She hadn’t found a damned thing. And from their last call, neither had Seth. Although the tracking system kept interference to a minimum, it didn’t block out frequency noise completely. Every time the gear would register a blip of sound, it made her heart race until it cleared, getting her hopes up for nothing. And the system didn’t operate real-time. It had a slight delay. That meant she had to learn how the equipment worked the hard way—trial and error coupled with emotional highs and lows. And to compound her stress, when she turned on her car headlights at dusk due to overcast skies and steady rain, she fell victim to a dismal funk that left her exhausted. The darkness exacerbated her sullen mood, and thumping wipers competed with noise coming off the receiver, making matters worse. Long hours and sleepless nights had caught up with her and she was nearly on empty, in more ways than one. She hadn’t eaten since morning and would soon have to find a gas station.
