Ghost a linear tactical.., p.16
Ghost: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone, page 16
She tilted her head up to look at him. “Well, you paid a high price to save my life in Kabul. So how about we call it even? Now, are you ready to find some missing children or do you want to sit around and braid each other’s hair and talk about our feelings?”
He didn’t try to stop his grin. This woman. She had been it for him from the first moment he’d seen her.
She would be it for him until the day he died.
Things weren’t totally fixed between them, but it was a start.
“Yes. For God’s sake, woman, quit your whining.”
The exasperated half smile she gave him created an ache in his chest. How many times had she looked at him the exact same way when they’d been together—like she wasn’t sure whether to punch him or kiss him? He’d never thought he’d see it again.
With a huge effort, he turned back toward the path. “If the dog was covered with mud, I say we head out toward the river.”
“I agree. I know Skywalker is pretty wild compared to Storm, but how far would he run from them?”
“If Skywalker saw a critter he wanted to chase, he might get pretty excited.”
The question was, how far would the kids chase the dog?
He and Ray looked at each other. “River,” they both said at the same time.
They moved as quickly as they could in the rain toward the body of water. Just as he’d known it would be, the storm had swollen the river, making it even faster than normal. He looked over at Ray to find her studying something downriver, and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was.
Someone as little as Jess wouldn’t last long in those waters. Ethan wouldn’t have much more of a chance either.
“If I were searching for them without any clues, I’d head downriver,” she said. “But you’ve got a pretty rocky riverbed here, no mud.”
He nodded, but the knowledge didn’t make him feel any better. “There’s a small ravine about half a mile from here that would be muddy. But it’s way far from where Ethan knows he’s supposed to be. And it’s particularly unstable in weather like this.”
“I’d be the first to tell you that I’m not good with kids, so I have no idea what they’d be thinking. And who the hell knows what happens to their thoughts when a dog gets thrown into the mix?”
“Ethan is a good boy. Good head on his shoulders, knows these woods pretty well.”
“Then we work on the assumption that something happened that Ethan wasn’t expecting, but that he’s doing his best to keep them both alive.”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, praying she was right. They ran through the rough terrain, up toward the place Dorian was afraid Ethan and Jess had gone. Ray had no problem keeping up, not that he’d been worried she would.
When Dorian stopped suddenly, she did too.
“There.” He pointed to a spot on the ground where the rocky riverbed had turned to dirt. One small area had remained sheltered from the storm, and in it was a clear paw print.
Ray nodded. “The dog definitely came this way.”
“Kids might have followed.”
They both looked up in the direction the print was facing. From here they could see the entire ravine that led farther up into the mountains. At one time, it had been the river’s path, until it had cut a new route thousands of years ago.
Now the ravine was dangerous and only experienced hikers used it, and that was in dry weather. In this storm, part of it had already collapsed in some sort of mudslide and rockfall combination.
Dorian let out a low curse. “There are some small caves back in the ravine. Ethan knows not to go there without an adult, but in this storm he might have thought shelter was more important than rules.”
“The best way to get up there is straight up, right?”
He nodded. “But it won’t take much to trigger another landslide. We might ought to go around the long way. It doesn’t do us much good if we break both our legs trying to get to them. Especially if we don’t know that they’re there.”
“I’m a lot lighter and more nimble than you are. How about if I go up and call for them? You take the longer way and see if you spot them. We’ll meet up at the top.”
He didn’t like the thought of splitting up, but she was right. She could make it up those precarious wet rocks much easier than he could. And the storm wasn’t showing any sign of stopping.
He grabbed her by the front of her jacket and yanked her close. “Those rocks are no joke. Be careful.”
“Yes, sir. I like it when you’re bossy.”
“Don’t think that I’m not aware that you’re risking your ass for two kids you don’t even know.”
She gave him a small shrug. “You know them. You love them. That’s enough for me.”
Without another word, she was gone.
21
Dorian was right, these rocks were no joke, especially in this weather. It didn’t help that Ray’s head was pounding again. She ignored the pain. There would be time enough to deal with that when the mission was over.
She moved as quickly as she could, cursing as one misstep sent a pile of rocks sliding. She leapt to the side to avoid being carried down with them, staying planted against a boulder when that small avalanche triggered another one farther up.
Jesus. If two kids and a dog had come scrambling up here, they could already be buried under this rubble.
But that was the worst-case scenario. Like she’d told Dorian, until they had proof otherwise, they would work under the assumption that Ethan was doing his best to keep himself and Jess alive.
Standing still, waiting for the rocks to stop moving, she wiped a hand across her face to remove some of the rain.
Even on her dark glove, she could see the blood. Shit.
Come on Ray, hold it together.
Now was not the time for her body to fall apart.
She gritted her teeth and blinked her eyes hard to eliminate the dizziness. And slowly began to move once the rocks stilled. It took her more time than she liked to reach the caverns Dorian had mentioned. Once she was nearby, she started calling out for Jess and Ethan. She wasn’t sure anyone could hear anything over the storm, but if there was a chance, she was willing to take it.
“Ethan! Jess!”
She called over and over, searching in one cavern and finding it empty, working her way back out, and climbing up to the next.
“Ethan! Can you hear me? Jess?”
Would the kids answer her? Weren’t kids taught not to talk to strangers? Hell, maybe they were hiding from her, and she was making it worse.
A drop of blood splattered onto her shoes. Ray grabbed the side of a large boulder as dizziness assailed her.
Damn it, she wasn’t going to become a third missing person Dorian had to search for.
Gritting her teeth against the nausea, she pushed away from the rock.
“Ethan.” Her voice was much weaker this time.
“Mama?”
Ray swallowed. Had that been Jess, or was her mind playing tricks on her? Jesus, maybe this really was a tumor or something.
“Jess? Is that you?”
“Mama? Help.”
That was no trick of her mind. No fucking tumor.
“Jess!” Ray forced every bit of power she could into her voice. “Keep yelling, sweetie. I’m going to help you. Can you sing the alphabet really loud?”
Ray let out a laugh of relief when a couple moments later a little voice started singing her ABCs.
“You’re doing great, kiddo. Keep going.”
Ray saw the girl a few moments later. She was sitting by a pile of rocks, not trying to shelter herself from the storm in any way. Ray made her way up to the girl slowly, careful not to jostle more rocks that could send debris falling on them both.
As soon as she got up to Jess, Ray realized why the girl was sitting in such a precarious location. Not because she was too young to realize the danger, but because Ethan was lying there on the ground, unconscious, one of his legs pinned under a pile of rocks.
“You’re not my mommy.” Jess looked highly disappointed at that news.
“Yeah, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m Ray.”
“Uncle Dorian’s girlfriend.”
Ray ripped off her glove with her teeth and felt for Ethan’s pulse. It was there, strong and steady. Thank God. She looked over at Jess, who seemed to be waiting for some sort of response to her statement.
Getting into a discussion about the nuances of interpersonal relationships with a four-year-old in the middle of a storm probably wasn’t a great idea. “Yeah. I’m his girlfriend. I’m here to get you back to your mom.”
“Ethan’s hurt bad.”
“He’s going to be okay.”
Little Jess’s huge green eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been trying to keep the rain off of him as much as I could while he was sleeping. I wasn’t strong enough to move the rocks. And I didn’t know my way home to go get help. And I’m afraid Skywalker is hurt.”
“No, Skywalker made it back to Ethan’s house. That’s how we knew you guys were in trouble. And you did the right thing staying here with him. He might’ve been scared without you.”
Her lip wobbled, but she nodded. “This cave has a cut through to the other side. Ethan was trying to get us there when the rocks fell.”
“How long has Ethan been sleeping?”
“He wakes up and talks to me but then goes back to sleep.”
How long would it be before Dorian made his way back to this area? Ray couldn’t leave the little boy here. With every minute of rain that fell, the rocks on the incline above them became more precarious. Not to mention, hypothermia was definitely an issue. Both kids had rain gear on, but they had been out in the elements for a long time.
“I’m going to move some of these rocks you couldn’t lift, and we’re going to take Ethan out through the other side of the cavern, okay?”
Jess nodded. “But you’re hurt too.” She pointed at Ray’s face.
Ray winked at her. “Just a nosebleed, nothing to worry about. Let’s focus on Ethan.”
The little girl helped her move rocks as best she could, but after a few minutes, Ray told her to sit inside the cavern. She was too little, her hands too clumsy from the cold rain, to be of any real help.
The fact that the kid had stayed outside next to Ethan, when shelter was so close, was amazing in itself. Most kids would have gotten themselves dry and comfortable.
“You stay right here,” she told Jess as the girl folded up against the cavern wall. “I’ll be back inside with Ethan in a few minutes.”
“Be careful of the rocks. I knew I had to protect Ethan from the rocks.”
Ray reached over and tweaked Jess’s nose. “I’m not going to let any rocks get your boy.”
Ray fought through dizziness once again as she stood up, ignoring it and moving forward.
Ethan was moaning and stirring when she got back to him.
“Ethan? It’s Ray, Uncle Dorian’s friend. I’m going to get you out.”
This damn rain wouldn’t let up.
Ethan struggled to open his eyes. “Jess?”
“I set her inside the cave where she could be safe and out of the rain.”
“I told her to go there,” the kid muttered, sounding exactly like Finn.
“Well, evidently you were both too concerned with each other to leave each other’s side. But now we’ve got to get you out of here. The rain is loosening more soil and rocks and there could be another landslide.”
Maybe she shouldn’t be saying this to a little kid. But hiding the truth from him certainly wasn’t going to help him.
Ethan nodded. “I think my leg might be broken.”
Ray began removing as many of the small and medium-sized rocks covering his leg as she could. The weight shifting around obviously hurt Ethan, but the kid stayed as stoic as possible against the pain.
“You look a lot like your dad.”
“Not really. He’s much bigger.”
There was a small rumble above them and Ray glanced over her shoulder. A small pile of rocks rolled toward them. Ray covered Ethan’s face and chest with her own torso. “Incoming, buddy.”
She gritted her teeth as the pebbles rained down on them, glad there weren’t any much bigger than that. She needed to move faster. She shook the rest of the muddy debris off her back, then began digging at the rocks in earnest.
“You’re young,” she told him. “You’ve still got plenty of time to grow to your dad’s fighting weight.”
Ethan hissed as she moved one of the larger rocks closer to his leg. “Uncle Dorian too.”
“I’ll tell you one thing, your uncle Dorian is going to be pretty freaking proud that you got yourself and Jess to this cave. You almost made it.”
Tears leaked out of the boy’s eyes. “I—I . . .”
“I know it hurts, buddy. Hang in there.”
She was getting to the big rock now. There was no way she’d be able to lift it. It would have to roll.
“Ethan, I am at the big rock. This is going to hurt.”
“Wait! Have you seen Skywalker? The man gave him treats . . .” He faded out, breathing rapidly.
“Skywalker’s fine. He’s back at your house. Let’s worry about you now. Ready? One . . . two . . . three.”
She rolled the rock off his leg. Ethan’s scream broke her heart, then ended as suddenly as it had begun when he passed out. She worked quickly to remove anything else on top of his leg while he couldn’t feel any pain. It was definitely broken, but the boulder seemed to have missed most of his knee, and it didn’t look like a compound fracture.
The kid wasn’t very big, but a fireman’s carry was the only way she was going to be able to get him into the cave and out the other side. Hopefully, Dorian would be nearby and be able to help.
Moving him as gingerly as she could, she hoisted Ethan over her shoulder and used her glutes to stand.
Damn kid might be young, but he was solid. He definitely would be following in his father’s footsteps.
Little Jess was asleep where Ray had left her against the cave wall. Good, maybe she hadn’t heard Ethan’s agonizing scream.
“Hey, Jess. Wake up, sweetie. It’s time to go.” Ray couldn’t lean down to help the little girl. It had been difficult enough to get Ethan on her shoulder the first time. She nudged Jess gently with her foot and the girl’s eyes opened. She blinked up at Ray.
“I’ve got Ethan, sweetie, but we need to go.”
“Is he okay?” Jess got up, and they began walking deeper into the cavern toward the other opening.
“I think he’s going to be fine, but we need to get him home. He won’t be able to walk.” She grabbed for Jess’s hand with her empty one. “Hopefully, Uncle Dorian will be outside and can help us get Ethan back into town.”
If not, Ray would just have to gut it out. There was no way Ethan would be able to walk over this terrain with his leg in such bad shape.
Ray swallowed a curse when she saw the low opening at the other end of the cavern. By the time she navigated it, having to get down on her knees and ease her way through with Ethan still on her shoulder, she was breathing heavily.
“You’re bleeding again, Ms. Ray.”
Ray willed strength into her legs, forcing them upright again once she’d made it through the opening. It was definitely harder this time.
“I’m okay. Do you see Uncle Dorian anywhere around?”
I need you, D.
She had serious doubts about her own ability to get Ethan back down the hill alone.
“I don’t see him, but maybe the man would be willing to help us if we could find him.”
“What man?” Hadn’t Ethan said something about a man also? “What man, Jess? There was someone out here with you guys?”
Jess nodded. “He helped us when Skywalker ran away. But I don’t know where he went.”
“Did you recognize him? Was he one of Uncle Dorian or Mr. Finn’s friends?”
The little girl shook her head. “No. I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, but he helped us with Skywalker. He was sort of quiet.”
“I think the little one is talking about me, Wraith.”
Phantom stepped out from behind the tree, his handgun pointing straight at her.
22
Ray couldn’t reach for her own weapon and get Ethan off her shoulder at the same time.
“Keep your hands out where I can see them.”
“Mason, what are you doing here? Whatever you want, it has nothing to do with these kids.” She wrapped her arm over Jess’s shoulder and pushed the girl behind her.
“It didn’t have to involve these kids. You involved them when you came after me,” he said.
Phantom was dressed for the weather. He had planned this operation from the beginning.
“I didn’t come after you, Mason. I’ve got no beef with you at all.”
He shook his head slowly. “You shouldn’t have killed my dogs, Wraith. They were all I had left. And now, I’m going to have to hurt what you and Ghost love to make up for it.” He gestured to Ethan and Jess peeking out from behind her legs.
“I didn’t kill your dogs. They were already dead when Dorian and I got there. I’m really sorry about them—”
“I saw you!” Phantom’s voice switched from calm to screaming; Jess burried her face in Ray’s thigh and whimpered.
“How? How could you have seen me kill them if I didn’t do it?” She knew that sentence didn’t make a lot of sense, but the best she could hope for was to make him realize that the reality he thought was true, wasn’t. Dorian struggled with the same thing sometimes.
“I swear I didn’t kill your dogs, Mason. I don’t know who did, but I can help you find out. We can punish them together.”
“Knew you would say that. But I saw you. Eyes don’t lie.” Phantom took a step closer, and she took a step back. “Why is your nose bleeding?”
Ray didn’t know, but it wasn’t good. She was dizzy. Ethan felt almost unbearably heavy, and he shouldn’t be. She should be able to carry his weight, more even, for much longer than this. Even watching Phantom now, he looked blurry, like her eyes couldn’t quite track him correctly.
He didn’t try to stop his grin. This woman. She had been it for him from the first moment he’d seen her.
She would be it for him until the day he died.
Things weren’t totally fixed between them, but it was a start.
“Yes. For God’s sake, woman, quit your whining.”
The exasperated half smile she gave him created an ache in his chest. How many times had she looked at him the exact same way when they’d been together—like she wasn’t sure whether to punch him or kiss him? He’d never thought he’d see it again.
With a huge effort, he turned back toward the path. “If the dog was covered with mud, I say we head out toward the river.”
“I agree. I know Skywalker is pretty wild compared to Storm, but how far would he run from them?”
“If Skywalker saw a critter he wanted to chase, he might get pretty excited.”
The question was, how far would the kids chase the dog?
He and Ray looked at each other. “River,” they both said at the same time.
They moved as quickly as they could in the rain toward the body of water. Just as he’d known it would be, the storm had swollen the river, making it even faster than normal. He looked over at Ray to find her studying something downriver, and he knew she was thinking the same thing he was.
Someone as little as Jess wouldn’t last long in those waters. Ethan wouldn’t have much more of a chance either.
“If I were searching for them without any clues, I’d head downriver,” she said. “But you’ve got a pretty rocky riverbed here, no mud.”
He nodded, but the knowledge didn’t make him feel any better. “There’s a small ravine about half a mile from here that would be muddy. But it’s way far from where Ethan knows he’s supposed to be. And it’s particularly unstable in weather like this.”
“I’d be the first to tell you that I’m not good with kids, so I have no idea what they’d be thinking. And who the hell knows what happens to their thoughts when a dog gets thrown into the mix?”
“Ethan is a good boy. Good head on his shoulders, knows these woods pretty well.”
“Then we work on the assumption that something happened that Ethan wasn’t expecting, but that he’s doing his best to keep them both alive.”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, praying she was right. They ran through the rough terrain, up toward the place Dorian was afraid Ethan and Jess had gone. Ray had no problem keeping up, not that he’d been worried she would.
When Dorian stopped suddenly, she did too.
“There.” He pointed to a spot on the ground where the rocky riverbed had turned to dirt. One small area had remained sheltered from the storm, and in it was a clear paw print.
Ray nodded. “The dog definitely came this way.”
“Kids might have followed.”
They both looked up in the direction the print was facing. From here they could see the entire ravine that led farther up into the mountains. At one time, it had been the river’s path, until it had cut a new route thousands of years ago.
Now the ravine was dangerous and only experienced hikers used it, and that was in dry weather. In this storm, part of it had already collapsed in some sort of mudslide and rockfall combination.
Dorian let out a low curse. “There are some small caves back in the ravine. Ethan knows not to go there without an adult, but in this storm he might have thought shelter was more important than rules.”
“The best way to get up there is straight up, right?”
He nodded. “But it won’t take much to trigger another landslide. We might ought to go around the long way. It doesn’t do us much good if we break both our legs trying to get to them. Especially if we don’t know that they’re there.”
“I’m a lot lighter and more nimble than you are. How about if I go up and call for them? You take the longer way and see if you spot them. We’ll meet up at the top.”
He didn’t like the thought of splitting up, but she was right. She could make it up those precarious wet rocks much easier than he could. And the storm wasn’t showing any sign of stopping.
He grabbed her by the front of her jacket and yanked her close. “Those rocks are no joke. Be careful.”
“Yes, sir. I like it when you’re bossy.”
“Don’t think that I’m not aware that you’re risking your ass for two kids you don’t even know.”
She gave him a small shrug. “You know them. You love them. That’s enough for me.”
Without another word, she was gone.
21
Dorian was right, these rocks were no joke, especially in this weather. It didn’t help that Ray’s head was pounding again. She ignored the pain. There would be time enough to deal with that when the mission was over.
She moved as quickly as she could, cursing as one misstep sent a pile of rocks sliding. She leapt to the side to avoid being carried down with them, staying planted against a boulder when that small avalanche triggered another one farther up.
Jesus. If two kids and a dog had come scrambling up here, they could already be buried under this rubble.
But that was the worst-case scenario. Like she’d told Dorian, until they had proof otherwise, they would work under the assumption that Ethan was doing his best to keep himself and Jess alive.
Standing still, waiting for the rocks to stop moving, she wiped a hand across her face to remove some of the rain.
Even on her dark glove, she could see the blood. Shit.
Come on Ray, hold it together.
Now was not the time for her body to fall apart.
She gritted her teeth and blinked her eyes hard to eliminate the dizziness. And slowly began to move once the rocks stilled. It took her more time than she liked to reach the caverns Dorian had mentioned. Once she was nearby, she started calling out for Jess and Ethan. She wasn’t sure anyone could hear anything over the storm, but if there was a chance, she was willing to take it.
“Ethan! Jess!”
She called over and over, searching in one cavern and finding it empty, working her way back out, and climbing up to the next.
“Ethan! Can you hear me? Jess?”
Would the kids answer her? Weren’t kids taught not to talk to strangers? Hell, maybe they were hiding from her, and she was making it worse.
A drop of blood splattered onto her shoes. Ray grabbed the side of a large boulder as dizziness assailed her.
Damn it, she wasn’t going to become a third missing person Dorian had to search for.
Gritting her teeth against the nausea, she pushed away from the rock.
“Ethan.” Her voice was much weaker this time.
“Mama?”
Ray swallowed. Had that been Jess, or was her mind playing tricks on her? Jesus, maybe this really was a tumor or something.
“Jess? Is that you?”
“Mama? Help.”
That was no trick of her mind. No fucking tumor.
“Jess!” Ray forced every bit of power she could into her voice. “Keep yelling, sweetie. I’m going to help you. Can you sing the alphabet really loud?”
Ray let out a laugh of relief when a couple moments later a little voice started singing her ABCs.
“You’re doing great, kiddo. Keep going.”
Ray saw the girl a few moments later. She was sitting by a pile of rocks, not trying to shelter herself from the storm in any way. Ray made her way up to the girl slowly, careful not to jostle more rocks that could send debris falling on them both.
As soon as she got up to Jess, Ray realized why the girl was sitting in such a precarious location. Not because she was too young to realize the danger, but because Ethan was lying there on the ground, unconscious, one of his legs pinned under a pile of rocks.
“You’re not my mommy.” Jess looked highly disappointed at that news.
“Yeah, sweetie, I’m sorry. I’m Ray.”
“Uncle Dorian’s girlfriend.”
Ray ripped off her glove with her teeth and felt for Ethan’s pulse. It was there, strong and steady. Thank God. She looked over at Jess, who seemed to be waiting for some sort of response to her statement.
Getting into a discussion about the nuances of interpersonal relationships with a four-year-old in the middle of a storm probably wasn’t a great idea. “Yeah. I’m his girlfriend. I’m here to get you back to your mom.”
“Ethan’s hurt bad.”
“He’s going to be okay.”
Little Jess’s huge green eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been trying to keep the rain off of him as much as I could while he was sleeping. I wasn’t strong enough to move the rocks. And I didn’t know my way home to go get help. And I’m afraid Skywalker is hurt.”
“No, Skywalker made it back to Ethan’s house. That’s how we knew you guys were in trouble. And you did the right thing staying here with him. He might’ve been scared without you.”
Her lip wobbled, but she nodded. “This cave has a cut through to the other side. Ethan was trying to get us there when the rocks fell.”
“How long has Ethan been sleeping?”
“He wakes up and talks to me but then goes back to sleep.”
How long would it be before Dorian made his way back to this area? Ray couldn’t leave the little boy here. With every minute of rain that fell, the rocks on the incline above them became more precarious. Not to mention, hypothermia was definitely an issue. Both kids had rain gear on, but they had been out in the elements for a long time.
“I’m going to move some of these rocks you couldn’t lift, and we’re going to take Ethan out through the other side of the cavern, okay?”
Jess nodded. “But you’re hurt too.” She pointed at Ray’s face.
Ray winked at her. “Just a nosebleed, nothing to worry about. Let’s focus on Ethan.”
The little girl helped her move rocks as best she could, but after a few minutes, Ray told her to sit inside the cavern. She was too little, her hands too clumsy from the cold rain, to be of any real help.
The fact that the kid had stayed outside next to Ethan, when shelter was so close, was amazing in itself. Most kids would have gotten themselves dry and comfortable.
“You stay right here,” she told Jess as the girl folded up against the cavern wall. “I’ll be back inside with Ethan in a few minutes.”
“Be careful of the rocks. I knew I had to protect Ethan from the rocks.”
Ray reached over and tweaked Jess’s nose. “I’m not going to let any rocks get your boy.”
Ray fought through dizziness once again as she stood up, ignoring it and moving forward.
Ethan was moaning and stirring when she got back to him.
“Ethan? It’s Ray, Uncle Dorian’s friend. I’m going to get you out.”
This damn rain wouldn’t let up.
Ethan struggled to open his eyes. “Jess?”
“I set her inside the cave where she could be safe and out of the rain.”
“I told her to go there,” the kid muttered, sounding exactly like Finn.
“Well, evidently you were both too concerned with each other to leave each other’s side. But now we’ve got to get you out of here. The rain is loosening more soil and rocks and there could be another landslide.”
Maybe she shouldn’t be saying this to a little kid. But hiding the truth from him certainly wasn’t going to help him.
Ethan nodded. “I think my leg might be broken.”
Ray began removing as many of the small and medium-sized rocks covering his leg as she could. The weight shifting around obviously hurt Ethan, but the kid stayed as stoic as possible against the pain.
“You look a lot like your dad.”
“Not really. He’s much bigger.”
There was a small rumble above them and Ray glanced over her shoulder. A small pile of rocks rolled toward them. Ray covered Ethan’s face and chest with her own torso. “Incoming, buddy.”
She gritted her teeth as the pebbles rained down on them, glad there weren’t any much bigger than that. She needed to move faster. She shook the rest of the muddy debris off her back, then began digging at the rocks in earnest.
“You’re young,” she told him. “You’ve still got plenty of time to grow to your dad’s fighting weight.”
Ethan hissed as she moved one of the larger rocks closer to his leg. “Uncle Dorian too.”
“I’ll tell you one thing, your uncle Dorian is going to be pretty freaking proud that you got yourself and Jess to this cave. You almost made it.”
Tears leaked out of the boy’s eyes. “I—I . . .”
“I know it hurts, buddy. Hang in there.”
She was getting to the big rock now. There was no way she’d be able to lift it. It would have to roll.
“Ethan, I am at the big rock. This is going to hurt.”
“Wait! Have you seen Skywalker? The man gave him treats . . .” He faded out, breathing rapidly.
“Skywalker’s fine. He’s back at your house. Let’s worry about you now. Ready? One . . . two . . . three.”
She rolled the rock off his leg. Ethan’s scream broke her heart, then ended as suddenly as it had begun when he passed out. She worked quickly to remove anything else on top of his leg while he couldn’t feel any pain. It was definitely broken, but the boulder seemed to have missed most of his knee, and it didn’t look like a compound fracture.
The kid wasn’t very big, but a fireman’s carry was the only way she was going to be able to get him into the cave and out the other side. Hopefully, Dorian would be nearby and be able to help.
Moving him as gingerly as she could, she hoisted Ethan over her shoulder and used her glutes to stand.
Damn kid might be young, but he was solid. He definitely would be following in his father’s footsteps.
Little Jess was asleep where Ray had left her against the cave wall. Good, maybe she hadn’t heard Ethan’s agonizing scream.
“Hey, Jess. Wake up, sweetie. It’s time to go.” Ray couldn’t lean down to help the little girl. It had been difficult enough to get Ethan on her shoulder the first time. She nudged Jess gently with her foot and the girl’s eyes opened. She blinked up at Ray.
“I’ve got Ethan, sweetie, but we need to go.”
“Is he okay?” Jess got up, and they began walking deeper into the cavern toward the other opening.
“I think he’s going to be fine, but we need to get him home. He won’t be able to walk.” She grabbed for Jess’s hand with her empty one. “Hopefully, Uncle Dorian will be outside and can help us get Ethan back into town.”
If not, Ray would just have to gut it out. There was no way Ethan would be able to walk over this terrain with his leg in such bad shape.
Ray swallowed a curse when she saw the low opening at the other end of the cavern. By the time she navigated it, having to get down on her knees and ease her way through with Ethan still on her shoulder, she was breathing heavily.
“You’re bleeding again, Ms. Ray.”
Ray willed strength into her legs, forcing them upright again once she’d made it through the opening. It was definitely harder this time.
“I’m okay. Do you see Uncle Dorian anywhere around?”
I need you, D.
She had serious doubts about her own ability to get Ethan back down the hill alone.
“I don’t see him, but maybe the man would be willing to help us if we could find him.”
“What man?” Hadn’t Ethan said something about a man also? “What man, Jess? There was someone out here with you guys?”
Jess nodded. “He helped us when Skywalker ran away. But I don’t know where he went.”
“Did you recognize him? Was he one of Uncle Dorian or Mr. Finn’s friends?”
The little girl shook her head. “No. I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, but he helped us with Skywalker. He was sort of quiet.”
“I think the little one is talking about me, Wraith.”
Phantom stepped out from behind the tree, his handgun pointing straight at her.
22
Ray couldn’t reach for her own weapon and get Ethan off her shoulder at the same time.
“Keep your hands out where I can see them.”
“Mason, what are you doing here? Whatever you want, it has nothing to do with these kids.” She wrapped her arm over Jess’s shoulder and pushed the girl behind her.
“It didn’t have to involve these kids. You involved them when you came after me,” he said.
Phantom was dressed for the weather. He had planned this operation from the beginning.
“I didn’t come after you, Mason. I’ve got no beef with you at all.”
He shook his head slowly. “You shouldn’t have killed my dogs, Wraith. They were all I had left. And now, I’m going to have to hurt what you and Ghost love to make up for it.” He gestured to Ethan and Jess peeking out from behind her legs.
“I didn’t kill your dogs. They were already dead when Dorian and I got there. I’m really sorry about them—”
“I saw you!” Phantom’s voice switched from calm to screaming; Jess burried her face in Ray’s thigh and whimpered.
“How? How could you have seen me kill them if I didn’t do it?” She knew that sentence didn’t make a lot of sense, but the best she could hope for was to make him realize that the reality he thought was true, wasn’t. Dorian struggled with the same thing sometimes.
“I swear I didn’t kill your dogs, Mason. I don’t know who did, but I can help you find out. We can punish them together.”
“Knew you would say that. But I saw you. Eyes don’t lie.” Phantom took a step closer, and she took a step back. “Why is your nose bleeding?”
Ray didn’t know, but it wasn’t good. She was dizzy. Ethan felt almost unbearably heavy, and he shouldn’t be. She should be able to carry his weight, more even, for much longer than this. Even watching Phantom now, he looked blurry, like her eyes couldn’t quite track him correctly.
