Read Born To Be Wild for Free Online Page B

bedroom. She saw the pillow and blanket on the couch. Empty.
    “Micah?”
    The front door was open.
    He’d stepped outside.
    “What are you doing out here?” she asked.
    “Can’t sleep.”
    “Me, neither. Let’s search again.”
    He nodded, and she locked the front door before following him to the truck.
    They spent hours combing the dark streets, first of her neighborhood, then widening the search.
    Oh, Lucy…please don’t let anything bad be happening to our daughter.
    She tried not to let her mind go there, but dark thoughts wouldn’t stop battering her. She looked out into the moonless night and, as in the photographs she took, imagined viewing Lucy in every conceivable potential danger until she thought she would lose her mind.
    They drove in silence down deserted streets. Exhaustion caught up to her, and eventually she could hardly keep her eyes open, and her thoughts started drifting off. But it was only when Micah threw on the brakes and swerved the truck to keep from hitting a lone coyote crossing the road that she realized they’d both reached their limit.
    “Damn it!”
    She heard the desperation in his words.
    Desperation that was consuming them both to where they would be useless at first light if they didn’t get at least a few hours sleep.
    “Let’s go back and start again in the morning,” she choked out, wondering if she could sleep even for a minute with Lucy gone.

Chapter Four
    Micah was up before dawn. He’d slept fitfully on the couch rather than in his daughter’s bed. Lucy’s room had been too close to Isabel’s. He hadn’t trusted himself to stay put. The couch was a foot too short and a foot too narrow to offer someone of his size a comfortable sleep. But he’d managed, at least for an hour here and there. He’d awakened several times, and each time he’d gone outside as if he would finally see Lucy running home and into his arms, but the waking nightmare continued.
    After taking a fast shower, he pulled on his jeans and left the bathroom, barefoot and towel-drying his hair. Meaning to put on a pot of coffee, he headed for the kitchen and was met by the smell of coffee wafting out to him. Isabel had beaten him to it. When he entered, he saw that she was fully dressed—and that her gaze was fixated on his bare chest. He couldn’t help his physical reaction to the realization, but he did his best to hide it.
    “I woke you,” he said, his tone apologetic. “Sorry.”
    “Not your fault.” Avoiding looking at him, she set two mugs in front of the nearly full pot. “I didn’t sleep much.”
    Worry for their daughter was wearing them both down.
    “Sorry,” he said again. “We’ll find her, Isabel. Anything else is unacceptable.”
    “A new philosophy?”
    “An ancient one. Zia’s been teaching me some of the Pueblo ways of looking at life. She may be a lot younger than me,” he said of his half-sister, “but she’s also a lot more spiritual.”
    Isabel swallowed hard and nodded. “We’re going to do whatever we must to find our daughter.”
    “Together. That is a promise. Whatever it takes, Isabel.”
    This was as on the same page as they’d ever been in the last twelve years. Micah was grateful they were able to put the past behind them, if only temporarily.
    Though it was light now, school didn’t start for nearly two hours. However, they planned to get there early, to talk to kids as they arrived, especially those who rode on the school buses. Maybe one of them had noticed something out of the ordinary.
    Two hours was enough time to eat. Since Isabel showed no interest in anything but her mug of coffee, Micah made a quick breakfast, and she did a great job of pretending to eat what he put in front of her, while actually only moving the food around on her plate. When she was done, she scraped three-fourths of her breakfast into the garbage.
    “I’ll call Ochoa,” she said, “let him know what we’re doing.”
    “Right.”
    He used the privacy of