He breathed a prayer of thanks that Heather had been so smart and brave in breaking him free.
Adrenaline kicked into high gear as he jumped to his feet and sprinted alongside her. Behind him, shouting and protest rose up. Then a single wild gunshot echoed through the trees.
“Don’t kill them!” one of the men ordered. “Willis wants them alive.”
Zane caught up with her as they raced toward an open area. The ATVs roared to life. They needed to get to terrain where the machines couldn’t follow them. She glanced around.
He pointed toward a rocky incline. She hurried after him just as one of the ATVs burst through the trees. Another bullet whizzed past his ear. They slipped behind a rock and pressed low to the ground. Killing them might not be an option, but wounding them must still be on the table. Zane and Heather pushed themselves upward, using the larger rocks for cover.
They rushed toward the top of the incline. When he glanced down over his shoulder, he saw that one of the men had a high-powered rifle. It was pointed right at him—but before the sniper could take the shot, they reached the ridgeline and headed down the other side.
They sprinted down the grassy side of the hill until they entered a cluster of trees.
Both of them gasped for breath.
Zane ran his hand through his hair and paced as adrenaline coursed through him. “We need to get out of here. It’s just a matter of minutes before they catch up with us.”
“Who are those guys and why did they kidnap you?”
Her question felt like a weight on his chest. She’d saved his life. He owed her an explanation, but there was no time for that now. “The trail on up the mountain is blocked by the rockslide, so we’ll have to go by way of the river.”
He didn’t wait for her to respond. Instead, he turned and bolted through the trees. If she wanted to stay alive, she’d follow him. She’d already proven she had good survival skills.
The landscape bounced in front of him as he kept pace with Heather.
The sound of the ATVs grew louder then died out and then intensified again. Heather and Zane entered a wide meadow. An ATV emerged from the opposite side of the meadow. Its rider came to a stop and yanked a rifle from a holder attached to the ATV.
Zane grabbed her and pulled her toward the thick evergreens. The first rifle shot stirred the ground up in front of her feet. She jumped back. Zane tugged on her sleeve. Both of them dived toward the shelter of the heavy brush as the sound of more ATV engines filled the forest. The mechanical roar pressed on him from every side. He wasn’t sure which way to go to get away. Were they being surrounded?
Zane hesitated for only a moment before choosing a path. They scrambled downward through the trees. The steep path they were on couldn’t be called a trail, which would make it that much harder to be followed. The noise of the ATVs died out again. Though he doubted the pursuers had given up.
They jogged until they were both out of breath and needed to stop.
A sense of urgency pressed in on Zane as he pointed off in the distance. “We need to go to the river and get across that bridge. We don’t have much time before they catch up with us.”
Looking over to the side, he saw where the ATVs snaked down a distant hill. Far enough away for now—but closing in, faster than he and Heather could possibly move on foot.
“How are you going to get to the river? We can’t outrun them.” Her voice trembled with panic.
As if on cue, a braying noise alerted both of them as Clarence entered the flat area where they stood.
“Looks like our ride’s here.” Heather hurried over and patted Clarence’s neck. “I found him earlier. I’m starting to really like this old mule.”
“They always find their way back,” Zane said. “Let’s drop some of this weight.” He reached for the saddlebags.
He pulled a few essential items out and stuffed them into his pockets before yanking the bags off the mule and tossing them on the ground. “We’d better hurry.”
A moment later, the sound of the ATVs engines clanging filled the forest around them growing louder and closer. He mounted Clarence and reached out a hand for her to get on behind him. Zane spurred Clarence into a trot. The animal was surefooted enough on the rough terrain that he was able to keep a steady pace. But would be fast enough for them to get away?
* * *
Heather wrapped her arms around Zane’s waist and pressed close to him. She buried her face in his shoulder-length hair, melting into the warmth of his back. The solid shape of the box that held her father’s ashes pushed against her stomach. Until that moment, she’d almost forgotten it was there. Saying goodbye to the father she never knew and finding some closure seemed like the furthest thing from her mind.
They needed to get off this mountain alive. Judging from how ragged and dirty the men and boys all looked, they must live up in the mountains for extended periods. That meant they knew how to survive in the harshness of the high country.
The rushing roar of the river greeted her ears even before she saw the cold gray water and the bridge.
Zane turned his head slightly. “Dismount. We’ll lead Clarence across. You go in front of me.”
She slid off the mule. The bridge was primitive; the railings were made of narrow but strong cording. The bottom was fashioned from logs bound together with the same cording, stretching across the wide rushing water, connected at either end to sturdy trees. It swayed when she stepped on it. She steadied herself by grabbing the rope railing. Zane fell in behind her, leading Clarence, who hesitated only a moment before he stepped on the unsteady structure.
The ATV noises stopped nearby. The shouts and cries of men out for violence filled the forest. Before long, two of the men emerged through the trees. One of them drew a handgun and shot. The shot went wild. All the same, the gunfire made her stutter in her step.
“Keep going,” Zane urged, and he peered over his shoulder.
They were halfway across the bridge.
She couldn’t see around him or the mule on the narrow bridge but the look on his face when he turned back around indicated that something had alarmed him.
“What is it?”
“Hurry! The men started to cross and backed up.”
Then she heard it—an awful creaking. The bridge swayed. It was unstable and about to break.
They couldn’t go back.
She lost her balance and buckled to one knee. Heart racing, she pulled herself to her feet and stepped as fast as she dared across the uneven logs. The bridge swayed even more and creaked in a new way. She could see the other side of the river. Solid ground was only twenty feet away.
Trying to maintain her balance, she put one foot in front of the other and gripped the rope railing.
A louder creak filled the air. She caught a glimpse of the rushing water down below, dark and cold. The bridge went slack. And then she felt her body slipping backward and down. Her hand flailed, struggling to find something to hold on to.
She grasped only air as her body plunged into the depths of the freezing water.
Zane grabbed hold of the rope remnants of the bridge as he drifted downstream. Clarence’s body rammed into his and then floated away as the animal struggled to keep its head above water. He saw a flash of Heather’s jacket, and then she disappeared beneath the freezing water. His heart squeezed tight, and he waited for her to resurface.
A bullet whizzed past