Page 17 of Montana Freedom

“She’s gone. Out the window.”

He cursed too.

I froze, trying to think this through.

If someone didn’t want to get well, I couldn’t force them. One of the things about managing a place like this was learning you couldn’t help people who weren’t ready. Maybe Emma wasn’t ready, but I also couldn’t simply let her go.

She was sick, alone, and she was confused about who she was. The connection I felt to her completely aside, I couldn’t stomach the thought of another person dying when I could prevent it.

Had I frightened her? Made her feel unsafe?

I shook my head. There were a hundred reasons she could have felt the need to leave. Her inexplicable fear of hospitals, or perhaps medical staff in general, was one of them.

She’d taken the bags of fluids with her, though, which told me she didn’t have a death wish.

Grant was at the lodge and closest to the security room. But he was also working on a plan of action for a new client arriving next week and not constantly watching the cameras.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to roll back the tapes on the gate for the last hour. The woman—Emma—is gone. If she left the property, tell me which way she went.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “If she doesn’t want to be here, we can’t force her, Daniel.”

Frustration bubbled under my skin. “I know. But before I let her go, I’d like to make sure she’s not dead in a ditch or on the side of the road, given she shouldn’t even be walking.”

“Yeah, that’s fair,” he said, and I heard the hesitancy in his voice. “She went north, and yeah, she doesn’t seem like she should be on her feet. But moving at a decent pace in spite of that.”

“Thanks.” I headed for the front door. “Let’s go.”

“Are you okay to do this?” Liam asked.

I stopped and looked at him, trying to be objective and examining myself. “I know this means more to me than the average case that walks through our gates, but I’m still me. I will treat Emma with the respect she deserves. I’m not sure why anyone thinks differently.”

He held out his hands. “That’s not what I meant, Daniel. Not at all.”

“Then let’s go.”

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but he didn’t. The trucks were all back at the lodge, and I jogged there, Liam in tow. It was getting dark now, the sun nearly below the horizon. If she’d made it far enough to get into the foothills—which I doubted—it would be much harder to find her.

I spotted footprints in the dirt as I turned out of the gate, confirming her direction, and my heart was in my throat as I kept an eye on the side of the road for a crumpled body. But we didn’t find her lying dead, which was a relief.

She got a hell of a lot farther than I expected, given her condition. Nearly to the break in the farmland, where it would have been easy to lose her in the woods at the base of the mountains.

On the ground, leaning against a fence post, Emma looked as white as paper. It was disconcerting to see someone a color so unnatural.

“Shit, is she still alive?” Liam asked.

“I can only hope so.”

I pulled the truck over to the side of the road, leaving a good distance between her and me. The last thing we needed was for me to spook her and for her to run into the road.

She startled at the sound of my door closing, head jerking toward me, and the only thing I saw was fear.

“Liam,” I said. “Stay there, please.”

Her eyes were locked on me as I approached, wild as a cornered animal, and so, so afraid. It cracked my heart open to see that fear, so similar to how she’d looked all those months ago when I’d pulled her out of the cage.

“Emma,” I said, keeping my voice low and gentle. “Are you all right?”

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