Smoky sniffed at the base of a tree, then continued moving deeper into the forest. Kendra glanced at her compass, making a mental note of the coordinates. She’d need to make sure she could find her way out of there when she’d located Dominic.
Had he gotten lost? It was easy to get turned around in the forest, especially at night. Not that the hour was that late, only 5:45 in the evening.
Smoky put on a burst of speed, running toward a fallen tree. Her K9 gracefully leaped over the dead tree, landing nimbly on the other side. She lost sight of the dog but heard the sharp bark of her alert.
“What is it, girl? What did you find?” Kendra hurried forward, breathing heavily.
“You’re a pretty dog,” a low, husky voice said.
She slowed her pace, approaching with caution. She had a handgun in her backpack; they always were armed on SAR missions, mostly due to the threat of wildlife. But there were times when human threats were a problem too. She should have taken the time to slip the .38 into her coat pocket. Taking a few steps closer, she frowned when she saw a man sitting on the ground, his back up against the downed tree.
“Dominic? Dominic Lakeland?” She climbed over the horizontal tree trunk, eyeing him warily. Peering through the darkness, he appeared to be the same man she’d chatted with via the computer. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Other than being a klutz, yeah. I’m fine.” He put a hand to his head, then pushed himself upward. Moving slowly, he turned to face her. “Hey, Kendra. Nice to meet you in person, although I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. Oh, I meant to tell you this before, my friends call me Dom.”
“What happened?” She shrugged out of the backpack and found the stuffed hippo. She tossed it into the air for Smoky, who leaped joyously up to grab it. Her dog loved that goofy hippo, and the K9 proceeded to prance around with the toy in her mouth.
“I slipped and hit my head on the tree trunk.” He looked embarrassed as he palpated the back of his head. “I don’t think the skin is broken. Thankfully, I have a hard head. I was sitting here getting ready to head back to the motel when your dog leaped down beside me. I recognized Smoky from our screen meeting.”
“I meant what happened that you’re way out here?” Kendra tipped her head to the side, regarding him thoughtfully. Seeing him on the computer screen hadn’t prepared her for just how tall he was. Easily six and a half feet, maybe more. Taller than any of her six older brothers, which was saying something. “I went to the motel and found your bullet-ridden truck. I checked with the kid behind the desk, he was watching some movie on his phone with earbuds in, but he said you hadn’t checked in. I sent Smoky out to follow your scent trail. You’re fortunate she was able to find you.”
“I know you mentioned your K9s are trained in search and rescue, but seeing her in action is amazing.” He grimaced. “Sorry to cause trouble. When the bullets started flying, I headed into the woods. When the gunman followed, I decided to double back to the road to avoid leaving footprints in the snow. I feared that was making it too easy for him to find me.”
“Okay, but why is someone shooting at you in the first place?” She gave him a stern look. “What’s going on?”
“How should I know?” He frowned. “I was heading into the motel when I saw movement. Suddenly gunfire rings out, forcing me to duck and run for cover. I’m not a criminal, if that’s what you’re asking. I assume this is related to our parents in some way.”
Kendra hesitated, wondering how much she should trust him. Just because they’d texted and emailed and even met on a computer call didn’t mean she knew Dom on a personal level. Granted, she was the one who’d reached out to him the moment she’d realized his father, Gary Lakeland, was the pilot of the charter plane her parents were in when it crashed six years ago.
Then he’d called her with the news of Stuart Ramsey’s confession. From there, they’d agreed to this meeting.
“If you’re in some kind of trouble, Dom, you may as well tell me. I have family members in law enforcement, and I’m sure they could work something out to help you.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything other than drive down here to talk to you.” Annoyance flashed in his eyes. “You’re the one who suggested I stay at the Redwood Motel, remember? You’re the one who wanted to meet in person to dig into why Stuart Ramsey had been paid to kill my father.”
She sighed. He was right. She had been the one to recommend Greybull, the Redwood Motel, and meeting in person to dig into the six-year-old crime. Her last SAR mission involving a lost woman had been in Greybull just a few days earlier, so it seemed appropriate to meet there. “Were you followed from Billings?”
“Not that I noticed.” He sighed. “I helped a young mother with two small kids get her SUV out of a snowbank about ten miles outside of Billings. I think I’d have noticed if someone had pulled over and waited for me to hit the road again to follow me here.”
A nice gesture on his part. Helping a young mother of two kids made her feel a little better about him. Yet the gunfire at the motel was unnerving. So much so that she knew they couldn’t stay there moving forward.
With a sigh, she turned to Smoky. “Here, girl. Hand.”
Her K9 trotted forward and dropped the stuffed hippo into the palm of her hand.
“Good girl.” She tucked it away, then turned to Dominic. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I’m in agreement with that plan.” He brushed the snow from his clothes, then carefully stepped over the fallen log. She did the same, giving Smoky the hand signal to come. He glanced at her as they retraced their steps. “Thanks for coming out to find me.”
“That’s what we do.” She waved a gloved hand at their surroundings. “I’ve done searches like this dozens of times over the past few years.”
Dom hunched his shoulders. “I feel like an idiot that you had to find me. I don’t suppose you saw anyone hanging around the motel? Anyone who might be the shooter?”
She thought about the dark truck that had careened around the hairpin curve in the road, nearly striking her SUV. Was the man driving the truck the same gunman who’d tracked Dominic through the woods?
And if so, why? Why would anyone want Dominic dead six years after his father’s murder?
2
