47
Noelle stared briefly at the muddy tracks. “One set of small feet and one set of huge.”
Emma.
Commander Mariota had ordered one member of the entry team to come with him while the others stayed with the burning building. Then Max, Noelle, and Royce followed him to meet the perimeter team member who’d found the tracks.
Noelle followed the team as it worked its way through the rocky ravine. Drying mud was spotted on a few of the rocks. The only way it could have gotten there was from Emma’s and Drew’s shoes.
“They can’t be that far ahead,” said Max.
“Another print,” Noelle pointed out. It was small. Emma had veered slightly off the easiest route over the rocks and stepped in the damp mud and then left more mud on the rocks. Several yards ahead it happened again.
She did that on purpose.
Emma had kept her wits about her even after going through two days of hell, and Noelle was fiercely proud. “We’ll find you,” she promised under her breath.
Max and Royce paused to let her catch up. “Crystal disappeared after the fire started,” said Max.
“I should have kept a better eye on her,” admitted Royce.
“I noticed she vanished. But right now, Crystal is the least of my worries,” said Noelle, nearly stumbling over one of the large rocks.
They followed the ravine for another ten minutes and then stopped when one of the SWAT team spotted torn-up dirt where it appeared people had scrambled up a long slope out of the ravine.
“They’re above us now,” muttered Mariota. “Don’t like that.”
Drew is likely armed.
Noelle was glad she and Max had kept their helmets on, along with their tactical vests.
Royce didn’t have a helmet, and his bare head seemed vulnerable to her.
“Hang back,” she told him, gesturing at his head.
She removed her weapon and did a quick press check to confirm that she had a round in the chamber and then holstered it.
She’d known the round was there, but it calmed her to see it.
“Let’s split into two groups. Wagner, go with Detective Marshall and Gibson several yards to the right of their tracks,” he said, pointing at Noelle and Royce. “I’ll go with Tunsil and Agent Rhodes to the left. Give me a second to update the others.”
He adjusted his mic and told their plans to the team members back at the building.
“What happened?” Mariota abruptly asked, his gaze shooting to Royce.
“I’ll ask if he had one,” he said into the mic.
His brows narrowed as he looked at Royce.
“Someone busted the passenger window of your squad. If you were carrying a rifle, it’s gone. ”
Oh shit.
Royce paled. “Fuck! I’d taken it out of the rack but then set it down to grab a vest for Crystal. She’d run off without putting on gear and I went after her.” He turned and paced in a circle, grabbing his hair with both hands. “Truman’s going to fire me!”
“Drew couldn’t have circled around and grabbed it after taking the tunnel,” said Max.
“It had to be Crystal,” stated Noelle. “I bet she did it when the fire started and we’d noticed she vanished. In fact I’m positive.”
“Oh, Lord,” said Royce. “Crystal asked me about the rifle as we drove up here. Wanted to know how fast I could get it out of the rack and if the car had to be on to release it.” He looked earnestly at the others.
“I didn’t tell her how it’s done. She asked a million other questions the whole way too.
Besides”—guilt filled his face—“I took it out of the rack, then left it against the seat. I locked the car, but clearly that was pointless.”
Mariota passed on the information, telling his team to let him know if they spotted her. He looked at Max and Noelle. “Is she dangerous?”
“I don’t know,” said Noelle. “She might have taken it for her own protection, believing she needed to run away again.” She met Max’s gaze. “She’d intended to kill Drew Mims herself, but I think she changed her mind once she realized what it entailed. Royce? She say anything to you?”
“She talked nonstop. Didn’t say a word about Mims or Emma, which I thought was odd, but I assumed she was just nervous.” The young officer looked sick to his stomach. “I know better than to do that with a weapon,” he muttered, still focused on his error.
“Mistakes happen,” said Max. “I guarantee you won’t make that one again.”
“Because my new job will be waiting tables at the diner. Fuck!”
“When I was with the Medford police,” said Max, “I jumped out of a patrol car and took off after a subject on foot. A hundred yards later, in a full sprint, I realized I’d left my door wide open and the vehicle on. Someone could have hopped in and gone for a drive.”
“I bet your rifle was secure in the rack,” Royce said sourly.
“While still running, I radioed for another officer to secure my vehicle. I caught the subject, but I was the target of a lot of ribbing for years after that mistake. Stuff happens.”
Royce didn’t look consoled.
Noelle hoped no one would get hurt from his severe lapse in procedure. The young man was a decent officer and had a nice family. “No point in worrying about it now.”
“Let it go,” said Mariota. “We’ve got work to do. Everyone keep in mind that another person besides Mims could be running around the woods with a weapon.”
They split up, and Noelle followed SWAT team member Wagner up the slope at a wide angle, scrambling with her hands and grabbing at rocks and bushes to keep her footing in the soft dirt, Royce right behind her. They moved as fast as possible, trying to catch up with Drew and Emma.
Max and the other two men vanished from sight as they did the same to the right of the tracks. “Can you hear them?” she asked Wagner, wondering if his helmet speakers were still on.
“I hear Mariota puffing,” said Wagner. He snorted and then grinned. Apparently Mariota hadn’t appreciated his comment. “Try to keep up, old man,” he said into his mic.
It’s a bitch of a climb.
It took a good ten minutes to reach the top of the slope at a fast pace.
The three of them paused for a moment to catch their breath.
“Let’s find the tracks again.” They veered back toward the tracks and saw the other group doing the same.
They met up and started to follow the tracks again as a group, but soon the terrain became hard and rocky and the footprints vanished.
“Emma will try to make a print,” said Noelle, carefully scanning the ground for several yards. There was nothing. They now had to decide to continue upward toward another ridge or head in the direction where the terrain appeared to ease down.
“Split up again,” said Mariota. “Half go up and half go down.”
Noelle and her group headed up. After a few minutes, she asked Royce, “Do you know this part of the forest at all?”
“Never been in this direction. No forest roads to dirt bike or ride my ATV on.” He looked at their upward route. “This isn’t too hard going, but if I had Emma along with me, I would have taken the easier route going downhill.”
“Where would that take them?” asked Wagner.
“Eventually they’ll hit a forest road,” said Royce, “but not for several miles. I guess his choice of direction depends on what his goal is. Does he want to hide or get out?”
Does his goal include Emma? Or is she just a stepping stone?
Noelle sent out a mental hug to the young woman. “We’re coming,” she whispered, hoping Emma was holding up. She continued to scan the rocky ground, searching for a small footprint.
“Would he dump the girl?” asked Wagner. “Or keep her as a hostage?”
“I don’t know,” Noelle said slowly, wondering if Drew would kill Emma if he decided he needed to move faster.
A loud crack sounded through the woods, and the three of them instinctively took cover behind the closest trees, drawing their weapons.
Far off, a female voice shouted something unintelligible.
Emma?
“That was a rifle,” said Royce, leaning against a tree trunk. “Hopefully not mine,” he muttered.
“Can you tell what direction it came from?” asked Noelle. Her heartbeat had accelerated at the sound.
“Up higher,” said Royce.
“I don’t think it was aimed at us,” said Wagner. “Let’s go.” The three of them started off, urgency in their steps. “Mariota says they heard the shot. They’re changing direction, coming this way.”
The shouting continued.
“That’s not Emma,” said Noelle, uncertain whether to be relieved or not. “It’s got to be Crystal.”
Three more sharp cracks sounded. Closer this time.
That wasn’t a rifle.
The shouting stopped.
“Spread out,” said Wagner. “Move slow.”
Noelle moved to the left, keeping Royce, who was between her and Wagner, in her peripheral vision as they slowly continued to climb with their weapons ready. The trees were still dense, and plenty of scraggly bushes covered the ground.
Suddenly Noelle heard muted sobbing to her left.
“Stop,” she said softly to the others. They paused and then nodded as they heard it too.
Noelle crept slowly until she sighted Crystal’s hair on the other side of a bush. Quiet gasping and sobs came from the woman.
“Crystal,” she said quietly, drawing closer to the bush and scanning the area around them. “Where is Drew?”
“He went that way. They’re gone.” She raised a hand to point. It was covered in blood.
Noelle came around and saw Crystal’s abdomen was bleeding, her other hand clasped against it, blood soaking her shirt. She was propped up against a rock, Royce’s rifle beside her.
“She’s been shot,” Noelle said to the other men as they approached.
Noelle dropped beside her and shrugged off her tactical vest. The woman was pale, even her lips. Noelle pulled her thin long-sleeved shirt over her head, leaving herself in a tank top and sports bra. She lifted Crystal’s shirt and saw three heavily bleeding entrance wounds.
Not good. Got to stop the bleeding.
Noelle pressed her own shirt against the bloody mess, making Crystal moan. “Do you have any medical supplies?” she asked the men.
“Nothing,” said Royce, doing the same as Noelle with his tactical vest and shirt.