Snowblind II: The Killing Grounds by McBride Michael

Author:McBride, Michael [McBride, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: DarkFuse
Published: 2015-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Can anyone hear me?” Dayton shouted into his two-way. The only response was a hiss of static. The infernal transceivers were billed as being able to retain a signal anywhere in these mountains, but they’d learned in a hurry that wasn’t the case. There were all sorts of pockets of dead air up here, and the weather only made it worse. “Damn it!”

He grabbed Thom by the sleeve and pulled him closer.

“Listen to me. Here’s what I need you to…”

His words trailed off. Thom didn’t so much as acknowledge the sound of his voice.

“Snap out of it!” Dayton shook him by the shoulders until he finally looked down from the trees and into his eyes. “Can you find your way back to my truck?”

Thom stared at him as though he hadn’t heard. Dayton shook him hard enough to make his teeth chatter.

“I need to know if you can find your way back to my truck.”

Thom shook his head, but said “I…I think so.”

“There’s no time for indecision. Either you can or you can’t.”

“Yeah…I think I can find it.”

“Then I need you to head back there as fast as you can. Here. Take these.”

Dayton placed his keys in Thom’s hand and closed it tightly around them.

“There’s a radio under the dashboard. Stay with me, Thom. There’s a radio. All you have to do is pick it up, press the button, and start talking. Can you do that?”

Thom drew a deep breath and nodded.

“Judy’s working dispatch. I want you to tell her exactly what happened. She’ll know what to do.” He cupped the sides of Thom’s face and looked him directly in the eyes. “Can you do this?”

“You sure that’s the best idea?” Avery said. “Sending him off on his own like that?”

Dayton clapped Thom on the cheek and rounded on Avery.

“Where the hell were you, huh?”

“You don’t possibly think—”

“We came up here to find a missing girl and now my deputy’s gone. You tell me how this looks.”

“Sheriff?” Thom said.

“For Christ’s sake, son. Get the hell out of here already.”

Thom turned without another word and ran. He barely made it twenty feet before he disappeared into the blowing snow.

“Look around you,” Avery said. “You think I could do this?”

“Guys,” the ranger said.

“Thom was right by my side and I could see Seaver the entire time. That leaves just you.”

“Guys!” Seaver shouted.

They both turned and looked at him.

“It’s moving away from us.”

He held up the monitor and Dayton saw a brief flicker of red before the beacon vanished.

Zeke darted past his legs and charged deeper into the forest.

The wind died and the rustling in the trees ceased. Dayton’s breath hung in front of his face in the preternatural stillness.

He walked over to where Crowell’s jacket lay and carefully straightened it out on the snow. The blood on the fabric was already starting to freeze. There were no bullet holes or punctures suggestive of penetrating trauma. The seam was ripped at the shoulder and the lining was torn over the left breast, but there was no indication of what might have happened.

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