Page 29 of Mountain Target

But he didn’t think the words would reassure her, so he stayed silent.

Beau looked down at her feet. At least her hiking boots were right—mid-to-high quality and not brand new.

He made a quick call to Alex to let him know there was a high chance the girl was up here, confident that his lieutenant would get the team together. Beau hoped they’d be able to find Ren themselves, but, just in case they couldn’t find her, or if she was—God forbid—hurt, he wanted someone here to back them up.

A part of him balked at having to wake his team up just a couple of hours after they’d gone to sleep and ahead of whatever awaited them tomorrow, but a missing girl took precedence over any potential future geological disturbance.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get going. She can’t be too far ahead. It took her a lot longer to get here than we did.”

He couldn’t help but be impressed by the teen’s determination. Cycling all the way up here, alone, in the middle of the night, had taken a not immaterial amount of bravery.

Of course, he didn’t say any of that out loud.

“You’re not going to suggest we wait here for your team?” she asked, her hazel eyes wide with fear and worry.

He cocked his head at her.

“Would you listen to me if I did?”

Valentina shook her head—a flash of red in the headlamp’s yellow light. “I’m not waiting. Ren could be hurt.”

Beau nodded. He understood. He felt the same urgency. Though he’d only known the girl for a short while, the thought that she might be out there, scared and alone, made something inside his chest ache.

He led the way, heading off in the direction of the lake—hoping that was the path Ren had chosen as well.

“Ren! Ren! Renata!” Valentina yelled.

He’d set off at a pretty fast clip, and between the walking and the yelling, it was only a couple of minutes before Valentina was out of breath, but she didn’t slow down at all.

“I’m going to kill her when we find her,” Valentina muttered.

“Sure,” he agreed lightly. He’d probably have to stop her from smothering the girl in kisses.

Eventually, they came to a fork in the road. Beau pointed towards the path going up.

“But the lake’s down there,” Valentina said, pointing the other way.

“I don’t see a trail. This path will take us around, get us on higher terrain, so it’s easier to spot Ren if she’s below us.”

Valentina didn’t hesitate to follow, and for that, he was grateful.

“Just a bit further,” he said. “Beyond those trees, we should be able to see—“

He didn’t get to say anything else before the ground beneath them started shaking.

10

Valentina

"Fuck!” Beau grunted.

At first, Val thought she was losing her mind. Her stomach roiled—reminding her of a trip on a roller coaster. She’d never liked those, but at least she’d always been able to reassure her brain that everything was fine, that it was simply a controlled fall.

There was nothing controlled about the way the mountain shook and shivered beneath them now.

It was a bone-jarring, disorienting feeling.

Seconds later—though to her it felt like hours—the tremors changed in pitch.