Page 58 of Shelter for Tanna

“Give us a call if you find anything and we’ll be right there,” the younger officer assured him.

“Thanks. Wish me luck.” He’d hoped they’d rise and follow him out, but they didn’t, and he realized something that gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He was alone in it. Sure, they’d look for her, but they wouldn’t go to a lot of trouble. He wondered if there were actually officers on the force who thought she’d stolen that truck. If they did, they sure as hell didn’t know her.

Braden drove out of town and turned onto eighteen twenty-one again. He’d pass a house that looked like it was about to fall down, rusted cars in the yard, and then, in a mile or so, there’d be a brick two-story with a circular drive and a pool out back. The socioeconomic background of the people who lived out there was diverse, but the houses were so far apart that it didn’t matter.

Even though he was driving barely thirty miles an hour, he was at the church in what seemed like no time, and decided to turn with the highway and go on out. The farther he drove, the wilder the surroundings were. Here and there was a clearing with a house, but they were few and far between. It was mostly wooded areas filled with sharp curves and rolling hills. When he reached the WarrenCounty line, he turned around and headed back. It was hard to see out the windshield because of the downpour, and thankfully there was no traffic. That let him stare out the side windows.

In the next curve there was a big patch of asphalt in the road, and he recognized it as a sinkhole patch. Those things were the bane of WarrenCounty life, opening up and swallowing all kinds of things?houses, barns, garages. Hell, one had opened up under the NationalCorvette Museum in town and swallowed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of collector Corvettes! He hit the patch, the truck gave a little jump, and something flashed out the corner of his left eye. Stopping, he backed up to the patch, parked the truck, and got out in the rain to look.

There, fifty feet below the roadway and having met its fate against a huge oak tree, was the wrecker. “Holy shit,” Braden mumbled and took off at a run while trying to stay upright too. The embankment was steep and a couple of times he slid, but he kept going.

When he reached the truck, disappointment hit him. She wasn’t there. Not only was she gone, but so was her bag, and he hoped she had her phone with her. He checked the deployed airbag and felt a little better when he noted there was no blood on it. Maybe that meant she hadn’t been hurt. He whipped out his phone and punched in nine-one-one. When the dispatcher answered, he tried to keep his voice even and clear. “Dispatch, this is firefighter BradenNichols from StationFour. I need you to find TedWallace. Tell him I’m out on eighteen twenty-one and I’ve found the truck. I need everybody out here?law enforcement, crime scene techs, anybody you can send.”

“Sir, are there any injuries?”

“No. I can’t find the driver, but I’m sure she’s here somewhere. She may have been dazed and wandered away. We’ve got to find her. Please?send help!”

“Yes, sir. I’ve found Deputy SheriffWallace and he’s en route. We’re sending an EMT from your station house and a first responder rig. They should be there in about seven minutes.”

“Roger that,” he answered instinctively. “They can’t miss me. My truck’s right in the middle of the road.”

“Roger that, firefighter.” There was a tiny hesitation before the dispatcher said, “And good luck, Braden.” He knew it was Heidi, one of their regular dispatchers, and that also told him the whole county knew what was going on. That gave him a small measure of comfort.

“Thanks, Heidi. I appreciate it. Over.” Ending the call, he looked around. Ted had been right. The terrain was formidable. Scattered out in front of him was dense forest filled with underbrush and saplings, and it was peppered with steep drop-offs and sharp rises. He was trying to take it all in when the sky opened up and it poured so hard that he could feel the raindrops through his shirt and coat. Instead of heading back up, he dove into the cab of the wrecker.

Sitting there surrounded by silence in the last place he knew she’d been, Braden wrapped his hands around the steering wheel and dropped his forehead onto its cold surface. “God, baby, where are you? You can’t leave me, Tanna. I love you. I don’t think I can go on without you. Please, please, let me know where you are.” Braden could honestly say he’d never been that scared in his whole life. He’d run into burning buildings, pulled people from flooded creeks that threatened to yank him into their swift water, and climbed ladders like a maniac, but none of that stuff was that scary. The thought of never seeing her again? That was scarier than anything he could imagine.

And then his phone rang. “Hey!”

Crash’s voice barked out of the phone, “Where are you?”

“I’m at the truck!”

“That’s what the dispatcher said. Pokey and Fresh are on their way to you with the first responder truck, and there are law enforcement cars racing past here. What can I do?”

“Nothing. Just stay there where it’s warm and dry.”

“Look, I don’t know how well-trained Sascha is for search and rescue at this point, but we can try using him. I might have to call his handler to come and help, but?”

“I appreciate that. I’m hoping it won’t come to those measures, but if it does, you’ll sure know.” The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance, and for the first time, Braden felt hopeful. “I’ve gotta go. They’re almost here. Thanks, Crash. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure thing. Good luck, Monkey.” Braden ended the call and began the climb back to the roadway in the steady downpour.

Fifteen minutes later, there were officers all over the place. Fresh and Pokey had offered him a hot cup of coffee they’d brought for him, and he was grateful for it. He was soaked to the bone. One of the deputies joined him. “With all the dampness, they just checked the cab as best they could with luminol. There’s no trace of blood anywhere in there that they could find. That’s good news.”

Braden breathed a tiny sigh of relief. “It is. Anybody find anything to tell us which way she went?”

The deputy shook his head. “Nope. Not yet. I’m afraid this rain is going to wash away a lot of things that would’ve helped, like disturbed leaves and scuff marks in the dirt.”

“I hear ya. Wish it would fucking stop,” Braden groused. They could use any little clue they could get, but the elements were determined to make it harder than it needed to be.

“SheriffLong is setting up a command post, and one of the funeral homes has offered to let us borrow a bigger tent than any of us have.” The deputy gave Braden a squeeze of the shoulder. “We’re gonna find her, firefighter. I can promise you that.”

A city officer ran up to Braden. “Got her phone number? We’re going to try tracking her phone.”

“Of course!” Braden read it out to him and the officer ran back toward his car. Maybe that would help.

---