Chapter Thirty-Seven
The trio traipsed around large boulders and fallen trees. The day seemed to only become hotter and the air was thickening
with smoke again. Every now and then Maya or Josh coughed. Maya watched Juniper, doing her best to make sure she was handling
the heat and smoke well. Juniper was happy with her cooling vest, trotting right along and bounding over the logs.
Maya was going to be glad to connect with the trail. She wiped some sweat off her forehead, looking forward to a shower. It
was hard to tell exactly what time of day it was since the smoke blocked the sun. On the one hand, that was nice because it
kept the sun from beating down on them. On the other hand, the smoke created a thick insulation that made it hard to breathe.
When they reached the trail, Maya stopped and offered Juniper a drink. The Mal happily lapped up the water, slopping it over
the sides. Josh and Maya also drank some water. They had to stay hydrated.
“Okay,” Maya said. “Let’s make sure that Juniper can still pick up the scent and is tracking toward the lodge.”
“Sounds good,” Josh said. “I hope she does because I don’t really want to make that hike back.”
“You and me both,” Maya said, thinking that if they found and arrested Abigail, at least then they could call in Kessler to help and get a ride back to their vehicles.
Maya took out the scent article and held the bag down for Juniper. The top was open for Juniper to catch the odor. Maya appreciated
that she’d been trained to find someone two ways—one was with a scent article and the other way was the hottest scent in the
area. While Maya figured the hottest scent would still be Abigail and Hope, she didn’t want to assume anything. Since she
had a good scent article, she figured she’d use it.
“Okay, girly. Let’s go find ’em. Seek.”
Juniper didn’t need much encouragement at all. Maya knew she’d been waiting for the command to start tracking. The dog took
off at full speed and then settled into her usual jog. She was going at a good clip and was in odor. Juniper was continuing
the track exactly where Maya suspected she would.
The trail meandered and wound around some trees, but Juniper never left it.
They came up over a ridge and the lodge was in sight.
Now Maya was one hundred percent certain that they had the correct location.
They could go a little farther and then she would pull Juniper up.
She knew a couple of the camera locations, but not all of them.
She did know they were closer to the lodge.
A few cameras went out on an internet feed.
Kessler was going to monitor those for any signs of Abigail and Hope, but he hadn’t sent any messages that they’d been spotted.
Other cameras could only be watched from inside the hotel as a guest perk.
Maybe Kessler or Maya’s boss had been able to get ahold of someone to shut those cameras down since those live feeds could give away their location. They were motion triggered.
She wasn’t going to count on that, though.
Maya pulled Juniper up when they came to where she thought the cameras might start. Juniper didn’t look happy about stopping,
but she listened. Maya praised her and told her what a good girl she was. Then she said to Josh, “There’s a ridge over there
with lots of trees that’ll give us some good cover. I think that’s our best spot to do some surveillance. But I’m certain
Abigail and Hope are there. Juniper had a strong track going and never wavered.”
“I’ll follow you.”
They went off the trail and made their way over to the ridge. There were some thick groves of aspen trees with tall grass
that would provide good cover to watch the lodge. Josh had brought along binoculars too. If they were lucky, they would be
able to spot Abigail and maybe even Hope. Maya would bet that Hope was being held somewhere in a room with no windows. Abigail
would do that.
They made it over to the grove of trees and settled down.
Juniper lay down between Maya and Josh, giving them both a stare that said no kissing this time.
Maya had to smile. When she’d first met Josh, they’d had their first kiss out on a mountainside while surveilling a militia group.
Juniper had been indignant about that moment.
Her dog didn’t forget anything. And Maya would never forget that moment either, because that was the first time she’d realized she was in love with Josh.
Maya’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her pocket. It was a message from Kessler.
We are in place and I talked to Nick. He’s on board with the plan. Let me know if Abigail and Hope leave. I haven’t spotted
them on any of the internet feeds. I have the HRT guys on call and they are staged down the road. They are ready to respond.
The chopper is also on call. Do you see anything yet?
Maya texted back. Not yet. I’ll let you know if we do.
“Did Kessler tell Nick?” Josh asked.
She put her phone away. “He did. I really hope he’s not involved. I guess time will tell.”
“Maybe. We are guessing that Abigail would leave. We also know she wants you so if she knows you’re coming, then she may not
try to flee.”
“True,” Maya said. “If we can get Hope and not have Abigail notice then that would be great. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“We could use some luck.” Josh peered through the binoculars. A moment later he said, “I think I see Abigail.” He handed the
binoculars over to Maya and let her look. “Middle window.”
Maya peered through. She didn’t see anything at first, but then she saw a figure walking by.
The person was on the phone. They paused by the window giving Maya a chance to see better.
She caught a good enough glimpse to see Abigail’s dark hair, which was shorter now, but it was her.
Even from this distance, Maya recognized her.
She looked through the other windows to see if by any chance Hope could be spotted. But there was no one else. That would
make sense. The poor girl had to be completely terrified. The thought of what her niece was going through only fueled Maya’s
anger more. Abigail might be out for revenge, but in her own way, Maya was too.
“Where do you think she might be keeping Hope?” Josh asked. “I don’t know the lodge that well. I’ve only been up there in
the summer to break up some family disputes, usually during weddings. But they were all outside.”
“Nothing like weddings to bring out the family issues.”
“Although fights don’t have to break out at all weddings,” Josh said, a nervous twinge to his voice.
“Family dynamics are always interesting,” Maya said.
She wanted to get back to focusing on finding Hope and not thinking about her own family.
“I don’t know the layout real well either.
Nana and I went once for brunch and a ghost tour.
There’s all sorts of places that would work well to hide her.
There’s even tunnels running underneath from the lodge to the employee housing so that no one has to go outside if there’s bad weather.
I don’t know if Abigail knows about those or not.
It’s really the perfect place to take someone.
It’s a tough building to clear for any kind of law enforcement response.
Abigail probably did enough research to determine that. ”
Maya handed the binoculars back to Josh and petted Juniper, who had been listening to the conversation. She lay between them
at attention, eyes straight ahead. Maya agreed with her dog: it was hard to be patient.