Page 90 of Lion’s Den

“No.” Sedona couldn’t let them see her as weak, even though without the adrenaline fueling her flight she might have a harder time covering the same distance. Still, she could do this. She would do this if it meant finding Julio. “Let’s go. I can’t stand thinking of Julio in Simpson’s hands.”

The rest of Cam’s team joined them a moment later. “What’s the plan?” Dario asked.

A wintry smile curved Cam’s mouth. “We’re hunting.”

Isaac rubbed his hands together, eyes sparkling. “It’s about time. Let’s roll.”

Spencer resettled his medical kit on his back.

Sedona’s gut tightened into a knot. She hoped Julio needed nothing Spencer carried in his bag.

Cam stood and helped Sedona to her feet.

She shivered. Oh, yes, she’d enjoyed the heat Cam’s body had generated.

They trekked ahead of the rest of The Thunderhawks. “If you notice something familiar, sing out,” Cam instructed.

“I doubt that will happen. I was in a blind panic when I ran from those men.” She shuddered.

“You paid attention to the sounds of the quarry when you ran from the building. Now pay attention to what your subconscious is telling you about what you see and the scents of areas where you ran.”

She’d try, but didn’t think it would do much good.

Cam squeezed her hand and aimed the penlight toward the ground in front of them.

“How can you see to find anything? It’s pitch black out here.”

“I’m not seeing much,” he admitted. “This field trip is more to prod your memory than to expect a big breakthrough, although we might get lucky.”

They continued to walk through rougher paths than she thought necessary. She lost count of the number of times they could have taken an easier path, yet Cam chose one on rockier ground rather than on the grass or the dirt.

He pulled up short and crouched beside the dirt path. “Here.” Cam looked at Sedona. “This is your footprint. I’m glad the tree cover was heavy enough that the rain didn’t wash the print away.” He turned back to the dirt path and pointed. “The kick out back here shows that you were running.”

Cam panned the penlight further ahead, then moved slowly beside the path, studying what he found. His facial expression hardened. “Three of them were chasing you.”

“Hardly seems fair,” Dario said.

“They’re in jail, man,” Isaac said. “Those three aren’t our priority anymore.”

“No, they aren’t,” Sedona said. “Julio is. That creep Simpson has Julio in his clutches. Julio is our priority. Nothing else matters.” Well, that wasn’t true. She wanted to find Julio, but she didn’t want to sacrifice Cam or his friends to do it.

Cam followed the same pattern as they walked closer to the start of her panicked flight.

The sound she’d described, that chuff-clank, chuff-clank, grew louder the further they walked. And now, something else was nagging at the edges of her memory, but what?

Cam stopped several more times and pointed out a broken branch here or a deep and indistinct footprint where she stumbled and almost fell.

Sedona breathed deeply and froze. She grabbed Cam’s arm.

“What is it?”

“That smell. I know that smell. Sharp, oily, like tar mixed with damp soil. How could I have forgotten that scent?”

Cam breathed deep. “Railroad ties.”

“Old utility poles, too,” Dario said.

“This scent is familiar to you?”