Page 5 of Scent of Fear

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Crouched beside Shane and partially hidden behind a tree, Libby’s heart raced. What in the world was going on? She glanced around, trying to spot the poacher. It had to be the same person who’d drawn her grandfather into the woods.

“Bryce!” Shane’s voice rose in agitation. Then the tan and black German shepherd bounded toward them. Shane put his arm around the dog’s neck and pulled him close, relief etched on his features. “Good boy.”

“Do you see the poacher?” She kept her voice low. “Can you tell where the shot came from?”

“It’s hard to say for sure.” Shane’s expression turned grim. “But I don’t like this. Whoever took that shot came close to hitting us.”

She didn’t like their tenuous situation either, but her grandfather was still missing, and they needed to find him. They huddled at the base of a tree for several long minutes until she thought she might scream. “We need to keep moving,” she finally said.

“I’m not risking you or my dog.” Shane scowled. “Better that we head back to the cabin and call the police.”

“But Bryce was following my grandfather’s scent!” Libby put a hand on Shane’s arm. “Please, Shane, don’t give up the search. What if Grandpa is hurt and waiting for us to find him?”

Shane’s frown deepened. “I don’t like this,” he repeated, half under his breath. “I can’t figure out if that shot was intended to kill us or was simply fired as a warning.”

“A warning?” She didn’t understand.

“Maybe the poacher is trying to force us to go back to the cabin.” He pinned her with a somber gaze. “It could be his illegal carcass is strung up in a tree nearby, and he doesn’t want us to see what he shot and killed.”

“I don’t care about illegal poaching!” She raised her voice loud enough that she hoped the shooter could hear. “Don’t you understand? I only want to find my grandfather!”

There was nothing but a long silence after her outburst. She felt a little foolish talking to someone she couldn’t see. Yet the gunshot had been very real.

Shane shook his head without saying anything. He also didn’t appear in a hurry to move. She understood his desire to keep them safe, but they couldn’t just sit out here forever.

Inactivity chafed as they remained in place for a full ten minutes before Shane slowly stood. He didn’t look happy but glanced down at Bryce with a resigned expression. “Okay, we’ll keep going for a while longer. But if this guy fires at us again, we’re done.”

“Thanks for agreeing to continue the search.” She wasn’t about to agree to being done. She had no intention of leaving the woods without her grandfather. “Grandpa needs us.”

He sighed, then looked down at Bryce. “Are you ready to search? Search for Marvin!”

Bryce’s tail wagged as the dog turned and headed back to the trail. Shane gestured for her to go next. She tipped her head, sending him a questioning look.

“I’ll cover you from behind,” he said gruffly. “Go. We need to keep up with Bryce.”

It seemed useless to argue, so she hurried after the large dog. Watching Bryce follow her grandfather’s scent trail was amazing and helped ease some of her wariness toward large breed dogs. Not that she intended to get too close to Bryce’s sharp, ferocious teeth.

She quickened her pace, trying not to let the dog out of sight. She found herself hunching her shoulders, expecting more gunfire, but she only heard the rustling sounds they made moving through the woods. Maybe the poacher had moved on with his illegal game.

She would rather believe the guy had given up and left the area than consider the possibility that he was following them.

Libby concentrated on pushing ahead. She noticed that the path Bryce took had less foliage to push out of the way. And every so often, she saw a broken tree branch, giving credence to the theory that her grandpa had come this way.

They had to find him! A sense of urgency spurred her forward. When Bryce stopped at a boulder sitting off to the side of what appeared to be a worn path, sniffing the ground intently, she turned to look at Shane. “Shouldn’t he bark if he’s alerting?”

“Yes.” The moment Shane answered, Bryce abruptly sat and let out a sharp bark.

Libby hurried forward. The boulder was about as high as her knee. Her grandpa was roughly six feet tall and carried a few extra pounds on his frame. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine him sitting down on the boulder to rest.

She dropped down onto the rock, mirroring her grandfather’s movements. Had he sat there for a few minutes, listening for the poacher? And if so, why had he kept pushing forward? Why not give up the search and head back to the cabin? Especially since he knew she’d be arriving with his groceries?

It didn’t make sense, but Bryce had alerted there, so she believed her grandfather had stopped there at least for a few minutes.

“Good boy,” Shane praised. He tossed the yellow rubber ducky high in the air. Bryce jumped up to catch it, then ran around with the prize in his mouth.

The dog’s antics made her smile. “I thought you didn’t want to reward him every time he alerted?”

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