Tracking Game

by Margaret Mizushima

  “I’m going to take Flint with me. I need his help, and it’s best not to leave him with these other guys,” he said, taking Mattie’s hand. “Call me when you get back to town.”

  She squeezed his before releasing it, her eyes dark and serious. “I will. Be careful with that big cat.”

  As she turned to stride toward Brody and the captives, Cole had the feeling he didn’t know the complete picture. But he couldn’t do anything about it. He headed back to take charge of Mountaineer while sending a message to the powers that be to keep her safe. Because heaven knows, this woman I love and her dog are the first ones to rush into harm’s way when they’re needed.

  * * *

  Mattie watched Cole’s departure with an empty feeling, but she pushed it aside to go retrieve her backpack. Brody had already told her he wasn’t going to let her go after Eve Redman alone, so she’d have to wait until others arrived from town.

  She wanted to take care of her partner while she waited. Robo had covered a lot of territory since his last meal, which had been well before sunrise, and he was beginning to look in need of food. She took out two collapsible bowls from her pack, splashed water into one, and poured a generous portion of his kibble into the other before sinking to the ground to sit cross-legged beside him. She nibbled an energy bar while he ate.

  Robo scooped up a large mouthful, scattering nuggets as he chomped, staring into her eyes and waving his tail. Propping her head with one hand, elbow to knee, she stroked the glossy black fur on his back.

  After finishing his food, Robo lapped half a bowl of water and then gave himself a mighty shake. She stroked his fine head, hugged him, and rose from the ground to approach Brody, who’d just ended a cell phone call.

  “How much longer before help arrives?”

  “The sheriff’s hustling up horses and manpower, but he’s run into problems. He suggested we take these guys down lower, and they’ll meet us on the road to take them in. Then we can come back here to go after Eve.”

  Mattie considered it, but the sun would be setting in a few hours, and they didn’t have time. “Can you handle these three by yourself?”

  Brody gave her a scornful look. “Of course.”

  “Right,” she said, lifting a palm in apology. “If you wait here with these guys, Robo and I can go get Eve, and then we’ll all go down together.”

  Brody lifted a brow. “How do you propose to find this campsite?”

  Robo had been trained to backtrack a captured fugitive to find evidence that had been dumped or hidden along the way. “Robo can follow Zach Irving’s scent trail all the way to the campsite.”

  Brody huffed, shaking his head. “For God’s sake, Cobb, why don’t you just send the damn dog up there by himself to bring her in?”

  Mattie could tell he was weakening, and she gave him a thin smile. “That’s what I’m doing, but I might as well go along and provide backup for him. Two officers, Brody—that’s within protocol. We’re a team, we can do it. Besides, the sun will be going down in a few hours. We only have this little window of time.”

  Brody studied her while he thought it over, and Mattie made her face bland and unconcerned. It worried her some to know there was no cell phone service where she was headed, and that a woman suspected of killing two men would be at the end of the track. But someone needed to bring in Eve, and she had no doubt she and her partner could accomplish the job.

  “All right,” Brody said. “But check in by cell phone as you go.”

  “I will,” Mattie said, hitching up her backpack and hooking the straps over her shoulders. And she would—she would check in for as long as she could, before she climbed out of range for cell phone service.

  TWENTY-NINE

  To ensure that Robo backtracked the right man, Mattie led him over to Zach and told him to “scent this,” his cue to pick up the scent of the person or object she indicated. Zach glowered at her and protested, but he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Cops might need a warrant to collect DNA from a person, but there was no law on the book to inhibit a K-9 officer from taking in someone’s scent.

  Tyler didn’t show any concern about what she was doing, and in fact he seemed relieved that Mattie was going to go get his sister. He seemed to have no clue that Eve was now their number-one suspect in a double homicide. From the way he’d reacted when she’d discussed the phone with him, she believed he knew nothing about it being used to contact Wilson Nichol. At this point, he seemed most interested in someone finding Eve before nightfall so she wouldn’t strike off from the camp alone to search for the hunting party.

  Robo set a fast pace away from the group and trotted uphill, heading toward the point where they had apprehended the hunters. Clouds flirted with the sun, casting dappled shadows on the forest and lowering the temperature. The damp soil and foliage retained scent, giving Robo the best conditions possible for his task.

  He kept his head lowered, moving along at a pace that Mattie could match easily, and she followed him this way for over an hour. Mattie checked in with Brody halfway through, giving him a description of the direction they’d come and the landmarks around them.

  In turn, Brody updated her on Cole and Glenna’s progress. “They reached the edge of the BLM. Glenna has arranged for another wildlife manager to meet her in a van equipped with a cage. She’ll go on with them to Colorado Springs.”

  “And the tiger’s still sedated?”

  “They’re having no problems. He’s wrapped up snug as a bug in the proverbial rug. Cole thinks they’ll make it.”

  What a relief. “I’ll check back later,” she told Brody before disconnecting.

  As the forest closed around her, the track became more and more clear to the human eye. They were on a game trail that wound through the pine and allowed little deviation from it through the thick overgrowth. Horseshoe prints and churned-up soil in steep passages marked where the riders had come down the mountain, and soon Mattie reached a small clearing.

  Robo led her to a point where she could see for miles. Mist swirled around crags like ghosts, and she imagined this was the outlook that had given Zach Irving his shot. She couldn’t see the group of men below, but she knew they would be there, hidden by the trees.

  Mattie took out her cell phone and noted she had two short bars. One last check-in was probably all she could do. She dialed Brody, and even as he answered, she could hear the small cuts in his voice that told her reception was spotty.

  “Ask Tyler how far the camp is from where they shot the tiger,” she told him.

  “What … say, Cobb?”

  She could decipher his question but decided reception was too poor to try to hold a conversation. “I’m okay, Brody, but I’m about to lose cell phone service,” she said. “Do you copy?”

  “Damn … come back …”

  The broken signal was still clear enough for her to get the message, but she had no intention of turning back now. “Can’t hear you. I’m at the point where I think they shot the tiger. We’re heading uphill. I’ll check in when I can.”

  Mattie disconnected the call, set Robo’s nose back down on the track with a hand gesture, and told him to search. He continued across country on the game trail, traversing the steep grade at a diagonal. She had a feeling they didn’t have much farther to go, and she began to worry about the girl at the end of her journey. Robo had met Eve before at Kasey’s house and considered her a friend, which most likely meant he wouldn’t sense her as a threat.

  If Eve sets up an ambush, there’ll be no raised hackles to warn me.

  Still, Mattie studied Robo’s body language as closely as ever. Any change might indicate the presence of another human. Soon the sound of rushing water filtered through the trees, telling her there was a stream ahead. People usually pitched campsites around water, and Mattie strained to see, hoping to spot tents or wood smoke.

  Robo led her to the edge of a small meadow, and she told him to wait. She scanned the area filled with rich grass, spotting the creek
that ran through it. This would be the perfect place for camping with horses, but there was no sign of a campsite or a human. She told Robo to search and followed him into the damp grass, where she could see the smashed and bent stems that the horses had trodden on earlier.

  After crossing the meadow and entering the tree line, Robo raised his head and sniffed the air. The skin on Mattie’s shoulders crawled, and she placed her hand on his search harness to slow him down. He put his nose back to the ground, leading her forward, and soon she caught a whiff of what Robo had been sampling in the air. Smoke.

  She grasped Robo’s harness to stop him. Pulling him off the track, she whispered, “Good boy,” petting him while she paused behind a tree and scanned the way ahead. Evergreens blocked her view for the most part, but if she stayed on course, it looked like she would come to a rise. Beyond that she glimpsed a sheer rock cliff face that towered around fifty feet above the treetops.

  She hoped to stay hidden until she came to the campsite. She whispered to Robo to heel and crept upslope, moving from one pine to another for shelter. As she went, she loosened the strap on her holster that secured her sidearm, even though she intended to use it only as a last resort.

  At the top of the rise, she peered around a dense spruce tree and spotted the campsite about fifty yards below in a small clearing near a grove of aspen. Three orange dome tents had been pitched near a stream, and farther beyond three horses stood resting on a picket line strung between the aspens’ white trunks. No sign of Eve.

  Robo brushed against her as he stretched his neck to peer around the boughs of the spruce. Mattie glanced at him to get a read—head up, panting, looking ahead. But no hackles. He stopped panting to sniff the air. No change in his body language.

  A campfire flickered within a rock fire circle. It had been fed and banked recently, so Eve had to be near. Maybe she was inside one of the tents.

  Staying under cover, Mattie slipped closer until she was about twenty yards away. One of the horses tossed its head and nickered, making Mattie’s stomach drop. If Eve was inside a tent, that might bring her out.

  What are the chances she’s armed? Guns would be plentiful in a hunting party, but if Eve was an animal lover, she might not carry a weapon. And as long as she remained out of sight, it would be impossible to tell.

  A boulder up ahead offered protection. Mattie held on to Robo and crept up behind it, making sure he was covered. She peered around its edge and called, “Hello.”

  No movement inside the tents. No answer.

  Had Eve taken a walk? Left camp for a few minutes? If so, she could be anywhere. Mattie scanned the area at her back, searching for a flash of movement.

  The tent flaps were tied back, but the bug screens were zipped into place, which at this distance interfered with seeing inside them.

  “Eve,” she called out. Still no answer.

  Telling Robo to stay, Mattie moved into the camp with a few swift strides. Within seconds, she peered inside each tent and cleared the area. Eve was nowhere in sight.

  Damp clothing hung by the fire, and Mattie quickly spotted a woman’s T-shirt. She called Robo and told him to scent. She patted his side and held him close, murmuring sweet nothings and encouragement before gesturing toward the ground near the fire. “Okay, buddy, let’s find Eve. Search.”

  Zach Irving’s scent had to be around this campsite as well as Eve’s, and here she was, asking Robo to switch the search from one person to the other. Would he be able to do it?

  Robo lowered his nose and circled the fire, sniffing in all directions before choosing a scent trail that led out of camp toward the creek. He passed boot prints in the wet soil on the creek bank that appeared to be the size and shape of those left at Wilson’s crime scene. No time now, but in her mind, Mattie flagged them as evidence to be taken later.

  When Robo started up a sheer incline that appeared to lead to the top of the cliff, Mattie’s gut tightened. This had every hallmark of an ambush. What if Eve had seen them coming? Like the tiger, she could have gone to the high ground to strike from above.

  She told Robo to wait. “Eve,” she called. “Eve, it’s Mattie Cobb. I know you’re here.”

  Thunder rumbled, but the nearby forest lay still. Mattie shivered. This was what she hated most. It wasn’t so much that danger awaited her—she could face that. She feared losing Robo. If a bullet killed him, it would kill her, too.

  The way ahead was more like rock climbing than hiking, too steep to clip on his leash. She had to let him go out front. She told him to search, murmuring, “Easy, easy,” to keep him as close as she could. A cold breeze came from behind, chilling the sweat under her shirt.

  Expecting a gunshot to ring out at any time, Mattie clung to the rocks, climbing on all fours as she followed Robo. He hopped from one place to another until he reached a ledge near the top. There, Mattie told him to wait. Her legs shaking, she eased up to peek over the edge.

  Nothing but a flat expanse of stone and scrubby pine. After telling Robo to stay, she pulled herself slowly to the top and crouched. Flat rock ran across the top of the cliff, littered with boulders and monoliths where someone could hide. Exposed and vulnerable, she squatted at the edge and crawled over to take cover behind a boulder. When she called Robo, he scurried up and over to where she could grasp his harness and pull him in with her behind the rock.

  Now what? There weren’t that many places to go up here except off the edge of the cliff face. And that led to a seventy-foot free fall. Eve had to be near. As she huddled beside Robo, he swiped her cheek with his tongue and then tried to see around the boulder. “Stay here,” she whispered, hugging him close and loving that warm touch of reassurance.

  “Eve,” she called. “It’s Mattie Cobb. I want to talk to you.”

  A gunshot cracked, echoing across the cliff. A bullet pinged off a boulder to her left, spraying rock shards in its wake.

  Mattie grabbed Robo and held on tight as he tried to lunge from cover. In his training, gunshots meant Go! Find the shooter! Take him down! But here, with the edge of the cliff so near, it would be a death mission. Using a quiet but intense voice, she urged him to sit and stay.

  “Go back,” Eve shouted. “I don’t want to shoot you. Or your dog.”

  With both hands holding Robo, Mattie couldn’t even draw her service weapon; but Eve didn’t need to know that. “Good,” she called. “Because I don’t want to shoot you either.”

  “I know why you’re here.”

  It was hard to tell, but Mattie thought she heard a sob at the end of Eve’s statement. Maybe a light touch would be best to neutralize the situation. “We found the hunting party. Tyler said you’d be up here. We didn’t want you to worry, so I came to get you. There’s no need to be afraid. Put the gun down.”

  “I’m not afraid. But I’m not going with you.”

  A scuttling sound followed by rocks clattering came from within yards. Mattie peered around the edge of her boulder, and the sight took her breath away. Eve crouched farther along the edge of the cliff, a pistol in her hand. Thunder boomed overhead and lightning cracked, its crooked slash striking the forest directly behind Eve. She held the gun low, pointed at the ground, and she was looking over the edge as if gauging the sheer drop.

  Mattie rose a few inches, showing her face. “Eve, what are you doing? Come away from the cliff.”

  Eve waved the gun in her direction. “Stay back. There’s no reason for you to die today.”

  Eve’s cheeks were tear-stained, her expression desperate. A pulse of fear surged through Mattie, more for the girl’s life than for her own. “Eve,” she said, “come away from the edge. There’s no reason for you to die today either.”

  Pointing the gun at Mattie, Eve shook her head, sobbing quietly. “I know why you came to get me.”

  Robo had obeyed her command to stay, but he felt like a spring coiled beneath her hands. Releasing him was not an option. Even if the girl didn’t shoot, his takedown would push both him and Eve over the
edge. “Eve, just put down your gun. Let’s talk.”

  Eve used her free hand to brush tears from her cheeks. “I am sorry I did it. Tell my mom and dad that, okay? I just thought, well …”

  As Eve’s voice trailed off, she glanced down and edged to within inches of the brink. Mattie’s only option was to keep her talking. “Did what, Eve?”

  “You know. That’s the reason you came after me.”

  Robo crouched and struggled forward enough to peer around their boulder, sending Mattie’s heartbeat into overdrive. “Stay,” Mattie told him again, grasping his harness and then showing Eve her empty hand. “I don’t have a gun on you, Eve. Put yours down so that Robo doesn’t try to take it from you. If he gets away from me, he’ll knock both of you off the cliff.”

  “I don’t want to hurt him.”

  “I know. But he’s trained to protect. Please, just put down the gun.”

  Eve hesitated. “Don’t come any closer or I’ll jump.”

  “I understand. If you put down the gun, we’ll both stay where we are.”

  Much to Mattie’s relief, Eve knelt and placed the gun on the ground. Some of Robo’s tension melted away, and Mattie allowed him to move forward enough to watch Eve before telling him to lie down and stay. Now, if she could just keep the girl from jumping to her death.

  “He’s a good dog,” Eve said, watching Robo with sorrowful eyes. “I saw you coming.”

  “I figured you did.” Mattie kept one hand on Robo’s harness and the other where Eve could see it, feeling like she dared not move an inch.

  “I didn’t know it would hurt Kasey so much.” Eve touched her chest over her heart. “Killing Nate.”

  It seemed like Eve wanted to confess, and Mattie was afraid it was because she planned to kill herself. Keep her talking. “Why did that surprise you?”

  “They fought all the time. A few months ago, Kasey wanted to divorce him. Then, after he was dead, she put him on a pedestal.”

  Now that the gun was out of the girl’s hand, Robo had settled, and Mattie felt she could concentrate fully on Eve. “That’s often the case.”