Seeking Sanctuary by J. W. Judge

Author:J. W. Judge [Judge, J. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarlet Oak Press

18

Agatha

Whatever had bolted was large and moved quickly. She couldn’t get a good look at it through the growth on the forest floor. Agatha broke into a run. She was at risk of her prey escaping. Fischer yelled after her, but she heard his footsteps quicken as well.

She eyed the creek as she approached. Could she clear it with a leap? Twenty-something Agatha probably could. Middle-aged Agatha absolutely couldn’t. She was going to have to contend with wet sneakers for the duration.

Agatha launched from full stride at the edge of the bank, landing in the cold mountain stream with a grunt and a splash. Not just wet shoes, but wet jeans too. As Fischer splashed down beside her, she bounded out and onto the other side. She kept her eyes up, hoping for the best, so that she didn’t lose sight of the dark, awkward-moving shape heading further into the forest.

She was losing ground to the suspect. Before it disappeared entirely into the gloom of the forest canopy, she watched it split itself in two and go around a tree. Her mind briefly turned itself inside out in the process of working out what it just witnessed. Occam’s razor, she thought.

“There are two of them,” she called to Fischer. “You go left. I’ll go right. If we can catch up to them, maybe we can hem them between us.”

He nodded, catching up to her just in time to take off again.

The uphill grade convinced Agatha that her daily walks weren’t sufficient exercise to keep her in shape for chasing bad guys. Her breathing coarsened, coming in great gusts as she ran. She consoled herself that if she were just running a straight line, she’d have been fine. But not with monitoring for stones and deadfall to trip over. Then there were the low-hanging limbs attempting to clothesline her that added to the degree of difficulty.

She didn’t know how long they’d been running through the woods when she began to have doubts. She couldn’t very well check her watch. A while though, that was for sure. But what did the time matter anyway? Either she could maintain the current level of exertion or not. She used her forearm to wipe the sweat out of her eyes and off her forehead with one swipe.

Agatha’s sole encouragement was the steady gains she made on the dark-clad figures up ahead. Her resolve to catch them exceeded their ability to escape. Fischer was just as driven. He kept pace with her some twenty meters to her left.

What’s the plan here? We can’t just go on chasing them indefinitely. In answer to her question, the subjects ducked behind an ancient beech tree and vanished. Agatha stumbled forward several more strides before slowing to a walk. As she worked to get her breathing under control, she looked to Fischer. She pointed at her own eyes, inquiring whether he had a sightline. He shook his head and raised his arms in a question. He didn’t know where they’d gone either.

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