more frustrating than pizza, trust me.” She shouldn’t have followed him, even if she wanted to protect him and help the kids.
He moved them in the direction of where he’d left Marilyn.
“Did you track us?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah. Damn near impossible to hide two kids and an inexperienced hiker, although you did a good job.”
They walked silently until they reached the large outcropping of rocks near the waterfall. Noah stepped to the side as Marilyn flew out at them, aiming for their heads like he’d told her.
Noah spun, getting behind her and wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her from clobbering Tanner. “Whoa there, tiger.”
She lowered the stick, then looked between the two men. “Tanner? Where are the kids?”
Tanner turned to Noah. “This is the pizza?”
“She followed me. We sent Francis and Barb home when we saw the bridge was out. Marilyn was supposed to go with them, but somebody is not great at following directions.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t give a damn about your directions when my kids’ lives are at stake. Are they okay? We saw them fall out of the raft, but Noah assured me that the flares meant you guys were unharmed.”
“We were. We are.”
Marilyn’s relief caused her to sag against him. Noah could hardly fill in details for Tanner about how he’d found them before she was demanding to know more. “Where are the kids? Are they hurt? Scared? I just want to get to them.”
“They’re hidden with Bree. Sleeping. They’re not hurt and have been absolute troupers today. They’re hidden pretty well right now, but I don’t want to leave them any longer than necessary.”
“We need a plan,” Noah said.
Tanner nodded. “Let’s get back to Bree. I know she’s worried sick. And then, yeah, a plan. Which probably involves us splitting up.”
Tanner was right. A group of six, including two inexperienced hikers and two children, was way too big to move stealthily.
The only thing Noah knew for certain was that there was no fucking way Ellis or his little buddies were taking Marilyn or the kids. Not while there was still breath in his body.
19
Marilyn basically crawled over Tanner and Bree to get to the kids once they arrived at the cave where they were hiding. She pulled their sleeping forms into her lap, unable to stop the tears at seeing for herself that they were unharmed.
She could finally breathe again.
“Mommy?”
She pulled Eva closer. “Shh. I’m here. Go back to sleep.”
“We played hide-and-seek. Soldier style.”
“You can tell me all about it soon,” Marilyn whispered, smiling through her tears. If that was the first thing Eva wanted to talk about then she obviously wasn’t too emotionally damaged by what had happened in the last thirty hours.
Sam’s little arms wrapped around her and they both snuggled in closer. She just held them as Noah told Bree and Tanner how he found them and they explained that Jared’s friends were the ones behind all this.
Paul Wyn. Oscar Stobbart. Marius Nixon.
Just the sounds of their names was enough to set her stomach roiling. Them being so close and hunting her children had her struggling to stay in control.
“We need to get out of here as soon as possible,” Noah whispered. “Split up. They’re not sure where you are right now, but they’ll find you eventually.”
Tanner agreed. “I’ll lead them in the wrong direction. Give them just enough clues to have something to follow, then lose them when the storm hits. You take Marilyn, Bree, and the kids and get them to safety.”
“You sure that’s the best play?” Noah asked.
“I think it might be our only play. I can’t justify leaving a trail of dead bodies when we don’t know for sure what their purpose is, and they haven’t made any overt attempts on our lives.”
Tanner turned to Marilyn. “Their endgame is to bring you and the kids to Jared, right? Not to kill anyone?”
She swallowed hard. “He doesn’t want to kill me. Even the last time when he put me in the hospital, I don’t think he intended to kill me. And the kids have always been more of a means to an end to control me. Otherwise, Jared mostly ignored them. But you guys…I don’t know if they’ll hurt you.”
Noah let out a grunt that suggested he was pretty sure Jared’s friends would hurt anyone they needed to. “Why don’t I lead the bad guys into the wilderness,” he said, looking at Tanner, “and you take the merry gang back to town.”
Tanner shook