Page 14 of Scent of Peril

When Teddy began to snore, he couldn’t help but laugh. Jess did too. “He’s funny, isn’t he?” she whispered.

“Yep.” She turned on her side so that she was facing him. Then she yawned. “G’night, Logan.”

“Good night.” He closed his eyes and told himself to go to sleep.

Of course, that didn’t work. He listened to the sounds of the night outside their tent, and to Jess’s soft breathing and Teddy’s snores. He thought about how much damage his plane had sustained and hoped it wouldn’t take them too long to get to a location with radio or cell service.

He must have dozed at some point because he awoke when Teddy began to bark. Not just once, but repeated sharp barks that were clearly a response to a perceived threat.

Logan jackknifed upright and grabbed his .38 from the backpack, his heart pounding in his chest.

Someone was out there!

4

Disoriented by Teddy’s sharp barking, Jess sat up, pushing her hair from her eyes. It took a second for her to realize she was camping outside in the mountains with Logan rather than being at home on the Sullivan ranch.

“Easy, boy.” She tried to soothe her K9. But Teddy wasn’t having it. He continued to bark at some unknown threat.

Her blood ran cold when she saw the weapon Logan had set on the ground beside him. He was dragging his outer gear on with jerky movements, no easy task in the small confines of the tent. His expression grim, Logan whispered, “Stay here with Teddy. I’ll check it out.”

She was torn between keeping her dog safe and letting Teddy head out to help find the intruder. Yet she couldn’t sit there and wait for him to face the threat alone.

She reached for her coat. “Better that we stick together.”

Logan frowned but didn’t argue. He finished lacing his boots, then unzipped the front flap. It was only when he poked his head out, bringing in a rush of cold air, that she realized how warm and snug the tent had been. More so than she’d expected.

Over Logan’s shoulder, she could only see the blinding whiteness of freshly fallen snow blanketing the ground as early morning light dawned on the horizon. Maybe the few inches of snow on their tent had added a layer of insulation. “Wait for me,” she said, shoving her feet into her boots.

“I don’t see any footprints in the snow outside our tent.” Logan’s voice was low and husky. “Teddy’s barking may have scared him off.”

Scared whom off? The gunman? She swallowed hard and took a moment to fasten Teddy’s vest and to slide the booties over his feet. He was too busy barking to protest the booties. Her K9’s body vibrated with his need to rush outside to face the threat. She didn’t like this scenario one bit, but they had little choice but to act. Drawing a steadying breath, she whispered, “Okay. We’re ready.”

“Stay behind me as much as possible.” Logan crawled from the tent and quickly rose to his feet, holding the weapon ready as he walked forward. She went through the flap first, then held it for Teddy.

Her K9 bounded out and ran full steam ahead through the snow. Seconds later, Teddy rounded the corner of the hunting shanty.

So much for staying behind Logan.

“Teddy, heel!” Her command seemed to evaporate on the wind. Teddy was normally well trained, but this time he ignored her command. Logan clumsily ran through the newly fallen snow, following Teddy’s lead. She did her best to keep up.

It didn’t take long to find the tracks. Not animal, as she’d hoped. No, these were definitely human footprints in the snow. Teddy sniffed the ground and started to follow them up the slope of the hill.

“Teddy, come!” She spoke in a harsh tone, and this time, her K9 responded. He took another long second to sniff thefootprints, then wheeled around to trot back to her side. His tail wagged from side to side as if pleased with his job of scaring off danger.

“I’m amazed Teddy heard this guy way over here.” Logan gestured to the hill behind the hunting shanty as he scanned their surroundings. “Looks to me like he started coming down toward the shanty, then turned around when Teddy started barking. It took us a while to get outside the tent to find him. By now, he’s probably headed back to wherever he came from.”

“Unless he’s looping around to try again?” She made a 360-degree turn, scanning their surroundings the way Logan had. Jess wished she’d thought to bring her weapon along. It hadn’t seemed necessary for a quick plane ride to retrieve a piece from a plane.

Never again would she be caught off guard. Like Logan, she needed to be prepared for anything.

“I don’t understand why he took off.” She glanced back at Logan. “The gunman knew we had Teddy with us, so he should have anticipated the dog would bark. And we were all together in one spot. Why not just start firing at us through the tent? He could have taken us all out of the picture without a problem.”

“I’m not sure.” Logan scowled. “Could be he didn’t see the tent, as it was covered in snow. Or maybe someone other than the gunman was out taking a walk.”

“In this weather?” She scoffed. “Doubtful.”

“I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. Thanks to Teddy, we’re fine.” He shoved his weapon into his pocket. “Time for us to get out of here.”

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