Bones

From somewhere nearby — none of them could figure out where, at first — a faint voice said, “Bingle, it’s okay. Esta bien, Bingle.”

“Who’s there?” Frank called.

“Ben Sheridan.”

“Ben! It’s Frank Harriman. Where are you?”

“Here. Down in the rocks — I’m injured or I’d crawl up to you. Bingle can show you where I am. How do I say, ‘Come here’?”

“Ven aca,” Travis answered, reminding Frank that Irene’s cousin was the most fluent speaker of Spanish among them,

The dog was looking at Travis, apparently hesitating over this new set of orders, when Ben repeated them. He hurried to obey the more familiar voice, and the men almost missed seeing the place he had scrambled down.

Peering down into the rocks, Frank said, “We’ll get you out as soon as we can—”

“Never mind that — did you find Irene?”

Frank swallowed hard. “She’s not with you?”

“Oh, God!” Ben said. “You’ve got to find her! Never mind me!”

“Tell me what happened!”

“Parrish—”

“We know he killed the others — did anyone else escape?”

“No,” Ben said weakly. “Except — Andy and J.C. weren’t with us, thank God. Parrish came after us this morning, chopping down a tree. She hid me in here and tried to lure him away from me. I — I didn’t want her to! But I can’t walk and—”

“We know how hardheaded she can be,” Jack said. “Where did she go?”

“Back across the stream, I think. I heard gunfire, and then Bingle came to me, but maybe he was just shooting at the dog — I thought I heard her yelling to him after the gunfire.”

“Go on, Frank,” Jack said. “Travis and I can take care of Dr. Sheridan here. I’ll call Stinger, see if he can get up in the air and start looking now. Fog has cleared off.”

“You speak Spanish, right?” Ben asked Frank.

“Yes.”

“Take Bingle. He’s had a rough couple of days, but he’s trained in search and rescue.”

“I once saw David work with him,” Frank said. “But I’m not sure Bingle will want to listen to me.”

“He won’t ever work as well with anyone as he did with David. David—” He seemed unable to continue for a moment. “Please take Bingle with you — it’s worth a try. I think the command is, ‘Find ’em,’ and ask him ‘Where is Irene?’ Praise him a lot, make it a game. He won’t need a leash. I think he’s attached to her; I think he’s wanted to look for her anyway — he’s been acting very worried.”

“Ask Stinger to get that helicopter up as soon as he can,” Frank said, and called to Bingle.

The dog hesitated, looking back at Ben.

“How do I say, ‘Go with him’?” Ben asked.

“Ve con el,” Travis said.

Ben repeated the phrase to Bingle as a command, indicating Frank. He repeated it three times, and finally, Bingle scrambled back up to where Frank waited.

Frank saw that the dog was now focused on him, seeming almost impatient. He tried to recall everything he had seen David do with the dog.

“Travis, you have hold of Deke and Dunk?” he asked.

“All set,” Travis said.

“Bingle,” Frank said. “?Estas listo?”

Bingle barked, and wagged his tail.

Frank held out the shirt he had found in the tent, hoping that Irene had worn it recently.

The dog sniffed at it.

“?Donde esta Irene? ?Donde esta Irene? ?Buscala!”

Bingle barked and bounded toward the stream.

28

FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 19

Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains

There was no thought, at first, of anything but flight.

I ran blindly, into the fog, through the trees. The fog and the forest were at once my shield and my obstacle; together they hid me from him, but because of them I could not simply run, flat out, as fast as I could go.

At home, I ran almost every day on the beach, but there were few flat and forgiving stretches here. The altitude, the mud, and the unevenness of the terrain were only part of the problem — I wasn’t exactly starting out peppy and refreshed. Despite my weariness, though, I ran hard — for a time, the threat of being at Nick Parrish’s mercy was enough to sustain me.