Page 54 of Cold Case Discovery

Jack swore himself, turning to see someone’s quickly retreating form.

Not justsomeone. Ry.

So Jack took off after him.

CHLOEWANTEDTOcry with relief, and at the very same time, she wanted to beat her brother up. Tears threatened, but luckily, running as hard as she could through the forest helped keep them from leaking out.

If Ry was running, it was bad in that he was probably mixed up in a hell of a lot of trouble. Because he had to have seen it was them, so he wasn’t in the kind of trouble he wanted help with.

But he wasrunning. So he was alive and whole, and no matter how angry she was at him, relief lightened all her harsher emotions.

She was going tofigurativelykill the little bastard. Right after she hugged him so tight, she was sure he was okay.

Jack had longer legs and could move faster for short-term distances, but Chloe had a better stride for longer distances and, because of her smaller size, was able to dodge trees with more agility, so after a bit of running, she bypassed Jack and was quickly gaining on her brother.

“Rylan Jonas Brink, stop running right now!”

He didn’t listen, though he looked back over his shoulder. Tactical mistake, because after a couple more steps, he tripped and then went sprawling. Giving Chloe just enough time to catch up to him and pounce.

He struggled under her tackle, trying to buck her off. “I didn’t do anything!”

She got her knee in his back, managed to wrench one arm behind him even as her breath sawed in and out. “Then why are you running?” She resisted punching him though she itched to, even as she was desperate to hug him and hold him tight. Alive,alive.

And in so much damn trouble.

“Let me,” Jack said beside her. She realized he was holding handcuffs, and she sighed. She adjusted her hold so Jack could do the honors.

Though she wouldn’t have minded cuffing her brother herself in this moment.

Jack secured Ry’s hands behind his back and dragged him back a few feet so that he was in a sitting position and could lean against a tree trunk.

Ry’s gaze moved back and forth, from Jack to Chloe, then beyond them as if he was looking for someone to come rescue him. Or maybe take him away.

“What are you guys doing here?” Ry demanded, falling back on being surly and accusatory. Because why wouldn’t he, cuffed and outnumbered?

She really hoped whatever he’d gotten himself mixed up with, whatever punishments ended up being doled out, would get through his thick skull and make him realize he could be so much more than he allowed himself to be.

“What arewedoing here?” Chloe said, barely resisting a sneer. “You snuck away from the Hudsons. Youstolemy car. What the hell do you think we’re doing here?”

“I’m just borrowing it! Why do you always have to overreact?”

Chloe had often wondered if her brother would give her an aneurysm, but this really took the cake. She took a deep breath, trying to resist the urge to scream at him.

“Why did you take my car to that parking lot, leave your phone in it and end up all the way over here?” Jack asked, his voice low and calm. Clearly trying to de-escalate the situation.

Chloe didn’t know if that was possible. “And how?” she added darkly.

“I don’t—”

“Don’t lie to me.” She pointed her finger at him, narrowly resisted poking him. Hard. “Do you know what kind of trouble you’re in right now? Tell the damn truth, Ry.”

Ry rolled his eyes, and she would have reached out and punched him, probably, but Jack put a hand on her arm. She swallowed down the suddenly swirling anger. Or tried to.

She didn’t know how to get through Ry’s thick head, and he was making it impossible to feel any kind of sorry for him.

“You’ll just get ticked off, but there’s nothing to get mad about,” Ry said, in his usual defiant, oh-so-victimized way. “Dad wanted to meet up. He’s on parole, so it’d have to be quick so he could get back to Texas. I knew it’d get back to you if I did it anywhere where people could see, so we agreed to meet here. I drove over and I waited for him, and he didn’t show. I knew you’d start looking for me, so I figured I’d just walk around for a bit.”

It was a lie—or at least, partly a lie. She doubted very much Ry had walked all the way from the parking lot to this campground. Maybe it waspossiblein the hours that had passed, but he didn’t look like he’d done any major walking or hiking.

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