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Chapter 23: Jack

I follow the sheriff's SUV to the Morrison Trailhead. This is where the girl's car was found earlier this morning after her co-workers reported her missing when she didn't show up to work at the Dairy Freeze. There are a couple dozen folks standing around the parking lot, grouped into smaller teams. A female deputy is presiding over a map spread out on the hood of her patrol car, a big black marker in hand as she draws and assigns search parameters to the various teams.

I pop open my trunk to access gear appropriate for wilderness tracking—camo pants, hiking boots, a weapons belt, and a camo armored tactical vest. I load the vest up with what I think I might need on an op like this—a flashlight, binoculars, zip ties, night vision goggles, a couple of water bottles and some protein bars, and a small emergency medical kit. The belt holds my Glock, spare magazines, and a knife.

Hannah McIntyre walks up beside me. "You look like you're going to war."

I shrug. "It pays to be prepared. We don't know what we'll run into up there."

She nods. "We have several former military personnel in our organization—Killian, Owen, John—all with extensive weapons training. They all carry. We try to make sure there's an experienced armed person on each team, as a precaution. You'll be paired with Maya and Travis. They're rock climbers by profession, not sharpshooters. So, I'm hoping you'll take point."

"Not a problem." I grab a can of bear spray and slip it into a vest pocket. "Are you expecting trouble?"

She winces. "We're not sure, but I think it's a distinct possibility. The girl's boyfriend is MIA. No one can find him, and that's a bit problematic. You'd think he'd be involved in the search, right? Worried about his girlfriend. But no. No one has seen him all day."

"That's certainly a bit of a red flag. Duly noted. Thanks for the heads-up."

"Officer Connelly—Stacy—will give you your search coordinates." She points to the deputy with the map and the marker. "Maya has a satellite phone. We ask all teams to report in to me on the hour."

I nod. "Got it."

As I slam my trunk lid down, she adds one thing more. "Be careful out there, Jack. Ruth will kill me if anything happens to you."

I chuckle at Hannah's words. "Got it."

Before we parted, Ruth told me we needed to talk when I get back. I'm trying not to let myself get too excited, or read too much into her words, but I'm hopeful.

"Here they are now," Hannah says as a guy and girl approach. "Jack, meet your teammates, Maya McKendrick and Travis Hicks."

The guy looks to be in his late twenties, the woman a few years younger. He's got brown hair and a trim brown beard, about six feet tall. The woman is stunning. Asian, with long black hair pulled back in a high ponytail, petite, dressed in ripped jeans and a blue-and-white plaid flannel shirt over a dark blue t-shirt. They're both dressed for serious hiking, along with packing ropes and carabiners.

I offer my hand to the guy, and we shake. "Travis. Nice to meet you." He's got a good, solid grip. When I offer my hand to the young woman, she frowns, but takes it anyway. Another good, solid grip. Well, of course, they're both rock climbers. They've got a lot of finger strength.

The guy seems pretty chill, laid back. But the girl? Based on the way she's glaring at me, she's got bad attitude written all over her. Hell, I haven't even said a word to her. I haven't even had time to piss her off.

I nod to their gear. "You two planning on doing some climbing?"

Travis shakes his head. "Not likely, but we might have to rappel into a ravine."

Hannah gestures across the parking lot to the deputy's cruiser. "You three go check in with Officer Connelly to get your search coordinates. Keep in touch out there."

We stop by the deputy's patrol car, and Officer Connelly gives us our coordinates.

"You're looking for Ashley Thompson," she tells us as she hands Maya a flyer with the missing girl's picture and physical description. "Twenty years old, curly blonde hair, and blue eyes. She's five foot five and weighs 140 pounds."

Maya folds the flyer and sticks it in her back pocket.

Now that we have our instructions, we hit the trail. We have a three-mile, uphill hike before we even reach our search zone.

Maya takes the lead, and we hit the trail at a brisk pace, walking single file to make room for the other search parties coming and going. Travis is next, and I take up the rear. I try not to show it, but I feel like I'm on babysitting duty. And lucky me, I got assigned to the cool kids.

The trail is a pretty steep incline, and soon my leg muscles are feeling the exertion. Thank God I've been hiking and running lately to acclimate myself to this elevation. Otherwise, I'd be hard pressed to keep up.

* * *

Even though the terrain is pretty steep, we still make decent time. Maya sets a grueling pace.

We reach our initial search coordinates in just under an hour. I'm not breathing too hard yet, which is a huge bonus. These two could probably run ten miles up this trail without breaking a sweat. But me? I'd be gasping for air.

When we finally split off the main trail, we walk deeper into the trees, heading south off the trail. I take over the lead position, and Maya and Travis follow behind.

"Ashley!" Maya yells. She's got a hell of an outdoor voice for such a petite woman.

"Ashley!" Travis calls.

I can hear other people off in the distance, shouting the girl's name. I have to chuckle to myself because the types of ops I'm used to are done in secrecy, in absolute silence. The upside to all the noise is, hopefully, it will scare off any black bears or other predators in the area.

I glance up at the sound of a helo passing by overhead.

"That's Micah," Maya says. "He and Killian are searching by air. Killian's using infrared goggles hoping to spot her heat signature."

Heat signature? I don't bother stating the obvious—that works only if the girl is still alive. I pick up the pace, scanning the terrain for signs that someone passed through here ahead of us.

At the top of the hour, Maya uses the satellite phone to report in to Hannah. "Nothing yet," she says.

Hannah thanks her for the update and signs off.

And we keep hiking.

The three of us spread out in a line, still within sight of each other, so we can cover more territory. I'm examining the ground, the soil, the brush, looking for signs that someone passed by this way.

We've been out here for two hours when we cross a slow-moving, shallow stream and I spot our first clue—shoe prints on the far muddy bank. Not just one pair, but two. I whistle sharply to signal the others, who hustle over to join me.

"What is it?" Travis asks. He glances down at the prints. "Shit."

Maya joins us and frowns as she stares at the ground. "Two sets of prints? What the hell?"

"This set of prints was made by a female wearing sneakers," I say, pointing to the impressions on the left. "This other set was made by a male wearing hiking boots. Call Hannah and confirm our search coordinates. We need to rule out the possibility we've crossed over into another team's designated territory. Let her know about the two sets of prints."

Maya gets Hannah on the sat phone. She confirms our coordinates and relays what we've found. "She says we're in the right place."

I start off in the direction of the prints. "Then it seems Ashley's not alone up here." Unfortunately, the ground dries up within a few feet of the shoreline, and the prints are no longer visible.

"Assuming this is even Ashley," Travis says, "—and that's a big assumption—she either made a friend up here, or…."

I nod. "Or, we might have a problem on our hands."

Half an hour later, Hannah calls us back with an update. Maya puts the sat phone on speaker so we can all hear.

"I just spoke to Ashley's sister, Emily. Emily says last night Ashley had a big fight with her boyfriend over the pregnancy. Apparently, the boyfriend doesn't want anything to do with the baby, and Ashley insists on keeping it. And the boyfriend is still missing. Chris has put out an APB on him." She pauses. "So, guys, I'm wondering if the second set of foot prints you saw belong to him."

My gut tells me we're not looking for a missing hiker at all, but rather something more nefarious.

"You guys need to be careful up there," Hannah says.

"Understood," I reply.

We trudge through the woods another hour before I spot a small pop of fluorescent orange off in the distance beside a small stream. Way to camouflage your whereabouts, dude.

I raise my hand, signaling to Travis and Maya to stop. "I think that's a pup tent," I say as I pull out my binoculars. "Yep. And I see one individual, a guy, early twenties, long brown ponytail, seated by a campfire. No one else. You two wait here while I go take a closer look. Stay out of sight until I determine if this guy's a threat or not."

Slowly, I make my way toward the campsite, circling around to the east to keep him from spotting me. When I approach, I come in from behind the tent so I can check it out before I make contact with the guy.

Quietly, I approach the small orange tent, which is zipped up tight. There's no sound coming from within, no movement. I don't see any indication there's someone in there.

The guy is seated in front of the fire with his back to me. I move around the tent, no longer bothering to be stealthy, so he hears me coming.

The guy, presumably Kyle, shoots to his feet and faces me. "Who the hell are you?" he says, scowling at me. "Where did you come from?"

"Hey, how's it going?" I ask casually, attempting to calm him down. "I was hiking and somehow I got off course. Can you point me toward the Morrison Trail?"

He looks doubtful. "You're pretty far-off track, man."

I glance around the area as if looking for a landmark. "I'm so turned around. Can you at least point me in the right direction?"

"No idea," he says. "And I don't give a fuck. Get lost."

That's when I hear it—the rustling of material coming from inside the tent, faint at first, then growing louder until it's clear that someone's thrashing.

The guy's eyes dart to the tent, then back to me. "I said go! Now!"

I raise my hands in a placating gesture. "Sure, man. No problem." I take a step closer. "I didn't mean to intrude."

When I hear muffled cries coming from inside the tent, I know the shit's about to hit the fan. The guy reaches back and pulls out a 9mm handgun. He points it right at me, his hand shaking. "I told you to go!"

"Okay. Calm down." Damn it. I really don't want to draw on this kid. "Who's in the tent, Kyle?" I ask, taking another step toward him. I need to get in striking distance.

His eyes widen as he realizes I know who he is. Which means I also know who's in the tent. "It wouldn't happen to be Ashley Thompson, would it?"

The guy's hand is shaking so badly right now I don't think he could hit the broad side of a barn if he tried. I take another step closer and hold out my nondominant hand. "Give me the gun, Kyle."

My dominant hand is ready to draw on him if he so much as breathes wrong.

Kyle shakes his head. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Be careful where you point that thing. You might shoot somebody."

"Starting with you," he says.

I laugh, which throws him off guard, and take another step closer. "I don't think so." Now that I'm within reach, I strike out, grasp both his wrist and the gun, twist, and wrench the weapon out of his hand.

He cries out in pain, cradling his wrist.

"Oh, come on," I say. "I didn't even break it." I tuck his handgun into the back waistband of my weapons belt and pull out a zip tie. I've got his wrists pinned behind his back and secured before he knows what hit him.

I whistle to Maya and Travis, signaling that the coast is clear.

When I unzip the tent door, I find a young woman with curly blonde hair and big, tear-filled blue eyes staring up at me, her expression a mix of terror and relief. She's lying on top of a sleeping bag, both her ankles and wrists tied with duct tape. There's also a strip of tape over her mouth. "Ashley, right?"

She nods enthusiastically, murmuring incoherently from behind the tape.

As soon as I cut Ashley free, she crawls out of the tent and throws herself at me, her arms going around my waist. "Thank you," she sobs over and over. "Thank you."

I glance over at Kyle, who's sitting by the fire. "You really didn't think this through, did you, Kyle?"

He glares at me. "Fuck you."

When Maya and Travis join us, she calls Hannah to let her know we found Ashley safe and sound. We also fill her in on Kyle's presence.

Hannah hands the phone over to Chris on their end, and we fill him in on the details. He tells me that Micah's on his way with the chopper to pick up Kyle. Killian will take Kyle into custody and deliver him to the sheriff.

Travis checks Ashley over to make sure she's not injured. I offer her a bottle of water and one of my protein bars.

"I don't want to ride with Kyle," Ashley says as she scarfs down the protein bar. She takes a long swig of water. "Can I walk out with you guys? I feel fine, I swear. I really can't face looking at Kyle one more minute."

It's not a difficult hike, just a bit tiring.

"Sure," I say. "If that's what you want. You can take twenty minutes to get off this mountain via helicopter, or you can spend three to four hours hiking out. It's your choice."

She smiles. "At least it's all downhill, right?"

* * *

Micah sets the helo down in an open area about three hundred feet from the campsite where we're waiting. Killian comes to assess the situation. He talks to Ashley, making sure she's okay. He tries to talk her into riding back with them on the chopper, but she's adamant that she wants to walk. Since she seems physically fine, Killian okays her request.

Killian handcuffs Kyle and marches him to the helicopter.

Travis and I pack up all of Kyle's camping gear to bring down with us. Then the four of us start our hike back to the trailhead.

When we reach the trail and start our trek down to the parking lot, we're joined by other searchers who have come to congratulate us. By the time we reach the parking lot, we've amassed quite a group.

Chris Nelson comes to shake my hand. "Good work," he tells me. "Not a single shot fired."

"Kyle was terrified. I was pretty sure he wouldn't shoot me." I remove Kyle's handgun from my waistband and hand it over to the sheriff. "Evidence."

Chris nods. "Thanks. By the way, Jack, if you're interested, I've got an opening in my department with your name on it. Have you ever considered a career in law enforcement?"

I chuckle. "Thanks, but I'll have to pass. I've got a cushy job right now as a dishwasher. Why mess up a good thing?"

Maya bumps elbows with me. "Hey, you'd look good in a uniform, especially for a guy your age."

"My age? Gee, thanks, Maya. I'll keep that in mind." And then to Chris, I say, "If I'm done here, there's someone I need to go see."

Chris grins. "Really? I think I can guess who." He pats my shoulder. "Good luck, pal."

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