Page 67 of Throw Down

Briar held up a blurry photo and squinted at it, saying distractedly, “That depends.”

“I just got off the phone with Seth McCall.He’s got a mare in a bad way.Sounds like he’s set to lose both the foal and the mama at this rate.I need an extra pair of hands.”

“I’m on it.” A tiny shot of adrenalin kicked Briar’s heart into high gear.He’d learned to love ranch deliveries over the past year; the miracle of a fresh new life in an adorably tiny package overriding all the ick factor.There was nothing more heartbreaking than a stillborn, no matter the species.

“It’s nearly an hour away,” Nate cautioned.“It’ll be dark by the time you get there.”

“No problem.”

“It’s not the easiest place to find.You’ve got to turn off on the logging road just past Willow Creek.I’ll send you a GPS pin.”

“Got it.” Briar shrugged into a light jacket and grabbed his keys, locking the cabin behind him.Derek insisted he didn’t need to lock up so far in the middle of nowhere, but old habits die hard.This was Derek’s sanctuary; he wanted to protect it.

“Don’t speed, Briar.”

“Do I ever?” Briar asked flippantly.

“I mean it,” Nate said sternly. “These roads are tough.”

“So am I." Briar laughed and dropped the call.

The route took him deep into the mountains, an area he wasn’t familiar with, dominated by large swaths of national forest.His GPS showed green all around, broken only by the squiggly blue lines of myriad tiny mountain streams.Most of the roads didn’t even have names, just a combination of letters and numbers.

The roads were empty as he left the main highway, just him and a few jackrabbits racing across the cooling concrete ahead of his headlights.He kept one eye on the GPS as he drove, his anxiety ratcheting up a notch every time the signal flickered.The deeper in the mountains he climbed, the more the reliable bars on his cell phone dwindled…until they disappeared altogether.

“Just part of country living,” he mumbled, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans before he lost his grip on the wheel.

He’d be fine, he assured himself.He just had to watch for the turnoff.It should have been close, but none of the scenery looked right.The road was little more than a dirt track by this point, barely traveled and overgrown with brush.Pines and huge Douglas Firs loomed up over him on both sides, blocking out the sky.

Twenty minutes later, he accepted that he must have taken a wrong turn.Briar turned down the stereo to concentrate, laughing a little at himself, and peered through the windshield.The gloom of dusk made it difficult to pick out details, but it looked like a dead-end ahead.

He slowed and edged toward the side of the road, searching for a turnout, when his wheels hit an unexpected soft patch.The Jeep lurched, and so did his stomach.He braked hard, and his slipping tires stopped churning up mud.Then the entire car tilted sideways.He tried the accelerator again.The tires gripped momentarily before spinning uselessly.The Jeep fishtailed in the mud, sliding deeper down the embankment.

“Aaaaah!” He pounded the wheel in frustration and tried one more time before giving up.

It was no use. Briar killed the engine and sat there, thinking, as an eerie silence settled around him.He was stuck, truly stuck, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell reception and no way to tell Nate where he was—even if he knew.

Mud squelched under his feet as he climbed out of the Jeep to assess the situation.The wheels were buried at least six inches in thick red clay.He rummaged around for anything that might provide some traction for the tires, coming up with some floormats and an old tarp, and wedged them in front of the tires.When that failed, he tried gathering fallen branches, but no matter what materials he used, the Jeep only settled deeper in the bog.

Exhausted, frustrated, and layered with grime, Briar collapsed on the side of the road.Panic was beginning to creep in.The isolation of the mountain felt almost…predatory.He’d never felt so alone, and the night had never been so dark.Even a tiny town like Sweetwater had some degree of light pollution that reached all the way to Derek’s cabin.But this place? He couldn't even see his own hand in front of hisface.It felt like the edge of theworld.

“Derek…” he muttered under his breath, half-wish andhalf-prayer.

Derek had warned him so many times how important it was to be prepared outhere.At least that was one lesson Briar had taken toheart.The trunk was packed with an emergency kit. Navigating by flashlight, Briar followed the dirt road as far as hedared.He set up a couple flares to attract attention, then broke out a bottle of water and the foil blanket and locked himself inside his vehicle towait.

Someone would find him…and if they didn’t, maybe he’d see a better option for freeing the car in the morninglight.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

DEREK

Derek’s eyes felt raw and inflamed from so many hours on the road, but he was so wired he couldn’t unclench his hands from the steering wheel.His wheels spit gravel as he pulled into a turnout on Rattlesnake Loop.It was nearly midnight, and the remote parking area was ablaze with floodlights, a lone reminder of humanity in thousands of miles of wilderness.

Sabbath leaped nimbly after him as he exited the truck, a familiar presence he’d reluctantly admitted he needed in his life just as much as he needed his family and Briar.He guessed Briar had been right all along.Love—he needed love.

The temperature had dipped sharply.His breath formed small clouds of vapor that vanished into the night air.Even summer nights could be unforgiving this far in the mountains.

“What the hell took you so long!” Nate Silva shouted, jogging over to him.“Briar's already been lost for hours!”

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