Page 8 of In Her Sights

Jenna let out a slow, deliberate breath as she leaned against the rough bark of an ancient pine. The musky scent of earth and decay mingled with the metallic tang of her own sweat as she wiped a smear of dirt from her cheek. She could feel every thorn scratch and bramble snag like badges of futility on her skin.

She glanced at Jake; he caught her look and offered a cautious smile.

“Maybe the others had better luck,” he muttered.

“Let’s hope,” she said.

The forest around them was a living entity—whispering leaves, chattering wildlife, the occasional creak and groan of ancient wood flexing in the wind. It was easy to imagine how it got its name, Whispering Pines; nature’s voices were all too eager to fill the silence left by missing human ones. The shadows were lengthening now as the sun began to dip in the sky.

“Team report.” Billy’s voice broke through the silence, accompanied by radio static. “Find anything?”

One by one, the responses crackled in over the radio, each deputy ranger’s voice uniform in its discouragement. “Negative,” they said, the word repeated like a curse.

“Graves, Hawkins, status?” Billy’s voice cut through the chorus.

“Negative,” Jenna confirmed, her voice steady even as her heart sank a little further.

“Copy that.” There was a pause on Billy’s end, a moment of heavy silence before he continued. “Alright, let’s head back to the station. Regroup and figure out our next move.”

“Ten-four,” Jenna responded. As she and Jake made their way back through the forest, her thoughts churned with the possibilities, each more disheartening than the last. Abduction,an accident, animal attack, something else entirely—each scenario seemed equally plausible and impossible at once. They’d been searching for hours, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something they were missing, some vital clue that lay just beyond their understanding.

When they neared the ranger’s station, Jenna paused, letting her eyes sweep across the familiar facade, the flag hanging limp on its pole, the windows reflecting the late afternoon light. Then she squared her shoulders and stepped forward, pushing at the door. Jake held it open as they both stepped inside.

The air in the wooden building was stale, tinged with the scent of pine cleaner and old coffee. Billy’s three deputies, young and weather-beaten, were gathered around a worktable, their faces marked with frustration. They had all scoured the woods for hours only to come away with empty hands and heavy hearts.

“So we’ve got nothing at all?” Jenna asked automatically, though the set of their shoulders already told her the answer.

“Nothing,” Billy Schmitt replied, shaking his head. “No blood, no torn clothing. It’s like she just vanished. At least we didn’t find a body.”

A map of the forest was spread across the scratched surface of the worktable. They all leaned over it.

“Here’s where we found Sarah’s car,” Billy said, tapping a spot on the map. “We’ve covered these areas on foot.” His finger traced the sections they’d searched, marked with neat crosshatches. “The drones have found no sign of her either.”

“If she went off-trail, there are miles of dense forest she could be lost in,” Jake observed.

“Or hiding in,” one deputy ranger offered, though the suggestion was ignored by the rest in the room.

“Or was taken,” Jake added, folding his arms across his chest.

“Abduction?” Billy’s voice conveyed his reluctance to entertain the idea. “In my years here, we’ve never—”

“Times change, Billy,” Jenna cut in. She fixed her eyes on the map spread out on the table. “We can’t rule it out.”

“Alright,” Billy conceded, rubbing the back of his neck. “So where does that leave us?”

They took a few minutes to trace the paths marked on the map, the ones they had searched and the ones that might be a potential escape route if Sarah had indeed been taken against her will. They found no answers, and the silence that followed felt heavy, laden with unspoken fears.

“Okay.” Billy’s voice was resolute despite the fatigue etched in the lines around his eyes. “We’ve done all we can out here on foot for today. This forest canopy is too thick for helicopters to be of much use. Tonight, we’ll put up the drones in a pattern of passes that will spot anything like a campfire or even a flashlight. My deputies and I will go again at first light tomorrow. We’ll expand the search grid. We’ll keep searching all day. No stone unturned.” He scanned his team, seeing affirmation in their nodding heads.

“But we also need to consider expanding the search perimeter beyond Whispering Pines,” Jenna said firmly. “Set up roadblocks, notify local law enforcement, get descriptions out to the public. Jake and I will contact the State Highway Patrol for assistance. We need all hands on this.”

“I hate to think she might still be in my forest somewhere,” Billy said with a shake of his head. “I wish I could do more.”

“You did everything you could today,” Jenna told him. “Thanks for moving so fast.”

“We’ll do better tomorrow,” he replied, rubbing his chin.

Jenna thought of the missing woman’s parents on their farm near Gildner, unaware of the storm that was about to break over them.

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