Grave Secrets (Manhunters 1)

“Why?”

“We may both have concussions. One of us needs to stay awake to prod the other every half hour or so.”

“I’ll take the first shift.” She turned off the water and pulled a towel from the shower enclosure, handing it to Ian before she pulled her own down. “I won’t be able to sleep worrying about Jamison anyway.”

Everly set a deliberate path through the snow with Roman on one side of her, Liam on the other. Flakes continued to fall, erasing any sign of footsteps Ian and Savannah might have left.

Snowshoes kept them on top of the powder as they picked up the search the rescue team had abandoned after dark. But unlike the search party, instead of looking for signs of death, they were looking for signs of life. Signs that Ian and Savannah had escaped the avalanche or were still alive beneath the snow.

With half the area already scoured by the search effort, they only needed to cover the other half. Everly was sick over this. And the more ground they covered without any sign of Ian and Savannah, the heavier the rock in the pit of her stomach became.

Because cops had been stationed around the avalanche site, the team couldn’t use flashlights to search the snow’s surface. They’d donned their night vision to get an enhanced look at the snow surface to spot irregularities. But for the last hour, all they saw were miles of pristine snow cover.

Everly’s phone vibrated in her pocket, shocking her to a stop.

“What?” Roman asked, looking back at her over his shoulder.

“My phone.” She pulled it out and looked at the screen. “It’s Sam. We have signal.”

Roman ripped his phone from his pocket, and Everly answered Sam’s FaceTime video while she looked over Roman’s shoulder at the GPS app. “Hold on,” she told Sam.

When Ian’s signal didn’t light up the screen, Everly’s hope extinguished. “Useless. You should get your money back on that app.”

“That app found you when you wandered off course in Mogadishu,” Roman told her.

“I didn’t wander off course. It’s called wind. Wind catches parachutes. It’s not like the damn things have handlebars.”

Sam piped up. “How come that wind didn’t catch everyone else’s parachutes?”

She glared at him over FaceTime. “Because you’re all twice my size, so I’m easier to blow around. It’s called physics.”

On the screen behind Sam, Jamison climbed onto a bed and started jumping, singing another nonsensical kid’s song.

“Oh my God,” Sam looked over his shoulder. “Not again.”

“What the hell, Sam?” She would have yelled if sound didn’t travel so far in the open.

“Help,” he said. “How do I get him to sleep?”

“Try not feeding him sugar,” Liam offered.

“Too late,” Sam replied.

“I figured,” Liam said with a smirk.

“Dammit, Sam, handle it. I promised Savannah I’d keep him safe.”

His brows shot up, and a truly shocked, confused look broke out over his face. “You?”

“Shut up. I may be the least parental of this group, but I know enough not to let a five-year-old jump on the bed. I swear to God, if you break him, you buy him.”

“Any sign of Ian and Savannah?” Sam asked.

“No,” Everly said, “which makes keeping that kid safe all the more important. I will pluck your short hairs out by the root if he hurts himself.”

“Harsh,” Sam said. “You’re so bitchy when you’re worried.”

Everly growled and hung up on him. “For all his brilliance, I swear…”