False Woods: (Forest Wardens: Book 1) by Justin Herzog

Author:Justin Herzog [Herzog, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creative Writing Mastery
Published: 2021-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

16

Francine met me in the parking lot of the Sunbury Ski and Snowboard Resort. I’d been forced to halt at the edge of the roadway and cut through the chain wrapped around the gate. Lucky for me, the motor pool truck had a toolbox in the bed with a pair of bolt cutters. I made a mental note to send them a new padlock once this was all over.

The resort itself consisted of half a dozen structures, the main building being an H-shaped, two-story dwelling that contained the ticket booth as well as a taproom and gift shop. Several of the nearby buildings were designated as lodging accommodations, and there was a wide shed housing half a dozen snow mobiles. There was also a food stand near the Summit Express that sold Tehya’s pancake. I scooped up a handful of mud and flung it at the sign. Even though I knew that Tehya wouldn’t start shipping until closer to ski season, the mental image of Igasho feasting on those golden maple heaven crisps while Hal sat rotting in jail made me want to punch someone.

Francine pulled up a few minutes after I did. Her truck rolled to a stop beside mine, and she killed the engine and got out. I’d specifically avoided looking at my reflection in the rear-view mirror on the drive over, not wanting to see what two car wrecks, one gun fight, no sleep, and a police interrogation looked like in the light of the morning. As bad as I must have looked, though, Francine looked worse. Her uniform was rumpled, stained with sweat and dirt and creased in all the wrong places. Her boots were coated with thick mud, and there was dirt on her cheeks and twigs in her hair. Basically, she looked like she’d been crawling through the woods all night, which she most likely had been. Moses, for his part, looked a little better, his silky black fur void of sticks, although his paws and forelegs were in need of scrubbing.

“Morning, Gwen,” Francine greeted, moving with her usual tilting gait to stand beside me. Her tone of voice was chipper, but her eyes betrayed her fatigue.

“Thanks for coming,” I said.

“Happy to be of service,” Francine said and peered off toward the resort. “He’s inside?”

I shook my head. “He’s already hit it by now, but he may be holed up somewhere nearby.”

“You thinking we can pick up the trail and track him into the woods?”

“That’s the plan.”

Francine licked her lips and then nodded. “Let’s get to it then.”

She opened her truck and started removing items. The first was Moses’s Kevlar harness, which he accepted without complaint. She added the foreleg guards, connecting them to the harness via Velcro straps, along with protective eye goggles. The end result was impressive, and Moses seemed to feel it, circling with renewed vigor and stretching his neck like a prize fighter readying his fists before a bout.

Then something changed.

Moses was the first to notice. He lifted his head and stared off intently into the woods.

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