Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Bright and early Thursday morning I go outside and find Collin sitting on my porch messin’ with his phone, Mercy at his side. She wags her tail at me, then licks my hand. Collin turns his head up as he stands and pockets his phone. “Ready?”
I nod. “Yep. I’ll get King from the kennel. Two dogs are better than one.” I do that and a few minutes later I’m back and we head into the woods with the dogs.
King and Mercy could be related, that’s how much they look alike. Mercy has a fluffier coat, and King is a good twenty pounds heavier than her, but they are both all-black German shepherds. And even though I was told that Mercy was a cadaver-school dropout, it must’ve been some kind of mistake because she’s a helluva tracker and King has earned the highest certifications for both urban and wilderness search and rescue, so I’m pretty certain that we’re gonna get to the bottom of this mystery in quick order.
“Did you bring the scent?” I ask Collin once we get a little further up the trail I saw Sawyer take.
Collin nods and pulls a pen out of a sealed plastic bag. He holds it out for the dogs and lets them get a sniff. Then he says, “Seek.”
There is a pause here and I relish it. It’s my favorite part of training dogs like this because they actually stop and think once you tell them a job. It’s a small pause and if you’re not looking for it, it flies by so fast most people miss it.
But I see it. Their brains are working. They’re getting ideas. And then they’re off.
Neither of them are wearing bells, but Mercy and King work well as a team and one will go up ahead to stay on track, while the other will hang back so we can keep up and follow.
When Collin and I catch up, it’s King waiting and Mercy is long gone, on track. Then King takes off again, and we follow.
I already know we’re going to that old mine, but that was just a guess on my part. The dogs taking us there is the confirmation we need in order to take the next step.
When we come out of the woods and the mine is directly in front of us, Mercy and King bark, then sit. Their signal that the track has ended.
Collin studies the rocks covering the entrance. There are quite a few big boulders that we’ll never be able to move unless we get a front loader out here. He looks at me and shrugs. “It doesn’t make much sense, Amon. If the scent ends here, and here is a wall of rocks, then where did Sawyer go?”
It’s a good question. “He had to have gone in, obviously.”
“When you followed him, did you see any missing rocks to indicate he went inside?”
“No,” I admit. “But he probably knew I was following him and doubled back.”
“Hmm.” Collin considers this.
And while he does that, I grab one of the smaller rocks, about the size of a bowling ball, and pull it out. Behind it is nothing but darkness. But that’s just proof that there’s a space back there.
Collin bends down, snapping a flashlight off his belt and clicking it on so he can shine it into the hole I made. “There’s a door. It’s only a few feet in. Steel, definitely locked because I can see a little lit-up security pad. But I don’t think Sawyer went in. At least not this way.”
I lean in and he moves out of the way so I can see, and sure enough, he’s right. “You think there’s another door and Sawyer disappeared through there?”
“Maybe.” I straighten back up and so does he. “But there’s a creek over there. Maybe Sawyer just left this track on purpose? Or suspected he was being followed so he doubled back in the creek?”
I look over at the creek. It’s only twenty feet or so. “He suspected I was following him yesterday and took precautions? Wouldn’t the dogs go to the creek if this was the case?”
Collin shrugs. “There’s probably a million ways to trick a dog, Amon. And I know yours are all extra-special smart, but doubling back is the logical answer. If there was another way in, why would Sawyer bother coming out here at all? Why not just go straight to that door?”
He’s right. I think Sawyer’s interest, and by extension, Charlie’s as well, is due to the fact that they do not have access. “Well, what should we do?”
Collin thinks for a moment, then clips his flashlight back on his belt. “Let’s leave it alone for now. I’m sure we could remove enough rocks to get in there, but then what?” He shrugs. “We can’t break that door. We’d need a front loader or some explosives to do that. And we don’t have either of those things.”