Mindhunters 4 - Deadly Intent (44 page)

After what seemed like an endless ride, they pulled to a stop behind where the handler had halted. “This doesn’t look like the same area,” Travis muttered as they trudged up to meet Feldman. “Maybe he misread the map.”

“Maybe he can’t use the sled farther in,” Kell responded. The deep hood on the parka was coming in handy. Although it impeded peripheral vision, it served as a windbreak for the wicked wind. He was still getting the hang of the snowshoes they wore. “Looks like the terrain gets a bit trickier.”

But when they reached the other man, they learned they were both wrong.

“Ready. We’re precasting,” Levi said into a handheld radio as he snapped a long line on the dog and let her go. Belle bounded through the snow for a ways, and then paused to sniff the area. He tucked the radio into his pocket. “The sheriff sent the radio with me. We always report every stage of a search.” Before they could ask, he went on, “She needs to get used to the different smells so when we settle down to work for good, she’ll be focused.”

“How long does it take to train a dog for this kind of work?” Real interest was apparent in the CBI agent’s words. He wore skier sunglasses that made Kell wish he’d remembered to bring his prescription sunglasses from the glove compartment of the SUV. Though the sky was gloomy, the unrelenting starkness of the white landscape, punctuated with decked-out trees, was hard on the eyes.

“Depends on the dog’s age and what sort of work it’s being trained for. But generally a year or two. It’s very labor-intensive. My group trains two or three times a week.” Feldman let the dog roam around for a while longer before whistling. When it returned, he bundled it back into the kennel and fired up the snowmobile again.

The next time he stopped, they were close enough to the shelter they’d been shown the day before to see the tree branch they’d shoved into the snow in front of it. “Am I close?” Levi asked as they caught up with him.

Kell pointed a gloved finger. “It’s a half a mile or so in that direction. See the bough upright in the snow?”

“Let’s get started then.” He took his radio out again and took time to check in with the sheriff’s office. “Casting now.” Tucking it away in his pocket again, he went to the kennel and freed the dog, keeping a hand on its collar. He exchanged the collar for a harness and then stood up again, brushing the snow from his pants. “When she’s in harness she knows it’s work time.” Straddling the dog, he pulled the ziplock bag from his pocket. He opened it and held it in front of the blood-hound for several minutes. “Check it.” Then he put the scent article back in his other pocket and snapped a leash on the dog’s harness. “Okay, Belle. Find her.”

The handler and dog made a slow wide circle. Kell and Travis hung back a ways. Despite what Feldman had said, he didn’t want to take the risk of distracting the dog. He wished he’d remembered to ask how’d they’d know that the dog had picked up a scent. It seemed lackadaisical to him, alternately scenting the air and the ground before it.

The handler called back, “Luckily it’s dry snow. Easier for a dog to work in than wet and packed stuff.”

After fifteen minutes only inching slightly closer to the shelter, the agent said, “Belle doesn’t seem to be picking up on anything.”

“We’ll give it more time.” But his once keen hope was beginning to fade, as well. They’d known it was a long shot. But there hadn’t been enough good leads in this case to overlook this one.

And he was very much aware of the ticking clock with the delivery of that most recent note.

“Maybe I spoke too soon.”

But Kell didn’t need Travis’s words to call his attention to the changing scene ahead. The dog was pulling hard at the leash, forcing Feldman along in its wake.

It was heading toward the shelter they’d marked yesterday.

Adrenaline spiking in his veins, Kell moved more quickly in the handler’s wake. The dog tugged at the leash as it charged ahead. “It’s picked up the scent?” he called.

Feldman turned around enough to give them a thumbs-up. “Sure acts like it.”

Macy heard the roar of the snowmobile and pushed away from the bumper of the vehicle to start out to meet it. Her movements were clumsy. This was her first experience wearing snowshoes and they definitely took some getting used to. Carefully, she began to sidestep down the embankment. Halfway down, one foot went out from beneath her. She slid the rest of the way down on her butt.

And of course fate
would
have the sled pulling up at that exact moment. Odd that she recognized the identity of the driver, despite his being covered from head to toe. There was something about the way Kell held himself that was immediately familiar.

Or maybe she was just too used to fate’s warped sense of humor. Her ignoble fall earned her a thumbs-up from him.

“Is that so little to ask? You falling at my feet whenever you see me?”

She struggled up and brushed herself off. “Gentlemanly to the end.”

Another man dismounted from the sled with him and they both headed toward her. “Are you all right?” It was Agent Travis’s voice. “Easy to hurt yourself falling like that.”

Kell reached her first. Tipped his head in to murmur in her ear, “I’d be more than happy to do that for you, but I’m easily distracted.”

Didn’t she know it. One snowshoe had come off with her slide, and she grabbed a low-hanging evergreen branch to steady herself as she attempted to put it on again.

“Leave them off. We’re heading down the road to drive Feldman’s truck and the SUV up here. You can help.”

They all climbed into the vehicle she’d driven, a four-wheel-drive Tahoe supplied by Mulder. “Where’d you get the gear?” He asked as he started a careful Y-turn.

“It’s Althea’s.” And the woman had been pathetically glad to contribute to the search. Macy couldn’t even imagine how unbearable it would be to sit home and wait while others looked for her daughter.

“Raiker filled you in on our progress, right?” The palpable excitement in Kell’s voice would be difficult to miss. “I didn’t have any luck when I radioed the sheriff. Preske refused to send out a bigger team, but he has to. The dog is tiring, and we’re close, Macy, I can feel it. Raiker has to work his magic and get this guy to cooperate.”

Trepidation pooled in her stomach. She was already certain of his reaction to the news she’d brought. “Whitman and Raiker both talked to the sheriff. He isn’t sending out a search and rescue team with air-scent dogs to broaden the search. He can’t. The storm is supposed to hit within the hour.”

His head whipped around to stare at her. She knew she was about to add to the shocked anger in his gaze. “Raiker sent me in person to make sure you listened. The sheriff wants us off the mountain now. And Adam doesn’t want to risk having more people up here needing rescuing from the storm.” Clutching the snowshoes more tightly, she wished she didn’t feel like a traitor for putting that look in his eyes.

“He sent me to make sure you follow orders.”

Chapter 16

“Bullshit. That’s bullshit, Mace.” It was more difficult than it should have been for Kell to tamp the rising tide of frustration and anger. “We’re close. So damn close. Belle—that’s the dog—she’s only lost the scent twice. Each time she’s picked it up again. Feldman has let her rest and drink a couple times because the terrain is getting more treacherous. But if we just had a little more time. A bigger party. We’d beat the deadline; I know we would.”

“I’m as frustrated as you are.” He could hear the bleakness in her voice. “But it’ll be dark earlier than usual because of the storm. The search has to be over by then anyway. And we can start again at first light tomorrow.”

“You know as well as I do that tomorrow will be too late.” As if to punctuate his prediction, an arctic blast of wind swept snow from the evergreens that canopied over the narrow road and swirled it across the windshield.

“Dammit, quitting makes no sense when we’re this close.” Surprisingly, the words came from the CBI agent. “That dog is working magic. We just need a little more time.”

“Raiker and Whitman were equally emphatic. I don’t dare go back to the estate without the two of you. The last thing I need is to give Adam another reason to fire me.”

Her words caught his attention, but after a moment he decided not to pursue it in front of the agent. Raiker had been royally pissed when he’d returned the other night and hadn’t found Macy there. And this was the first inkling she’d given Kell about the results of her conversation with the boss.

From the sounds of things, it hadn’t gone well. But . . . firing her? For going to see Castillo? It seemed an overreaction, and Raiker wasn’t given to overreacting.

But Kell could easily imagine the man’s response if they didn’t follow the orders he’d sent with Macy.

The mood in the vehicle was dour, and there was very little conversation as they made the trip down the slope so each could drive a vehicle back up it. The ascent reminded him of how much ground they’d covered since this morning. Which just made him less eager to abandon all their work now.

Once back up the narrow road they parked the vehicles at the side of it before mounting the sled. With three of them, it was a tight fit. Kell drove it carefully back to where they’d left the handler and dog. “Maybe I can convince Feldman to give it another fifteen minutes or so,” he called over his shoulder to Macy. He was crouched over the tank, leaving the seat to her and Travis. She didn’t answer. Probably too busy trying to maintain her grip on three pairs of snowshoes—hers and the men’s—while clutching the seat for stabilization. It was her first time on a snowmobile, she’d admitted when she’d awkwardly gotten on. He allowed himself a small grin as he recalled her slide down the embankment when he’d first driven up. He was willing to bet she wasn’t much of an outdoorswoman.

He knew her well enough to realize that he’d better be out of reach if he made the observation out loud.

His amusement vanished twenty minutes later when they pulled up near Feldman. “Damn. He’s loading up.” The handler was crouched down in front of the kennel. Upon their arrival, the man handed a treat to the animal inside and closed and latched the door.

Kell killed the sled, and they all strapped on their snowshoes before heading toward the man in tandem.

“Maybe he’s just resting her again,” Travis put in hopefully.

But Feldman’s words dashed that hope. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back,” he called. “We’ve got to shut this thing down. I just got a second message from the sheriff. He wants us off the mountain, now.”

“If we had another half hour,” Kell started.

But the other man was already shaking his head. “We don’t. Belle’s about tapped out. I’ve run her longer than usual, and this isn’t easy terrain. Even if Preske hadn’t ordered me to, I’d have had to quit soon anyway.”

Digging in his pockets for the man’s keys, Kell handed them to him, frustration riding him hard. “We appreciate all your help today.”

“Our pleasure. I don’t mind saying, Belle’s one of the best trailing dogs in this part of the state. If you need us tomorrow to resume the search, have the sheriff give me a call again.”

“How far did you get?” Macy had donned a pair of wrap-around sunglasses that Kell was betting was yet another piece of equipment on loan from Althea Mulder.

Feldman pointed to a particularly dense area of trees a mile in the distance. “Had a hard time pulling her off the scent, if you want to know the truth. Got in the middle of those trees, and she acted like it was still strong. That’s when the sheriff radioed again.”

Kell joined Macy to stare in the direction the man had indicated. “What’s causing that trail of vapor above the trees?” She pointed. “See it?”

“That’s smoke,” Feldman answered. “Probably a shelter in the vicinity. Nothing permanent can be constructed, but portable structures can be erected temporarily. Everything would have to be packed in and be removed again by the end of the hunting season. That’d be my guess.”

“Like a cabin?” There was a note to Macy’s voice that had Kell sliding a look at her.

“That wouldn’t be allowed,” the handler answered. “But I’ve seen a variety of snow tents or ice-fishing shelters used. Some of the shanties can be made-to-order.”

She reached out to grab Kell’s arm, the tightness of her grasp apparent even through the heavy layers of fabric. “Maybe we should stay a bit longer. Just long enough to check out that shelter.”

“No telling how far away it is.” Agent Travis had come up on the other side of her, one hand shielding his eyes as he followed the direction of their gazes.

“It’s about a mile to the copse of trees.” Feldman fired up the snowmobile, pitching his voice above the noise. “Don’t try taking the sled inside them. The trees are too close together. You’d get hung up for sure.”

“How far inside them did you get with the dog?” Kell asked, his mind racing.

“Couple hundred yards. Didn’t see anything or anyone in the vicinity. The thing is, guys, you really need to listen to the sheriff on this one. The trail could lead through those trees and past whatever structure there is and onward for a dozen more miles. You don’t know how serious it is to get caught in a blizzard in these parts.” His tone was urgent. “Even the people we rescue alive often end up with limbs amputated.” Feldman stopped for a moment and surveyed them. “So I can tell Preske you’re right behind me, right?”