Page 16 of Scent of Peril

“Roger that, Fletcher. Chase Sullivan and his brother Shane are on the road heading to the Bigho”—the radio dispatcher’s voice broke up with static but then came through again—“them know your coordinates.”

As Logan recited their latitude and longitude coordinates, Jess rested her hand on Teddy’s neck and lifted her gaze to the sky in gratitude.

Help was on the way.

“Canyou get to the Cabin Creek Campsite?” the radio dispatcher asked a few minutes later.

“Yes, we can get there,” Logan assured him.

“Chase and Shane will rendezvous with you there.”

“Roger that.” Logan was relieved to know the Sullivans were en route to pick them up, but they still had a long way to go. The Cabin Creek Campsite was at least five miles away. Maybe longer. Five miles over rough terrain would take them a solid three hours.

The good news was that he was convinced the gunman was no longer a threat. He still wasn’t sure who had approached their camp in the first place. As Jess had pointed out, the gunman could have emptied his clip on the tent, killing them in one fell swoop. Logan had to believe the tent hadn’t been readily visible beneath the snow.

Could the intruder have mistaken Teddy’s barking for that of a coyote? That didn’t seem logical. But then again, none of this made any sense. He couldn’t fathom why anyone would have tried to shoot his plane out of the sky in the first place.

“How far is the campsite?” Jess asked as he packed the radio away. She was stroking Teddy’s soft fur, either to keep her dog calm or for her own peace of mind. “I’ve never stayed there.”

“Roughly five miles.” He forced a reassuring smile. “Piece of cake after everything we’ve been through.”

“Right.” She stopped petting Teddy to rummage in her backpack. She pulled out two granola bars. “This is all I have left, but since we only have another five miles to go, there’s no sense in holding on to them.”

He nodded and accepted the nourishment. They’d been burning a lot of calories since heading out that morning. He quickly ate the bar, then pulled out his compass to verify their coordinates.

“Let’s head due west for a bit,” he suggested.

“You’re the boss.” Jess finished her granola bar and shouldered her pack. “It’s nice to have a firm destination in mind.”

He realized he should have mentioned his plan earlier. He’d been too busy glancing back over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.

“The Cabin Creek Campsite isn’t that far from Highway 14,” he explained as they continued forging a path through the woods. “There’s a smaller road that heads from the highway to the campground. Cabin Creek is a popular spot in the summer. Not so much this time of the year.”

“I’ll just be glad to be safe.” She sighed. “It’s really bothering me that someone tried to kill us by shooting at your plane.”

“Yeah, me too.” He lifted his arm to prevent a low-hanging branch from slapping him in the face. “I keep going back to that guy I dropped off.”

“Craig Benton,” she said with a scowl. “Or whatever his real name is.”

“Yep, him. I think he’s involved in moving drugs, and it was either him or one of his accomplices who shot at us.” He grimaced, watching as Teddy nimbly leaped over a fallen branch. Not only had Teddy alerted on the scent of drugs on Benton’s glove, but the K9 had also saved their lives by alerting them to danger this morning.

“I don’t remember seeing a cabin, do you?” Jess asked.

“Nope. And I remember looking around for a dwelling of some sort after I dropped him off.”

“Maybe it was hidden behind a part of the mountain.” Jess tripped over a rock but caught herself. “Or it was camouflaged in some way.”

“Could be.” If the dwelling was some sort of hideout for drug runners, he was sure that it would have been built in a way to blend into the surroundings.

“We’ll find it,” Jess said confidently.

He sighed. They weren’t even off the mountain yet, and she was already planning her next trip back to search for the gunman, using Teddy to find any narcotics in the area. Logan made a mental note to pull Chase aside to make sure her older brother understood the risk. Teddy might be a trained narcotics dog, but law enforcement officials needed to take the lead on this search.

Not the Sullivan family.

They walked for the next hour in silence, the sun warming the air enough that the snow began to melt. Jessica stopped mostly in deference to her dog.

“He’s getting tired,” she said, when they sat down to rest. As if to prove her point, Teddy stretched out on the ground beside her and closed his eyes.

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