Search and Rescue by Gail Anderson-Dargatz Read Free Book Online Page A

into Doug’s jacket pockets, searching for his phone. When I didn’t find it, I opened the glove box to peer inside. Then I heard the click of the gun. I turned to see Doug pointing the shotgun at me. I shifted slowly in my seat to face Doug, with my hands in the air. There was blood on his forehead. He must have hit his head against the dash. He favored his shoulder as if it hurt. Blood oozed from the gash on his arm.
    â€œI don’t think we’re going anywhere now,” I said. I turned his attention to the crunched front end of the vehicle. The headlights lit up the bank, but the engine was dead. “You’ve got a cell, right?” I asked him. “Let me phone for help.”
    â€œGet out,” Doug told me. “Now.”
    I backed my way out of the vehicle and stood in the snow. Doug went around the back of the van to check on Amber. I followed. “We can still save her,” I told him. “Just give me your phone.”
    â€œI’m not going to jail.”
    â€œYou don’t have to. Like I said, you can make a run for it. I’ll take care of Amber.”
    â€œNo!” he cried.
    â€œOr stay, if that’s what you want,” I said. “You need help too.” I touched his bloody arm. He staggered a little from the pain.
    â€œYou’re not phoning anybody,” he said. He slurred his words. Clearly, the blow to his head had left him even more confused.
    â€œListen to me carefully,” I told him. “If we stay here, we’ll all die of exposure. We’ll freeze to death. Amber will die first. She’s already close to death now.”
    â€œNo!” he whined. “She won’t die.”
    â€œShe will, Doug. Give me the damn phone.”
    â€œNo!” Doug dug his cell from his back jeans pocket and hurled it over the edge of the road.
    â€œWhy the hell did you do that?” I said. He aimed the shotgun at me. “No cops. No Search and Rescue. No one is coming between me and Amber. Nobody.”
    â€œThen Amber may very well die,” I said. We had no way to call for help now. My only hope was that Mom had convinced the cops her story was true. Even if she had, I wasn’t sure emergency crews would reach us in time.
    Doug stumbled around in a circle, holding the gun to his shoulder as if trying to find a target. His eyes watered. “There’s no way out of this,” he moaned. “There’s no way out.”
    â€œThere’s always a way,” I said. “Please, give me the gun.”
    At that moment, I heard a car approaching. The vehicle’s lights blinded us both as it rounded the bend. Doug flinched and turned away.
    My mom jumped out of the driver’s side, leaving the lights on. I realized only then that the car was mine.
    â€œClaire!” Mom cried. “Are you all right?”
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing here?” I asked her. “You were going for help, remember?”
    She pointed her thumb at Doug. “I had to follow you,” Mom said. “You know I did.”
    Mom had raced up that logging road behind us. I loved her for it, but now I was sure no one would help us.
    Doug turned the gun on my mother. “You,” he told her. “Give me your car keys.” When Mom didn’t hand them over right away, he shouted, “Now!”
    â€œOkay, okay!” Mom tossed him the keys.
    â€œReporter lady,” he said. “Get Amber into that car.”
    â€œOnly if I’m driving her to a hospital.”
    Doug pointed the gun back at Mom. “Do it.”
    â€œThis isn’t like you, Doug,” I said. “The drugs are messing with your mind. I know you don’t really want to hurt any of us.”
    Doug fired the gun at Mom’s feet to prove he was serious. The gunshot echoed off the hills around us. “Do what he says, Claire,” said Mom. Her voice was tense.
    I held both hands out. “Okay!” I said.
    â€œAll