Ty must have thought the same thing. He yelled over the idling machines for them to move it, and started to lay down burst of suppressing fire into the woods on both sides of the trail near them. Tree trunks sprayed bark and bullets buzzed past them as snow fell from the boughs.
Jero slung his rifle and moved quickly to his sled. Tavish saw the wolf and the white dog had split up, and were coming fast from high up the steep sides of the trail. Ty was shooting way too low and too far downrange to be a deterrent.
“Gun it!” Tavish yelled to Jero, who was smart enough to listen and immediately shot away on his sled.
Tavish hesitated before hitting his throttle. There was a gap in the trees and he saw an opportunity for a clear shot. He raised his pistol and followed the running white dog, leading it just enough so his bullet would hit just behind its head.
As he started his trigger pull the speedometer on his handlebars exploded.
Chapter 78
Tavish didn’t wait to try to figure out what had happened. He’d seen too many colleagues and enemies waste their last second on earth trying to figure out where a shot had come from. He had survived in this business by letting his flight instinct take over when he saw a shot, and he liked to be gone before he heard it.
In one motion he slapped the pistol into his belt and yanked back hard on the throttle, the powerful sled jerked away and rose out of the snow just as the dog and the wolf blasted onto the trail.
The wolf thumped off the side of Tavish’s sled as he sped past. It clamped onto his thick black snowsuit leg for an instant before it tore off a piece of the fabric and tumbled away behind the sled.
The white dog missed a bite for Jero and bounced off the back of the sled, only it didn’t fall away as Jero sped off.
Tavish thought for a second the dog was running behind Jero’s sled but then noticed it was holding on to the bar above its rear fender.
Jero looked back at the dog clinging to the back of his sled, and then looked at Tavish who read the muscular man’s wide, disbelieving eyes.
They were flying down the narrow trail towards Ty. The big thug flicked his assault rifle to single fire and tried to get a clear shot at the white dog but only had Jero in his sights.
Jia and the heavy man in the black vest hadn’t stopped. Their tail lights were receding down the trail and fading in the blowing snow.
Tavish glanced back at the trail to check on the wolf but it had disappeared.
The deep snow swirled around Jero’s speeding sled and the white dog. Tavish couldn’t tell exactly what he was seeing, and he fought to not stare at the dog so he didn’t crash into the trees. He was pretty sure the muscular canine was holding on to the bar with its paws, and they were wrapped around the bar like hands.
Another shot took off Tavish’s rear view mirror. He stopped worrying about Jero and the crazy white dog that appeared to have hands, and he lay down over the snow machine and held the throttle tight.
There was no way the shot was from Hamish. Another shooter had to be in the woods above them, slightly behind them and to the right. Possibly from the road that wound down from the ridge to the ranch. As he shot straight down the trail, Tavish slid over so he was hanging off the left side of the snow machine, trying to keep its bulk between him and the shooter. His mind shot at thought at him, Even if that was the dogs’ handler they are still way too fucking coordinated.
Jero whipped the sled back and forth wildly across the trail trying to shake the dog. When that didn’t work he ducked low and fish-tailed the sled hard into the dense snow-packed pine branches along the side of the trail. He almost flipped the sled over as the heavy boughs snapped and whipped at him. He disappeared into a cloud of snow and branches for a second, and when he blasted back onto the trail the dog was gone.
Tavish and Jero caught up to Ty, and the miners exchanged a long, worried look before they all crouched low over their machines and sped off after Jia towards the mine.
Chapter 79
“You’re going to get a lot of mileage out of eye shadow for a while,” Blu said with a smile as she finished dressing Christa’s swollen eye.
Christa smiled, and then said, “Ouch,” as she winced and touched the tender red lump on her temple.
Blu shrugged her an apology.
“And so will Vuur,” Ben said as he looked at the angry row of stitches on the wagging dog’s black cheek.
Lucy was seated at the kitchen table with his big black leather jacket draped over the back of the chair next to him. He had one hand in front of him with a blood soaked kitchen towel wrapped around it. His other forearm was bandaged and his hand was in his crotch, holding another towel inside his open dress pants to keep his damaged man parts from bleeding. His ankles were tied to the legs of the kitchen chair with leashes. Even with his dark skin and chin fat the bright red bruises on his neck were clearly visible.
He sat very still, staring at the black dog seated across the table from him. He only had a vague recollection of the dog using its paws to stab and choke him, but he had no doubts about the paws now as the dog was communicating with the kid using some kind of sign language. He was pretty sure the dog was talking about him as it was signing to the kid but looking right at him.
Ben laughed and said, “Yeah, right Spot, he might need some neck makeup, but he won’t be needing a condom for a while.”
Ben had a stack of curved ammo clips in front of him from the attackers’ assault rifles. He was thumbing out shells from some of the half-empty ones to make a few full clips.
Blu’s radio crackled and she grabbed the mic clipped to her lapel, “Yes Dave,” she said, “That’s my car on the ridge, just come on down to the ranch.”
After speaking with Director Barton, Blu had come to check on the ranch. She couldn’t reach Christa or Hamish, and she stopped at the top of the ridge road when she saw the miners’ vehicles. She decided to come down from the south flank on skis with her rifle, and that’s when she heard the gun shots. She saw the four snow machines racing away and recognized Jero and Thibault, and then she noticed Hamish’s sled pursuing them. When it appeared the men had started a fire fight with a dog and a wolf, she assumed the canines were the good guys. Blu was still trying to wrap her head around how the white dog was actually one of Ben’s black dogs. It was hard to grasp, even after Spot had demonstrated changing colors while she stared at him. The white dog she saw on the trail, Smudge, was a hell of a lot bigger than she had been a few days ago. Blu wondered if she had the same befuddled look on her face as the bloodied bodyguard sitting at the table.
Dave pulled his cruiser past the large pickup trucks and into the circle in front of the ranch house. As he walked to the front door he saw a pair of furry brown dogs standing in the snow on either side of the covered walkway. They were well-hidden by drifts and they just stared at him as he walked past. He watched them until the dogs turned back to face the road.
The front door was open a crack so he knocked once and pushed it open far enough to slip into the house. He closed the door behind him, being careful to leave it open a crack. When he turned around he came face to face with a massive brown dog with a black face. The dog didn’t move, but it eyeballed him. He noticed the dog’s huge front paws were red up to the elbow. Dave really hoped it wasn’t blood as he slowly backed up against the hallway wall and crept slowly around the dog. He wasn’t a big fan of dogs, especially ones that came up to his chest and weighed more than he did. He hugged the wall and tried not to return the dog’s stare as he hurried into the kitchen.
The young deputy flinched when he saw Christa’s face. He noticed her bandaged hand, and the blood on the floor and bullet holes running across it and up the wall. Another big dog was staring at him and it looked like a twin of the one in the front hall, but this one had a bloody chest and a stitched up cheek. There was a huge black man sitting at the kitchen table across from the kid and the black dog he’d seen at The Grub. At the far end of the kitchen table was a neatly lai
d out row of rifles and automatic weapons. He felt a cold breeze and saw the sliding glass doors along the back side of the house were shattered. The glass mixed in with the swirling snow that spread across the floor and continued out to the deck where he saw more blood and a body covered in a jacket. Hamish’s large German shepherd was also on the back deck, watching the barn and the snow field beyond. There was another smaller fluffy dog, like the ones out front, standing at the far corner of the barn next to a sled. The dog stood perfectly still, watching the woods. There was another covered body by the corral fence, and he saw Hamish walking fast towards the house from the barn.
“What in frickin’ happy hell went on in this place?” Deputy Dave said, putting his hands on his hips.
As Blu put her hand on Ben’s shoulder she said, “Dave, I need you to stay with Christa and young Ben here. Grab some plastic tarps and tape from the garage and cover up these broken windows. Sweep up this snow and glass. After that I want you to patrol outside this house. Front and back. Stay out of the way of the dogs. Stay off the radio unless there’s an emergency or you hear from me. I’ll call the ambulance and coroner once we’re out of the valley. Don’t touch the bodies, there’s two more over the side of the deck, and don’t touch any of the weapons. Christa’s the most experienced officer here and I’m putting her in charge until I get back. You got that?”
Dave nodded slowly but he was staring at Christa’s closed, swollen eye.
“Deputy,” Blu said with force, “You reading me?”
“Yes captain,” he said, braking his stare and looking up at her “I, I got you, sir.”
“So get to it,” Blu said, pushing him gently towards the hallway as Hamish came up the deck stairs. He was zipping up his white camouflage coat.
Blu turned and smiled at Christa and Ben. She said, “Try to get some rest.”
Hamish briefly knelt on the deck to give a red-smeared Sholto a pat before walking into the house with his boots crunching on the broken glass. He tossed Spot his white camo vest and grabbed one of the assault rifles.
“Sholto’s last firefight,” Hamish said as Ben handed him a full clip.
Christa laughed, and then touched her cheek again and said, “Oww, ass.”
Hamish looked down at Spot and said, “You ready, Einstein?” as he stuffed two full clips from the table into his pockets.
Spot nodded as he clipped on his vest, and then turned and signed to Ben.
Ben said, “Don’t worry about us. You just be careful.” He zipped up one of Spot’s vest pockets and gave the black dog a hug.
As Spot licked Ben’s face he fixed Lucy with one last cold look before jumping down from the chair.
Hamish came around the kitchen table and took a knee. He wrapped his big arms around Ben and squeezed him tight. He released him, and held the boy’s shoulders as he took a long look at the eleven year old. Hamish had been in places where boys Ben’s age had to grow up fast, and hard. He’d seen young men forced to become adults before they should, seen them forced to defend their family, forced to pick up a gun, and forced to kill. He didn’t like his grand-nephew being tossed into this shit pile, but he couldn’t ignore how amazingly this annoying, spoiled little city brat had carried himself. The kid hadn’t a trace of stubble, but Hamish thought he had more brains and bigger, hairier balls than any bloke he’d ever met, or fought next to.
Hamish said, “Lad, you did one hell of a job out there. I’m honored to call you kin, and your Papa and your Mimi would be right fucking proud of you.”
Ben smiled and handed Hamish the last full clip. He said, “You did a good job too, Unc. And I promise not to breathe one word of this to Mimi.”
Hamish stood and turned to Christa. She slapped the revolver into his palm and said, “Go kill those fuckers for me Hamish, and bring all of our pups back safe.”
“Done.” Hamish said, covering her bandaged hand with his as he took the pistol. He slung the assault rifle over his shoulder and picked up his hunting rifle.
Hamish watched as Blu slung her rifle, too. He moved in front of her and looked her in the eye. He said, “Just where do you think you’re going, Captain?”
Blu smiled at him and said, “Listen to me, you thick skulled Jock. I know you’re going and I know I can’t stop you, but you’re not getting shot on my watch. At least I can lend you some legitimacy, and maybe a vest. I’ll arrest anyone left standing. Besides, I need a ride to my cruiser.”
Chapter 80
Glasgow appeared from the forest and walked across the trail to join Smudge who was shaking snow from her fluffy coat.
The big gray wolf head butted her and licked her cheek.
I’m fine, Smudge said as they watched the snow machines disappear around a bend in the trail with their screaming engines slowly fading. Smudge said, They have to go around the ridge. We’re going over it, c’mon.
They darted off together and Smudge was back up to full pump by the second step. The muscular white dog and the huge gray wolf pounded hard up the steep wooded slope, taking big leaps through the deep snow together.
Chapter 81
Jero stopped his snow machine when the gray wolf walked onto the trail ahead of him. The other three machines stopped as well, and settled into the deep powder as they quieted to an idle behind him. They had caught up to Jia and the man in the black vest, only he wasn’t wearing the vest anymore. It was big enough to wrap all the way around Jia, and the heavy man was shivering in just his red plaid flannel shirt.
After following the trail from Christa’s ranch they had joined the pike trail that took them around the base of the north ridge. It would eventually meet up with the logging trails that led to the mine. This section of trail was nestled between steep walls of rock and thick woods. A small river had cut a notch into the ridge. It fell over rocky falls, ran next to the trail for a few hundred meters, and then passed under it through a culvert. The river dropped away again between the steep walls of a narrow gorge.
From his position at the back of the line Tavish hadn’t seen the wolf until he rose up off the machine’s seat and looked around Jero’s bulk. He groaned as the big wild dog stared back at him. He turned to scan the steep walls flanking the trail and thought it was a perfect place for another fucking ambush.
Jia stood up and looked over the wide shoulders of Red Plaid man. “What the hell is that?” she said when she saw the wolf eyeing her.
“That, jefa, is no fucking good, that’s what that is,” Jero said as he and Ty swung their assault rifles around and flicked off the safeties.
Tavish had pulled his pistol and leveled it at the woods. He moved in quick arcs, spinning from one side of the trail to the other, turning his body almost all the way around as he scanned both walls of the trail.
Jia noted he was completely ignoring the wolf and she whispered loudly to him, “Just what the fuck are you doing?”
Without looking at her Tavish said, “Ma’am, I’m afraid the men are correct. That wolf happens to be a harbinger.”
Jia looked into the thick woods where Tavish was sweeping his gun and asked, “A harbinger of what exactly?”
As Jero and Ty pulled up their rifles and took aim at Glasgow through their scopes, and just before Tavish could tell them to forget the bloody wolf and watch the woods, the muscular white dog shot silently from the trees and darted low and straight across the trail.
It ran right between their machines.
It shot behind Ty and Jero, and in front of Tavish and Red Plaid before launching off the rim of the culvert on the far side of the trail and disappearing again into a thick tangle of snowy pine boughs.
Tavish had whipped his pistol around, following the dog as he squeezed off two rounds when the dog was between the sleds in front of him. His silenced pistol huffed and the shots puffed snow near the feet of the miners. Each shot barely missed the fast white dog.
Ty and Jero spun their guns towards Tavish as his shots snapped into the rocky snow covered trail near their fee
t. They hadn’t seen the white dog.
Before they could ask the crazy fucking Brit what the hell he thought he was doing, a crunching started high above them in the trees. It was loud enough to be heard over the four idling snow machines, and it was coming fast down the slope towards them. To Tavish it sounded like a rock slide and he thought, How in the blazes could a dog start a bloody avalanche? He aimed up at the sound but only saw shaking trees and falling snow.
In a panic, Red Plaid tried to pull his assault rifle around his bulk but only managed to knock Jia off the back of his idling snow machine.
That ended up saving Jia’s life as the enormous brown bear blasted from the trees. It exploded out of a cloud of snow and branches onto the trail. The bear let a deep rumbling growl fly as it slammed into Red Plaid’s machine and knocked him several meters away with one huge swat.
Jero and Ty turned and got off one hurried shot each before the roaring bear continued through them as well. It plowed into Jero, flipping his snow machine over and tossing Ty into the woods like a doll.
Tavish didn’t hesitate, he slammed the pistol into his belt and tore away on his snow machine. He slowed between the two wrecked sleds just long enough to grab a handful of Jia’s hair and black vest and pull her onto the running boards of his sled. He yanked the throttle closed all the way and the snow machine screamed as it lifted high out of the snow and shot them straight towards the wolf.
Red Plaid sat up in the deep powder when he heard the snow machine roar past. He watched the British man and the woman wearing his vest speeding away. Huge strips of skin and hair hung from the side of his head. The wound dripped blood over his plaid shirt and speckled the white snow around him red. He turned when he heard the bear’s horrible growl and saw Jero’s feet kicking wildly from below the animal’s brown bulk. Red Plaid fumbled for his assault rifle.
The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2 Page 36
