The possible routes, as well as the number of gas stations and campgrounds, made the task equal to searching for a needle in a haystack. Given enough time, they’d find her, but Jason was having a difficult time convincing Agent Napierski of that. He explained the information they had on Aubree again and expressed how close they were to finding her as he sat in Napierski’s office. “I can’t give you any more men, Edwards.” “But it may be too late if you don’t,” Jason said. Napierski frowned. “Maybe it already is. Concentrate your efforts on the latest activity we’ve seen. We can solve this case without Aubree Stewart.” “Yes, sir.” Jason walked down the hall and slammed the door to his own office, throwing Aubree’s file onto the stack of papers on his desk. They had their finger on a number of connections, but without Aubree, the connections would short-circuit. He needed her to flush out whoever was so desperate to cover their tracks. The chill of the morning air was refreshing, but Aubree’s mind was occupied imagining every possible scenario of the plan, making it impossible to enjoy the drum of the woodpecker or the rush of the creek outside the trailer.
