CHAPTER 33
As Garrett launchedthe drone for a second pass, Wyatt stood near the hood of the truck. The map was spread out in front of him, with red marks clustered tight within the same two-mile radius northwest of the trail marker.
Whatever was happening out there wasn’t random. He was certain of it.
Wyatt watched in the distance as Flint walked away from Kori.
He tried to picture the two of them together, and he couldn’t quite make it fit.
Kori was sharp, controlled, and purposeful.
Flint . . . was harder to read. The man was easygoing but practiced.
Wyatt pushed the thought aside. It was all water under the bridge, he supposed.
Instead, he moved closer to Garrett.
Kori reached them and stood at Garrett’s shoulder, her gaze focused on the tablet.
Wyatt took up position just to her left.
They watched as the drone climbed and cleared the tree line. The live feed steadied—standard video first, not thermal.
Trees. Snow. Gray light flattening everything from above.
“I’m just running a visual pass before we switch to thermal,” Garrett said.
“Good,” Wyatt replied.
The drone moved northwest.
The trail corridor slid beneath them—faint but visible in the snow. Wyatt could track yesterday’s route without trying.
“There’s the downed pine,” Garrett said.
Wyatt nodded. “Keep going.”
The rock formation came into view next—the place they’d found the woman.
Kori didn’t move, but Wyatt shifted beside her.
Garrett pushed the drone farther.
As he did, the canopy thickened and shadows deepened.
“Switching to thermal,” Garrett said.
The screen shifted—color draining into cool blues and grays, heat signatures flickering faintly through the trees.
Nothing significant showed.
Garrett adjusted altitude, trading detail for coverage.
They swept left. Then right.
Still nothing.
Then Garrett slowed. “There. You guys see that?”
