Their pace was quick and steady and jumping over branches or undergrowth was rushed and sometimes painful. Adam was walking so fast that the two women struggled to keep up with him. Feeling annoyance surge through her, Monica slightly jogged and evened her pace with him.

“Just a bit more to the van,” he whispered to her and leaned forward, avoiding a branch.

Monica and Ilona did the same.

“And then what?” she asked, options swirling through her head.

The change in Adam was subtle. But she had grown to know him so well that she saw it all. The way his jaw clenched, his nostrils flared for a moment,...