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A twist of fate had brought theether
As irls were her first priority
She needed to get back to Makao before he and his et her there faster, she didn’t dare risk it Instead, she jogged the quarter mile up the hill, dismayed to discover he’d parked almost on top of the trail’s entrance
Makao stood near his open driver’s door, the engine running, while all of histhe road above thehts She ducked behind a tree, watching through the branches as they tro that the only tracks they’d see up there were hers fron to the back of the truck
“Well?” Makao called out
“This looks like where the truck stopped,” Ji toward the side of the road, perilously close to where the sign had once stood “You can see the tire tracks where it pulled off”
Makao joined theantic shadow of the four men up the hillside
“Why would it pull off here?” one of the others asked
“Why do you think?” Makao said “The Fargo woirls out here sooose chase The trail has to be there somewhere”
Had he parked just a few feet back, he would have easily seen the brush covering its entrance
Even better, they were blinded to anything behind the truck She edged toward it, doing her best to stay in the grass on the side of the road, hoping to avoid leaving footprints
When she reached the tailgate, she eyed the path just a few feet to her right A single tree trunk was all that stood between her and the upper trail She ducked behind it when Makao returned to the truck, reaching inside for a flashlight He turned it on, shining it across the ground, then up onto the hillside, searching for evidence of their escape
Re around it to keep it between her and him Two ood distance, the brush too low to hide her even if she belly-crawled up to where the forest thickened Watching thea fist-sized rock Scraping it toward her, she repeated her search until she had several gathered at her feet Squatting, she picked theer ones over the top of the truck to the other side of the road
The stone landed in a bush, rattling the branches
“Hear that?” one of the men said