'Maybe everyone was too panicked.'
'Perhaps
'You think someone hid footage of the bomber to make a few bucks.'
'To be thorough, I had to assume that. It would be easy enough to hide a phone during the chaos. Or even e- mail the footage and erase the record. So I canvassed the broadcast logs for tonight's local news in Salt Lake City and came across a file at an NBC affiliate labeled 'New Footage from the Utah Bombing.' '
Kat hit a button on the keyboard, and a video started playing, another view of the same scenario he'd watched over and over. Only this time, the bomber was caught in full view, exiting the cave, still carrying the backpack. She was moving fast, but for a fraction of a second, she stared fully at the camera.
Kat deftly captured the image and froze it. The image was grainy, but she certainly looked Native American, as the eyewitnesses had reported.
Painter leaned closer. His heart began pounding harder. 'Can you zoom in?'
'The resolution's poor. I'll need a minute to clean it up.' Kat's fingers flew over the keyboard. 'I thought we should be ahead of the curve on this. The broadcast is slated for the top of the six o'clock hour in Salt Lake City. I happened to read a draft of the accompanying copy. It's very inflammatory. Coloring the attack as a possible resurgence of Native American militancy. In the same broadcast folder, they posted archival footage of Wounded Knee.'
Painter bit back a groan. Back in 1973, members of the American Indian movement waged a bloody siege with the FBI in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Two people were killed and many others injured in the firefight that ensued. It took decades for the tension between the tribes and the government to subside.
'Okay,' Kat said. 'Program's done rendering the sample.'
The image reappeared, a thousand times crisper. Kat manipulated the computer mouse to fill the screen with the girl's face. The detail was amazing. Her dark eyes were wide with fear, her lips parted in a panicked breath, her ebony hair billowing out and framing distinctly Native American features.
'She's certainly a looker,' Kat said. 'Somebody must know her. It won't take long to put a name to that pretty face.'
Painter barely heard the words. He stared at the screen. His vision narrowed, fixed upon that frozen image.
Kat must have sensed something wrong and turned to face him. 'Director Crowe?'
Before he could respond, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out. It was his personal BlackBerry, unencrypted.
He put the phone to his ear, needing to hear her voice.
But it wasn't Lisa. The caller's words came rushed, breathless. 'Uncle Crowe... I need your help.'
Shock choked him.
'I'm in trouble. So much trouble. I don't know-'
The words suddenly died. In the background, he heard the growl of a large animal, followed by a sharp, terrified scream.
Painter gripped the phone harder. 'Kai!'
The line cut off.
Chapter 4
May 30, 2:50 P.M.
Utah Wilderness
Kai backed away from the dog.
Covered in mud, soaked to the skin, it looked feral, maybe even rabid. Lips rippled back in a menacing growl, baring all its teeth. It stalked toward her, head low, tail high, ready to pounce at her throat.
A shout behind her made her jump. 'That's enough, Kawtch! Back down!'
She turned as a tall man in a Stetson rode through a thick stand of lodgepole pines atop a chestnut quarter horse. The mare moved with an easy grace, stepping nearly silently up the slope.
Kai pressed her back against a tree, ready to flee. She was sure it was a federal marshal, swore she even spotted a badge, but once he got closer, she saw it was only a compass hanging around his neck. He tucked it back under his shirt.
'You gave us quite the chase, young lady,' the man said harshly, his face still shadowed by his wide-brimmed hat. 'But there's no trail Kawtch can't follow once he's got his nose to it.'
The dog wagged its tail, but its sharp eyes remained locked on her. A low growl rumbled.
The stranger slid out of his saddle and dropped easily to the ground. He patted the dog to calm it as he joined her. 'You'll have to excuse Kawtch. He's still spooked by that explosion. Got him all on edge.'
Kai didn't know what to make of the man's attitude. He was plainly not with the National Guard or the state police. Was he a bounty hunter? She eyed the pistol holstered on his right hip. Was that meant for her or merely a wise precaution against the black bears and bobcats that roamed the forests up here?
The stranger finally stepped out of the shadows, took off his Stetson, and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. She recognized his salt-and-pepper hair tied in a ponytail, the unmistakable hard planes of his Native American features. Shock made her momentarily dizzy. She had seen this same man in the mountain cavern only a couple of hours ago.
'Professor Kanosh...' His name tumbled from her lips, her voice half angry, half relieved.
One eyebrow cocked in surprise. It took him a moment to speak. He held out his hand. 'I suppose, under the circumstances, Hank will do.'
She refused to take his hand. She still remembered John Hawkes's description of the man.
His arm dropped. He planted his hands on his hips, fingers brushing the top of his holstered pistol. 'So what're we going to do with you, young lady? You've got yourself into a mountain of trouble. All the law on this side of the Rockies is out looking for you. That explosion back there-'
She had heard enough. 'It wasn't my fault!' she blurted out, loud and angry, needing to lash out against someone. 'I don't know what happened!'
'That may be so, but someone died during that blast. A dear friend of mine. And people are looking for someone to blame.'
She stared at him. She read the well of sadness in the deep wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. He was telling the truth.
With his words, the anger inside her blew out like a doused candle. Her worst fears were now real. She covered her face, remembering the blast, the blinding flash. She slumped down the trunk of the tree and crouched into a ball. She had murdered someone.
The well of tears that had been building inside her chest since the explosion broke through the tight terror. Silent sobs rocked through her.
'No one was supposed to get hurt,' she choked out, but her words sounded meaningless even to her.
A shadow fell over her. The old man knelt down, put an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her into his side. She didn't have the strength to fight it.
'I can only imagine what you intended with that backpack full of explosives,' he said softly. 'But you were right before. That explosion wasn't your fault.'
She resisted the comfort of his words. Before her father died, he taught her right from wrong, instilled in her the importance of responsibility. It had just been the two of them most of her life. He took two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. She spent more nights babysitting neighbors' kids than in their own apartment. They took care of each other as well as they could.
