Page 87 of Rescuing Dr. Marian
I considered correcting him, but I wasn’t sure I could do it without saying something scathing about Foster Blake. Instead, I thanked him and headed into my cabin to change. After yanking on my boots, filling my hydration pack, and stuffing a few necessities into it, I took off on a long hike in hopes of exercising and exorcising my demons—one tall, hard-headed, muscly demon in particular.
And I headed in the exact opposite direction from Pronghorn Ridge.
23
FOSTER
We calledthe helo exercise when the wind advisory came with an added warning of sleet. The low front expected from Canada had moved much faster than predicted, sending us back to SERA.
After stowing our gear in the increasing darkness from heavy cloud cover, I set out to find Tommy. Despite my hurt feelings at him not telling me about Stanford, I knew I needed to congratulate him rather than let this fester any longer.
He wasn’t in Cabin 8, and he wasn’t in the classroom or instructors’ offices. I poked my head into Trace’s office. “You seen Tommy?”
He shook his head. “Not since midday, but Robyn said she saw him take off on a hike. I assumed he was back by now.”
I shook my head and glanced back out at the darkening sky. Water droplets were beginning to fall. “I’ll call him and checkthe cabin again. If he’s nearby, I’m sure he’ll head back now that the rain is coming.”
Trace frowned and pulled out his phone to check the weather report again. “Let me know what you find out. They’re predicting snow at elevation. Possible we get flurries here, too.”
I nodded and jogged back to the cabin, Chickie hot on my heels and happy to stretch her legs after I’d had to leave her behind for the helo drill.
The fact Chickie had been in the cabin when I’d arrived led me to believe Tommy was back from his hike. He most likely would have taken her with him if he was going for a long walk in the woods, if only because he was a sucker for her big puppy eyes.
The cabin was still empty. His boots and hydration pack were gone. I quickly dialed his number, knowing cell reception wasn’t great on the hill behind campus. The ring trilled from somewhere in the room, sending a slither of dread down my spine.
Sure enough, his phone was in the pants pocket of the pair slung across his bed. I pulled it out and stared at the screen. There were multiple missed calls and texts, indicating he hadn’t checked it for several hours.
“Fuck.”
I glanced outside. The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was steady and cold. The wind blew through the trees, turning leaves silver in the odd light.
“Fuck,” I said again. My rational brain tried its best to remind me that Tommy was experienced in wilderness survival.He knew all the rules about watching the weather and taking shelter when necessary.
But my rational brain wasn’t the one in charge of my body.
I raced through my supplies, hauling out warm, dry layers as well as rain gear, extra socks, and the few remaining packs of trail mix in the box on the little table in our room. After shoving several more things in my pack and filling up an extra water bottle, I took off for the office to grab a radio before heading out.
Trace looked up at me in surprise as he caught me striding into the building, dripping water from my rain gear onto the wood floors. “You find him?”
I shook my head. “I need to find Robyn to see what direction he took. He’s not back yet, and he doesn’t have a phone.”
Trace’s eyebrows winged up. “Doesn’t have his phone? Did he take his beacon?”
I shrugged. “He took his hydration pack, and I think he keeps the beacon in there along with basic med and survival gear. I’m sure he wouldn’t have gone off alone without taking any precautions.”
“Well he didn’t fucking tell anyone he was going, and that alone is grounds for fucking dismissal. He knows better than that.” I could tell his anger masked concern.
“I’ll find him,” I said, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. He knows how to take care of himself.”
Trace met my eyes. “If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be getting ready to go off half-cocked.”
“I’m not. I’ll take plenty of gear, including my beacon and a radio. You know as well as I do he could be hurt. I’d rather findhim now than after the sun goes down and he has to spend a night in freezing temps without proper equipment.”
He reluctantly nodded. “Keep us updated. If I have to send a SAR team out for my SAR director, there’ll be hell to pay, do you understand me?”
When I found Robyn, she was wringing her hands. “I think Tommy might be stuck on the mountain. He told me he was going for a long walk, but I never saw him come back, and now he’s not answering his phone.”
I didn’t bother asking why she hadn’t said anything to anyone. “Did you see which trail he took?”
