Page 47 of Cowboy Jeopardy

“Promise?” Eric glanced back, one foot on a rock.

“Promise.”

He nodded and scampered up as if he climbed in the rain every day. Derrick soon followed.

Dani took a deep breath and started up after them. “Hide, Monster. Go lie down.” The dog would be a giveaway if Langello caught up to them.

Her foot slipped, eliciting a shriek from her, before she gained her footing again.Pay attention, Dani. It’s a long hard fall down. She grabbed a protruding tree root and hoisted herself up and behind the waterfall.

Now, they awaited whatever came next.

Chapter Nineteen

The longer thenight, the more dread filled Dylan. A gunshot sounded. His heart skipped a beat. A dog yelped. They were close!

He took off at a run, the agent pounding behind him. They burst into a clearing to see Heidi and Sadie staring off down the trail. Heidi licked a wound on her right front leg.

“Let me see, girl.” While Agent Sawyer searched the area for Langello, he checked out the flesh wound on the dog. “You’ll be okay. Mrs. White will doctor that up for you when we get home.” He pulled one of Eric’s socks from his pocket and held it under Heidi’s nose, then Sadie’s. “Seek.”

“No sign of the perp.” Sawyer nodded at the dog. “She okay?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t a good shot.” Dylan straightened. “Go, girls. Find Eric.”

“Are they search dogs?” The agent frowned.

“I have no idea, but they’re all we’ve got.” He followed the dogs into thicker brush.

They lost the trail a few feet in. The rain, just a drizzle now, had obliterated any tracks or scents. His shoulders sagged.

Refusing to give up, he continued to slog through the mud. A bark ahead of them spurred him faster. “Monster!”

The dog burst free of a juniper bush and jumped on Dylan, leaving paw prints on his shirt. “Boy, it is so good to see you. Do you know where the boys are?”

The dog whined, his tail wagging so hard he might fold himself in half. With another bark, he returned all four paws to the ground and spun away.

After half an hour of shoving dripping branches out of his face, Dylan recognized the direction they were headed. The waterfall. He grinned. Smart girl, his Dani. He waved Sawyer onward.

The noise of the waterfall would drown out his words if he called out to her. Instead, he told the agent to wait at the bottom and started the climb upward. When he reached the top, he inched behind the curtain of water.

Dani, eyes closed and head against the rock wall behind her, had an arm draped across each of his sons’ shoulders. He’d never seen anything more beautiful. “Dani.”

Her eyes popped open. “You came.”

“Of course, I did.” He fell to his knees beside her and cupped her face. “I’d storm the gates of hell for you and my boys.”

“Dad, we’re not going to hell!” The boys both leaped on him, knocking him back.

Flat on the damp earth, he wrapped his arms around them, still staring at Dani. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Did you get him?”

“No. He got away. Let me up, boys. We have to take you all home.”

“Back to camp?” Derrick’s eyes pleaded.

Oh, yeah, he still had camping guests to attend to. “What do you think, Dani?”

“I think that would be okay, don’t you?” Dani asked. “Langello will be long gone. I’m sorry, but he took the duffel bag.”

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