They chimed in as instructed.
“Garrett, you lead the way across country to the upper part of the Balderhouse, and Cole, you come with us. Frank, you take Agent Lawson to the Balderhouse trailhead and head up from there.”
Positioning Robo beside Mountaineer, Cole swung into the saddle and got ready to ride. Brody made a call to the sheriff to give him an update as they headed up the trail.
Mattie forced her legs to keep moving, digging deep to dredge up the muscle memory to run, an activity that usually came so easily to her but was now like slogging through mire. With the wind at her back, she headed downhill, knowing from experience that her low-to-the-ground build helped her outdistance larger runners on a downslope course.
Tall timber closed around, tempting her to stop and hide. But if her captor wore night vision lenses, and if she was still within his sight, she’d be lost. She had no energy left with which to fight.
Her head swam and the trees circled within her vision in cogwheel-like, freeze frames. Vertigo became as big a threat as the man chasing her. She didn’t know how much longer she could keep moving.
After long minutes of putting one foot in front of the other, nausea forced her to stop and heave. Bile burned her throat. She spit to clear her mouth and moved on, trying to keep trees between her and her captor.
The density of the surrounding forest offered a new strategy—darting from one pine to another, from boulder to boulder, bush to bush. She hoped to stay hidden as she moved away. Dizziness made her disoriented, but putting distance between herself and her captor seemed more important than having a clear plan for where she needed to go.
She pushed forward, driving hard. The sharp edge of a half-buried rock caught the toe of her shoe and sent her sprawling, the hard ground knocking the wind out of her. Spent, she lay still, heaving for breath.
Her world gradually stopped swaying and she spotted the shadow of bushes off to her right. Staying low, she crawled into them, sharp thorns from prickly rose snagging her clothing and piercing her skin. She huddled inside the shrub like a rabbit brought to ground. Burning thirst made her yearn for water.
She rested for a few minutes, the shelter protecting her from the wind that roared through the trees. Gradually, another sound worked its way into her consciousness, and she raised her head to listen. An ominous thunder rose above the whistling wind, followed by a crack like the explosion of an oil drum.
Smoke seeped into her hideaway. An image of the huge, dancing fire her captor had built for her came into her mind, along with sparks flying from it, launching themselves into the wind like fireflies.
Forest fire. Her captor had set the forest on fire.
She eased through the thorny branches and stood. Blazing orange lit the ridge above her, rapidly feeding on timber and eating its way downward. Balls of fire leapt from tree to tree, the dry needles wicking flames into branches and sap, setting off booming explosions in the treetops.
And she happened to be right in its path.
Fear gripped her and she froze. She no longer had the luxury of hiding. She needed to run.
But where? She couldn’t continue her downhill course. She’d never be able to outdistance the fire. It appeared to be spreading downhill and swirling off to her left.
Don’t panic. Her disorientation cleared as she paused for a moment to think things through. Prevailing winds came from the northwest. She must be on the north side of Redstone Ridge. She needed to cut across slope to the right and head farther north to try to beat this dragon.
Relieved that her vertigo had eased a bit, she set off on her course, moving as fast as she could.
It had taken a precious hour to bushwhack their way through a deep ravine. When they reached the top of the other side, Cole became aware of a change in the wind. It was warmer than it had been before going down into the ravine’s shelter. He caught a whiff of smoke.
Garrett shouted from up front. “Fire!”
Then Cole saw it through gaps in the surrounding pines, an orange glow in the distance. Blazing fire lit the horizon directly above them.
“Damn,” Brody said as he rode up, reining in his horse beside Cole. “The son of a bitch has started a forest fire.”
The fear for Mattie that Cole had felt earlier was nothing compared to that gripping his chest now. “Mattie’s up there.”
Garrett worked to settle his restless horse. “We’ve got to ride north across this slope until we intersect Balderhouse. By then, we can see which way the fire is going to spread.”
Robo whined and barked. Head raised, he sniffed the wind. He gave Cole a stare and then stood with ears pricked, looking uphill to the northwest.
Could he have caught Mattie’s scent on the wind?
Robo launched himself forward, hit the end of the leash, and then whirled and backed away, struggling to break free. Worried that he might slip his collar, Cole dismounted and grabbed hold of him.
“Robo, wait.” Cole turned to the others. “I think he’s found Mattie’s scent on the wind. She can’t be far from here.”
Brody looked upwind. “She’d be directly northwest, possibly in the pathway of the fire. What’s the terrain like in that direction?” he asked Garrett.
“No trail, about like this. There might be places we need to ride around, but we can make it.”
“Fast enough to get north of that fire?”
Garrett shrugged.
Cole felt the need to keep moving. He checked the tightness of Robo’s collar. If they lost him in this country, they’d never find him. “I’ll follow Robo. You two keep moving north to the trail. We’ll all meet there.”
“No,” Brody said. “Garrett, you go north, I’ll stick with Cole.”
“We’ll all stick together,” Garrett said. “Safety in numbers.”
Brody considered it for only a second. “Cole, you lead the way.”
“Let’s go find Mattie,” he told Robo as he swung into the saddle and reined Mountaineer off the trail. Robo bolted to the end of the leash, hitting it hard, and it snapped loose at the reel. Cole shouted for him to stay, but Robo paused only long enough to realize he was free, and then he turned and ran into the wind.
“Follow him,” Brody yelled.
The wind that Cole rode into felt like a furnace from the depths of the earth.
Mattie traveled north, angling downhill with the wind to her left. Heat warmed her cheek, and as she ran, she checked the fire line whenever the timber opened up enough to see. It appeared to be gaining on her.
Smoke filtered through the forest making her cough, and she knew it could be just as deadly as the fire. An occasional deer bounded past, running in the same direction as she, giving her hope that she was on the right course. She struggled on.
Her ears filled with the combined noise of the wind and fire, but a new sound caught her attention—one she wasn’t expecting. A sharp, staccato bark. A dog? Couldn’t be. A coyote or a wolf?
She slowed, but the noise didn’t repeat, so she couldn’t determine its location. As she resumed her speed, she hoped the animal would find a safe spot to hole up.
Another bark stopped her. This time she could tell the bark came from behind, and it was close. She turned as a dark shadow lunged from between the trees, coming at her full tilt. The shadow was shaped like a wolf, but moonlight touched the tan color pattern. She thought she must be hallucinating—it couldn’t be—but she recognized those tan markings.