“Oh, right.” He stared at her, trying to figure her out, and if he couldn’t figure her out, how come he was so into her? “And why did you feel the need to lead with a reality-show fib?”
“You said jokes are your way of coping with stress. I was just doing my part to help out.”
At the fork in the cracked dirt road, she steered her dog left, the school coming into sight a hundred yards ahead, just past a topsy-turvy playground. A dozen or so staff moved in and out of the building, probably a shift change.
Liam jogged to catch up with Rachel, a different feel, since he was usually in the lead. His knees groaned a little more these days after his years jumping from planes as an Army Ranger, then cross-training to become an air force PJ. But he could still keep up with a challenge, whether locating a friend…
Or bantering with a sexy lady dog handler. In which case, he should be sure of one little detail. “Is there a Mr. Flores?”
“Only my father,” she shot over her shoulder.
Good so far. “Ever been divorced?”
“Never married. Never had the time. I have my dogs for companionship.” A dark brown strand slipped from under her helmet, catching in the wind. “My career keeps me on the road most of the time. Not many men are interested in a wife who’s never around.”
“Ever been in love?”
She pivoted to face him. “Ever been called nosy? Or rude?”
“More than once.” He stopped in front of her, a few feet shy of the school’s front steps.
He reached into his vest and pulled out the wadded-up T-shirt Hugh had left after his shower. “This is the door the army nurse—Lieutenant Gable—said Hugh would have left out of. And here’s something he wore yesterday. It’s filthy and reeks, but there’s definitely plenty of Hugh Franco’s sweat here for your dog to work with.”
“We would call this the PLS—point last seen.”
“Right, okay then.” Swallowing hard, he passed over the dirty cotton.>“He went to visit her and the little boy at the hospital.” Liam braced a hand against the door frame. “They all three vanished. Franco was supposed to be back hours ago. He’s an edgy worker in the field, but he is always, always there.”
She stepped outside, her dog staying at her side as she closed the door on the house full of sleeping rescue workers. “No one saw them leave?”
“It’s not like the facility had working surveillance cameras. The nurse doesn’t actually remember them checking out, just thinks they did.” He wondered why it was so easy to come to her, to bring his problems to her doorstep.
He might be halfway in love with this hot woman, but that didn’t mean he intended to need her on some level deeper than the search. “Something’s off. I can sense it. Maybe I’m overreacting, but my guy wouldn’t let his team down. And since the last place anyone saw them was at the hospital, I was hoping your dog—”
“Disco.” The dog nuzzled her hand.
“Since Disco found them before, we could set him on their scent again at the hospital. Maybe he can give us some clue as to which way they went. I know it’s a lot to ask and your resources are needed out there. But so are Franco’s, and if we can get you both out there again…”
“Time’s wasting and I need to throw on some real clothes. You can have Disco and me for one hour. Period.” She grabbed the knob behind her. “Do you have a ride or are we walking to the hospital?”
***
Joggling Joshua on her hip, Amelia struggled to keep her balance while Hugh scavenged as much as he could from the van before the vehicle blew up. Smoke billowed from the crumpled hood. The leaning palm tree’s roots snaked up from the ground like tentacles from the underworld to claim the two criminals inside the van.
She kept her eyes off the front seat, where Oliver and Tandi’s bodies lay. Tandi stared lifelessly. Oliver slumped unconscious, his hands now bound. Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, still woozy from smacking her head against the side of the van, not to mention being knocked unconscious earlier. The swirl of nausea told her she probably had a concussion, but complaining wouldn’t achieve anything. They needed to move, to get back to civilization. She refused to slow them down.
Grunting impatiently, Joshua wriggled and fussed and she rocked faster, shush-shush-shushing him. It was obvious he just wanted down to run. But he didn’t have shoes and there were rocks and prickly vines and God only knew how much wildlife on the ground. He was probably hungry too, and his diaper was soggy. No wonder he was cranky.
She wanted to cry and scream too. For days. While eating ice cream in a hot bubble bath. Then curling up to sleep beside Hugh while her body recharged from this nightmare.
But she didn’t have that luxury.
Survival was paramount right now, right along with making sure she didn’t fall on her face. She braced her feet farther apart to keep from toppling over and making things harder for Hugh. It was her fault he was in this mess. How many times would he have to come to her rescue? She might not be able to get out of this on her own, but she would be damned before she let him bear the full burden.
Hugh reached into the van.
“Please be careful, Hugh.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. “The smoke looks like it’s getting worse.”
“Got my eye on it.” He hauled Oliver’s unconscious body out and dumped him against the rotting log. “Let me know if he so much as twitches. I’m taking the weapons, anything that could be of use to us… or that he might use against us. We need them.”