Page 46 of Mountain Captive

Travis fixed him with a hard stare, but Rand didn’t relent. The sheriff was the first to blink. “You can come with us,” he said. “But you’ll stay back, follow orders and keep quiet.”

“Yes, sir.”

Travis and Dwight collected packs from their cruiser and set out up the trail to the mill, Rand following behind. None of them spoke for the first mile; then Travis glanced back at Rand. “How long have you known Chris?” he asked.

“A few weeks.”

“And you believe what she’s told you about this group, the Vine?”

“Yes. You heard that man on the trail the day Chris and I met—the one who told her to get ready for her wedding.”

“People with mistaken beliefs or delusions aren’t necessarily threatening,” Travis said.

“She said the Vine killed her father when he opposed their leader.”

“She was a child. Maybe he really did eat poisonous mushrooms.”

“I believe Chris. And she didn’t make up the two men who attacked me and broke into her apartment. What I saw when Danny and I went to the camp fit with her description of the group.”

Travis nodded. “Tell me again what happened when she disappeared this morning.”

Rand repeated the story of seeing someone moving ahead and going to investigate. “Chris was bringing up the rear of the group. I was focused on whoever was ahead of us and didn’t notice she had fallen farther behind. When I did look back, she was gone.”

“What do you think happened?” Travis asked.

“I think you’re right about the missing persons call being a hoax. I think whoever called in that story did so to lure search and rescue into the area around the mill. They knew Chris was likely to respond to the call.”

“They couldn’t be sure she would volunteer to be part of the search,” Dwight said.

“If she didn’t, they didn’t lose anything,” Rand said.

“They took a big chance,” Travis said. “The area around the mill was crawling with searchers.”

“It’s a big area,” Rand said. “Even with so many people searching, we were spread out. And there’s a lot of cover up there—rocks, clumps of trees, old mine buildings and the changing terrain itself.”

“Maybe she fell and was injured,” Dwight said.

That was a possibility Rand had considered. “Why didn’t we hear her cry out?”

“Maybe you were too far away,” Dwight said. “Or she lost consciousness.”

“Maybe.” Rand didn’t like to think Chris had been hurt, but if the injury wasn’t serious, wouldn’t that be better than being back in the clutches of the Vine? “Is the drone still looking for her?” he asked.

“It is,” the sheriff said. “And I spoke with Danny. There’s a new team of searchers headed up right behind us.”

After three miles and an hour of steady hiking, they reached the mill. Dwight checked the coordinates he had received from the drone. “Looks like we head this way,” he said, and pointed toward the same copse of trees where Rand and his group of searchers had seen someone running away from them.

They passed through the trees and hiked for another forty-five minutes before they spotted two tents—one orange and one lime green—set in a broad bowl on the side of the mountain. As they drew nearer, Rand counted five people, all adults, moving among the tents. Backpacks and other camping gear had been arranged near a fire ring.

Two young couples made up the group. A slender man in his twenties, with straight dark hair and glasses, moved forward. He focused on Dwight’s and Travis’s uniforms. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“We’re looking for a missing woman,” Travis said. “Midtwenties, five foot six, medium build, shoulder-length blue hair.”

The man shook his head. “We haven’t seen anyone like that.” The second man and the two women, who had gathered around him, shook their heads also.

Travis looked around at the tents and other gear. The tents were small—not the place to hide someone. “How long have you been camping here?” Travis asked.

“We set up last night. It’s okay to be camped here, isn’t it?”

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