The pups had their winter camo vests on, and Spot and Smudge had both changed their coats to husky mode. They also turned their coats a shade of gray. It was good camouflage, Hamish saw his gray and brown Elkies a few full seconds before he saw the pups.
The pairs of dogs bounded up the small rise from opposite directions to rejoin the sled, and Smudge hooked E’sra back up to the team’s gangline. T’nuc stayed with Spot and they did a full circle around the rangers’ snow machines, crossing in front of their headlights as the blowing snow swirled around them.
Smudge hopped into the sled and signed as Ben translated quietly, “We didn’t see or hear anything in the woods. We can smell the rangers were here, but they aren’t now.”
As Spot conversed with T’nuc in front of the machines, Hamish felt the exhaust of their engines. They were still a little warm and there was snow on the seats. Hamish guessed they had been sitting for about an hour. There were some tracks around the machines but in the deep blowing snow they were quickly fading. The machines had plenty of gas and there was more in their spare cans. The equipment looked to be intact and one of the machines had a tow-behind sled with a large medical case, avalanche kit, and two stretchers stacked neatly on top of each other. Both of their rifles were still strapped to the back of their machines. He assumed their emergency gear, radios, and side arms would be with them. Wherever they were.
Hamish turned off the key on one of the machines, cutting its headlights before he returned to the sled.
They watched Spot and T’nuc. The two dogs were standing close together in the falling snow and Spot had his nose near T’nuc’s ear. They were perfectly still and the Elkie had her head tipped slightly up and away, like she was stargazing, but there was only black and wind and swirling snow in the skies above them.
Ben signed to Smudge, and Smudge nodded.
“Well?” Hamish asked quietly.
“Spot’s teaching her to focus. Elkies have almost twice the scent detection capabilities of Spot or Smudge,” Ben said, “He’s showing her how to remove distractions and find the rangers.”
“Twice?” Hamish asked, “Are you sure about that?”
Ben didn’t answer and Smudge just looked up at Hamish like he was an idiot.
After a minute T’nuc left Spot’s side and walked down the slope and then back along the river’s edge. She walked around on the rocks for a few long moments.
Hamish was almost ready to call her back when she stopped and stuck her nose deep into the snow. After almost disappearing under the deep powder her head popped back up with something black in her mouth. She came back up to Spot and gave him what she’d found before they both trotted over to join the team.
T’nuc shook off the snow from her fluffy coat as Spot hooked her into position again at the front of the team’s harness next to K’cuf.
Spot walked back to the sled and took a black handgun out of his mouth and handed it to Hamish.
Spot signed and Ben said, “T’nuc picked up two rangers. They were here about an hour ago and they were shooting at three adult wolves. Two males and a female. There is some wolf blood…not much, more of the blood is human but there’s no bodies. The odd thing is there aren’t any signs that they left the area.” Ben looked down the slope to the black of the churning water and said, “She thinks maybe they went into the river.”
Hamish looked at the swift current rolling around the wide bend in the river, and the ice covering the small boulders along its banks. Having recently taken a swim in those frigid swells himself, he knew if they didn’t get out and get warmed up quickly they’d end up being a frozen dinner for something. An hour is a very long time to be that cold, and he didn’t see any fires downstream. He also knew no one would walk into that water willingly unless what was on the shore was somehow more dangerous. He sure hoped his lead sled dog was wrong, but he was quickly beginning to understand that his dogs were far sharper than he imagined…and maybe Ben had been right about their names.
Hamish asked, “Was there anything distinctive about the rangers?”
Spot trotted back to the front of the sled. He and T’nuc rubbed and snorted, and a moment later he signed back to Ben who said, “It was a man and a woman. The man sunk about as far as you do into the snow. The woman was…”
Ben stopped Spot and signed for him to repeat what he’d just signed a little slower. He did, and Ben finally nodded, and said, “She was coming out of menstruation. That’s all T’nuc could pick up.” Ben turned to Hamish and asked, “Do you know them?”
Hamish scratched his beard and said quietly, “Maybe, probably. There are two dozen rangers that rotate between this park and Taillon, and Valin, and some of the other smaller national reserves nearby. I know most of them, and there’s almost as many women as men now.”
Ben said, “I’m sorry Unc. I hope they’re alright. T’nuc doesn’t think the wolves are here anymore, at least not upwind or nearby.”
Hamish laughed a little as he said, “Well that’s good news I suppose, and the ranger might be happy she’s not pregnant.”
Hamish thought about taking one of the rangers’ rifles for backup but decided against it. He checked the chamber and the clip of the pistol Spot had handed him. It was a nine millimeter service Glock, and could hold eight rounds total. This one had two bullets left, one in the chamber and one was stuck in the slider. The gun must have jammed. As far as Hamish knew, about the only way to jam a well-maintained Glock was to bang it hard when it was firing. The safety was off, and there was blood on the grip. “Let’s go down to Willie’s coordinates,” he said as he cleared the gun and used a little snow to wipe off the blood before putting it in his pocket.
Ben saw the blood and said, “Unc, the pups have picked up another smell here, and I think there’s something else you should know about these two male wolves.”
Chapter 65
“Naughty girl,” Tavish said to Christa as he held open the doors to the neatly organized walk-in kitchen pantry, “I am sure you have an automatic generator here and I don’t see any candles or lanterns in this closet. So let’s see, what could it be that you wanted?” He stepped into the pantry and a few moments later stepped out with a small metal box that had a combination lock built into its front.
Jero said, “Bitch was fucking strapped homes. That’s some fucked up shit right there.”
Ty laughed and said, “Yeah, looks to me like fucking Peggy here had the drop on your fake ass from the jump, Guv’ner.”
As Tavish walked past the kitchen island Sholto gave Christa a look. She signaled for her dogs to stay put.
Vuur, Rook, and Sholto were clipped to their thick leashes and tied to the island’s heavy arched corbels that supported the marble breakfast bar.
Christa was seated in front of the fireplace in a large leather chair. She was taped to the armrests at the wrists and elbows, and her legs were taped together. Tavish had taken care to roll her sleeves down before wrapping the tape as to not stick it directly to her skin. She was securely restrained, but not painfully so.
He sat on the edge of the couch opposite her chair and said, “Christa. I have no interest in hurting you, or Hamish, or Ben. My employer simply wants to chat with the boy. We would have just asked nicely but it’s a sensitive matter of some urgency and we need complete answers as quickly as possible. If everyone does what’s asked of them we all go home happy. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Christa said.
Jero laughed and Tavish shot him a look that chilled the tough miner into silence. Tavish waved his pistol and Ty took Jero to the front hall. There were more thugs in the ranch’s entrance hallway talking and laughing with automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.
“Now, where is Hamish, exactly?” Tavish asked.
“I don’t know, exactly,” Christa said, “Truthfully. He and Ben went to the north part of the park and I expect they’ll be gone for at least a week. As you heard, I’ve been having trouble keeping in touch with them but t
hat’s not rare with this weather.”
“I see,” Tavish said, moving his tea cup and leaning forward, “Perhaps I got a little ahead of myself. Just so we’re clear here, if you omit a pertinent detail or tell me an untruth at any time I will inflict pain upon you. If you are still feeling uncooperative I will let Ty and Jero do whatever they want to you for a while. From there, it gets more creative and it doesn’t look like you can afford to lose too many more pieces. Please don’t put me in that position. I like you, I don’t want to see any harm come to you. Are we in agreement?”
“We are,” Christa said.
Tavish took a sip of tea and said, “And in case you aren’t understanding the gravity of this situation…” He turned with lightning speed and shot Vuur without spilling a drop from his cup.
Chapter 66
Ben told Hamish the pups’ theory about the bad smells. He also told him what they had seen at the mine and what they suspected about the male rogue wolves, and how it was connected to their struggles in Pembury. He told Hamish about Doug, Liko, and Papa’s murder. Ben described the horror that was Jerry Dorschstein and her kennels, and the effects the compound had on her and the dogs. If the wolves had been intentionally infected, Ben explained, it could result in hyper aggression and massive distortions to their bodies.
He also shared Spot’s guess as to the reason the vile stuff showed up in a small mining town in the middle of Quebec.
They sat together on the sled in the blowing snow, and Hamish watched Ben carefully as his breath puffed out and he told his story. They both had the same shiny smears of Christa’s foot wax on their cheeks and noses to fight off windburn, and Ben reminded Hamish of his dad, and his mom, and his sister who’d all worn the smears when out on the sled. And he thought he could have been looking as his brother from fifty years ago, or himself. As strong as the family resemblance was, Ben also had an altogether different look. Since they got the call about Willie and the skiers Hamish had been watching Ben for any sign he was getting too rattled, but the kid had kept his composure, and was still pretty calm as he told his horrific story. At first he thought Ben wasn’t afraid at all until he noticed he was holding Smudge’s paw as he spoke, and really working it. With the darkness around them he hadn’t noticed, and as he began to pay more attention he also noticed the frequent head nods and foot taps on Ben’s knee from Spot. Hamish was learning to pick up on Ben’s emotions, and by the time the conversation ended and they packed up he realized the kid was scared shitless, but he clearly drew a lot of strength and comfort from his damn dogs. Hamish also wondered if the pups had, without even knowing it, taught Ben to hide his fear as dogs are known to do. He realized spending twenty four hours a day with this pair of smart animals might alter you a bit.
Hamish drove the sled forward with one hand holding the pistol as Ben sat in the sled with the rifle at the ready. The team pulled hard and they sped off into the dark gray as the woods closed in around the trail like a tunnel.
As another clap of thundersnow boomed above them the rangers’ wolf encounter and Ben’s revelations turned over and over in Hamish’s head. He tried to look at the situation forwards and backwards as he typically did when he faced a puzzle he couldn’t solve, but answers were as hard to see as the trail ahead. He had been in more than his share of fights and gotten into and out of plenty of tight spots but his adversaries had always been known. The dark strangeness Ben was talking about was hard for Hamish to buy into, but two days ago he would have bet he wouldn’t be having a conversation with a dog, either.
Hamish worried about his dear sister-in-law and what she and the family must have gone through this past year down in Pembury. He wasn’t surprised she didn’t say anything. She knows he would have been down there with a flame thrower and a rusty pair of pliers for those bastards. He also knew she was very capable of taking care of herself…and apparently Ben’s pups were, too.
He wanted to make sure Christa was alright as well, and he also feared for Willie and the rangers. He hadn’t seen any signs of Glasgow or her pack, he cursed the weather, and he wanted to get in touch with Blu. His racing brain tried to resolve all of these issues into a solution but what weighed most heavily on him was making sure Ben got home safely.
He stared ahead and the rhythm and gentle bobbing of the team in the black swirling snow seduced Hamish’s tired mind. He drifted, and started to see leaping wolves in the moving shadows of the trees and tortured skiers and drowning rangers twisting towards him in the snow blowing down from the boughs overhead.
Hamish closed his eyes tight and heard Jean’s warm voice, What’s for you won’t go by you, so keep your pecker up and get at it, lad.
The big Scot opened his eyes and yelled to his amazing Elkies, “Hike! Move like you mean it boys!” He pushed the team as fast as he dared, moving quickly down the ridge and away from the snow machines.
Eventually the woods pulled back at the bottom of the valley. They came to a widening of the river as the sled approached a large bowl that sloped up in front of them. Ben said, “We’re passing Willie’s coordinates.”
The team skirted a stand of trees near the river basin’s edge and all of the dogs started to act up. The Elkies were still trotting dead quiet but they had fallen out of sync and looked nervously from T’nuc, to E’sra, and back to Hamish.
Spot spun around and barked a quick yap at Hamish who stopped the team and swung the pistol around in a slow arc over Ben’s head, scanning in the opposite direction from the boy’s rotating rifle.
Smudge started to sign rapidly and Ben put down the hunting rifle and pulled her to him. He said softly, “Okay, okay. Calm down, we got it.” He turned to Hamish and said, “Lots of human bodies, Unc.” He followed Spots pointing and signing and said, “There, there, and over there.”
They had stopped near the convergence of two large stands of trees at the river bank with the wide river at their backs. Hamish’s radar whispered to him that it was a great place for an ambush. He moved the team forward a few meters until they were away from the trees and more in the open at the bottom of the slope. The snow still fell heavily and the wind was constant. They couldn’t see to the top of the ridge, or past more than a few trees into the thick woods.
Without the cover of the forest the large glade had deeper snow. With the drifting it was impossible to see any evidence of the bodies.
Hamish told Ben and Spot to stay in the sled as he kept the gun moving along the tree line. He sent Smudge up to unclip T’nuc, and had her reattach the hanging harness to the gangline so they could move out quickly. If that happened T’nuc would still lead, she’d just run in front of the team.
T’nuc and Smudge waded through the deep snow to the closest body and it was immediately evident there was something wrong. T’nuc took a few quick steps away and looked back at the team. Smudge made a wide circle of the area and then carefully moved snow out of the way with her paws. She leaned in to sample the air and then pulled back, shaking her snout.
She signed back to the sled and Ben translated, “Two human females, one younger, one older, in ski suits, skis, poles...”
He paused to sign to Spot.
Spot signed back, and Ben nodded before he turned to Hamish and said, “One of them is disemboweled.”
Smudge dipped back down into the snow and came up quickly and stepped away. She signed and Ben said, “It’s the mother and daughter we met at the bar with Willie. Oh man, Unc, the daughter is shot through the head.”
Through the blowing snow Smudge watched Ben’s knotted face for a moment, and for once she was glad he couldn’t smell what she and the rest of the dogs were being assaulted with. The stench of too much blood and the telltale wreak of corpses pervaded the air around them. Even with the crisp wind carrying much of it away she still felt like she was swimming in death.
Smudge was easily able to locate the bodies in the immediate area so she sent T’nuc to walk the perimeter and search for more. With a nod she checked in with E’sra
and wasn’t surprised to find he was way ahead of her. He and R’ekcuf had been keeping an eye on both tree lines flanking the bowl since their first whiff of this place.
Smudge moved from body to body, signaling back to the sled the conditions of the corpses, and their identities. The descriptions were horrific and Hamish hated that Ben had to translate, but he needed to know.
T’nuc found two bodies further out. What remained of Valerie was up the slope a bit, and a little farther down the river T’nuc whined when she found one of the bodies only partially covered in snow. The head had been removed and its torso had been torn almost in half.
Smudge joined T’nuc, and in the dirt at the river’s edge they found a footprint. It was canine, and big. Smudge’s entire foot fit inside it with plenty of room to spare. She split her paw and the two halves just touched the print’s farthest pad marks when fully extended. The marks looked off somehow. They were bumpy and not symmetrical like a normal dog’s.
They also found a camera at the water’s edge. It appeared to have been set down deliberately on a taller rock not far from the body. They brought it back to the sled.
Spot held the penlight as Hamish wiped some of the blood from the display and Ben found the camera’s power button.
They flipped quickly through the camera’s pictures and the first ones showed a cute teenage girl with braces. She was wearing a formal dress and standing next to a tall boy who was clearly her prom date. In the next shot she was standing in front of her mom and dad. They recognized the woman and her heavy-set husband from The Grub. There were tons of these shots…the girl next to the boy, the girl in front of the boy, the boy pinning on the corsage, the girl wincing playfully…and a comically staged shot of the Dad glaring at the boy with a pointing finger. By the fiftieth shot her date had gone from looking bored to downright surly.
The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2 Page 31
