Chapter Thirty-Three
Abigail held the gun to the kid’s back as they hiked along the trail to their next destination. Her partner had told her that
he would do everything he could to keep anyone from knowing where they were headed. He’d give her time to regroup and figure
out her next step.
She had to admit, there was a part of her that was about ready to shoot this snotty kid, leave town and forget about this
plan. Her partner had also told her Eric had turned himself in and was in jail. He was a coward for doing that. He had to
know he wouldn’t be allowed out again. Even though she wouldn’t be able to get Eric to come to her, maybe he’d finally get
what was coming to him. Wouldn’t losing his granddaughter be revenge enough?
As she approached her next destination, her phone vibrated. She was hoping there would be a pocket of service at this place.
“Stop,” she ordered Hope. To her surprise, the girl listened.
She pulled out the phone, read the message and knew then that she wasn’t leaving.
Maya and her stupid mutt were tracking her.
According to her partner, Maya had been following orders and listening to Kessler but now had finally shown her true colors and was doing what Abigail wanted—coming to her.
She smiled, texted a “thanks” back and put her phone in her pocket. Perfect. Just when she was about ready to give up, the
universe came through for her.
“We’re going there,” Abigail said to Hope, pointing at an old lodge that was up ahead on a hill. The building was built in
the style of the Stanley Hotel, but not as big. The American and Colorado flags were still flying out front. It was technically
just off forest service land in a pocket of privately owned property. It also had cameras everywhere. Some were for security.
Some were wildlife cams for guests. Each morning people could get up and see what type of animal had traipsed through the
surrounding forest in the middle of the night.
Abigail didn’t care about mountain lions, bears, deer, elk or anything else four-legged that triggered the cameras. What she
did care about was that she could see someone coming and prepare to fight them. Even better, the resort was empty from mandatory
evacuations and according to her partner, left unlocked for firefighter access.
“We’re going to that lodge there. Walk faster,” Abigail said, prodding Hope with the gun. Hope peered back over her shoulder
and gave her a crusty look that only a teenager could pull off. “Don’t get an attitude with me. Remember what happened last
time.”
That seemed to get the girl to do what she wanted.
The teen’s shoulders sagged and she trudged along as if she were going to her death.
Well, maybe she was. Abigail really wasn’t into killing kids.
She did have some standards, but if this snot-nosed girl kept disrespecting her, then she might make an exception—but not until Maya Thompson showed up. That’s when the fun would begin.
They went up the front steps of the lodge. The patio area had cushy chairs for tourists to sit out in the cool mountain air
and read. That would be nice, except now the furniture was covered with soot and ash. Fire had a way of making everything
dirty.
They went inside and Abigail made Hope go to a back room, no windows. She sat her down on a chair and pulled out her phone
again. She typed in a text to her partner and then put the phone away.
She was lucky to have him and she knew it. He’d helped Abigail with no questions asked and been loyal for a long time. Why?
She wasn’t completely sure, but Abigail knew she cared for him. When her mission was done and she had revenge, she had plans
to flee. She wanted him to go with her. Would he? Or had he always had an ulterior motive too?
She couldn’t worry about that right now. Right now, she needed to lure Maya Thompson to her, kill her, get her revenge and
then leave town. Only then would escaping and sipping a drink on a beach relax her.
Maya was glad to have Josh as her backup running this track with Juniper. Right now, he was really the only person she trusted.
Juniper, of course, would always have her trust.
Maya went over to Kessler and caught him without anyone else around.
She knew the look he had on his face—defeat.
She understood that feeling. Abigail was an expert in bringing that emotion out, but Maya had also experienced it in Afghanistan.
The hard part was that they couldn’t stop.
There was no rest, no time to react in any other way than to move forward and keep searching for Hope and Abigail.
Maya knew that all the various emotions like anger and sadness would hit her later. She was sure Kessler was no exception.
“Josh, Juniper and I are ready to go in,” Maya said.
“The HRT guys have probably walked over all the scent from Abigail and Hope. Plus, they’ve cleared the building and no one’s
there,” Kessler said.
“That’s okay. I still have a scent article for Hope. I will take Juniper to the back of the building and let her work around
the different exits outside the visitor center. If she can give me a general direction, that would be good. It’s hot enough,
I don’t know how long I’d ask her to track anyway.”
“Okay,” Kessler said. “Give it a try and radio me when you have an idea of which direction she’s headed.”
“That’s the thing,” Maya said. “I’m not going to radio you.”
“What? Why not?” he asked.
“Bernardo was shot quickly. Abigail knew he was coming. From what I’ve overheard on radio chatter, Abigail was probably upstairs.
Waiting. Hunting. She has no mercy, but more importantly, that tells me she had time to prepare,” Maya said.
“This happened once to my team in Afghanistan. Turns out our interpreter was giving out information. We trusted him. We shouldn’t have.
“Someone told Abigail our plan. She didn’t even hesitate. She went upstairs and ambushed Bernardo. I am not telling anyone
anything from here on out unless it’s you or Josh. And if you don’t promise to keep things quiet, then it’ll just be Josh.”
“You’re right,” Kessler said, kicking a rock. It tumbled down the hill and stopped near a grove of evergreen trees.
“What?” Maya said.
“You heard me. You’re right. I’ve been sitting over here, kicking rocks down this hill so I can think about what went wrong.
You were also right about the cell phone connection, but even if we had wired Bernardo differently, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Abigail knew we were coming. She’s been one step ahead and I need to figure out who’s leaking information to her. I’m calling
my supervisor and taking everyone off this investigation except you and Josh.”
“Okay,” Maya said. She was tired of Kessler having to call his supervisor, but she knew it was FBI protocol. The saying was
they couldn’t tie their shoes without permission. But at least she didn’t need to worry about anyone else having information
for now. “Then Josh and I will go track with Juniper.”
“Good. Once you have an idea of which direction she went, text me or call me if you have service.”
“I will do that,” Maya said, turning around with Juniper by her side. She was ready to get started.
“And Thompson?” Kessler said.
Maya and Juniper stopped. “Yeah?”
“I’m ordering complete files and backgrounds on my guys. I know things about them, but I don’t know everything about their
careers. Same with Nick and Aaron. My boss gave me clearance to get their information. One of these guys must be her partner.
I’ll work on that, you figure out which direction they’re headed, okay?”
“You got it,” Maya said.
She nodded at Josh, who joined her with Juniper as they trekked to the visitor center. Maya hated that Bernardo wouldn’t be
going home to his family. But maybe Bernardo’s family would find some sort of peace if the person who shot him was rotting
in prison for the rest of her life. Maya knew it probably wouldn’t. She understood that after Abigail took her mother and
grandmother from her. But at least Abigail wouldn’t be free to hurt anyone else. And that brought Maya a little bit of peace.