Chapter 10: Chase
After lunch, Antoinette lay in one of the lounge chairs beside the huge, free-form pool on the Plaza Level, watching Scott and Jerry play rummy at a nearby table. She still missed Tracker. The only solace she had was the fact that, according to Dr. Carter, she had some kind of link with him so that she always knew roughly where he was.
She let her mind rove sleepily. Two months ago, I did not know Tracker, or anyone at the Base. I did not even know the Defenders existed. And now, I am one of them and have found someone to love. I hope soon he understands his feelings for me.
She stirred sleepily. I wonder where he is now, she thought, focusing on that location-sense she had developed.
Movement. Traveling quickly. That way. He”s hurt!
Sleep vanished as she tensed in alarm, her hand going to her throat. She focused her dangersense on him, leaping to her feet as it shrilled its warning in her mind. Danger! Deadly danger to Tracker!
”Non! Tracker!” she screamed, changing to the tiger in mid-cry. The fabric of the thin blouse shredded as the huge tiger exploded out of it. The button securing the waist of the wraparound skirt popped free as the slender hundred-pound girl became a massively-muscled six-hundred-pound tiger. Scott and Jerry sprang to their feet, knocking the table over as she flashed past them, fled down the hallway and dived through the outer wall of the Base. She held her breath as she raced through solid rock, keeping her nose pointed towards where she sensed Tracker to be.
She burst from the darkness of solid stone into bright sunlight. She paused, blinking. Tracker, that way! She charged downslope. The Tennessee River blocked her way at the foot of a small bluff. Without even breaking stride, she launched herself into the air, hurtling out and down. She shapechanged and Antoinette hit the water in a shallow dive and began swimming. She took nearly ten minutes to cross the river. Scrambling up the bank, she changed back to tiger and began running again. A gravel road seemed to lead in the direction she wanted to go, so she raced along, her paws sending up puffs of dust as her claws dug in for traction and speed. After a few minutes, the river curved back on itself and began to press her westward. She dove in again, swimming strongly against the current as she tried to maintain her line. Once across, she turned north again, facing the steep climb of a ridge. She scrambled up the sometimes nearly verticle grade, claws scratching for purchase in the rocky soil. Cresting the ridge, she stopped, panting heavily. Where is he? She turned her head left to right, seeking that trace. There! Moving fast… just left. No! Not again! She barrelled down the other side of the mountain, crossing dirt tracks and another gravel road before coming back to the river yet again. This time, instead of swimming the river in human form, she let Tigresse plunge in. She paddled strongly, taking almost twenty minutes to cross, and into the mouth of a rocky stream. She could see a bridge upstream and as she climbed out of the streambed onto the shoulder of the road saw a paved highway leading in the direction she wanted to go.
Ignoring traffic, she ran up the side of another mountain, the road following the course of the stream, continuing to bear westward on his trail. While traffic was light, downward travelling vehicles swerved and skidded in their attempts to avoid her, leaving a trail of wrecked cars behind her.
Gradually she left the more populated areas, heading into woodlands. She was glad, the cars and their horns had been a distracting nuisance. She’d been running for over an hour when her location-sense showed Tracker’s position shifting rapidly to the northwest. She veered off, cutting cross-country, finally coming out onto the Cumberland Plateau and easier running.
The intrusion alarms jolted Walter out of a heavy sleep. A few seconds later, the alarms silenced. Twenty hours of tailing a criminal known as The Ripper had left him exhausted. Upon returning to base, he found he’d received a rush request for an article on animal abuse for the Atlanta Star newspaper, but he was just too tired. He sank back into slumber.
”Animal, meet Scott Nolan at the hangar, search mission. Priority,” blared the communicator over his head. “Animal, meet Scott Nolan at the hangar, search mission. Priority.”
”All right, I’m coming! Give it a rest!” Walter barked. He threw off the bedclothes and dressed in a simple but expensive jogging suit. An instant later the panther padded out of his room and placed his paw on the locking panel outside the door. Tail bottled with rage, he snarled to himself as he trotted to the elevator. As he entered the hangar, a hovervan skittered out of the vehicle entrance and vanished down the road at full speed.
”Something’s happened to Tracker,” Scott said to Animal. “The intrusion alarm was Tigresse on her way out. She acted like he was in danger. Nobody’s been able to contact him since a momentary contact with his code about ten minutes ago.” The panther gazed at Scott with unblinking eyes as he settled into the back of another hovervan. “Magnum sent a team to try and follow Tigresse. We need to finish Tracker’s mission and find out what happened to him.”
”Tracker was on a search and rescue mission on Walden’s Ridge when whatever it was happened. A girl disappeared there behind her parents’ house two days ago and it’s critical she be found quickly. Her doctor says if she misses her medication for a third day, her chances of surviving her respiratory congestion will be slim. We know he spoke to the girl’s parents, then he started up the mountain. No one’s heard from him since.
”Magnum needs us to find the girl. Once that mission is complete, we determing what happened to Tracker.”
The hovervan roared out from the hangar at full power, slowing enough for an easy transition from land to water, then accelerated to top speed headed upriver.
”Yes, Mr. Nolan,” the balding, middle-aged man said. “He was here. He asked me a couple questions, then greeted Ginny here. Surprised me, really. She doesn’t take to strangers normally, but she acted like they were lifelong pals. What is he anyway? He’s not human, is he?”
”Only half human, Mr. Janlen. He was genetically engineered from birth to be a liaison with the Valani, an alien empire some three or four hundred light-years from Earth.”
”So, why’s he here? What does he want with us?” Mr. Janlen asked.
”Earth is his home. He’s simply decided that helping people like your daughter is much more important than talking to someone we may never meet,” Scott replied.
”Right now we have a small problem with locating your daughter. We lost contact with Tracker about a half hour ago. I’m going to try to trail him with Animal’s help.” Scott gestured towards the wolf at his side. “Tracker’s trail is fresh, so Animal should be able to follow him with no trouble.
”One last question, sir. Did anyone follow Tracker up the mountain?”
”Yes. One of the two patrolmen that brought him here went with him. The other drove off in the car.”
”Thank you.”
Scott led the way around the house to the path leading onto the wooded slope. Animal immediately picked up Tracker’s trail and loped ahead, his nose a few inches off the ground. A little later the wolf circled a small clearing and headed down the hill at a sharp angle. By the time Scott arrived at the clearing, Animal had returned, looking upset.
”What is it, Animal?” Scott asked as the wolf transformed into Walter.
”Tracker and the policeman were met here by a third man. I think it was a planned meeting ’cause there’s no sign that they stopped for introductions. Tracker led the way up the mountain and the other two walked together just behind him.”
”What about the little girl?”
”I can still scent the dog. I think Tracker was still following her trail at this point.”
”Okay. Let’s see where the trail leads.”
The wolf reappeared and started up the path again. They continued hiking, finally arriving at the edge of a deep ravine cut into the side of the mountain. The wolf looked over the edge, then glanced back. Looking over the edge as well, Scott spotted a patch of red cloth on a small ledge about fifty feet down from the rim, nearly obscured by an overhanging bush.
”Can you tell if anyone’s down there?” Scott asked. The wolf nodded his head. “Is it the girl?” Another nod. “Is she alive?”
The wolf’s ears fell. Its form shimmered. An instant later a hawk stood on the lip of the cliff and launched itself out over the ravine. It swooped down towards the spot of red and rocketed past the ledge. Snapping its wings out to full extension, it soared out of the ravine and circled lazily down the length of the draw, then returned, passing only a few feet from the cliff wall. As it passed the ledge it cried out and looped in an uncharacteristically aerobatic maneuver to return over the ledge once again. Then it soared back up to Scott.
Scott waited as the hawk turned back into the wolf. “Is she alive?” The wolf nodded its head. “Good! I’ll call the Sheriff’s department and let them know. Meanwhile you try to find out what happened to Tracker.” The wolf nodded its head and began circling the area, trying to pick up Tracker’s scent.
Scott dialed his radio to the police search frequency and spoke into his throat mike. “This is Scott Nolan of the Defenders calling the commander of the search party. Do you copy?”
”Go ahead, Mr. Nolan. We copy.”
”We found the missing girl. She is on a ledge about fifty feet down from the edge of the wash about two miles north of your position.”
”Roger, Mr. Nolan. We’ll send a doctor familiar with her condition with the air van.”
”Good. I’ll switch over to homing beacon on this frequency. I’m just above her position.”
”Very well. Rescue unit will be enroute in five minutes. Thanks for the assist.”
Fifteen minutes later, the bright yellow-green rescue van floated away from the ledge with the girl inside. As the van lifted away, Scott glanced around, looking for Animal.
