Page 41 of Mountain Target

Beau’s deep voice broke through her thoughts.

“Ry, you and Valentina stay here with them. Tristan’s on his way here with the helicopter. Lorenz, Hugo, Alex, you come with me. How many houses have you checked?”

“Only that one. The woman was lying outside, and he was just inside the open doorway.”

“We need to check them all. And we need the exact number of people who live here.”

“I’ve got that, Commandant. Got it from the Mayor’s office. It’s the second smallest village in the Mont Blanc Valley. Only five people live here.”

Beau nodded. “Good job, Alex. That means three people are unaccounted for. Let’s go find them. Lorenz, Hugo, you take the left side of the street. Alex and I will take the right.”

The four men disappeared, moving much faster through the deep snow than anyone had a right to move.

Val busied herself with her patient, spreading a thermal blanket over the woman, who didn’t even stir. As she set out to do the same for the man, his hand came up with surprising strength, pulling her face towards his mouth.

Val struggled for an instant, then froze as she heard his words. “Anniversaire … mon fils, ma petite fille.”

The words swirled violently in her mind.

Birthday. Son. Granddaughter.

Then Ry was there, pulling her back, but by then the man was unconscious again, his head lolling to the side as if he hadn’t been awake seconds earlier.

“You okay, Valentina?” Ry asked. “What did he say?”

For a moment, her lips wouldn’t form the words. Then they came out in a single breath. “They weren’t alone. We have to find Beau.”

“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll go.”

She shook her head quickly. “No. You have the better First Aid pack. Let me go.”

Without waiting for him to reply, she took off in the direction Beau had gone.

The thought of a little girl trapped in one of these houses made her heart hurt. She tripped, fell onto her knees. Thankfully, the snow was deep enough there was no pain this time, only frustration because it felt like she was running through molasses.

Eventually, she settled for stepping directly over the men’s tracks, circling around the crater-like hole in the same way they’d done. After her earlier close call, she didn’t want to get anywhere near there.

She thanked the growing daylight that she could see the tracks easily, even as she grew more and more tired.

How could they have gone so far in just a few minutes?

The tracks split up into two identical tracks, each heading off to one side of the street. Her mind conjured up that famous poem from her high school English class, but of course, in this case, it made no difference which road she chose.

When in doubt, go right.

That had been her sister’s saying, and for a moment Val almost felt Camille there behind her, urging her on. She stepped through an open door, into the first house.

Not open.

Kicked in.

That made sense.

She walked inside, not knowing if the men were still there or if they’d moved on to another home.

“Beau! Beau! Are you here?”

The house was silent, an eerie, dead silence, as if the stone walls knew its occupants would never be back.