"Okay. Have you ever tracked a fugitive into the woods who was a survivalist?" she asked.
"Two who were, and one who wasn't. The one who wasn't was about frozen to death. He was grateful I saved his life, and he was easy to take in. The other two? It took me a couple of weeks to locate them."
"Were they together?"
"Yeah. It wasn't an easy task. Marcus, my twin brother, was supposed to go with me, but he had broken his leg in a car accident. A drunk driver on New Year's Eve hit his SUV while Marcus was out on a fugitive job, so he was out of commission. The fugitives were armed robbers, and I had to capture them."
“I hope Marcus was okay.”
“Yeah. He was really mad, though. The guy who ran into him head-on had several DUIs, lost his license, had no car registration, and had no car insurance. He went to jail that time.”
“I don’t blame your brother for being angry. It makes me angry.”
Grayson smiled.
“Oh, by the way, I only have a double sleeping bag.”
He chuckled. “That should work.”
“Sure, for you. With all those muscles, I’m not sure there’s room for anyone else.”
He laughed out loud. “I can sleep on a blanket. Or sleep in my bear coat.”
“We’ll see.”
Once they parked at the location they were at before, they got out of the vehicle, grabbed backpacks with water and snacks, and locked it. Then they headed out on the trail.
Both were quiet as they listened and smelled the air. Many different people had walked the trail, including Younger and the teen. They finally reached the spot where the teen had grabbed Anne.
They continued on the trail, still smelling Younger’s scent, though it could be just the wind carrying it around the area. A grizzly’s sense of smell was seven times that of a bloodhound’s scent so they really were great at tracking.
They needed to walk about a half mile to make sure that if they smelled Younger, he had made it farther down the trail.
Heart pounding, Kendra said, “He has been this way.”
“Yeah. Let’s keep going.”
They walked for another mile, and when they had gotten that far, Grayson said, “We might as well go back and get our camping gear. We’re going to be at this for a while. We can make camp and then do our searches from there.”
“I’ll call Rowland and tell him we’re camping in the backcountry in our search for Younger.”
“Good idea.”
“Yeah, Rowland.” She looked over the park map. “We’re going to be at Sun Point. And then taking separate trips to try and find his scent. But so far, Younger has been on the main trail he used earlier.”
“Let me know if you get any leads.”
“We will.”
Then they ended the call.
“It has already been an hour since we started walking. We’ll stop at the first campsite in another three hours, set up the tent, start a campfire, and eat,” Grayson said.
Grayson had taken the bulk of the camping equipment, leaving her to carry the sleeping bag, her own backpack, and a bag of gear, including towels. He carried the tent, mattress, fishing gear, water, and camp stove. It proved his beautiful muscles weren’t just for appearance’s sake.
They also had extra clothes and rain gear. She could smell the rain coming and checked the weather app on her phone. “Heavy rain is on its way.”
“Yeah, I was smelling it too. Another good reason to get our camp set up. Once we eat, we can take off on a few short hikes from the campsite, looking for his trail.”
