LITMIR.BIZ

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same houses for thirty years. Looks like the occupants of the car got back in and took off, and the motorcycle guy headed down the road.” I followed the track of the motorcycle down the road. “He isn’t doing too good. He can’t even ride the bike straight and he’s still bleeding. He followed the road and then cut into the desert again. He almost lost it on this bump.”

      I looked into the distance. There was a house about a half mile off the road. I followed the track, came over the top of a small hill and almost stumbled over the motorcyclist lying face down in the dirt, his leg pinned under the bike. That was the least of his worries, though. He was really banged up. I turned away, bumping into Rusty and Lou. Rusty took one look and whipped out his cell phone. Lou knelt and felt for a pulse. He assessed the situation and fired the information to Rusty. A half hour later a rescue squad appeared on the dirt road followed shortly by a black and white and an ambulance.

      As he was being carried on the gurney to the ambulance the guy briefly opened his eyes. “You’ve got to be the luckiest man on earth today,” Lou told him. They loaded him up and drove away, siren wailing.

      Lou walked over to me, hands in his pockets, a pensive look on his face. “Tell me what you thought when you saw the guy laying there. Why did you turn back?”

      Rusty looked quickly in our direction. He’d heard the question. He knew why I’d turned back.

      “I’m sorry,” I said, “I’m a bit shell shocked. Has Rusty told you what has been happening with me the past several months? I’ve seen more than my share of violence. I’ve been carjacked and hunted by drug dealers and I watched as a man was gunned down by police right in front of me. When I saw that guy just lying there… I’m not a doctor. If you’re looking for someone who can step in and save a life, I’m not that person. If you’re looking for someone who can follow a trail and lead others in to do their job, I’ll be glad to help.”

      “You saved that guy’s life. A few more hours out here and he’d have been gone.” He paused. “Come over here. Read this trail just to get your mind off the accident.”

      I went back to the start of Lou’s trail. It was hard to concentrate but maybe that was part of the test too. How would I work after I got rattled?

      Rusty stayed behind to help the officer figure out the accident scene.

      Ten paces into the tracking I turned to Lou. “You didn’t make this trail either. This trail was made by a shorter man.” I followed the tracks into the desert. “He is just walking here, strolling through the desert.” The tracks turned. “He’s looking back at his car, probably planning the trail, wondering how far he wants to go, how he will get back to the car from wherever he ends up.... His footprints lean in that direction. Of course I don’t know what he was thinking but he stands here long enough, his footprints move around a little like he was thinking that. I guess it’s what I’d be thinking if you asked me to lay a trail for somebody. He continued on, concentrating on his trail now. He is trying to find ways to trip me up. He’s walking more softly.” I slowed. “He’s gone into what I call stealth mode. He’s trying to walk as softly as he can and not leave sharp edges to his tracks. He’s using hard pack a lot but since the hard pack here doesn’t happen very often I know he’s going to follow it. And I could tell quickly if he left it. Here’s a scuff. There’s a bent branch.” I continued following the tracks. The man had walked in stealth mode for another quarter of a mile. He was obviously trying to hide his tracks but that tipped me off to look for ways to hide them and made things easier in a way. He came to a bush big enough to make a shadow and then sat in its shade. I pointed out the flattened dirt area to Lou. It was a fairly easy trail of footprints to follow. I had to stop a time or two to figure out the guy’s thinking and I had to get down to ground level once to examine the tracks from an angle. The tracks led in a rough circle and came back to the road a quarter mile down from where they started.

      As we were walking back up the road to the Suburban Lou said, “Tell me about the guy you just followed. What kind of a person do you think he is?”

      “Well, like I said, he’s shorter than you, lighter. He wears those funny looking sandals made out of nylon webbing and Velcro and he shouldn’t have worn them in the desert because the sand gets in them and makes walking uncomfortable. He’s got a fairly serious personality. He doesn’t joke much. He didn’t try any funny tricks on me. Everything is very straightforward with him. I get the impression that he isn’t a real neat dresser, he’s right handed.”

      “How could you tell he’s right handed?”

      “When he was sitting under the bush he’d picked off little pieces of the branches as he cooled down. Almost all the branches on the guy’s right hand side had pieces broken off. Then he’d tossed the pieces to his left.”

      “Interesting,” he said, “Have you been to tracking school?”

      “No, tracking is just something I have always enjoyed doing. I’ve tracked animals, people. I like to go stalking in the woods. I track an animal and then stalk it until I’m as close as I can get to it. Tracking people is a lot easier than tracking animals. I doubt Rusty will go to the beach with me anymore because I read the footprints in the sand until it drives him nuts.”

      “Oh, I bet you can get him back there, no problem,” he said with a wink. “Look, I’m going to have to talk to Rusty before I make a decision. You indicated that he seems to know a lot of history that I should probably be aware of. I can see you have an incredible amount of talent in tracking but there are demographics involved in this. If you don’t hear from me in a while don’t be concerned. I’ll let you know in a week or so what you can expect.”

      “Why talk to Rusty about it? I’m willing to tell you what happened.”

      “If you wish to be there, by all means, you are welcome. We don’t want to talk about you behind your back. I think Rusty can see things from my point of view, so I’d like to hear it from his point of view. That’s all.”

      “One of the things you will learn is that I refused to work with a team when I tracked down Kelly Green. Since then I’ve come to see it in a better light. So don’t go thinking I won’t follow orders or work with other people.”

      I’d decided that Rusty would be more comfortable if I had other people around me and maybe getting out with a team occasionally would take care of my wanderlust. I’d get to help people and contribute.

      Back at the station I left the guys to talk about me behind my back, knowing Rusty would fill me in later. I was convinced Strickland was ready to use me if he thought I’d fit in with the team. I wondered, though, if finding out about all the crazy things I’d been through would cause him to back down and question my readiness for this work both emotionally and psychologically. I had to admit I was still bothered by nightmares but I’d come to accept them and I didn’t stay freaked out when they happened. I left the matter in the hands of the one person I trusted and put the matter aside.

Chapter 2

      Strickland didn’t call back for a week but when he finally did, it wasn’t what I had been expecting. It was obvious that he was calling from Rusty’s office and he sounded rushed, but something was definitely wrong.

      “Cassidy, how would you like to try your hand at a case that could involve tracking?” Strickland said.

      In the background I heard Rusty say, “I’m telling you Strict, she’s not going with you. If I have any say in this I will not let her on that helicopter.”

      “You don’t have a say in this. It’s her decision,” Strickland replied.

      “Give me that phone,” Rusty demanded. Whenever his voice grew angry it sounded like thunder rolling through a canyon. He could control it, but as it rose I sensed the power behind it. I didn’t want that anger directed at me.

      “Hold on,” Strickland said before covering up the phone. I could still hear them speaking but their

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