been no sign of the cops at the parking area.”
He had a lot of questions, but the answers didn’t matter much since he knew that whoever had lured Berkley here wasn’t working alone.
She hadn’t made it to the parking lot, and maybe that had saved her since she’d gone into the woods on foot from a different direction. No one seemed to know she was here.
And he had no doubt she was. They’d followed her boot prints as far as they could before the rain had fully washed them away. She’d been heading for the main falls.
Nick and Arlo kept moving closer while the two men were stationary and distracted by the radio call.
Only five feet away now, with two oak trees giving them cover.
The guy shoved his radio back into its holder then pulled his jacket back over it. He muttered something to his buddy but it was too low to hear.
The other guy laughed.
Neither of them had their weapons up at the ready and their backs were to him and Arlo.
Nick looked once at Arlo, nodded.
They moved in unison, Arlo attacking the guy on the left, Nick the one on the right.
It was impossible to be completely silent this close. The men turned at the last second, but it was too late.
Nick attacked his target before he’d fully turned, had his forearm around the man’s neck, his other forearm locking his head in place as he choked him out.
The man dropped his weapon and tried to attack Nick with his hands.
He should have gone for a knife, tried to stab Nick’s thigh, but he was losing oxygen too fast, his legs thrashing around, his hands making wild gestures before he slumped into a dead weight.
Arlo had disarmed and knocked out the other man as well, had him facedown on the muddy path. “We need to move them off the trail,” he said even as Nick had the same idea.
He hauled his guy deeper into the woods, then took the man’s radio and the rest of his weapons. The assault rifles were too bulky for their needs so they hid them while the men were still passed out.
“Stay with them until they wake up, see if you can get anything out of them.” Like who the hell they were working with.
Arlo started binding their wrists with belts as Nick trained his SIG on the two men. They were propped up against the trunk of a two-hundred-year-old oak and wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“I got them. Go, find her.”
He didn’t need to tell Nick twice. Carrying the radio, he turned the volume on low and tucked it under his own jacket.
At least now he knew there were potentially more men out here as lookouts. So he quickly texted Krystal to tell her about the lookout at the parking lot. He didn’t want anyone alerted that Berkley had backup.
Whoever had taken her was going to pay.