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“Hoe know you’re telling the truth?” the woman asked

“He’s wearing a ranger uniform,” her husband noted

“There’s no ti in the forest and is going to die unless she gets medical attention now”

His authoritative tone must have done the trick, because soon the two men had the canoe over their heads and they e some fifty feet away The redhead volunteered to help the older ie across the lake He introduced himself as Eric

“It’ll be faster with two of us paddling” Eric was no-nonsense and Ben didn’t argue

The woie in it snugly He gently deposited Maggie in the middle of the canoe and knelt behind her She didn’t wake, and Ben checked her pulse, exhaling when he felt it, still steady

Soon Eric and the older h the ie and not helping, but he kept her war her in his ar that she was safe now

When the front of the canoe jammed finally into the wet sand on the other side, Eric ju up the boat “Let’s hope the ambulance is al “Do you want me to carry her?”

Ben realized he hadn’ther breathe Eric was looking back at hiot her,” Ben insisted He mentally shook himself and climbed out

The older man whose name Ben still didn’t know squinted into the trees “I think I see so”

Ben could have cried with relief when an aers strea a s the peace

In the back of the aie’s small, lied to ain

Ben allowed himself to close his eyes just for adesperately he knew the answer

CHAPTER TEN

He couldn’t see

Leaves and tree trunks surrounded hiht, and Jason kneas the forest—endless ht, his vision tunneling and warped like a funhouse ht birds and rustle of leaves faint as if he wore earplugs, the sound of his own harsh breath blasting in his ears