Chapter 33
Hush
Just when I thought I was going to lose Auron with how fast he was running, he skidded to a stop by the wash Joe had told us about. It was about a hundred feet across and full of muddy, rushing water.
My heaving breath stuck in my throat. If any of them were in this wash before that water hit there was no telling where they were now. Auron whined, lying down near the edge of the bank. I moved over to him and let out a curse as I realized what he was looking at.
A few feet down between the edge of the bank and the rushing water was Jecht and the little girl, hanging onto a branch.
The water was just under them, if it rose any higher it would take them with it.
The other guys ran up behind me, finally having caught up and they started reaching down to drag the animal and girl up.
My eyes moved desperately, trying to find Seek. “Where is she?” I asked the little girl. Her eyes were wide, face pale, and she opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
She was in shock and completely out of it.
All she could manage was to raise her arm and point.
My eyes swept the branch again and that’s when I noticed a rope.
It was thin, attached to the tree trunk nearby, and taut.
I followed it down and saw where it disappeared into the brown water.
My worst nightmares plagued me as I realized something was attached to the rope, under the water.
I grabbed the rope and tried to pull. It was wet and thin.
I couldn’t keep a grip on it. Panic was closing in, I shoved it aside and, shucking my boots, I leapt over the side of the wash.
Ignoring my brother’s calls, I dove into the water.
I wrapped one arm around the rope, the other stretched out in front of me, searching.
The water closed over my head, muffling all sound.
It was hard to see anything, but I let the current push me to the end of the rope where finally my searching arm closed around her body.
I kicked hard for the surface, realizing that the rope and the water had worked together against her.
It was pulling at me even as I tried to swim upward, sucking me back down.
I wrapped my arm around the rope a second time, and with everything I had left in me I pulled.
The rope cut into my arm like a searing torch.
I thought it would cut right through and amputate me.
Ignoring the agonizing pain, I pulled harder. I wasn’t losing her. Not again.
Kicking my legs, I pulled at the same time, fighting against the drag of both our bodies.
I felt a hand wrap around my wrist, A familiar, soft and delicate hand.
I looked up, through the muddy water I could see…
no. It couldn’t be. The water was making me hallucinate.
The touch of the hand on my wrist was gone.
Shaking my head, I refocused my efforts on getting to the surface.
The combination of my kicking and my rescuers pulling was enough to bring my head above the surface.
I gulped air desperately and yelled, “Here!”
As soon as we broke out of the water, I shifted Seek higher into my arms. Her head lolled onto my shoulder and I cursed as I realized she was unconscious.
I could only pray—not that I was a God fearing man—as I swam toward the side of the wash that she was still alive.
Splashing sounded and Riptide appeared next to me.
He kept one arm anchored to the edge and grasped me with the other.
He was like a fucking fish in the water.
He’d gotten his name after he’d saved a couple of kids who’d been towed to sea by a riptide.
After growing up in the Pacific Northwest and surfing there his entire life, the water was more home to him than land.
I was grateful for his skill and strength right now as he helped me get Seek to safety. He grasped my forearm and swung me over to the mud wall. The others reached down and dragged her out of the water, before helping us out.
I knelt beside her, the fear and agony of losing another woman I loved brimming up within me.
Trapping it down deep, I let my training take over.
Tipping her chin, so that her whole head tilted back, I covered her mouth with mine and blew.
I forced my breath between her lips until I felt her body shudder and convulse beneath me.
Moving back just in time to have the water spewing from her mouth miss me, I gently rolled her to her side.
She hacked and coughed the water from her lungs and I laid my forehead on her temple.
The others were surrounding us and I heard a collective sigh of relief.
Seek had put herself in danger to save the little girl, it was the only reason she’d have been in that wash.
I was a confusing mix of emotions. Proud as fuck of her for being brave enough to save a child.
Terrified that I’d almost lost her. Pissed the hell off that I’d almost lost her.
Leaning back, I brushed my hand over her wet hair while she caught her breath. Her eyes landed on me and she struggled to sit up. I pulled her up into my arms, burying my face in the crook of her neck.
“Caitlyn? Jecht?” she gasped.
“They’re right here. They’re fine,” I told her.
“You saved me.” It wasn’t a question. Her arms were wrapped around me.
“Wouldn’t have had to if you’d stayed put,” I grumbled.
“I couldn’t let her get lost out here.”
I knew that and honestly couldn’t stay mad because somehow, it’d all worked out alright. The girl was safe—Caitlyn, she’d said—and so was Seek. I readjusted her so she was sitting on my lap and my chin was resting on top of her head.
I looked over at Riptide. “Thanks for pullin’ me out, didn’t think I would get my head back above water.”
“Back above? I only found you when you yelled.”
My eyes went wide at the realization. Riptide was the only one nearby. If he didn’t pull me above water, then… I shook the thought away. Not the time to figure out this mystery.
“We’ll need to make sure those bodies aren’t ever found,” I told the others while I cuddled Seek close. I wasn’t ready to let her go.
“Oh…”
I craned my head around so I could look into her face. She looked stricken. “What’s wrong, Trouble?”
“There’s another man…just north of the grave.”
My muscles stiffened at her words. “Another man?”
“He attacked me. The dogs saved… I shot him.”
Resting my forehead against her again, I sighed.
“You’ve had quite the day, Baby.” She was shivering in my arms. The storm was clearing out and the heat would be back long before we made it to the trucks.
Despite the storm, it wasn’t that cold out here.
Her body was shuddering as she remembered everything that happened to her over the last forty minutes.
“We’ll go find him,” Butcher told me, casting a worried look at Seek.
He liked to pretend that he was insane, and maybe he was a little, but one thing he didn’t stand for was people hurting women and children.
It was one of his rules. Butcher’s rules were many and convoluted, but that was the one that we all agreed with one hundred percent of the time.
“Thanks,” I told him. “I’m goin’ to get her back to the trucks.”
“We have to find Auron,” Seek said, struggling in my arms.
“Hey, hey,” I soothed, and turned her so she could see that both her dogs were right there by her side.
She relaxed in my hold as soon as she saw them. “He ran away when the thunder was overhead.”
I shook my head and spoke into her ear. “No. He came to find me. Nearly drove me into the ground to get us here to help you.”
She shifted and looked up at me before blinking back tears. Auron took that opportunity to crawl his way into her lap. She buried her face in his fur and her shoulders shook as she let loose her emotions.
Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I let her cry it out. Jecht tried to force his way into the hug and I couldn’t help but chuckle as Auron grumbled. Seek just grabbed Jecht and somehow half pulled him onto my lap with them.
She only gave herself a few minutes of crying before she wiped her eyes. Priest and Riptide were talking to Caitlyn nearby and the others had gone to deal with the remaining body.
“Let’s get out of here,” I suggested. The dogs hopped up, ready to go, and I stood with Seek in my arms.
Priest carried Caitlyn and we made our way back to the truck. The ground was wet and slick, but none of us complained. The day could have ended so much worse than it had.
“I can walk, Hush,” Seek said again, for the hundredth time. I saw the trucks emerge from behind the brush and just shook my head at her. It didn’t matter that she was perfectly capable of walking, I wanted her close. I wasn’t going to be letting her go anytime soon.
Reaching over with one hand, I put down the tailgate of her truck and set her on it. Priest put Caitlyn next to her. Seek wrapped her arm around the little girl and spoke softly to her.
We stepped off to the side to give them privacy to talk. We were all scanning the surroundings. We’d killed the three men who’d been burying Caitlyn’s mother. We didn’t know where the man who attacked Seek had come from. That meant there could be more of them out here.
It didn’t take long for the others to come walking back up to the trucks. I frowned as I realized it’d been too short of a time period for them to have had to bury a body.
“Wasn’t there,” Hellfire told me as they approached. He kept his voice down so Seek and Caitlyn didn’t overhear him.
“What do you mean?” Riptide asked.
“Saw where he tackled her and there was plenty of blood, so he was definitely shot, but there wasn’t a body there,” Hellfire replied.
“There was too much blood seeping into the dirt for him to have gotten up and walked off on his own,” Butcher added. I trusted Butcher to be able to eyeball how much blood had been spilled and know whether it was a killing shot or not. He’d seen enough to know.
“So who came and got the body?” Priest asked.
The group of men shrugged, then Butcher added, “The grave was covered up, too. The other three bodies are missing as well.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end. “Someone was watchin’ us.”
“Must’ve been,” Ricochet said, looking angry. “Cowards couldn’t be bothered to confront us.”
Riptide sighed and looked over his shoulder toward the trucks. “Better they didn’t. As much as I want to rearrange their faces for what they did to that woman and her kid, we need to get Caitlyn out of here and somewhere safe.”
In total agreement, we began packing everyone into the trucks. Priest picked Caitlyn up, but when he walked back toward one of the cage rides we’d brought she started sobbing. She hadn’t spoken a word yet, but her feelings were easy to see. She was reaching out toward Seek.
“It won’t be comfortable,” I offered, “but you can sit in the back with her between the dog crates.”
Priest nodded and I took out Auron’s crate, then replaced it after Priest had climbed in.
I slid into the driver’s seat and glanced in the rearview.
Priest gave a slight shrug. We’d all ridden in more uncomfortable positions than this during our lifetime.
If it made the kid happy, Priest was content to do it.
Caitlyn curled up in his arms and slept.
The big man probably made her feel safe, that and knowing Seek wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Seek turned from watching them with a small smile on her face. “He seems like he’s great with kids.”
“Yeah, he is.” I didn’t elaborate. Priest’s story was his own to tell.
“What do you think happened out there?”
“I don’t know.” My eyes strayed back to the sleeping girl again. “Hopefully she’ll start talkin’ and we can find out. Otherwise it’s goin’ to be a lot harder to figure out.”
Seek sat up straighter. “You’re going to keep looking into it?”
“We’re invested now,” I told her with a wicked smile.
Whatever was happening out in The Silverbells wasn’t going to be a secret much longer.
We’d make sure of that. Whatever it took, we’d make sure that no one else fell victim to the men who’d been kidnapping and killing people out there.
After seeing Sherry Holden’s body there was zero doubt in my mind that the missing hikers were all dead.
They must have come across something they shouldn’t have seen and met the same fate as Sherry.
My gut told me Sherry and Caitlyn were closer to whatever was happening out there than the other missing people.
They hadn’t been dressed for a hike. No water, zero provisions for them to be out here.
And who would take their six-year-old out into the desert on a hike like that?
No. Sherry had been there for a reason and that reason had gotten her killed.
It wasn’t going to be easy getting any information out of a traumatized six-year-old. There was nothing we could do about it now, so we’d regroup, relay to Lockout what’d happened, and come up with a plan.