Flash Point - Savannah Kade Page 0,16

hours before dawn. That was if the sun came up. That the storm hadn't done more than spit the occasional icy rain at them yet was the only piece of luck they'd had.

The temperature was still dropping, and no one had seen any signs. The kids at least had red jackets. One had an orange hat and one dark blue—the dark blue would be harder to spot. But the good news was, the younger kid had the brighter hat. So at least there was something helping out the one who was more likely to hide from them or make other bad decisions.

He wished he even knew if the brothers had managed to stick together, but, from his own experience, he understood that it was far too easy to get separated when they were scared and the world was out of control.

Still, he and Bethany had been calling out the boys’ names, as per protocol, every few minutes. But so far, they'd heard nothing in return. His hopes were not high and the frantic alert that he had a searcher down didn't help him.

Immediately, he grabbed his comm, squeezed the button, and asked, “What happened? What do you need?”

“It … small ravine.” He recognized Stanford’s voice, but didn’t like the way the line was cutting out. “We didn't see it … too dark. Honestly … pitch black on the ground over here. Bland went right into it.”

“Sit rep?” Leo asked, now pacing as he tried to find a spot with better reception. It probably wouldn’t happen, but he aimed for a slightly more open patch.

“Bland’s pretty sure his ankle is broken. I think I can bring him up on my own. But I don't think it's wise to try that one my own.”

“It's not,” Leo responded. God forbid Stanford tried to haul Bland out and went down in with him. Then they would have two searchers down. “How much backup do you need?”

Ultimately, this decision wouldn't belong to them, it would belong to him. Still, he wanted to know what the on-the-scene assessment was.

“Can you send us two people?”

Good, Leo thought, that’s what he would have offered. “I’ll get them on their way. Once he's up, you assess the ankle and check in.”

“Yes, sir. I'll hump him out of here,” Stanford offered.

Interesting term, Leo thought, military background. Still, he imagined Stanford putting Bland up on piggyback and walking him out that way. The upside was that they could take the easiest, shortest path out, not the long meandering check they’d done on the way there. And Hernandez was waiting back at the ambulance.

But Leo still didn’t like it. He was down four out of ten searchers until they got Bland up and on his way to the ER. And even if it all went well, he was still down two for the remainder of the night. Son of a bitch.

It had only taken a minute to get the situation and do his entire ugly rundown in his head. On the outside, he didn't miss a beat. He was on a first name basis with his own people, even though all ten were on the same comm channel. It was so they would all hear when someone found one of the boys, not so they would all hear when Bland had an accident. Then again, it was for that, too.

On the inside, he was mad at fate and losing hope.

“Bob, Doug …”

“Gotcha, boss. Should we switch frequencies?”

He almost laughed. They really were on the same frequency. He liked his team. “No. Stay open, it keeps us all updated.”

So they all listened in as Bob and Doug coordinated with the other two. So far, his cell still had service and the storm hadn’t hit them, just the light, icy rain earlier. Even so, the night was becoming nothing but a clusterfuck.

“Broken ankles heal,” Bethany said from right next to him, her flashlight still sweeping the ground and up into the trees.

Leo appreciated her optimism and that her concern was about a broken foot. But that was his problem: Broken ankles did heal, but lost children weren't automatically found.

His own brother had been gone for three days. He'd been in the hospital for a week after that, at only four years old. Just like Dalton Ryder. Leo tried to push the memories out of the way, but it didn’t work.

Garrett was okay now. His parents were okay now. The one most traumatized by it had been Leo. And here he was searching for the