Page 14 of Mountain Struggle

That’s why Drake wants me close.

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Damien’s heart beat hard against his chest. A little earlier, soon after passing the waterfall, Bailey had issued a single bark—her alert—at something on the ground. Although the sky was beginning to lighten, the light was thin enough that they might have missed it, had Bailey not been with them.

Damien clutched the yellow Lego bit in his palm. There was no doubt in his mind that Jamie had dropped it.

He dropped it for me to find it.

I’m coming, Jamie.

Daddy’s coming.

Since that moment, they’d found two other Lego pieces—one brown, one white—enough that it could no longer be excused as a coincidence.

Of course, Damien also remembered reading Hansel and Gretel to his son just last week.

“We’re on the right trail,” Drake barked on the phone with the leader of the Annecy team. “Get your pilot to circle the area, Beau.”

“Something happened to them,” Damien said. “Tess would never have asked Jamie to walk this far.”

Drake and Hiro looked at each other but said nothing. Suddenly, Bailey started barking. Her nose pointed down river.

“The Lego pieces are leading us up the mountain,” Damien said doubtfully. “We can’t stop now.”

“Is it possible they split up?” Drake asked.

“Bailey’s following your son’s scent. I don’t know who went up the mountain, but your son went this way, Damien,” Hiro said.

“Call the other team, Drake. Get them up here to explore this path,” Damien said firmly. “We follow Bailey.”

Hiro let out a relieved sigh.

Five minutes later, Damien’s heart almost stopped as he saw two familiar shapes running on the far side of the river.

They’re alive.

Thank you, God.

The relief was so intense it threatened to bring him to his knees—until he realized Tess and Jamie were running too hard, and getting too close to the edge.

“I see them!” he shouted to Drake and Hiro, who were standing slightly upstream from him.

Damien shouted their names but neither of them seemed to hear him over the roaring of the river.

“Jamie! Son!”

At the last instant Tess put out her hand to stop Jamie, but the boy had too much momentum, and he fell into the water with a splash.

Damien felt himself grow cold. Late July might be the height of summer, but the water up here rarely reached over 37°F. Nobody could spend much time in that water without a dry suit and expect to survive—certainly not a little boy.

He saw how fast the water was moving around them. They weren’t far from the falls.

“Fuck!” Damien shouted. The escarpment on his side of the river made it impossible for him to get to the water from where he was standing.

A moment later, there was a second splash. Damien looked up to see Tess land in the water with a controlled jump.

She went in after Jamie.