Flash Point - Savannah Kade Page 0,24

Lincoln, and Lincoln look like Los Angeles.”

Ouch, she thought. But then again, a lot of people liked that kind of life.

Leo kept going. “The nearest kids were five miles away and the bus ride to school in the morning took fifty-five minutes.”

Jo had no idea what that meant. She'd never ridden a school bus. So she simply nodded as though she understood.

“And my brother and I got lost in these mountains when we were kids.”

Holy shit. Growing up in Pleasant Hill with no one nearby was probably not that big a deal. But this was likely why he’d become a park ranger. “How long were you lost for?”

Jo tried to nonchalantly drink her chicken noodle soup with any semblance of lady-like decorum. It was next to impossible, but maybe it covered up the fact that he’d piqued her interest.

“I was out for eighteen hours, petrified and alone. Part of me was having a grand adventure—that part was the part that had taken my brother and run into the park in the first place. The petrified part was that I had lost my little brother and I thought they were going to kill me when they found me.”

That made sense. SAR training dealt with finding kids—kids hid from searchers, and didn’t respond when they were afraid they’d been bad. This story was ringing a little too true to the current situation.

“My brother was lost for three days.”

“Holy shit!” This time she said it out loud. Then she asked the part she might not want the answer to. “They found him?”

“Oh yeah, and he was none the worse for wear. I mean, it was summer, so he wasn't that cold. He said he'd made friends with the birds and squirrels, and he’d eaten berries, which petrified my mother and the hospital staff.”

As it should! Jo thought but managed not to say. Had his brother poisoned himself?

“But Garrett has the luck of the gods. Apparently whatever berries he ate are not only non-poisonous, but perfectly tasty. And he said he stumbled across a stream, so he had plenty to drink. He even managed to not get wet, though I promise you he was constantly falling into the creek at home.”

“It wasn’t like this,” Jo said, waving her hand toward the storm raging beyond the windshield and she wondered if the rain had actually let up at all. Would they make it back out or was this just a small truck party with her and Leo Evans? Hell, rumors from that would be the last thing she needed.

Leo had pulled out his phone again, the charger linking him to the central console where he’d lined them both up. He’d made sure they had everything needed going forward. They had fresh batteries for the flashlights and, this time, they would take extra food. Leo, of course had a second cooler in the back. He was prepared for four people for three days.

“Looks like the storm’s passing over,” he commented with his head still down over the screen.

“There might even be light in the distance.” Jo pointed off to their right where it looked like a small dawn might finally be happening. “So let's pull up these articles from Ivy and see where we need to go.”

Ivy had sent screenshots of old print newspaper. The article was close to one hundred years old. But Mr. Gentson said it was the same cave that he and his brother had played in. Together, Jo and Leo tried to find a direction to aim.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke had arrived with the ambulance again, and they had their bearing though it was still raining. Leo declared it time to go. And though Jo could see more light edging in from the distance, there was a sour pit forming in her stomach.

Chapter Fifteen

Five hours later, Leo was as frustrated as he'd ever been. Though the trees basically kept the light rain off of them, the air itself was wet and cold. And a hike through the woods on a path that was getting mushier and muddier by the minute wasn’t helping anyone.

Jo, though she was hiding her disappointment better than he was, seemed to have the same issue. “There are no signs. The boys left nothing, no trail to follow.”

“Are you a certified tracker?” He bit the words out, realizing too late how blunt they’d come out. They rang with the accusation that if she wasn't certified, her words didn't mean anything.

He was opening his mouth to correct his mistake. When