Every Second

76

Coyote Mountains, New York

Strobic took big strides as they hiked deeper into the woods.

Kate had no trouble keeping up with him because she ran three times a week and used hotel treadmills whenever she was on the road.

They moved well together, covering a lot of ground as the forest rose high around them, cutting them off from the world. Hours before, Kate was working in one of the world’s largest cities. Now she was isolated in this enormous wilderness.

She wondered if they would encounter searchers or police. She was then consumed with the terrifying possibility the fugitives were out there, watching them, taking aim at their glowing vests.

The dull roar of a river distracted her.

“That’s the Bearfoot,” Strobic said, raising his voice over the rush. “We want to follow it north, this way.”

They walked along the cliff that twisted some twenty feet above the water. Kate thought the river was beautiful, its rapids and rocks breaking the surface and creating powerful spouts and rainbowed curtains of white water.

What a pretty and lonely place to die, she thought, thinking of the Fultons.

Strobic and Kate’s progress slowed when they reached a perilous section of water-slicked ledges. That area evolved into a rugged stretch of craggy formations. As they emerged, Kate glanced downriver and gasped. Through a screen of leaves she’d spotted small dollops of color.

She tapped Strobic’s shoulder and pointed.

They stopped. He took out his long lens, found a steady position on a tree branch and focused.

“Amazing!”

He showed Kate, who squinted behind the viewfinder to distinguish the details of a head, an arm…another head.

“I don’t believe it!”

But it was true.

There, about seventy-five yards downstream, a woman and boy were lying in an eddy. Kate and Strobic covered the distance between them so fast she barely remembered traversing it as they navigated their way down the cliff side to the riverbank below.

Kate knelt beside them.

The woman was bloodied and moaning. The boy’s lips were blue, his skin was white. His head was bleeding. He was unconscious but breathing. Both had makeshift bandages around their wounds.

“Hang on!” Kate said. “We’re going to help you!”

She had first-aid training and did what she could. With Strobic’s help they first moved them from the water to dry land. Then Kate yanked off her vest and jacket.

“Give me your vest and shirt, Stan! We’ve got to keep them warm!”

Kate pulled off the woman’s and boy’s wet clothes and wrapped them with the dry garments.

Strobic reached into his bag for a small radio.

“What’s that?” Kate asked.

“A PLB!”

“A what?”

“A Personal Locator Beacon. I’ve just activated it. It’s got GPS and sends out a signal. The search team should pick it up and come to us!”

The woman groaned and Kate leaned closer.

“Help’s coming!” Kate took the woman’s hand. “Are you Lori and Billy Fulton?”

The woman squeezed Kate’s hand.

“You’re safe now, Lori. Help’s coming!”

“Stop…them…must…stop them…”

“Police are taking care of it,” Kate assured her.

“They killed…husband…shot Dan… Murderers…going to attack…stop them…killed… Dan…he’s dead…”

Kate shook her head. “No, Lori! Dan’s alive! He’s hurt but they found him! He’s in the hospital.”

Lori squeezed Kate’s hand, hard. Her eyes flicked open to Kate.

At that moment, they heard the approaching thump of a helicopter.