Rock Harbor Search and Rescue
Read Rock Harbor Search and Rescue Online
Authors: Colleen Coble,Robin Caroll
ROCK HARBOR
SEARCH
& RESCUE
© 2013 by Colleen Coble
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Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version
®
, NIV
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. www.zondervan.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coble, Colleen.
Rock Harbor search and rescue / by Colleen Coble and Robin Caroll.
pages cm
Summary: “When an expensive necklace is stolen from a renowned jewelry artist at Rock Harbor’s fall festival and Emily is accused of the crime, it looks like she’ll never get her puppy and be able to join the Rock Harbor Search and Rescue team. Emily sets out to find the real culprit”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4003-2106-3 (pbk.)
[1. Search dogs—Fiction. 2. Rescue dogs—Fiction. 3. Dogs—Fiction. 4. Mystery and detective stories. 5. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Caroll, Robin. II. Title.
PZ7.C6355Ro 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2012044586
Printed in the United States of America
13 14 15 16 17 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Remy and Bella . . . because your input ROCKED!
CONTENTS
“I don’t think he’s got a scent.” Emily O’Reilly waved away the black flies that swarmed around her face. Their search dog, Charley, had paused and was nosing a patch of leaves. The trees blocked out the sun here and made her shiver.
Her stepmother, Naomi, paused to catch her breath. “It’s going to be dark soon. Mrs. McKinley will be frantic if we don’t find her dog.”
Emily glanced around at the dark shadows. “I hate to think of little Chloe out here.” She loved her neighbor’s little poodle. She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Chloe!” Only the wind answered her. Tears pricked her eyes. They’d been searching for over two hours. What if an owl had carried off the puppy? Or, even worse, an eagle?
Naomi put her hand on Emily’s shoulder. “Don’t look like that, Emily. We’ll find her.”
If she were only five instead of nearly fourteen, Emily would have buried her face against Naomi and cried. “What about predators out here?” she whispered. She could hear rustling in the woods
around her. She knew it was probably squirrels or birds getting out of the way of the search-and-rescue team, but it was easy to imagine a fox or a wolf instead that may want to have a poodle-sized snack. Or could it be the Windigo? The thought of the old Ojibwa legend made her throat tighten. She’d been lost out here once when she was a kid, and the noises she’d heard in the night still came back to haunt her.
Or maybe it was her imagination. She
knew
the Windigo was only a legend—the Ojibwa Native American tribe’s version of a bogeyman—but it was still enough to give her goose bumps. Her babysitter had told her the old story enough times that Emily could never forget it. And even though she knew better . . . out here, in the dark, with the wind moving through the trees . . .
“She’s probably just wandered off,” Naomi assured. She called Charley to her and had him sniff the bag that held one of Chloe’s stuffed animals. “Search, Charley!”
The dog whined, then put his nose in the air and leaped over a fallen log. He began to bark. His tail went up, and he disappeared into the shadows. “He’s got a scent!” Naomi shouted. She took off after the dog.
Emily ran hard to keep up.
Please, God, let Chloe be okay
. Her heart raced, and she strained to catch a glimpse of the dog. There was a yip, then she heard two dogs barking. One was clearly a small dog from the frantic yapping. “Chloe!”
The leaves rustled, and Chloe burst into view. Emily fell to her knees, and the sweet little poodle ran straight to her arms. Her little pink tongue lapped at Emily’s face. “You’re all right!” She didn’t care if she was crying. She hugged the dog and turned her wet face up to Naomi. “I thought an owl had gotten her.” She
swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and then stood up with the dog in her arms.
Suddenly, Naomi’s cell phone softly began playing the theme song from
The Princess Bride
inside her jacket, and she answered it. From this side of the conversation, Emily realized there was another problem. Her gut tightened when Naomi hung up and called Charley to her.
“A couple at a nearby camper reported their ten-year-old son hasn’t come back from a short hike along a well-marked trail,” Naomi said. “I’d rather not pull you into this, but we’re closer than anyone else.”
“I want to help!” The dog wiggled in Emily’s arms. “What about Chloe?”
“The sheriff is heading this way with a scent article. We’ll give Chloe to him.”
“We just wait here?”
Naomi nodded. “Sheriff Kaleva is on a four-wheeler. He’ll be here any minute.”
Emily tipped her head at a distant noise. “I think I hear him now.”
Darkness was falling quickly, and moments later headlamps pierced the dimness of the forest. A burly form dismounted from the machine and came their way with a paper bag in his hand.
The sheriff held out the bag. “The little boy’s sweater is in here. His name is Xander.”
“How long has he been gone?” Emily asked.
“A couple of hours. The parents looked for him first before they called me.”
Naomi took the bag. “We’ll start right away.”
Emily handed Chloe over to the sheriff. “She’s tired and hungry, I think.”
The sheriff tucked the small dog under one arm and turned back toward the four-wheeler. “I’ll have Mrs. McKinley meet me at the campground.”
When the roar of the engine faded, Naomi knelt beside Charley and opened the paper bag so her dog could sniff it. Charley thrust his nose into the bag, then ran around the clearing with his nose in the air. The search dogs were all air scenters. They followed as he ran off into the woods.
Darkness had completely enveloped the deep woods. Emily got a flashlight out of her ready-pack. While she had paused to grab it, the beam from Naomi’s light had vanished. “Naomi, where are you?”
When silence answered her, Emily’s gut tightened. She hadn’t counted on being alone in the dark. Not after remembering the Windigo legends. When something rustled off to her left, she broke into a panicked run. Her breath tore in and out of her throat, and her lungs burned. She had to get out of here!
She stumbled over something and sprawled into a mat of leaves and spruce needles. The sharp scent of pine cleared her head. She sat up and felt around for her flashlight. Her hand touched on the metal, and she flicked it on. No reassuring light beamed out. She shook the casing and tried again. Nothing. She was out here in the dark by herself. With the Windigo.
Something howled in the distance. She hoped it was Charley, but what if it wasn’t? What if the Windigo was coming for her? She scrambled to her feet and shrieked Naomi’s name. The fear in her voice ratcheted up the panic in her chest.
“God’s here with me,” she whispered. “Nothing can hurt me.”
She’d always been told not to move around if she got lost, but everything in her wanted to rush away from the night sounds echoing around her. She backed up until her rump was against a tree. A little boy was lost out there. She needed to be strong and let Naomi find the kid. Then Charley would come for her.
It seemed forever that Emily stood there trying to identify every sound in the dark. The strength in her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground. She’d never been so terrified. How long had it been? Half an hour? Two hours? She had no way of knowing.
Something rustled in the bushes again, and she lifted her head. A cold nose touched her hand.
Charley!
She threw her arms around his neck as Naomi stepped into view.
“Emily, why didn’t you follow me?” Naomi asked.
“I stopped to get my flashlight, then couldn’t find you.”
Sheesh
, Emily thought.
I sound like a baby instead of thirteen
.
“I mean, I knew you’d come back for me. Did you find Xander?” Emily struggled to her feet.
“I did,” said Naomi. “I texted the coordinates to the sheriff, and he picked him up. He’s probably back with his parents by now. I told Charley to find you, and he led me straight back here.”
Emily didn’t want to admit she’d been terrified, so she brushed the leaves from her jeans. “I was pretty lame, wasn’t I?”
Naomi smiled. “You did exactly what I’ve always told you to do—stay put. You’ve got a knack for search and rescue, Emily. I think it’s about time we thought about getting you your own search dog.”
“Really? My birthday is in a few weeks,” Emily said hopefully.
Naomi’s blue eyes were warm. “Your dad and I think you should earn half the money to buy it. Bree has some puppies she’ll be selling soon.”
Emily gasped. “One of
Samson’s
puppies?” Samson was one of the best search dogs in the country. She hadn’t dreamed she could own one of his pups. “It would take me years to earn enough.”