Cold Snap (42 page)

Next time he went camping—if there was a next time—he would buy the best radio system he could find. That he hadn’t thought they’d need a two-way radio didn’t matter. What happened to being prepared? He had the map, the equipment, the food—but no communication.

Sean trekked over to Jeff’s campsite to see if he’d returned from his excursion. He could lead Jeff into a question about the ATVs without letting him know he’d seen any tracks. He considered that they could have been rangers patrolling the area, but if that was the case why hadn’t they come all the way to the campground? They’d know that people were still using the place, even if it wasn’t maintained by the parks system.

As soon as he stepped through the trees he realized he’d been deceived.

All their equipment was gone.

The lean-to was there, but not the sleeping bags or backpacks. Sean stayed along the edge of the camp, looking for signs of where they’d gone. The only trail he could find led up near the stream. If he followed it, he’d be in the middle of open space, easy pickings if someone was looking for him.

Why had Jeff packed up and left? Sean hadn’t heard anything; could he have simply been waiting for Sean to leave, then returned and grabbed his stuff? What about his wife? She was with Lucy; why would he leave without her?

The unease that Sean had felt since meeting Jeff and Ann grew to borderline panic that he’d sent Lucy off with someone who was dangerous. It didn’t matter that Lucy could take care of herself or that she had a gun; she was in the middle of the woods with no backup.

He ran back to his camp and paced. He wanted to look for Lucy, but if he followed her trail and she returned via another route with the rangers, he wouldn’t be here.

His only real option was to head back to the road the fastest way possible and call for help. Except that Lucy could very well be on her way back now, with help.

“Shit,” Sean muttered.

Thirty minutes. He’d give her thirty minutes, then he’d go after her.

*   *   *

Lucy startled awake. She didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious, but she’d been out long enough to be restrained.

She opened her eyes slowly, glancing around to see if anyone was there. As she adjusted her position she realized that she wasn’t tied to the tree she was leaning against, but her hands were restrained behind her.

Her entire head hurt especially the lump where Ann had hit her. She assumed Ann was her attacker.

Dammit, she’d sensed something was wrong and hadn’t reacted fast enough.

It was still day, and it appeared she hadn’t lost more than ten or fifteen minutes of time. She was leaning against a tree in the old cemetery, close to the newly dug grave.

Lucy saw something sticking out from the ground. A cross, fashioned out of two sticks perpendicular to each other and tied at the center by a cord. The cord appeared to come from a hoodie. It had to have been put there recently because it wouldn’t have survived any inclement weather.

Lucy cringed as she realized that Ann had her backpack—which included her phone and car keys. She didn’t feel the weight of the gun at her hip. And the tablet with the map that Lucy had been holding was nowhere she could see.

She had looked at the map long enough that she could probably get out of here and to the car, but it wouldn’t do her much good if that’s where Ann went. She could flag someone down on the road, but it was at least a four-mile walk to the nearest ranger’s station if no one drove by—or if no one stopped to help. And Sean was still back at the campsite with Jeff, not knowing that anything was wrong.

The back of her neck tingled. She was being watched. She tensed, fearing Ann had returned. Except she wouldn’t kill her now, would she? Why tie her up if she planned to kill her?

She couldn’t defend herself tied up. Her fingers were growing numb from lack of circulation. Then she almost smiled as she realized she was restrained with plastic zip-ties.

I owe you one, Jack.

Her brother Jack, former army special forces, had trained her in self-defense after her kidnapping seven years ago. She’d added to her skills through her FBI training, but Jack’s survival training came in handy now.

She leaned against the tree and shifted so her feet were under her, then slowly pushed herself up using the tree for support. She stepped away from the tree, a bit unsteady on her feet. She took a couple deep breaths, then bent over, lifting her arms, zip-tied behind her back, as far up as she could. With all her strength she slammed her wrists on her butt. The movement made her dizzy, but she did it two more times and the plastic broke.

She rubbed her raw wrists and looked around. Movement to her left had her taking a step behind the tree. At first she didn’t see anything, then a flash of black and white in the trees. Small.

“Micah,” she said. “Is your name Micah?”

He hesitated, then stepped out from the trees. He had a gun in his small hands. It looked like a .22, similar to what Ann had been carrying.

“Micah, you don’t need that gun.”

He didn’t answer and kept his distance from her. He looked like he would bolt at the slightest sign that she was going to move toward him, so she slowly leaned back against the tree. He was wearing jeans, a blue T-shirt, and a black hoodie. A hoodie without a string. His pale face had been scratched in several places, likely from branches. One was deep enough to have bled and should have been treated. It would definitely scar. With his dark hair and big blue eyes, he looked so much like her cousin Justin that her heart skipped a beat.

But he wasn’t Justin. He was Micah.

“I want to help you,” Lucy said. “Please—lower the gun. You’re making me nervous.”

“I’m not going to shoot you,” he said in a high voice that suggested he would shoot if he felt like he had to. He was both brave and scared. But he put the gun at his side, still holding it tightly.

“My name is Lucy Kincaid. Your mother and I—”

“She’s not my mother!”

“Shh,” Lucy said, glancing around. “Micah, listen, I work for the FBI. I’m camping with my boyfriend. We can help you, but you have to trust me.”

He looked skeptical but at least he didn’t run.

“Who is Ann?”

His bottom lip quivered. “She killed my mom.” His eyes shifted to the grave. Lucy’s stomach flipped. His mother was buried there. “I think,” he added.

“Micah, please trust me. Tell me exactly what happened.”

He bit his lip, tears in his eyes, but he kept his emotions in check. Poor kid, he shouldn’t have to hold back tears over his mother’s murder.

“We were living with my mom’s boyfriend. In a trailer. There were other trailers, too, and it was home, you know?”

It was home.
Lucy doubted Micah had ever had a stable home.

“They make drugs. You know, meth.” He said it matter-of-factly. “Mom used to have a problem, but not anymore. She cleaned up because she met Jeff and he told her she had to stay straight. For us.”

Jeff. The man who said he was Micah’s father.

“Where’s your dad?” she asked quietly.

Micah shrugged. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I never met him.”

“And your mom’s boyfriend, Jeff, brought you to his home.”

“Kinda. We had an apartment in Richmond for a while, then down in Charlotte—that’s in North Carolina—and then he got a job in Baltimore. But—” He stopped talking.

“But he lost his job,” Lucy guessed.

Micah nodded.

“What happened to your mother?” When he didn’t say anything, Lucy pushed. “I can’t help you unless you tell me everything.”

It all came out in a rush. “We moved up here in July, just for the summer Jeff said, he got this great job. But it was making drugs, and Mom tried real hard, but she started using again, and Jeff was so mad—but he wanted to help her. Because it was against the rules to dip into the product, everyone knew it, and he covered for her until … until … well, it was just bad, and everyone knew Mom was using and they fought and Mom ran off. Jeff told me to stay, he’d find her, and he left, but so did the others. I followed them, and I heard…” His voice trailed off and he looked at the grave. “I heard gunshots. I ran away. Back to the camp. Jeff was already there and mad that I’d left. I wanted to tell him that Ann hurt Mom, but I couldn’t. I just cried and he said everything would be okay. But when Ann got back, she told Jeff my mom died of a drug overdose and they buried her in the woods.” His voice cracked and he couldn’t stop the tears. “And I knew she was lying, that she’d shot her.” He wiped his nose and eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. “I ran away.”

“To go to the police?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Not the police.”

“Why not?”

“Because one of the rangers is friends with Ann, he comes by all the time.”

Lucy couldn’t go to the rangers now, not until she knew who was on the take. And without her phone, she couldn’t contact the FBI and alert them.

“I saw Ann hit you. I’m sorry.”

“Where’d you get the gun?”

“I found it.”

Lucy was skeptical. “You just found it. Lying around.”

“I found it here.” He looked over at the grave again, then quickly looked away.

The gun was evidence. Lucy needed to convince Micah to trust her—and give her the gun.

“We need to get you to safety, and I have friends—not rangers—who can help.”

He shook his head. “They’re going. They’re going to leave and we’ll never find them.”

“Micah, listen to me.”

“No! It’s not just me, there’s Tommy, and I’m not going to leave him.”

“Who’s Tommy?”

“My brother.” His voice cracked. “He’s six. I should never have left him, but I got scared. I went back and he was in Cynthia’s trailer, but Cynthia saw me and I ran. But I can’t leave him.” He straightened his spine. Lucy knew if she said he had to go, he’d run from her.

“And that’s why you haven’t left.” This brave nine-year-old was trying to protect his little brother.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged his skinny shoulders. “I don’t know what to do.”

Lucy did, but what she should do and what she knew she was going to do were completely different.

“Micah, I need you to give me the gun.”

He shook his head.

“Have you ever fired a gun before?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t say it with conviction.

“I scored 98 on my last firearms test with the FBI. The only two guys who beat me had been in the Marines. They scored 100. I hit what I aim at.”

He didn’t want to give up his weapon, what he probably thought was his only protection. But he walked toward her, trust in his eyes, and handed it to her.

She took it and sighed in relief. Definitely a .22. The serial number had been filed off. She checked the magazine—the clip was missing two bullets. But a .22 wasn’t much protection unless you were close or an exceptional shot. She put the gun in the small of her back and said, “Thank you.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to find my boyfriend, Sean. Ann and Jeff told us they were your parents, and you’d run off this morning.”

He frowned. “I’ve been hiding from them for three days.”

Lucy was surprised. “How?”

“I made a camp near here. They found it last night, but I hid.”

“You’ve been out here alone for three days?”

He nodded. “I don’t have anywhere to go. Yesterday morning, really early, I went back to the trailers to get Tommy and that’s when Cynthia saw me. I think that’s how they tracked me back to my camp.”

Lucy knelt in front of the boy and put her hands on his shoulders. “Micah, you’re not alone anymore. Stick with me, okay?”

“You’re not going to let them take Tommy, are you?”

“We need to get help.”

“I saw what Ann did to you. They’re going to disappear, and, and…” He was at a loss, not knowing how to express himself, just knowing that if Ann and the others left the woods, there would be no justice for his mother, and his little brother would be in constant danger.

“We’ll find Tommy and make sure that Ann and everyone else is punished for what they did.”

He smiled for the first time. A tentative smile.

“I don’t have a dad, and Tommy’s dad is in jail. He’s all I got, and I promised my mom I would always take care of him. I gotta keep the promise, Lucy.”

CHAPTER 5

There had been complete silence for thirty minutes and Sean thought he was going to go out of his mind. He could no longer wait for Lucy; he was borderline frantic, and this kind of fear would lead him into making mistakes.

Lucy is fine, she knows how to watch out for herself.

The mantra wasn’t working. He’d already searched the immediate area twice and found no sign of Jeff, other than fresh tracks leading away from the lake. He wanted to follow them but the first thing was to find Lucy.

“We should never have gone camping,” he mumbled. It was like their relationship was cursed—they couldn’t just go away and enjoy each other. Alone. Without something happening like this.

Next time, I’m sending Patrick on a vacation and keeping Lucy at home.

Sean had to make sure there was a next time.

He closed his backpack in the tent, taking his knife, cell phone, jacket, two energy bars, and two water bottles. He needed to hike unencumbered. If he reached his car before he found Lucy, and there was no sign she’d been there—well, he’d cross that bridge then. She had the keys, but he could hot-wire it. He almost laughed. It was a computerized engine, so the term “hot-wire” was so outdated. But he could get the car running without the key if necessary. He wasn’t going to leave Lucy in the woods. He had his phone; he’d call in the cavalry.

He started walking at a good pace, retracing the path Lucy and Ann had taken. It was nearly four in the afternoon; he had two hours of daylight left, though already the quality of light was changing. He scanned the area, following their tracks while also looking for any other tracks to suggest they’d been followed or paralleled.

A slight movement ahead and to his right caught Sean’s eye. He pulled his knife, keeping it at his side but ready to use.