him so he’d be prepared.
He took one more step.
A crack resounded directly under his feet—a familiar and terrifying sound.
He stilled and listened. Gurgling water. A river? A stream? Whatever it was, he’d just stepped on the thin layer of ice covering moving water—thin and dangerous.
Another crack and then his foot plunged into the icy water.
Sierra heard the snap and the plunge into water that came after.
Oh, no!
“Bryce!” she shouted.
Gasping for breath, she pushed forward through the snow, following his tracks. She’d seen a man standing there not fifteen yards away through the trees. She had just decided it was Bryce at the moment he’d stepped on the ice.
Now she couldn’t see him at all. “We have to hurry!” she shouted to the sheriff who trailed her.
“Bryce, I’m coming.” She pushed faster, breathing cold hair into her lungs.
“We’re on our way!” Sheriff Locke shouted. “Hold on!”
Holding on when you fell into a frozen river wasn’t always an option. Oh, Lord, please let us reach him in time!
She hiked as fast as she could, wishing she could push faster. “Answer me, Bryce!”
Another splash of water resounded.
“No!” Sierra cried out.
Then she was at the river that weaved through these woods. It was wide and deep enough to be lethal.
Bryce was clinging to a frozen branch as more ice gave away again beneath him. He held tight…for now. She knew that he would soon succumb to hypothermia and would no longer be able to hold himself up on that branch.
“Stay back.” His voice was commanding, but she heard the hint of fear. The shivering in his words.
That sound shook her to the core.
“No.” She crawled along the thick snow-covered branch and scooted along until she reached him. The sheriff found a boulder nearby so he wouldn’t risk stepping through the ice. Together they hefted Bryce up and out of the river.
They dragged him away from the riverbank.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Scratch that. It’s a stupid question. Let’s get you back.”
He wasn’t out of danger yet.
Shivering, he gasped for breath. “Thank you. But you shouldn’t—”
“Let’s get you back.” Sheriff Locke’s voice was authoritative. No nonsense.
As was Sierra. “Of course we should have. Now, let’s go and get you warm.”
“But he’s still out there. Raul is still out there.” Bryce teeth chattered. “I can’t let him get to you.”
What was it about Bryce that made him feel personally responsible for protecting her from Raul? It confounded her and warmed her heart at the same time. But she needed to stick to the no-nonsense attitude. Experience had taught her it was the best way to push past his stubbornness.
“I’ll get more deputies,” the sheriff offered. “We’ll follow the tracks until we find him, Bryce. In the meantime, you’re going to freeze to death if you don’t get out of those clothes.”
“Sheriff Locke,” she said. “It’s too treacherous to go after Raul at night. You see what happened to Bryce. He almost got swept away in the river. You can’t send deputies out there after him.”
The sheriff growled. “I’ll let the state boys know and we’ll see if they want to join in the search tonight. He’s too close to let get away. We all know the risks. Leaving him out there is also a risk.”
“I agree. That’s a big risk to Sierra.” Bryce forced the words out through his shivers.
Sierra didn’t want to argue with the two of them. They had a point, but the danger was real to anyone who was going to search for him in this terrain on a cold snowy night.
She kept her mouth shut as they hiked the rest of the way back to town, Bryce between them. His legs weren’t moving too well—numb and cold—and he was unstable on his feet.
What if they hadn’t followed him? What then? Bryce would have died out there tonight.
“Are you sure it was Novack?” Sheriff Locke finally asked.
“I fought with him. But I didn’t get a look at his face. It was too dark and happened too fast. But it must have been the same man who attacked Sierra today in town. Who else could it have been tonight?” Bryce’s words slurred as his body grew colder. “I shouldn’t have let him get the best of me.”
“Need I remind you that you’re not law enforcement? You should have waited on me and my men or the state officers in town.”
“Do we have to talk about this now?” Sierra asked. She wanted to get Bryce somewhere warm before it was too late and frostbite took his legs or worse. The sheriff could wait until later to dress him down. But he seemed to disagree as he continued his scolding.
“You can’t go chasing people through the woods and think you’re going to detain them.”
“I might not have the power of the law behind a badge,” Bryce said again through chattering teeth. “But you can bet I’ll detain them.”
Sheriff Locke finally chuckled. “At least you’re single-minded. I wouldn’t stand in your way, honestly. Just doing my duty to remind you to keep it legal. I can’t really say I object to you trying to keep our town safe. My department is spread thin with this ice festival. And we certainly don’t need a shooter scaring off tourists from our one claim to fame.”
Sierra thought they would never make it to the toy store. The cold had seeped into her bones so much her hands shook as she fumbled to unlock the door.
“I think we should get him to the clinic,” Sheriff Locke suggested.
“They’re not open this late.”
“They are with the festival. Let Doc make sure he’s okay.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I just need to get warm.” He started to cross the street.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.
“To my hotel room.”
She grabbed him and swung him back around. “Oh, no, you don’t. Not until I’ve made sure you’re going to be okay.”
The sheriff took this opening to back away. “Call me if you need anything,
