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“There’s definitely someone back there. Follow me.” She and Shadow head back in the direction we came from. I think I see movement in the woods. I can sense someone there.
“Run!” Mia yells, and Shadow takes off.
16
TRAVIS
“Dad! Dad, come in. Are you there?”
I unclip the walkie-talkie from my belt. “I’m here, Mia. What’s up?”
“Dad–there’s someone out here.”
“What? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, but someone is out here in the woods. I think they were following us. We turned around and are coming back now.”
“Ok, I’m coming.” I jump onto the four-wheeler and speed off, realizing I never asked which trail they were on. I’m assuming it's the easy one that Mia loves. I hope I’m right.
I race over and get there just as she and Ava come off the trail. They both looked scared. I see the relief on their faces when they see me.
“Dad! We’re here! We’re fine.”
“Mia, what did you see? Tell me exactly what happened.”
“We were at the part where the trail narrows again. I had just gone ahead of Ava. When I looked back to make sure she was keeping up, I saw something moving in the woods. I looked again, and it was a guy dressed in all black! I couldn't see anything else; he ran away. I swear I saw it.”
“I believe you. I’m glad you called me and turned around. You did the right thing. Ava, are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little freaked out. I had this feeling that someone was watching us. What is going on?”
“I’m going to check things out.” Kenny pulls up next to me.
“I’ll follow. You ladies get back to the house,” I say to Mia and Ava. “Don’t say anything to the ladies.”
Kenny and I drive slowly into the woods, trying to be as quiet as possible, which isn’t easy on a four-wheeler. We get to the part where the path narrows. There’s no sign of anyone.
“I never should have let them go out alone!” I slam my hand into the handlebar. “I bet it’s the same guy from last night,” I tell Kenny.
“But who is it, and what do they want?”
“I have no idea. I just hope this whole mess doesn’t change what Ava writes. If she writes about secret prowlers, we’ll be out of business before the year ends.”
“The neighbors haven’t seen anything suspicious, but they all said they’d keep an eye out. I can get a group together to search these woods.”
“Naw, I think he’s gone, whoever he is. But I’m tempted to sit on the porch all night with my shotgun.”
“You know I'll be happy to take a shift,” Kenny says.
“Alright, let’s get back to the house. We’ve got to do something with these ladies.”
I pulled up to the house, and Mia and Ava were sitting on the porch chatting with some of the ladies. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. From the looks of it, the ladies have no idea about the secret prowler.
“Well, look who it is. I’ve missed you!” Ava gets up and practically jumps into my arms. It catches me off guard. With all this going on, I forgot she was my pretend girlfriend.
“Barb might be onto us,” she whispers in my ear as she reaches up and kisses me on the cheek. Well, it's more like my jawbone because she can’t quite reach my cheek.
I wrap my arms around her and spin her around once. “That’s a greeting a man could get used to.” I wink as I set her back down. “Good afternoon, ladies. How’s everyone doing?”
