“She went back to the beginning like she usually does.”
“That means she’s at the construction site.” McGaven paced. “But we have teams from SWAT there along with other specialized teams.”
“Katie and Cisco have been trained for these types of maneuvers.”
“She’s looking for Buck. That’s a logical place to start to try to find information about her uncle, but only she has been near his secret location.”
“And she has Cisco.”
“Her phone is still off,” said McGaven, referring to the trackingapp on his phone.
John stood up. “She’ll turn it back on when she needs help.”
They were going to have to wait.
McGaven shook his head in frustration. “I’m afraid that’s going to be too late.”
FIFTY-SIX
Thursday 0200 hours
The air temperature dropped, sending a chill down Katie’s spine. She had on plenty of layers of clothes, but something tried to get a hold on her—her fear, her conscience, and the thought of losing her uncle. Her pace was moderate, but she could see her breath swirling in the cold. Cisco’s panting revealed his breath as well.
Katie stopped briefly to adjust her shirts and coat. She took the opportunity to listen—really listen to the forest. It wasn’t any different to what she did when they first came to a crime scene. She scanned the area and tried to see if she could see any movement or hear any voices—anything that would give her a sense of the direction she should take.
There was a snap of a small branch. In a quiet forest, it made a big noise, jarring her nerves. It was most likely a nocturnal animal moving around, but there was no guarantee. Anything and anyone could be moving around in the forest. Katie and Cisco stayed stationary, feet and paws immobile, untilshe felt it was safe to continue. Five to six minutes later she continued, but this time, she moved slower and stealthier.
Her eyes had acclimated to the darkness, and the trees were her towering guides. She hadn’t used her infrared binoculars yet, so she decided to stop again and take a closer look around. She didn’t see any movement and everything seemed safe.
Instead of keeping Cisco right at her left side, she allowed him a little more latitude. Her steps were almost silent as she slowed her pace, making every footstep count as they seemed to close in on where the smoke was coming from.
Katie instinctively began to move faster. She’d realized her steps seemed weird and squishy, but before she could move aside she fell through a manmade covering on the forest floor into a hole.
She hit the bottom quickly and her backpack helped to soften the fall, but she had a difficult time moving from her position. She realized the trap was set intentionally for her.
Cisco was above looking down at her. He barked twice. He scratched at the ground, causing dirt to cascade down, showing his frustration with not being able to get to Katie.
“No,” she said wanting him to be quiet. “Platz,” she ordered him to down.
The dog obeyed. She could see his outline and his yellowish eyes glowed in the darkness.
She squirmed and moved precariously until she could get to her pack and retrieved the flashlight. She turned on the beam next to her and was startled to see two stakes in the ground with the ends sharpened into points facing upward. She could have been impaled quite easily, but somehow had managed to fall on the end side, barely missing the deadly stakes.
The outside of her leg hurt and she could see blood seeping through her pants. Pushing the pant leg upward, she saw a long cut on her shin. It wasn’t deep, but it still was painful. Her leg had already stopped most of the bleeding.
More of the forest ground came down as Cisco became frustrated, wanting to get to her.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. Pushing up her body an inch at a time in the tight hole until she stood, she took a moment to breathe normally. The top of the hole was only a few feet away, but she wasn’t sure if she could climb out on her own.
Katie looked closer at the stakes and realized there was dried blood on them. The pit was most likely a way to catch some type of game. That told her Buck’s cabin was fairly close.
She took a few practice jumps but couldn’t reach the top of the hole. And she was concerned she might hurt herself if she ended up landing on one of those nasty sticks.
“Oh, Cisco…” she said more to herself than the dog. It was a rookie mistake to not watch for any type of tracks or traps.
She pulled out her cell phone and debated if she should call McGaven or even turn the phone on. She decided to do neither. Instead, she removed the rope from her pack. She tied knots every twelve inches and then secured her backpack with everything necessary inside. She didn’t want to toss the backpack up with all her supplies and take the chance she couldn’t get herself out.
“Okay, Cisco,” she said quietly. “I know you can do this…”
