Page 40 of When the Silence Breaks

There’s one more thing, Ryder...

Tomorrow. She’d said enough tonight. But for the first time in weeks, she let her eyes drift shut.

And that’s when she heard it.

Sixteen

The wind died down, but he counted on it to return. Coming up here had probably been a bad idea, and he could think of nothing he wanted more than to find what needed to be found and get back down the mountain before the weather turned for the worse. They both needed rest if they wanted to stay on track and on pace tomorrow, but he had a feeling sleep would evade him, especially with the possibility of someone following, and he wouldn’t be able to let go of everything Sarah had shared. There was so much more to this story, and it just kept growing.

The quiet settled again, or so he thought.

Sarah suddenly shifted and sat up. “Did you hear that?” she asked in the smallest of whispers.

No.

Snap.

But he’d heardthat.

Not wind.

Just beyond the tent.

Slipping out of the sleeping bag, he made no sound and put on his hiking boots. Laced them up in ten seconds, then—slow and controlled—he reached for his sidearm. Another sound put him on edge.

Was danger closing in? He drew near Sarah to whisper in her ear. “Stay here.”

He grabbed his jacket and then slowly unzipped the tent flap. He slid out into the night, moving stealthily in the shadows around the tent. They were tucked away in an alcove against the granite outcropping, still in the tree line. If anyone was here, they were hiding in the thick woods, no doubt.

A sliver of moon lit up the night, but clouds rolled in. Ryder waited and watched and prayed an animal had made the sounds. Then he crept into the woods and shined the flashlight around, even though that could make him a target. But he found no one waiting in the shadows near the tent. Still, something had set him on edge to begin with. Or was it just too many bedtime ghost stories in the tent? Ryder feared that he might have lost his edge, and Sarah wasn’t safe with him like they both wanted to believe.

The crunch of boots drew his attention around, but he didn’t lift his weapon. He knew that cadence.

Sarah stared at him, aiming her weapon, and then lowered it.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “I told you to stay inside.”

“I thought something had happened to you.” She hiked forward and shined her flashlight around. “So, what or who made the noise?”

He shined his flashlight on the ground, and his skin prickled. Something wasn’t right. They weren’t alone. Then he shined the light up in the trees, and along the edge of a boulder a few yards away, bright eyes reflected.

He stepped in front of Sarah. “Stay behind me.”

The mountain lion leapt away, and he followed with his flashlight as the big cat ran off, deeper into the mountain terrain.

“Was that a—?”

“Mountain lion. This is their territory.”

“Is that thing going to follow us? What do we do?”

“We hike together, that’s what we do. An attack is rare, but we’ve encroached into its territory.”

“I wouldn’t dream of hiking without you. I guess I owe you an apology for complaining about you only bringing one tent. I’m glad we’re together now.”

Yeah, he figured. “The two of us in one tent will help keep us warm.”

“There’s that, sure. But what I’m saying is that if the big cat decides to break into our tent, you’re bigger so probably tastier, and he can take you instead of me.”