Page 110 of Love Me Dangerous

I grunt.Set offsounds about right. “How long will it last?”

“I don’t know.” Her words get snatched by another firm gust. The cold licks down my spine, making me shiver. I pull my collar tighter.

“Why were you at the hospital?”

“Jesse’s girlfriend overdosed. She stopped breathing.”

“Shit.” Guilt trickles through me. Though I’m not the one dealing drugs, I am now in partnership with the people who are. “Is she okay?”

“She’s alive.”

“That’s good.” I take a quick look ahead just as the clouds shift and a beam of sunlight filters through, brightening the landscape.

I lift the binoculars to my eyes for a scan. The basin is like a giant dish rising to a rocky pass, flanked by trees slowly turning white in the storm.

“No tracks in the basin,” I say over the wind.

Squinting against the brightness lighting up the snow and the whirling flakes, I give the forest a quick pass, but I discard the possibility that Linnie is in there somewhere. The trees are too tightly spaced for a dirt bike, and the slope is too steep. I’m about to lower the binoculars when a flash of something bright catches my attention. I try to trace it, but there’s only thick forest and swirling snow.

The clouds close in again, turning the colors gray and flat.

“Let’s look for tracks at the junction.” Sofie takes off.

The back of my neck prickles. What did I see? The was something familiar about it, yet that makes no sense.

I shake it off. Whatever I saw, it wasn’t a dirt bike, or Linnie.

We run the rest of the way to the top of the rise, where the trail splits. A faded sign warns riders to stay on designated trails to protect the fragile alpine soil and how to stay safe in black bear country.

Let’s hope all the bears are safely tucked away for the winter by now.

Sofie squints in the direction of the tracks, but the path is obscured by the snow and lowering clouds. The wind has picked up, too, roaring down from the pass.

“I’m going to call in.” Sofie brings the radio to her mouth, breathing fast.

While Sofie relays, my gaze strays to the forest and that familiar flash. I try to picture the map of this area in my mind but everything looks different in the snow, and the one time I was here, I came from a different trailhead, closer to the ranch’s border. I lift the binoculars to my eyes but all I see is white flakes dancing and the faint blur of the forest.

“Henry and Barb are heading up,” Rowdy says over the static.

Relief buzzes beneath my skin, but there’s anguish, too.In case you haven’t noticed, we specialize in getting caught in the middle.

Why don’t we hear Linnie’s bike? Is the wind too loud, or are we in the wrong place? Linnie may not be riding it any longer. Bikes don’t do well in fluffy snow like this. Could she be stuck? Or hurt?

“Jesse, Gabe, and Hutch are heading out from Taylor Creek Trailhead,” Rowdy adds. “I don’t think she’d get that far, but at least it’ll form a barrier from that side.”

“She’d likely go to that high meadow,” Sofie says. “Remember what Lyle said?”

“Didn’t you guys pull fence up there last summer?” Rowdy says.

“Yep,” Sofie says, her mouth a hard line.

A crack like thunder splits the air. It’s distant, but the hair prickles on my neck.

“What the fuck was that?” Rowdy barks.

“Gunshot,” I say, my gut tensing. What if some trigger-happy hunter is out here stalking in the snow and thinks Linnie is some sort of prey?

“I need you two to come back,” Rowdy commands, his voice firm.

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