Vendetta by Lisa Harris

reason that makes sense is that abductors tend to take their victims somewhere familiar. Maybe that’s the reason he decided to take her inside the park.”
    Nikki had hiked the trails through the Smoky Mountains dozens of times. Beyond the marked routes of mountainous terrain were endless varieties of plants. Rhododendron and mountain laurel amid weathered rocks, hundreds of species of flowering plants, and other shrubs so thick you couldn’t even get through them.
    And on top of that, the Smoky Mountains held half a million acres of wilderness and hundreds of miles of hiking trails. Phone service was poor. There were dozens of small towns and scenic routes. They’d have better luck trying to find a needle in a haystack.
    â€œSo for now we’ll assume he’s familiar with the park,” Nikki continued as they approached the entrance. “He decides to take her inside, thinking they can get lost. A perfect place to disappear.”
    â€œOr dump a body,” Tyler threw out. At her look he shrugged. “Sorry, but I’m just being realistic.”
    She wasn’t ready to go there. Not yet. “Let’s assume she’s still alive for now. She manages to leave her phone near the visitor center because she knows we’ll track it? She clearly proved resourceful with the hat earlier.”
    â€œBut why dump the phone? Why not just keep it with her if she knows it can be tracked?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Nikki frowned, her mind searching for a plausible answer. “Maybe she was afraid he was about to discover she still had it? She finds an opportunity to turn on the phone and call for help, and he almost catches her so she dumps it.”
    Tyler leaned back against the seat. “Let’s go with the idea that he’s here because the place is familiar.”
    â€œYes,” she said.
    â€œThen who is he? A park ranger? An avid hiker? Maybe an eco-friendly guru?”
    â€œOr even a volunteer.”
    â€œWhich is the problem,” he said. “That doesn’t exactly narrow down your suspects. Beyond the permanent and seasonal personnel that run the park, you have hundreds of volunteers and more than nine million visitors a year.”
    Nikki’s frown deepened as the sergeant pulled into the parking lot. Tyler was right. The scenarios were only guesses based on what little evidence they had gathered. What they needed was an eyewitness. Someone who could positively put Bridget at a specific place at a specific time.

    Nikki joined the rangers, the search and rescue team, and local police officers outside the visitor center at the park entrance, while Tyler waited on the perimeter. She undid the sidestraps of the bulletproof vest one of the officers had handed her and slipped it over her head. The incident commander, Ranger Jerry Anderson, briefed them on the layout of the visitor center they’d already evacuated before dividing them into teams.
    Her pulse accelerated. No matter how many times she did this, there was always the inevitable adrenaline rush of that first step inside. The anticipation of not knowing what was on the other side of the door.
    Like the initial step off the edge of a sheer cliff.
    She stepped through the glass doors of the building seconds later, gun raised, heart beating, focus narrowed. The inside of the building was well lit, as she made her way past the information desk, map kiosk, and theater entrance. Past signs, exhibits, and a huge map of the park.
    Please let us find her, God . . .
    The normally crowded gift shop was empty as she followed her team inside. Books, maps, DVDs, and all the typical souvenirs sat for sale on neat rows. She searched the aisles systematically, looking for every possible hiding place. But there was no sign of the phone. No sign of Bridget.
    â€œClear.”
    â€œClear.”
    â€œClear.”
    Officers called out their status one by one, then regrouped back in the lobby