LITMIR.BIZ

       ONE

      Panic invaded Sierra Monforton’s nerves as she sprinted through the brush that led to the lakeshore. Trevor Bond, a troubled fifteen-year-old boy from the youth group she headed up, had not been on the road where they’d agreed to meet.

      As she stepped to the edge of the brush, a fog rolled over the lake and crept along the rocky shore. The calm of the night sky twinkling with stars stood in opposition to the fear that hounded her. Trevor’s words from their phone call less than half an hour ago pounded in her brain. “Miss M, I’m here at Fishermen’s Crest to get drugs to sell. I don’t want to go back to using, but sometimes everything just seems so hard. Help me.”

      She’d talked him out of his plan and agreed to pick him up. He had ridden his bicycle out there and would not be able to get away fast enough before the drug dealers showed up. Depending on how deep Trevor was already in with these dealers, he might still be in danger once she got him back to town. But she’d deal with that when she had to. Right now, she needed to get him home safe with his younger sister, Daisy, and foster mom.

      And now Trevor was nowhere to be found. A hundred violent images crashed through Sierra’s brain as she scanned the beach. What if the drug dealers had shown up early and been angry about Trevor’s change of heart? What if Trevor had run away out of shame and would end up back on the streets of some city?

      She ran along the rocky shore, calling out Trevor’s name. Silence answered back. She didn’t know exactly where the drug dealers had planned to meet Trevor, but Trevor said he’d be safe on the road. Why, then, hadn’t he stayed there and waited for her?

      Another, more sinister thought played around the edges of her mind. Everyone in Scenic View knew about her fight to get kids clean and to push the dealers out of town. Trevor had used and sold drugs before. He was only six months clean. What if he was setting her up so the dealers could harm her?

      She took in a sharp breath. She cared about that kid. She didn’t want to think the worst of him. And yet she knew firsthand the world he was considering going back to. When she was only a year older than Trevor, she had been headed down the same destructive road.

      The sound of footsteps caused her to glance up the shore. A man in dark clothes emerged from the fog, jogging toward her along the rocky beach.

      Even at a distance, she knew the man wasn’t Trevor. Trevor was a short, skinny kid. This man was muscular and tall. What were the chances of a man running on a rocky beach not being connected to the drug deal about to take place? Afraid for her own safety, she slipped back into the brush. As the man ran past, she recognized who he was. Her heart beat a little faster when she saw the gun in his waistband.

      Though she’d never met him, she knew Joseph Anderson by sight. He’d taken over management of the skateboard shop only a few weeks ago. The kids in her youth group raved about him. Apparently, Joseph had charisma when it came to winning the hearts of teenagers.

      Scenic View, Idaho, where she lived, was a small, close-knit community. Though the lakes attracted part-time residents who owned second homes here, the people who stayed year-round and had been here for generations were the core of the town.

      Sierra slipped deeper into the brush. Joseph ran as though on a mission. The gun was cause for alarm. It couldn’t be coincidence that he was in the very same area where a drug deal was about to happen. Sierra clenched her jaw. Drug activity with teens had been on the rise recently. The skateboard shop would be a perfect

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