Page 6 of Justified Fear
“No.They seemed to have scattered from what we can figure out.HPD is canvassing to see if there is any security footage from the neighbors.”
“Didn’t they have something set up here?”Kap asked.
“We can’t figure out why, but it was shut off tonight,” Carino said.
There was some muttering amongst their group.That always spelled something bad.As they always said, coincidences take a lot of planning.
“Yeah, I feel ya.”
Maya whined, ready to start the hunt.
“If they aren’t hunting her, there’s still a chance that she could get hurt.There is a ridge up there she could fall down, plus there are wild boar in the area.”
Wild boars were hunted in Hawai’i, and they could be vicious if they felt threatened.
Another whine from Maya.
“We'd better get going then,” he said, heading toward the forest.His team joined him, fanning out.He knew HPD officers were looking for her, but Maya was the best tracker on the island.
Keely pausedin her running to suck in a deep breath.She thought the bad dudes had left, but then she started to hear people running around the forest again.At first, she thought it was another feral pig.One of those big bastards had chased her up a tree about an hour earlier.Or what she thought was an hour.She’d dropped her phone in a muddy puddle a while ago.
Rolling her shoulders, she tried to figure out where she was.She usually had a good sense of direction.Still, after what felt like hours running around a dark rain forest, she was pretty sure she had gotten confused.On top of that, she knew this forest backed up to a ridge.She’d been deathly afraid that she would end up falling to her death trying to get away from the people trying to kill her.
She cocked her head to the side.Did she just hear someone else?Dammit, she knew that there were a lot of critters in the forest.Just as that thought passed through her brain, she felt something scamper over her foot.Biting back a scream, she moved again.More than likely, it was what a lot of people called B-52s, or the large flying roaches Hawai’i had.It was not her first encounter with them tonight.It wasn’t even her second.That second time had involved one of them getting tangled in her hair.It had taken every inch of control she had not to freak out when that happened.The bad dudes were still running around the area when that happened.
The one thing she did not want to deal with was a centipede.Those buttheads stung or bit…she wasn’t sure which.All she knew was that it hurt like hell and sometimes people ended up going to the hospital.Thankfully, she had avoided them so far.But even as she had that thought, she heard more noise.
“Keely Templeton!”
Oh, shit, they knew her name, and they were really close.Her shoulders sagged.She thought for sure HPD would show up and save her.It was disappointing that the bad dudes had found out her name.Or was that HPD?They would have figured out her name.Still, as she heard a group of people approaching, she decided not to take a chance.Instead, she looked at the tree to her left.It had good notches for her to use as she climbed.It wasn’t her first time up in a tree.
Drawing in a deep breath, she straightened her spine.Morning would be here soon—she hoped.All she had to do was evade these bad dudes a bit longer.
She started to climb up the tree, her hands slick with sweat.She pulled herself up on a branch and prayed that help would arrive soon.
Thirty minutes into their search,Ryan wanted to curse.He felt as if they were going around in circles, and if they were, that meant this woman was doing the same thing.She was definitely lost.She had been in the forest area for hours.He just hoped she hadn’t been hurt.The only thing that gave him hope was that they had yet to find any kind of signs of blood or a body.Hopefully, she was holed up somewhere.A bead of sweat slipped down his spine.It was humid, and the trades had died down.Thanks to that, it felt as if the entire forest was closing in on him.
Maya stopped in a clearing beside a massive tree and looked up.Ryan frowned and followed her line of sight.For a second, he didn’t see anything, just dark leaves and bark.Then…something shifted.He blinked.
“Keely Templeton?”
There was a long beat before someone said, “Nope.”
For a second, he didn’t know what to say.Did the woman just claim she wasn’t Keely?Did she think there were lots of lone women running around the forest?Maya whined.
“Keely, I’m Ryan Morrison with TFH.”
“Good for you.Now move along.”
What the…
“The HPD called us in to help find you.”
Silence.
“Keely?I promise I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I’m not Keely, but if I were, there would be a good chance that she would be stupid to accept that just some dude traipsing around the forest was here to save her.I bet she’s not that stupid.”
