Page 13 of Redwood Blaze
“I’ll come back.”
“No, I’m coming to you. Where are you?”
“Himbaugh’s cabin.”
“You mean lean-to in the woods? Baby, that’s no place to?—”
“I’ll meet you?—”
“No, I’m already in my truck. I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Rusty, please be… please be careful. There are things… people… who want to see people I care about hurt.”
There’s a long pause.
“We’ll talk when I get there. Just stay put.”
That’ll be the longest twenty minutes of my life.
“Good-bye,” I say.
“See you soon,” he says and I hear the truck roar down the road.
I shouldn’t have left the safety of the nest. The Hotshots HQ is a fortress, but I did what I always do…
Run.
The memories are like flashbangs.
Lamps hurled at my feet.
Doors slamming so hard that they create a suction in the house and my ears pop.
And the screaming.
I slump to the floor and turn the lantern down to a flicker.
It can’t be Gideon.
But I’d said that to myself over and over and it always was him.
I open my phone to read the messages that are still there.
Terra: Just got a notice from Montana state patrol that the car that Gideon stole in Oregon was found in Butte. Please tell me you’re okay.
Sheriff Dunning: Ms. Archer, are you okay?
Cole: Sheriff Dunning called me to ask where you are. I told him.
Rusty: There’s shit going down here. We need you to come back.
Rusty: Please let me know you’re okay.
Unknown: I found you. Nice Chevy truck. It’s time to come home, Millie.
How he not only found me, but also has my phone number…I don’t think I’m fine.
I lean back against the wall and something scurries across the floor across from me. My chest burns with how much I want to be back with the Hotshots.
