Page 3 of Chasing Justice
“It was. But a few years ago, the Forest Service came in and restored it enough that someone could stay the night if need be. Gave us a place to get out of the cold when we had to be out in the winter, or get out of a storm in the summer.”
“Wouldn’t it be locked?” Maya asked.
“Since when do locks keep people out?”
Juniper tilted her head back and forth, listening to Doug and Maya. The dog seemed to grasp what they were saying. She nudged Doug and gave a sharp bark.
“Okay, girl,” Doug said, rubbing Juniper’s pointy ears. “Let’s keep going. We’ll get to the area by going up the trail and coming around the backside.”
“But I thought...”
“I know the cabin is that way, but look up at those trees. Beetle kill is bad around here and these pines have lost branches. There’s a bunch of widowmakers through that area.”
“The forest has changed a lot since I left,” Maya said, staring up toward branches that lay across other trees at odd angles. If the wind picked up or the ground was soft from rain, a tree might shift and at any time one of those branches could come crashing down and kill a person. Widowmakers had become much more prevalent in Colorado due to the pine beetle kill.
The trio wound their way around heading back to the northwest. They rounded a grove of aspen trees. The brown wood of the cabin contrasted against the white of the aspen bark.
Maya took in the scene little by little. The door to the cabin was jimmied open, but they didn’t have a clear view inside. Juniper put her nose up in the air, taking in the scent, when her body language changed. She crouched down and a low growl rumbled in her throat. Maya saw the dog step in front of Doug, positioning herself to protect her handler.
Maya didn’t see anyone in the cabin, but the phrasetrust your dogwent through her head. You always trusted the dog.
From around the corner of the cabin, a person popped out and strutted toward Maya. Chin up and their chest puffed out, the person had one hand closed and the other hand open with their fingers splayed out. Were they clutching a knife? Trying to distract her with the open hand?
Maya wasn’t going to take any chances. She unholstered her Glock.
Chapter Two
“Freeze, U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement!” Doug yelled. “Put your hands up and get down on your knees.”
Maya aimed her Glock towards the suspect. The person wore shredded jeans, a plaid long-sleeve flannel, a handkerchief over their mouth, sunglasses, a camouflage ball cap, and gloves. Based on size Maya guessed their suspect was a skinny man. As the person put their hands up in the air, she noticed the object wasn’t a knife, but rather something about the size of a small cell phone.
Doug yelled instructions for the person to lie down on the ground. Juniper strained at her leash. Maya provided backup with her gun drawn. Doug wouldn’t be able to pull his gun since he needed to hang on to Juniper.
Juniper started to bark and lunge at the person, hitting her leash until the suspect complied. “Keep your hands where I can see them!” Doug yelled.
Maya wondered why he wasn’t making the person drop the object in their hand. She moved to her right as Doug and Juniper stepped forward. Maya needed to make sure she stayed in a position where she wouldn’t put Doug or Juniper in danger if she fired her gun. The different angle provided a new view of the cabin. Humps of dirt lined the front.
The suspect suddenly leaped to their feet. Hands slithered into their pockets, and even though Maya couldn’t see the person’s face, there was a moment where she could almost feel a smile. A change in body language. A split-second decision where you didn’t know what the person would do next, but it wasn’t going to be good.
Their suspect had the upper hand. Or so they thought. Was there a gun in the person’s pocket? What was the device they were holding? Juniper might be their only hope to get the situation back under control. The presence of the dog barking and the threat of a bite sometimes helped convince suspects to comply.
“Stay down!” Maya and Doug yelled in unison.
“Get back down and drop what’s in your hand!” Maya screamed, stepping closer toward the suspect. “Get back down.”
As Maya approached, flanking from the other side, the person started to back away. Then it hit her. Lumps of dirt. The person was drawing them closer. They held some sort of radio remote in their hand. Probably not a cell phone—there’d be no reception up here.
Everything happened in slow motion. The suspect pulled their other hand out of their pocket, showing a knife. That was enough of a threat to allow Juniper to apprehend the suspect.
Doug released Juniper, who sprang forward as he told the dog to “go get ’em.” Maya yelled at Doug to get down, get back. Find something to get behind. Shield himself.
Maya dove behind some large logs lying nearby. Distance and shielding could mean life or death surviving a blast. She had learned that the hard way in Afghanistan.
As Maya scrambled to the ground, covering her head, the IEDs exploded.
There was a deafening roar as the gunpowder ignited and dirt flew around her caking her eyes. The ground shook. Windowpanes on the cabin rattled and shattered as the pressure from the explosion rocked the giant log she hid behind. In the distance she thought she heard a yelp but didn’t know if it was real or a flashback. Dirt and debris rained down.
Then a calm quiet came back over the forest. A raven cawed in the distance. Or maybe it flew overhead. Maya couldn’t tell because her ears were ringing from the explosion, but she was alive.
