Page 54 of Deadly Revenge
Maya understood how Kessler felt. He was probably frustrated over his supervisor overriding his decision about the team and he blamed himself. She wanted to tell him not to, but she also knew that wouldn’t help. Nor would he take her advice. Moments like these haunted those in the military and law enforcement forever. The ghosts would never leave. She wished Kessler had listened to her. Of course, she could have been wrong too and that might have cost Hope her life. Or someone else’s. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.
Maya did wonder about the supervisor’s response, though. Why not believe Kessler? He had proven himself as an agent. Unless Kessler’s boss was Abigail’s partner. What were the odds? Maya didn’t trust anyone right now outside of Josh, Pops and Kessler.
“We’ll find her,” Maya finally said. She was readyto tell him more about the track when Ross, Nick and Aaron showed up.
“Just heard that you think we’ll find Abigail,” Agent Ross said. “Your dog give you any leads?”
Maya glanced at Josh. Kessler’s supervisor could tell him to keep the team intact, but she could make up her own mind about what information she gave out to who. She couldn’t bring herself to answer the question truthfully. She’d tell Kessler more later. “No, we couldn’t find a good track.”
“Thought I saw you heading down a trail with Juniper,” Nick said.
Maya worked to put on her best poker face. She was a terrible liar, especially to someone like Pops who knew her well. But she couldn’t and wouldn’t tell anyone but Kessler what Juniper had really found and where she’d tracked. “We were heading down a trail, but Juniper wasn’t in odor. The heat, wind and low humidity weren’t helping us.”
“It’s like they disappeared,” Agent Ross said.
“No,” Kessler spoke up. “No one disappears. And no one kills an agent and gets away with it. We need to get on this. Now.”
“Tell us how we can help,” Nick said.
“I agree,” Aaron said. “Tell us what we can do.” He was starting to sound more cooperative. Did he just want to find out information for his own gain?
Kessler took a deep breath. Maya could tell he was focusing and thinking through their next steps. “Who’s good at math?” he asked.
Aaron piped up again. “I am. Want me to get a map,calculate how fast they could be moving and come up with a search area?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” Kessler said. “Nick, you were telling me you were trained to do man-tracking with the marshals, right?”
“That’s right,” Nick said.
Maya hadn’t realized that, but it made sense. Especially when it came to finding fugitives in Montana. They would be more likely to try to escape into the mountains.
“Good,” Kessler said. “Then you and Ross walk the perimeter of this building again and see if you can find any tracks in the dirt. With the fire, there’s soot and ash. Maybe it’ll be easier to see tracks in that. That way when Aaron has an area for us, maybe we can get a direction.
“I’m going to talk to the chopper pilot and see if he can do a search from the sky. I know there’s fire response aircraft too, so I’m not sure what airspace he’ll be allowed to fly in,” Kessler said. “Everything clear? Any questions?”
The three guys shook their heads.
“Then let’s get to work. I want to find Abigail Harper. Now.”
Kessler sounded angry. That was good. Sometimes you had to get mad to stay focused on the task. When the three guys left, Maya and Josh stepped in front of Kessler to make sure he couldn’t leave the room yet.
“We need to talk to you. Privately,” Maya said.
“Juniper did find a track, didn’t she?”
“Yes,” Maya answered. “Sorry to lie, but I didn’twant to say anything in front of those guys. I truly believe one of them is Abigail’s partner.”
“So do I,” Kessler said. “So where did Juniper track?”
“The trail Nick saw us on. It leads to the Old Stone Lodge. It would be a perfect place to hole up since it’s empty right now and the fire is near, but not threatening it yet.”
“Okay, maybe I can send the HRT guys,” Kessler said.
“Well, yes and no,” Maya answered, telling him about the cameras. “It could be suicide for your guys if Abigail sees them. She knows their tactical maneuvers. We don’t know if she has a handgun or long gun or both. If she somehow gets a rifle, then she could easily pick the guys off.”
“What are you suggesting?” Kessler asked.
“Let Josh and me drive closer and do some recon work. I can try to see if we can spot her and I’ll call my boss to see if he can help us figure out the cameras. Someone has to be able to shut them down remotely. That way no one we suspect of working with Abigail knows what’s going on.”
