by Raylan Kane
Bridget, dejected, led her team of researchers out of the chamber.
Hodges grasped Cain’s hand firmly and brought him in close. He looked Cain square in the eyes.
“Tomorrow,” he said gravely.
“Tomorrow,” Cain said.
EIGHTEEN
Charlie sat up from the bed and looked playfully at Cain laying beside her. She took the television remote from the night stand and clicked the POWER button.
“Let’s watch a movie,” Charlie said.
“It’s 4 in the morning.”
“You still trying to sleep? You didn’t seem all that interested in sleep a few hours ago,” she said with a giggle.
“Unfortunately, I’ve got no time to watch with you,” Cain said. “I’ve gotta be out in an hour. Reminds me, I should probably grab a shower. You’re welcome to say in here though, ‘til you start work, if you want.”
Cain got out of bed and wrapped himself in a towel, headed for the bathroom.
“You’re leavin’ at 5? Why so early?” Charlie said. “You really going out there to catch that thing?”
“Catching it? Hell no. More like wiping it off the face of the Earth.”
“And you really have to go out there with her?” Charlie scrunched up her face. Cain paused and leaned on the edge of the bathroom door.
“Well now, that wouldn’t be a hint of jealousy I detect in your voice now would it?”
“Why shouldn’t I be jealous? I see how you two look at each other.”
“It ain’t nothin’.” Cain said.
“Yeah right. I know you’re sleeping with her.”
“That ain’t any of your business. You said you weren’t lookin’ for anything serious anyway.”
“I know what I said.”
“For Christ sakes, girl, you’ve got a boyfriend.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Cain smiled and crossed the room back over to the bed. He eased himself over Charlie and kissed her passionately.
“All we’re doin’,” he said softly, “is havin’ a little fun. Am I right?”
Charlie nodded and kissed him again. Cain removed his towel and pressed down on her with his weight. She laid back on the bed for a moment, but after a few moments of thought she stopped kissing and pushed him to the side.
“But what if I want more?” Charlie said.
“Are you serious right now?” Cain said.
“Maybe.”
Charlie noted a look of disappointment on Cain’s face. A tear formed in the corner of her eye. She sprung from the bed and threw on her T-shirt. She searched for her pants on the floor and pulled them on in a hurry.
“Wait,” Cain said. “What are you doin’?”
“Leavin’.”
“Not like this.”
“What do you care?” Charlie said. “You’re just like all the rest of ‘em.”
Cain attempted to grab her arm, she pulled it violently away. Charlie gathered what few belongings she had with her and hastily walked out of the motel room. Cain watched helplessly from the window as Charlie got into her beat up car and sped away.
NINETEEN
The drive out on Hiller Woods Road seemed to fly by. Cain and Jen took separate trucks both laden with supplies and the dry road got them all the way out to the trail heads in just over four hours. They backed each truck into place so that they faced out toward the road should they need to make a quick escape. Sheriff Lake had their maintenance guy do an overhaul on the truck’s radio to ensure it was in fine working order. Cain had his satellite phone with him as well, so Jen felt more secure about having lines of communication open with folks back in Branson.
Cain got out of his truck and flung on his heavy backpack full with camping supplies, two pistols, plenty of ammunition, water and food. He also had a bear gun, a shotgun, an ammo belt, a tool belt and bear spray strapped onto him. He lifted a metal box out of the bed of his truck and sat it on the dirt. He opened it up to check the contents.
Jen walked over a heavy pack of her own, also loaded down with two rifles, her pistol and her tool belt that included two canisters of bear spray. She looked at the open box on the ground and saw many sticks of TNT inside, as well as flares, a flare gun, extra fuses and a detonator.
“That’s the nuclear box, hey?” Jen said.
“Yep. That’s her.”
Cain snapped it shut and carried it in his right hand as he walked to the Johnston Blue trail head.
“Do we need to lock them?” Cain said, pointing to the trucks.
“No one’s coming out here,” Jen said. “No one in their right mind anyway. Besides, we’re carrying everything worth stealing.”
Cain nodded at the logic in that statement and walked to the trail entrance with Jen close behind.
“I must be outta my mind coming back here,” Jen muttered.
They walked down the trail as it snaked through heavy forest for a half-mile. Cain stopped at about that point marveling a large area of flattened trees.
“Jesus,” he uttered.
“This is where we were.”
“The fact you got away. It’s a miracle.”
“Can we keep moving?”
Cain pressed ahead and the trail led to the edge of the rocky ridgeline where Jen had hidden from the massive bear.
“Mind if we take a look at that cave?”
Jen led them off the trail along the rock wall until they’d reached an area where more trees laid flat on the forest floor. The mouth of the cave had lost it’s rounded shape and was more of a flat slit where the bear had attempted to push and pull the deeply embedded granite slabs in an attempt to get to Jen. Cain looked closely at the gouges on the rocks that were larger than his whole body.
“That thing did this?”
“Yeah.” Jen wasn’t feeling all that eager to relive the experience.
Cain removed a flashlight from his belt and peered in through the narrow entrance.
“It’s fairly deep in here.”
“Yep.”
“Do you wanna go inside?”
“I think I’m good.”
Cain looked at her less-than-enthused expression and nodded, realizing there’s no point in exploring the cave further. “Let’s keep going,” he said.
They walked back to the trail and descended another three-quarters of a mile when they saw two bodies in the distance, lying at the point where Johnston Blue Trail converged with the Dakota Trail. Jen rushed to the bodies and once close enough could clearly see they were badly mutilated.
“My God,” Cain said, covering his nose.
“Check them for ID,” she said to Cain.
Cain felt around until he felt a lump underneath one of the corpses.
“Sam Plesac,” he said. “Recognize the name?”
Jen shook her head.
“Anything for the other one?” Cain said.
“Nope. No ID anywhere. Pretty sure these are the guys I’d heard that day. The rifle fire.”
“Where are their weapons?”
“Someone may have grabbed them.”
“Thought you said no one comes out here.”
“This would’ve been before the Town Hall. We get illegal hunting out here fairly often.”
Jen used Cain’s sat-phone to let Tom know about the bodies she’d found. They’d agreed to recover the bodies and to bring them back once their primary mission was complete. Tom would notify Sam’s next of kin and find out what he could about his unidentified partner.
Cain pocketed the phone and the two of them continued down the trail toward the Tyson River. They could see patches of the blue water in the distance and could hear its strong current murmuring through the patches of what forest remained standing between them and the water. As the trail turned to sand and the edge of the forest gave way to a vast area of tall grass and wide open riverbank. They walked up on another body, this one with only half its remains intact.
Dread crept over Jen like a hot poker in the pit of her stomach
. Cain couldn’t find any ID on what remained of the body.
“Can’t even tell if it’s a man or a woman,” Cain said.
“We shouldn’t be out here.”
“We’re gonna be fine.”
Jen noticed a light blue tent, tattered yet still standing a few hundred feet away.
The two of them quickly moved toward the tent. Half way to it, they came across another body with a rifle lying nearby. Jen found the man’s wallet.
“Clive Halsey. Another name I don’t know,” she said. “These guys weren’t from Branson.”
Jen called in the findings on the sat-phone.
“Did we make a mistake sending you guys out there?” Tom said to her. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
Jen did her best to reassure her boss even as she felt an overwhelming sense of futility washing over her. She hung up with Tom, folded the phone into its case and handed it back to Cain.
“Poor bastard at least had a fighting chance,” Cain said looking at Clive. “Unlike the other two.” He looked across the river from where they stood and saw the forest flattened in a zigzag pattern all the way into the shadow of Rydell Mountain and out of view. “Would you look at that!”
“It came from there,” Jen said pointing to the base of the mountain across the way. “Came down, attacked them here. The other two, they must’ve run ahead,” Jen said. “This one stayed behind to try and fend the bear off with the rifle.”
“For all the good it did,” Cain said.
Jen noticed the assembly of objects that she couldn’t quite make out sitting on a small rise of scrub grass, down the riverbank. They walked along the Tyson as it swept in a curve and they could make out four lawn chairs with a cooler and fishing rods strewn about.
“So there were four of them,” Jen said. “Glad to know there isn’t more.”
“We should keep moving,” Cain said. “I’m feeling like a sitting duck out here.”
“With the size of that thing, doesn’t matter where you go.”
“Still, let’s get back on track. I say we follow that thing’s trail toward the base of that mountain. Just gotta figure a way across the river.”
“Trail leads to pulley station,” Jen said. “Rangers put it in a few years back. We can cross there.”
They walked back from the riverbank to the trail which wound its way along the river but inside the front edge of the forest. The trees gave them both a feeling of extra security, but Jen knew it was mainly an illusion. They walked for three miles in silence and the trail ended at some rapids. A metal wire hovered over the white water, attached to a steel pole bolted into a concrete pad on the edge of the river.
“You ever used one of these before?” Cain said.
“Of course,” Jen answered him in a stern tone.
“Hey, just asking. Ladies first.”
Jen hooked herself onto the wire and carefully pulled herself out over the rushing water. The rapids represented a narrower part of the Tyson River, only about 30 yards across, the perfect spot to create some kind of crossing. Jen’s feet dangled over the rapids and she could feel the cold spray on her face as she methodically pulled herself across. The steel pole on the far side of the river was bolted into a large boulder anchored in place by four other boulders. Jen reached the rocks and unclipped herself and stood waiting for Cain.
Once they both had reached the opposite side they walked into the dense trees. Cain glanced around looking for the mouth of the trail. Jen noticed he was looking for something.
“That’s where the trail ends,” Jen said, taking a sip of water. “It’s all backcountry hiking through the canyon now.”
“Let’s get after it.”
They walked for hours concentrating on their footing and pushing through pockets of brush and snapping tree branches. Both were coated in sweat and stunk of bug repellent. Cain’s voice startled Jen after having gone so long without a word between them. He pointed out a small clearing to the their right.
“Meal time,” he said.
They sat on the soft forest floor and chewed beef jerky and granola.
“We should make camp soon,” Cain said. He looked at his watch. “Another few hours of daylight. Should use that to our advantage.”
“Agreed.”
“Maybe hike in another couple of miles. I’ll look for an ideal spot at that point. Maybe we’ll luck out. Find a cave.” Cain said with a smile.
“So, there’s something I’d been meaning to ask you,” Jen said.
“Shoot.”
“What’s with you and Charlie Hill anyway?”
Cain looked to the sky and shook his head.
“What?” Jen said, reacting to him. “It’s a fair question.”
“Women,” Cain said. “What is it with you guys?”
“Fine. Forget it.”
“Wait, a minute. It’s nothin’ to get bent out of shape over.”
A faint waft of smoke floated past them.
“I’m not getting bent out of shape. I just-wait, you smell that?”
Cain turned his nose up and took a deep breath.
“Smoke.”
They both stood up and looked around. Cain noticed a bit of white cloud floating through the trees to their right. “There!” He said, pointing.
They quickly packed up and moved swiftly through the trees as the smoke grew thicker. They stepped fast over fallen logs and branches making no attempt to move quietly. Their feet snapped through brittle twigs and sent echoes off through the trees. The smell of wood burning grew strong in their nostrils as they breathed heavier, their walk gave way to a slight jog.
“Look at that!” Cain pointed to an orange glow poking through the forest ahead.
Soon, the deep woods gave way to large clearing. The two of them stopped at the edge of the clearing squinting into a wall of heat and smoke. The wave of heat pressed against them and they shielded their faces with their hands and stepped back into the trees. They stared in awe across the clearing where the entire forest in front of them was ablaze.
“Toss me the phone!”
Cain threw the sat-phone to Jen. She dialed the Sheriff’s Office.
“Tom,” she said. “We’ve got a problem.”
TWENTY
The bright red chopper swooped below pillars of billowing smoke. The pilot deftly maneuvered the craft up and down to avoid smoky blind spots and areas where the forest fire had crowned, capable of sucking any aircraft into the towering blaze. The helicopter flew over a vast area of burning forest while the fire crew held onto the safety handles and stared out the open sides at the charred trees that seemed to stretch on endlessly.
The fire crew’s ranking man, Harmon Gregory, sat in the co-pilot seat. He pointed to a blackened clearing ahead of them.
“Right there. That’s a good place to drop.”
The pilot guided the stick and spun the craft slightly to the left and came up to hover over the spot. Harmon looked back at his six man crew. These were men he’d entrusted with his life on more than one occasion fighting fires large and small throughout the Alaskan interior. The men were fire-tested and hardened to the conditions. Harmon nodded to them and each of the men reached for their harnesses and clipped the rope to the repel lines on either side of the chopper. The pilot gave Harmon the thumbs up, keeping a close eye on the spot below and holding the craft steady.
“Go!” Harmon shouted.
The firefighters repelled two at a time, one on each side of the craft. They slipped down the black nylon line and could feel the heat of the glowing embers all over the ground pushing up against them as they descended. The first two men touched the charred grass and the crew above sent their fire kits and backs down the lines next. The youngest of the crew, Dan Childers signaled to the others above with a thumbs up. Dan and the other crewman received their packs and kits and took the chainsaws into their hands and flung the rest over their backs. The next two firefighters descended after that, followed by their supplies. The four m
en on the ground fanned out well wide of the drop point and surveyed the flaming forest that faced them on three sides. They stood waiting for the final pair to repel.
“Good to go you two!” Harmon smiled at his final pair, the most veteran of his crew.
“What’s going on?” The pilot pointed at the men below who’d begun waving their arms over their heads.
Harmon swung his head over to the window on his right to have a look and saw a huge brown mass crashing through an unburnt swath of woods, headed straight for his men.
“Holy shit!”
The pilot spun the chopper around and saw the gigantic grizzly straight in front of him. Startled by the sight of the enormous beast he jerked the stick causing the helicopter to lean over hard. One of the men in the back, Miles Daley, had yet to clip on the line. The sudden move threw him out the side. He clung to the edge of the chopper, his legs dangled beneath him.
“Captain! Help me!” Miles screamed.
“Jesus,” Harmon said to his other man. “Grab him!”
Harmon moved swiftly to the back while his other man, Jeff Yorn reached out to grab his colleague while attempting to brace himself against the inside of the chopper’s wall.
The crew on the ground ran for the burning forest as the huge animal descended upon them. Dan bounded for the treeline ahead of the rest with a tight grip on his chainsaw. He glanced behind him to see two of his friends crushed beneath a giant paw. Dan and his friend Percy dove behind a large stump. The bear stopped charging and looked up at the helicopter with a man hanging out of it. Unwittingly the bear’s massive paw came to rest on the end of the nylon repel line. It let out a huge roar everyone could hear over the chopper’s engines.
“Pull up!” Harmon commanded.
The pilot pulled back on the stick and the helicopter’s engines revved high. The craft rose a few feet before violently hitting a sudden stop mid-air. The pilot looked down and saw the rope beneath the bear’s foot.
Miles could feel his hand slipping from the sharp metal edge of the chopper wall. Jeff had his hand clenched on the front of Miles’s coat. When the chopper jerked to a stop Jeff lost his grip on his friend’s coat.
