Chapter Thirty-Six
As Maya and Josh were getting ready to leave the break room, Maya paused. Kessler was back to staring at the bloodstain on
the floor like it would give him answers. He’d have had better luck with tea leaves.
Realizing Maya had stopped, he asked, “Did you think of something else?”
“A couple things,” she said. “There’s a campground not far from here. It’s the opposite direction of the lodge. I think that
would be a good spot to relocate the guys and have Nick start his search there.”
“He won’t find any footprints or other signs someone was there unless it’s left over from hikers. But then the tracks would
be old. I bet he can tell that,” Kessler said.
“Exactly. Maybe you can say you saw some footprints and they were heading in that direction. You can keep him busy looking
in that area,” Maya said. “He’s a smart guy, but maybe it’ll take him a while to figure out he’s been duped.”
“Why not stay here?” Kessler asked. “Last I checked on the fire, it was still holding off just enough for us to not leave.”
“I’m worried about the fire on the road up to the Old Stone Lodge,” Maya said. “It’s not a direct route.”
“Nothing in the mountains ever is,” Kessler muttered.
Maya ignored him and continued, “The fire has burned on one part of the road heading toward the lodge. The road could be hot
enough to pop tires and there could be rocks too. Sometimes they explode with the heat. I think if we can park up the road
a little bit but not drive all the way to the lodge, no one will be able to see our vehicles. It makes the story about responding
to the fire more plausible.”
Kessler nodded. He seemed to be thinking things over. “True. If someone sees your vehicles, then they know I’m lying. This
is why I hate lying.”
“I know,” Maya said. “I understand. I’m terrible at that too.”
“Are you going to hike into the lodge then? Will that be too much on Juniper?” Kessler asked.
“If we park up the road, there’s a spot where we can cut across diagonally,” Maya said. “It’ll shorten the distance for her.
It’ll help that she’s not tracking and using herself that way. I’ll make sure I’m careful. I have a cooling vest for her.
It’s not her Kevlar vest, so I don’t use it often because I usually want that protection for her. But I’ll use it today.”
“We’ll take plenty of water too,” Josh added in. “If we can give her lots of water breaks that’ll help.”
“Exactly,” Maya agreed. “We’ll hike back there, do our recon work and report to you. And . . .”
“I always get nervous when you say ‘and,’ ” Kessler said.
“I understand,” Josh added.
Maya shook her head. They were both right, of course. She did have a reputation for a reason. “I figure if we do this right,
then maybe we can flush out Abigail’s partner. If her partner thinks that everyone is going away from the lodge, then maybe
Abigail will relax.”
“You never know, the partner might be calm,” Kessler said. “Or I can see who comes and asks me the most questions. I wish
we knew for sure if we could trust your brother.”
“Why?” Maya asked.
“Because if I could talk to him, he could help me with my lies. He could pretend to see some sort of track that would lead
away from the lodge. Might help with believability. What do you think? Should I try talking to him?”
“Give us twenty minutes to get into position,” Maya said. “Then talk to him.”
“Why?” Kessler asked.
Josh nodded and said, “Because if it’s Nick, we’ll be able to see if Abigail finds out what’s going on. We’ll be in a good
spot to see her leave.”
“Yep,” Maya said. “That’s what I was thinking. I really don’t think he’s her partner. He’s much younger than her, but I guess
you never know.”
“But you won’t be able to see the back of the building,” Kessler countered.
“Yes and no,” Maya said. “I know where I want to hike to and we’ll be in a position where we won’t be able to see the rear
exits, but the way the mountain behind it slopes up, anyone leaving will have to go up some stairs and we can see those. The
terrain is rough enough that it would be very difficult for them to not use the stairs.”
“Okay, it’s a plan then,” Kessler said.
“One more question: have you received the files on Ross and Aaron?” Maya asked.
“I have,” Kessler said. “I haven’t had a chance to go through them. Once I get everyone busy doing their tasks, I’ll look
them over.”
“Good,” Maya said. “Let’s see if we can figure out who Abigail’s partner is and finally catch her.”
She thought about her earlier suspicion with Kessler’s supervisor. Maya had to ask. “What about your supervisor?”
“What do you mean?” Kessler asked.
“Could he be Abigail’s partner? You have to keep him updated. He knows everything going on.”
“You’re making an assumption.”
“I don’t think we can trust anyone,” Maya said.
“No, I meant you’re making an assumption about my supervisor being a man. My supervisor is female. She’s a great boss and
I trust her. I think we’ve determined that Abigail’s partner is male.”
Maya nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed. Of course there were female supervisors in the FBI. “Never mind then. We’ll get to work. It’s time for Abigail to pay for her crimes.”
Plan in place, they all headed separate directions. Maya’s nerves from earlier had disappeared. She felt confident about this
strategy and she had Juniper and Josh—the best four-legged and two-legged backup around.
Maya climbed in her patrol vehicle. Juniper sensed that something had changed and was already tense and making noises. She’d
moved from high-pitched yips to lower growling and grumbling sounds.
“I know, girly,” Maya said. “Save some energy. We still have a long day ahead.”
Juniper gave a low growl and grunt in response. Maya always felt that her dog understood her and vice versa. This was why
she loved the partnerships with the K-9s. It was a special bond that couldn’t be explained unless you’d worked with a dog.
Maya drove up the road about a mile until she found the spot she wanted to park. Josh was right behind her. Juniper started
turning circles when Maya pulled off. The bag with the scent article for Hope was sitting on the front seat. Maya grabbed
it and stuffed it in one of her pockets. If by some chance they had an opening to safely get into the lodge, she would take
it. Having the scent article with might help find Hope quicker.
Taking a deep breath, Maya stepped out of her patrol SUV and went around to Juniper’s compartment. Juniper was doing a jigging
dance with her front paws in excitement.
“I guess you were able to rest,” Maya said.
Josh had come over and was waiting for them. He had water with him, which would be good. The heat was already stifling. Maya
pulled out Juniper’s cooling vest and made sure it was wet with cold water. She managed to wrestle it on her before Juniper
jumped out of her compartment. Maya fit Juniper’s tracking harness on, still not happy about not having the protective vest.
If anyone would try to hurt or kill Juniper, it would be Abigail. But the vest could also kill Juniper if she overheated.
These were the tough decisions Maya had to make.
Taking a deep breath, she turned toward Josh. “Let’s go.”
They all trekked off in the direction of the lodge. There was no trail, but Maya knew if they walked straight ahead then they
would intercept the path to the lodge. She had told Kessler she knew where most of the cameras were. She had acted confident
in front of him, but in reality, she only had some ideas. If Abigail saw them coming, then her wish to kill Maya might come
true. But if all went well, Maya, Juniper and Josh would have the element of surprise.