“No, no, no. That wasn’t right. There’s something I have to show you. Cam. You have to prepare yourself.”
She held out her hand and he took it, unease causing goosebumps to form as he followed her through the woods. But he took comfort that her distress was not apparently caused by whatever she led him toward. She was afraid of what was currently outside these woods. The threat didn’t come from within. Although the sky had deepened further, the moon was peeking through the gaps in the trees, shining down and outlining the forest in muted golden light.
With trust, Camden followed Scarlett to a more open area, a large rock between two trees. “It’s Camden,” she called and a moment later Millie and Haddie rushed out. He went down on his haunches, opening his arms and pulling them both into his grasp. They squeezed him back and, for a moment, the world was right. They all were safe. Safe and—mostly—unharmed and he was with them.
A horned creature stepped out from behind the rock and Camden released the girls, coming to his feet and drawing his weapon. Scarlett stepped forward. “No!” she cried as the thing slunk back, presenting his shoulder as he dropped his head in submission. Camden lowered his weapon. “No, Cam,” Scarlett said. “He’s a man. He’s . . . he’s your brother, Camden.” Camden stepped back. His brother? What? “I think he found those horns and that fur in the cave. I think it belonged to the indigenous man, Taluta’s husband. It’s old, Cam, old and falling apart.” Camden’s head swam. She was saying words but none of them made sense.
The man raised his head, shuffling forward. He looked shyly up at Camden, a smile blossoming across his face. Camden stumbled back, a sound of shock and disbelief coming up his throat. “Bemme,” the man said, looking around and then pointing at Cam. “Bemme. Bemme. Bemme.” He looked happy, exceedingly so. Camden blinked, moving closer. “Bemme hep bobby.”
“He’s your twin, Cam.”
“How?” he whispered. “I don’t understand.” But he could see that Scarlett was right. He had a twin. A brother.
Before she could answer though, the truth hit Camden in the gut. He almost doubled over under the blow. “They left you out here,” he said. “They left you and they kept me.”
“It had to be that woman,” Scarlett said. “Narcisa. They left her baby out here to die, and then they did the same to him.” She glanced at his brother. “She couldn’t save her own baby, but she saved this one.” She paused, her gaze moving between them. “He’s probably been out here alone since she died.”
The man approached him tentatively, reaching up and placing his fingers on his arm, pulling gently and then dropping his hand, looking away fearfully as though he had just behaved badly and waited for the repercussion.
“He wants to give you something,” Haddie said. He looked at the little girl, something dawning. No wonder she’d reacted to Camden the way she had when she first saw him. She’d seen this man first. She must have been scared and confused about why Camden had his face.
Her statement repeated in his muddled mind. He wants to give you something. “What?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But it’s important.” The man let out a burst of garbled words and Haddie’s face scrunched up as she regarded him intently. “Something hidden that he found.”
Hidden. By Kandace? Camden let out a shaky breath. The proof she’d collected? God he hoped so.
He heard the shouts of men in the distance and a light swept through the sky, something large that would illuminate the woods in front of them. They weren’t close enough yet for it to find them in the nighttime shadows. But they had to go. They had to hide. The how and why of his brother’s existence, the disbelief that was still pinging through him would have to wait to be addressed.
“Come here,” he said to Scarlett. “This is going to hurt, but I have to do it. You need use of your arm.” Fear clouded her gaze but she nodded, turning, and offering him her shoulder trustingly. He took hold of it, pausing and gathering his own strength. It killed him to hurt her, even if it was necessary. “On the count of three. One, two.” He wrenched it back into place as she let out the softest of groans, her face contorting in pain. He could tell it had cost her not to scream out loud. But her shoulder was back in place. With a grimace, she rotated it slowly, bringing her arm up, testing its use.
“Thank you.”
Camden gave one quick nod. “We’re going to split up,” he said. “You have to take the girls and get them out of here.”
Scarlett shook her head. “No. We should stay together.”
“There’s too many of them. I need you to listen to me.” He pointed. “You go that way. They’ll expect us to come out at the road, but you’re not going to do that. Follow the stream. It leads to another wooded area that lets out on a trail five miles from here. There’s an emergency phone attached to a pole. You’ll see it. Call the state police. Get them here.” He handed her his gun and though she glanced at it warily, she took it from him. “Don’t hesitate to use this,” he said. “If you have to, shoot to kill.”
She gripped his shirt. “What about you?”
“I’m going to lead them in the opposite direction. I think I can stay ahead of them with his help.” He looked over at his brother who smiled bashfully when he caught his eye.
“Bemme,” he whispered softly. It was obviously his name for Cam though Camden had no idea what it meant.
He took Millie’s hand in his, squeezing it and offering her what he hoped was a comforting nod. Then he bent down to Haddie. “If you feel anything strange, at any time, you tell your mommy, okay?”
Haddie nodded very seriously, holding her pinkie up in front of him. It took him a beat to realize what she was doing. Pinkie swear. He lifted his hand, linking his finger with hers, meeting her eyes and shaking. Haddie let go, throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him. Camden shut his eyes momentarily, drawing strength from the moment, from the unexpected affection of this special child.
The shouts grew louder, another arc of light sweeping overhead. He stood, pulling Scarlett to him, breathing her in and kissing her forehead. “I love you. Now take the girls and go.”
Tears filled her eyes but she nodded. “I love you too,” she said, kissing him hard once on the mouth. And then Scarlett took Millie’s and Haddie’s hands in hers, turned, and headed toward the stream.
God, please, keep them safe. Bring them back to me.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Camden and his brother ran through the woods, the man next to him, though obviously mentally slow, was surprisingly swift and agile. Camden allowed him to take the lead, running a step behind so that his brother could show him which way to go.
Camden knew these woods relatively well, but this man had lived in them his whole life.
His brother. It was still almost too impossible to believe. But Camden didn’t have the luxury of examining his emotions now, on this topic or any, so he pushed them to the background. They would be for later, if in fact they got one.
He heard the men behind them, still distant, but coming from every direction now, fanning out to cover a larger ground. Hurry, Scarlett. Hurry.