TAKE ME HOME (22 page)

Evan’s foot caught on a tree root buried under the snow, and he tripped forward. He threw his weight to the side so he wouldn’t crush Rebecca if he fell. His ankle twisted, and he didn’t bother holding back the howl as pain shot through him. He landed on his right hip, Rebecca still in his arms.

Oscar had kept going but stopped with Evan’s scream and rushed back to them. He dropped to his knees. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just twisted my ankle.” He held Rebecca out. “Here, take her.” She hadn’t stirred with the fall, and once she was cradled in Oscar’s large arms, she looked smaller than she had under the tree limb. Evan buried his gloved hands into the snow and pushed off the ground. His ankle throbbed as he put weight on it. His socks and pants were covered in more packed snow. At least the ankle was getting a cold compress. It would keep the swelling down.

He waved the other man on. “Go.”

Oscar looked scared. Not an expression the big guy had shown yet.

“I’ll be okay. Get her to the train. I’m right behind you.”

“Okay.” Oscar glanced around. “It’s impossible to see out here. You should take this.” He shifted Rebecca in his arms and held out the compass. “My phone’s not getting a signal, but at least you’ll know which way to go.”

114

Sloan Parker

“No. You need it. Just in case.” He had to scream to be heard over the wind. “You have to get her warm.”

Oscar hesitated. He glanced at Rebecca.

“It’s okay,” Evan said. “Go.”

Without another look his way, Oscar turned and ran off, moving faster than he had while leading Evan. In a matter of seconds, Evan lost sight of him. The wind died down for a moment, and he heard the river again. Thank God she hadn’t ended up in the water.

A huge gust of wind slammed into him. He raised Kyle’s scarf higher and started for where he’d last spotted Oscar.

He could barely see with the amount of snow whipping around him. So cold. How had Rebecca survived the short amount of time she’d been out in this?

Considering Oscar had taken his coat with Rebecca, how was he going to if he didn’t reach the train soon?

“Evan’s not back?” Kyle had to concentrate to keep from grabbing Penny and shaking an answer out of her. She was coming down the steps to the first floor of the coach car where everyone had left the train on their search. She focused on the tray she carried with rows of filled coffee cups. “Not yet. So far just you, the prison guard, and his search partner.” She pointed to the gray-haired ex-cop. He was wrapping a blanket around a seated, shivering man who worked with Diane in the lounge car.

“Prison guard?” Kyle asked. “Thought he was law enforcement.”

“The term is Correctional Officer. And the name’s Shepfield.” The sound of the deep voice startled Kyle as the man approached. “Can you help me get everyone on board as they return?

We need to keep a head count.”

“Sure.” Kyle planned on waiting by the door anyway.

Before they made it to the end of the car, two more people climbed aboard, one of them the conductor. He shook off the snow covering him everywhere, opened his coat, and asked, “Is she here?”

“No,” Kyle said.

“How many are back?”

“Six,” Shepfield offered. “Including you.”

Penny tried to hand the conductor a cup of coffee. He shrugged it off and helped more people onto the train, getting a report from each, sending them into the dining area to get warm and have something hot to drink.

Kyle helped as much as he could, but as more and more people boarded with no sign of Evan, frustration overtook him. He went to the windows to search the way Evan had gone. No sign of him.

He wasn’t waiting any longer. He headed for the door, and Penny shouted, “There she is.” Kyle returned to the window. Oscar was making his way toward the train carrying something—someone—wrapped in a coat. Evan’s coat. But Evan wasn’t with them. Kyle spun around and raced for the doors where Oscar was headed. By the time he got there, the conductor Take Me Home

115

had taken Rebecca from Oscar and was carrying her up the steps. The girl’s eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving. Sasha reached for her daughter.

The conductor said, “Let’s let the doc have a look.”

The doctor gestured for him to set Rebecca in the first row of seats. He leaned in close.

“She’s breathing.” He stripped the coat off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. “We need to get her into warmer clothes.”

Kyle swiped Evan’s coat off the floor and went to Oscar. He was stripping off his gloves, coat, and outer layers of clothing while Penny stood beside him with a cup of coffee. Kyle grabbed Oscar’s arm and spun him around. “Where’s Evan?”

“He twisted his ankle, but he said he’d be right behind me.” Oscar looked out the window into the blowing snow.

Kyle fisted his hands in the fabric of Evan’s coat. He didn’t have to think about it. “I’m going to get him.”

The conductor’s voice rang out behind them. “I’m sorry, sir, you can’t do that.” Then, louder, he said, “No one else is leaving the train until the storm lets up. If we are still missing anyone, the rescue crew and search chopper will be on their way as soon as they can fly.” It didn’t matter. Kyle was going.

The conductor gripped his arm. “I’m already going to be in more trouble than I care to think for letting passengers leave the train. I cannot lose anyone else. You stay on board.” He returned to where the doctor was examining Rebecca. She had her eyes open and was holding her mom’s hand.

Fuck staying on board. Kyle faced the end of the car, but the door was blocked by train personnel. He made his way up the stairs to the second floor. He’d get more clothes for Evan and head out another way. Oscar followed him to the vestibule doorway. “You’re going after him anyway?”

“Yes.” Kyle went through to the next car and continued on until he reached their room.

Inside he grabbed his backpack and took out his laptop, then shoved a sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants inside. He took up Evan’s coat again and paused with it in his hands. He was out there. Cold. Alone. Scared?

“You’re in love with him.” Oscar’s voice floated in through the open doorway. “I saw how much he loves you, but I wasn’t quite sure what you feel for him.” Kyle stared at the coat in his hands. If Oscar hadn’t seen it, maybe Evan hadn’t either. And Kyle hadn’t bothered to say the words. He’d asked Evan to repeat them, but he had never…

You idiot.

He shoved the coat into his pack.

“You need someone to go with you,” Oscar said. “Let me go back and get my gear.”

“I’m not waiting. I’m going after him. Now.” Kyle zipped shut his backpack and hefted it onto his back. He marched past Oscar into the hall.

“Here.” Oscar caught up to him and handed him a compass from his pocket. “Take this.

And…” He went to a small locker-type opening in the wall at the end of the car. He removed a flashlight and handed it to Kyle. “It’ll be dark soon. There was a slope to my right, and I heard the river, but we stayed on the flatter area of land in a straight path southwest. We didn’t make it the fifteen minutes before we found her. It only took a minute to reach her after I first spotted the 116

Sloan Parker

slope. She was under a downed tree full of pine needles that made a sort of roof for her to hide under. You got your phone with you?”

Kyle pulled out his phone, and Oscar keyed in his number. “There. Call me if you find him or if you get into trouble. Hell, if you get a signal, call me in fifteen minutes either way. If you can’t get him back to the train, find shelter, someplace where you can get him out of the weather and get him warm. The steeper areas might have alcoves or caverns.”

“When I find him, I’m bringing him back here.”

Oscar didn’t argue. He said, “I’ll open the door for you. Come on.” They headed to the other end of the sleeper car, farther from where they’d left the conductor.

“Be careful,” Oscar said. “And come back for help if you don’t find him in the next fifteen minutes.”

Kyle gave a nod. Better than a verbal lie, wasn’t it? He had no intention of coming back without Evan.

Take Me Home

117

Evan had never been so cold. He loved the winters in Ohio every year when they visited for Christmas, but he was usually gone by the time the worst weather hit the Midwest. He’d been in Southern California too long. He wasn’t used to this. And he wasn’t wearing the right shoes.

His toes and fingers stung. His ankle throbbed.

How long had it been since he’d last seen Oscar and Rebecca? He’d followed their path at first, but he lost sight of Oscar’s footprints before long.

He should’ve reached the train by now. They hadn’t walked this far to find Rebecca. He couldn’t see the edge of the tree line or a clearing ahead where the tracks might be.

He was lost.

The storm had worsened. Maybe he was completely turned around, heading in the wrong direction. It’s not like he knew a lot about hiking in a blizzard or hiking at all, for that matter. For all he knew he was walking in circles and would freeze before he ever found the train. He wished Kyle’s grandfather were there. He had loved the outdoors and had spent a lot of time camping and hiking. He could’ve found the way without much effort.

The wind picked up, and a huge gust smacked into Evan. Then it died down without warning.

He heard the rushing water, stronger than before. The river. It was closer now. He was heading the wrong way. There was a clearing ahead. He’d go to the edge of the trees and get a look. Maybe he’d spot the train tracks curving through the mountainside and could follow them back to the train. He rounded the last tree, and the flat ground gave way to a slope, a drop-off that led to the river below. Startled, he slipped on the smooth surface of a rock hanging over the edge. He fell to his ass and tumbled down the embankment, snow kicking up into his face as he went. His right arm scraped the bark of a tree. He just barely missed another larger tree with his head. His injured ankle smacked against yet another. He cried out.

He kept falling, falling, finally landing. Not on hard ground as he expected. Water surged up around him. He flung his arms out to try to keep from going under. No use. Icy water rushed over his head, and he gulped in a mouthful. He couldn’t get his feet under him. He thrashed his arms and legs until he found the ground below. He tried to stand, but his foot slipped on a smooth rock, and he landed on his back. More water surged over him. He coughed and choked and floated on the surface. He had to get out of the river, but his body wouldn’t help him out.

For a moment, he thought he heard Kyle’s voice call out to him.

Then it was gone.

Kyle shouted again. “Evan!”

118

Sloan Parker

For several minutes, he’d been going straight southwest along the path Oscar had taken.

He should’ve spotted Evan by now. Or at least the location where Evan and Oscar had found Rebecca. The wind had died down, and the snow wasn’t kicking up as much as before, but the sun was setting. Soon he wouldn’t be able to see much with only the flashlight.

Goddammit. He had to find him. Now.

He was going to kill the little fucker. As soon as he got him safe and warm.

Ahead was a downed tree with packed snow and footprints around it. He rushed forward.

There was no sign of him. “Evan.” He called again. And again.

Should he head back? Maybe they had crossed paths. The visibility had been shitty when he’d started out. Maybe Evan was already in their room, getting warm, drinking hot coffee.

No. Evan wouldn’t be sitting around waiting for him. He was still out here. Kyle was sure of it. He went with his gut and got going again, heading farther away from the train.

He passed by three cabins, each thirty yards apart. He banged on the door and peered inside the windows of each in case Evan had taken shelter in one. All were empty. He pressed on, not allowing himself to think what would happen if he didn’t find Evan.

He had to keep going.

But he couldn’t be headed in the right direction. If Evan had come this far the wrong way, he would’ve stopped at one of the cabins. Unless he’d passed them when the wind and snow had reduced the visibility to nothing. He could’ve been twenty feet away and missed them. Kyle followed the swell of instinct and continued on.

He heard the rush of water. The river. Maybe Evan had used it as a guide and had gone the wrong way from where they’d found Rebecca. Kyle headed for the slope ahead. The roar of the water grew louder, but beneath that was another sound. A scream. Evan crying out.

Kyle charged forward, stumbling over jagged terrain and through a line of trees. He stopped short of falling over the edge of an embankment. The sky was growing darker, but he could still see the river fifty feet below. Amid the chunks of ice drifting in the water floated a red piece of cloth. A scarf, the other end still around Evan’s neck. He was lying face up in the water.

“Ev!” Kyle rushed down the rocky hillside, adrenaline driving him on. He reached the edge of the river and didn’t hesitate. He waded in.

Two steps and the water was up to his waist. He trudged through it and grabbed for Evan as soon as he was within arm’s reach.

He pulled Evan against his chest. “Ev?” He was breathing. His eyes half open.

“Kyle?” His eyes fluttered and opened more.

“Are you okay?”

“Can’t…can’t feel anything.”

“Hang on. I’m going to get you out of here. Just hang on.” He dragged Evan backward toward where he’d entered the river, his own legs feeling the stab of icy water soaking through his jeans. Evan was like a deadweight. Kyle refused to let that thought linger. He reached the water’s edge and lugged Evan from the river. They fell to the snow-covered ground. Rocks and branches jabbed Kyle in the side. That should’ve hurt, but he felt nothing. He was wet and cold.

And more scared than he’d ever been in his life.

He had to get them moving. He yanked Evan’s coat out of the backpack and tugged the wet scarf off Evan, followed by the hat and gloves. He traded them for his own, which were damp on Take Me Home