Chapter 55
Chapter
Fifty-Five
Austin reached the creek as the center of the bridge folded into the water.
The first clear light of morning had begun filtering through the trees, turning the fog silver and giving him enough visibility to follow the bodies in the churning water.
Christian disappeared beneath the surface first. Cross hit several feet downstream. He surfaced briefly, then vanished again as the current carried both men away.
Austin shoved his weapon into his holster. “Luke, get a rope!”
He glanced back and saw Nora kneeling beside Preston. Harris stood in front of them, shielding both from the creek and any threat that might remain across it.
They were safe.
But Christian—the fake Christian—wasn’t.
Austin raced along the bank, fighting for traction in the mud as he searched the brown water. Pieces of the bridge spun through the current. A broken plank struck a boulder and splintered.
Near the opposite bank, Cross broke the surface and grabbed a low branch. His fingers slipped. The water spun him sideways and slammed him into a fallen tree farther downstream.
Nothing moved where Christian had disappeared.
Pressure tightened around Austin’s lungs. He scanned the creek, refusing to count the seconds the teenager had been underwater.
“There!” Prine shouted.
She pointed toward a half-submerged section of railing. A hand had broken the surface beside it.
Austin slid down the bank and plunged into the creek.
Cold water closed around his legs and knocked them from beneath him. He caught a tree root with one hand and reached for Christian with the other, but the current swept the boy past him.
Austin released the root and pushed away from the bank.
The water carried him several yards before his fingers closed around the back of Christian’s jacket. Christian twisted toward him, coughing and fighting blindly.
“It’s Austin.” He tightened his grip. “Stop fighting me.”
Austin managed to wrap his arm around Christian’s chest from behind.
The panicked movements slowed, but Christian’s weight dragged them both deeper. Austin kicked toward shore while the current fought to carry them downstream.
A rope landed across the water.
Austin caught it with his free hand. Luke and another deputy began hauling them toward the bank.
Then Christian jerked backward.
Cross had surfaced behind them and locked both hands around the teenager’s ankle.
Christian cried out as Cross tried to pull him from Austin’s grasp. The gun was gone, but fury had stripped away the last of Cross’s control.
“You belong to us,” he gasped.
Still gripping Christian and the rope, Austin drove his heel into Cross’s shoulder.
The blow broke Cross’s hold. The current caught him and spun him downstream toward Nash and a deputy, who had braced themselves in the shallows near the fallen tree.
They seized Cross as he struck the trunk. He fought them, but the creek had taken most of his strength. Nash forced one arm behind his back while the deputy secured the other.
Austin turned his attention to Christian. “Hold on. We’re almost there.”
He kept his arm locked around Christian’s chest and held tight as Luke pulled the rope. Mud replaced water beneath Austin’s knees, and several hands reached from shore to drag them both up the bank.
For several seconds, Christian didn’t move.
Austin rolled him onto his side. “Breathe.”
A cough tore through him. Creek water spilled from his mouth before he dragged in a ragged breath.
Relief hit Austin so hard he had to steady himself with one hand against the ground.
Paramedics hadn’t reached the property yet, but one of the deputies knelt beside Christian and began checking him for injuries. Austin sat back, water streaming from his clothes, and looked downstream.
Nash and the other deputy had Cross face-down on the bank. Blood streaked one side of his forehead, but he was conscious—and alive. He stopped struggling as handcuffs closed around his wrists.
Prine’s radio crackled.
“Suspect vehicle is heading east. Driver failed to stop.”
Prine stood near the ruined bridge, listening as another voice reported that officers had lost sight of the vehicle after it turned onto an unmarked logging road. She ordered the units to continue searching, but Austin heard the frustration beneath her words.
The fleeing driver proved Cross hadn’t acted alone.
The farmhouse. Glen Dalton’s list of missing boys. Cross living under a manufactured identity while working inside law enforcement.
This was larger than Austin had understood.
Cross might be in custody, but he was only one part of whatever group had taken Zander Dalton, Christian Loveless and the other boys.
Christian stirred beside him. His eyes opened, unfocused at first, then fixed on Austin.
“Preston.” His voice was barely audible. “Is he safe?”
Austin looked toward Nora. She still held Preston against her while the boy clung to her neck.
“Yes.” Austin rested a hand on Christian’s shoulder. “You saved him.”
Christian closed his eyes.
This time, the water on his face couldn’t hide his tears.
Nora sat beside Preston on the rear step of an ambulance while a medic cleaned the scrape on his forehead.
A blanket covered his shoulders, and his attention had settled on the bright green dinosaur bandage the medic had promised to use. For the moment, he looked more like a tired little boy than a child who’d spent entirely too long in the hands of kidnappers.
One hand remained locked around Nora’s fingers as if he never wanted to let go.
“Your mom is coming,” she assured him. “She’ll be here soon.”
Preston nodded and leaned into her.
Across the clearing, the Imposter Christian sat on the rear step of a second ambulance beneath two blankets while a paramedic examined the cut above his eyebrow.
He looked smaller than he had at her parents’ house.
Maybe because he wasn’t pretending anymore.
Or maybe because Nora finally understood how frightened he’d been.
Austin stood nearby in gray sweats a deputy had pulled from a gym bag in his cruiser. His hair remained wet, and a scrape ran along his jaw. When his gaze met Nora’s, some of the tension left his face.
Her pulse surged. She wanted more than anything to go to him, but Preston still held her hand. She wouldn’t leave the boy.
As if Austin understood, he crossed the clearing. His gaze lingered on Nora a moment as if silently asking her how she was.
Then he crouched in front of the boy. “You did a brave thing back there.”
Preston looked uncertain. “I ran.”
“That was the brave thing.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.” Austin glanced at Nora. “Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared.”
A sheriff’s SUV appeared on the back road. It bounced through the muddy ruts and stopped near the ambulances.
The passenger door opened, and Shelby darted out. “Preston!”
The boy released Nora’s hand. “Mom!”
He jumped from the ambulance, the blanket sliding from his shoulders. Nora caught it as he ran.
Shelby met him halfway. Her knees hit the mud as she wrapped both arms around her son and pulled him against her.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything.
Shelby pressed her face against Preston’s hair, holding him as if she needed to convince herself he was real. Preston clung to her neck.
“I knew you’d come,” he whispered.
Shelby closed her eyes. “Always.”
The medic gave them a moment before approaching. “We need to take him to the hospital and have him checked over. You can ride with him.”
Shelby nodded without releasing her son. “I’m not leaving him.”
She kept her arm around Preston as they walked to the ambulance, and then she climbed inside with him.
Just before the doors closed, Shelby looked at Nora. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Nora swallowed and nodded.
Only after the ambulance pulled away did she let herself breathe.
Preston was safe. Cross was in custody.
But the vehicle across the creek had escaped. The boy sitting beneath two blankets still had no name Nora knew, and she had no idea what had happened to her actual brother.
They hadn’t reached the end of this.
They’d only discovered how much larger it was.