by Linda Mackay
My entire career I’ve done everything they asked, just to prove I wasn’t my father. I love my dad. But he was a rabble-rouser of controversial ideas and had his Doctorate in rule breaking. I wanted to prove to him I could succeed in his world without breaking the rules and pissing everyone off. The truth is, I haven’t proven anything. I’m a good geophysicist. Dad is a great one. His peers snickering behind his back because of his controversial theories didn’t bother him. He didn’t care if he lost his job. He was willing to stand firm against the government bureaucrats who were driven by dollars and power.
The only thing I’ve stood for recently was a bad case of poison ivy on my ass that made it hard to sit for a week. To hell with wanting a beer, I need a whiskey and peanut M&M’s.
“Hey pee pee pants it’s time to ride.” Todd said from atop Stud.
“Hold your pee pee.” I tied the muddy jeans to the packhorse. “What’s the plan?”
Mac tapped his rifle with his hand. “Time to make like a sniper.”
“Awesome, what are we shooting?” Todd asked. “My stun gun is ready to fire.”
“The only thing you’re going to stun is your poor horse.” Amanda said adjusting the holster on her pistol.
Great googily moogily, I’d been gone five minutes and they’d managed to form an assault team.
“Don’t look so worried, Jorie,” Frank said. “We’re not planning to shoot anything.”
Mac gave me his heart-thumping smile. “Frank is going to take us to a higher vantage point where we can scope out what is going on below.”
Even a bunch of geeks can handle a little surveillance.
Chapter 8
Get off my leg,” Amanda said.
“I’m not on your leg.” Todd smacked her hand away.
“Your boot is holding down my pant leg and it hurts.”
“Stop being a sissy.”
“I’m not a sissy.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut, up.” I was so over the squabbling squids.
Lying on the outcrop, and without moving the binoculars from his eyes Mac took hold of Amanda’s arm with his free hand. “You move to this side of me. Todd, on the other side of Frank. Both of you don’t say a word.”
Todd moved quickly away from Amanda sticking his tongue out at her in the process.
I handed my binoculars to Todd so he had something else to occupy him besides annoying everyone. Then I rolled closer to Mac, “Keep me posted on what you see.”
The chill left from the storm was still in the air, but the heat radiating off Mac felt good. I wondered how anyone whose body was that hot, in more ways than one, could have survived the desert heat in Iraq. This felt much better than sleeping in a tiny two-person tent with Amanda, whose body temperature was like a freezer.
“I see a small group of people. Definitely look like government goons.” Mac whispered to me.
“What are they doing this far in the backcountry?”
“That would be the million dollar question,” Mac said.
Frank reached under his bandana and rubbed his neck. “I’ve been around this rodeo long enough to know this group is out of place.”
“Agreed.” Mac said scooting out of view of the meadow below. He stood and arched his back. “I’d like to stay put for a while and see where this bunch is going. I don’t think it would be in our best interest to run into them.”
“We’ll take turns keeping eyes on,” Frank said.
The ground vibrated under me like I was lying on one of those twenty-five cent, magic finger beds that were in motels when I was a kid. Maybe the earth was trying to soothe me with a mini-massage. I wasn’t cut out for this espionage stuff; I’m just a scientist who is lucky when I go a whole day without tripping over a rock. The closer we got to Dad’s probable location the more at ease I was becoming. I could see there hadn’t been a cataclysmic volcanic event in Yellowstone. The odds of Dad being hurt was pretty much zero. More than likely he was lying low, biding his time until it was safe to travel home without running into authorities of any kind.
In other words, Mac was right and I verged on being a Looney Tune.
“Todd, why don’t you cook up a good meal while we wait this out,” Mac said. “No campfire, just the camp stove.”
“Got it. I’ll cook up some stealth stew.”
Amanda left Frank on first watch and joined us with the horses. “Sure wish we could pick some greens to make a salad.”
“Don’t tempt me,” I said. I loved camp salad made from glacier lilies and fireweed leaves. It’s even better if you can find some berries to mash into a yummy dressing. However, we’d crossed the boundary into the national park and picking anything is strictly forbidden.
“Jorie.” Mac unfolded the quadrangle map of the Thorofare and spread it on the ground. “Help me with this map and the terrain ahead of us.”
“Right now we’re in a reasonably flat exposed area that stretches for miles to the southeast arm of Yellowstone Lake. But, there are lots of downed trees from previous fires, and a lot of marshy ground surrounds the area because we’re so close to the Yellowstone River. We also still have a lot of runoff from a heavy snow season. That means it’s difficult to get too far off trail with the horses, without running into problems.” I pointed to a place on the map ahead of us. “Once we pass Beaverdam Creek we’ll be squeezed between the lake and the mountains.”
Mac pointed to the map. “What’s this area?”
“Two Ocean Plateau,” I said. “It’s a heavily traveled area as far as backcountry usage goes.”
“Why is that?”
“People can hike in from the west on the Heart Lake trail or from the south on Two Ocean trail. Both hook-up with Trail Creek trail and the southeast arm of the lake.”
Mac stared at the map for a minute. “Can I assume there are other people all along this area?”
“Absolutely. My guess is every campsite is occupied and it’s possible a few people are illegally camping.”
“Can you access all the way up the southeast arm of the lake with a power boat?”
“Sure, but it’s illegal.”
“I don’t think legality is a concern for these guys,” Mac said.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we give them a few hours to clear out. If not we move ahead and play dumb.”
“Wow, that’s not going to be hard,” I said.
“I mean out-of-touch dumb. We hide the radios. As of this moment we know nothing about the outside world, none of you are on the USGS payroll, we are on a holiday pack trip.”
“You’ve changed your mind and are willing to ride into the middle of them?”
“If we have to, yes.”
Oh boy, this was never going to work. Todd and Amanda were loose canons on a good day.
I looked at Mac. “You realize Tata are liabilities? They’re like little kids whose Mom gets pulled over for having a headlight out. She tells the cop she had no idea, they interrupt and say, sure you knew, you said Dad was too lazy to fix it.”
“We minimize that liability.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” I asked.
“We’ll put Frank in the lead, then Todd, me, Amanda, and you ride caboose. If we encounter trouble, I’ll pull up along side Todd while you do the same with Amanda.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“If either one of them opens their mouth to say anything we use Arikira and Chimayo to bump them hard enough to interrupt them.”
“Are you sure you can handle Chimayo?” I asked.
“Trust me for once,” Mac said. “Tell them just enough to hopefully keep them in line.”
It was as good a plan as any other. “You want to make a little wager at which one hits the dirt first?”
“Knocking them off the horse would definitely be enough of a bump to shut them up. Who you taking?”
“I’ll take Todd, and trust me for once. The only way to shut up either one of them is to knock them off
their horse.” This was the easiest bet ever.
“You’re on. What’s the wager?”
“I win, you do all my camp chores for a day, plus rub my back after a day in the saddle.” What the hell was I thinking?
“You don’t need to win for me to rub your back. I’m happy to rub you anywhere.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you in or not?”
Mac smiled, “If I win you rap the song, I Like Big Butts, in front of everyone. Plus, once we get home you help me one afternoon with a repair job at my cabin.”
“Deal.”
The Stealth Stew turned out to be anything but stealth. Todd used freeze-dried steak, mixed with peas, carrots, corn, and onions from the greenhouse at the ranch. He added white beans, jalapeños, and cayenne to the mix and let the fun rip. Todd’s a phenomenal cook with whatever ingredients he’s given, but he also has a Machiavellian side. Unfortunately, when it came to the farting game, he had a partner in crime. For such a petite and well-groomed lady, Amanda possessed a devilish digestive system. Not only could she choose if her weapon would be silent or horrendously loud, she could also produce noxious fumes the EPA would classify as toxic.
“I’m going to need a nap before we ride again.” Frank said holding his stomach. “Otherwise, my gut might explode on Junior and I’m pretty sure he’d take offense to that.”
Frank named his horse, Junior, after NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Our Junior’s sire had been a legendary horse, known as one of the best cutting horses in the west. Frank said his horse seemed to be fighting every day to live up to his sire’s legacy. While Dale Jr. had proven his ability equaled his father’s in car racing, Junior the horse flunked out of cutting school. Turned out his ability was as a trail and hunting horse. He was sure-footed where other horses stumbled, and could stand perfectly still when Frank fired a rifle while sitting him.
Junior was special in another way that only I knew. He too was deaf in one ear. He was born that way. Whereas, I lost most of the hearing in my left ear after a severe ear infection when I was seven. My mom was home after being away on her job for two months. I didn’t want to be sick and miss one minute with her so I kept my painful ear a secret until my fever spiked and my ear began oozing pus. By then it was too late. To this day the hardest part is I’m often unsure which direction a sound is coming from. I also get vertigo if I look over a cliff or off a bridge. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with my ear, or was the fact I don’t like open heights. I can scramble up the side of a mountain looking for rocks, and skid back down on the scree like I’m on a giant slide with no problem. If you ask me to look over the edge of a cliff down into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, my head starts spinning like Grampa Nus’ old vinyl record on a turntable.
“What the…I’m moving downwind.” Mac roused from his nap. “Dead yaks covered in maggots in 130-degree sand smell better than that.”
“Thanks. That’s quite a compliment,” Amanda said.
“It was the extra cayenne I put in, so I’ll take some of the credit.” Todd rolled off the saddle pack he’d been using as a pillow. “Anyone seen Frank?”
“Not since lunch,” Mac said.
“I’m right here.” Frank yelled from the rock outcrop. “I think the onions got to me.”
“More likely the jalapeños and beans.” Mac stood and stretched his arms in the air. His shirt clung to the muscles in his arms and chest like a second skin. How was I supposed to take a nap thinking about his muscles pulsing up and down as he stretched? Just looking at him made my shirt feel uncomfortable. Of course, that probably had more to do with my phobia of tight clothes. The floppier the shirt the happier I was.
“Everyone go back to napping. I’ll glass the meadow and our visitors.” Mac picked up the binoculars and wisely walked to the opposite side of the outcrop from Frank.
“Jorie!” Someone was pushing me. “Jorie, wake-up.”
Last night’s lack of sleep must have caught up with me. The idea of waking up and saddling my horse was about as appealing as a poke in the eye.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Almost four.” Todd said handing me a container of water.
“Four!” I looked at the dark clouds surrounding us. “We’ll never make Columbine Creek.”
Frank handed Arikira’s reins to me. “Nope. We’re going to a secret cave.”
“Seriously, a secret cave?”
“Yep. Joe showed it to me when we got caught in the worst storm I’ve ever been in,” Frank said.
“How far?”
“It’s off the trail a ways.” Frank pointed northeast.
I felt like a fish swimming upstream. “Why the detour?”
“Sugar, those clouds are angrier than a bull in heat fenced away from the ladies. We need a lot more protection than those tents offer, and that’s what we’re doing.”
I saw lightning in the distance, and the wind was beginning to blow. “Can we have a fire?”
“You bet.” Frank moved out in the lead.
If we could have a big fire to keep warm and cook on, I didn’t care if we were off course. In the backcountry, off course can either save your life or kill you. You just had to know when to be off. The wind whipped my coat open. I hooked the reins on the saddle horn and zipped up my duster. I reached into my saddle pack, grabbed a bandana, tied it around my neck, and pulled the strap on my cowboy hat tight under my chin. This was definitely a time to be off.
I’d lost track of time since keeping warm and dry on the horse took all my attention. I was failing; I was freezing cold and even through my duster I felt the rain seep in. The reins were yanked from my hands, and Arikira pulled up. “What the hell!”
“Look.” Mac pointed behind me. Over fifty yards off the trail was the rest of group. I was bringing up the rear, and hadn’t heard or seen them turn.
“Sorry.”
“What is the matter with you?” Mac was pissed, and it was not a pretty sight. “I gave you a job to keep watch on our back. What if we’d encountered those clowns from the meadow? You had an assignment.”
“I said I was sorry.” I had screwed up big time and I knew it. “I couldn’t hear over the wind and rain. And made the mistake of tucking in my head so I lost my long distance vision.”
“I was screaming so loud the bears in Montana heard.”
“What?”
Mac dropped my reins and started back towards the others. He was on my bad side and it was hard to hear, but I was pretty sure he’d said bears in Montana heard him. And since all I could think to respond was they do have really good hearing, I decided saying what was the smarter choice.
Arikira stomped her hooves. I looked to my right and got a face full of rain and wind. I turned my head back and saw the grizzly with two cubs of the year. Mom was trying to make her way to safer ground to ride out the storm and Mac and I were riding right where she wanted to go. I lightly kicked Arikira’s sides and rode as fast as I dared over the short distance till I reached Chimayo and Mac.
Chimayo, Stop! Hearing my fear coming through to her, she instantly stopped. Mac shot halfway over her head, but somehow managed to re-center his weight and reseat himself in the saddle. “Grizzly and cubs. Don’t move. Keep your eyes down.” I said.
Mama you may pass with your cubs, we won’t move or disturb you. We too are just trying to get to safety. She stood on her back legs and clacked her teeth. She dropped down on all four feet and twisted her head from side to side, baring her huge teeth at us. I kept repeating the words over and over in my head hoping she understood enough to move on and leave us alone. A clap of thunder shook the ground. Neither Mac, my well trained horses, or I moved a muscle. Mama bear closed her mouth, gathered her cubs, and bolted, crossing ahead of us moving as fast as they could.
“That was without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Mac said, “and I’ve seen quite a few scary things.”
“She didn’t want to hurt us, but her instincts are to protect
her young and we were a threat.” I said taking deep breaths to slow my heart rate. “I think the thunder saved us.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Nothing I was telepathing to her seemed to be working. But when she heard the thunder, it was more threatening than us and I think she decided to take the chance I wasn’t bluffing her.”
“I’m with her. Let’s get out of here before it’s more than thunder raining down on us.” Mac pushed Chimayo up the hill where the others were quickly disappearing from sight. I could see Frank stopped to wait for us. He shook his head to shake some of the water off his cowboy hat just as lightning split a tree less than 20 yards from us. This time both horses took off at a run, and it took every ounce of strength I had to rein Arikira in. Another crack of thunder reverberated through my chest and the lightning strike was almost immediate. I hoped the cave wasn’t much further, or I was going to need to change my pants again.
It turned out the cave was a lot further than I preferred. We were no longer in the open, but on a narrow game trail hidden among the trees and rocks. The crash and flash of the storm was constant, the rain pounded us like pellets, and I was truly lost. If I ever had to find my way here again, it would be impossible. I had no idea how Frank knew where he was going, but not once did he slow or stop his horse to gain bearings. Frank was my hero.
Mac had taken up the rear position and almost ran into me as we turned a sharp corner. Before us was a small cave. If you didn’t know it existed you would’ve ridden right past it. We let the horses stand free. Tying them up in this storm would make them too nervous. I quickly threw the saddle packs off, unsaddled Arikira, took off her bridle and in two quick trips carried the gear into the cave. Mac and Frank were taking gear off the packhorses while Amanda and I searched for wood.
Lucky for us Todd was a master fire starter. When we returned with our first load he already had a small fire going. “How the heck did you do that?” I asked.
