Page 99 of One Last Shot

He caught up to her.

The door handle was broken, and she pushed it open.

He’d pulled out his flashlight.

Inside, two women sat huddled together on the floor. One had her ankle up on a pile of life jackets.

“We’re with the rescue team,” said Boo. “Are you with the bridal party?”

One of the women nodded. “Did you find the others? Lydia and Grace and Hannah?”

“We found Lydia,” said Oaken.

Boo had come over, looking at the other woman’s leg. “Your ankle is pretty swollen.”

“I tried to keep ice on it, but then the blizzard got too wild. And...” She’d been crying, too, but was clearly not as stricken as her friend in the woods. “We got split up when... well, there was a man chasing us. He came after us. I thought Lydia had made it back. And then we lost Grace and Hannah. Ruthie fell, and by the grace of God I found this shack. I wanted to go for help, but I couldn’t leave Ruthie.”

“It’s okay. We’ll find them.” Boo turned to Oaken. “Tell Moose we got them but we’ll need a stretcher.”

He swung the pack to the floor, and Boo got up and started to rummage through it. Stepping outside, he radioed Moose.

“We’ll have to send down the cable with the stretcher and harness,” Moose said.

Oaken went outside to the small clearing, not big enough for the chopper, and caught the cable with the stretcher and harness attached.

He unhooked them and brought them inside.Helped Boo load up the injured woman—Ruthie—and then they carried her out and attached the litter to the winch. Boo hooked herself on and rode up the cable with the woman.

Oaken worked the other woman into the harness.

“What’s your name?”

“Caroline.” She gripped his jacket. “You have to find them.”

“We will.”

“No, you don’t understand. The last two missing are my sister, Grace, and our ten-year-old cousin, Hannah.”

He swallowed. “There’s a kid out here?”

She nodded, her eyes glossy.

Boo had come down on the line. “Ready?”

He walked Caroline over to the cable, hooked her in, then drew Boo aside. “The bride and a ten-year-old girl are still out here. We have to keep looking.”

Boo met his gaze, then looked up at the fading sunlight. “We’re nearly out of sun.”

“I know.”

She nodded then. “Okay. Get the gear. I’ll be back down. We’re not going home until we find them.”

He didn’t know why those words reached to grab a broken place inside, but as she went back up the cable to deposit Caroline, he knew.

He wasn’t done here yet.

She’d let her own stupid lies get them killed. “I’m sorry, Oaken,” Boo said two hours later as the night descended around them. The wind had started to whip up, whistling through the trees and through her layers.

Moose still hadn’t returned from bringing thevictims back to the lodge, but Boo feared that the mountains interfered with their signal.