“Let’s go.” Caleb took the steps as quickly as he could without falling. They were much steeper and covered in ice. “Be careful. There’s ice.” He warned the rest of the team while keeping his flashlight on Shadow who had reached a landing that had a door. This time there was a handle.
Caleb reached the dog and waited for the others. “This has to be the way he took her.”
“Or another trap,” Novak said, his voice tense.
Caleb wouldn’t accept that they’d lost her. He looked down at the dog who was now barking frantically.
“This is the way.” He gripped the handle and yanked the door open. Darkness greeted them. But not the darkness of another passage. A gust of wind screamed around them. They were out of the mine.
Caleb followed the dog out into deep snow. Night had fallen. The storm had lessened to a few snowflakes swirling. Shadow sniffed the air to try to capture Wax’s scent. The bitter cold wind seemed to be preventing it. There was only one set of footprints in the snow seemingly indicating that Wax was carrying Ava.
He spun around, trying to figure out where they were, but couldn’t. When he realized the truth, it was terrifying. They were at the summit of the mountain chain, high above Hidden Lake.
“We need help.” Novak retrieved his phone and dialed.
Shadow whimpered, missing his partner and probably feeling about as helpless as Caleb did right now.
“I’ve reached Devlin. He’s punching in our coordinates now. They’ll try and get the choppers up here to assist but the wind up here is awful.”
“I’ll dispatch my search and rescue people up here. They have access to some Arctic Cats that can traverse this deep snow.” Caleb used the backup phone he’d borrowed from one of the FBI agents and called Rhett O’Connor’s number. The static on the line as well as the howling wind made it next to impossible to hear what Rhett said.
“I need you and the team to get the Arctic Cats and get up to Hidden Lake Mountain Range.” He explained what happened. “Wax has Ava.”
“I’m retrieving your coordinates now. Hang on.” Rhett blew out a whistle when he had them. “You are on top of one of the most dangerous mountains in the chain.”
“I realize. I need you here as soon as you can get here. We’ve lost Wax’s scent. We’re following his footprints now. We’ll keep pushing but right now we’re working blindly.”
“What about the thermal scanner?” Rhett offered the option Caleb had forgotten about.
“I don’t have it on this phone.”
“Sending it now.” A beep assured Caleb the program had arrived. “And I can track your coordinates from here. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.” Rhett paused. “There’s a lot of activity taking place here. The FBI is trying to get choppers airborne. Up there it won't be easy. Keep safe, Caleb. We’ll get her back.”
Caleb sure hoped his friend was right. “I’ll sign off to get the thermal software up and running.”
“I’ll call you when we’re on our way.”
As soon as Rhett hung up, Caleb downloaded the program that would enable him to use the thermal imagery to identify “hot spots” that indicated living beings.
As soon as he had it loaded there was a hit. “I have something.” He called the others over. “Two images are moving East.”
“Let’s go,” Harper told him. She grabbed Shadow’s lead and started walking through the deep snow.
None of them were dressed properly for the nighttime conditions. It wouldn’t take long before they suffered hypothermia.
Still, he couldn’t give up. They had to keep going.
Caleb took the lead while keeping close watch on the screen. He’d been up this high only once and that was during the summer. The landscape was completely different now.
The distance between them and the two images didn’t change, which meant the two were moving close to the same pace as his people were.
As hard as he tried, Caleb couldn’t walk any faster in the deep snow. His lungs burned from the cold. His energy level continued to plummet. They’d never catch up with her at this speed.
Caleb called Rhett again. “How’s it coming with the Arctic Cats?”
“We have them. We’re on our way to you now but we’re at least an hour behind.”
The news was both good and discouraging. “Keep coming. He’s on the move with her. Their images are close together, almost appearing as one. I think he’s carrying her.”
