Chapter 16
Hudson neared the ranch called Here For D Heaven, where Cassie believed her son lived.
He immediately understood the place sold Hereford cattle, and the name meant the owners had a sense of humor.
He pulled onto the shoulder half a mile past the gate.
He’d driven past it twice to get the lay of the land, regroup, and think up the right approach. No easy answers appeared.
He could pretend to be interested in purchasing one of their heifers. Or just interested in touring their operation.
The reason for sticking around and asking questions needed to be more than a quick in and out. He needed to be there when Cassie arrived. He was certain this was where she would come before her eventual disappearance. If he couldn’t catch her now, there was a good chance it was all over.
Or should he find a spot and camp out? Wait to see if she showed? It could take hours for her to arrive. Or she could have hitchhiked to cut the time.
Would she, though?
Should he go? Wait at the ranch in case she had a change of heart?
Lost in the woods, she would have no idea Nikki was safe.
Hudson issued a sharp sigh. He pulled out his cell and mapped the route on foot using the map feature.
The one-hour drive would take her fourteen hours to walk, according to the app.
In his experience, the walking estimation was intended for slow walkers, so she could likely make the trek in eleven to twelve hours.
Plus, the app recommended roads, whereas she could cut across the woods. Would she, though?
The mountain lion was still out there, and even if it wasn’t, its earlier presence would remind her of the dangers of being alone in a rural area. It was daylight now. Had she survived the night?
Shit.
If he didn’t find her and help, if he didn’t know that she was all right, the memory of her would haunt Hudson for the rest of his life. He just wished she had realized that he wasn’t built to walk away before she’d taken off.
Would she go into town and do something public to draw attention? If so, he’d miscalculated. She could’ve been in town long before now. It was the logical place to go if she wanted to make a scene. She had no cell and no way for him to reach her.
Waiting, not knowing, was the worst feeling. The tension in the pit of his stomach grew.
Curiosity had him wanting to take a look at the boy, who she’d said was fifteen years old. Would Hudson see Cassie in the boy’s face? In his mannerisms?
His cell buzzed, drawing him out of deep thought.
He checked the screen and saw that a call was coming in from Eduardo, the private investigator he’d hired.
“What do you have for me?” Hudson asked after perfunctory greetings.
“My guy was able to breach the adoption agency’s files.
” Nothing was sacred anymore. Privacy was a myth.
In this case, it benefited Hudson, but in the larger sense, he didn’t like it.
This was one of many reasons he preferred working on a ranch and having a piece of shit for a phone.
Being connected all the time sounded like punishment.
He’d rather be outside where he could breathe fresh air and move around without being tracked by some app.
“And?” Hudson asked.
“I have an address for the adoptive family,” Eduardo said.
“Is it in Texas?”
“Oklahoma.”
“How reliable is the information?” Hudson asked.
“It’s still a work in progress, but you asked for an update when I found anything out.”
“I appreciate the speed, Eduardo. Now, I just need to know the accuracy.”
“According to the file, the adoptive parents wanted a blind adoption. However, when the boy turned fifteen this year, his parents gave him a choice. Said they would help him track down his mother if that’s what he wanted.”
“It says all this in the file?” Hudson asked.
“The kid put it all in an e-mail to his birth mother.” Eduardo paused. “Apparently, if she doesn’t reach out to the agency, she’ll never know that he wants to know who she is. He said that if she wanted to know him, it’s what he wants her to do.”
“She does.” The kid was taking a risk, but also giving her a test. He wanted to know that she wanted to meet him as much as he wanted to meet her.
His guard was up, which made sense under the circumstances.
Hudson had spent too many years being angry with his own mother for ditching the family and not looking back.
A move like that left scars. In his case, she’d left him with an abusive father.
At least Cassie had done what she’d believed was the right thing by her child.
She’d been looking out for him by trying to give him a better life.
One, she feared she couldn’t provide for him.
At fifteen, the kid might not be able to understand the sacrifice she’d made, but it was evident to Hudson that Cassie loved her child and regretted the circumstances that had forced her to give him up. “What are the next steps?”
“To go through proper channels, she would need to contact the adoption agency directly. I’ll summarize everything we’ve found once it’s verified as one hundred percent accurate and send it to you in my final report.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of days max,” Eduardo said.
“Thank you. This will be good news for the kid’s mother.
” Hudson wanted to be the one to deliver it to her after it was verified.
The worst thing he could do would be to provide her with bad information.
This all hinged on him finding her again.
And that depended on whether he’d made the right call in coming here.
After ending the call, he calculated what time she would arrive if he was on the right track.
He didn’t know when she’d left the ranch, but would bet money she’d taken off shortly after everyone had gone to bed.
He decided somewhere around four a.m. was a decent bet.
That would put her arriving here anywhere between three and four o’clock in the afternoon.
Hudson glanced at the clock. It was barely eight in the morning. He had seven to eight hours to kill at this rate.
Now, the question was whether or not he should stick around or come back.
Folks would become suspicious if he sat here all day.
Plus, he hadn’t brought any food. He’d been too busy running off half-cocked to think about anything but finding her.
Could he make the drive back, eat, and then make the drive back and forth a couple more times?
Seven or eight hours was a lot of time to kill.
He could park his truck here, guestimate the direction Cassie would be coming from, and try to intercept her.
Again, his instincts told him she would stay somewhat close to the road.
His cell buzzed in his hand, causing him to jump. Shit.
He answered. “Hey, Chloe.”
“I heard about Cassie taking off in the middle of the night.” Chloe was one of the more direct members of the family. She didn’t mince words, and he appreciated her for it. She might be the youngest of the family, but she was more mature than most.
“That’s right,” he said.
“Do you have any idea where she’s headed?”
“I believe so,” he said.
“Okay, then. This is what we’re going to do.” Chloe detailed plans for the whole family to work in pairs to find Cassie. Two would drive to meet him. Two would split the middle. And two would start from the house on foot, just as Cassie must have. “Beau wants to help, too.”
“He needs to stay put and heal.”
“He’s shaking his head,” Chloe said. “Says he can ride Red or Magic.”
Beau was turning out to be more like the rest than anyone gave him credit for. He’d definitely picked up the stubborn gene.
“We can find her, but we’ll need all hands on deck,” Chloe said.
“Not Nikki.”
“She’s resting after the ordeal.”
“And the pregnancy?” he asked. He didn’t have the first clue how to take care of a pregnancy early on, but traipsing around in the woods in danger couldn’t possibly be on the list.
“So far, so good,” Chloe said. She had the most experience, considering she’d borne Grayson. “The OB says Nikki should rest for a few days just to be sure.”
He had even more respect for what women went through when it came to having children. They were warriors.
Cassie would want to hear this news, too. He wanted to be the one to tell her.
For the first time since she had taken off, he had hope that they would find her. Stay alive until we can get to you.
Finding her safe and sound was not guaranteed.
“Who’s meeting me?” he asked.
“That would be Kade and Owen,” Chloe supplied. Three people in a group was probably overkill, but he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The three of them could figure out how to split the territory once they met in person.
“I’ll head that way. Tell them to meet me in the middle. If they leave now, we’ll see each other in roughly half an hour.” The midpoint. They could split from there. He’d send his brothers back toward the house as he headed toward the small cattle ranch.
“Okay, Hudson. In the meantime, stay safe out there.”
“You know I will.”
“Okay, then. Let’s go.” Chloe ended the call.
Hudson’s cell buzzed while still in his hand. He checked the screen. Marcus?
Cassie tripped and faceplanted. Her left shoulder landed hard on a pointed object.
She immediately sat up and scanned the area for signs of a predator.
Once she was reassured that she was alone, she checked her shoulder and the ground.
She’d landed on a rock that felt like the pointed edges of scissors.
Her shirt was torn. Blood leaked from a puncture wound.
Shit.
Thank the stars she wasn’t swimming in the ocean where this would be enough blood to draw sharks from a mile away. Out here in the woods, she had a chance of not drawing attention.
But first, she needed to stem the bleeding.
What the hell was she doing? Had it been a mistake to come out here, thinking she could make it to see Christian?
Dying before she got the chance to look at her son hadn’t occurred to her. Every gust of wind or bird chirp caused her to jump. Someone was out here, trying to snatch her. The mountain lion threat wouldn’t go away.
Frustration nipped at her, but determination was stronger.
Once she had the injury under control, she pushed herself to her feet and continued marching on.
“Hey,” Hudson said to Marcus, immediately answering the call.
“There’s been a mountain lion attack,” Marcus said after perfunctory greetings. “I’ll send the location.”
“Who reported it?” Hudson held his breath, half-afraid of the answer.
“An anonymous caller,” Marcus said.
Not exactly a reassuring answer.
“Do you know if the caller was male or female?”
“I didn’t take the call personally, but I can ask.”
The coordinates came via a text message. Hudson checked the screen.
“I know where that is,” he said.
“Figured you might since the sighting happened so close to your property.”
“My family is splitting up out here, searching for a friend,” he said.
“I’ll send a message in our group chat to let everyone know about the danger.
” Several of his siblings were as bad about checking their phones and keeping them charged as he was.
He had some hope phones were charged and being monitored, given the circumstances.
“I appreciate it,” Marcus said. “Keep me posted on any sightings or lion scat found and, please, tell everyone to keep their distance until I or one of the staff arrive.”
“You know we will.” Hudson ended the call and immediately sent the update.
Chloe responded first. “I’ll let Travis know. Keep safe, everyone, and stay together. Check in every once in a while so we know everyone’s alright.”
Hudson typed: I’m heading that way now, after sending the coordinates of the location of the animal attack.
And then he turned the truck around and zoomed toward the midpoint. Cell in a cupholder, he glanced down every few seconds, practically willing the damn thing to ring. With every second that ticked by, the tension in his stomach twisted.
Cassie had become the most important person in his life in a short time. Did the heart recognize a kindred spirit?
Hudson couldn’t wrap his brain around the thought of losing another person he loved. Was the universe that cruel? Or was it him?
Was he just that unlucky?