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Dezi opted for the WIFI password and keyed it into her cell phone. She looked up the number for the train station in Bozeman and placed the call.
It rang several times before a woman answered. “Bozeman Train Station.”
“May I speak with Eugene, please?” Dezi could kick herself for not asking for his last name when they’d been there with him.
The woman didn’t seem to mind that she’d only used his first name. “I’m sorry, but he’s left for the day. Is there something I can help you with?”
“No, thank you. I’ll try to catch him another time.” Dezi ended the call and met Grimm’s gaze. “He left for the day.”
“And we didn’t get his last name.” Grimm shook his head. “Hopefully, he’ll be all right.” He turned to Sadie and smiled. “Call is complete. Please…take us to your leader.”
Sadie laughed. “Sounds like a B sci-fi movie I might have been in at the beginning of my career.” She shivered. “Absolutely cringeworthy. But fun.” She and Emma led them through a large living room with cathedral ceilings and windows from floor to ceiling, giving a stunning view of the Crazy Mountains.
Sadie paused in front of a door on the edge of the living room and placed her face in front of a bio scanner. The door opened, and she descended a staircase into a large open area at the bottom.
Grimm nodded to Dezi.
She followed Sadie down the stairs.
“Don’t mind us,” Grimm said with a laugh behind her. “We’ll bring up the rear. Isn’t that right, Mac?”
The baby giggled, the sound full of mischief.
Dezi followed the staircase into a well-lit room with a massive conference table. Off to one side, Hank stood behind a giant of a man with white-blond hair who could have been a Viking in another life. He sat in front of an array of monitors, his big fingers clicking across a keyboard. The screen in front of him blinked briefly, finally focusing on an image of a green contour map with dark brown lines, indicating an elevation change.
“Is that the map we sent?” Dezi asked.
Swede looked up with a nod. “We located the map number online and have been able to bring up a better copy of it. Then we laid the actual map over the copy so we could see where the blue pin lies.” He nodded toward a large screen at the end of the conference table. “You can see the map enlarged on the video screen.
Dezi moved forward until she stood in front of the drop-down video screen where Swede had projected the image of the map. The blue pin stood out among the other colors.
“Switching to the satellite image,” Swede said.
The image blinked out to be replaced by a satellite image of the mountains with the blue dot positioned over what appeared to be a ridgeline.
“I was able to identify the coordinates,” Swede said. “The pin is on top of a ridge. A hiking trail winds its way up from the base of the ridge, where there’s an access road. The access road is an old mining trail that’s wide enough for ATVs but not necessarily a full-sized pickup. If you plan on going to this location, you’ll have to trailer an ATV to the beginning of the mining trail. From there, you’ll take the ATV and follow the mining trail to the base of the ridge. At that point, you’ll go on foot along a goat trail that extends across a steep mountainside. It leads to the top of the ridge where hikers can enjoy the view or continue over the other side in a vertical drop of two-hundred feet.”
Dezi had to catch her breath for Swede. “That’s a lot of work.”
Swede grinned. “It's a favorite among people who like to hike and rappel through a special rock formation called Needle’s Eye.”
Dezi gasped and touched Grimm’s arm. “My uncle mentioned the Needle’s Eye in his letter.”
Grimm handed McClain to Sadie and leaned close to the big screen. “Have you been there?” he asked.
Swede laughed. “No. I searched for reviews on a hiking trail app. It detailed the hike up and the rappel down through a natural hole in the rocks to a ledge. They indicated that climbers can stop at that point and hike around to some of the caves in that area or continue to the bottom and hike out to the access road a mile away from where they leave their vehicles.”
Dezi frowned. “I can’t imagine my uncle following that trail and rappelling alone.”
“There are outfitters who lead groups up there,” Swede said. “They set up the rappelling lines as well as act as the belay men to ensure their guests make it safely down the mountain.”
“We’d have to hire them or rent equipment to make the rappel.” Grimm met Dezi’s gaze. “I’m proficient at rappelling and belaying.”
Dezi shook her head. “I’ve never done it.”
“Hire an outfitter,” Hank said. “They will be more familiar with the location and the equipment.”
Grimm nodded.
