Page 116 of See How They Hide

Catherine came in with Ryder and closed the door. “All hands on deck,” she said, looking Kara directly in the eye.

For Matt. She was here for Matt, and that made Kara feel better. Catherine would never like her, and Kara mostly didn’t care, but maybe she would finally accept her.

Catherine smiled at Riley. “It’s good to meet you in person, Riley,” she said. “Your art is an amazing gift.”

Riley didn’t say anything.

“This is Dr. Catherine Jones,” Kara said. “And our analyst, Ryder Kim.” She said to the new arrivals, “Sloane will be back in the morning. Jim is going to continue working the evidence out in Colorado Springs.”

“I read his report,” Catherine said. “It’s valuable information.”

Ryder said, “I was only in the way at the lab. Even I didn’t understand half of what the cyber team was doing. I can do more here, helping our team.”

Michael knocked, then entered the room. He had showered and changed and looked refreshed, though he’d slept only four hours.

He was just as surprised to see Catherine and Ryder as Kara. “Kara, you need to get a couple hours downtime if we’re going to find Matt tomorrow.”

She stared at him. “You think I can sleep?”

“It’s after two in the morning. I promise to get you if we learn anything.”

The smart thing was to sleep.

Ryder said, “I’ll hold him to it.”

“Fine.” She turned to Riley. “You’re in good hands.” Then she went into the adjoining room and collapsed onto the bed without taking her clothes off.

She slept and dreamt of Matt.

43

South Fork, Colorado

Kara woke up as soon as someone laid a hand on her shoulder.

It was Michael. “We found Havenwood.”

She jumped up, then wobbled on her feet.

“Go splash water on your face, we still don’t have Tony on the line.”

She glanced at the clock: 4:45 a.m. Two and a half hours was better than nothing.

She took Michael’s advice and ran cold water over her face, brushed her teeth, straightened her clothes. She stepped out just as Dean Montero came into the room. The space had become crowded, even though Ryder must have spent the time since he arrived reorganizing the workspace. There was even fresh fruit and coffee on the small bar. She grabbed a banana and poured coffee.

Riley was asleep on the couch—or pretending to sleep. Kara let her be.

Catherine was sitting at the computer typing, Ryder was putting up a map on the wall.

“Where is he?” Kara asked Ryder.

Ryder pointed to a speck in the middle of nowhere. “They’re in the San Juan National Forest on over a thousand acres of land grandfathered in as private property more than a hundred years ago. It can’t be sold, but the heirs can keep it in perpetuity. It’s north of Durango, south of Telluride, west of state route 550, in a valley that has only one road in and out, and the road on their property isn’t maintained by any government agency.”

“How far away?”

“Two-hour drive to Durango, but we can take a plane there in half that. Then we don’t know how long the drive will take—road conditions aren’t ideal, but the west side of the state didn’t see much snowfall during the last week. Talking to people on the ground there, they estimate two hours, and a four-wheel drive will be necessary. They also suggested snowmobiles or snow ATVs, but if Anton and his people drove in and out, the road should be passable.”

Kara wanted to leave now, but she took in a breath. “Okay.”

---