Allison looked up and saw them then, two figures, and because it was two and they were some distance away, her immediate reaction was a cold chill of fear-she had ridden right back into their arms.
But the heights were wrong. It was not the brothers-she would know them even in distant silhouettes, no question. The two figures were on the other side of a steep drainage lined with deadfall, and they weren’t moving, just staring ahead.
“Who is that?” Jamie repeated. Her voice was measured, as if she was fighting for calm, and so Allison tried to match it when she said, “Let’s go find out.”
She urged Tango forward-Just a little more, please, buddy, just give us a little more-and watched the silhouettes take clearer shapes. The fear was transforming into triumph, because it looked to be a woman and a boy.
“Is it him?” she said.
“I don’t know. Get over there and see.”
“I can’t take the horse through that.” The drainage fell off sharply, a drop of at least eight feet, and the deadfall offered a base filled with gaps and holes, leg-breakers in wait.
“Then let me down. Please stop and let me down.”
Allison brought Tango to a stop and Jamie tried an awkward dismount and nearly fell off the horse’s back. Allison caught her arm and said, “Easy,” and then Jamie found the stirrup and swung down and nearly fell again trying to pull her gun from its holster before she even had her legs under her.
“Relax,” Allison said. “It’s not them. It’s not the ones you need to be worried about.”
“Then who is it?”
That was a fair question. One of them was a woman, Allison could see that from here, but who? Jamie kept the gun in her hand and started toward them on foot without waiting for Allison.
“Hang on,” Allison called, but what was the point in slowing her? One of the two was Jamie’s son, it had to be. She dismounted too, and she didn’t think of tying Tango because Tango wouldn’t run from her, never had. She put one grateful palm on his snout and it came away slick with sweat.
“Be right back, buddy,” she said. “Then we’re getting the hell out of here.” But already she was troubled by the logistics of that-she wasn’t sure how much longer he could go with one rider, let alone two, and four would be simply impossible.
It wasn’t the rescue Hannah had imagined. She’d marched them across the mountains and back down toward the fire with the expectation of reaching men and women with hoses and axes, pump trucks and ATVs, and maybe a helicopter.
Instead, she had two women on horseback.
“Do you know them?” she said. “Connor? Do you know who these people are?”
“I’m not sure.” He hesitated and then took a few steps forward, closer to the drainage, and Hannah followed, feeling a powerful need to be between him and any strangers, even if they meant no harm.
“Hello!” Connor shouted. “Hello!”
The women had dismounted and were approaching, one bandaged up, the other well ahead, and Hannah realized there was a gun in that one’s hand. She reached out and caught Connor by the arm, jerked him back.
“Stop. We don’t know-”
“It’s Allison!” he said.
“Who?”
“Ethan’s wife! That’s Ethan’s wife!”
“Your instructor?”
“Yes, it’s his wife.” He waved an arm at them and shouted, “Allison! Allison! It’s me.”
“Who’s with her?” Hannah asked.
“I have no idea,” Connor said. “But at least she’s got a gun.”
Allison was struggling to catch up to Jamie Bennett-riding had been painful, but running was worse-when the boy began to shout at them. At first she couldn’t make out the words, because the wind was carrying the sound of the fire up the gulch, but then she heard her own name.
It was him. It was Connor, Jamie’s son. They’d actually found him.
“We’ve got him,” she said to Jamie. “He’s safe, he did just what he was supposed to do and took that escape route, even though it led into the fire.” She didn’t have any idea who he was with, but he didn’t appear to feel threatened, he seemed healthy and unharmed, was calling out for her, and Allison was flushed with relief and triumph, saying, “We found your son,” when the disconnect that should have been obvious finally hit her.
Allison! Allison!
He was calling to her. Why wasn’t he calling to his mother?
“Doesn’t he see you?” she said, but she already knew the answer to the question, and her mind was slowly catching up to what this meant when Jamie Bennett turned back to face her.
“He doesn’t know who you are,” Allison said. “Why didn’t you tell me that? He doesn’t know that you’re his mother.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d go on ahead now. You’ll need to be in front of me.” The gun was in Jamie’s hand, and it was pointed at Allison, who looked at it as if she weren’t clear on its purpose.
“What are you doing?”
“Get in front of me. Please.”
Allison looked from her to Jace and said, “That’s not your son.”
“I’m afraid not. Now, walk over there to him. He’s come a long way, and he deserves to see you, don’t you think? We’ll all figure it out from there.”
Allison stared at her, not moving. The boy and the woman were moving, though; they were approaching fast, were within pistol range. I can shoot it well, Jamie Bennett had said.
“What’s happening?” Allison said. “What in the hell is really happening here?”
Jamie gave her a pained expression and a small shrug and said, “Not everything I told you was a lie. I truly came to get some people out of the mountains, Mrs. Serbin. Just not my son. I’ve come for my brothers.”
41
For the first time since Ethan had woken him in the night, Jace was actually convinced that he was going to get out of the woods. Not just that it was possible. It was happening. Ethan had sent Allison for him, somehow, and she’d come with someone who’d protect him.
“We can take the horse,” he was saying as he fought his way through a downed pine, feeling his ankle twist in the branches. It was a dry, dead tree, and when the fire made it up here, it was going to burn fast. But that didn’t matter anymore, none of it did, because they’d be gone by the time the fire got here. The journey was done.
Behind him, Hannah said, “Connor, slow down.”
He kept going, though; he didn’t need to slow down, not anymore, because it was over, they were getting out of this place. Hannah hadn’t lied-he was going to see his parents again. It was actually going to happen.
“Connor. Jace! Jace!”
When she finally used his real name, the first time she had, he turned to look at her. She was standing in the base of the drainage herself now and her expression didn’t look right. The joy that should have been there wasn’t. It was darkness. As if she saw something she didn’t like.
“Come back down here,” she said.
“What?” He was halfway up the slope, on his hands and knees, holding on to a tree root. All he had to do was pull himself up and he would be on the other side, standing with his rescuers.
“Come back down here,” Hannah repeated, and right then Allison Serbin spoke as well. Didn’t just speak, actually, but shouted.
“Jace, run. Get away from her!”
Get away from Hannah? Why didn’t Allison trust Hannah? If Hannah had meant to harm him, she’d have done it by now. There was something Allison didn’t understand, and Hannah didn’t either, and Jace knew he could set them all straight-everyone was just confused. He pulled up on the tree root and got over the lip of the ditch and then stood up on the other side. The woman he didn’t know was only a few feet away, and she was looking at him calmly. She was the only one besides him who wasn’t showing any fear.