Hot as Sin (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #2)(53)
Author: Bella Andre

He put his hands on her shoulders and when she looked up at him he read fear, hope, even her love for him on her face.

“Whatever we find out today, you’re going to be all right.”

She took a deep breath before giving a shaky nod. They quickly dressed, then crossed the narrow decking toward Peter’s house, where he was waiting for them by the phone.

Dianna picked up the phone and identified herself, listening intently as the police gave her the information.

Her voice was strained as she said, “But every minute counts,” then, “Later today?” and “When will that be, exactly?”

Hanging up, she said, “The police officers we met yesterday wanted to let me know that although they didn’t learn anything from the witnesses they interviewed yesterday at the campground, they did just receive an anonymous tip from someone saying he’d seen April heading off on one of the trails yesterday.”

As a wildland firefighter, Sam knew that although anonymous tips could be useful, they often weren’t worth a damn. He suspected this was what the police had been explaining to her.

“Which trail?” Peter asked.

“Notch Mountain,” she said, her expression almost angry. “The police said they’re definitely going to follow up.” She used her fingers as quotation marks. “‘When we can,’ were his exact words.”

Sparks shot from her green eyes. “When I pressed him on it, he said part of the problem is that it will take them a while to get someone up to such a remote location. But I’m not willing to wait for the police. I’ve got to go check out that trail myself. Because if someone thought they saw her …”

Sam knew Dianna was desperate to take action, and although he hadn’t yet made up his mind about their next move, he pulled out the map Peter had given them the day before.

“Show us where the trail is.”

Peter ran his finger along the paper. “It runs five miles from here to here.”

Sam studied the map for a moment. “I don’t see an access to that trail from this property.”

“Actually,” Peter said, “there is a private trail system that locals have used in these mountains for many years that leads straight to it.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at the obvious implications of such a trail system.

Peter answered his unspoken question. “Personally, I’ve never witnessed anything illegal on the trail. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, however.”

Her hand on the doorknob, clearly antsy to get out on the trail right away and search for April, Dianna said, “I’m going to finish getting dressed.”

Instead of following her, Sam wrote Will’s name, cell phone number, and Rocky Mountain station contact number down on a piece of paper for Peter.

“Honestly, I don’t expect this anonymous tip to come to much of anything, but in the event that Dianna and I don’t come back by tomorrow morning, I’d appreciate you giving my friend a call. He’s a helicopter pilot with the local hotshot crew. If anything happens, he’ll be able to find us before anyone else.”

Peter’s eyebrows raised. “You don’t think this is a trap, do you? The police wouldn’t steer you wrong, would they?”

“No, the cops definitely wouldn’t mess with us, but then again, I doubt they’re expecting to see us up there on the trail looking for April ourselves, either.” Sam ran a hand through his hair, frustrated by the lack of good leads. “Problem is, Dianna isn’t just some random person looking for her sister. She’s a public figure and I can’t discount the chance that someone has gone to all the trouble of kidnapping April as a way of getting to her.”

He leveled a hard gaze at Peter. “At this point, I don’t know that I should be trusting anyone we’ve met so far. Even you.”

“Then why are you giving me this?” Peter asked, holding up Will’s information.

“All I’ve got is what my gut tells me.”

“Which is?”

“In a nutshell, you make a bad first impression, but I think you’re all right. I also think this place you’ve got up here might have been shady at one point but isn’t anymore.”

Dianna was putting her hair up into a ponytail when he walked back in to the guest house.

“What should we bring with us?”

Sam took her backpack from her and put it down on the floor. “Slow down. We’ve got to be careful and think this through before running off after some anonymous tip.”

“What is there to think through?” she countered, her soft mouth now hard and unyielding. “Someone saw April on that trail and we need to go see if she’s still there.”

“We don’t know who we’re dealing with or what their motives are. For all we know this story has leaked to the press and anyone could have called this tip in to the police.” Wanting to make himself perfectly clear, he said, “What if some deranged fan of yours thinks this is the perfect way to finally meet you, way up in the Rockies with no one else around?”

Her cheeks flushed, her fists clenched, she said, “Can’t you see that I can’t even think about something like that right now? I’m not going to sit around when I finally have somewhere to look for my sister. I’m sick of taking time to think things through. Where has that gotten us so far? Nowhere! April’s still missing. Anything could be happening to her right now. I’m going after her, Sam. I have to.”

She dropped her hands to her side. “I’m sorry,” she said in a hollow voice. “I shouldn’t be yelling at you. You’re only trying to help.”

He put his arms around her. “You don’t have to apologize to me for anything, sweetheart. You’re right; we don’t have any other choice but to get out there on that trail. Hopefully April has left us a clue.”

For the past three days Dianna had faced constant physical tests and challenges she’d never planned to tackle. River rafting, rock climbing, and long, steep hikes on extremely narrow trails like this one, where one misstep sent loose rocks falling hundreds of feet.

With Sam’s help, she’d partially faced her fear of heights before getting to the Farm, but it still killed her that she had to go slow, when all she wanted was to race up and down the trail to find April.

“I think we should take a breather,” Sam said after they’d been creeping along the trail for the better part of two hours.