I Will Find You

I Will Find You
Jennifer 

We were well into the trees but still, no sign had been seen or heard except the faint rustle of us moving through the trees and bushes and the occasional shout of her name.  
A few hours had passed, and we were losing light fast now but still, we pushed on. Suddenly, Daisy seemed to catch something, she pulled ahead, and we followed closely, fear and hope warring within me.  
She was pawing at something, a bone? No, I almost burst into tears as Bjorn went to examine it more closely. “Jennifer, it’s okay, it’s just a dear skeleton. She did some cadaver training, so she is trained to indicate on anything like that. I just need to redirect her, and we can keep moving.” He explained.  
He pulled Maya’s blanket out of a sealed bag and showed it to her again “Find”, he said giving a hand gesture with the word to her before returning to my side and putting a hand on my thigh. It had a calming effect on me that I wasn’t expecting.  
I blew out a breath, giving him a brief, grateful smile and within seconds, I was focused back on the task at hand. “How does she know the hand gestures; did she get trained with both?” I asked.  
“A little but I have been working more on them with her as she began to heal. She will not be able to work again but you try telling her that.” He replied with amusement in his tone. 
“She was born and bred to be a police dog, and she gets so much joy from her work, so I have carried on her training at home. It helps to give her a sense of purpose and security. Or so Kenny says, and he has trained more police dogs over the years than I’ve had hot dinners, so I trust his words.” He explained.  
We walked further into the woods, carefully searching as we went, we were approaching the edge of the territory, and my heart was hurting with worry. Kevin had explained that the cabin the assassin had been staying at was a mile further East past the boundary of the border here.  
Cieran has sent Kathy to search that area already and nothing of note had been found so far. We had agreed that once we got there, we would turn back to return to base and regroup but I knew I wasn’t going home without her.  
Only Kathy would be any use of the drones now as she had heat detection and night vision where the others did not. The workers would be getting tired after doing a full day's work and the horses would need rest soon.  
There was little else we could do tonight, and I knew we were running out of time. One of the teams searching the South woods had already reported that they had found nothing and were turning back.  
My heart sank a little more with every passing minute. She was too quiet, we should have heard something by now. Either she was too terrified to make a noise or... I didn’t want to think of the alternatives. 
My brave little girl had come through so much, she had survived being dumped in the river, being thrown around by those boys, survived being nearly starved and all the health conditions that followed.  
She had healed, she had found so much joy in life and learned to put her trust in me, a human, despite all she had been through at our hands. She had given me so much love and loyalty and I had promised to keep her safe and give her the life she deserved.  
I had let her down; I wouldn’t blame her if she never trusted another human in her life. But one thing bothered me, how did he get her out of her run? She could have escaped inside the house through the doggy door, so why didn’t she?  
Suddenly Daisy’s bark brought me out of my thoughts. Her head picked up and pointed forwards as she started pulling on the leash Bjorn was holding. We followed but we were clearly holding her back with her slow pace.  
“Let her off the lead,” I said to Bjorn. He didn’t hesitate, only seeming to think about it when he gave me a questioning look after the clip was released but I had no time to explain as I whispered one word to Miss Holly, “Follow”.  
We were racing through the woods after the little dark haired German Shepard, her reflective harness shining from the torch attached to the front of my jacket as we went. She sped ahead but never too far that we couldn’t see her.  
We were weaving through the trees when Miss Holy took a jump over a log that I hadn’t seen coming. My balance shifted and cast turned into a dead weight that pulled me further over.  
The world seemed to slow as I lost all balance I had and saw the ground getting closer, there was nothing I could do. I instinctively grabbed the rug beneath me but with no girth to hold it in place, it only started to move with me.  
I felt Miss Holy realise what was happening and try to stop herself, but it was too late. Or so I thought, just as I thought I was sure to meet the hard side of the forest floor, a hand grabbed my shoulder.  
I was pulled back up to sit on Miss Holy’s back and her hooves didn’t miss a beat as she regained her footing to follow Daisy again. I looked over to find my saviour and saw a determined Jackson looking back at me.  
“I heard the dog barking, thought it was Maya, just as well Freddy hasn’t lost his speed from his days on the track.” Jackson gave a brief explanation as he made sure I was steady and took up his reigns again.  
Freddy Mercury, one of our retired ex-racehorses, from one of our most prestigious racetracks with many trophies and ribbons to his name, was now dutifully following my little Miss Holy. “Retired my ass” I mumbled in an amused tone. “You might have saved my life but that doesn’t mean you get to flirt with my mare Mr.” I said to the proud horse. 
The relief that flooding over me at not falling was short lived as I remembered where we were and what we were doing. “Thanks Jax, we need to find Daisy, she was on Maya’s trail.” I said as I scanned the dense woods with my flashlight for Daisy who had disappeared from sight now. Shit.