Page 16 of Peak Suspicion
Bryce pressed his lips together tightly and his throat convulsed. He nodded.
Carter took a bottle of water from his pack and offered it to Bryce. “You ran a long way,” he said. “Drink this.”
The kid drained the bottle and handed it back to Carter. “Would you like some more?” Carter asked. “Or something to eat? I’ve got some protein bars.”
“No thanks. Let’s just go.”
Carter stowed the empty water bottle and considered the boy. “Since you’re hurt, I’d better carry you,” he said. “Is that okay?”
Bryce nodded.
Carter shifted his pack around to his chest and crouched. “Can you climb onto my back?”
Bryce did so, his legs locked around Carter’s waist, arms over his shoulders, hands clasping the side of the pack. Carter rose slowly. He staggered back a little, then got used to the extra weight and balanced. “You doing okay back there?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
They set out, moving slowly as much because of the rough terrain as the awkward load Carter carried. He followed the sounds of other searchers calling for Bryce. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask the boy, starting with did he know who did this to him. But other people, with more authority than Carter, would be asking those questions. People with more knowledge about how to get the answers they needed without further traumatizing the boy.
“How did people know to look for me up here?” Bryce asked.
“A woman in town saw you waiting outside the coffee shop. Then she heard a yelp, a car screeching away, and you were gone. Your friend came out of the coffee shop and told her you had just been there. Then someone else saw the news online that you were missing and reported seeing a boy who looked like you running from a white car up here.”
“I guess I’m pretty lucky someone saw me,” he said. “I thought I was going to have to spend the night up here, with no pants or shoes.”
“What would you have done if that had happened?” Carter was genuinely curious.
“I was going to try to find a cave and see if I could make a fire, the way we learned in Scouts.”
“You can do that? Make a fire without matches? I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be,” Bryce said. “The book showed us how to do it by rubbing sticks together or striking a spark on a rock, but none of us were able to actually do it. Still, I was going to try. It was either that, or be cold.”
Carter boosted the boy up higher on his back. “I have some sweats in my pack, if you want to put them on,” he said. “They’re miles too big for you, but you’d be warmer.”
“Maybe that would be good,” Bryce said. “I don’t really want to meet a lot of people like this.”
They stopped and the boy got down. Carter opened his pack and found the sweatshirt and pants. He had to fold thick cuffs on the pant legs and pull the drawstring tight in order to keep them from falling off of the boy, but the kid cheered up. “That feels better,” he said. “Thanks. I’d like to walk now.”
“Sure.”
They set out walking, slowly, and Carter wished he had shoes for the boy. Bryce picked his way among the stones and gravel, wincing every now and then, but never complaining. In another few hundred yards, they met up with Ryan and Danny. Bryce hung back, but Carter put a hand on his shoulder. “Those are more search and rescue people,” he said. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
The two men stopped and waited for Carter and Bryce to approach. “Bryce, this is Captain Danny Irwin, with EagleMountain Search and Rescue, and another volunteer, Ryan Welch.”
“We’re really glad to see you, Bryce,” Ryan said.
“We sure are.” Danny crouched and looked the boy in the eye. “How are you feeling?”
“My legs and feet are all cut and bruised,” Bryce said. “The guy who grabbed me took my pants and shoes.”
“Did you get a good look at him?” Ryan asked.
Danny scowled at Ryan and shook his head.
But Bryce seemed unperturbed by the question. “He was wearing a ski mask and gloves,” the boy said. “I couldn’t tell much about him, except I’m pretty sure it was a man. Not too tall, but strong. And he whispered, like he was trying to disguise his voice.”
Danny patted Bryce’s shoulder. “The sheriff will want to hear all about it.”
