Josh Read Free Page A

her. It’s like she just vanished.”
    Vanished
.
    Josh felt the quick little shiver that passed through him and resented the fact that even now, all these years later, the word could have this effect on him.
    “Okay.” He forced himself to relax. “We know she’s somewhere on the mountain. And with the storm, she’s probably hunkered down somewhere until it blows over. Mark all the places that Lee hiked, and I’ll chart a different route.”
    Mitch handed over the map with a highlighted overlay.
    Seeing Josh’s arched brow, he grinned. “After all these years, I’m pretty good at anticipating what you’ll ask for.”
    Josh studied the trail taken by Lee Haddon. It was the logical path to the area the missing hiker had indicated. That meant that she’d been sidetracked along the way, or had chosen to climb higher than she’d first planned. The latter seemed unlikely, considering the fierce storms she must be dealing with. But he had to consider every possibility.
    He began making a mental trail of his own. Though most hikers came to these mountains once or twice in their lives, this was Josh’s home turf. He didn’t need a physical map to tell him where every peak, every dangerous dip, curve, and valley, lay.
    The storm changed everything, though. Here at ground level, he had to contend with only thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. If forced to climb to the higher elevations, that would change to snow and sleet and tremendous winds.
    Josh picked up his gear and strode to the door of the ranger’s office. “I’ll be in contact.”
    “I know you will.” Mitch Carver lifted his hand in a salute as the door closed.
    Josh had been climbing steadily for hours. And though he’d found no trail, not even a trace of another human being, he continued on.
    As he’d suspected, the rain had turned to sleet in the higher elevations and now had turned to a bitter snow driven by an even more furious, blinding wind. It whistled up the side of the mountain, flinging a sudden spray of ice and snow in his eyes, like a slap in the face.
    He needed to stop for the day and make camp. His muscles were beginning to protest the extra effort it took to climb over slick, ice-covered rock. His fingers had longago lost all feeling. Despite the protective glasses, his eyes burned from the constant buffeting of wind and snow.
    When he arrived at a flat stretch of space between two towering peaks, he lowered his pack and used it as a seat while he fumbled with his cell phone.
    Hearing Mitch’s voice, he said, “Good. At least I have service here. I was afraid I was too high to get through.”
    “You’re fading. I’ll probably lose you any second now. Any sign of our hiker?”
    “Not yet. I’m at the North Ridge.”
    “That high? You’ve been doing some serious climbing, my friend.”
    Josh laughed. “I’m going to call it a day. Make camp here, then start a horizontal tomorrow before deciding if I want to go any higher.”
    “Okay. Stay in touch.”
    “You do the same.”
    He tucked away his cell phone and began looking around for a spot to set up his small tent.
    The wind had picked up to nearly gale force, kicking up snow in little funnels that were nearly blinding.
    He blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. When he looked a second time, he knew that what he was seeing was real. A small white bubble tent was snugged up against a snow-covered peak, making it almost invisible. Had it not been for the extreme wind, causing it to shimmer with each sudden blast, it would have been impossible to see. Almost, he thought, as though it had been deliberately set up that way to deceive the eye.
    At the same moment, a strange thought leapt unbidden into his mind.
    Was this how his mother had been able to leave without a trace? Had she yearned for a new life, far from the demands of a husband and sons and the loneliness of ranching, using camouflage to make her escape across the mountains?
    Almost as soon as the