Sagan's still gone, having disappeared into the thick forest long before we arrived this morning. He and Leo tracked something pretty deep into the forest before it got too dark to keep going last night; today he's mapping the route and hoping it leads to where ever those men had been taking Zona's friend.
We're all not so secretly hoping it leads us to Astrid herself. Preferably alive.
"So what's up with you and Arizona?" Austin doesn't look up from where he's carefully photographing the ground, hoping his brother, Jaden will be able to isolate tracks and prints that could be useful with high tech computer software back at the base later.
"Meaning what?"
We've photographed every millimeter of the camp and the girls' gear. Zona is walking Leo through her movements of yesterday morning while he gets video of her re-enactment from every angle.
I've swabbed and bagged anything from Astrid's gear, combing through it for anything that could help us. Anything at all.
We don't just need to find Zona's friend, we need to find the men behind her disappearance, including the men behind them, since the bodies dumped at the trail won't be doing any talking.
"Just making observations." Austin finishes his photography, cussing at the mess law enforcement made of the scene yesterday.
"Sounds more like accusations." I stop what I'm doing, standing to my full height to face off with the man who leads this team. "Say what you need to say."
Austin plants his feet and squares his shoulders. He levels a serious gaze at me, dropping the affable demeanor I've gotten used to, reminding me that he's just as deadly as any of us, and crossing him won't be an easy win.
"Frost recruited you to Rogue, he sent you here and put you on my team. I assume that came with the same run down of his expectations that the rest of us got. Including the speech about integrity and appropriate actions in the presence of the at-risk subject we deal with."
"Arizona isn't a 'subject.' She's not a client. She's a grown woman and she has the right to make her own decisions..." I take a deep breath, not sure how to address the matter and very aware that I probably have crossed a line with Zona that looks pretty bad from the outside. I'm probably risking my place with the team, but I can't pretend I'd make a different choice. "...it's not like that. There's something real there. Do what you have to do, I won't be walking away from her."
His response makes it clear that he wasn't expecting me to stand my ground. Austin's head tilts damn near imperceptibly and one eyebrow hitches over a narrowed eye.
"Frost trusts you. I respect Frost. Just want to make sure you understand that we don't typically spend our time chasing Sasquatch. Most of the time, we're dealing with the kind of trauma that breaks people and it's our job to keep them safeand get them the resources they need to recover from whatever fucked up shit they've been through.
"Taking advantage puts you on the wrong side of the good guys verses bad guys line, Avis. We don't tolerate bad guys well in the Rogue."
I can't help the smile from forming. The guy basically just called me a predator and threatened to disappear me permanently, but damned if his little speech doesn't make me proud to join this operation. That's exactly the kind of team I want to play on.
"HUA," I snark at him through the grin I'm trying to hide.
"Drop it." Austin tense stance relaxes. "In case Leo and Sag aren't clear enough reminders, we're not in the service anymore. Don't let Harlan's crewcut fool you, he's not running some kind of club for guys like us to relive our glory days. Stay with us long enough and you'll work with plenty of people who never served--" His head turns to scan the forest, presumably to be sure our conversation stays between us, "and you'll find that not everyone who did was cut out for it."
I'm about to ask what he means by that when Leo steps out of the trees, attention focused on the playback of some of the video he's been taking.
"Hey, Zone, could you-- where's Zona?"
Leo's head pops up, taking a closer look around us before aiming his question toward me and Austin.
"With you," I remind him sternly.
The man shakes his head to the negative.
"Nah. She came back your way about half an hour ago. After I had her walk me through where she saw the Bigfoot follow those two assholes into the woods with her friend. She headed back here while I followed the trail Sag's mapping out to see how far he's tracked them so far."
Dread coils in my gut, threatening to escape into my veins.
"She never made it. How far in were you when she turned back?"
My feet are already in motion, pushing past Austin and heading into the dense tree line Leo just emerged from, both men following behind me.
"The path is pretty well marked now with Sag's tape. I don't see how she could have gotten lost."
Leo's right, Sagan's got the path marked off clearly with high-viz tape tied around tree trunks and branches to designate where Zona saw her friend being taken. It'd be hard to miss the bright pink strips of vinyl marking the way back to the clearing.
I stop by a tree where the bark has been scored deeply by claw marks.
