Page 45 of Atone in Darkness
“Good luck with that. The men who are hunting you are well funded, and they won’t stop looking until they find both of you.”
Even knowing Marisol wouldn’t like what he was about to do, Chase hauled off and punched Edgar with every bit of his rage-fueled anger. The man’s head snapped back against the chair and thenslumped forward.
“Let’s go, Marisol. He won’t be out for long, but I don’twant him watching to see which direction we go.”
After giving Edgar one last worried look, she followed Chase out the door and back up the hillside. She waited until the cabin was out of sight before speaking. “I thought we were going to follow that dirt road until we reached a highway.”
“Yeah, that was the originalplan, but it would also be the obvious choice. I think we’d be better off following the creek for a while longer.”
At first he thought she might argue the point, but she finally nodded and fell into step beside him as they crested the ridge. He paused to look back in the direction of the cabin. “I’d give anything to know if he signaled his buddies where we are. I didn’t find a radio or phonewith his weapons, and I know he didn’t have one with him at the cabin. It just seems a little too convenient that the helicopter started cruising this area so soon after his arrival.”
“All we can do is keep going and pray we find help before they find us.”
There wasn’t anything he could add to that. “We’ll lose daylight soon, but I want to get as far as we can before that happens.”
She sighedone last time. “Did I mention that I was never a fan of the great outdoors, and I hate camping?”
He laughed and followed in her footsteps as she started down the steep slope toward the creek and kept walking.
•••
ELI MOTIONED FORJarvis to come join him. The other Paladin moved like a ghost through the trees. “Looks likeyour brother-in-law left us another message.”
Jarvis and the restof the team gathered around the large Douglas fir. “Well, I’m glad that Chase took the time to whittle on the tree to let us know he’s alive. At least we’re heading in the right direction.”
Lonzo joined the conversation. “It would’ve been nice if he’d been a little less cryptic with his other message. Who the hell is Edgar? Up to this point, Chase has been traveling with a woman. And why carvethe name only to cross it out? Did he think we’d grade his handwriting or something?”
Eli snorted. “Either that or it was his way of telling us that Edgar isn’t really with Chase. Maybe he wanted to let us know not to trust the guy if we run into him.”
Lonzo slowly nodded. “That makes sense. If this guy had joined up with Chase and the woman before this, we’d have picked up his tracks beforenow. Let’s keep an eye out for any sign that he dropped in from nowhere, like maybe off that chopper we heard making sweeps through the area.”
While the others took the moment to drink some water and eat a protein bar, Eli walked a short distance downhill from the tree and knelt down to study the tracks that presumably had been left by Chase on his way up and down the hillside. Along the way,he spotted an area where the needles and leaves on the ground had been churned up as if something had been buried and then dug up again.
He called back to the others. “It looks like someone had tried to hide something here and maybe Chase found it. Then from there, the trail from the tree goes almost straight down this slope. The sun hasn’t had a chance to dry out the leaves that were uncovered,so I’m thinking it happenedwithin the last day.”
Which was definitely good news. That meant they were closing in on Chase and his companion. The strain of worrying about the missing man had taken its toll on all of them, especially knowing they weren’t the only ones hunting for the pair.
He didn’t wait for the others to join him before starting down the slope. They fell into what had becomea familiar pattern of Eli leading the way as they fanned out around him to watch his back, leaving him free to track their quarry. About halfway down, he stopped to draw a deep breath.
“I smell wood smoke, and it’s getting stronger the farther downhill I go.”
Jarvis moved up beside him. “It would be nice to know if it’s from a campfire or a woodstove.”
“Only one way to find out.”
The two ofthem signaled for the others to hang back while the two of them made sure they weren’t walking into a trap. About fifty feet farther on, Eli stopped and pointed through the trees. Pitching his voice just loud enough for Jarvis’s ears, he said, “There’s a cabin in the clearing up ahead. No lights on. No smoke coming from the chimney.”
Jarvis waved to tell the others to join them. “Do you wantto check it out or do you want me to do the honors?”
“I’ll go. Give me a five-minute head start before you come charging to the rescue.”
His companion laughed. “Fine with me. I’d just as soon not get shot today. I want to be in top shape when we finally catch up with Chase, so I can do a proper job of kicking his ass for worrying everybody like this.”
Eli understood just how the man felt. WhetherPaladins or professional soldiers, none of them were the touchy-feely sort. Instead, their affection for each other would be couched in insults, threats of bodily harm, and maybe even a few well-aimed punches. He’d told his own fair share of his friends how much they mattered in the exact same terms.
He started toward the cabin, slipping from one tree to the next, pausing long enough to checkfor any sign that the cabin was occupied. By the time he reached the edge of the woods, he was convinced the place was abandoned. With his rifle at the ready, he circled the place first before approaching the front door, which was unlocked. He stood off to one side and pushed it open.
When nothing happened, he slipped inside. After checking the bedroom and bathroom, he ran back outside to signalthat it was safe to approach. He returned to the interior to see if he could make sense of everything he’d seen before Jarvis and Lonzo joined him.
