Page 82 of Last Chance Christmas

“I want to see Mackey caught and locked away for good. So he can’t take advantage of one more child.” Kianna shoved her hands in her pockets.

Leaves swayed on a branch in his peripheral vision, and Cole paused, waiting for any more movement that would signal another person in the area.

“What’s that?” Kianna whispered.

Titan cocked his head. A low growl escaped through his bared teeth.

They all stood still.

Seconds later, a bird flew out of the tree.

Cole bit back a groan.

“He’s got to be here somewhere.” Kianna huffed. “It’s freezing. Certainly that would slow down his pace.”

Cole and Kianna started walking again.

“Any sightings?” Cole radioed in. “It’s bleak down here.” The sky itself was dark, and Cole had to remind himself not to give up.

“Negative. We’re going to have to land the copter soon, given the wind and snow picking up again.” This time, the voice of one of the helicopter pilots, Alexia, came through Cole’s earpiece.

“This is Thomas. The family from the car accident has been dropped off. Cole, I’m headed your direction now.”

“Copy,” Cole said. “We’re still searching the east side of the woods. I can’t imagine Mackey would try to hunker down here.” Not when the land stretched for several miles.

“There’s a gas station we’re keeping an eye on about five miles out on the south side,” Tazwell radioed in. “So far, no activity.”

The wind whipped around them, and leftover leaves from the fall foliage blew.

Cole focused on taking one step at a time. They couldn’t stop moving. Not if they wanted to avoid the chance of hypothermia setting in.

Several minutes later, Kianna pointed straight ahead to pine trees that parted into a wide opening. “It looks like there’s a clearing.”

Cole powered up his map of the area on his phone.

Titan let out a bark and tugged on his leash.

Cole unhooked his partner’s restraint, then pulled out the piece of fabric from Mackey’s outfit. The dog sniffed. “Go.” He gave the command.

Titan bounded in front of them.

“According to the map, the trail leads to an open area before winding down to an embankment and curving out again to a main road.”

Could this be the section Mackey was hiking? If they caught him now before he got down to the road, Mackey wouldn’t have the advantage.

Cole and Kianna jogged over to Titan, whose nose was snug to the ground.

“There’s more footprints,” Kianna shouted.

Titan let out another bark.

They were closing in.

“There are fresh prints on the east side at coordinates ninety-five and forty.” Cole spoke to the team over the radio.

He closed the distance to Titan and moved to the right to get a better angle of the imprints to take a picture. He shifted weight to his left leg and bent down. His foot overturned on uneven ground, and he stumbled sideways.

“Cole, watch out!” Kianna screamed.