Page 46 of Atone in Darkness
By the time they filed in the door, he had a few facts he could share. “The stove still has a few hot coals buried deep in the ashes, so someone had a fire going recently. There are three dirty bowls and plates in the sink. Assuming one of each perperson, that confirms three people were staying here.”
He pointed toward the pieces of rope on the floor. “I’m guessing two people left the third one tied up in that chair when they left. Best guess, it was the mysterious Edgar, but I could be wrong. Chase wouldn’t have come this far with the woman only to suddenly decide to leave her behind.”
Now for the bad news. “There are traces of bloodon thefloor and on the chair. Again, no way to know whose it is or if it came from more than one source.”
“Well, shit.”
Although it was Jarvis who made the comment, the two words pretty much summed up how all of them were feeling right now. Lonzo prowled through the cabin for several minutes, poking his nose into every corner and some of them twice before he spoke.
“It’s getting too dark outthere to see anything. I hate to stop when we’re getting so close, but I vote we crash here for the night. Come first light, Eli, see if you can pick up Chase’s trail again. Take someone with you to watch for trouble while you have your eyes on the ground. Meanwhile, I’ll see if we can get a signal, so I can update Devlin at headquarters.”
It was frustrating as hell to have to stop when theyhad to be closing in on Chase, but Lonzo was right. Once the sun went down, it would be nearly impossible to follow the trail.
Jarvis started for the door. “I’ll get the fire going. It will be nice to spend at least one night where we’re not freezing our asses off.”
Larem, usually the quietest one of the bunch, spoke up. “Those ropes were cut. Seems unlikely that Chase tied someone up only toturn around and cut him loose. If I’m right about that, the prisoner must have had friends in the area. What if they come back?”
Eli had been thinking the same thing. Dollars to dimes, whoever had come through to rescue the guy were the same bunch hunting Chase. The thought had him gripping his rifle more tightly. “I’ll take first watch.”
Lonzo clapped him on the shoulder. “Two on duty atatime, two-hour shifts. I want everyone to get some solid hours of sleep tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be pushing hard to close the distance between us and Chase. I want to end this before... well, before the idiot decides we don’t love him anymore and gets his tender feelings hurt. He’s sensitive about things like that.”
They all laughed, even though they knew what Lonzo was really saying. The longerChase was being hunted, the more likely he was going to run out of places to hide. That thought seemed to suck all of the air out of the room.
“I’m going to head outside before it’s completely dark. If I can figure out which way Chase went now, it will give us a head start in the morning.”
He was out the door without waiting for Lonzo to give him permission or, worse yet, tell him not to bother.They all knew it was doubtful that he’d learn anything useful in the dim light, but they understood the need to do something, anything, that would help their cause.
Larem picked up his rifle and followed him out into the yard. “You hunt. I’ll watch your back.”
“Thanks.”
As they walked back toward the trees, Eli felt compelled to explain himself. “I might not know Chase personally, but I canguess what kind of man he is from how the rest of you talk about him.”
Larem offered him one of his rare smiles. “I like that phrase your military uses that says no man is left behind.”
“Exactly.”
“Then let’s see what we can learn while we can. Even if all we know is where to start tomorrow, it will give everyonea renewed sense of purpose. I don’t know about you, but I could use that myself.”
If this delay was driving Eli crazy, he could only imagine what it was doing to Jarvis and Jake, who were the two men with the closest ties to the missing Paladin. He picked up the pace, stopping only when they reached the perimeter of the clearing. Using the flashlight on his cell phone, he kept his eyes on the ground and slowly swept the beam of light back and forth.
He was about to give upwhen he finally spotted two sets of familiar footprints heading into the trees away from the cabin. “Larem, I found the trail. Chase and the woman left in this direction. We’ll start here in the morning.”
Not only had he found the trail, the tracks were relatively fresh. With luck, they’d find Chase by tomorrow this time, and they could all go home. Feeling better about the situation, they headedback to the cabin to share the good news.
