Chapter 24

Nakos drew up short by a scattering of trees and quickly dismounted, taking off somewhere to their right.

Nate cut the engine and followed, having no idea what had lit a fire under the foreman. Snow tinged the air. The trickle of running water blended into the background noise of wind and leaves crackling, and he realized it was probably the creek. But he didn't see or hear...

His gaze landed on a horse grazing on grass by an oak. The horse she had been riding, in fact. But there was no Olivia.

Nakos fumbled with the sack on the horse's flank and pulled out her radio, then her phone. "Crap." His head whipped around, gaze narrowed to slits as he scanned their whereabouts. "She tied Firestorm here, so she's got to be close. Olivia!"

Nothing but nature answered and Nate's heart stopped. A strip of barbed wire fencing lined a row of trees and, just beyond that, starlight glimmered off the creek. It didn't look any wider than a hundred feet, nor very deep, but the embankment was rocky.