She was hungry, but the thought of food made her stomach twist into knots. She drank water from nearby streams frequently, because she knew she had to do something to keep her strength up. And no matter that she bore the knowledge that she would likely die, she couldn’t bring herself to simply give up. Not yet.
Quietly, she turned over, rearranging the blanket in the fruitless hope she’d somehow find greater warmth. Eventually she’d have to reach out to her sister, but if she did so now, Shea would see the horrific shape Grace was in. Shea would come. She’d put herself in grave danger. Grace would never be able to live with herself if Shea was sacrificed because in a moment of weakness Grace gave in and tried to re-establish the link with her sister.
Silent tears slid down Grace’s cheeks, briefly warming her skin until the chilly air turned them to ice. She angrily scrubbed them away and hunched lower, furious with herself for allowing despair to control her.
She was stronger than this, and she’d be strong again. She just needed time to recover from her ordeal. Maybe she’d never be the same as she was, but she wasn’t going to give in. If she died, she’d die running. She’d die standing up and fighting. She refused to die in some laboratory where rats were treated with less disdain.
A distant sound froze her to the bone. She went so still that even her breath sounded like a roar in the night. She pushed the blanket over her mouth, trying to quell the noise, and she stared into the trees, trying desperately to see through the thick curtain of night.
Someone was coming.
THEY crawled through the mountains under the cover of dark. Rio knew they were close. They’d been closing in on Grace for days now, but somehow she’d managed to elude them just when he was sure they’d come upon her.
He trilled a soft bird call, and several yards away, an answering call returned. He adjusted his pack, slipped on the infrared goggles and scanned the area ahead, looking for anything giving off a heat signal.
There were several smaller forms. Animals. Even a larger shape that must have been an elk or a deer. Nothing that resembled a human, though.
He’d given orders for strict radio silence. They weren’t the only ones who sought Grace. But he was determined to get to her first. His gut told him they needed to catch up to her before dawn. The hairs on his nape rose and apprehension slipped down his spine. It wasn’t that he feared confrontation. In truth, he’d savor killing the bastards who’d made Grace and Shea’s life hell over the last year.
It was the knowledge that she was in danger and that he and his men needed to end this game of cat and mouse.
Beside him, Terrence, his right hand, melted into the dark just a few feet away. Rio continued a path further up the mountain. There were any number of nooks and crannies a small woman could hide and so he carefully scanned the area, looking for any heat source.
Where are you, Grace? I know you’re here. I can feel you.
And it was true. There was a distinct prickle, the same awareness he’d experienced the first time he’d seen her on the surveillance footage. The last time anyone had seen her before she’d disappeared.
He’d known beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be the one to go after her and bring her back to her sister. Safe and alive.
Since that time, he’d tracked her movements with uncanny accuracy. He and his men hadn’t left a stone unturned in their search for her. They’d gone back to the house where she’d last been seen and had broadened their search from there.
It had taken weeks, but now they were following a lead into the mountains of Colorado and Rio was sure they were close. His gut was screaming and he never ignored his gut. It had kept him alive more times than he could count.
He paused when he heard a noise in the distance. He turned, scanning the area, and then he saw the infrared images of men he knew weren’t his moving stealthily through the trees.
Damn it.