With renewed vigor, she nearly ran down the shoddily paved road. Rocks and pieces of asphalt pierced the soles of her feet, but she ignored the discomfort. Next to the agony shooting down her arm, the rest was negligible.
When she reached Sam’s mailbox, she nearly fainted on the spot. For a moment she leaned her hand on the metal box and gasped for breath. Tears stung her eyelids, and she closed her eyes as she struggled to find the strength to go on.
Lights were on in every room, it seemed. Were they home? She hurried to the front door and nearly wept in relief when she found it open.
“Sam! Garrett!” she yelled as she slammed the door shut.
Silence greeted her exclamation.
She went from room to room but found them empty. She had no idea how long it had been since she and Ethan had been forced off the road. Sam and Garrett were probably with him. Or looking for her.
Fear swamped her as she realized the men who’d hit them had obviously known where she and Ethan were. They’d followed them to Sam’s and waited for them to leave. Which meant they could be back.
Panic billowing through her like a flash fire, she ran from room to room, turning off every light until the entire house was plunged into darkness.
A phone. She needed a phone.
In the kitchen she yanked the cordless phone off the charger and headed for the basement. There were lots of places she could hide that would buy her time if the men trying to kill her did come back.
When she found the darkest, smallest corner in the tiny closet that housed the hot water heater, she sank to the floor and dialed 911.
CHAPTER 38
THEY’D been through all the possible scenarios. Ethan, Sam and Garrett had coordinated with the local and state authorities, and then they’d broken away to fill the cracks. If there was anything at all the police were missing, the Kellys would find it.
The call came in an hour before dawn. An abandoned SUV with the front end caved in parked off one of the gravel roads off 232.
They converged on it from all directions, but it was obvious no one had been in it for a good while. The engine was completely cold, the doors open, and footprints led away into the woods.
Ethan swore and pounded his fist into the side of the truck. Garrett gripped his hand and pulled him away.
“Save it, man. Rachel needs you.”
“It’s time to go hunting,” Sam murmured as he bent and shone his flashlight at the mishmash of footprints. “See this one? It’s smaller than the others. I think she got away from them. They lead into the woods.”
“What you got?” Sean asked as he approached after his survey of the area.
Sam pointed and related his theory. Sean nodded.
“I’ll have my men spread out.” He looked up at Ethan and eyed him with a steady gaze. “We won’t give up until we find her.”
Ethan nodded. “Thank you.”
The brothers followed the footprints into the woods. At times they lost the trail, when the way became too rocky to register the imprint of a shoe. Then they’d pick it up several yards later. About a quarter mile from the SUV, they found a tennis shoe lying among the leaves and dirt.
Adrenaline surged in Ethan’s veins. “It’s Rachel’s,” he said hoarsely. He scraped the dirt from the sides and the sole with shaking hands. It was definitely hers. His mom had bought them on one of her many shopping trips for Rachel.
“She kept going,” Garrett said.
Sam directed the flashlight beam along the path where the imprint of one tennis shoe and one bare foot led farther into the woods.
“Atta girl,” Sam murmured.
They hurried forward, keeping the flashlights aimed at the ground as they followed the footprints.
Eventually they came to a stop at a riverbank. The soil was disturbed like someone had fallen, and the incline was eaten away.
Ethan slid down the embankment to study the area closer to the river’s edge. There were distinct footprints, and closer to the overhang, there was a hollowed-out area that looked very much like someone had huddled there.
Rachel’s prints ended here, but the larger boot prints circled and overlapped before finally paralleling the shore west.
His brothers scanned the area beside him with frowns on their faces.
“What do you make of it, Sam?” Garrett asked.
Sam stared at Ethan, and it infuriated him that Sam was holding back.
“Just say it,” Ethan bit out. “We’re wasting time.”
“There are two possibilities,” Sam said slowly. “The smaller prints lead here and none lead away. The boot prints arrive here and they leave again in the other direction. Either Rachel lost them here or they caught up to her here and she didn’t leave on her own.”
Ethan sucked in his breath. He might be looking at where Rachel had died. He shook his head. Fuck no. He refused to believe that. If Rachel got away the first time, she could do it again. She was smart, and she was a fighter.
Garrett turned to survey the river.
“She could have gone into the water. She’s listened in on enough of our powwows to have picked up any number of evasion tactics. Hell, we used to sit around drinking beer and telling combat stories. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that she hit the water and stayed there so she wouldn’t leave tracks.”
Excitement curled in Ethan’s stomach. He had to believe that. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
“So we split up,” Sam said. “I’ll go upriver. You two head down. If she headed downriver, she would have hit the lake. I’ll radio Sean and have a search party scour the riverbanks upriver and also search the lake for any sign of her. If she’s out here, we’ll find her.”