She runs both hands through her hair.
“All right. I’ll take the four-wheeler. You take the truck and go get the trailer and—crud! I can’t use the GPS on my phone to let you know where I’m at, can I? Not with the risk of getting tracked...”
I nod, glad she remembered.
“Go grab a phone from one of the girls. They keep theirs unlocked and they only need one while they’re here. Plus, I already have a tracking app for them on my phone.”
She runs out of the pole shed while I pull the truck out, then the four-wheeler.
She’s back with Avery’s phone, climbing on the ATV with her pretty brown hair that should’ve been in my fist fluttering in the wind.
“Do you know how to drive one of these?” I ask.
“Yes!” She shifts the ATV. “And I’ve tracked a tiger before at night, so hopefully we’ll have the same luck pinning him down.”
She’s gone then, long chestnut hair flying behind her as she speeds down the driveway.
I glance at the house.
The girls have the door shut and wave to me through the window. I wave back and jump in my truck, rocks spraying behind my wheels as I race for the road.
How the hell has my life come to this in just a couple weeks?
Leaving my girls home alone.
Almost having the hottest fling ever with a woman I barely know.
Searching for a fucking tiger in the dead of the night!
Clearly, fate decided to drop me on my head somewhere along the line.
I’m not the same Grady McKnight I’ve known my entire life.
Halfway down the highway, my phone rings.
Drake again. I answer.
“On my way to your place,” I tell him.
“Good. We’re almost to the lake and haven’t seen any signs of the horses or the tiger, but I wanted to let you know I have a tranquilizer gun with me. We got a few from county animal control last year.”
“Shit. You really think it’ll be enough to take down a roaming tiger?” I ask, thankful as hell we won’t have to resort to lethal force. I hope.
“Remember last fall, when Arthur Snowden’s bison got loose and came charging into town, knocking over like ten trash cans and a big blue mailbox? I’ve kept a few on hand for emergencies ever since.”
Watching the lights of the four-wheeler that’s turning off the road toward the old front pasture, I say, “Willow’s tracking her boy off-road on an ATV right now. She’s headed cross-country to your land.”
At the rate she’s going, she’ll be there before me, because I have to stay on the road.
“I’ll keep an eye out for her. Update me ASAP if anything changes.” Drake clicks off.
I’m so distracted I accidentally call Sawyer’s phone when I mean to dial Avery’s, which is Willow’s temporary phone.
“Dad? No sign of him yet,” Sawyer says as soon as she answers. “We’re looking out the windows constantly.”
I smile because I’m sure they are.
They’ll never forget this excitement their entire lives. If nothing bad comes from this shitshow, then maybe someday I’ll be glad my girls got to experience chasing down a tiger on the loose.
“Okay, peanut. Keep in touch with me or Hank,” I tell her.
“We will!” I hear both of them chime.
Then I hang up and call the right phone.
“I’m following his tracks, as much as I can make out the trail...looks like they stopped a little while ago after some big breaks,” Willow says.
“Damn. I figured as much. Just wanted to let you know there’s a fence about a mile ahead. It’s barbed wire, and if you go another half a mile south, there’s a gate to get through.”
“Good to know. Thanks! I think he’s been the only thing through here, judging by the mud trail a few paces back. I saw the prints.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Drake,” I rush out, hoping to tell her.
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I-I just...I have to find him, Grady,” she whispers heavily into the phone.
“We will. And I should tell you, Drake has a tranquilizer gun, so if you hear a shot, that might be it. I think it’s the kind that lets him fire from a distance. No worries, though, he’ll do everything he can not to hurt your boy.”
“Oh, that’s good to know. I see the fence coming up, so I’d better go, but Grady, thanks.” Her voice trembles. “Thanks for all you’ve done and keep doing for me and Bruce. I’ll make it up to you, somehow, I swear.”
I grin to myself.
“By starting back up where we left off earlier?” I ask with an exaggerated growl that makes her laugh.
“That, too, Mr. One-Track Mind. Bye.”
I press my foot harder on the gas pedal and click on the app to show the movement of her phone on the truck’s display screen.
She’s up along the highway for a short time, and then makes it past Drake’s place. Not too close to their house by the looks of it, which hopefully means Bruce didn’t catch a whiff of the horses heading for the lake.
I get to his ranch a short time after she crosses the road.
My gut churns hellfire.
She’s heading for Big Fish Lake now. I hook up the horse trailer in record time, and then take the field road winding toward the lake. It’s shorter than going off the main road, at least.
The screen shows Willow tracing circles by the time I’m closing in. I’m not sure if that means she’s lost the trail or found Bruce.
I just keep going as fast as I can, but it’s not quick enough.
Fuck, I need to call her.
“I’ve lost his trail,” she says immediately. “The grass is short, so it’s not lying down through the fields, and there are lots of trees.” She pauses. “I’ve been seeing plenty of fresh horse tracks, though.”
Crap. That means Edison and Edna ran off to their favorite lake retreat for sure.
“On my way, keep your eyes peeled,” I tell her.
“I will.”
My phone dings.
“Drake’s calling me,” I grunt.
“Okay!”
She hangs up and I answer Drake.
“We see Willow and we’re moving in,” Drake says. “Looks like the horses are somewhere close to her, too. We found their trail, and now I can see the lights on the ATV.”
“She says she’s seen horse tracks. I’m about five minutes out. Meet you there.”
My heart is fucking pounding by the time I hang up.
It’ll be a dark damn day for Dallas if anything happens to this town’s favorite horse.
Never mind the fact that Bruce doesn’t belong anywhere in the North Dakota wilds. Scared, lost, he could attack anything in sight, including Willow.
I pound my foot into the gas, scouring the night with eagle eyes.
It seems like ages before I see lights. A pickup with a stock trailer and a four-wheeler driving toward the truck. I drive faster, causing my truck to bounce hard along the rough trail.
The pickup pulls forward and the ATV approaches.
“Drake! I just saw a black horse,” Willow yells as I roll down my window. “Follow me.”
She spins the vehicle around and barrels on.
I have to slow down once I catch up to Drake’s truck and trailer because the rough road narrows.