McCoy placed the phone back in its cradle. “Deputy Brody is taking two of the posse down the trail to search for campfires while the others stand guard at the crime scenes. It’ll be slow going in the dark, but he’s focused on the MO of these homicides, and he’s hoping to spot a fire if there is one. They’ve ridden the area adjacent to the gravesites and found nothing. He’s expanding the search down the trail and plans to include the backside of the ridge when he gets to the fork.”
“The burning pit in our guy’s MO is important to him,” Lawson said. “It’s logical that the ridge and fire are a part of his ritual, and he could be driven to return to that area.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “It’s impossible to search the entire ridge by horseback in the dark, but a chopper might be able to find a campfire from the air.”
Cole stared at him, his hopes rising.
Lawson swiped his phone. “I’ll see if I can mobilize our chopper and do an air search of the ridge for a campfire.”
Cole looked at McCoy. “I need to join the search on the ridge. We’ve done all we can here in town, and I want to take Robo with me. If we can get him within a mile of Mattie, he’ll catch her scent and find her. Can you notify Brody that I’ll meet him where the trail splits?”
“How long do you need to get there?”
“Within an hour.”
Lawson ended his call. “They’ll send up the helicopter, but they have concerns about the weather. Wind gusts in the mountains are forecasted up to seventy miles per hour. Wind of that speed could drive the chopper out of the area and back to the ground.”
“Cole is taking Robo up to join the search on the ridge by horseback,” McCoy told Lawson and then looked back at Cole. “Deputy Brody will have the satellite phone with him, so once you connect with each other, you can stay in contact with us here at the base.”
“Can you put me on a horse?” Lawson asked Cole.
“I can arrange it. I have to run home to get my rig and pick up horses.”
“I can communicate with the helicopter while we’re on the trail,” Lawson said to McCoy. “Once we connect with Brody we can loop you in on the sat phone and have three-way communication. If the chopper spots something, they can direct us where to go.”
“I’ll take you to your house, Cole,” Stella said. “I need to talk to Riley.”
“I’ll wake up Mrs. Gibbs. She keeps her cell phone by her bed.” Antsy, Cole stood, and Robo leaped up to join him, both of them more than ready to get started.
THIRTY-ONE
Firelight flickered and danced at the cave’s opening. A fire pit like Willie’s. Smoke intensified, along with a growing sense of urgency. Mattie battled nausea brought on by the odor. She held the frayed end of the rope freed from her wrists, wondering how she could use it as a weapon. No doubt this guy was strong. Bracing a hand against the cave’s stone floor, she pushed into a half-sitting position. Vertigo almost bowled her over.
She drew a breath, battling the dizziness. What was it Rainbow said during their yoga lessons? Breathe all the way to the bottom of your lungs on a count of three. Extend the exhalation for a count of six.
During the count, she pushed herself up into a tentative sit and crossed her legs. She gave each leg a brisk rubdown with her palms, thankful that her limbs were moving again.
How much time do I have?
She extended her legs, bending forward slowly at the waist, and lowered her head toward her knees. The spot where the dart had embedded in her back screamed in protest. Using her yoga breath to fight the pain, she continued her gradual movements, reaching forward to give her calves a quick pat down, welcoming discomfort if that meant her sensation had returned.
How do I fight this guy? The ultimate question. Grand prize for the right answer—you get to live.
She placed both palms on the stone floor and shifted into a kneeling position, holding the pose until her head stopped swimming. Regular breaths. Inhale, count to three, exhale, count to six. Listen, ears straining, for footsteps. Watch the cave’s opening for return of the flashlight.
Can I stand? Moving in coordination with her breath, she ended in a poor example of a forward bend, knees shaky and bent. With caution, she began to unfold into a standing posture, catching herself when she felt her body tip forward. Dizzy and sweating, she failed at several attempts before rising to a full stand, her muscles trembling with the effort.
With Rainbow’s count inside her head, she struggled to take in enough oxygen for her body, imagining strength flowing into her limbs with every breath. She stretched her arms above her head and envisioned herself as a warrior preparing for battle.
The flicker of the firelight set the cave spinning. She fixed her gaze straight ahead and knelt, lowering her hands to the firm stone to steady herself.
Return to stand. Breathe in, breathe out. She repeated the process until she could stand without the threat of dizziness striking her down.
Since forward movement made things worse, she decided against trying to escape and outrun her captor. She needed more time, but she wasn’t sure she was going to get it. And fighting this guy seemed all but hopeless.
Breathe, she told herself when she felt her chest tighten. Think. What are my weapons?
She was dressed in light sweats, a T-shirt, and a hoodie. Nothing in the hoodie’s pockets.
She had a frayed rope, the sharp-edged shale—and the element of surprise. This last asset felt like her ace in the hole.
Sinking into a cross-legged sit, she searched blindly with her fingers for a large piece of rock while she found the rope with the fingers of her other hand. First, she came across the sharp piece of shale that she’d used to cut her bindings, and she placed it in her pocket for safekeeping. Finally, she found a hefty stone. After wrapping the rope around the rock like ribbon on a present, she tied a strong knot, securing the rock at the end.
Then she remembered a weapon that Willie once made to hunt rabbits. A bola—a string of rocks tied together with twine. She hurried to duplicate it and managed to tie three rocks in a row along the length of the rope.
She’d lost track of time. How long had he been gone? Maybe fifteen minutes? A half hour? The pattern of firelight against the cave wall flared, and she could imagine the flames licking at branches and logs as this lowlife threw them into the pit.
Her mind flashed on a time when Robo had come to her rescue in another place where she’d been surrounded by walls of stone. Thinking of him made her heartsick. She would take strength from his fighting spirit, because this time she was on her own.
Still woozy, she gathered her energy to make the effort to stand. The drug that had been used on her was messing with her equilibrium. Dizziness and nausea threatened to overtake her. She appeared to have two choices: she could wait in ambush and fight him here inside the cave, or she could try to escape and run away from him outside.
Much as she wanted to bank on her ability to outrun the guy, she hesitated to stake her escape on a body she could barely control. She hugged her bola against her chest so that she wouldn’t lose it in the darkness and continued to use breath and slow movement to recover.
The play of the flashlight’s beam at the cave entrance told Mattie her time was up. She took the sharp-edged shale out of her pocket and grasped it in the palm of her right hand as she lay down on her side facing the back wall. In a fetal position, she tucked her hands close to her belly, the rope draped over her wrists, the rocks of the bola hidden beneath her upper leg.