Elena came back, put the sat phone into her backpack. She’d heard him. “The kid wouldn’t have said anything, all you had to do was use your brain and let me do the talking.” Idiot. She’d told Sergei about the murder, though she hadn’t wanted to. Deep down, she knew he’d kill Jacobson without hesitation. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to her, not ever.
Jacobson said, “Was that the boss? Is there a problem?”
She ignored Jacobson, looked down at the mess of boot prints. She started to tell him to break off a branch and sweep the area, but stopped. It didn’t matter. What mattered was moving out of there right away, fast.
She pulled out her map, found the easiest way to Clover Bottom Creek Road. When she knew exactly how to get there, she said, “Get yourself together, Liam. Wrap another couple of socks, your T-shirt, or your shirt, anything you can find around your foot to protect it. We’ve got to move. Jacobson, there’s no time to make him a crutch. You’re going to have to help him across the ridge and down to the road. It’s not going to be easy, but we don’t have a choice.”
Jacobson took a step toward her. “Come on, talk. What’s wrong?”
“FBI are here; they’re already in the forest. They’ll have a tracker with them, maybe one of the rangers. The boss says they found out where we entered the park; how, he didn’t know. That means they’ve probably already found our tracks, since we didn’t
take the time to hide them. We have to move. We’ve got to be down to the road in”—she looked down at her watch—“three hours and it’s not going to be easy to get down there if Liam can’t put any weight on his heel.
“Jacobson, toss all the gear and the backpacks in that mess of shrubs over there. We won’t be needing them any longer. We’ll keep one weapons bag, the binoculars, and the sat phone. Get it together, we’re out of here in two minutes.”
Manta Ray cocked his head to one side, said in full-blown Irish, “And just how, girl, did your boss find out the FBI are after us?”
Elena stuck her favored Walther PPK into her waistband. “The boss hired people to keep an eye on the Feds and local law enforcement outside the forest. One of them probably got a ranger to tell him what was happening. But what he doesn’t understand, and I don’t, either, is how they knew exactly where we came in.”
She looked over at Liam. He was wrapping his T-shirt, then his shirt around his heel. When he finished tying off the shirtsleeves, he stood, put a bit of weight on the foot, and nodded. “Not bad. All those bandages, my foot looks like a painting of an old guy with gout I saw in Dublin once.”
Jacobson was looking at him like he’d like to kick him. He knew it was too soon to leave the forest; the manhunt outside the forest was still way too heavy.
“Jacobson, help him. We’re out of here.”
24
Duke picked up a bloody alcohol wipe sticking out from under a rock. “Blood’s dry, but still fresh enough to smell. I’d say they’ve got maybe an hour on us, not more. Looks like they shoved all the bloody bandages under these rocks, didn’t bother burying them.” He studied the rest of the debris. “Manta Ray’s heel is bad, from the looks of it, and they stopped here to treat him. And someone was hungry.” He pulled a bio bag out of his pocket and put the half-dozen bloody wipes and the power bar wrapper inside, tied it off, slipped it back in his pocket.
Jack said, “I hope it’s really hurting him.” He went down on his haunches and studied the boot prints on the rock-strewn ground. “Looks like he’s disabled. You can see they were in a big hurry to leave this spot. I’ll bet the big guy had a shoulder under Manta Ray’s arm, helping him. If so, that’s going to slow them down. Look at those tracks, they’re headed across the ridge down to where, Duke?”
“To Clover Bottom Creek. It doesn’t make sense, why, all of a sudden, are they in a hurry? With Manta Ray’s bad heel, why wouldn’t they stay here? There are enough trees for protection, not many people hike this way.”
“But they wouldn’t know that,” Chief said. “Maybe it was their plan all along, cut across the ridge and head down to the creek. There’s lots of cover there, a good place to stay put for a while.”
Cam said, “They didn’t even take the time to make Manta Ray a crutch. Why not? Even with the big dude helping him, it’s going to be tough getting him across the ridge and flat-out dangerous climbing down to the creek.”
Duke said, “If it were me, I’d have stayed here.”
Jack scanned the area, said to himself more than anyone else, “Why wouldn’t they believe they’re safe here?”
Duke said, “They’ve got to have a sat radio. Maybe someone called, told them that young hiker they murdered was found. They’d be worried the forest would be full of dogs and law enforcement soon.”
Cam turned away from an incredible limestone cliff in the distance, her head cocked to one side, and said slowly, “No, that’s not it. There hasn’t been time for that to get out. Their not staying here couldn’t have anything to do with the hiker’s murder.”
Jack said, “Look at the smaller boot prints.” He rose, followed them. “She’s walking quickly away from the other two, going behind this boulder, and she stops. Then she turns right around and walks back. She’s pacing. Why?”
Cam studied the tracks. “As Duke said, they’ve got to have a sat phone. I’m thinking someone called them, told them to move out, to leave the ridge fast.”
Jack was frowning. “How could this someone who called them know anyone is looking for them?”
Chief said, “Duke and I both told our people, but who would they tell? Not some criminal mastermind who came around asking questions, that’s for sure.”
Duke nodded. “Still, this site shows us they made some big decisions up here, and it was quick. Chief, how about calling your guys, having them focus their patrols on Clover Bottom Creek Road.”
“Even if they do know we’re after them,” Jack said, hiking up his backpack, “I think we can catch them before they get to that road.”
They set out along the ridge, with incredible views in all directions, Jack in the lead. He moved quickly, but always with an eye on the tracks. The sun was brutal overhead. Soon Cam was sweating from the pace Jack set. She focused on keeping her breathing smooth and steady.