Title: Retracing His Paw Steps
Fandom: Spooks (MI5)
Rating: G
Length: 746
Summary: Can Lucas, in human form, follow the trail he originally took when a werewolf?

The Grid had suffered a power surge over the weekend, and while Malcolm had been able to mitigate most of the effects, he was still struggling to download any information from the werewolf’s collar from when he had been out on a trail.

Finally, Malcolm looked up and said despondently, “I’m sorry.  I’ve tried everything I can think of, but I can’t retrieve anything from the collar’s transmitter.  It went down when we had the power surge, like everything else, and that was it.”

“I don’t understand,” Harry replied.  “I thought we got everything else back online within ten minutes, fifteen at most.”

“Yes, but we had to contact everyone to ask them to reset.  We couldn’t do that in this case.”

“Maybe we should think about that in case it ever happens again.”

“Even so, it would still require switching the transmitter from off to on.  And in this case, there is a particular problem.”

“Which is?”

“Paws!”

Harry glared at Lucas, who shrugged. 

“We may not have lost everything,” Adam said.  “Lucas, do you think you could follow the trail you took again?”

Lucas thought and nodded.  “I don’t see why not.  It wasn’t that long ago.  But I ought to start sooner rather than later, as the longer we wait the harder it will be.”

“Adam and I’ll come with you,” Ros said.  “It only took you about two and a half hours there and back.  We’ll start from the same departure point and see where it takes us.”

“Good,” Harry said.  “Go now!”

They parked up in the same place Adam had parked at the weekend, when he had sent Lucas, in his lupine form, on the original trail.  The three got out of the car and Lucas cast around looking at the possible paths.  Adam was about to point out which path he’d originally taken when Ros put a hand on his arm.

“Give him time,” she said.  “He’ll need to attune his other senses, and don’t forget his line of vision would have been nearer the ground too.”

Lucas was soon satisfied he had the path he wanted and led them along the trail.  At first it was relatively easy going, but then it started to climb more steeply, and they were all three starting to struggle slightly.

Finally, Adam called a halt.  “How on earth did you manage this?” he asked.  “Why didn’t you look for an easier route?”

“Four feet,” Lucas replied.  “It’s much easier that way.”

Ros half-snorted but decided to save her breath for the rest of the climb.  Fortunately, it didn’t take too much longer and the trail, although uneven and partially overgrown was otherwise relatively easy to cover.

A bit further along they came into a clearing, where Lucas paused and looked around.

“What is it?” Adam asked.

“I’m not sure.  I definitely stopped here for a few minutes; I just don’t know why.”

Ros poked around in the bushes on one side and said, “It looks like the remains of a previous hiker’s picnic in here.”

“That’s it,” Lucas exclaimed, “cheese sandwiches.  Decent cheese, too!”

Ros and Adam shook their heads and they all continued. 

It was about half an hour later that Lucas stopped, and indicated they should be careful.  They looked into another clearing, but none of them could see anything particularly untoward. 

Adam looked at one of the trees and said, “Bullet marks.  I suspect someone shot at you.  It’s far too high, so they clearly hadn’t seen you or knew what you were.”

“That makes sense,” Lucas agreed.  “Not far now.”

He led them on the last section of the trail, which brought them out close to a ledge which overlooked a valley.  At one end they could see a few huts, and although there was no sign of movement, it was clear people had been there, and quite possibly were continuing to use the site as a base of some sort.

“We can reach that by vehicle,” Ros said.  “That should be no problem.  Excellent.  Well, shall we head back?”

Once more, Lucas led the way, but this time he chose a different trail, which was a bit wider and considerably less overgrown.

“Why didn’t we come this way?” Adam asked.

“You wanted to follow the trail I took.  This is the trail I took back.  And no, I couldn’t reverse it.  It wouldn’t feel the same.”

“I suggest we don’t let Harry know this bit,” Ros said.