1 MONTH

Bozer and Desi sat on the trunk of their rental car. After four days they had finally returned to the parking area at Big Lake, and only had MacGyver's compass to show for it. Desi stared at the ground, tightly squeezing her water bottle. She felt like she was on the verge of crying, something she rarely did.

"A person doesn't just disappear into thin air like this," Bozer suddenly snarled.

"People do all the time."

"Are you trying to make this worse?"

"I'm trying to be practical."

"Well, stop being practical. Mac isn't your normal person. He doesn't just disappear into thin air."

"He has before."

"Yeah, but we always knew he was planning to disappear." Bozer pulled his phone from his back pocket, staring at the emails that had come in when they had service again. "And they stole and trashed his Jeep over a hundred miles away. They tried to delete any evidence he ever existed, and still are trying. And selling his house? Desi. This isn't revenge. It's something, but this doesn't feel like revenge."

She was too tired and distraught to even respond.

Bozer looked at the lake. An idea blossomed in his mind. He knew his best friend so well that his brain was starting to see something grossly overlooked.

"The compass was found on that access road not far from the fire road."

"I was there, Bozer."

"We never found his pack. Why would the person leave the compass and take everything else?"

"I don't know."

"Exactly!" Bozer pointed at her. "Whoever took him was in a hurry to get him out of there. Which means they wouldn't have gone far from the bottom of that rockslide. They couldn't. They were carrying a body, unconscious probably."

"What are you suggesting?"

"We go back to that landslide and figure out which way they went. Down the access road or the fire road, and then we can stop at houses along the way and ask if anyone has seen him or anything strange in the last month."

Desi scrubbed her forehead with her fingers. She slid off the trunk and got in the car without even responding.

Bozer sat for a moment, not sure how to take that response. He slid off the trunk and opened it, pulling his tablet out of his pack. He pulled up the path they had taken and zoomed in on the landscape. He got in on the passenger side and handed the tablet to Desi.

"What?" she asked.

"Houses!"

"Great. Houses."

"Let's go to any house near the trail he took and ask if anyone saw anything, or him."

She just shook her head and tossed the tablet on the dash. She put her head in a hand, sighing slowly.

"Desi, we have to try something!"

"WE HAVE TRIED SOMETHING!" Desi screamed back. "WE HAVE TRIED AND TRIED AND TRIED, AND—" She suddenly burst into tears. She flew out of the car and jogged away.

Bozer picked up the tablet and looked longingly at the image

The door flew open and she sat back down behind the wheel, slamming the door behind her. Her composure had returned. She snatched the tablet away from him, moving around the image a couple of times.

"We don't know why whoever took him did it," Desi told Bozer. "Our story is we got separated from our friend this morning when he went off to take some pictures. He never showed up where we were meeting him and have they seen him."

"Why do we need a story?"

Desi looked at him. "If whoever took him did go to one of these houses, you can bet they didn't want anyone finding them. If they didn't kill whoever they came across, they may have scared or blackmailed them. You will follow my lead. If I say run, run. Don't ask what direction, just keep on my six. Understand?"

He nodded.

"We'll move closer to that road. We're going to hike to the houses so we can make a quick getaway into the trees if we need to."

"Okay."

Desi hesitated.

"Sorry for the outburst."

"I was surprised it hadn't come before today."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Bozer."

He patted her shoulder.