Page 1 of Disappearance at Angel's Landing
Chapter One
“Quick. Here come one of the pine pigs.”
That was a new one.
National Park Ranger Lila Jordan pasted on a practiced smile as she hauled herself up the steep first section of Angel’s Landing, the 5,900-ft near-vertical crown jewel that looked out over the expanse of Zion National Park. The name came from some Methodist minister in the 1900s who’d commented that only an angel could land up here and had somehow stuck.
This was the most popular hike in the park for those looking for untamed adventure and that classic photo op, but Angel’s Landing had also taken a number of lives over the years. Which was why Lila’s legs were currently burning despite years of hiking this particular trail to catch up to two yahoos. While safety was left to hikers—like the two men trying to avoid eye contact ahead of her, probably due to the fact they’d sneaked onto the trail without applying for a permit—she couldn’t really let them die out here out of stupidity. Unfortunately for the benefit of mankind. “Morning, gentlemen. Can you please show me your permits and ID?”
“Uh, yeah.” The hiker on her left really wasn’t anything to write home about with his bland features, bland brown hair and bland ability to lie his way out of a hole. He patted his pants pockets, then his flannel shirt in a vain attempt to buy himself some time. “I’ve got it here somewhere.”
Lila angled her gaze to the second hiker decked out in nearly every piece of equipment the little town outside of Zion sold. Brand-new boots with a slight film of red dust, a lightweight jacket with the tag still hanging out the back and a backpack most likely stuffed with days’ worth of food for a five-mile hike. “How about you? You got a permit?”
His smile flashed wide. All right. Turning on the charm straight away. That had to be a record in her book. “Well, uh. You see, there was a mix-up with the lottery. I got the email we were approved, but I accidentally deleted it.”
Right. Anyone applying for a permit on Angel’s Landing had to enter a daily drawn lottery so rangers could keep track of how many hikers—and who—were out on the trail. The park had implemented the pilot program during the COVID-19 pandemic but kept it to ensure all hikers made it off the trail in one piece. She couldn’t promise these two would.
Lila kept her own smile in place, showcasing perfectly straight white teeth guaranteed to blind given the right angle of the sun. She unhitched her radio from her belt, catching the clip on one of the hot pink jeweled studs she’d hot glued to the faux leather because life was too short to die in a drab gray and tan uniform. It didn’t matter how many times the district ranger wrote her up for insubordination. “That’s not a problem. We have record of everyone who was approved for a permit today. I just need to see your IDs and confirm your names with rangers on the ground.”
The smile slipped, but this guy wasn’t going to just admit he and his friend had broken the rules to get on the trail. Or take her seriously.
She got that a lot. Mostly from men just like him. The ones who only saw her blond hair tucked back into a curled ponytail under her Stetson, the soft pink lip gloss she didn’t go anywhere without and the floral pink kerchief tied at her neck.
His head-to-toe leer turned her stomach. “You sure you’re a ranger? Way I see it, you’re way too pretty to hide out here in the park all day.”
“Awww. Aren’t you sweet?” She added a rise in her voice on that last word, dipping one leg to shift her weight with a little bit of Southern charm despite the fact she’d come from the middle of nowhere Utah. A little bounce meant to tell prey she was too bashful to take a compliment. It was one of the many weapons in her arsenal to stop anyone from looking past the Ranger Barbie armor.
That was what all the other rangers here in the park called her. In whispers and conversations that stopped short of her approach. In the roll of their eyes and placating words when she volunteered for the most dangerous rescue assignments. She had the same training as they did, with a record number of rescues, yet her penchant for pretty things and pink accessories had somehow put her at the bottom of the list. Like getting picked last in kickball in elementary school.
The only one who let her join in on the ranger reindeer games was her roommate Sayles, and that traitor spent more time with her FBI agent boyfriend than late nights watching crappy romantic comedies with Lila these days.
“Fortunately for you, my looks have nothing to do with my ability to ensure neither of you die on this trail. So you can show me your permits with today’s date and your IDs, or I can have you escorted off the trail.”
Shock turned the silence between them into something physical. If their eyes could bug out anymore, they’d be rolling down the trail.
“What a bitch.” The first hiker took a step toward her, as if she was nothing but a cute yippy dog blocking their ascent to Scout Lookout.
“But you still think I’m pretty, right?” Lila let that sweet smile light up her face as she replaced her radio and unclipped her Taser. Pressing the power button, she let it charge for a few seconds. “Who wants to go first?”
An hour later, Lila handed over both hikers to the law enforcement rangers stationed out of the park headquarters near the Zion National Park museum. They’d pay a fine with a warning not to attempt the trail without a permit again. Wouldn’t stop them. No matter how many hikers she dragged off Angel’s Landing, another dozen slipped her notice and made it all that much harder for those who followed the rules.
Her radio crackled from her belt before a voice that curdled her insides cleared over the channel. “Jordan, come in.”
A deep sigh escaped before she could control it. Here she thought she could lose herself on the trail for a couple hours and avoid any semblance of Rick Risner. Yep, that was his real name, though she and the other rangers preferred to call him by his formal title. Pinheaded F—“Yeah, boss?”
Risner kept her in suspense for close to a minute before responding. It was a tool he kept in his own arsenal to piss off every man, woman and child who stepped into this park. Including his subordinates, which he liked to remind her was every ranger in a two-hundred-and-thirty-mile radius. “We’ve got a possible missing hiker on Angel’s Landing. Name is Sarah Lantos. Made her start time at six this morning, hasn’t been spotted since. Dark hair, about five foot six, license puts her at thirty-nine years old.”
Lila checked her smartwatch. It was close to noon with the sun blazing overhead and working to undo all that care she’d put into her hair this morning. Even the slowest hikers made it back to the base of the hike—the Grotto—in around four hours with scenic interludes and photography opportunities along the way.
Six hours. Was the hiker injured? Had she been traveling with anyone else? Could she have decided to stay at the peak longer than most? Maybe the woman had forgotten to check in with the permit office or managed to avoid a ranger on her descent. Except none of those reasons eased the acid lodged in her throat. Lila bent to collect the jewel that fell from her belt and pinched the push-to-talk button on the radio. “I’m headed back up now.”
“Update me in an hour.” Nothanks, Lilaorbe careful, Lila. Actually, she wasn’t even sure Risner knew her first name. He’d only called her Jordan for the past two years since she signed on with the National Park Service. Last named. Unimportant, not worth getting to know as a person. Merely a tool. It was the same for the other female rangers on staff, but he certainly made an effort with everyone else, i.e., the men. A true pine pig.
Oooh, she’d have to tell Sayles about the new nickname tonight.
The hot pink jewel reflected back at her in the center of her palm. There wasn’t time to fix it now. She’d have to wait until her shift ended. She tucked the good little soldier into her slacks pocket. She hadn’t moved out here to the middle of nowhere with a lot of luxuries, but she’d made damn sure her hot glue gun and bedazzling kit made the cut.
Lila grabbed two bottles of water from the park headquarters’ break room along with a couple of protein bars for the trek back to Angel’s Landing. Breakfast of champions…four hours too late. Okay, so she probably should eat more vegetables, but convenience was the name of the game.
