“It’s getting late,” she told him.
“Keep lookin’.”
“And cold.”
He heard a sharp whistle and stopped dead, aiming his light toward Deck.
Deck was aiming his light to his fingers, two of which were moving in a motion of walking then he swung his light to the forest floor.
He’d found tracks.
Faye rushed up to his side.
“Quiet, Faye, as quiet as you can be. Follow, stay behind me. Let’s go,” Chace ordered, Faye nodded then he moved swiftly and as silently as he could to Deck.
When they reached him, Deck continued to move through the forest.
Chace and Faye followed and Chace saw the tracks. At hearing Faye’s quick intake of breath, he knew she saw them too.
Five minutes passed into ten and then Deck stopped abruptly, lifting up a hand.
Chace and Faye stopped behind him. Chace moved carefully to his side where he halted, using an arm to sweep Faye behind him and putting his hand to his gun at his belt.
There was movement.
“Lights,” Chace murmured and turned his flashlight off, Deck’s followed half a second later then Faye’s went out.
They listened to the sounds of approach and Chace trained his eyes through the dark at where it was coming from. From the noises, he couldn’t get a sense of what they were dealing with, child, adult or both. They didn’t talk, didn’t make anything but the noise of footfalls in the snow, mud and the brushing of branches.
Then they came clear. Chace knew Faye saw them the minute he did for she sucked in another audible breath.
Through the dark, Malachi in his new jeans and a sweater and he was holding the hand of a little girl, maybe five, six, in a thin, pale-colored nightgown, Malachi’s coat hanging on her, barefoot, hair a scraggly mess coming out from under Malachi’s hat, face dirty, thin as a f**king rail.
The children didn’t notice them until they were four feet away. When they did, they rocked to a halt, their heads tipped back sharply and the girl whimpered in alarm, ducking behind Malachi.
Chace braced to run after them if they took off but they didn’t.
Shocking the shit out of Chace, his eyes locked to him, Malachi shuffled forward two feet and stopped.
Then his face cracked in a huge smile and he whispered in a scratchy voice, “Finally got her. Rebecca. My sister.”
His sister. His f**king sister.
Chace was right. There was a sibling. All he’d done was for her.
Faye leaned heavily into the side of his back and whispered, “My sister.”
Then he felt her body buck and he knew she was fighting tears.
Chace had to hope she could hold it together as he leaned back a bit to give her the cue, she took her weight from him and he crouched low.
“Rebecca’s got no shoes on, Malachi. It’s cold, snowy and muddy. Can I carry her home?” he asked.
Malachi looked at Chace then twisted his neck to look at his sister then he looked back at Chace and nodded.
Chace carefully lifted one hand toward Rebecca, she cowered back behind Malachi and whimpered.
Malachi’s scratchy voice came back. “It’s okay, Becky.”