Ellie's Story by W. Bruce Cameron Page A

think we’ve lost her,” he muttered. “Nothing, Ellie?”
    At my name, I turned and looked at him. Then I went back to my Work. The smells were changing. A sharp, tangy smell from the pine trees. Warm earth. Dry grass. But no little girl, not the one I was supposed to Find.
    â€œUnit Eight-Kilo-Six, what’s your twenty?” the radio squawked.
    â€œEight-Kilo-Six, we are proceeding up Amalfi.”
    â€œAny luck?”
    â€œWe had something on Sunset. Nothing since.”
    â€œRoger that.”
    I barked.
    I didn’t normally bark when I caught a scent. But we were Working from the truck and Jakob was so worried; none of this was normal. When the smell rushed in through Jakob’s window, filling up the cab of the truck, I couldn’t hold back. My tail thumped against the seat. This was it! I’d Found the smell again, the girl’s and the man’s together!
    The truck slowed. I kept my nose pointed into the smell. Jakob eased to a stop. “Okay, which way, here, Ellie?” he asked.
    I climbed across the seat and into his lap, shoving my face out of his window. “Left on Capri!” Jakob shouted, his voice sharp with excitement. A few minutes later the truck started to bump. “We’re on the fire road!” Jakob yelled.
    I was alert, focused dead ahead, while Jakob wrestled with the truck, trying to keep it on the narrow road. He pushed me back into the other seat, away from the smell. I whined a little in frustration. “Sorry, girl, I have to drive,” Jakob muttered. “Hold on, just hold on.…”
    Suddenly the truck thumped to a stop, facing a yellow gate. “Be advised, we need the fire department up here,” Jakob said urgently. “There’s a gate.”
    â€œTen-four,” crackled the voice from the radio.
    Jakob pushed his door open hard, and we both jumped out.
    A red car was parked to one side of the rough dirt road, and I ran over to it. My ears were up; my nose was straining; everything in me was on alert. Jakob had his gun out. “We’ve got a red Toyota Camry, empty; Ellie says it belongs to our man,” Jakob said shortly. Then he led me around to the back of the car, watching me closely. “No indication anyone is in the trunk of the car,” he said.
    â€œRoger that,” said the radio voice.
    The smell from the car wasn’t as strong as what was coming from the breeze. Below us, through the trees, there was a canyon. That was where we should go. That was where the girl was, the girl who needed to be Found.
    A steep road on the other side of the yellow gate held the man’s smell. His was stronger, smudged into the dust of the road. Hers was more delicate, drifting on the air. He’d carried her.
    â€œBe advised, subject took the road down to the camp,” Jakob said. “He’s on foot.”
    â€œEight-Kilo-Six, hold and wait for backup.”
    Jakob didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the voice as it came out of his walkie-talkie. “Ellie,” he said to me, putting his gun back on his belt. “Let’s go find the girl.”

 
    9
    Jakob was afraid.
    I could feel the fear rising off him into the air, and it made me nervous. Jakob had been worried, sometimes, when we were Working. He’d been serious, always. But he’d never been scared before, not like this.
    I galloped back to nudge his hand with my nose. I felt better if I could touch him. But I knew I couldn’t stay right next to him. I needed to Find, needed to Work. That would make Jakob’s fear go away.
    The girl’s scent, faint but clear, pulled me forward, down the slope of the road. The path curved and I lost sight of Jakob behind me. Ahead of me were a few buildings, scattered across green grass.
    One of the buildings had steps leading up to a big porch. Up on the porch, a man had his back to me, working on the door with some kind of long metal tool. A little girl