Protector Wolf

by Linda O. Johnston

  “What are you doing here, bitch?” yelled Vinnie Fritts’s shrill voice.

  “Hey, let her go,” said a voice from behind Maya.

  But it wasn’t Ryan’s voice, or even Piers’s.

  No, it was Trev. What the heck was he doing here?

  And how, Maya wondered, was she going to get out of this?

  Chapter 23

  Still lying on the ground, Maya managed to look up toward Trev. He had a gun, and he stood there aiming it not toward Vinnie, but at her.

  What was going on?

  “Trev?” she said, hating the quaver in her voice. “Have you come up here looking for wolves? I haven’t seen any. Or heard any. But I’d certainly like to see them.” And please don’t shoot me, she thought. Or any wolves. What was going on? Was he somehow a worse threat than the Frittses and Carlo?

  “Yeah, I want to see them, too,” Trev said. “I want to get rid of them—as many as I can.” His face was an ugly sneer now, his voice angry.

  “Really?” Vinnie, who’d been standing near Maya, now edged closer to Trev. “Who are you?”

  The nearby illumination grew brighter suddenly, and Morton and Carlo joined them. Morton held the pole with a light attached, probably battery powered.

  “Yeah,” Morton said, facing Trev. “Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?” He didn’t look nervous about the gun that Trev whipped around to aim on him.

  Maybe that was because Carlo also had a gun—a larger one, and he had it pointed toward Trev.

  “Hey,” Trev said, holding up his hand so his gun was aimed toward the sky. “I’m on your side. You want to get rid of the wolves, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, we do,” Morton said. “But you’re not from around here. Why do you care if there are wolves in this area? Tell you what. You sit down right there and explain to us.” He motioned to the ground below where Trev stood. It was covered with dead leaves like the rest of this woodland. Above, the tall trees obliterated any view of the moon or stars in the otherwise clear nighttime sky.

  Vinnie knelt now beside Maya, binding her hands together. “This is getting more interesting all the time,” she muttered.

  Interesting, yes. And also frightening. Maya’s wrists hurt beneath the ropes. The rest of her, lying on the ground, was uncomfortable, too. But she wasn’t about to complain.

  She just wished she understood what was happening, and why.

  And who, really, was Trev?

  “Okay, okay,” Trev said, still holding his gun but not pointing it at anything. He obeyed and sat on the ground—too near Maya, she believed.

  What was this supposed wildlife aficionado doing here, threatening wolves?

  Threatening people, too. Only now, he was being threatened.

  And so was she.

  “Here’s my story,” Trev said. “And why I’m determined to get rid of wolves, or other protected wildlife, wherever it happens to be. And yeah.” He glared toward Maya. “I’m against your wonderful WHaM. Like I told you, I came here because I heard someone from that damned organization was going to give a talk. I wanted to hear you, learn all about you. Figure out a way to turn you, and your group, into an example. Put an end to your organization and do the opposite of what you’re saying. All those damned beasts out there, they should be killed by anyone who wants to.”

  “Then you’re a hunter?” Maya ventured. Was that what this was about? He just wanted to kill animals for the fun of it?

  She wished then that she was in a better position to rise, to run away from here.

  To hopefully find Ryan, and get Piers and him and maybe their military organization to grab this guy, take down this entire group.

  And make sure that wildlife remained protected from horrible people like him.

  But…

  Oh, Ryan, she thought. Would she even see him again?

  Would she survive what was happening to her here?

  “Yeah, I’m a hunter—now,” Trev said. She saw him look toward Morton, then Carlo. “You guys, too?”

  “In a way,” Morton answered. “But we’ve got reason. Do you?”

  “Of course.” He looked back at Maya. “Did you by any chance think enough about me to try to find me on the internet?”

  She had but didn’t want to admit it. Besides, she hadn’t located anyone with his name.

  “Not at all,” she said, shooting him a disdaining grin.

  “Well, it wouldn’t have mattered if you had,” he said. “See, my name’s not Trevor Garlona. It’s Tim Grant—so even if you knew that and tried looking me up, you’d find a lot of guys with my name.”

  “Why’d you do that?” Vinnie asked. She was now sitting on the ground beside Maya, no longer touching her.

  “I needed a new name for what I intend to do,” he said.

  “Kill wolves?” Carlo asked scornfully. He was still standing, beside Morton.

  He was still holding his gun.

  “Exactly. And more wildlife, too. Anything I can—especially grizzly bears. But with all the publicity that’s now being given to wolves coming back to Washington in large numbers, and mostly getting protection, especially in this part of the state—well, I just figured I could make a statement by killing a bunch of them, then explaining why. But I needed to do it under another name, another appearance, before going public.”

  “Why is that?” Maya asked. Keeping these people talking might give her time to figure out what to do. She couldn’t get her phone out of her pocket with her hands bound, even if she had a way to call Ryan. But if he was up here on the hillside, his special wolflike abilities would let him hear human voices.

  Assuming he was close enough.

  “What do you care?” He sneered toward her. “You like those damned animals more than you like people, right?”

  “No,” she said quietly. Then, more defiantly, “Of course it depends on the people.”

  His laugh sounded bitter. “I’ll bet it does. Well, what about if a person is the brother of a really cool, smart guy who was studying to be a doctor, who loved people and taking care of them—and even liked animals enough to go hunt them, not to shoot them but to take pictures? You might like that cool, smart guy with the camera, but what about his brother?”

  “You’re the brother?” Maya ventured. She shifted slightly on the dirt, trying to see him better—and get more comfortable. She succeeded a bit in the former, but not the latter.

  “Yeah, the brother of that poor, smart, dead guy named Jerry Grant who was up on a mountain like this in another part of the state and happened to run into a grizzly bear. A damned protected grizzly bear, in that area.”

  Oh. This was starting to make at least a little sense now. Horrible sense. But Maya still didn’t know what to do.

  “That’s why I came here to learn more about WHaM, to figure out how to put an end to it and its damned animal-loving members at least as an example to other groups who’d rather see vicious creatures live than people.”

  “I’m very sorry,” she said quietly. Then, to all of them, she said, “Look, I know we have some major differences of opinion. Could we all just go back to town? I can leave tomorrow, not give any more talks favoring wildlife. I can even go public with something in addition to my advice to remember that wildlife is wild, something sympathetic to those who have been hurt by wild animals. Because I certainly am sympathetic.”

  She moved slightly to look toward Vinnie—and then realized she had seen, upon arriving here, the most likely way that Vinnie and Morton had been “attacked” by wolves.

  The same way they had been goring Carlo with a fake claw.

  No, she wasn’t sympathetic toward them. But she didn’t mention that.

  “Sorry,” Morton said. “That’s not going to happen. But Trevor, or Tim, or whoever you are, we’re really sorry for your loss, too. I can’t even tell you how sorry we are, and with good reason. But I’m especially glad to hear that you hate lots of wild animals. Since you’re here, you’re going to get y
our wish to help bring down wild animals, to help us make our case against wolves. You see, I just had a damned good idea. You’re going to be attacked by wolves, too. Like your brother was with a grizzly. And when people see one—or better yet two—people have been killed by them, then their protection is bound to end.”

  What was he talking about? Maya tried not to panic, but her breathing sped up. People being killed? Trev—or Tim—being killed?

  Her being killed as number two?

  “Now wait a minute,” she began, but it was too late. Morton leaped down to where Trev sat on the ground, yanking the gun from him and throwing it to the side. He then pulled out that same gadget he had been using to wound Carlo, thrust the sharp claws hard into Trev’s neck and yanked it sideways, as Trev gagged and coughed, till blood spewed from his throat.

  *

  “Then you really can think like a person while shifted? That’s so cool! I love that you can count, and make shapes on the ground, and all of it!” Pete, who had also shifted before but remained in human form now, pranced all around Ryan as he responded to Piers, eyeing him, clapping his hands.

  “No hand clapping,” Piers whispered sharply to Pete. “There aren’t likely to be other people around but we don’t need to make noise that could draw attention to us, just in case.”

  “Sorry.” Pete dropped his hands to his sides.

  Piers looked deeply into Ryan’s eyes, his expression a question. Ryan nodded his head. Then Piers again faced Pete and said, “He wants you to come with him through the forest. He’ll show you more of who he is, what he can do. Are you interested?”

  “Am I!” Pete nodded vigorously, but then he turned to his parents as if seeking their consent.

  Both nodded, too.

  “Then go ahead. Follow Ryan. But be careful, and obey whatever he conveys to you. He’ll give you instructions even without talking. You okay with that?”

  “For sure.”

  “Here’s a flashlight. Ryan’s unlikely to need it since there is some brightness to tonight’s moon, but you can use it. We don’t want you tripping and hurting yourself.”

  “Thanks.” Pete took the flashlight and turned it on. Good guy. He aimed it toward the ground and not into the trees.

  And then Ryan slowly began stalking into the woods.

  He could not go very fast with a human at his side, though he liked to bound through the brush in areas like this. But his current mission was to show this young man that not only was he a shifter, but that the Alpha Force elixir gave him powers and insights that only members of his unit had.

  After a short while, he stopped and put his nose into the air. He captured the scent of a squirrel. He stalked carefully in that direction, then stood on his back legs with his front paws on that tree, looking toward the large knothole where he knew the small rodent resided, and most likely nested with young ones in the spring. He looked at Pete, barely visible in the light, and nodded.

  Pete got the message. He examined the ground around them, picked up a fallen branch and knocked it against the trunk.

  Nearly immediately, the squirrel shrilled its scratchy call and dashed outside onto the branch nearest to the hole. The animal looked down at them, made further noises, then disappeared upward into the thick branches.

  A true wolf might do as he did, Ryan knew, but not necessarily at this hour, and only if seeking prey to eat. He instead got back down on all fours, looked at Pete and nodded his approval of what he had done.

  Pete laughed. “Cute. I might be able to find us something else to scare but I’d do better if I was shifted, too.”

  Once more, Ryan nodded. Perhaps he could find a fox or a snake next time to play with using methods that were even more human. He headed in a different direction now, making certain Pete followed.

  What could he do next to make it clear to the young man how much human cognition he maintained? He sniffed at the air, figuring he would head toward the flat lawn of the park, perhaps demonstrating something near the podium where Maya had spoken.

  Maya. What would she think if she saw him now and recognized who he was?

  Too bad that he could not have agreed to allow her to participate. It was an important exercise for Alpha Force and needed to remain classified.

  For the next minutes, he allowed his nose to lead him downward and in the direction of the park—until he suddenly heard a very soft but shrill noise, like a human cry of terror.

  He stopped only for an instant to look up at Pete. Had the young shifter heard it, too?

  Maybe. His expression appeared puzzled.

  Ryan uttered a low growl and nodded his head in the direction from which the noise had come—just as he heard another one.

  “What is that?” Pete asked softly.

  With a small woof, Ryan began running in that direction, knowing Pete’s footsteps would be louder and more conspicuous here than his own. But if a human was in trouble—well, there could be no better demonstration of the usefulness of the Alpha Force elixir than for him to use his human cognition to help that person.

  Did he hear sounds from behind him? Perhaps Piers had indeed followed, despite agreement not to. But having backup here might be useful, and he undoubtedly would have Rocky with him.

  Although—might it be someone else? There seemed to be more than one set of footsteps, and not just from one human and dog. Surely the older Sharans weren’t following, as well.

  Ryan could not stop to check now. He could only hope that, whoever it was, they did not add to what he suspected could become a dangerous situation.

  As he ran, he listened and continued to smell the air. It would be better if he was alone. He did not want to lead Pete into danger.

  And when he heard further sounds, voices and moans, he had no doubt that there was danger ahead of them.

  There was also someone in trouble. It might be his human imagination, but the voice that moaned sounded like Maya, though that could not be. She was in her hotel room for the night.

  But he knew her well enough to recognize that she was wherever she wanted to be—although of course, if it was her in danger, that had not been her goal.

  “Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone.”

  Damn. That was Maya’s voice from somewhere in front of them. Ryan halted and turned to face Pete, to make him not only slow down and cease the sounds of human running footsteps through these woods, but also to stay back while Ryan scoped out what was there.

  What was happening to Maya?

  Who was with her, and who she was pleading with?

  He quickly shook his head when he met Pete’s eyes, gently knocking the hand that held the flashlight to convey that it needed to be shut off. When Pete understood and obeyed, Ryan sat down, nodding his head to convey that Pete was to do the same.

  He was glad in many respects when Pete obeyed that, as well. This was a young man who was a shifter, who was smart and followed orders well. He recognized Ryan’s human cognition and respected it.

  He would make a fine asset as a member of Alpha Force—depending on what happened now.

  While Pete sat there, Ryan turned back and crept forward on all fours, close to the ground. He continued to listen and take in the smells around him.

  He heard nothing from Maya now. Was she all right? Had whoever it was listened to her and let her go?

  Ryan wasn’t naive enough in either form to believe that.

  Slowly, slowly, he moved forward, wishing he could run until he saw what was happening. But that might be more dangerous to Maya if he was heard or spotted too soon. He needed to surveil her situation before determining how to act.

  He slid along the dead leaves among the trees, trying to make as little sound as possible.

  A small clearing opened in front of him.

  There, off to his right, sat Maya. She must have been bound, since her hands were behind her.

  In front of her was Morton Fritts, leaning down as if he wanted to strike her.

  Carlo Si
lling stood beside Morton. His face appeared to be sliced open, and Ryan smelled the scent of blood.

  But it probably wasn’t Carlo’s he smelled. No, lying off to Maya’s side was someone else. Someone whose throat had apparently been cut—gnawed?

  He wasn’t sure, but it appeared to be that Trev guy.

  Fortunately he saw no injuries on her…yet.

  He didn’t even try to speculate why she was there. That information would come in time.

  But for now he had to determine the best way to save her.

  Vinnie Fritts was there as well, watching the men close to Maya.

  What would be his best course of action? Were those men armed?

  Might they shoot Maya first if he leaped in to try to help her?

  He hated to stay where he was, even for a few precious seconds more. But if he wanted to do things right, he had to observe and think and plan.

  Could he use Pete’s help?

  Maybe. But he hated turning back to tell the young man to join him.

  For now, he would wait. And watch.

  *

  Maya was terrified. What could she do?

  Trev was clearly dead. The marks at his throat did look astonishingly like bites. Wolf bites. And blood puddled on the ground beneath him.

  Vinnie had aimed a gun at her while they finished killing Trev. She had made Maya sit up afterward and checked that her wrists were tightly bound. She wasn’t sure what they intended for her—but considering what she had seen, she could guess.

  Her phone remained in her pocket, but it was useless. She’d screamed once as they killed Trev, but Vinnie had kicked her and she’d immediately grown silent.

  That had been a while ago now. The two men were huddled together over Trev’s body, still arranging it, she thought. Clawing it more so it would appear the wolf had attacked other parts of him before going for the throat.

  If only she could contact Ryan somehow, tell him what was happening, work with him to find an effective way after this to protect him and his kind, as well as feral wolves. Even before killing Trev, these miserable people had been creating injuries on themselves so they could blame wolves, the better for making claims that the animals should be killed.