Chapter 1 #4
“We all need water.” He unsnapped the waist and chest straps and lowered his backpack to the ground. “I’ve only got two bottles.” They were those Berkey sport bottles with the high-quality filters. It was a good thing he’d just filled them when Caesar took off and found Nicole and Maddy.
He handed one to Nicole. “Y’all can share this. If you need more, I’ll empty some of mine into it.”
“This is good. Thanks.” She handed the bottle to Maddy, who took several long sips through the straw.
When her sister had finished, Nicole satisfied her own thirst before handing the bottle back to him. Beads of sweat had broken out on her forehead, but her breathing was gradually returning to normal.
He fished through a zippered pocket in his pack and pulled out some Kind bars. They made good snacks, with nuts in the middle and chocolate underneath as well as drizzled over the top.
“Have you had lunch?”
He’d finished his own right before finding them—a foil pack of tuna, crackers and some dried fruit.
“No. We’d taken a short walk and were heading back to the house when…everything happened.”
“These bars are all I’ve got left.” He handed her two. “When Caesar found you, I was headed out to restock supplies.”
After opening one and handing it to Maddy, she bit into her own. “Thanks. This is perfect.”
When finished, Nicole took her sister’s empty wrapper and stuffed it into her pocket with her own. “Still no service?”
He checked his phone again. “Not on mine. How about you?”
“I don’t have mine. Maddy and I weren’t planning to stray far from home, so we have nothing. I certainly didn’t anticipate all this.”
He hoisted the pack onto his back and refastened the support straps. “Let’s get moving. We don’t want them to gain on us.”
After he’d consulted his compass, they set out again, this time at a brisk walk.
“Once I have service, we’ll try to get some help for your dad. Would you be able to tell the dispatcher where he was attacked?”
“I could.”
“Good.” He’d get someone to check on her dad, just in case. Then he’d let Nicole use his phone to get ahold of a friend or family member. He’d even stay with them through the ordeal of talking to the police.
Then he’d pass them safely into someone else’s hands and get back to his vacation, reveling in that uplifting feeling of knowing he’d made a difference in someone’s life. Unfortunately, it was all too fleeting. Somehow, his good deeds never quite atoned for the mistakes of his past.
He looked down at the little girl walking between him and Nicole. Her eyes were downcast, her features sad. Maybe she didn’t see exactly what had happened to her dad, but she knew it wasn’t good.
“How old are you, Maddy?”
“Seven.”
“You’re in second grade?”
“I just finished.” She straightened her shoulders, apparently proud of the accomplishment.
He smiled at her. “Do you like school?”
Some of the sadness fled her features. A little distraction was good for her. “I like math and reading, but social studies is boring.”
“What about science?”
“I like that, too. Especially animals.”
During the next few minutes of conversation, Maddy continued to relax, and he amended his earlier opinion that she was shy. When he glanced at Nicole, the respect he’d seen in her eyes after he’d shot down the drone was back.
But entertaining her little sister was no imposition. He loved kids, all ages. He’d poured his heart and soul into his young cousin after he’d come to live with his family. He even volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and Currie House, an organization that worked with troubled teens.
His activities left little time for a social life, something that the few women he’d dated had never come to terms with.
But if he could keep some of those young people from making the same mistakes he’d made as a teenager, the time he spent was well worth it.
He was good with those kids. At least he’d thought he was until a couple of weeks ago.
“Can I pet Caesar?” Maddy’s question drew him from his thoughts.
“Sure.”
She ran around him to where the dog trotted at his other side.
“Hi, Caesar.” She gave him some pats on the head.
Braydon wasn’t concerned about her interactions with his dog.
Caesar had never bitten anyone or even growled when he wasn’t on duty.
When working, though, he was a different dog.
A single command would send him shooting away like lighting and his powerful jaws clamping around the arm of a fleeing suspect.
Instead of returning to her sister’s side, Maddy continued to walk next to the dog, experiences of the day pushed to the back of her mind. Animals were good for that.
Nicole stepped into the spot vacated by her sister. “How much farther to your truck?”
“Quite a ways. I left it near the visitor center. I’ve been backpacking for the past five days.”
A soft buzz sounded in the distance, and he stiffened. Had they stirred up a yellow jacket nest? He looked around them. There were no flying insects.
The buzz drew closer. That wasn’t insects swarming. It was a drone.
When he looked at Nicole, her jaw was slack, her brows drawn together over wide eyes. “It’s the other drone.”
“What?” The word was sharper than he intended. “You didn’t tell me there was more than one.”
“When the man was on the phone, he told someone to bring ‘the drones.’ Plural.”
“Run!”
He shot away, knowing the sisters and his dog would follow. Somewhere nearby, he’d seen a cave. If only he could find it.
He cast a glance over his shoulder. Nicole was about ten feet behind him, holding Maddy’s hand. His dog had moved up beside him. Ahead and to his left, the ground rose sharply, becoming a sheer rock face near the top. Was that slope where he’d seen the cave?
The drone passed some distance to their right and made a large circle. It apparently hadn’t spotted them yet. He needed to keep it that way.
They reached the bottom of the slope, and his heart fell. There were trees, scrub and large boulders. No caves. The drone moved closer.
“Press yourselves against the trunk of an oak.” The hardwoods all had thick canopies, especially this time of year.
He watched the sisters and did the same himself, commanding Caesar to sit beside him.
Maybe they could escape detection—by sight, anyway.
There was no way to hide their heat signatures.
The drone moved closer, slowed and then hovered right above them. Yes, they’d been discovered…again. He stepped out from under the cover of the tree, aimed his weapon and fired.
Two drones down. If the men mapped out their locations, drawing a somewhat straight line from the first and through the second, it would lead them right to where he’d left his truck.
The killers not only knew where they were.
They probably knew where they were going.
Copyright ? 2026 by Carol J. Post