Chapter 50
Chapter
Fifty
Deputy Harris drove too slowly.
Nora knew that wasn’t fair. The back road had never been much of a road to begin with, and years of neglect had reduced it to two muddy ruts winding through the trees.
Wet leaves covered the ruts, making it difficult to tell where solid ground ended and mud began.
Rainwater filled the deepest holes, and branches scraped both sides of the SUV as they passed.
It had taken most of the night to get this far.
Luke had spent more than an hour matching Dad’s notebook against property records and aerial photos before he was confident they had the right farm.
Then came the call-out for the tactical team, the drive to Harriman, and a long wait at a closed gas station while the team briefed and Prine studied the aerial images of the house.
Nora had spent those hours in the passenger seat of Harris’s SUV, watching the clock on the dashboard and praying.
Christian and Preston were somewhere ahead. She could feel it in her bones.
Every second Harris spent maneuvering around washed-out sections gave Cross more time to move them.
“Take the next left.” Nora leaned toward the windshield. “It should be just past that stand of pines.”
The headlights swept across a break in the trees, revealing a narrower track nearly hidden beneath overgrown brush. The road had been wider when her family stayed here—wide enough for her father to maneuver the tour bus down it. Now the woods had nearly swallowed it.
Harris slowed. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. This road comes in behind the barn.”
He turned, and the tires slipped before catching in the mud. The SUV rocked over the uneven ground, jarring Nora’s ribs and sending a fresh ache through her injured wrist.
Those were the least of her concerns. She’d slept less than two hours the night before and not at all since, but even the exhaustion clouding her thoughts didn’t matter right now.
Christian had drawn this place three times. She needed to know why.
Harris glanced at the map on the computer mounted beside the dashboard. “Agent Prine’s team should be nearing the front entrance now. We’ll hold at the creek bend until the entry team is in position.”
The words struck Nora like a physical blow. They were close enough that Cross might be somewhere beyond those trees, yet she was supposed to sit and wait.
“We have to wait?”
“That’s the order.”
“I thought I was supposed to show you where the back road comes out.”
“You have.” His tone wasn’t unkind, but it didn’t invite an argument. “Now we cover the rear approach. If anyone tries to leave the property this way, we stop them.”
Cross was the one they needed to stop. Christian and Preston were the ones who might need help.
Nora turned toward her window. Beyond the glass, the trees stood close together.
The first weak light of dawn had begun to seep between them, turning the black trunks charcoal.
Mist hovered near the ground, and water dripped steadily from the leaves.
Red and gold leaves clung to the muddy road, plastered there by the earlier rain.
She pictured the boy she’d believed was Christian sitting across from her at the kitchen table. His careful answers. His awkward attempts to fit himself into a family history that wasn’t his.
But not everything had been an act.
He’d known about the songs they used to sing. He had the same scar on his forearm. He remembered Mom’s cinnamon rolls.
Somehow, he’d carried pieces of Christian’s life with him.
The DNA report said he wasn’t her brother, but it didn’t tell her who he was, how he had known those things, or why Cross had taken him.
Maybe coming here would answer one of those questions.
The road dipped, then curved toward the creek. One night her family stayed at the farmhouse, the tour bus had gotten stuck near this bend. Her father had spent nearly an hour wedging boards beneath one of the rear tires while the Dalton children watched from the bank.
A chill moved through Nora that had nothing to do with the damp air. Zander had known this place. Maybe better than she had.
A dull red glint flashed between the trees ahead, caught by their headlights. Then it disappeared.
“Stop.” Nora straightened. “Stop the car.”
Harris braked. “What is it?”
She pointed through the trees.
At first, Nora saw only a dark shape between the trunks. But as the headlights shifted, the outline sharpened.
An SUV sat off the road beneath a canopy of branches.
A gray SUV.
The vehicle had been backed into the brush as if someone wanted it hidden from anyone passing on the main road. Mud coated the lower panels, and no lights glowed inside.
Nora’s breath caught. Cross had abandoned his cruiser back on the main road and transferred to another vehicle.
“Could that be the vehicle he used?”
Deputy Harris shifted into Park and killed the headlights. Nora lowered her window an inch, needing to hear anything that happened outside.
Harris glanced at her. “Stay here.”
“What if Christian and Preston are inside?”
“I’ll check.” He shut off the engine and drew his weapon as he opened the door. Then he leaned back toward her. “Keep your head down and lock the doors behind me. Do not follow me. Is that clear?”
Nora nodded, although every instinct demanded she do the opposite.
The door closed, leaving her in the dim predawn light.
She locked the doors and watched Harris move toward the SUV, using the trees for cover. He spoke quietly into the radio, reporting their location and the vehicle’s description. Static whispered from the receiver at his shoulder before a voice answered too softly for Nora to understand.
Harris circled toward the rear of the gray SUV. He paused to inspect the license plate, then continued along the driver’s side before disappearing behind the vehicle.
Nora strained to see through the mist. She couldn’t make out movement inside, but one of the rear doors appeared slightly open.
If this was the vehicle Cross had used, he had probably taken the boy into the woods. But how long ago?
Beyond the SUV, the ground sloped toward the creek.
The farmhouse had once been an inexpensive overnight stop for traveling families. An older couple had opened their home to groups passing through the area, and Roy had arranged for the Lovelesses to stay there.
At least, that was what Nora had always believed.
The neglected road and hidden SUV told a different story. Had the network begun using the property after the couple left? Or had something darker been concealed beneath their hospitality all along?
Harris reappeared and raised one hand, signaling for Nora to remain where she was. Then he turned toward the trees behind the SUV.
Nora leaned closer to the cracked window. At first, she heard only dripping water and the faint rush of the swollen creek.
A branch snapped somewhere in the woods.
Harris froze.
Another branch cracked. Wet leaves rustled, then everything went silent again.
Nora held her breath.
Several seconds passed.
Then a thin, broken sound carried through the trees. So faint she almost mistook it for an animal.
It came again.
A child crying.