Page 53 of Cowboy Mountain Man

“What?”

“Bring her back.”

I end the call and mount Buck. The trail is wet and steep. Buck knows it. I don’t push him harder than the ground allows, but every careful step costs me.

Hope in a chair. Hope with a gun against her. Hope trying to make me laugh because she thinks it’ll keep me from worrying.

I keep my eyes on the trail. I can’t help her if I get careless.

Then I see it. A flash of metal. I dismount and pick up a thin silver bracelet. Hope’s bracelet. She left it like a breadcrumb for me to find.

Maybe.

My stomach drops.

Or there was a struggle. I pocket it, refusing to let myself ruminate on the latter possibility.

I mount Buck again, and we continue. At the split above the ranger cabin, fresh tracks cut across the mud. Small tires. Utility vehicle. I follow them downhill until the trail narrows, then dismount and tie Buck beneath a stand of firs.

The shed is less than two hundred yards below. I draw my pistol, moving slowly, listening, head on a swivel.

Water runs through the brush. Somewhere ahead, metal scrapes against metal.

Then Pike’s voice pierces the silence. “Stop moving.”

I crouch behind a fallen tree. Through the branches, I can see the open shed door.

Hope sits just inside. Her wrists are bound. Pike stands in front of her with a gun in his right hand. He leans down. She pulls back.

My grip tightens. I want to cross that clearing and put him through the wall. Instead, I look for the second man. Nothing by the shed. No movement near the utility vehicle.

The mine entrance stands open behind the building. Beyond it, a service path runs along the slope toward the logging road.

An escape route.

I take out my phone. One bar. I send Alden my position anyway.

Hope inside lower shed. Pike armed. Cover north service path. Unknown second suspect.

Then I put it away.

Pike steps away from her. “You think Mercer’s going to come charging in here?”

Hope lifts her chin. “I think he’ll be annoyed.”

“He’ll do what I tell him.”

“Have you met him?”

Pike moves toward her again. I shift along the fallen trunk. I need a better angle, need him away from her.

Hope looks down at her hands. One wrist turns. Then the other. She’s doing something. I stay still.

Pike’s phone rings. He checks the screen. “Where are you?”

A pause.

Then, he orders, “Get up here. We’re leaving.”