Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Cas was quiet on the way back, and Sebastian didn’t want to break the silence.
Their thoughts were heavy at the idea of a little girl being out in the wilderness, alone with a man who’d likely brutally slain her mother and another man.
Every shiver, every blast of frigid wind was a stark reminder of this unforgiving, abominable weather.
For all his training and all the FBI’s toys and tools, a young black Labrador and his partner had been by far the most useful players on the field today. It made Sebastian feel inadequate and useless.
How close had they come to their quarry, he wondered? A hundred meters? Ten miles?
Was he wrong to make them turn back when he had?
Chance had been willing to keep going, and so had Ranger Deacon—Nora.
But they’d both barely had enough energy to get back to the parking lot.
While determination was one thing, an operator had to know how far they could push their limits.
He wouldn’t lose anyone on his team, and that included the K9 with the big heart and the dog’s wary handler.
Didn’t mean Sebastian wouldn’t take risks if needed—that’s what HRT trained for.
At the ranch, Sebastian climbed out of the Suburban and looked around. Even though it was daylight, he couldn’t see much more of Ryan Sullivan’s childhood home than when he’d arrived in the middle of last night. The snow fell in droves, and he was more tired than he wanted to admit.
Nora Deacon and her dog had been out in this all night long. No wonder she’d been spent.
She intrigued him, he could admit to himself.
She was guarded and didn’t seem to trust him.
It seemed almost as if she were hiding something or wasn’t being a hundred percent forthcoming.
But that wasn’t surprising. They were strangers.
It wasn’t as if he introduced himself as “Operator Sebastian Black. Former punchbag to an asshole who thought it was okay to beat his wife and kid.”
Nora had picked up on some of the nuance of their brief conversation.
She was sharp.
He’d seen it in her eyes.
She knew. After only a few short exchanges, she knew he hadn’t grown up in a happy home.
And that kind of innate sharpness tended to evolve out of necessity.
“Coming?” Cas jerked him out of his thoughts.
He nodded and followed the other man into the barn.
Inside, Novak had managed to secure a much larger table and several more space heaters, which made the temperature bearable. Aside from Novak, Charlotte Blood, and a deputy who was asleep in a lounge chair, the place was empty.
“Where is everyone?”
“Sheriff went back to Stone Creek and is gonna attempt to keep the media’s attention on him in town.
SAR people went home but are on call.” Novak’s gaze assessed him.
“Ryan secured rooms for the rest of the team at a motel on the edge of town. They’ve gone to get some rest and assemble supplies for when this storm ends. ”
Sebastian slumped a little at the idea of having to drive farther before he could fall face-down on a bed and sleep.
Hell, a floor would do—or a horse stall.
“Ryan volunteered the family’s guest cabins for some of us to stay onsite.
Charlotte and I have one.” Novak’s cheeks went a little red at that, but his expression dared them to say anything.
Sebastian was no fool. “Grady and Meghan have another. Grady’s on the pullout.
You two have the third. Ryan’s staying at the main house along with Jed Brennan from BAU.
Eban Winters and Romano are staying with Ryan’s sister in the other house, up on the hill.
Eban grew up in Stone Creek and knows the family. ”
Sebastian hid his relief. A bed wasn’t too far away, and he was about to hit the wall.
“Tell me what you found.” Novak pointed to the detailed map in front of him.
“Chance—the dog—tracked Summer Eastman to the point I indicated on the pin I sent—did that come through okay?”
Novak nodded and touched a metal pin in the map. “Right here. About five miles from the parking lot.”
It had felt a lot farther than five miles in that terrain.
“We believe Eastman tried to set up a false trail and started up this track here.” Sebastian traced it with his finger.
“Or he became lost or changed his mind. But I don’t buy that.
I sprayed a tree orange for a visual in the field.
” He fished the paint can out of his pocket and placed it on the corner of the make-shift table.
“How bad were the conditions?”
“The trails themselves seemed well-trodden up to the furthest section we reached, but Nora says—”
“Nora?” Novak asked amused.
It was Sebastian’s cheeks that burned now. “‘Ranger Deacon’ became cumbersome to yell over the wind after a couple of hours. Anyway, beyond this point, this time of year, the trails are not well traveled or groomed even by snowmobilers and are heavy going, especially on foot.”
“They’ll be a lot heavier going by the time this storm is done. Weather guys are calling for eight inches today and then a break in the snow early tomorrow morning.”
Sebastian thought through the options. “We’ll need to insert either via helos or jump in. Set up camps in the mountains. Ski or snowshoe. Snowmobiles would eliminate any hope of stealth.”
Novak pressed his lips tightly together.
“I’m not using chutes with these conditions in this terrain.
I’m going to talk to the Parks people and SAR to see where the smartest drop-off points will be so you guys can conduct searches in this general area.
” He indicated the valley that Sebastian and Nora believed Eastman was in. “Where is Ranger Deacon now?”
“She went home to get some rest. She was up all last night, and it was a slog up that mountain.” The desire to defend her was a new one. He shook his head at himself. “That dog is pure gold, boss. Pure gold.”
“And his handler is pretty shiny, too,” Cas added with a smile.
“Yeah.” Sebastian nodded. “She knew what she was doing out there.”
“Good to hear. Want her assigned to your squad?”
The idea brought up an unexpected surge of emotions. Reluctance to put her in danger, but also a strange sense of satisfaction.
It shouldn’t matter which SAR team he worked with. The mission was to find that little girl ASAP. But the idea of him never seeing Nora Deacon again felt kind of weird. Plus, he had faith in her dog’s nose.
“If her boss agrees, yeah, I’d definitely work with her again.
If not, I’m sure we’ll be fine with one of the other teams.” He shifted uncomfortably as Cas shot him a look.
“We’re going to need snow gear and equipment to stay out in the wilderness should it come to that—for the SAR teams too. And protective gear.”
Novak nodded. “In hand.”
“I assume we are marking locations of any form of shelter where Eastman could be hiding and planning to clear them?”
Novak nodded again. “Plus we have analysts going over the most recent satellite images to see if they can spot anything else that might provide shelter not already known. And we are trying to identify and pinpoint any mine shaft entrances we might need to search.”
Sebastian knew finding their quarry in a mine shaft was a real possibility.
“They’ll also monitor for tracks, but it’s hard to distinguish those made by humans versus those made by animals from space apparently. Once the weather clears, Romano can send up the drones and check different sectors.”
“We don’t want him to spot drones if we can help it,” Sebastian warned.
Novak’s mouth tightened. “We don’t, but we also have to find the sonofabitch. The quietest way of finding him will be to use the K9 SAR teams. Hopefully, we can get a visual on him without alerting him, but there are no guarantees. The other option is to leave him until spring.”
Sebastian bristled at the idea.
“But he has a kid who may become a victim, and I won’t abandon her.”
Sebastian relaxed again. There was a reason he trusted this man, his teammates. They did the right thing, even when it was the hard thing.
“Romano will stick to high altitudes with the drones, and I’ll arrange other air support where possible. We do not want to spook this guy, but it’s fair to say he’ll expect someone to look for him. Seeing nothing at all might spook him too. We want him to relax and gain confidence. Drop his guard.”
Sebastian stared at the map. Even with this massive lead, the size of the search area was daunting.
“Nora had a good idea when we were out there. To contact all his former clients and see where he took them in the backcountry—find out if he had a camp or a cabin he liked.”
Charlotte Blood clasped her hands in front of her thoughtfully. “We’ve already started, but interestingly Eastman wiped his hard drive before he left and burned all his business records. Everything salvageable has been shipped to the National Laboratory for fast-track analysis.”
Excitement sparked. “He went to some effort to hide something.”
“I agree, but it could also be a misdirect, or a panicked reaction to trauma.”
Sebastian’s lip curled. “The trauma of murdering his ex.”