Black Hills

alone, Lil thought, he’d pay. Whatever it took.
    “Start running,” Ethan ordered.
    “No. The hunt doesn’t start until I know she’s away. Until I know you won’t go after her first. What’s your hurry, Ethan?” Deliberately she sat on a rock. “You’ve waited a long time for this. You can wait a little longer.”

30
    The compound was chaos. A dozen people raced from various directions when Coop jumped out of his truck, and all of them talked at once.
    “Stop! You.” He jabbed a finger at Matt. “Sum it up, and fast.”
    “We can’t find Lil. Lena found her phone in the yard behind the cabin. And when I went back, I found this.” He held out the plastic bag with Jenna’s hair and wedding ring. There was somebody here, paying customer. Lena got a bad feeling about him. Baby didn’t like him either. Nobody can find him. We’re afraid he took Lil. Mary’s inside, calling the police.”
    “I already called them.”
    “I think it’s Jenna’s ring.” Tears spilled down Tansy’s cheeks.
    “Yeah, it’s Jenna’s. He’s got her, and Lil’s gone in to find her. Shut up and listen,” he ordered when everyone began to talk at once. “I need anyone who can handle a gun without shooting themselves. Lil’s got a good hour’s head start, but she’s leaving a trail. We’re going to follow it.”
    “I can.” Lena stepped forward. “I can handle a shotgun. Trap shooting champion, three years running.”
    “In Lil’s cabin. Shotgun in the front closet, ammo on the top shelf. Go.”
    “I’ve never shot a gun in my life, but—”
    “Stay here.” Coop cut Matt off. “Wait for the police, then lock the place down. Tansy, go to the Chance farm. If Joe hasn’t heard, he needs to. Listen to me. Tell him it’s most likely Jenna was taken from there. He and Farley, and whoever else he can round up, should start from there. He taught Lil to track. He’ll pick up the trail. We need radios.”
    Mary came out of the cabin as two interns sprinted for radios. “The police are on their way. Fifteen minutes.”
    “Send them in after us. We’re not waiting for them. You upstairs, bedroom, top left dresser drawer. Three ammo clips. Get them. Wait.” Struck, he held up a hand, looked over to the enclosures. “I need something of Lil’s, something she was wearing.”
    “Sweater in the office,” Mary said. “Hold on.”
    “That cat loves her. Will he track her?”
    “Yes! God, yes.” Tansy pressed a hand to her mouth. “He followed her back every time she tried to release him.”
    “We’re going to let him out.”
    “He hasn’t been out of the habitat since he was six months old.” Matt shook his head. “Even if he leaves the compound, there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
    “He loves her.” Coop took the sweater Mary brought him.
    “We’ll have to separate the others.” Tansy hurried to the enclosure with him.
    “Do what you have to do. Make it fast.”
    He held the sweater to the bars. Baby prowled over, then grumbled in his throat. Rubbed his face against the sweater. Purred.
    “Yeah, that’s right. You know her. You’re going to find her.”
    Interns chicken-baited the range area while Eric pulled up the door. Baby lifted his head, looked around while his companions rushed through the feed. Then turned back, pushed his face against the sweater.
    “This is crazy,” Matt said, but he stood by with the drug gun. “Get back, well back. Tansy.”
    She unlocked the cage. “Find Lil, Baby. You find Lil.” Using it as a barrier, she opened it.
    He slunk out slowly toward the unknown, drawn by Lil’s scent. Coop held up a hand toward Matt as the cougar approached him. “He knows me. He knows I’m Lil’s.”
    Once more, the cougar rubbed against the sweater. Then he began to track. “She’s everywhere, that’s the problem. She’s everywhere.”
    Baby leaped onto Lil’s cabin’s porch, called, called. Then leaped off again to circle around.
    “I packed you a kit.” Mary pushed it into his hands. “Bare essentials. Put that sweater in this plastic bag. It’ll confuse him otherwise. Get her back, Cooper.”
    “I will.” He watched the cat stalk over the yard, then gather himself to run for the trees. “Let’s move.”
     
     
     
    LIL GAUGED HER time, mentally planned out routes while she sat on the rock in the dying day with the man who wanted to kill her.
    Her nerves smoothed out with every minute that passed. Every minute took her mother farther away and