Chapter 8 — The Hunting Lodge
We reached the Whitmore hunting property after dark.
West Virginia state police established a perimeter around three hundred acres of wooded land, but the lodge stood deep inside the property, beyond a narrow road blocked by fallen trees.
Dr. Bell had prepared the route.
Aerial surveillance detected one vehicle near the building.
Thermal imaging showed at least two people inside.
Possibly three.
Sergeant Brooks wanted to wait for the tactical team.
Every minute felt like another hand closing around Emily’s throat.
I stood beside Titan at the edge of the woods.
The dog stared into the darkness.
Marcus approached with a folded map.
“There’s an old service trail here,” he said. “It reaches the back of the lodge.”
“You’ve been there?”
“Once, before Graham fired me. The trail crosses a creek. Vehicles can’t use it.”
Brooks shook her head.
“Nobody enters before the team arrives.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
A gunshot echoed through the woods.
Titan barked.
My heart stopped.
Brooks touched her radio.
“Move!”
We entered the forest with four officers.
Rainwater dripped from the trees. The trail was steep and slick, forcing me to use the cane with both hands on the worst sections.
My hip felt as if a blade had been driven through it.
I kept moving.
We reached the creek.
The old wooden bridge had been destroyed.
Marcus pointed upstream.
“There’s a shallow crossing.”
Another gunshot sounded.
Closer.
Titan pulled against the leash.
“Emily may be outside,” I said.
Brooks nodded to the K-9 officer.
“Release him for tracking.”
I removed Titan’s leash.
He sniffed a piece of Emily’s sweater recovered from the kennel.
“Such Emily,” I whispered.
Find Emily.
Titan crossed the creek.
We followed.
Beyond the trees, the hunting lodge appeared beneath the moonlight. It was a two-story log structure with boarded windows and a collapsed section of roof.
A white medical van stood near the front porch.
The driver’s door was open.
Blood marked the ground beside it.
Brooks examined the stain.
“Not much. Could be an injury.”
Titan moved around the rear of the lodge.
We found a man lying near the woodpile.
Deputy Calvin Price.
A bullet had struck his shoulder.
He was conscious.
When he saw Brooks, he tried to reach for his weapon.
Marcus kicked it away.
“Where’s Emily?” I demanded.
Price grimaced.
“Bell lost control.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Brooks pressed gauze against his wound.
“You’re going to tell me exactly what happened.”
Price laughed weakly.
“My father protected this family for thirty years. You think I’m going to betray them now?”
“Your family left you bleeding in the dirt,” Marcus said.
That reached him.
Price’s eyes moved toward the lodge.
“Bell brought the nurse here. He wanted her to record a confession saying she created the foundation files.”
“Emily is a nurse,” I said.
Price’s breathing became ragged.
“He wanted her to take the blame. She refused. He drugged her.”
“Why the gunshots?”
“Graham’s security man tried to leave. Bell shot him.”
“How many inside?”
“Bell. Emily. Ryan Cole.”
The same security officer detained at the diner had been in custody.
Price saw my confusion.
“Cole’s brother.”
Brooks radioed the information.
Titan scratched at the lodge’s rear door.
A woman’s muffled cry came from inside.
Emily.
I moved toward the porch.
Brooks caught my arm.
“Wait.”
A speaker crackled above the door.
Dr. Bell’s voice filled the yard.
“Mr. Hale, bring the dog inside alone.”
Titan growled at the speaker.
“You heard him,” Bell said. “No police.”
Brooks signaled officers toward the side windows.
I approached the door.
“Let Emily walk outside.”
“After you enter.”
“You need me and the dog for your story.”
Bell was silent.
I continued.
“You want Titan to attack Emily. Then you shoot him and claim I lost control.”
“You’re surprisingly intelligent for a man who drove six hours without calling the police.”
“I called someone.”
“Not soon enough.”
A light appeared in the second-floor window.
Emily stood behind the glass.
Her hands were bound.
Bell held a pistol beside her head.
Titan saw her.
His body trembled.
“Dad!” Emily shouted. “There’s gasoline inside!”
Bell struck her and pulled her away from the window.
My vision narrowed.
Brooks whispered behind me.
“We need another entrance.”
Marcus pointed to the old stone chimney.
“The basement furnace connects to a coal-delivery door.”
An officer moved toward it.
Bell’s voice returned.
“Send anyone around the house and I light the building.”
I looked at the medical van.
Its rear doors stood open.
Inside were drug cases, oxygen tanks, blankets, and animal-handling equipment.
An idea formed.
“Bell,” I called. “You need Titan calm.”
“I have enough sedative.”
“He won’t take an injection from you.”
“I don’t need his permission.”
“If he panics, your plan fails.”
Silence.
“I trained dogs for twenty-two years,” I continued. “Let me bring him in under control.”
The door unlocked.
“Come inside.”
I looked at Brooks.
She shook her head once.
I handed her my phone.
Then I leaned close to Titan.
There were commands a trained dog understood from words.
There were others he understood from posture, touch, and trust.
I ran two fingers beneath his collar and tapped his chest once.
Then twice.
A directional signal.
He looked toward the lodge’s left side.
I tapped again.
Find another path.
Titan turned and disappeared into the shadows.
Bell’s voice sharpened.
“Where is the dog?”
“He slipped his collar.”
“Bring him back!”
“I can’t see him.”
Bell opened the door and stepped onto the porch.
He held Emily in front of him.
One arm locked around her neck. The pistol pressed beneath her jaw.
She could barely stand.
“Call the dog,” he ordered.
I raised both hands.
“Titan!”
A bark came from the left side of the lodge.
Bell turned toward it.
That was the mistake.
Emily drove her heel down onto his foot and dropped her weight.
Bell’s gun moved away from her neck.
I charged.
My cane struck his forearm.
The pistol fired into the porch roof.
Brooks shouted.
Officers moved from both sides.
Bell pulled Emily backward through the door.
I caught her wrist.
For one second, the three of us were connected.
Bell inside.
Emily between us.
Me outside.
Then a man appeared behind Bell with a flaming rag.
Ryan Cole’s brother.
He threw it into the hallway.
Fire raced across the gasoline-soaked floor.
The lodge erupted.
Bell released Emily.
I pulled her onto the porch as officers opened fire on the armed security man.
Smoke rolled through the doorway.
Bell disappeared inside.
“Dad!” Emily screamed. “There’s another person in the basement!”
Titan barked from beneath the lodge.
May you like
He had found the coal-delivery door.
And someone was trapped behind it.
