Page 35 of Canyon of Deceit
“Do you want a helo with backup and medical help?” Sergio said.
“Wait until we’re closer. I want to pin down their location first. Then bring in the big guns. No point alerting the kidnappers and deal with how they might retaliate.”
“Why not allow the FBI to help?”
“Not an option. Waiting takes time.”
“Rusty, keep me informed. I can get a helo in the Dog Canyon area with short notice. We can figure out what to do from there.”
“We’re covering a lot of area.” No point telling him about rescue teams spending hours and even days tracking lost hikers. Therese could verify the stats in a heartbeat, and we had our phones and flares. “How’s Rurik holding up?”
“FBI twenty-four seven protection. He objected at first but agreed after they relayed the dangers. Not sure about his mental state. Nothing showed up on his cell phone records.” His pause told me of his apprehension. “You’re looking at two desperate men who’d think nothing of using Alina as a shield.”
I’d thought about the same thing—and other barbaric actions.
We picked up our pace, and in two hours we hiked to where we’d spotted the kidnappers with Alina, but no sign of them. I studied the trail, although Therese’s skill set was more advanced than mine would ever be. I veered off and detected the toe print of a tennis shoe leading uphill over rocks and dead shrub.
Therese followed the single shoe print. She stood on a narrow rock overlooking the steep terrain and peered through her binoculars. The grim look on her face told it all. The wind whipped her hair back, whispering a gust could blow her away.
“The wind is picking up,” I said.
She kept the binoculars glued to her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Have they disappeared?”
“Appears so. The shoe print angles off the trail. I’m not sure why. Probably Chandler destroyed them. The climb is strenuous for an adult.”
The view displayed nature, raw and beautiful. “What’s on the other side of those mountains?”
“More of the same.”
An icy burst swept by me like a bad omen. “Spotting them in the open was no accident. There’s a reason they allowed us to see them.” Suspicion clamored in my head. “We’re walking into a trap.”
Therese surveyed the area. “If we take the western trail, it leads to a clearing lined on two sides with boulders. Not big, but if they’re waiting to ambush us, that’s where they’d hide. We’d be easy targets.”
“So, we’ll outsmart them. How can we get behind the clearing?”
“It’s a hard—”
A burst of wind knocked Therese off-balance, and I caught her—or she’d have toppled headfirst into a canyon. A shot rang out and a bullet bounced off a rock not a foot from her. I rolled her back from where we’d been standing and sheltered her body while rifle fire exploded around us.
The bullets stopped. “Are you hurt?” My blood pressure soared for the woman beneath me.
“I’m good. They expected us to walk right into their line of fire.”
I rolled off Therese, taking in every inch of her. Droplets of blood stained her lower-right pant leg. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing, really. The bullet grazed me.” She inspected the wound like she’d done with footprints and broken twigs.
“You’re lucky the bullet didn’t do more damage.”
“I’ve hurt myself more stumbling and falling.”
I crawled to the upper rock where we’d stood and searched the area with my binoculars.
“Blane, you’ll get yourself shot.”
“I’m staying down. Somewhere they’re watching what we’ll do next, and our best chances to survive are to take the unpredictable route.”
