LITMIR.BIZ

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the word assistant and Jeff assumed she was no longer in charge. The man heard what he wanted to hear.

      Before anyone said anything else that made her grumbly, Hope made the necessary introductions to keep the chain of command clear. “This is Joel Kidd, my helper, and Cameron Roth.”

      Joel cleared his throat. “Helper?”

      With a raise of the chin she held her ground. “Yes.”

      The silence lasted for only a second before he nodded. “Alrighty then.”

      Relief poured through her when he didn’t push it. She turned back to Lance. “Where’s Perry?”

      “Who’s that?” Cam asked.

      Lance got up and brushed off his pants. He stopped to shake hands with everyone. “Perry Kramer is our sales manager.”

      “What does he sell?” Joel stared at Hope when she shoved an elbow into his stomach. “What? It’s a fair question.”

      Lance shrugged. “But it’s probably not important information right now.”

      Hope heard the rustle of branches and glanced over in time to see Charlie Bardon, the camp owner and cook, break through the trees on the far side of the last cabin. He was out of breath and running his hands over his grimy chef’s apron as he walked.

      “What’s going on out here?” he asked.

      Joel looked to the newcomer. “That was going to be my question.”

      Charlie didn’t look any more willing to back down than Joel. They stood face to face and shared the same former military in-command presence. Pushing fifty, Charlie had been out for decades, but Joel seemed just as determined and set in his ways at thirty-three.

      Before this could blow into a full-blown argument, Hope tried to step in. “Mark is missing.”

      “I was hoping he was with you.” Charlie turned his attention to Joel. “Where did you come from?”

      Joel shrugged. “Annapolis...or are you looking for an explanation about how birthing works?”

      The older man’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to be funny?”

      “Not really.”

      “Okay, enough.” She wasn’t sure who deserved the bigger kick to the shin—Joel for acting disinterested and maintaining his monotone voice through the snide comments or Cam, who couldn’t stop smiling. “Cam and Joel came in by helicopter to help me.”

      If possible, Charlie’s scowl deepened. “With what?”

      She had no idea how to answer the question, so she skipped it and talked to the campers, trying to ignore the fact another one appeared to be missing. “When is the last time anyone saw Mark?”

      Taking a long time and making the movement last longer than necessary, Jeff folded his arms in front of him. “When you two fought last night.”

      Joel turned to face her. “Really?”

      “He stormed out, saying he was going to the cabin,” Lance said. “But he wasn’t in there when I went to bed.”

      “What time was that?” Cam asked.

      “Around midnight.”

      Charlie blew out a long breath as he talked. “You didn’t think that was odd?”

      “He was ticked off that Hope took his gun. I thought I heard him coming in later, but he wasn’t there this morning.” Lance looked at Joel as if he expected backup.

      Joel leaned in closer instead. “His what?”

      She knew there was no way that comment would slide by. “Gun, and I’ll explain later.”

      “Yeah, you will,” Joel said.

      But not now. Not when all those eyes focused solely on her. “Go on, Lance.”

      “That’s it. I figured he was walking it off or getting something to eat. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a big deal. He got scolded. Get over it.”

      Hope didn’t know what to do with any of that information. Mark had gotten angry and stormed off. She knew that before she took off on her search. But maybe she could get an answer to one question. “Were either of you out in the woods this morning?”

      She got a lot of head shaking and mumbling but no answers. She scanned the crowd. Only Lance didn’t possess the right body type. He’d joked about gaining more weight than his wife during the pregnancy. Hope doubted that was true, but he was carrying around a few extra pounds that would have made it a bit tough to dodge in and out of the trees.

      Still, that didn’t mean none of them had done it. Someone had and the nerves jumping around inside her wouldn’t quiet down until she had answers, the right number of campers and her phone.

      “And where were you this morning?” Joel asked the man in front of him.

      Charlie didn’t move. “Checking on the food situation.”

      From the question Hope guessed Joel wasn’t as willing to believe as easily as she was. Then again, he’d just met the group, and they were down two members.

      “Let’s try it this way.” Joel shifted his weight. Not a big move. Barely perceptible but something about it made him appear taller and less willing to play games. “When did you last see Mark?”

      Charlie’s gaze bounced from Joel to Cam and back again. “What’s with the weapons? Are you police?”

      The look on Joel’s face, the way the corner of his mouth inched up, came close to a smile. “Pretend I am.”

      Charlie didn’t share his amusement. “I don’t think I will.”

      Much more of this and they’d never get to an answer. As it was, Lance and Jeff stared, watching the verbal volleys with their mouths hanging more open with each sentence.

      Hope decided to act like what she was—in charge. “Charlie, help me out here. Mark wandered off and now I don’t know where Perry is.”

      “I’m pretty sure Perry is in taking a second run at the chow line.”

      This time the relief walloped the air right out of her lungs. “So, you’ve seen him this morning?”

      Charlie nodded. “About fifteen minutes ago.”

      “That’s a relief,” Lance said.

      She saw Joel opening his mouth to say something and jumped in first. “But it doesn’t explain the Mark issue.”

      Charlie waved her off. Even threw in a “bah” right before he started talking. “He’s just blowing off steam.”

      The men kept saying it, but the explanation wasn’t good enough. “I can’t find him and I need him to check in before we do one more thing.”

      Jeff swiped his thermos off the ground. “We need to go out looking for him.”

      “How exactly?” Joel asked.

      The question caused Jeff to go still. “What?”

      Hope knew where this was going. She felt the conversation rolling downhill and couldn’t grab a two-second break to throw her body in front of it.

      She couldn’t speak for Cam’s expertise, but she guessed it was off the charts. But Joel knew everything about surviving outdoors. He was the one person in the group better at outdoor activities than she was, and that was saying something.

      He thrived in this environment. His father had groomed his kids to fight and shoot, readying them for the domestic civil war he insisted was coming.

      Lost in paranoia and reeling from the unexpected loss of his wife, Joel’s dad believed the government had lost its way and only small pockets of freedom-loving people would save

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