Threat Detection, page 4
They had a long day ahead of them. She hoped by the end of it, this whole thing would be resolved.
As she slipped her backpack over her shoulders and grabbed the other equipment, she had a feeling that despite her wish, the trouble was only beginning.
* * *
Isaac got Freddy out of his kennel and poured him some water from the supply pack he always had with him. The pack held a collapsible dish that he could put the water in. Freddy had eaten before they left the lodge.
Several other cars were at the trailhead parking lot. A young couple headed toward the trees.
“Does it get busy here?”
“Yes, especially this time of year. August is the height of tourist season. Once the trail splits off to the harder to access area, we are not likely to see many people. You need a permit to go through the boulder field to the summit.”
Aubrey’s agitation over what might have happened at the foundation was understandable, but he wondered if there wasn’t something deeper going on. She seemed to get more upset when she asked the receptionist about her sister, Emily.
Isaac had never met Emily. Only seen pictures of her. At the time they were dating, Aubrey was estranged from her sister and had shared that her sister had chosen to be with people who were a bad influence. Even then, he had heard the pain that the distance between Aubrey and her only sibling caused.
They headed toward the trailhead marker. Another car came and parked in the lot as they stepped onto the hiking path. Aubrey kept up an intense pace. Even though it was August, the tree canopy and the early morning hour meant it was cool for now.
Other hikers either walking down or passing them did a double take when they saw Isaac’s uniform and Freddy. Only one hiker asked if there had been a crime committed. Isaac offered a vague answer.
The trees thinned, and he could see the boulder field up ahead. “Wow.”
“I know—pretty incredible. All that lava rock got displaced during the eruption over forty years ago. Huge landslides for miles. Acres of trees knocked down. The whole Toutle River valley was affected by the lahar, a deposit of debris and ash left by the landslide from the eruption. Spirit Lake got filled with logs.”
A tone of admiration filled her voice. The same way a person who loves art talks about a painting. Her passion about volcanos had been one of the things that he had loved about her.
“Nature is amazing,” said Isaac.
“And powerful.” Aubrey shook her head. “I think as a child when I saw the beauty and the power of nature, I knew that there was a God.”
“And now you get to be around it every day,” he said.
Aubrey nodded and stopped to put her gloves on. “We can mostly go around the rocks, but there are a few steep parts. How will Freddy handle that?”
“Like a trooper.” Isaac pulled his gloves out as well. “He’s never shown hesitation about following me into all kinds of situations. If it gets too precarious, I have a carrier I can put him in, one of the advantages of working with a smaller dog. We need to be ready for anything, including the shooter coming after you again.”
Aubrey’s expression grew serious as she nodded. “I am well aware of that.”
The sun grew more intense as they hiked and climbed through the boulder field. Only once did he have to carry Freddy. When the boulder field gave way to pumice, ash and a steep vertical climb, Aubrey lengthened the poles she’d hooked onto her belt.
She planted her poles and turned to face him. The sun brought out the golden highlights in her blond hair. “The pumice and ash can be slippery. The best way to traverse this is to treat it like you are on cross-country skis, slide, stop, slide, stop.”
“I’ll follow you,” he said.
He looked down at Freddy, who tilted his head as if to say Are you kidding me?
The little dog proved himself to be more sure-footed than Isaac, who felt like he was sliding on ice.
They hiked until the sun was a quarter way above the horizon. Aubrey turned to face him. “Doing okay?”
While he was sweating and out of breath, she just looked dewy. The hike seemed to energize her and lift her mood.
“I’ll survive,” he said.
“Don’t feel bad about being out of breath. We’ll climb over a thousand feet in a short time. Plus the air is thinner up here.”
He managed to nod, unable to form words between gasps. Aubrey was completely in her element with this hike. It made her seem even more beautiful.
He kept his focus on her bobbing blond ponytail as they climbed. She slowed down and then stopped. He came up beside her.
She pointed with her pole. “That’s where it happened.”
The sun caused a shimmering mirage effect as he stared out at a backpack and other items he couldn’t identify at this distance. He had evidence bags with him and flag markers. Maybe he could find some shell casings and take some pictures with his phone. It would be quite an undertaking to get a full crime scene team up here. He wasn’t sure if the park service could spare the manpower. The PNK9 unit had their own crime scene investigators, but with their rookie, Mara, in hiding and her boss, Bartholomew, spread thin, Isaac wouldn’t bother the chief with the request. Besides, headquarters was hours away from Mount St. Helens.
“Do you feel like you could show me what happened, where you were when he shot at you?”
Her face blanched as she stared ahead, but she nodded and stepped forward. “I was over there by where I dropped my sample collection container.” She kept walking and picked a container up off the ground and mimed her actions as she described them. “It was starting to get dark. I had the flashlight out on my phone so I could see the coloring of the rock sample I was looking for.”
Isaac stepped toward her with Freddy heeling beside him.
Aubrey kept talking as she turned her back to them. “When I found the rock I was looking for, I knelt down.”
Isaac and Freddy were only a few feet from her.
She turned back around and pointed down to where the boulder field met the ash beach. “I think the first shot came from there.”
He scanned the area for shell casings. The sun should reflect off the metal.
Freddy whimpered and shifted his weight side to side.
“What is it, big guy?”
“Can he find shell casings?”
“It’s not his specialty. He’s trained to sniff out electronics, anything from cell phones to SD cards.”
Something had Freddy stirred up. Isaac gave the command for Freddy to do his thing. The dog put his nose to the ground, moving back and forth at first and then in smaller and smaller circles. He sat down, which was his signal that he had alerted on something.
Both Isaac and Aubrey stepped closer to where Freddy was.
“There.” Aubrey pointed.
Isaac focused on a tiny patch of blue not far from Freddy’s paw. It was nearly concealed by the gray ash.
After rewarding Freddy with a treat, he stepped closer and put on evidence gloves and picked it up—a thumb drive.
“That has to be what that shooter came up here for,” she said.
Isaac glanced around half expecting to see the shooter.
“How did Freddy find it so quickly?”
“There is a chemical on all circuit boards that he can smell. It’s a kind of oxide. Too hard to pronounce. We just call it TPPO for short.”
Aubrey reached down to pat Freddy’s head. “Good boy.”
Isaac held up the thumb drive. “I wonder what is on this that is worth killing for to get it back?”
FOUR
It was late afternoon by the time Aubrey and Isaac made it back to the trailhead. She looked at her watch. Three o’clock. She could still get in some hours at work. The team was going to do some scaled simulations in the new lab upstairs.
Though she was used to the hike, having to revisit where she’d nearly been killed was traumatizing and had left her exhausted. Maybe she wouldn’t go back to work.
They walked over to Isaac’s PNK9 vehicle. There were fewer cars in the lot than there had been in the morning. None of the cars looked like the shooter’s but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still be around.
She decided that she didn’t have the energy to go back into the foundation. Finding out what was on the thumb drive seemed more important. “Can I be with you when you look at that thumb drive?”
“Sure. Why don’t we grab a bite and head back to the lodge?” said Isaac.
Her stomach growled at the mention of food. She had only eaten an energy bar while they were hiking. “Okay.”
After securing Freddy in the back seat, Isaac got behind the wheel. “There was a hamburger food truck I ate at when I was helping out the Forest Service. How does that sound?”
“I know which one you’re talking about. They have decent food and they’re quick.” After all that had happened, she found herself not wanting to be out in the open. She’d feel safer once they were in the room at the lodge with the door locked.
They picked up their burgers and fries and drove to the lodge. Isaac pulled up close to the door of the room where they were staying. He handed her the key card. She already held both to-go containers.
“If you could open the door, I have to get Freddy out.”
She’d placed the key card on top of the to-go containers in order to have a free hand to open the vehicle’s door. She walked over to the room. As she reached for the key, the door burst open and a man crashed into her. The food flew in the air, and she landed on her bottom. The man who had knocked her down took off running toward the trees that surrounded the lodge. Freddy and Isaac were right behind him.
Isaac shouted at her as he ran by. “Get inside. Lock it.”
Aubrey stared at the fries and burgers scattered all over the ground. Shaking, she picked up the key card and pushed herself to her feet. She stumbled toward the open door.
What she saw inside made her knees buckle. She reached out for the door frame for support. The drawers were open; everything had been emptied out of her overnight bag and Isaac’s suitcase.
She stepped inside, turned the dead bolt and collapsed in a chair, trying to slow her pounding heart with deep breaths. No good. Her body felt like it was being shaken from the inside.
When that didn’t work, and she thought she might faint, she leaned over and put her face between her knees. This shooter seemed to find her no matter where she was.
Oh God, please give me strength.
After a minute or so, she raised her head and felt calmer. She noticed that Isaac’s laptop was not where he’d left it on the foldout couch. The screen glowed from where it had been placed on the table by the window.
She rose to her feet and walked across the room. Once he didn’t find a thumb drive, the shooter must have been looking for downloaded files.
She tensed and rubbed her arms.
The culprit had figured out which room she was in at the lodge. As long as he was on the loose, there was no safe place for her.
She only hoped that Isaac and Freddy were able to catch him.
* * *
With Freddy taking up the lead, Isaac chased after the shooter who had been in the room. No doubt searching for the thumb drive he and Aubrey had just found. The man quickly left the trail and wove through the trees. Freddy padded along at a brisk pace. The beagle was not trained to track, but he had good instincts.
Though his legs were fatigued from the all-day hike, Isaac pulled his gun and moved in the general direction he’d last seen the culprit running.
He called for backup on his radio, giving his location.
A shot was fired in Isaac’s direction. Adrenaline flooded his body as he slipped behind a tree and pressed his back against the trunk. Freddy brushed against his calf, pushing close to Isaac. The beagle was not fazed by the gunfire.
This guy was playing offense, trying to take Isaac out instead of just escape. The conversation on the radio must have given away his position.
Backup was on the way, but he didn’t think he could wait for them if he had hopes of taking the culprit in.
He wanted the shooter in custody to end the threat to Aubrey’s life and get some answers.
With his weapon drawn, he rolled along the tree trunk, scanning the forest for signs of another person. Tuning his ears to the sounds around him, he listened for something distinctly human. He glanced down at Freddy to see if he gave a sign of noticing anything. The beagle lifted his head to sniff the air.
Isaac took a step away from the tree. Not even a light breeze rustling the branches disturbed the heavy silence. His heart drummed in his ears.
Though Freddy was a very vocal dog, he seemed to understand the need to be quiet.
Isaac held the gun at a ready position with his finger across the trigger guard as he took a step out into an open area. Still nothing. The shooter must have crept away.
Isaac moved faster in the direction the shot had come from. He heard a car start-up. He sprinted toward the noise, stepping out onto a viewing area just in time to see a car disappear around a curve. Other than its proximity to the lodge, he had no idea what road the shooter was on or where he might be going.
He radioed backup. “Perp escaping in a dark sedan near the lodge. By my estimation he is headed south.”
But was he?
Fear gripped Isaac. What if he was going back to the lodge to harm Aubrey? The shooter knew she was alone. Isaac hurried back through the trees while Freddy kept pace with him. He knocked on the door to his room. “Aubrey, it’s me.”
He heard the dead bolt slide and she opened the door.
“You’re okay.” He reached out to hug her but caught himself.
“Yes.” She stepped aside so he could enter the room.
It didn’t surprise him that the place had been tossed. The perp seemed to be operating on the premise that Aubrey had found the thumb drive last night. His presence, the uniform and the PNK9 vehicle would have indicated to the shooter that law enforcement was onto him. Yet, he seemed willing to take big risks to get what he was looking for.
“Did you get a look at the guy?”
She shook her head. “It happened so fast. Same build as the man who came after me at the volcano.”
Isaac pulled the thumb drive from the zippered pocket where he’d put it. “Why don’t we straighten this place up and see what is on this?”
After they had put away everything that had been pulled out and messed with, Isaac walked over to his laptop and stuck the thumb drive in, watching the screen and holding his breath. Maybe now they would get some answers.
FIVE
Aubrey leaned close to Isaac as a series of icons popped up on the screen, five folders containing JPEGs.
Isaac clicked on the first one. A man in a suit on a downtown street. The same man photographed from a distance as he ran on a jogging path. Photos of a car with the license plate taken in a close-up shot. He clicked on another file. The first image was of a different man sitting at a coffee shop with a laptop. The picture was taken from outside through the window. The man had long stringy hair and was dressed in oversize clothes. Another photo was of the same unkempt man entering an apartment building. Again, there was a close-up shot of the apartment building number and then a mailbox that said Apt 515.
Another folder revealed a man with a beard going into a posh-looking hotel. Even in the photos he had an overpowering presence. In every shot, he had the same two men beside him. The bulge in their jackets indicated they had guns and were probably bodyguards.
“I know that hotel. Not far from here, in Longview where I live. Very expensive,” Aubrey said.
“These look like surveillance photos,” Isaac said. He clicked on a fourth folder. “A lot of them are taken from a distance with a telephoto lens.”
Aubrey gasped as the first image came up. “That’s my sister outside her apartment.”
“That’s Emily?”
Isaac filed through the remaining images: Emily at a park, Emily at the foundation, Emily’s car. Aubrey found it hard to take in a deep breath. What had her sister gotten herself mixed up in?
“Any idea of why your sister would be on here?” He opened the last folder, which revealed similar images of a different man. One of the images was of the man headed into a climbing facility. Another showed a cabin with a close-up of the address on the mailbox.
Aubrey rose to her feet and paced. “Why would someone collect pictures like that?”
“Hard to say,” Isaac said. “The one thing I do know is this is way bigger than I first thought. I’m going to see if I can get a couple of my colleagues to help me, starting with our tech expert, Jasmin. It should be easy enough to match the pictures that have addresses to a name, then we have to figure out what the connection between these five people is.”
Aubrey’s thoughts raced as Isaac tapped the keyboard of his laptop. Was Emily in some kind of danger? She grabbed the phone and dialed Emily’s number. After five rings it went to voice mail. She hung up without leaving a message. “Emily’s not picking up.”
He looked up from his typing for a second. “If she’s actually sick as she told the receptionist, she might be asleep and have the phone turned off.”
She sent a text to her sister. R u ok? Sometimes Emily just didn’t want to talk. The question was a shorthand way of relaying a message that they had developed when they were teenagers in the same foster home. Emily had been getting into a lot of trouble back then. It was the quickest way for Aubrey to know that her sister was alive without prying or requiring an explanation.
Still gripping the phone, she collapsed onto the bed. After licking her hand, Freddy jumped up on the bed beside her, pressing close to her leg and then resting his head on her thigh. Expressive brown eyes gazed up at her as she listened to Isaac’s phone call.
