Free Hiking for Danger by Capri Montgomery Page B

these guys paid for the havoc they were causing and the lives they were putting in danger.
    They started down the path, cautiously keeping keen watch of the path behind them while trying to navigate the path in front of them. They all had to work together now because these guys could be anywhere. They could come from the side or from in front of them too. That was the thing about the wilderness, there were so many ways to get to one destination, which made it more difficult to know where these guys would come from. He still didn’t know how many men they were dealing with because the guy whose voice they heard said he was teaching his boys—boys could mean two or ten for all Cody knew.
    They were roughly twelve minutes into their walk when the group seemed to forget about what was chasing them. “This can’t be serious,” Stacey stopped walking. “I’m not going to break my neck going down that,” she pointed to the path ahead of them.
    “She’s right,” Misty said.
    “I agree, but I’m more than willing to keep walking for no other reason than to find out we are wrong,” Riley said. “Let’s keep moving people.”
    Cody was ready to issue the same demand, he was glad at least one of the hikers was on his side. He couldn’t be sure of anything with the rest of them, other than Sahara and Parker that is.
    “Fine,” Stacey barked as she shoved her friend Nikita forward.
    “Hold up,” Cody snapped because he should be the one in front, but Nikita didn’t listen to him over her friend’s insistence that she move forward.
    “I said hold up!”
    Nikita took one more step forward and a spring snapped, a wall of spikes popped up and sliced right into her. Everybody screamed, including Sahara.
    “Jesus!” Parker growled. “How the hell did they get that there?”
    “I’m guessing they planned this. They had all night to set this mess up and we wouldn’t have even known about it. And if they have been tracking our movements for longer than that they could have planned this whole thing.”
    “This was the quickest path down,” Parker mumbled.
    This was their only path down from this angle, other than the steepest segment over the ridge that he knew Sahara wouldn’t be able to make no matter how much support she had. He brushed his hand through his hair. “Okay, Parker, you take them and head down Devil’s Drop.”
    “What about you?”
    “I’m going to take Sahara down the long way. We’ll have to go up first. When you get to the bottom you get us help.”
    “I’m not cool leaving you, Cody.”
    “I know, but you have to get them down and we can’t risk going that way. She won’t make it down Devil’s Drop.”
    “I can help her,” Shell said and his father protested.
    “Thanks,” Cody nodded. “But you won’t be able to help her. You’re going to barely be able to hold yourself up. Take them down Parker, and send us help.”
    “Cody, just leave me,” she said.
    “No,” he bit out the words. He didn’t know how many times he could tell her he was not leaving her. “Now stop wasting energy on arguing with me,” he set his sights on her, locking eyes with her and seeing her defiance. “You’re going to need that energy for the journey ahead of us.” Her shoulders relaxed and she nodded her understanding. He wasn’t leaving anybody behind and she finally seemed to understand that.

    As they started their ascent Sahara couldn’t help but think about the others. She seriously hoped they made it down safely, not just because they were their beacon of hope, but because Cody and Parker made it sound as if the way they were going wouldn’t be much easier than the way he was taking her. If it wasn’t for her ankle they could have stuck together. If it weren’t for Stacey then her ankle wouldn’t be in the condition it was in. Still, despite her anger she could only feel sorry for the young woman. To see her friend die like that had torn her apart. The last thing Sahara remembered