Page 56 of Hard Rain

“We’re at Delaney’s hunting cabin,” Whip cut in before Axel could make it worse.

“While you two were playing mountain man, we got a witness call,” Boone snarled.

Axel’s grin disappeared.

Whip tightened his grip on the radio.

“What kind of witness?” he asked

“Rancher off County Twelve called dispatch this morning. Said he saw an older Ford pickup come off one of the logging roads near your location sometime before the storm hit with Cutter in the passenger seat.”

So, Cutter wasn’t alone.

“What time yesterday?” Whip asked.

“Late afternoon.”

Damn it. They’d come up that road well after midnight. Cutter had been long gone way before they’d been fighting the mountain.

Boone continued.

“Witness thought it was strange because nobody with any sense was driving around with that storm coming.”

Whip looked back toward the cabin.

The canned goods. The coffee. The short stay. It looked less like a hideout and more like somewhere to wait.

The cabin hadn’t been a destination.

It had been a pickup point.

“What about the driver?” Axel asked.

“Working on it. Grady’s running the truck description now. I’ll have a BOLO out in a few minutes.”

The pieces fit better than they had last night. Cutter hadn’t abandoned the cabin because of the storm.

Someone had come for him.

Boone’s voice crackled across the radio again.

“Get off that mountain and get moving. Grady’s waiting for you in Paisley.”

Whip glanced toward the road, feeling the damp chill creeping back through his jacket now that he’d stopped moving.

“We need a tow out of the ditch. Road’s blocked,” he said.

The silence came charged through the radio and then a heavy sigh.

“Of course it is.”

Knox cut in then. “County crews are already headed that way. I talked to Grady, he says use the service road about a mile south of your position.”

“Yeah. That’ll connect back to Twelve if it’s still passable,” he said and immediately pictured the map.

“That old access road cutting west toward the highway?” Axel said from his spot close to his side.

So close that the man’s warm breath ghosted over his ear.