“What’s that mean for us?”
Tom took a hefty swig of his canteen. “This isn’t just an accident, either. Charlie’s one slick, sneaky son of a gun. So far he’s doubled back on his trail three times, used brush to try and wipe out his tracks, crossed water, and now has deliberately gone out of his way to cross hardpan, because this kind of terrain doesn’t hold a print very long or very well. ”
“So are we catching up or chasing our butts out here?”
“Little of both. ” Tom was smiling when he said it.
“So you didn’t lose the trail?”
“Sure, I lost it. Several times … but every time he shakes us off his trail, it’s just where you think it’ll be again. Charlie has no respect for anyone’s intelligence other than his own. He must think Captain Strunk is after him. ”
“Isn’t the captain smart?”
“Huh? Oh, sure. … But Strunk’s not a tracker. Charlie’s confusing the trail for someone who doesn’t know the same tricks. Maybe he’d play it differently if he knew another bounty hunter was tracking him. ”
“Are you sure he doesn’t?” Benny said, and for a moment Tom’s smile flickered.
Tom looked at his brother for a second, pursed his lips, and then turned in a slow circle, re-examining the trails. “We have three possible routes through these hills that are safe. And by that I mean that the zoms have been pretty well cleared out. This pass has become a kind of trade route, and the armed guards the traders use usually go through here and chop down any of the dead they find. They’re quiet about it, too, so as not to draw more zoms into the area. Follow me?”
Benny nodded.
“So the footprints we’re seeing here are almost certainly human. Question is whether these are older prints that were mostly, but not entirely, erased by runoff, or prints left by men moving fast but not carrying heavy loads. The last of the runoff blurred the edges and in this area here, the topsoil is thinner, because we’re coming to some rocky areas. ”
“Okay, but if people came through here recently, then it has to be Charlie and the Hammer, right?”
Tom didn’t answer right away. “What bothers me most about it is that I’m not seeing small footprints. ”
“Nix’s?”
He nodded. “We saw her prints earlier, but I haven’t seen one in the last hour. Not one. ”
“What if one of them’s carrying her?”
Tom considered. “If the ground was softer, we could make that call, because one of the male footprints would be deeper. You might be right, but I’m not sure, because the footprints I’m seeing here look like they’re from several different pairs of shoes. ”
“More than Charlie and the Hammer?”
“Yes. ”
“The Mekong brothers?”
“Could be them, which means we’re hunting four men rather than two. ” Tom started to say something else, but stopped himself. Benny caught it, though.
“What?”
“There are a couple of other options, Benny, and we have to be ready for them. ”
“What are they?”
“The option I like is that Nix somehow escaped. If that’s the case, her trail could have split off at any time. If she’s free, let’s hope she continues to head for high ground instead of trying to go back to town. ”
“Because there aren’t as many zoms high up, right?”
“That, and higher up, there’s always the chance of finding food and shelter. There are some monks out here. If she runs into one of them, she’ll be fine. They’ll take care of her and get word to me. ”
“What’s the other option? The one you don’t like. ”
Tom met his eyes. “There are a lot of places out here to hide a body, Benny. ”