“No more training, boys, this is the real thing.” Gage picked up his pack. Everyone had met at the edge of the forty-acre campground on the outskirts of town where thirty minutes ago, a family of three had been reported missing from their campsite on the outskirts of Beaufort. Gage had the volunteers he’d been working with as his backup.
A little girl and her two parents were missing. That was all the information they had. They could be together, separated, hurt… No one knew, and time was precious.
Sure, Gage hadn’t been sent on the west coast mission last week, but this family was missing on his turf. And he had the trainees and the full-time team with him.
This was a mission he could do right now. And he would. He’d find this family.
“The girl was right here, playing by the fire pit,” the campsite neighbor said, pointing at the long extinguished coals. “When they didn’t come back yesterday, I started to worry and called it in. The girl is six. Her name is April. We’re sure the parents went out after her and got lost themselves. My feeling is that if we find the girl, we find the parents.”
Gage’s chest was tight. He had to find them, and he had to find them fast. They only had another hour of daylight on their side.
With a map in hand, he assigned quadrants to the different groups of search and rescuers, and then he took off on his own to search.
Six-year-old blonde girl wearing a red shirt and jeans.
Forty minutes in, Gage was scouring every inch of terrain he could. His body was already covered in sweat and his muscles ached, but his training kicked in, and he closed himself off to the discomfort. He’d force his body to continue until the mission was complete. A little girl and her parents were out there. Alone. Afraid. Lost. A minute’s rest could be all that stood between them and getting out of this alive.
He spotted small footprints in the dirt, and hope rushed through him.
“April!” he called.
She had to be close.
The sun was setting, and he had to find her before it got dark. Had to. Because the second the light faded, the chances of her surviving…
No! He’d find her first.
A soft sniffle and a hoarse cry came from his left, and he took off toward the sound.
The trickle of a creek filtered into his mind, and with it came Chloe’s face. Hard to believe only a short time ago she’d been out here with him. The world had seemed hopeful and bright. Now all thoughts of what could but might never be were sinking in hard.
Damn it—he needed to get his mind straight.
Gage’s foot hit a pit in the ground—his leg tensed, a muscle spasm, and his knee locked up, taking him down. He hit the ground hard and clamped his knee with both hands, gritting his teeth. He’d fallen so hard he’d knocked his damn kneecap out of alignment. He slowly bent and extended his leg, trying to force the cap back into place.
“Mother fucker!” He knew better. It’d been a rookie mistake bounding toward a sound without checking the surroundings or terrain. He was too busy thinking about losing Chloe, and now he was losing the little girl he was supposed to be looking for.
He needed to get it together. Now.
Using his knife, he made a small cut in his pants so he could reach in and squeeze both sides of his kneecap, angling it just right…pop!
Gage hissed, but his knee was back where it should be. Deep breath and a “thank God” later, he was up and walking. Sore and with a limp, but he’d worry about that later.
He called out again. “April? Can you hear me? Say something, honey, so I can find you.”
“H-help,” a soft voice squeaked out. Gage moved toward the sound, and in twenty paces, he found the small girl with her knees pulled to her chest, crying next to a tree.
Relief enveloped him. “April.” He crouched next to her. “My name is Gage. Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “No. I can’t find my mom, but she’s looking for me. I heard her earlier, but I couldn’t find her.”
Gage nodded. April must’ve run off, and her parents went looking for her and got themselves lost as well. Which meant they could be anywhere and were probably split up.
“Do you remember the last time you heard your mom’s voice? Was it recently?”
She shook her head. “It was a long time ago.”
And Gage had been yelling and gotten nothing from either parent, which meant they were out of earshot. But he had to get the girl back and checked out.
“I’m going to take you to the doctor, okay?”
Her eyes widened. “But my mommy and daddy!”
“I have a lot of friends looking for them right now. We need to make sure you’re okay.”
April hesitated, then nodded.
He radioed his team. “Found the girl. Require a medic once we reach the campsite. On the way back now. Status on male and female adults?” He said it lightly so April hopefully wouldn’t worry.
His radio rang out with the crew leads.
“Nothing yet.”