"Did I just hear that? We have to go up there... Astrid."
Zona catches my hand and pulls me down the steps before she realizes she doesn't have a vehicle here and doesn't know mine.
"This way." I steer her toward the SUV I parked on the street, holding the passenger door for her till she's in.
"We're going, I promise, but I need to talk to my team and fill them in first."
Zona buckles her seatbelt beside me and I pull away from the curb fast enough to leave a mark on the asphalt as I speed toward the house with the number Jaden gave me on speaker.
"You catch the local scanner?" I ask as soon as the call connects.
"Sag and Leo are already up there, Austin and I are on our way-- you heading back or meet us there?"
"We'll meet up with you," I confirm, already ending the call as I hear the curious"We?"from the background.
"Tell me everything you told the cops," I tell my companion, as I point the vehicle up the mountain road to the trailhead where the rangers say they picked her up this afternoon. "Including the part about Bigfoot."
Arizona
"I never said 'Bigfoot.'"
Talon downshifts as we start up the steep grade that leads to the trailhead where Astrid and I left her car parked before starting on a week-long backpacking trip three days ago.
The engine of his SUV revs higher in the low gear, but doesn't slow in the least.
My handler's jaw tightens, but his eyes don't leave the road in front of us.
"Whatdidyou say?" He asks.
Looking this guy over carefully, it's clear that his intensity comes from a genuine interest in Astrid's disappearance. He really wants to hear me out and, unlike the cops in town, he's not going to make up his mind about what really happened until he has the whole story.
With a frustrated sigh, I force my body to relax against the leather upholstery. Okay, "relax" isn't exactly what my body does-- I'm too on edge with worry about my friend; about the ranger's voice over the police scanner that said "bodies," about what we're going to find when we get to where we're going, and about how aware I am of the man driving me up the mountain.
"We backpacked in," I explain. "They just opened up the old road that used to run between here and Moonshine Ridge on the other side of the mountains. Till then, it was a lot harder to access that area and a lot of hikers have been excited about being able to get in there without having to bushwack their way cross-country. I might be into hiking, but I'm not exactly 'cross-country bushwacker material."
Talon's head turns slightly toward me, his eyes traveling down my body to take in my curves.
I'd been making a joke, pointing out that I'm well aware that I'm not built like the average serious backpacker-- I'm not built like him. And I'm not built like the kind of woman he probably goes for.
But something about the way his eyes linger half a second longer than necessary has my nerves tingling again.
"So anyway," I cough lightly and shift in the seat, "we got to this spot a few miles in just before sunset last night. It was a big clearing and that was nice because that forest is so dense, you know? There aren't a lot of places to set up a tent. So we decided we were going to set up a base camp and spend the rest of the time doing day hikes to explore the area. This morning, I tookthe water filter and our water bottles down to this little stream to get water while Astrid made breakfast for us.
"The stream was a bit of a hike, and it takes forever to hand pump a few liters of water through the filter, so I was gone longer than I expected-- when I came back to camp I heard voices before I even broke through the trees. I knew something bad was happening-- I could hear Astrid saying something, she sounded scared."
"So you didn't go closer?" Talon's grip on the wheel seems tighter than necessary as he maneuvers the big vehicle up the narrow, mountain road.
I shake my head sadly, embarrassed at how I froze in the spot instead of doing something to save my friend.
"No. I just froze," I admit. "I didn't want them to know I was there."
"Good girl."
His praise is unexpected. I thought a man like Talon would scold me for not being more proactive, he seems like the 'no man left behind' type.
The tone of his voice helps a little with the shame I've been feeling.
"Zona," his voice goes soft, and his right hand reaches to cover my left where it rests on the console between our seats. "I know you're feeling like you should have stopped them, but the only thing that would have happened if you'd tried is that you and Astrid would both be gone now-- and we wouldn't know it yet. You did the right thing."
