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The sheriff asked Elliot, “Is there a chance your sister is armed?”
“The shotgun is missing.”
Gabe said, “If they’re in danger, we need cops out there, not aid workers.”
Buck walked over and slid his phone in his pocket. “We’ve got air support. They’re twenty minutes out. I’ll continue to coordinate with them.”
“Thanks, Buck.”
Poirot pulled on the leash.
“Wait, buddy,” Gabe said. But Poirot yanked the leash harder, and it slipped out of Gabe’s hand.
He ran after Poirot.
The dog darted into a large carport that held a tractor and a few other small vehicles under tarps. He sniffed around until he was at the back of an ATV. There he started barking like crazy.
“What is it, boy?”
Poirot nosed at the tarp and kept barking.
Gabe pulled the side of the tarp back, and Chloe’s hat fell to the ground.
Poirot went wild. He barked repeatedly, then grabbed the hat and started jumping at Gabe.
“She was here. But where is she now?”
Gabe knelt in front of Poirot and petted his sides. “I know, you’re ready to go.”
With Amelia by his side, the sheriff’s deputy, Tristan, walked up to Gabe with a pack in his hands. “This has everything you should need including a radio. Sheriff will worry about coordinating the search once the aid people get here. But like you said, cops need to be out there first. And that’s just what the three of us are gonna do.”
“Let’s do this then.” Gabe turned to Poirot. “Did you hear that, boy? Time to search.”
Poirot barked. Gabe strapped the pack on that Tristan had given him and unhooked Poirot’s leash. “Find Chloe.”
He barked and took off running.
Gabe, Amelia, and Tristan could barely keep up with Poirot as he sprinted ahead on the trail to find Chloe.
Chloe pushed off Josh’s chest. “Now what? We still have no idea where we are or which direction to go.”
Josh rubbed her back and stood.
She tried to stand too, but her legs gave out. “Just kidding.”
Josh spun back around to her. “Are you okay?” He knelt in front of her.
“I think my legs are tired from the climb. I took a nasty tumble down an embankment too.”
Josh reached for her leg. “Looks like you might be bleeding.” He pulled up her pant leg and revealed a nasty scratch.
“I’ll be fine, but resting before we start hiking more might be necessary.”
“I agree. I’ll build a fire. If we can get it smoky enough, it might alert someone to our presence.”
Since her legs didn’t want to work, Josh gathered wood, and she built the base of the fire. Her fire-starting skills weren’t very good, but once they had enough kindling, she gave it a shot with some instruction from Josh. He continued to gather wood as she twirled one stick against the other with no success.
After gathering a ridiculous pile of brush, Josh sat down next to her. “Keep trying. I’ll try another method.”
