Chapter 22 #3
“Send the coordinates.” Sully climbed into the driver’s seat. “And get search teams there immediately.” The coordinates appeared on his phone. Cooper punched them into the GPS while Sully threw the SUV into drive.
The vehicle bounced over the rough terrain, headlights cutting through the darkness. He gripped the wheel harder, every muscle tense. Hang on, Elena, we’re coming.
“Sir,” Ramirez said from the back seat, “tactical reports they’ve secured the compound. Multiple arrests in progress.”
“Any sign of the girl from the cell? Maria?”
“She’s safe. Being transported to medical now.”
At least that was something. “What about a woman named Iris? Iris Higgins.”
“Hold on.” Seconds passed, then a minute. “Negative on a woman named Iris Higgins.”
Sully pressed harder on the accelerator as they hit a paved road. The GPS indicated they were still minutes from the logging road.
“All units,” Sully called over the radio. “We’re looking for a woman on foot along Forest Service Road 25 or the logging road. Approach with caution. Hostile forces may be in pursuit.”
Acknowledgments came back from the various teams. Sully checked his watch again. How long had Elena been out there? How far could she have traveled on foot? She was in good shape, so if she was moving fast, quite a ways?
The SUV’s headlights illuminated a sign: Forest Service Road 25 – 1 Mile. “Keep your eyes open,” Sully ordered as he turned onto FSR 25. “She could be anywhere along here.”
They drove slowly, scanning both sides of the road with their flashlights. The forest pressed in close. Cooper pointed to a narrow dirt road branching off to the right at the same time the GPS notified them of a turn. “There. That looks like it could be the logging road.”
“Sir, look.” Ramirez pointed ahead. “Tire tracks.”
Sully braked as he approached. Fresh tracks cut onto the seasonal road through the snow, packing it down. He made the turn, and the SUV’s suspension groaned as they bounced over ruts and potholes.
“Multiple vehicles,” Cooper noted. “Recent.”
The preppers. Had to be. “Radio all units,” Sully said. “We’ve got evidence of pursuit vehicles on that logging road off FSR 25.”
They continued forward, following the tracks. The road curved and began to descend into a valley. Sully slowed even more, careful not to miss anything in the darkness.
His radio crackled. “Sully, this is Sheriff Donovan. We’ve found something at a little mom-and-pop market that wasn’t on our radar.”
“Go ahead.”
“Store owner says a woman matching Thompson’s description called from here about five minutes ago. Used the pay phone outside, then headed back into the woods when a couple of trucks approached.”
Elena. She’d made it to a phone. “Did she say who she called?”
“Owner doesn’t know. But he said she looked scared, kept watching the road.”
“What’s your location?”
Donovan gave him the coordinates. Sully checked the map. The market was about two miles ahead, where the logging road intersected with a county highway.
“We’re on our way. Set up a perimeter and start searching the surrounding area.”
“Already on it.”
Sully accelerated, hope surging. Elena was alive. She’d reached a phone. But now she was back in the woods, with the preppers still searching for her. Well, as long as she was moving, she wasn’t freezing—or being held against her will.
“There’s the highway.” Cooper pointed ahead where the dirt road widened and met pavement.
Flashing lights of police vehicles around a little market alerted him to Sheriff Donovan. The man stood in the parking lot, directing deputies into search patterns.
Sully pulled up and jumped out. “Any sign of her?”
Donovan shook his head. “Not yet. But we found footprints heading into the woods on the other side of the highway. Small, like a woman’s. And deeper than normal, like she was running.”
“Show me.”
Donovan led him across the highway to where yellow crime scene tape marked off an area at the forest’s edge. Clear footprints were visible in the snow.
“That’s probably her. She wouldn’t stay on the road where they could spot her from vehicles.”
“My thoughts exactly. I’ve got teams moving in on foot, but it’s slow going in the dark.”
Sully stared into the forest. Every instinct screamed at him to charge in after her, but he knew better. They needed a plan.
“Let’s get thermal imaging drones in the air if we have any more.”
“One of your agents already requested that,” Donovan said. “Should be here within the hour.”
An hour might be too long. He started to point that out when Donovan pulled an iPad off the dash of his vehicle.
“Take a look at this.” He jabbed at an area.
“These are areas I just sent deputies to search.” He pointed to another area north of that.
“This is where we are and this area here”—more pointing—“is where we need to cover.” He tapped the screen. “Topographical map.”
Sully nodded. “Okay. Let’s note every cabin, structure, or shelter within a five-mile radius.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sully walked back to the store, where the owner stood by the door wringing his hands, brow furrowed.
“Sir, I need to know exactly what the woman said when she was here. Every detail you can remember.”
The man nodded. “She came running up from that direction.” He pointed toward the logging road.
“We live upstairs, apartment in the front, and I had the light on, getting some water, looking out the window. She pounded on the door till I came down. Asked to use the phone. I told her the landline wasn’t working right now and the signal for cell phones here isn’t great, but we still had a pay phone outside.
And yes, I know what year it is, but I’ve just kept the pay phone, thanks to the intermittent signal.
I even gave her a quarter to use. She thanked me, asked what the address was here. I told her, and she ran to the phone.”
“Did she appear injured?”
“Her wrist was wrapped up with something. She had some cuts on her face and was limping pretty hard. Looked like she’d been through it, if you don’t mind me saying. I offered to let her stay here and warm up, but she said no thanks. Said it might put me in danger.”
“Then what happened?”
“She made her call. Couldn’t have been more than a minute. Then these two pickup trucks came flying up the road. She saw them and just took off, straight into the woods over there. The trucks stopped, dropped off two guys, then on up the road.”
So she may have tried to call him but had to hang up and run before the call went through. “How long ago exactly?”
The man checked his watch. “Fifteen or so minutes now.”
Not long.
“Thank you, sir.” Sully returned to Donovan. “Can I see that map again?” Donovan handed it to him. The forest stretched for miles in all directions, but there was a small cluster of structures about two miles northwest.
“What’s this?” He pointed to the screen.
Donovan typed, then looked up. “Hunting cabins, according to the Forest Service database. Three of them are privately owned.”
Sully looked up at the sky. The moon illuminated the landscape, but clouds were moving in.
If Elena needed shelter, those cabins would be her best bet.
If she knew about them. But the preppers might as well.
It was a long shot, but it was the only thing he had that made sense.
The people after Elena weren’t too far ahead.
He could only pray he and the others weren’t too far behind.
“Okay, I need your best trackers on these coordinates. And I’m going with them.”
Donovan nodded. “Johnson and Reyes. They’re both search and rescue certified.”
“Perfect. Let’s move.”