Reaching back to brush the tracks away, she stopped, sweat chilling on her forehead.
From the bottom of the steep hill she had just climbed, Wyatt's grinding voice floated back up to her.
"The tracks end here. She has to be close."
"What are you gonna do to her?" Linc, that jerk.
"Everything."
Sound faded as her head swam.
She eyed the top of the hill. About fifteen feet ahead was another notch gleaming in bark. If she could reach there without the men seeing her, she might have a chance.
The internal rat-a-tat of her heart provided a beat to drive her feet faster. Her legs screamed to stop slogging through the deep snow. Fighting the urge to flat-out run, she erased her trail as best she could.
Damn the moonlight. If she could see the shadowy forms of the men, then they could see her against the moonlit sky. Her stomach muscles clenched.
Wouldn't it be nice to have someone like Vaughn here right about now?
Moot point. The only way she would get out of this bad situation was to do it herself.
She crested the hill and came close to passing out with relief.
A forest road stretched to her right and left was snow-covered and trackless. Across the road was another tree notch.
"She's up there!"
