McGaven watched his partner breathing shallowly. The forest was silent, with trees standing tall as if watching over the area. There was no sound coming from nearby or anywhere in the distance, apart from Cisco lightly panting. The rhythmic sound felt like a ticking time bomb getting ready to detonate.
Katie didn’t see anything that appeared unusual or out of place. It was frustrating because she knew there had to be something. She and Cisco had been through a lot; she trusted the dog and had to rule out everything before moving on.
“Anything?” said McGaven.
She could tell by his voice that he was deeply concerned—and she was too.
“No, but…”
“I don’t like the sound of that ‘but,’” he said.
“It’s just that there’s a branch that looks weird.”
“Weird how?”
Katie scanned around the area again and came back to the branch. There were leaves that didn’t seem to belong to the large pine tree; they looked to belong to a California oak instead. “It looks like…”
McGaven patiently waited.
“There are leaves that don’t belong on that tree.”
“You mean like another tree is growing around it or through it?”
“No, I mean it looks like the leaves are fake,” she said.
“Like someone put them there?”
“Exactly like that.” Katie had that feeling she got whenthings weren’t as they seemed. She scooted to the other side, crawling over her partner. She wanted to make sure that what she saw was on the other side as well. When she raised her body, she felt exposed and vulnerable, relief permeating throughout her body when she was back on her stomach. Her arms and legs slightly twitched with the anxiety running rampant in her system.
“What do you see?” said McGaven.
His voice breaking the quiet almost made her drop the binoculars.
Katie sucked in a breath. “Here,” she said giving him the binoculars. “Tell me what you see.”
McGaven positioned himself and looked. “Is that—? Is that a?—”
“Yes.”
He down put the binoculars and stared at Cisco. Looking at his partner, he said, “There are heavy branches set up to swing down. Why or when was that done? It’s amazing no one has been hurt or killed working this construction job.”
Katie’s mind whirled. “It’s a type of trap meant to swing down to stop who or what is passing the area. There could be more things like it too.”
“Do you think a hunter put that up for large game? Maybe very recently?”
“No, this is aimed at a person. That much is obvious.” It made Katie shudder. She had seen traps and snares in the military that were beyond belief. She’d learned how barbaric people could be to their enemies.
“It’s like someone is protecting, or was protecting, this area,” he said.
Katie nodded and pulled in Cisco next to her. The detectives carefully retreated from their positions back to the entrance and called in the deadly situation.
They had stumbled into a lethal trap.
EIGHT
Monday 1645 hours
“What a Monday,” said McGaven as he let out a breath.
