Liam wasn’t on her other side.

She sat up, blinking at Tyrone, and then scanned the plane, counting heads. Four seats had bodies. She quietly stood and stepped in the aisle. No Liam. Panic dried her mouth. Where’d he go?

Her spine instantly relaxed. He must have stepped out to go to the bathroom. That was it. She rolled her eyes at herself. Idiot.

“What’s wrong?”

Thomas’s eyes met hers in the dark. She startled at his whisper.

“Nothing. Liam went outside, I guess. I was surprised to wake up and find him gone. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

Thomas nodded, but his sharp eyes didn’t leave her face. “How long has he been gone?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll be right back.”

She perched on an empty seat and squinted at her watch. Almost 5:00 a.m. She sat in silence with Thomas as she watched six minutes tick by. She rubbed at her face, her stomach tightening as each minute went by.

“It’s been too long.” Thomas stood and stepped resolutely toward the door He pushed it open and stared motionless at the snow. Brynn moved to peer around him.

No footprints. The snow was a perfect white icing.

“Oh, God.” Her hands clenched into fists. “Where is he?” She backed up to a chair and sat, feeling her sense of balance vanish.

“Fuck.” Thomas slammed the door shut. Jim and Matt Boyles jumped in their seats at the sound, both leaping to their feet nearly before their eyes opened. Both men had their hands on their weapons as they blinked at Brynn and Thomas.

Jim spoke first, his eyes narrowing on Brynn’s face. “What is it? What’s happened?”

“Liam’s missing,” Brynn whispered. Jim’s gaze flew to Thomas, his eyes questioning. The big man nodded.

“No tracks.”

“How can there be no tracks?”

All four turned in the direction of Alex’s voice. He was on his feet, crouched in the cargo bay, his SIG in his hand. Brynn hadn’t heard him stir. His eyes were penetrating shots of steel in the dim light.

No one answered. His question was rhetorical.

“Fuck.” Tyrone’s quiet curse rattled from the cargo area, and Brynn’s heart cracked for him.

Jim leaned over a seat and shook Ryan awake. He stirred, waking slowly, pushing Jim’s hand off his shoulder with a mumbled complaint. Brynn wanted to check his forehead but forced herself not to move. Ryan wouldn’t appreciate the mothering in front of the other men. Her fingertips dug into the edge of her seat.

“What do we do?” Her words were barely audible. Was he lost? Had he gotten turned around in the forest? Had a bear found him? Had Besand found him?

“We go look for him,” Alex stated calmly.

Brynn met his silver eyes, letting his confidence flow over her. Hope started to form in her heart.

“We’ll break up into teams and search. There’s got to be a sign of him somewhere.” Alex’s gaze lingered on Ryan’s flushed face. “Ryan stays here with Tyrone.” Ryan didn’t protest, silently telling Brynn how horrid he felt.

Jim spoke first. “Matt and I together. Alex, you go with Thomas.” He paused, meeting Brynn’s eyes.

She looked down at Tyrone, ignoring the wet trails from his eyes. “I’ll stay.”

“Can you use the gun?” Jim asked.

Brynn swallowed and nodded. Ryan’s blurry gaze met hers, and she knew he couldn’t shoot if they had a surprise visitor. Someone needed to stay.

“I’ll do whatever needs to be done.” Please, God, let nothing happen.

“Get dressed,” Jim ordered. “Matt and I’ll head west, and you guys head east.”

Alex and Thomas nodded, pulling on their jackets.

“Fire twice if you find him.”

“When we find him,” Alex muttered as he checked both his guns. Fear clenched Brynn’s gut. The last time Alex had left he’d nearly been shot.

A hand slipped into hers and squeezed. Tyrone looked up at her in sympathy. “He’ll be all right. They’ll all be back.”

Brynn gave an automatic smile and glanced back just in time to meet Alex’s gaze before he stepped out of the plane. Silver eyes bore through her and touched her heart, warming it. Then he was gone, and she was empty.

“One, two, three, four. Yes! All of them.” Using his binoculars, Darrin counted as he watched the searchers leave the plane. Alex in his bright-blue coat stuck out from the little group. So did the big dude who never wore a hood. The other two bodies looked and moved the same; he couldn’t even tell which one was the woman.

Darrin needed a GPS to get out of this cursed forest.

And now the plane was empty.

It’d been a stroke of luck last night when the young guy had snuck out to piss. His pants had literally been down when Darrin slammed him in the head with a rock.

His luck was holding. Now all of them were going out to search for their fifth companion.

He tucked away the binoculars and moved toward the plane.

“One hour.”

Alex nodded at Thomas’s third reminder. Jim had ordered that they meet back at the plane after two hours of searching. Alex followed in the big man’s footsteps, eyes constantly scanning for anything unusual in the snow. Any color, any movement. Anything. Every few minutes they’d stop and yell Liam’s name only to be answered with silence. At least the weather was breaking. Blue sky was trying to peek between the clouds. The choppers could come soon, but they couldn’t leave a man short. Pessimism was starting to make his feet drag.