Chapter Thirty-Four
Maya, Juniper and Josh made their way over to the entrance of the visitor center. She could feel the vibration up the leash
from Juniper. The Mal was feeding off Maya’s intensity and focus. They were both ready to find Abigail and make her pay. The
building might be empty, but if they could at least get the direction that Abigail and Hope went, that would help.
The fire was encroaching close enough to see some flames off in the distance. Maya wasn’t too worried. The wind was low and
the fire didn’t have a lot of fuel in this area since the visitor center and lodge did some fire mitigation, created with
defensible space. Or at least that’s what she told herself. She wasn’t a trained firefighter.
The trio went around the perimeter of the visitor center. The HRT guys had gone in a side door closest to the break room where
they thought Hope was being held. Maya wondered if the side door was where Abigail and Hope came out after Abigail shot Agent
Bernardo. They could have left before HRT showed up.
She asked Juniper to start a track in that area, but there was no interest. They continued around the building and came to the back door.
This would be the perfect spot to escape and she was certain that the hallway went from the break room to this back exit.
She was getting ready to cast Juniper out to start their search when Maya saw some blood spots on the ground.
“Look at this,” she said to Josh. “It’s not a huge amount of blood, but I wonder if one of them cut themselves or scraped
up a leg or something.”
Josh peered where Maya was pointing. “I see what you’re talking about. I’ll take some pictures and radio Kessler about marking
evidence.”
“No, don’t radio him,” Maya said. “That might alert Abigail’s partner. Send him a quick text. Do you have service here?”
“It’s iffy, but maybe I can take a picture and then try sending it.” Josh took some pictures on his phone. Maya saw him type
in the message. Then he moved around a bit holding his phone up in the air. He finally hit a button to send the photo. “Hopefully
that’ll go through. I’ll check again in a minute.”
“Great,” Maya said. She pulled Hope’s scent article out of her pocket. She let Juniper take a sniff. “Find her, girl. Go find
her. Seek.”
Juniper seemed to catch the odor immediately. Her body tensed and her tail poked straight up in the air. She took off. Maya
was ready for her dog’s fast start and stayed with Juniper.
Nose down and tail up, Juniper settled into her customary jog once she had a good odor and started tracking.
They stayed on a trail heading in the direction of the Old Stone Lodge.
Maya was glad Juniper was able to keep the scent since it was so hot and dry.
Those environmental conditions made it harder for her dog.
They continued down the trail to the Old Stone Lodge. Makes sense that’s where Abigail would go. I’ll see if Juniper continues to there and pull her up before we’re visible to
any cameras.
It bordered Forest Service land and Maya figured that it would be a good place to take Hope and hide her. Due to evacuations,
the resort was completely empty. It was also huge which meant, even with Juniper, it would take a long time to search the
building and find Hope.
“Atta girl,” Maya said, praising her dog every now and then. She normally didn’t talk much during a track or when Juniper
was trying to find evidence or narcotics, but it was warm and she knew Juniper was getting tired. Maya needed to pull her
up soon. Sooner happened fast when they came up to a ridge where the fire had crossed. Even though there weren’t active flames,
the ground was warm. Too warm for Juniper’s paws.
“Good girl. We’re stopping here,” Maya said. Josh came up behind them and they peered off into the distance. The Old Stone
Lodge was majestic even this far away.
“That’s where I think we’ll find Abigail and Hope. At least for now. I supposed there could be a car stashed there or something,”
Maya said.
“I agree. I think we need to get the HRT guys over there and see if Juniper can help us find Hope if she’s in there.”
“Normally, that would be what I’d want too . . .”
“But?” Josh asked.
“There’s cameras everywhere. Not just security, but also wildlife cams. I don’t know who runs them or if they’re controlled
from inside the hotel. If the HRT guys line up outside the building, there’s a good chance that Abigail will see them,” Maya
said. “Plus, if we tell Kessler and he sends the team, Abigail will probably know about it from her partner. We need to go
there, but we need to keep it on the down-low.”
“I agree. I’d rather face Abigail with the HRT guys, but maybe we can go with Juniper and do some recon work. Do you know
where the cameras are located?” Josh asked.
“I think I know where most of them are, but I could miss some. It would be easy to do. They’re camouflaged so that they don’t
stick out and they’re mounted on some trees.”
“That will make it hard to spot them. Too bad we can’t use them to see into the lodge. Let’s go back and see if we can find
Kessler and tell him we are certain Abigail and Hope are at the lodge. Maybe he can deploy the HRT guys without telling his
partners,” Josh said.
“Good idea. I also need to get Juniper some water and put her in her compartment where it’s cool. That way she can recover
while we figure out a plan and be ready to go.”
“That’s a good plan,” Josh said. “It’s hot today and the fire is only making it worse.”
Maya agreed and they made their way back to the visitor center. She really wished there was a magical way to figure out who
Abigail’s partner was, so that for once, they would have the upper hand.