Page 61 of Shelter for Tanna

He wheeled and found Crash standing there, Sascha sitting motionless at his feet. “I wanted to help. Please let me, Braden.”

“Of course.” His friend stepped up to him and wrapped both arms around him. Braden fought to keep his composure. If they didn’t find her, it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.

“Listen up, people,” the emergency services director called out. “You have your instructions and?”

He was interrupted by a tall man who’d just approached the back of the crowd. “Are we too late?”

The EMS director’s face lit up. “No! Thank you for coming! How many of you are there?”

“Six, with eight units between us. Do you have a place for us to set up?”

“Of course!” To Braden’s surprise, two deputies were already unfolding a table and setting it up. “The officers will get you acclimated.”

Braden leaned toward Ted as the deputy stood beside him. “Who’s that?”

Ted’s grin was huge. “Drone operators. They work for the TV stations around here. They all volunteered to help, and they’ll be able to cover a lot more ground than we can on foot.”

That idea had never occurred to Braden. “Oh my god, that’s amazing!” Hope bloomed in his chest again. Maybe they would find her.

He watched as the drone operators set up their equipment, and one of them pointed to things on a computer screen, especially the area where the live feed would show up. One of the guys called out the name of his WiFi hotspot and the password and in seconds, every drone there was up and operational. “Remember,” the tall man said, “we’re probably going to encounter a lot of downed branches and a lot of trash that blew in with last night’s storm. If you see something, say something. Let’s hit it, guys.” The volunteer searchers had already left the area, hiking into the woods, and Braden watched the drones rise from their landing spots on the ground in front of the tent and take off. “Grid pattern. Everybody knows their sector, right?”

Braden watched the screens intently. He could see the volunteers on foot down below the drones, and then the flying technical wonders overtook them and kept going. Here and there were bits of rubbish. One drone smacked into a downed limb, but it rose from the ground and carried on.

Everyone worked all morning and early afternoon, but Braden knew the truth. It had been forty-eight hours since she’d gone missing, and time had run out. If they didn’t find something soon, it would be too late when they did. When the operators finally called the drones in, the search team leaders brought the volunteers back in as well, and they all warmed themselves with a cup of coffee. Most of them were soaked, but at least the rain had slowed from the previous two days. Braden wandered through the crowd, thanking people as best he could, taking hugs from some of the women and handshakes from most of the men. They were all glad to help, but it had been for nothing.

“Braden!” A familiar voice yelled his name, and he looked up to see Marsha standing beside her car on the blocked roadway. To his horror, one of her hands was on Daniel’s shoulder and the other on Max’s.

Oh my Jesus, what is she doing here? With them? I can’t… What the hell do I tell them?He felt a little faint as he made his way through the crowd to them. It took every bit of self-control he had to keep the irritation out of his voice. “What are you doing here?”

Her cheeks were flushed. “I just wanted to?”

“It’s not her fault. We wanted to come.” Daniel left her side and walked straight up to Braden. “It’s our mom who’s missing, and we want to help find her.”

“There’s nothing you can do. All these people have already searched.” He didn’t know what else to tell them because truth was, there wasn’t any good news.

“Aren’t you going to keep looking?” an angry Max barked. “You should keep looking! You say you love her! Look for her!”

“Son, we’ve done everything we know to do. Come over here and let me show you these drones. They’re pretty cool.” That would keep them busy for a few minutes so he could have a pointed conversation with his mother.

But Max wouldn’t release his hand, and he felt trapped, staring at the screens. “Is that real?” Max whispered.

“Yeah. It’s real. They flew back and forth taking pictures of the forest.”

“That’s awesome. They’ll find her.”

Braden didn’t know what to say. “We haven’t so far. It’s been raining, and it’s cold, and her clothes are all brown and blend into the leaves, and?”

Max interrupted him. “Pink.”

“What?”

“Pink. Her shirt was pink.”

Braden shook his head. “I think you’re confused, buddy. She wears brown uniforms, remember?”

The child stiffened his arms at his sides, balled up his fists, and leaned forward in a rage. “Pink!” he bellowed. “She was wearing a pink shirt! Her brown one had a hole in it, so she put on a pink one!”

Reaching for a napkin from a donut place, Braden showed it to Max. “Pink like this?”

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