Le Caméléon >

Jarod "Forest" pretends to be an ex-Army Ranger in order to join a search and rescue team in the Toluca National Forest in Oregon. Jarod is in a nearby diner when he hears than an ornithology student, Victor Simpkins, didn't return from the mountains, where he was studying the nesting habits of eagles and has been missing for five days.

Teamed with local outfitter Nia Pedron, Jarod discovers that Simpkins went to see if he could help the pilot of a downed airplane, and instead witnessed Ranger Stan Conrad killing the man in order to take the money that had just been collected from selling a shipment of illegal drugs.

Conrad trapped Simpkins in an abandoned copper mine, dynamited the opening and then led the search teams in another direction. Jarod and Nia find and rescue Victor, then, with the help of "Big Bob," who runs a truffle business with his partner, "Little Bob," lure Ranger Conrad back to the mine and convince him that he is going to be the one sealed in the mine this time.

Jarod discovers the Three Stooges, Star Wars and Smokey the Bear. He also has his first sexual encounter ever with Nia, who understands all too well about the agony Jarod suffers, wondering where his parents are. Nia lost contact with her parents during a political upheaval in Argentina and hasn't seen them since. In the end, they both know that she will be watched by Centre operatives forever (or until Jarod is recaptured) and, as a result, they will probably never see each other again.