I nodded and hurried into the living room to grab my jacket before returning into the kitchen.

Mason zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Did they see you?”

“No.” I glanced down at my dog, who had been unusually quiet since coming inside. “What about Muffy?” I asked, worried to hear his answer.

“We’ll take her with us, of course.”

Relief flowed through me.

He headed for the back door. “We need to leave now. But if we run out to the barn and the deputies see us, they’ll know we know something. We don’t want to make them suspicious, so we’ll walk… But walk quickly.”

“Okay.”

I followed him outside, and he reached for me, his fingers curling around the side of my hand. When we were halfway to the barn, he turned to look back the house. I couldn’t make myself do the same, terrified I’d see Deputy Miller pointing a gun at us. Instead, I glanced down at Muffy, who seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. She was sticking close to my side like she had been all morning.

When we reached the barn, Mason released my hand and gave one of the old wooden doors a hard shove. I gripped the other door and pushed too, leaning my shoulder into it when it wouldn’t budge.

Once we had the doors open, Mason placed his hand on the middle of my back and pushed me toward the passenger door of the truck. He tossed the bag into the back, but then he caught sight of something that made him curse.

“What?”

He gestured to the wall. “Stay here.”

I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but when I glanced down, I saw for myself. The tires were flat. Mason circled the truck before coming to a stop in front of me, anger in his eyes. “Someone’s slashed all the tires.”

“The deputy,” I whispered. “I saw him come out to the barn.”

Mason put his hands behind his head and looked around, his eyes wide with panic. “Your coat’s not heavy enough. When I checked the weather forecast this morning, it said snow was moving in within a few hours.”

“You don’t have a heavy coat either.”

He stood in the doorway, glancing between the house and the woods. “Goddammit. How did I let this happen?”

“What do you want to do?”

His gaze landed on mine. “Run into the woods.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“Help me shut the doors. We can buy some time if they don’t know we’re back here.”

We closed the doors from the inside, and then Mason started to rummage through the cabinets.

“Let me help, Mason. What are you looking for?”

“Anything that will help us keep warm.” After he had found two saddle blankets, he grabbed his bag out of the truck and set it on the tailgate so he could pull out a rifle.

“Here.” I shrank back when he tried to hand it to me. “Take it, Rose. I hope to God you don’t have to use it, but I want to know you have it.”

I gripped the cold metal, pointing the tip toward the ground.

“Do you know how to work the safety?”

“No.”

He showed me and made me flick it on and off twice. “Are you good now?”

“Yeah.” No.

He stuffed the blankets into the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

The sound of revving engines filled the air.

Mason rushed over to the double doors and looked through the crack. “They’re here. We’ve got to go.”

I joined Mason at the door, pressing my face against the wood slats. I watched three pickup trucks screech to a halt in front of the house. Men’s voices boomed in the distance, the words muffled in the wind, but there were no gunshots. Did that mean both deputies were in league with Crocker?

Mason headed for the opposite end of the barn. “We can slip out back and head into the woods.”

“Then what?”

“The forest is dense from this area of the county all the way up through the border of Moore County to the north. We can try to make it there to locate the sheriff or the state police.”

“Okay.”

He looked down at me. “It’s going to be rough. The hills are larger here, which is why the forest is dense. It doesn’t make for good farmland, so it never got developed.”

“I can hike through the woods, Mason.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. Crocker’s guys are good ole boys. He’s bound to have some experienced hunters in the group. And trackers.”

The full meaning of what he was saying sunk in.

He stood behind the partially open back door, staring out into the woods. “Try as I might, I can’t come up with any other ideas.” His gaze shifted to my face. “What do you think?”

“Me?” I asked in shock.

“You’re in this too, and from past experience, I know you think well under pressure.”

I gave my head a slight shake as I tried to come up with a suggestion. “We could run for the fence at the end of the property and find a farmhouse to call the state police.”

“True, but what about your vision?”

Crappy doodles. “You’re right. They were looking for us in the fields.” I looked up at him wide-eyed. “I don’t know, Mason. I guess the only choice is for us to search for people to help us or head into the woods.”

“Either way we run a risk of getting caught. The question is which gives us the best chance?”