Chapter 17 #2
Tonka nodded. Frankly, he didn’t care if the man was President of the United States. As long as he knew what he was doing and could communicate with the other searchers, he’d be satisfied. “Where have you looked so far?”
As Bret explained how the search was being conducted and where they were headed, Tonka swallowed hard.
The weather was fairly decent. Not too hot or cold.
It wasn’t raining and the night was supposed to be warmer than usual.
All things that should’ve made him happy.
But they didn’t. Because thinking about Jasna having to spend the night in the forest scared the crap out of him.
She was a smart girl. But did she know it was best to stay put if she ever got lost?
Tonka kicked himself for not making sure she knew the basics of outdoor survival.
No, he hadn’t thought she’d ever need them, but did anyone ever think they would get lost in the woods?
The Refuge was smack dab in the middle of some of the sparest populated land in the state.
He should’ve at least had a talk with her about how to use a compass, what to do if she ever found herself lost on the property.
They’d been walking and calling Jasna’s name for about twenty minutes when Tonka’s phone rang. Looking down, he saw it was Tiny calling.
“Did you find her?” he asked as he answered.
“No. But I wanted to let you know that Christian Dekker’s parents showed up at the police station. The Amber Alert went out about Jasna’s disappearance and they’re scared to death.”
“Why?”
“They think they might be next. That their son might be working on that hit list he wrote. They went in to talk to the detectives and tell them everything they could about Christian. There’s no proof he’s behind Jasna’s disappearance, but they didn’t want to take that chance when they recognized Henley’s last name.
As soon as they’re done at the station, they’re leaving town. ”
“Shit. What did they say?”
“I don’t have all the details, just what I overheard on the radio of the officer I’m with.
But I guess he’s been coming and going from their home as he wants all summer.
He dropped out of school in the spring. He doesn’t say much to them, kind of pretends they’re not even there. They said he’s been acting creepy.
“The bad news is that no one’s seen the kid. No one around the camp remembers him being there, his parents haven’t seen him in days. There’s no proof he’s got anything to do with Jasna being gone. At the moment, the officers are still acting under the assumption that she wandered off and got lost.”
Tonka’s gut churned. He remembered the fear in Henley’s voice when she told him about the client she believed had literally been born evil.
Before going through what he had with Steel, he probably wouldn’t believe that some people were born bad.
But after experiencing Pablo Garcia’s utter lack of humanity, he’d changed his mind.
If Henley thought Christian Dekker was capable of hurting those around him without remorse, he believed her.
“Are the cops even looking for Dekker?” he asked.
“Unofficially, yes,” Tiny told him.
That was at least something. “Okay. Does he have a phone? Can they trace it?”
“Not without a search warrant.”
Shit. There was no telling how long a court order would take to obtain. Especially without any evidence, only his parents’ fears and Henley’s suspicions.
If Christian Dekker had grabbed her, Jasna could literally be anywhere.
They could be halfway to Albuquerque by now.
The Amber Alert was good, it would hopefully encourage people to be on the lookout for her.
But without a person of interest’s name or car description attached to the alert…
it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If Jas was in the trunk of a car or hidden some other way, no one would even have a chance to see or identify her.
Tonka knew the statistics. Children who went missing had a very small window to be found before the chance of them being found alive plummeted. He couldn’t imagine Jasna being abused or hurt…or killed. Her death would break Henley.
She’d survived her mother’s assault and murder. He wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle her daughter becoming the victim of a violent death, as well.
“Thanks for calling,” he told Tiny in a ravaged tone.
“I’m sorry, Tonka.”
“I know. We just have to hope she’s out here. Somewhere.”
“I’ll let you know if I hear anything else.”
Tonka nodded, even though his friend couldn’t see him. “Okay.”
“Later.”
He clicked off the phone, grateful that his friend hadn’t given him empty platitudes. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Bret. “How fast can you walk?”
“Fast,” Bret said with a determined look on his face.
“Good. Because if I have to search every inch of this damn forest, that’s what I’m going to do,” Tonka told him.
Bret nodded and they both set off again, at a much quicker pace than they had before. If Jasna was out here, someone was going to find her. They had to.