Stalking Ground

by Margaret Mizushima

  Grabbing onto a handhold, he started to climb, gritting his teeth against the pain.

  Chapter 29

  With blue lights still flashing, Mattie’s SUV sped down the lane toward Dark Horse Stable. Her vehicle rocked as she came to a sudden stop beside Cole’s truck. It was sitting out front with its hood up.

  “I wonder why he didn’t call home to let them know he was stuck up here with engine trouble,” Stella grumbled under her breath.

  Mattie withheld her own frustration as she shut down her engine and stepped out of her vehicle. Brody, who’d followed in his cruiser, pulled up beside her and climbed out.

  “This is the vet’s truck, right?” he said as he went directly to Cole’s truck and peered under its hood.

  “Yes,” Mattie said.

  “Shit! The battery cable’s cut.”

  Mattie joined him at the front of the truck, Stella beside her, to see for herself. “Someone meant to keep him here,” she said, urgency growing inside her. She scanned the front of the barn. “The dog is gone.”

  “What dog?” Brody asked.

  “A Doberman they keep chained up out here,” Stella said.

  As Stella spoke, Mattie headed for the back of her SUV and let Robo out of his cage. He jumped to the ground, waving his tail and looking up at her for direction. “Heel,” she told him, striding off toward the barn entrance and releasing her Glock in its holster.

  Brody and Stella hurried to fall in beside her, loosening their service weapons as well. “What’s the plan?” Stella asked.

  “There isn’t one,” Mattie said. “I have no idea what’s going on, but we’ve got to find out.”

  “We could be walking into a trap.”

  “Look for cover as soon as you get inside,” Brody said. “Take it if all hell breaks loose. Otherwise, we’ll stick together and question whoever we see first.”

  Getting information from the first person they saw sounded fine to Mattie, but she planned to keep going until she was speaking directly to Cole Walker.

  Robo stayed close to Mattie as they entered the building. She scanned the area for places to take shelter. Scarce—a wheelbarrow here, an open stall door there, a few piles of hay and straw. Feeling exposed, she continued down the alleyway, glancing at Robo to read his body language. He was alert and scanning the area, no raised hackles.

  When she reached a room that was set up as an office, Mattie could see it was empty. “Let’s check the box stalls,” she told the others. “Spread out.”

  Taking the side opposite the office, Mattie headed down the alley, peering into each doorway on her way. Inside one stall, she found a black horse lying stretched out on its side. She paused, staring at its bony frame to make sure it was still breathing. Its chest rose and fell in shallow, rapid breaths. She presumed this was the very sick horse Cole had mentioned.

  Going farther down the alley, she came to a closed door. Robo nosed the doorway with interest, nudging it after he sniffed. His actions made her think that someone could be on the other side. Could it be Cole? Or Juan Fiero? She decided to err on the side of caution and drew her service weapon, releasing the safety.

  She heard a low moan from the other side. Pushing Robo into a covered position against the wall, she told him, “Sit. Wait.”

  Taking shelter at the wall beside Robo, she threw open the heavy door and waited a split second. When nothing happened, she peered into the room and spotted a man lying on the floor surrounded by stacks of hay bales. He raised one hand weakly as if beckoning for help.

  “Down here,” she shouted to the others before entering the room. “Robo, heel.”

  She could already tell that the man wasn’t Cole. It was Juan Fiero. And he was definitely in trouble. He stared at her with desperate eyes. Blood saturated his shirt below where the feathered end of a short, metal arrow was embedded in his right upper chest.

  Pushing away the horrible image, she stayed focused. She knelt beside him and spoke quietly in Spanish. “Who did this to you?”

  He wheezed as he tried to take a breath but could achieve little more than a shallow pant. “Carmen,” he whispered.

  Mattie glanced up at Brody and then Stella as they entered the room. Robo crowded in closer and tried to sniff the arrow. “Get back,” she told him, nudging him away and leaning over the injured man. “Juan, where is Dr. Walker?”

  “He ran.” Fiero panted for breath, and he spoke in English. “She wants to kill him.”

  “That arrow must have collapsed his lung,” Stella said, drawing her cell phone from her pocket. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”

  “I saw a landline in the office,” Mattie told her. “I doubt if there’s cell phone service up here. Call Sheriff McCoy, too.”

  Stella left. Brody leaned forward. “What do you know about Adrienne Howard?” he asked.

  Fiero stared up at Brody, his face haunted. “Carmen killed the young lady,” he told him, gasping for breath but clearly wanting to communicate. “She forced me . . . to hide her body . . . but . . . I wanted . . . you to know.”

  “You called our office to tell us where to find her body?” Mattie asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why did you act like you couldn’t speak English?”

  “Carmen.” He paused, struggling to breathe.

  “You didn’t want Carmen to know you spoke English?” Mattie asked.

  “Right.”

  Mattie glanced at Brody. He wore a murderous expression that told her everything she needed to know about his feelings, but when he spoke, his voice gave away nothing. “How could she force you to do something you didn’t want to do?”

  “El Capo . . . her uncle . . . big drug boss . . . in Mexico . . . holds my family. He will kill them.” The effort of speaking appeared to steal Juan’s breath, and he lay gasping on the floor.

  Stella reentered the room. “The ambulance is on its way,” she announced as she crossed the room. Squatting beside the injured man, she spoke to him in a soft voice. “We have to leave that arrow in place. We’ll try to make you as comfortable as possible while we wait.”

  “Brody and I have to go after Cole,” Mattie said to Stella. “Can you stay here with Fiero?”

  Stella swept her gaze around the room, thinking. “Yes, that’s best. I’m no good in this terrain. I’ll bolt this outside door and build a little shelter with these bales. If Santiago comes back, I’ll take her down.”

  “We’re more likely to find her out there,” Mattie said, while Brody straightened and started stacking hay bales between Stella and the doorway. Mattie turned back to Fiero. “Do you have any idea which way they went?”

  “To the ridge.”

  “Robo can track them,” Mattie said to Brody.

  He gestured toward the door with his chin. “Let’s go.”

  She thought about the missing Doberman. “The guard dog isn’t out front, Juan. Could Carmen be using him to find Dr. Walker?”

  A furrow deepened between his eyes. “He tracks . . . animals.”

  With a sinking feeling, Mattie stood and gave Stella a hard look. “Take care of yourself. Shoot to kill if she comes through that door.”

  “You two watch yourselves,” Stella said, following them to the door of the hay room and closing it behind them.

  Mattie dashed out to her SUV and jerked open the back. From a floor compartment, she grabbed her utility belt, strapping it on while she spoke to Brody. “Do you have Kevlar on under your shirt?”

  “Not today.”

  “Strap it on.”

  He went to his cruiser and opened his trunk. Mattie put on her own vest and reached for Robo’s. “Robo, come,” she said, squatting down beside him to place his vest over his back and shoulders and then fasten the straps that held it in place under his chest. She checked to make sure the vest wouldn’t rub his wound, and the area that covered it seemed flat and smooth. Hurrying, she splashed water into his collapsible bowl and encouraged him to drink.

  “See if there’s a
scent article in Walker’s truck,” she called over to Brody as he was completing a thorough check of his AR-15 Colt rifle. “A coat or shirt or something.”

  Brody slammed down his cruiser’s trunk lid and, using the remote, chirped on the locks. He jogged to the front door of Cole’s truck, opened it, and searched inside. Mattie finished stashing away Robo’s things and grabbed a couple of long-distance walkie-talkies, attaching one to her belt loop.

  “How about a hat?” Brody called over to her.

  “That’s great. Let me pick it up,” Mattie shouted back as Brody turned toward her with the item in his hand. She hurried to join him, pulling a plastic bag from her utility belt and noticing his chagrin. She held open the bag. “Not a problem. Pop it inside here.”

  He dropped it into the bag, and she sealed the zip-lock.

  “Ready?” she asked Brody. At his nod, she sprinted toward the back of the barn, calling, “Robo, heel,” as she ran. Robo fell into place beside her, waving his tail with excitement.

  “Robo and I are lead, and you’re backup,” she told Brody as they ran. “We’ll track Dr. Walker. You watch my back.”

  “What about going after Santiago?”

  Mattie could tell he wanted Adrienne’s killer, but Cole’s safety was her first priority. “We might run into her on our way to him. If we do, we’ll take her into custody. If we find Walker first, we’ll secure him and head back to the barn. Then we’ll get a scent article for Santiago and track her down.”

  She glanced at Brody as she ran. “Got that?” It was her way of asking him to follow her command.

  “Got it,” he said.

  They’d reached the only doorway on the backside of the barn, so she assumed this was the door that led into the hay room. “Stella, you hear me?” she called at the door.

  “Yes.”

  “Open the door. I’ve got a walkie-talkie for you. You’re base. We’ll be in touch.”

  The door opened and Stella reached for the instrument. “Good luck out there,” she said, standing in the doorway.

  Mattie zipped open the bag and held it low for Robo to sniff. He buried his nose in the hat for a split second. “Search,” she told him, gesturing toward the ground at the base of the door.

  Robo sniffed the ground no longer than the time it took for one heartbeat and then he bolted toward the trees, running down the rocky berm that surrounded the barn and across the cleared grassy space beyond. Mattie raced behind him, and Brody followed. They entered the forest as a unit, as close as soldiers going into a hotspot. Robo kept his nose to the ground, and she knew he was tracking rather than trailing the scent through the air. This told her that Cole was not in the immediate vicinity. She observed the hair on Robo’s neck—not raised, no perceived predator nearby either.

  She checked wind direction and felt the breeze behind her. Cole had to be downwind from her position. The chances of Robo being able to air scent and go to him directly were slim. They’d need her dog’s nose on the ground.

  She was able to keep up with Robo, and Brody stayed close behind. Suddenly Robo stopped, forcing her to step to the side to keep from bumping into him. She put out a hand to warn Brody. Robo sniffed off to the right and ahead on the trail. He came back. Bearing right, he kept his nose to the ground.

  At the base of a large ponderosa, he used his nose to root among the dead pine needles. In a swift transition, he sat, looking up at Mattie, his grin clearly indicating his joy at finding something.

  Mattie stooped and brushed aside more of the needles, unearthing a black-and-white striped cover on a laptop.

  “Good boy, Robo,” she said, ruffling the fur at his throat and giving him a grin to show him how much he’d pleased her. Then with a more serious expression, she looked up at Brody “Adrienne’s?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” His face was grim.

  “We can’t carry it with us,” Mattie said, covering the laptop again. Drawing out a roll of orange flagging tape, she tossed it to Brody. “Mark this tree with a strip of this. We’ll come back later.”

  While Brody tore off a strip of the tape and tied it to a branch, Mattie sent a transmission to Stella. “K-9 One to base, over.”

  “This is base, over.” Stella’s voice came over the walkie-talkie loud and clear.

  “Robo just located Adrienne Howard’s laptop, buried next to a large pine, beside a game trail that leads up the mountain. We’ve marked the tree with orange tape.” She wanted Stella to know about it, just in case.

  “Affirmative.”

  “Roger that. Over and out.”

  Turning her attention back to Robo, she stroked his head. He leaned into her hand, gazing up at her with affection. “You’re a good boy, you know that,” she murmured.

  She began some chatter to rev up Robo’s prey drive and let him know they weren’t finished. Taking out the bag containing Cole’s hat, she let Robo sniff it again. This time, he skimmed over the bag with his nose, barely needing a whiff. Mattie knew he had the scent locked into his memory, and she’d bet her next paycheck that her dog knew exactly which man they were tracking: his own doctor.

  “Search,” she told him.

  Robo darted onto the game trail that provided even footing for a short distance, affording a moment for Mattie to scan the forest. Dense pine and spruce, as well as boulders of all sizes, covered the rocky terrain providing plentiful places to hide. This would have given her a small amount of comfort had she not been so worried about the Doberman. The fact that he’d been used to track animals told her he’d received at least some level of training. And the way he strained at his chain to reach visitors told her that the dog was vicious.

  Robo kept moving uphill. Slowing to a trot, he led them to a place where shale and rock abutted the trail to the right. On the stones several feet away from the game trail lay a dead coyote, well decomposed. Robo sniffed the area, working his way around the coyote, leaping from one stone to the other and giving each a thorough whiff. Mattie followed, catching her balance on each stone while she waited for Robo to finish his examination. A few feet past a thicket of prickly rose, Robo touched the rock he’d been sniffing with his mouth and then sat. He gazed at her, indicating his find.

  Being careful not to jostle her dog, Mattie stretched her legs to cross over to the stone he was sitting on. Brody followed behind, leaping onto the stone she’d left. Mattie squatted beside Robo, placing an arm around him to help her balance. “What did you find?”

  She searched, and as her eyes adjusted to the pattern in the gray and black stone, she perceived some spots that didn’t belong. Reaching into a pouch on her utility belt, she withdrew a compact evidence kit. “There’s something here,” she told Brody.

  Using a swab, she gently rubbed the spot, and the end of it turned red. She showed it to Brody as she tucked it inside its plastic cover. “Looks like blood,” she said flatly, but her heart sank. Maybe it’s Cole’s. He could be injured, and an injury would greatly reduce his chances of escape.

  “Good boy,” she told Robo, giving him a firm pat on his Kevlar-coated side. “Go on. Search.”

  Chapter 30

  Cole sat on a rocky ledge, peering down into the forest from behind a boulder. Sunlight slanted hard from the west, nearing sunset. He shivered as the cold breeze kicked up, turning the wet legs of his coveralls into instruments of torture. He’d used his Leatherman to cut damp strips of cloth from the bottoms of each pants leg to bind his swollen ankle, but pain still throbbed with every heartbeat. He’d also fashioned a spear of sorts by winding narrow strips of cloth to secure the crossbow bolt onto a solid branch he’d harvested from a pine.

  His breath came in full and even cycles, and he felt fully recovered. Had it not been for the ankle, he could run again. As it was, he wasn’t sure how much more pounding the injury could take. He stood to test it, bending over to make sure he remained hidden behind the boulder. Pain shot up his leg when he bore weight on it, but he could handle it if necessary. He wished he knew where Carme
n and her dog were.

  By now, someone should have missed him—Tess, his clients, his kids—someone. The last thing he wanted was for one of them to come looking for him. He wondered if Carmen had given up and returned to the stable. If so, she would be a danger to anyone who came into her vicinity.

  He wished he’d called Mattie to tell her about the Clenbuterol dosing before he left home. At least then she would have known he was coming up to confront Carmen about it. It was stupid of him not to. If only he’d known then what he knew now.

  Thoughts of his kids sent a chill of a different sort through him. What would happen to his kids if he died? He’d never even made out a will. No appointed guardian. Would Liv come out of her self-imposed exile and take care of them? He didn’t want to think about it. Couldn’t think about it. He needed to pay attention.

  Scanning the steep cliff face above him, he wondered about his plan. With his ankle the way it was, he doubted he could climb any higher. An escape route felt really important, and he didn’t have one. He debated going back down and moving on. Staying hidden up here might work if his stalkers were mere humans, but he worried about the dog, Bruno. Just how good a tracker was he?

  Searching the forest below, he discovered the answer. What he first saw as movement between the trees soon took form. Bruno trotted across a clearing, nose to the ground, coming closer with each step. Cole’s heart rate kicked up a notch.

  Who was with him? He studied the forest, trying to find Carmen. Nothing. She’d apparently turned the dog loose.

  As Bruno came closer, Cole could see a bulky collar on his neck. An e-collar. His mind jumped to the possibilities of what that could mean. Carmen could summon the dog back to her with an electronic signal. Or if the collar contained a GPS, she could allow him to run down prey and then follow him at her own pace. The second option scared the crap out of him.

  Without hesitation, the Doberman sprinted up to the base of the cliff, and Cole lost sight of him. He searched the forest—still no sign of Carmen. Cole straightened so he could see around the boulder. Where is that dog?