Page 97 of The Thinnest Air
And I don’t ask.
“Harris.” I stop when I see a man sitting in the front seat of the car.
“That’s my driver,” he says with a wink. Only Harris Collier can make rescuing a kidnapped woman seem like an ordinary event. “You know I don’t have a license. How’d you think I was going to get around?”
He helps me in the back seat, fastens the seat belt, and hops in front.
“Is there a park ranger station nearby?” he asks the man up front before turning back to me. “There’s literally no cell service out here. We’re going to have to find someone and tell them you’re safe, and that Ronan took you.”
“He’s with Greer,” I say, hands gripping the back of his chair. “He went to Vermont with her.”
“Vermont?” His face wrinkles, then his eyes widen. “Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“I haven’t talked to her in days ... not since I’ve been out here,” he says. “My phone wasn’t working half the time. I called her this morning, but my phone cut out.” Exhaling, he glances at the clock. “My family has a cabin in Vermont. That’s the only thing I can think of. Maybe she thought I was there?”
“Ronan went with her,” I say. “To look for you. She must’ve thought I was with you?”
“Like I’d kidnap somebody.” He rolls his eyes. “Your sister.”
The driver veers down a hilly gravel road that cuts between two mountains before the tires hit smooth pavement. Cracking the window, I let the cold air hit my face. I make a silent vow never to take fresh air for granted ever again. Harris reaches back to pat my knee, his own way of telling me everything’s going to be okay despite the fact that we have no way of knowing what’s to come.
We ride in silence, and while I’m no longer locked away, I don’t yet feel free.
I won’t until I find my sister.
A road sign ahead welcomes us to Zion Gardens State Park, and over the hill rests a little brown cabin with a single ranger truck parked out front.
I rub the red marks on my wrists until the aching subsides, and it seems like it takes forever for the driver to slow down.
“Here, pull in.” Harris points toward the station, and the driver slows. The second we’re stopped, he leads me inside, where a young ranger glances up from his computer with tired, glazed eyes. His name tag identifies him as Ranger Kyle Howe, and he can’t be much older than twenty-one judging by his baby face and the soft, peachy facial hair he’s trying to turn into some kind of beard. “I need you to call the police. This is Meredith Price. She’s been missing out of Glacier Park since last week.”
The young man blinks at me, as if he’s seeing a ghost, and I’m certain I look like a whisper of my former self. My hair is matted, my skin pale, my body gaunt.
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” Harris’s voice cuts through the small space, and he reaches across the desk, shoving the phone toward the kid.
Tucking the receiver against his shoulder, the kid punches in a series of numbers and keeps his gaze trained on me.
“Fletcher, we got her. That missing woman. She’s here,” he says. “Yeah. Send medical, too.”
As soon as he hangs up, he heads to a closet behind the front room, returning with a red woolen blanket, a bottle of water, and a meal replacement bar. Harris wraps me in the scratchy fabric and uncaps the drink, bringing it to my lips. I’m hungry, but I’m too tired to eat, and the meal bar feels like a rock in my hand, old as hell.
Within minutes, a white state car pulls up outside, and two troopers in brown uniforms rush inside, stopping in their tracks when they see me. The older of the two glances at Harris for a moment, but I place a hand up.
“He found me,” I say. “Ronan McCormack, he’s the one who did this. And you need to find him. He has my sister.”
Outside an ambulance parks beside their vehicle, a pair of EMS workers hopping out and heading to the back to grab their bags.
“Do you have any idea where he is right now?” one of the officers asks, his hand resting on his radio.
I glance at Harris. “He went to Vermont. He’s supposed to be back tomorrow.”
Harris takes my hand. It’s a sweet gesture, and one I hope to never experience again. It’s weird holding his hand, basking in his sympathies. All I want is for things to go back to the way they were before. I miss the snarky Harris. The sweet one is alien and serves only to remind me of the gravity of this disgusting situation.
“We’ll put a tail on him,” the other officer says, his thin lips flattening. “We’re going to get him, Meredith.”
CHAPTER 48
