Page 29 of Montana Delta Rescue
Firearms going off on the mountain slowed that plan. Rock didn’t want Herc to rush into a situation and get shot.
He needed to assess who was on the mountain shooting and what they were shooting at. Could be a deer, a big cat, or a person. Rock was armed and at the ready as he gave Herc a different command.
Herc proceeded to sniff and hunt for Marilyn at a slower pace than Rock would have liked. He needed to find her now. Those shots could be fired toward Marilyn.
Being careful and proceeding with caution was warring with his urge to rush in and save her immediately.
Herc’s his slow search was still faster than any untrained dog. And he’d never once failed to find the person he was searching for.
Rock had no doubt Herc would find her.
Herc had found something.
Not Marilyn.
He sniffed around and let Rock know there was something important there to see.
In the dirt was a clear mark, a paw print. Big round pad of a paw topped by four claws. “Mountain Lion,” Rock said softly. “Good boy.”
Herc wagged his tail, happy for the praise, but then waited. He was still working until Rock told him otherwise. And both knew they weren’t done until they found Marilyn.
“I hope that big cat doesn’t find her before we do,” Rock said. Touching his ear, he used his com link to Hank to update him. “Mountain Lion ahead,” he said. “And shots.”
“Copy,” Hank said. “Any idea who?”
“Two gunmen,” Rock replied. “Shots too close to be one.”
“Roger that,” Hank said. “Any sign of Marilyn?”
“Negative,” Rock said. “Pressing on.”
“Big storm moving in,” Hank said. “Helo has to return to base. Dropped two.”
“Thanks,” Rock said.
That meant two men had already come down the helicopter on ropes to join the search. Rock and Hercules wouldn’t be alone on the mountain, looking for Marilyn.
“Kujo here,” Kujo chimed in. “Com problem with number two.”
“Roger,” Rock said.
The men had his coordinates and would soon be close behind him. If they had to fan out to find her, this would make it easier. Storm or no storm.
Search and rescue almost always came down to boots on the ground, once you had an idea on a grid of where the person might be.
The man with the com problem would be sandwiched between the other two on that spread and the spread would be smaller so he could use hand signals to communicate with them.
Keeping closer to Herc now that he knew there was a mountain lion on the mountain, along with two gunmen, Rock and Herc made their way up the mountain, through the trees.
Hank came through on the com again. “Bad news,” he said. “Swede located a tracker on that new phone she just bought.”
“Copy,” Rock said.
“She’ll have no signal on the mountain, so they won’t have her exact coordinates,” Hank said.
Unspoken was the fact that once he and Herc found her, and took her off that mountain, the tracking on her phone would turn back on when the service did.
“Roger,” Rock said.
