Page 38 of Kent's Watch
“What do you mean?” Stone asked.
“I mean, do you need us to leave now, right this second, or can we go home to gather what we need and meet back here in an hour?”
“Oh,” Stone answered, then turned to the rangers. “That’s up to you guys. We just wanted to tell them what their assignment for the Brotherhood was. The ball is in your court now.”
“Okay, how about you get what you need, then meet us at this ranger station in two hours?” He looked at his watch, then pointed to the area on the map where he wanted them to meet up. They all agreed, and just before the meeting broke up, Kent said that he would be having his dog with him. As they began todepart, he did a mental tally of what was in his pack, and decided he didn’t need to go home, because everything else he would need was already in his truck.
“I’ll meet you guys there,” Kent said. “I’m all packed and what’s not in that one.” He pointed to the pack against the wall. “The rest is already in my truck. This morning I even packed extra food for Tator and myself.” They nodded and departed. As the others left, Kent took his pack out to his truck and unloaded it, then repacked it with other things. By the time he was done, he felt he had everything he would need to stay out in the wilderness for at least a week. Not that he planned on being there that long, but you never knew. It was always better to have too much than not enough. Thirty minutes later he helped Tator into his seat and got behind the wheel to head to the location the ranger had asked them to meet. When he arrived, he made sure to put Tator’s vest on him and it impressed Kent that the dog’s entire demeanor seemed to change from a goofy, happy-go-lucky puppy, to a serious dog. He was proud when the pup kept looking back at him waiting for instructions.
“Let’s go,” Kent said, and moved his hand forward for the dog to lead. He was proud that he didn’t lunge and pull on the leash, but was comfortable walking with a loose leash. It impressed Kent how much Tate had learned so far, and how much more he learned almost every hour.
Several hours later,Kent filled Tate’s dish with food and another one with water before he sat down and pulled out one of the breakfast sandwiches he had made hours earlier. As he sat there and ate his late lunch, he looked out over the vista and sighed in contentment. He had been all over the world whilein the military, and had seen hundreds of different locales, but there was nothing like looking out at the Rockies. There was something about this landscape that soothed his soul. He looked up at a noise, and held tighter to Tate’s leash to warn him not to attack. He was so proud of what the dog had been able to do all day. He smiled when Mason Quinn walked into the clearing where he and Tate sat.
“Christ,” Mason said as he lowered his pack and sat on a log across from Kent. Without saying anything else, he opened his pack and brought out his own lunch. While they ate, they remained silent. They had worked together enough in the past that they didn’t need conversation to fill in the gaps. As the two men ate, they were slowly joined by the others of their team. They all did the same as Mason did when he arrived. Ryder was the only one that spoke around his sandwich as he took a bite.
“At least we’re not fighting sand.”
The others either laughed outright or chuckled. Once Kent finished his own sandwich and bottle of water, he picked up Tate’s dishes and nodded when the dog settled in at his feet. He knew it would be a little time before he would have to let Tate use the bathroom.
“What did you find?” Kent asked the others as he settled back with a contented sigh.
“Nothing bad,” Cruz said. “Sure, there were weak spots, but nothing was washed out, no flooding.”
“Nothing that would cause major concerns. If the people those rangers said are any type of hiker at all, even a novice, if they pay attention they shouldn’t have any problems navigating the trail.”
“Good. What next?”
“We only have one more trail to check out,” Asher said as he crumbled up the bag his sandwich had been in and stuffed it back into his sack. Before any of them could reply or move Kentjerked, when not only his phone went off, but the radio he’d grabbed from home began to squawk. The first thing he did was grab his phone. He saw Rita’s number on it and grinned.
“Hey, beautiful,” he began, then stopped at her words. “Hold on a minute, I’m going to put you on speaker.” He looked at his buddies and nodded. “It’s Rita, she says there’s a missing hiker.” He pushed some buttons and said loudly, “You’re on speaker.”
“Okay, who are you with?” Rita asked in a clipped tone. Kent knew then she was all business.
“Mason, Cruz, Ryder, and Asher. When did they go missing?”
“Yesterday morning, around ten o’clock. The people he was with wanted to see if they could find him first. They only reported him missing an hour ago.”
“Why are you being called in?” Mason asked. “I’m assuming it’s for search and rescue? Oh, I’m Mason, by the way.”
“Mason, got it. Search and rescue are being called in because it’s been over twenty-four hours and with the friends not being able to find him, it’s easier for search and rescue to come in. Saves time so the rangers don’t have to double check what the friends already did. I’m about an hour away. Kent, how soon can you get there?”
“Where do we need to be?” Kent asked and moved his body so he could look at the map that Cruz had pulled from his pack and laid out on the ground between them. Rita gave the location and though she couldn’t see, Kent nodded several times.
“Actually, I’m about thirty minutes away.” He explained why he was so close and what he and his buddies had been doing for the rangers.
Suddenly a loud piercing warning sound came from somewhere and Cruz quickly grabbed his phone. He silenced it, read whatever had come across the screen and swore.
“What’s wrong?” Rita demanded. Kent could tell she was running, or walking fast and not standing still. He had heard several doors slam, then a vehicle started up.
“It’s Cruz, I just got a notice come across my phone that a severe storm is heading this way. I don’t think it will be as bad as the one from last month, but they’re sending out warnings.”
“Shit,” Rita said. “This is going to get rough with darkness approaching in a few hours. Kent, Dad and Tank are on their way, they’re about twenty minutes ahead of me.”
“Okay, will anyone else be coming?”
“No, it’s just the three of us. I’ll stop by and talk to the rangers on my way up the mountain. I can only get so far with the truck before I have to walk in.” She gave them the location where she would be parking her truck and the others found it on the map.
“We’re close, we can meet you there.” Kent saw his buddies agree with nods of their own heads.
