Page 52 of The Gauntlet Trials

It’s sort of like our Fate Dice. Yes and no. She pulls a yes petal, then a no petal. The last petal gets the win. Does Lesion love me landed on no for twelve flowers straight.

Bishop busted out laughing at that.That’s brutal.

Very

How’d you get out of that one?Seer asked.

Various persuasions.

Bishop snickered.Say no more.He minimized the text box, checking his green dot. He froze at finding it way off course then opened the text box.Beth’s tracker is way off course. I’m going get her.

He didn’t wait for a reply as he climbed in the seat and started the Swamp Dragon. He watched the green dot as he split the woods with the machines thunderous roar while his brain went through scenarios of what could’ve happened. He glanced at the green dot and his panic grew at seeing she was moving fast.

He managed to call 8-Bit while navigating the winding bayou.

“What’s she doing?” 8-Bit said upon answering.

“I’m headed for her now. Is it me or is she moving faster than usual?”

“She’s moving as fast as she can. Something’s not right.”

“Call the test off. I need Spook and Seer, so somebody needs to get to their women immediately. Lock the fucking swamp down and sound the Revelle Alarm. I’m right on her.”

Bishop hung up, needing both hands to navigate and not accidentally run her over. He glanced at his phone and realized she’d stopped. When he reached her location his panic mounted at not finding anything. He turned off the boat and pulled his firearm from the back of his seat while fighting to get to 8-Bit’s number.

“I’m on location and she’s nowhere around. No sign of her boat, nothing. Like she fucking ditched her tracker.” He looked in the water all around the boat, then searched the trees, fighting to think through worst-case scenarios.

“If somebody is involved, they’re already in the swamp,” 8-Bit said. “I’ve been hawking every entry since we returned from New Orleans.”

“You called Spook and Seer?”

“They’re on their way to you. Stay put.”

“Any leads on ourfuckingmole?”

“I think it’s a Roullette. One with ties to somebody very close to home. Like Old Man Francois. Somebody cleverly milking information out of him.”

“Or somebody with enough leverage to make him talk.”

“His daughter,” 8-Bit said at the same moment Bishop did.

Bishop turned at hearing a motorboat behind him. “Seer and Spook are here. I’ll call you when I know something.”

“I’ll do the same.”

Spook and Seer climbed onto the Swamp Dragon. “Her tracker is here in this water which means she threw it for a reason.”

“How did the last test go?” Seer wondered.

“It went perfect. It’s not that, she wouldn’t be leaving and hiding it from me. She got rid of it because she needed to which means only one thing.”

“Somebody was chasing her,” Spook said.

Hearing one of his worst thoughts out loud nearly unhinged Bishop’s control. “Fucking help me find her.” There was a far worse thought gnawing a hole in his soul. Whoever was chasing her had caught her and got rid of the tracker. That would mean it was somebody that knew she had a tracker to begin with.

Seer’s hand hit his shoulder in a hard grip, his eyes fierce on him. “We’ll find her, brother.”

“She can’t be far,” Spook said, climbing back in the small boat. “We need go in this. Hurry.”

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