done. And turned in.” He grinned. “Mrs. Vincetti wrote that I was a rock star.”
He was so eager to learn. It broke her heart that the school couldn’t afford the special education teacher on a full-time basis. But he was excelling at his studies. “What time do you need to be back?”
He thought for a moment. “By lunchtime.”
“Which is?”
He tapped the large round watch on his arm. “Noon.”
“That’s right. So that means you need to be aware of the time to see how far you go in so that you know when to turn around to be back by noon. If I have to worry, we won’t be doing this again.” She made this speech every time.
“I won’t make you worry, Maya. Do I ever?”
Oh, had he. When she’d first started to loosen the reins, letting him have some freedom, she’d known it would be a learning curve for them both. But Pastor Michael Foster and his wife, Alicia, had insisted it was time to let Brady grow up, and Brady’s doctor had agreed.
Because Maya respected and cherished the older couple and Doctor Brown as well, and relied on them for sound counsel, she’d done as they’d suggested and given Brady more control and allowed him to make his own decisions.
But he wasn’t good with directions or managing his time, something they’d been working diligently to change.
This would be his fifth outing seeking treasure in as many weeks. She was pretty sure he understood the concept of time now and knew how to use his compass, but that didn’t stop the little flutter of unease from curling in the pit of her stomach.
For her own piece of mind, she’d filled his small backpack with a first-aid kit, insect replant, sunscreen, reflective thermal blanket, a compass, a walkie-talkie, a cell phone and a flashlight, along with a water bottle and snacks.
“Your house keys?”
Brady unzipped the front pouch and pointed to a set of keys dangling from a carabiner attached to the inside of the bag. A small square wireless tracker covered by a sticker of Brady’s favorite cartoon character hung next to the keys. She had the corresponding GPS tracking device in the office.
“It’s packed and all set to go, Maya.” Brady zipped the pack closed and secured it over his shoulders on top of his blue down jacket.
“Hat?”
He yanked his baseball cap from the pocket of his jeans and secured it on his head. “Okay?”
Her heart squeezed. “Be careful. And stay on the path. No straying.”
With a salute, he ran out the side exit, the echo of his booted feet ringing in her ears.
She hurried to the front window in time to see him pedaling his bike down the sidewalk toward the far end of town where he’d turn onto the road that would take him to the trailhead. He waved to people on the street who waved back.
She touched the glass pane and said a prayer of protection for her younger brother.
A stab of guilt ate away at her. Her gaze lifted to the white snowcapped peaks of the mountains. If she had prayed for her parents that long-ago winter night instead of being angry that she’d been stuck at home babysitting her brother while they went off and had fun, maybe they’d still be alive.
Movement across the street drew her gaze to the tall good-looking sheriff’s deputy lifting his hand in a wave, his dark-eyed gaze locking with hers.
Embarrassment flooded her and she snatched her hand away from the windowpane. She quickly stepped back. Great. The handsome officer probably thought she was flirting with him. Ugh. The next time he came in for tack would be uncomfortable.
The last thing she wanted in her life was romance. There’d been a few men over the years who’d shown interest but she had her hands full with Brady and the store.
To complicate things with a relationship... The thought was overwhelming. What if she fell in love and then something happened to the guy?
She had Brady, her friends and the town. What more did she need?
* * *
At noon, Maya had watched the back entrance, expecting Brady to come racing into the store any moment. At one o’clock, she paced by the front window, her gaze searching the main street of Bristle Township for signs of him. She checked the GPS device. The red dot showed he was on the Aspen Creek Trail. Most likely he’d found something or was digging beneath a bush with no clue how worried she was waiting for him to return.
By two, when the red dot hadn’t moved, dread that something had happened to him set in. She flipped the open sign over, jumped in her Jeep and drove to the trailhead. Brady’s bike was sitting in the bike rack.
Trying to keep her breathing even, she told herself not to panic, even though her heart rate was way faster than normal, making her chest hurt. She checked the handheld GPS device, glad to see the little red dot indicating that Brady was still on the trail but worry poked at her. He hadn’t moved in a long time. Had he fallen and was injured?
The thought galvanized her into action. She hurried up the dirt path. “Brady!”
On either side of the trail, tall aspens and pines grew, their branches spreading out to form a canopy that only allowed intermittent shafts of sunlight to stream through, while otherwise shrouding the path in gloom. The thin air was crisp and a shiver prickled the fine hairs at Maya’s nape.
“Brady! Answer me,” she called out, praying that her search wasn’t futile.
Where were all the other hikers? She could only guess because of the later hour in the day that most had already made their treks up and back down the mountain path. She rounded a bend in the trail. According to the GPS tracker, she should have been right on top of Brady. But the path was empty.
With her breath lodged in her lungs, she searched the bushes on the sides of the trail. A patch of blue snagged her gaze. She dived for the bramble of tangled foliage. “Brady?”
Horror closed her throat. It was her baby brother’s favorite backpack. She tugged the blue backpack from beneath the thorny bush. She hugged the bag to her chest, her heart thumping as fear clouded her vision. Where was her brother?
Had he strayed off the path? Was he hurt and needing help?
She put on the backpack so that her hands were free to push back the low branches as she made her way into the thick forest.
The snap of a branch breaking sent a bird flapping from a tree branch above. Maya’s heart jackknifed as she froze, unsure from which direction the noise had come. “Brady?”
Something hard and heavy slammed into her from behind, sending her sprawling forward on her hands and knees. Dirt and debris bit into her skin. Rough hands grabbed at her. She rolled away, landing awkwardly on the backpack. A hooded person with a strange mask covering their face rushed toward her.
Terror had her rolling again into the bushes. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the ripping of her jeans on a branch. The hooded figure yanked on the straps of the backpack. Maya delivered a low fisted shot to the person’s gut, knocking the assailant back several steps, enough so that Maya could twist away with her brother’s pack still on and flee into the woods.
She ran as fast as the terrain would allow, dodging branches that scratched at her hands, tore her coat and plucked at her hair.
Behind her, she heard the thrashing of her attacker through the underbrush, quickly gaining on her.
She had to find safety. She darted around a copse of trees and spied a downed trunk. She jumped over it and hunkered down, out of sight.
Please, Lord, protect me. Protect Brady.
Why was someone trying to hurt her? Where was her brother?
* * *
“There’s