“No, no. It’s not like it’s a sheer drop off. She would have only slid down twenty feet or so. But no, the marks stop there,” she said, pointing. She walked up the trail a little more but found no evidence that they’d continued. “My guess is, this was steeper than he thought. Not only was it slowing them down, Sam being an inexperienced hiker proved to be a liability.”
“So they went back down and took an easier route.”
“Exactly. But route to where?” Cameron pulled out her GPS, intending to look at the new route into the forest. “If I had access to my computers in the rig, I could put our daily coordinates into one of the algorithms Jason wrote for me. We could at least get a probability of his intended target.”
Hunter stared at her. “You can do that? So why don’t you, like, remote in or something.”
“Yeah, if it were only that easy.” She held up the device. “This is all I got. No computer.”
“Can’t you call it in? Have someone else do it?”
“Who? One of the rangers? The sheriff’s deputies?”
“Murdock?”
“Yeah. I could do that. When we stop tonight, I’ll compile our coordinates. If I’ve got a strong enough signal, I’ll email it to him. Maybe he can get Jason on it.”
She studied the terrain, trying to see where he might be heading. This route, along the ridge, looped back down to the other side. If they are now traveling around it, while still going slightly up, they’d end up…where?
“There’s a river,” she said. “He’s probably carrying less water than we are. He’d need to refill.” She looked at Hunter. “I’m guessing that’s where they made camp. Sound plausible?”
Hunter nodded. “Works for me.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” She headed back down to where they’d left Andrea.
“So who is Jason? Is he on your team?”
“My team is Andrea. No, Jason is at Quantico. Computer geek. He designed my setup in the rig and the truck. He wrote all of the programs I use.” She grinned. “Like I said, I’d really be dangerous if I knew how to use them all.”
Andrea was waiting where they’d left her, and she raised her eyebrows questioningly. “They went this way, right?”
“You turning into a tracker?”
Andrea smiled at her. “Yeah. Because this way looks a lot easier.”
“Yeah. We found where they stopped. Looks like Sam may have stumbled and gone off the side a bit.”
“What? Like fell?”
“No, just slid a little,” Tori said. “Maybe she did it on purpose, trying to slow him down.”
“Could have,” Cameron said. “She’s been doing great by leaving marks behind. Like breaking this limb here.” She headed into the woods. “Let’s see if we can’t make up some time on them.” She paused, her eyes going to the sky. “Listen,” she said.
“What? I don’t hear anything,” Hunter said.
“Wait for it.”
Maybe it was her military training, but she’d recognize the distant low rumble of a helicopter anywhere.
Andrea was the first to hear it. “Helicopter.”
“I hear it now,” Tori said.
“Let’s hope Angel can hear it too.”
* * *
Sam tilted her head, listening. Angel stopped, doing the same. He turned to her.
“Looks like they finally gave up on finding us with a roadblock,” he said.
“They don’t sound like they’re very close,” she said.
“Probably doing a perimeter search around the campground in all directions,” he said. He started hiking again. “If that’s the case, they probably won’t get up this far until tomorrow.”
Sam hurried to catch up with him. “You don’t sound worried,” she said.
“I can hide from a helicopter.” He glanced back at her as he kept walking. “As long as you don’t do anything stupid.”
“Have I done anything stupid so far?”
“No. You’ve been a model hostage,” he said with amusement in his voice. “Why is it that you haven’t tried to escape?”
“Where would I go? I mean, say I could outrun you because, well, maybe you trip on a rock and knock yourself out,” she said with a quick laugh. “So I get away. Then what? I don’t know where I am. I have no food or water. I have no tent.”
“True.”
“And then there’s the fear of a mountain lion. Thank you for putting that seed in my head,” she said.
“So you’ve accepted your fate, huh?” He looked back at her again. “Or are you still holding out hope that you’ll get rescued?”
“Yes. Tori is coming for me. I know it.” And she did. It was more than wishful thinking. She could almost feel her coming.
“I admire your faith,” Angel said.
“It’s easy. She loves me. She would do anything in her power to find me.” When he didn’t say anything, she decided to probe. “You ever been in love, Angel?”
He paused only a moment, then answered her with a very curt no.
Chapter Fourteen
Andrea splashed water on her face at the river, letting out a satisfied groan. She was hot and sweaty, and it felt oh so good.
“Wish we had time for a bath,” she said longingly.
“Sorry,” Cameron said. She bent down next to the fire ring and felt the ash. “They camped here last night. We’re making better time.”
“How far ahead are they?” Tori asked.
“I’d guess a few hours still,” Cameron said evasively. She walked over to the stream too and knelt down, splashing her face much as Andrea had done. “I don’t think we’ll catch up tomorrow though.”
“We’ve still got most of the day left,” Tori said.
“So do they,” Cameron said. “When you fill your water bottles, don’t forget to add the purification tablets.”
Andrea ran her wet hands through her hair, then pulled it back in a ponytail and slipped it through the back of her cap. She was aware of Cameron watching her.
“I think I’m going to get my hair cut,” she said, wondering what Cameron’s reaction would be.
Cameron glanced at her, then slid her gaze to Tori before looking back with raised eyebrows. “Oh? Why?”
Andrea shrugged. “I’m hot and sweaty, and I don’t like it on my neck. It would be something different. And I wouldn’t have to do this to get it out of my face.”
“But if you cut it off, you won’t be able to do that.”
Andrea tilted her head and frowned. “Right. That’s my point.”
“But…” Cameron looked again at Tori and turned slightly, giving them a little privacy. “Andi? Like cut it short? No.”
“No? Why not? Yours is short.” She looked around Cameron to Tori. “Tori’s is short.”
“First of all, mine is not that short. You’re the one always reminding me that I need a cut,” Cameron said as she ran her fingers through her sandy hair. “Now Hunter here, that’s short. Please say not like that.”
Andrea very nearly rolled her eyes.
“Sam wears hers shorter now too,” Tori said from behind them. “Not that it was ever really long. About like yours.” She paused. “It was like blond silk. And when she asked my opinion on getting it cut, I told her no way.” Tori smiled. “She cut it that same day.” She shrugged. “And I love it now.”
Andrea nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m going to get it cut.”
Cameron threw up her hands. “Whatever. Cut off your beautiful hair if you want to. It’s your hair.”
Tori laughed. “Yeah, I think that’s the line I used too.”
Andrea smiled and shook her head as she filled up her water bottles like the others were doing. Cameron had already scoped out the area and determined that they did not cross the river. Of course, that didn’t mean that they didn’t cross it later on.
They walked single file again, with Tori between them this time. Andrea knew Tori was worried about Sam, but she’d done a good job of hiding it. Even her bickering with Cameron had lessened. Or Cameron’s bickering with her. They were both strong-willed and thought they were right. Andrea had learned how to temper Cameron’s stubbornness. She wondered if Sam could control Tori with just a look too.