Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
The gunshots had stopped.
The machines had not.
Mei Lin tried to run, but between the mushy ground and the thick underbrush, she wasn’t moving fast enough. She’d abandoned the snowmobile and kept to the woods that surrounded a meadow that would’ve left her too exposed.
They would guess where she’d gone. They would find her.
She looked at the phone screen. She was at the red dot. What was she supposed to find here? There were no roads, no trails, no buildings. Nothing but trees and trees and trees.
Where was the help Asher had promised?
On the far side of the meadow, the land was a little tamer, as if someone had cleared paths. It made jogging easier.
It would make riding four-wheelers easier too. They would find her.
Where was Ethan? Was he alive? Did they have him?
Ahead were more trees—and to the right, and to the left. There was nothing but forest, everywhere.
She had no idea where to go.
And then, a woman stepped out from behind a clump of trees and waved.
Mei Lin blinked. Was she real, or an apparition conjured by desperation?
But the woman was there, tall with a pale blond ponytail beneath a black toque.
Mei Lin stopped.
The woman lifted both hands, palms open, and pressed a finger to her own lips. She approached slowly. “Mei Lin?”
“Ethan is…” Mei Lin tried to keep the tears out of her voice. “He’s back there.”
The blonde pressed her lips together, gazing through the forest behind Mei Lin. “I heard gunshots. Was that him?”
“He slowed them down, I think. If he hadn’t jumped…” Mei Lin couldn’t think about it. If Ethan hadn’t jumped, they’d have both been caught. But now, they were separated. She didn’t know if he was alive or dead.
“We’ll get him.” The woman shifted to meet Mei Lin’s eyes. “I promise, we’ll get him. Come on.”
Mei Lin followed her through the woods to a ridge that rose about three meters above where she stood—a dark smudge of gray in the forest. They skirted it and stopped on the far side.
A bush—nothing more than a clump of bare branches this time of year—shimmied, and a man stepped out from the base of the hill.
He was as tall as Ethan, dressed in browns and blacks that blended into the landscape.
He had short blond hair and wore a serious expression.
“I’m Callan Templeton. We spoke yesterday. ”
“I am Mei Lin.” Mei Lin looked at the blonde. “You are Alyssa?”
“Yeah. You okay?”
She tried to nod, but fresh tears dripped from her eyes.
“Ethan… The snowmobile was dying, and they were catching up. He wanted me to get away. I heard gunshots. I think he was shooting at them, slowing them down. Or they were shooting him.” Her words were coming too fast and too squeaky. “I shouldn’t have left him.”
“If you hadn’t, you’d both be dead,” Callan said. “You’re the target, not him.”
Her mind snagged on one word. “You think he’s dead?”
“Sorry, no.” He squeezed her shoulder. “We have no reason to believe that. But if they’d caught both of you, you would be.”
“I’ll go wait for them.” Alyssa gave Mei Lin a tight smile, then jogged deeper into the forest.
“Where is she going?”
“We have people coming. She’s going to look for cell service so she can direct them here. Asher’s directions were pretty thin.”
“And then we’ll find Ethan?”
“And then you and Alyssa will go somewhere safe, and we’ll find Ethan.”
“I will not leave until he is found.”
“He jumped off that snowmobile to save you. You should—”
“I will not.” There was no chance she was leaving these woods without her husband.
Callan studied her for a long moment, then sighed. “Yeah, you’re definitely a Wright woman.”
“This is good? It means I stay?”
He shook his head, and she caught the hint of a smile. “I don’t have time to argue with you. You’ll have to do what you’re told.”
“I will. But…but what if they catch him?” She worked to keep her volume low even as terror clawed its way up her throat. “They will kill him.”
Callan shook his head, though uncertainty flickered in his eyes. “I don’t think they will.”
He didn’t think so, but he didn’t know.
They might kill Ethan.
After everything they’d gone through, God wouldn’t let Ethan die now. Would He?