Cry in the Night

  Where were Sam and Davy? He kicked out of the sleeping bag and stood with his pulse jumping in his throat. He leaped the fire and went to the mouth of the cave, where he saw Davy and the dog running back toward the truck. “Davy, come back here!” He floundered through the snow, but he was still faster then the boy and managed to tackle him.

  “Run, Sam!” Davy screamed. “Go find Mom. Bree, get Bree!”

  Davy squirmed in Quinn’s arms, but his efforts were puny. The dog danced around them both, barking. Quinn made a grab for Sam’s collar, but he jerked away.

  “Go, Sam!” Davy yelled again. “Get Bree!”

  The dog turned and raced away, disappearing into the driving white storm.

  The wind howled through the trees and Kade thought of the win-digo. One had appeared all right. And it was about to devour his family. But he wasn’t going to let it. The wind drove cold spikes into his flesh as he uncovered the snowmobiles, gassed them up, then drove each one to the front of the house. There would be four of them including Mason and Naomi.

  The wind snickered at his attempt for warmth in spite of his heated gear and the heavy wool sock hat on his head. He’d need more layers. So would Bree. He trudged through the driving snow and drifts to the house, where he met her in the hall.

  He glanced at her clothing. “Put on three or four layers. It’s brutal. Full blizzard conditions. I’m going to add another two layers of long underwear. How many do you have?”

  “One plus the heated.” She turned and followed him upstairs. “Hurry!”

  They quickly added more layers of underwear, plus two more sweaters. They both had a Pillsbury Doughboy appearance as they waddled downstairs, but their preparations might make the difference between freezing to death and finding their boy. Kade took a moment to call his boss and request assistance from other rangers. Though the reception came in and out, Landorf promised to try to find some help.

  Naomi had arrived with Charley by the time Kade and Bree got to the door. “Any word?” she asked.

  “No.” Bree quickly filled her in on what they knew. “Mason suspects they might have been forced to stop in Baraga, so that’s where we’re headed.”

  Charley whined, and Naomi calmed him with a hand on his head. “Can’t Mason call ahead and ask law enforcement there to check out the motels in the area? Go door-to-door?”

  “He already did, but they’re all out searching for a bunch of stranded hunters who got caught by the storm. They’ll get to it when they can, but it might be tomorrow. And Rob could be gone with Davy by then.” Bree’s voice trembled.

  Kade eyed Naomi. “How many layers?”

  “Four counting the heated gear. Donovan insisted.” She glanced at her dog. “There’s no way to take Charley on the snowmobile, is there?”

  Kade shook his head. “Not in these conditions. I wish we could. He might help us.”

  Mason stepped out of the living room and joined them. He had enough layers to mimic a bear. “Ready?”

  Kade nodded. “Yeah, I was about to go get you.” He raised his voice. “Lauri, Anu, we’re going now.”

  Both women appeared in the doorway. “I will be praying,” Anu said.

  “We need it more than anything else.” Kade held no optimism for their journey tonight. Too many things were stacked against them. “If you hear anything, call my cell. I’ve got it on vibrate and it’s next to my chest.”

  They nodded, and he saw the fear in their eyes. “We’ll be all right.” He hugged his sister, and she burst into tears. He released her and opened the door to the howling wind. They stepped out into blinding conditions. The security light did nothing to illuminate the path, and Kade found the snowmobiles more by instinct than anything.

  “It’s going to be hard to stay on the road!” Mason shouted above the shriek of the storm.

  “I’ve got GPS on the snowmobiles,” Kade yelled back. “They’ll help guide us.” He mounted his sled and fired up the engine. He could barely hear it above the wind. His gloved hands were clumsy, and he had trouble turning on the GPS unit. The backlit display glowed, then the trails came up. He switched it to show the highways. They’d stay as close to the road as possible in case they found Rob’s truck stuck in a drift, though Kade didn’t think they’d be that lucky.

  Once his sled was ready, he glanced back to make sure the rest were lined up to pull out. Their headlamps were on, but the lights barely penetrated the thickly falling snow. He waved his arm to show he was starting, then guided his machine up the driveway. The drifts were piling up fast.

  The wind cut through his ski mask the worst, but when they made the curve onto the main road, the wind was at their backs, and that helped some. He was only able to go fifteen miles per hour. They passed through Rock Harbor. Most businesses had shut down early, and house lights barely penetrated the driving snow.

  Kade led them out of the city limits and onto Highway 36 east to Baraga. Without the break from the buildings, the conditions immediately worsened. Their sleds barely crawled up the huge drifts, and the only way he managed to stay halfway on track was by watching the GPS mounted on the front of his machine.

  Not another vehicle passed them. Their four sleds moved in a line through a deadly white world.

  He no longer felt his face, and he prayed that Bree and Naomi were doing okay. The few times he’d tried to look behind, he saw only their silhouettes. A sheltered area would be a good place to take a break, and he watched for one. There, just past a patch of trees.

  He guided his sled into the small area, which had drifts on all sides but one so the wind didn’t blow here quite so fiercely. He waited until the others joined him, then left his machine running and dismounted. He leaned into Naomi’s ear. “How are you doing?”

  “Okay,” she yelled. “Frozen, but I’ll live.”

  He walked back to the next bike and found Mason. Wait, there were only three sleds. He tore off his ski mask so he could see better and looked wildly around for his wife. There was no sign of her sled. No lights, no hulking machine in the snow.

  He grabbed Mason’s arm and pointed. “Where’s Bree?”

  Mason twisted on his sled. “She was right behind me a few minutes ago!”

  “Stay here!”

  Kade ran to his sled and mounted, then veered back the way he’d come. He drove a mile but saw no sign of his wife. Just a few feet away and the wind had already covered their tracks.

  “Bree!” he screamed into the wind, knowing it was futile. His words were snatched away almost before they left his lips. He needed help.

  Stupid cell phone. Bree’s snowmobile had stuttered to a halt, and she tried to call Kade, but she had no bars. She wanted to throw the phone in the nearest snowbank but she didn’t dare. By the time she got it going again, darkness surrounded her, and she was alone with the snow swirling in eddies and blinding her to any familiar landscape. She wasn’t sure which way they’d gone.

  She should stay put. Kade would notice she was missing and come back for her. She huddled in her parka, but her limbs were blocks of ice, even with her heated gear turned up all the way. If she had to, she could pull out her Blizzard Survival Bag and Mylar foil blanket and ride this out, but she was sure her husband would notice her missing very quickly. She prayed they’d find Davy in Baraga. The thought of him out in this storm terrified her.

  She dismounted and ran around the sled a few times to warm up. It didn’t help much. She flapped her unfeeling hands against her sides. Frostbite maybe. The brutal weather was taking its toll already. They’d seen no vehicles moving on the impassible road, which led her to fear Rob was stranded along with her son.

  She decided to mount the biggest snowdrift she could find and try to call Kade. The compass would serve to guide her back. She trudged up a drift and pulled out her phone. One bar. She tried Kade’s number but got only silent air. She moved around onto the top of the drift to see if she could get a better signal, but it was useless. Slipping and sliding, she went back to the sl
ed.

  The low growl of an engine caught her attention. She stilled and listened. It sounded like a snowmobile. She glanced in all directions. There, coming from the east along one of the snowmobile trails. The sled had nearly reached her before its lights penetrated the wild flurry of snow.

  The driver cut the engine when he caught sight of her about five feet off the highway. A dim, bulky figure climbed from the sled and approached her. With every inch of exposed flesh covered, just as hers was, she didn’t recognize the person. Bree tore off her hat and ski mask to reveal her identity.

  The other person did the same, and she stared into the face of Gary Landorf, Kade’s boss. “Gary, I’m so glad to see you,” she gasped. “Have you seen Kade and Mason? I got separated from them.”

  “Yeah, they’re back there a ways looking for you.” He jerked a gloved hand behind him, then replaced his hat and mask.

  The wind drove needles of snow into her flesh, so Bree quickly did the same. She shuddered with cold. Or maybe it was reaction to being separated from the others. “Could you take me to them?” she asked, raising her voice above the wind.

  He nodded, then walked back to his sled and mounted. Machine and rider moved ahead of her and paused until she got back on her seat and followed. He veered to the snowmobile trail. To her surprise, she found the trail a little easier than the road. It was better protected by shrubs and trees and fewer huge drifts. They were able to pick up their speed a bit.

  She rode through the narrow trail with snow-covered pines on either side. Surely they’d find Kade and the others soon. They seemed to have gone a long way before realizing she was missing. But the visibility was low, she reminded herself. They’d been focused on finding Davy.

  The sled ahead of her veered, and she followed. When the other snowmobile braked, she did too. What was that outline? She peered through the snow. Was it a cabin? Dim light pierced the falling snow, and the flicker meant a fire inside. Had Kade found her boy? She dismounted and slogged through the thigh-high snow toward the front door.

  The door wasn’t locked, and she burst into the warm cabin with an eager smile. And came face-to-face with Victor.

  Her elation seeped away. “Victor? How’d you get here?” He stared from her back to the open door as Landorf ’s bulk filled it.

  The park ranger supervisor entered and shut the door behind him, then locked it. He removed his hat and ski mask. Victor shrank away when the ranger’s face popped into view. He sat on a small wooden chair and began to rock back and forth. He wore his coat and insulated pants.

  Landorf still hadn’t spoken. He began to peel the layers of clothing away until he got down to his park service uniform.

  “Where’re Kade and the others?” Bree demanded. Victor began to thrash his arms around. She touched him to try to calm him. “It’s okay, Vic,” she said.

  “Probably looking for you.” Landorf went to the coffeepot and poured himself a cup. “Coffee?” he asked.

  She badly wanted something hot, but not while her husband and two others were out battling this storm. “You said you were taking me to them.”

  “I thought I’d let you warm up first.”

  “They’ll be worried.” She pulled out her cell phone and checked it. Still no bars.

  He held out a cup of coffee, and she stripped off her gloves, then took it. Being cold herself wasn’t going to help Kade, Naomi, or Mason. “You have a thermos? We could take them some hot coffee.”

  “Sure. We’ll go out in just a minute. They’re not far.”

  She glanced around. “Where is this place?”

  He took a sip of his coffee. “Just off the reservation, not far from Baraga. I’ve owned it a few years. I come here to get away from the stress of the job.” He gestured to her coat. “You might as well get out of that until we’re ready to go out again.”

  There was something about his manner or his smile that raised the skin on her spine. “I’m ready now. I need to let them know I’m okay.”

  Victor began flapping his arms again. He stood and went to the door, where he tugged at the handle. Bree put down her coffee and went to slip her arm around him. “Come sit down, Victor.”

  He glanced up and met her eyes, then glanced away, but not before she saw the anguish in them. She glanced at Landorf and realized he wore an eagle bird band as a ring on his index finger. Her gaze fell on the number. The number she’d seen over and over again on Victor’s sudokus.

  25

  THE REST OF THE TEAM JOINED KADE IN TURNING AROUND to search for Bree. Kade wished desperately for Samson or Charley. Either dog could have found her trail because snow or rain intensified the scent. She couldn’t be far, but she knew better than to veer off the road.

  Unless she’d seen Davy?

  Nothing would have stopped her if she’d caught sight of her son. Checking his cell phone, he found no messages. And no signal. He stopped his sled, dismounted, and went back to talk to Naomi and Mason.

  Naomi’s teeth chattered audibly. She reached into her pack and got out gel-filled hand warmers. “No sign?” she asked.

  “Nothing. She knows better than to leave the path where we’d look for her,” Mason put in, dismounting and grabbing a warmer for himself.

  Mason’s words ramped up Kade’s fear. Could she have had an accident? What if they’d missed her and her sled was covered with snow in a ditch? “When did you see her last?”

  Mason consulted his watch and his GPS. “We’d just passed the road to Seven Mile Lookout. I glanced back and saw her still on my tail.”

  “Two miles from where we turned around to look for her.” The realization that she had to be within these two miles encouraged him. “You and Naomi take the south side of the road. I’ll take the north. Comb every inch of the ditches. She can’t have just vanished.”

  “I’ll comb it on foot,” Mason said.

  Mason and Naomi rode off on their sleds, back the way they’d come. Their lights disappeared in the dark and blinding snow. Kade walked along the ditch on his side of the road about twenty feet before driving his sled a bit farther. He was on his third pass that way when he saw a drift that looked like sleds might have passed over it before being covered with more snow.

  Not certain it was anything, he checked the GPS. A snowmobile trail did cross the ditch here. He followed his GPS to the trail and found the wind not so biting. He saw sled tracks not yet covered by snow. Pausing his sled, he checked his cell phone. Still no bars. He’d have to go back for Naomi and Mason. Chafing at the delay, he got his machine turned around and moved along the road until he saw the lights of the other searchers.

  Mason and Naomi were both on foot now. Their shadows wavered in the glow of headlamps. They walked back to Kade’s sled.

  “I found tracks along a snowmobile trail!” He told them where they were.

  “Why would she leave the road?” Mason asked.

  “It looks like there might have been more than one sled. Maybe she found them. Come on!” He turned his machine and headed back the way he’d come.

  The onslaught of snow began to taper just a bit. He could make out the trees lining the highway, see the road signs. He guided the sled slowly on the trail, watching the marks left by whomever went before. Please, God, let this be Bree.

  Was this punishment for how close he’d come to lying on that grant application? No, he didn’t believe that. God promised a way out of temptation, and he’d given Kade the strength to say no. Even now, he knew God was in control of this situation.

  The sled tracks veered from the trail at a break in the trees. They angled across an open field. He could barely make out the glow of light from a tiny cabin. His first instinct was to accelerate his engine and head for the cabin, then reason kicked in. If Bree had followed Rob, it was possible the noise of his engine would endanger her.

  He turned off the snowmobile and dismounted as the others came up behind him. Motioning for them to do the same, he waited until they joined him under the branches of
a large oak tree.

  “Let’s go in on foot,” Kade said. “See if she’s in that cabin. Maybe Rob and Davy are there too.” Some sixth sense warned of a problem.

  The three of them trudged through the snow. The white stuff muffled their steps, and the wind also helped to whirl away any sound they made. He crept to the window and peered in to see his wife sitting beside Victor.

  Their hands were tied. Bree still had her snowmobile suit on, but her hat was off, as was her ski mask. She was straining at her bonds, twisting and pulling at her wrists. Victor sat still.

  Kade saw Mason unzip his snowmobile suit and reach inside to pull out his gun. Before the sheriff ’s hand cleared the fabric of his layers, a hard, sharp object prodded Kade’s back. He froze, recognizing the poke of a rifle. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure in a ski mask move closer.

  The man plucked the revolver from Mason’s hand. He gestured with the gun toward the door. Mason, Naomi, and Kade shuffled to the cabin entrance and went inside. The warmth rushed to greet them, but Kade still felt the cold edge of fear when he saw his wife’s panicked eyes.

  He stepped quickly to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “You okay, babe?”

  She nodded, but her lips trembled. “I figured it out,” she whispered. “All of it.”

  “Shut up,” the man said.

  Kade knew that voice. His head came up, and he stared at the figure reaching up to remove his hat and ski mask. Landorf?

  Bree nearly moaned when her husband shuffled inside with Mason and Naomi. She’d hoped they wouldn’t get caught in this trap.

  “Surprised?” Landorf smiled at Kade and tossed his gloves and hat on the table. “Have a seat. All of you.” He grabbed the coil of yellow nylon rope on the table. The gun stayed in his hand. “Take off your coats.”

  Naomi removed her hat and ski mask, then tugged her snowmobile suit off. She pulled a chair up beside Bree. The women exchanged fearful glances. Mason and Kade locked gazes. Neither man had a choice with the gun bearing down on them. They took off their outerwear, then pulled wooden chairs out from the table.