the woods in front of them. They weren’t close enough yet for it to find them in the nighttime shadows. But they had to go. They had to hide. The how and why of his brother’s existence, the disbelief that was still pinging through him would have to wait to be addressed.
“Come here,” he said to Scarlett. “This is going to hurt, but I have to do it. You need use of your arm.” Fear clouded her gaze but she nodded, turning, and offering him her shoulder trustingly. He took hold of it, pausing and gathering his own strength. It killed him to hurt her, even if it was necessary. “On the count of three. One, two.” He wrenched it back into place as she let out the softest of groans, her face contorting in pain. He could tell it had cost her not to scream out loud. But her shoulder was back in place. With a grimace, she rotated it slowly, bringing her arm up, testing its use.
“Thank you.”
Camden gave one quick nod. “We’re going to split up,” he said. “You have to take the girls and get them out of here.”
Scarlett shook her head. “No. We should stay together.”
“There’s too many of them. I need you to listen to me.” He pointed. “You go that way. They’ll expect us to come out at the road, but you’re not going to do that. Follow the stream. It leads to another wooded area that lets out on a trail five miles from here. There’s an emergency phone attached to a pole. You’ll see it. Call the state police. Get them here.” He handed her his gun and though she glanced at it warily, she took it from him. “Don’t hesitate to use this,” he said. “If you have to, shoot to kill.”
She gripped his shirt. “What about you?”
“I’m going to lead them in the opposite direction. I think I can stay ahead of them with his help.” He looked over at his brother who smiled bashfully when he caught his eye.
“Bemme,” he whispered softly. It was obviously his name for Cam though Camden had no idea what it meant.
He took Millie’s hand in his, squeezing it and offering her what he hoped was a comforting nod. Then he bent down to Haddie. “If you feel anything strange, at any time, you tell your mommy, okay?”
Haddie nodded very seriously, holding her pinkie up in front of him. It took him a beat to realize what she was doing. Pinkie swear. He lifted his hand, linking his finger with hers, meeting her eyes and shaking. Haddie let go, throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him. Camden shut his eyes momentarily, drawing strength from the moment, from the unexpected affection of this special child.
The shouts grew louder, another arc of light sweeping overhead. He stood, pulling Scarlett to him, breathing her in and kissing her forehead. “I love you. Now take the girls and go.”
Tears filled her eyes but she nodded. “I love you too,” she said, kissing him hard once on the mouth. And then Scarlett took Millie’s and Haddie’s hands in hers, turned, and headed toward the stream.
God, please, keep them safe. Bring them back to me.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Camden and his brother ran through the woods, the man next to him, though obviously mentally slow, was surprisingly swift and agile. Camden allowed him to take the lead, running a step behind so that his brother could show him which way to go.
Camden knew these woods relatively well, but this man had lived in them his whole life.
His brother. It was still almost too impossible to believe. But Camden didn’t have the luxury of examining his emotions now, on this topic or any, so he pushed them to the background. They would be for later, if in fact they got one.
He heard the men behind them, still distant, but coming from every direction now, fanning out to cover a larger ground. Hurry, Scarlett. Hurry.
When they’d gotten to a small clearing, Camden stopped, signaling his brother to put his hands over his ears, preparing him for the loud noise he was about to make. Then Camden let out a series of deep yells as though he’d injured himself somehow. A second later the men’s voices rose in pitch, bodies crashing through brush, coming straight toward them, though still a good distance away.
They ran on, faster now. The man turned left, racing through the trees, jumping easily over downed logs and rocks as though