Chapter 13
After carrying his dirty dish to the kitchen, Dom headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms. If he was honest, he was procrastinating because he wasn’t sure that connecting through his rerouted ISP address was the right thing to do.
The fact that they kept getting found gnawed at him.
As he poked his head into the rooms, he wondered about the members of his project team.
Some were new to the company, which might be a good place to start.
One of the bedrooms offered a nice view of the woods and mountains rising high behind the cabin. He crossed to the window for a better look.
Watching as Kendra held her weapon up and ready as she approached Smoky who was sitting near a tree sent his pulse skyrocketing. Whirling from the window, he ran out to the balcony. “Hey, Kendra and Smoky need backup! Kendra has drawn her weapon, and they’re in the backyard near the woods!”
Griff and Justin leaped up, both reaching for their respective jackets. Griff made it to the back door first, but Justin wasn’t far behind. “Come, Stone,” Justin called as he pulled his weapon and followed Griff outside.
Raine and Levy also ran toward the back door. Unwilling to be left out of the fray, Dom thundered down the stairs. He grabbed his coat and followed the group outside.
“Kendra!” Griff’s shout echoed loudly. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” Her clear voice helped take the edge of Dom’s panic. “Smoky alerted on something.”
“Stay back, we’ll take it from here,” Justin said. Dom noticed Justin’s K9, Stone, had already crossed the yard to be near Smoky. Stone sniffed the ground but didn’t bark.
“Smoky is my responsibility,” Kendra snapped. “I’m sticking close to my K9.”
Dom quickly caught up to the rest. “What caught her attention?”
“There are footprints in the snow back here. I’m not sure who they belong to, but they’re obviously recent.” Kendra frowned as she turned to scan the area. “I was just about to give Smoky the search command to see if she’d continue following whatever scent she’s alerted on.”
“Human prints?” Raine asked. “Maybe belonging to a hunter?”
“There wouldn’t be a reason for Smoky to alert on a stranger,” Justin argued. “And Stone hasn’t alerted. Only Smoky.”
Levy looked confused. “I don’t understand. What’s the big deal is over a K9 alert?”
“Our dogs don’t alert without a reason,” Kendra explained. “Normally, we have a scent source to provide our K9s so they can find and track lost people. I didn’t give Smoky a search command. She caught the scent and came running over here where there were footprints.”
“She may have caught the scent of the bad guy at some point,” Griff said. “I know Royal did that in the past.”
“The gunman has mostly been shooting at us from his truck,” Dom argued. “How could Smoky catch his scent?”
“Except for the cabin, remember?” Kendra caught his gaze. “I saw someone moving through the woods. Smoky may have picked up that person’s scent.”
She still held her weapon in hand, just like everyone else. Dom hated being the only one unarmed. Kendra turned to her K9. “Are you ready, girl? Are you? Search!”
Dom wasn’t sure what he expected, but he was surprised when Smoky jumped up and lowered her snout to the ground. The K9 trotted deeper into the woods, clearly following the footprints. At least to Dom, the footprints were clear, but he knew the K9 was paying more attention to a specific scent.
Kendra was hot on Smoky’s heels as the dog made her way through the woods. Dom didn’t hear anything beyond the wind as they followed. He remembered how the K9 had tracked him in a similar manner, what, barely twenty-four hours ago?
It seemed like a lifetime. And he was struck by how much he would miss Kendra once this was over.
“Where is the dog taking us?” Levy asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“She’s following the scent trail.” Dom glanced at the US Marshal. “Hopefully, Smoky will lead us straight to the gunman.”
“That would be nice.” Levy’s voice was slightly breathless, as if the guy didn’t normally jog through the snow. Dom didn’t either, but obviously Kendra, Justin, Raine, and Griff were all accustomed to this sort of thing.
No way did he intend to be left behind. Putting on a burst of speed, Dom used his long legs to pass Levy and the others to catch up to Kendra.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he kept pace beside her.
She nodded, barely giving him a glance before her gaze focused on her dog. “Good girl! Search!”
From what Dom could tell, the K9 didn’t need Kendra’s encouragement.
Smoky’s high, curved tail wagged back and forth as she eagerly trotted across the snow.
Then the dog abruptly slowed and turned to the right.
Seeing the footprints, he scanned the horizon, wondering if the gunman was hiding someplace nearby.
Justin and Stone stayed to Kendra’s left. Dom sensed that the moment Justin saw a threat, he’d leap out to confront it first to protect his sister. It was something Dom would do as well, especially if he had a weapon.
The dog disappeared from his line of sight for a long moment, then let out a sharp bark. Kendra and Justin sprinted forward, their weapons held ready. He made sure to keep up as they broke through the foliage to see what had caught Smoky’s attention.
As Dom emerged, he saw Smoky sitting near what appeared to be a flattened area of snow. It took him a moment to realize they were made by a snowmobile. Everyone gathered around as Kendra bent to praise her K9. Dom noticed she didn’t have her stuffed hippo; it was back at the log cabin.
“Someone was here and not that long ago.” Justin’s tone was grim. “I didn’t hear a snowmobile, did anyone else?”
“Now that you mention it, I did hear a rumbling sound earlier.” Kendra straightened. “I thought maybe it was a car on the road, but I didn’t see anything.”
Griff scowled. “The wind may have carried the sound away from our location.”
“What makes you think these tracks are recent?” Levy asked. The marshal was bent at the torso, propping his hands on his knees. “These could have been left days ago.”
“They’ve been made prior to the recent snowfall,” Justin said. “The track marks are too clear for them to have been left prior to that.”
Levy flushed, although Dom couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or just breathless. He edged closer to Justin, then nodded. “Okay, I see what you mean. These tracks would have been filled with snow if they were made yesterday.”
“Exactly.” Griff turned to look at Kendra. “What do you think? Should we follow these tracks to see where they go?”
“I’m not sure.” Kendra grimaced and glanced at the track that disappeared in the distance. “We could, but I have the sense they’re going to end at a road.”
“Of course, we have to keep going,” Levy argued. “We need to find this guy before he escapes again.”
Justin and Griff exchanged a long look. Justin sighed. “If I were the gunman, I’d make sure the snowmobile trailer and truck were left far enough away to make it more difficult for anyone to track me on foot.”
“We could call Joel, see if he wants to bring our snow machines out,” Kendra suggested.
“Not sure that will help,” Griff argued. “By then, this guy will for sure be long gone. If we’re going, we should do that now.”
“I say we keep going,” Levy said. “We’ve come this far.” For being the guy who was most out of shape compared to the others, the US Marshal was determined to push forward with the search. For once, Dom tended to agree.
“Okay, let’s go.” Kendra turned and broke into a jog. “Come, Smoky.”
Dom quickly followed, keeping to the center of the snow machine track. The others fell into line behind him. He was impressed Justin and Griff had allowed Kendra to take the lead. He’d anticipated an argument.
Then again, this was likely a fruitless endeavor. Everyone seemed to believe the gunman was long gone.
Except for Levy.
Nobody spoke for the next ten minutes. Kendra kept a brisk pace, with Smoky leaping through the snow beside her. Dom’s energy was lagging, but he refused to slow down. If Kendra could do this, so would he.
Glancing over his shoulder, he couldn’t help but notice Levy was trailing behind. Every few minutes, Raine glanced back at him. To the guy’s credit, he didn’t complain.
The snow machine tracks curved to the right. Another ten minutes passed before Kendra and Smoky slowed down. Dom frowned when he saw a lump of metal sitting at the side of the road.
“Kendra, wait!” He rushed forward, not wanting her anywhere near the abandoned snow machine.
“There’s nobody here.” The words were barely out of Kendra’s mouth when Smoky reached the snowmobile, sniffed the ground around it, then let out a shrill bark.
“Was that an alert?” Justin asked, quickly joining them.
“Stay back,” Griff warned. “We need to check for footprints.”
Dom could see the snowmobile had been left near the edge of a rural highway. Because it had broken down? He frowned, trying to imagine the scenario.
“The footprints are crossed over, making it impossible to get a good look at them,” Kendra said. “We need to see if the machine works.”
Griff frowned, making a wide circle around the machine. In the time they were gathered there, looking for evidence, Levy finally caught up.
“Now what?” Levy glanced at each of them while he gasped for breath. “Why did the gunman leave it behind?”
“Let’s see if it works.” Before anyone could stop her, Kendra straddled the snow machine and cranked the key.
Nothing happened.
Kendra tried again. The engine still didn’t turn over. She peered at the dashboard, then turned toward Justin. “It’s low on fuel.”
“That’s odd.” Justin scowled. “Anyone who rides snowmobiles on a regular basis knows enough to bring extra fuel. Especially if you’re riding out in the wilderness.”
“A newbie mistake?” Raine asked. “I guess it’s possible.”