by Jeff Noonan
Then suddenly he heard a loud “Swoosh” behind and above him. Startled, he turned his head toward the noise. It was a bald eagle and it was easily as large as the golden that Lee was watching. It circled above him, then glided across the lake, coming to rest on a tree within twenty feet of where the golden was still silently watching Lee. It settled on its perch and turned toward Lee. Now both birds were silently watching him!
Astounded, Lee reacted by standing, his mouth dropping wide open, his eyes locked on the two birds across from him. Even though he had moved suddenly, the two big birds stayed still and silent.
Lee’s thoughts tumbled over one another in sheer confusion. This wasn’t normal. These two kinds of eagles didn’t associate in the wild. This couldn’t be happening! But it was! Without thinking, he silently mouthed the words, “Holy shit”. He couldn’t wrap his head around this.
Then it came to him, as clear as if someone had put the words in his head. This was goodbye! This was the goodbye that he had never had back in Pennsylvania. Those magnificent birds were there to say farewell to the boy that had been left alone that winter’s day. Lee sat with a thud and the long-lost tears came in a flood. His body shook and his sobs were clearly audible in the silent forest. Yet the birds held their positions in their trees. His eyes never left them and later he would tell his children that their eyes never left him.
This seemed to go on for an eternity to the emotional boy, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Gradually he brought his body and his sobs under control. Taking his handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped his eyes and nose. He sat straighter and watched the eagles. He watched as the bald eagle finally moved, turning its head to look over at the golden eagle. It might have been Lee’s imagination, but it looked like the bald eagle nodded at the other bird. Then it launched itself from the tree and soared across the lake, turning just before it got to Lee’s position and taking flight toward the sky above the little cabin. Soon it was just a dot on the western horizon.
When the bald eagle finally disappeared, it seemed to be a cue for the golden. It left the tree in a path identical to that taken by the first bird. As it turned above Lee, it gave voice to a sound that could not be described as anything other than a scream. The loud piercing noise went on as the bird crossed the lake, trailing off as it went over the cabin. After a while it disappeared, far off in the mountain sky.
Lee found that he was once again standing. The tears were running down his cheeks in a steady stream and he was shaking so hard that he was afraid he would fall. But strangely, he felt at peace. Looking at the sky where the birds had disappeared, he softly murmured to himself, “Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad. Goodbye.” Somehow he knew they heard him.
Lee never remembered the walk back to the cabin. It seemed like one moment he was at the end of the lake and the next he was in the pickup as it pulled away.
Ray had heard the plaintive cry of the golden eagle and he remarked on it as they drove away. He said that it was the first time he’d ever heard an eagle’s scream. It had brought him out of the cabin at a run, just in time to see the big bird fly over him.
Lee didn’t tell him about the other eagle or the message the two birds had carried for him. It was something that he wouldn’t be able to share for a very long time.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE ENCOUNTER
As they crested the hill above the lake, Ray slowed and then stopped the car beside the big rock cairn with the cross on it. He removed his hat and stared quietly at the cross for a long moment. Then he put his hat back on and shifted the pickup into gear. Looking over at Lee, he quietly said, “My cousin died here a few years ago. I never leave without saying hello to him.” Lee just nodded. He still didn’t trust his voice to speak coherently.
The ride downhill from the lake was awkward for both Lee and Ray. Ray kept a steady dialog going about the “screaming eagle” as he called it. He had seen Lee’s reddened eyes and shaking hands and didn’t want to mention anything that might further upset the boy beside him. He didn’t realize that the mention of the eagle right now was the worst thing he could have done.
Slowly they made their way downhill, then turned to cross the side of the bare hill. They rounded a sharp corner on the mountainside and Ray brought Lee to an upright position with a sharp, “What the hell?”
The road ahead was almost completely blocked by a truck that was parked sideways across the ruts in front of them. Ray geared down the pickup and slowed as he approached the roadblock. As he did, two men came around the rear of the truck to confront them. The smaller of the two was smiling widely. He was a small man with swarthy skin and he was carrying a rifle in the crook of his arm. The larger of the two was a blond giant of a man with a pistol holstered at his waist. He had a baseball bat in one hand, swinging it playfully as if it weighed nothing.
Ray’s reaction was immediate. “Dammit! It’s that goddamned Bill Wards. What in hell is he up to?” He abruptly changed his mind about stopping. Instead, he accelerated slightly and pointed the pickup at the narrow space between the front of the truck and the hillside. The pickup’s right wheels bit into the hillside and the truck tilted dangerously. The blond man held up his hand, palm forward in the traditional gesture indicating they should stop. Ray continued forward and the pickup tilted further.
The huge man said something to his companion. The smaller man lifted the rifle, pointed it, and fired. A hole appeared as if by magic in the windshield between Ray and Lee. Ray hit the brakes and the pickup stopped, still leaning dangerously on the side of the hill.
Ray threw his door open and came out in one leap. Ignoring the rifle, he charged directly at the big man. Calmly, Wards waited for him. Then, almost casually, he swung the baseball bat in one hand as if he were swatting a fly. The bat caught Ray in the ribs and he went down, gasping. The big man was smiling now, an arrogant, evil smile. “Shit Ray, I thought you knew better than that.”
Ray sat up, his arms tightly holding himself where the bat had done it’s work. “What do you want, Wards?”
“Just thought I’d show you something, Mr. Moore.” He turned to his companion. “Watch the kid in the pickup.”
The swarthy man turned toward Lee and pointed the rifle. Still smiling, he spoke for the first time, “Don’t move, Amigo. Hands up!”
Lee had been struggling to get the passenger door open so he could help. But it was an uphill push and the door had become stuck against a bush on the hillside. Helpless, he’d watched as his friend was battered to the ground. Reluctantly, Lee raised his hands shoulder high in a gesture of surrender.
Wards turned his attention back to Ray. “Get up, you asshole. I want to show you something.” Slowly and painfully, Ray came to a standing position, still bent and holding his middle.
Wards expression was one of arrogant disdain as he looked down his long nose at the injured man. “Follow me.” With that, he turned and walked over to the edge of the hill where he stood looking down toward the creek below them. Impatiently, he waited for Ray to get there.
Pointing toward the creek, he asked Ray, “What do you see down there, asshole?” Then, almost screaming, “What do you see, you son-of-a-bitch?”
In a weak voice, Ray replied, “The Little Joe and the cedars.”
“You wanna know what I see, asshole? Do you want to know what I see?”
Ray straightened slightly, looking up at the bigger man. His voice was still weak as he replied. “Not particularly, Bill. Not particularly.”
The answer infuriated Wards. Spinning, he threw a powerful punch at the injured man, knocking Ray backward several feet where he landed flat on his back.
Wards was screaming at the top of his voice now. “I’ll tell you what I see, you shit. I see millions of dollars worth of prime cedar timber that you cheated me out of. I see a life of leisure filled with good booze and easy women that you stole from me. I see a year’s work and thousands of dollars wasted. All shot to hell because you wanted to admire your pretty trees. T
hat’s what I see! Now you’re gonna pay the price! Nobody crosses Bill Wards!”
Ray had worked his way back to his feet by the time Wards finished his tirade. But he was still bent and holding his ribs. He looked up at Wards and calmly asked, “Is that why you paid that idiot Gohmert to rob the café and attack my wife?”
Wards stopped and looked at Ray, a slow grin crossing his face. “Yeah, you asshole. I did that and that’s something else I owe you for. It cost me a lot of money to keep that fuckhead from squealing on me. I owe you for that too. Here’s an installment on your debts.” With that, he threw another punch at Ray’s face. Ray managed to move his head to the side, causing the punch to land mostly on his shoulder.
Wards was smiling broadly as he continued. “They’re going to find you guys at the bottom of this hill, all beat to shit. The obituaries will say it was a bad pickup accident. But we’ll know better, won’t we?”
He slapped the baseball bat into his palm for emphasis. Then he continued, “You and that bleeding-heart politician, Kurt Kochran, you’re both going to be dead. With the two of you out of the way, I’ll get the Forest Service to let me cut your pet cedar forest. When you look up from hell, you’ll see me living high off the proceeds from your precious cedars.”
Wards grabbed Ray by the collar and threw him, stumbling, back toward the road. “Jose, get the kid out of that pickup. It’s time to get serious here.”
The swarthy Jose gestured to Lee with his free hand, the rifle still held in the crook of the other arm. “C’mon out, kid.”
Lee shouted back to him, “I’m coming out. Just have to get this door open.” Having said that, he turned sideways and pushed the door with both feet. It flew open and he shifted to pull himself out the door, sizing up the situation as he did. The Mexican gunman was about twenty feet away, on the far left side of the road. Wards was about five feet further downhill and a bit further to the left.
As Lee slid out of the pickup onto the hillside, his right hand unobtrusively dropped back behind the seat, where it encountered the smooth stock of the old Winchester carbine. Trying to remain unnoticed, he pulled the gun with him as he came out of the seat and into a squatting position with the door and the pickup’s engine compartment between him and the others.
He looked up and realized that both the Mexican and his boss were watching Ray, who had suddenly fallen to the ground. In one smooth motion, Lee brought the rifle to bear and pointed it midway between the two assailants as he levered a shell into the rifle’s chamber.
The smooth mechanical sound of the rifle brought both men to full alert. Jose swiveled and started to raise his rifle, but stopped when he realized he was staring into the barrel of Lee’s gun.
But Wards wasn’t so easily shaken. He was stopped in mid-stride, with one hand holding the bat high in the air, planning to bring it down on Ray. He looked at Lee and laughed. “I’ve heard about you, punk. You learned about guns from John Wayne movies. You couldn’t hit a barn if you were inside it. Do you really think you could get us before we get you?”
He laughed again and relaxed. “Jose, don’t worry. This is just a bluff. Shoot him.” With that he reached for the pistol at his waist, the bat still held high in his other hand.
The movement from Lee was small, but instantaneous. The rifle barrel moved almost imperceptibly and a shot rang out. The baseball bat shattered just above where Wards was grasping it. Startled, the big man dropped the ruined handle and jerked his hand down as Lee levered another round into the chamber. It was Lee’s turn to laugh aloud. “That John Wayne thing was with a pistol. With this 30-30, I can shoot a mosquito off the cheeks of your filthy ass. Try me. Please?” He turned the rifle toward Jose, who immediately let his gun fall to the ground, his hands shooting into the air as high as he could reach.
Ray, who no longer looked hurt and was suddenly standing straight, strode to where Wards was standing. Unopposed, he removed the pistol from its holster and trained it on its owner. “Get your hands in the air. Go over by the truck and stand facing it. Now!”
As Wards moved to comply, Ray turned his attention to the Mexican, Jose. “Go over to the front of the truck and lie down. Get yourself face down and don’t move a muscle until I tell you to.” He looked back at Lee. “Come on down here, Lee.” He bent over and picked up Jose’s rifle and tossed it into the pickup bed.
Lee scrambled around the pickup door and slid down to the road. He kept the rifle pointed loosely at Wards, who was carefully checking his surroundings, obviously weighing his options for escape.
When Lee was down and situated, Ray looked at him and grinned. “Okay my friend, watch that one, will you?” He pointed at Jose and tossed Wards’ pistol into the pickup where it clanked against Jose’s rifle. He turned toward where Wards was standing.
Lee was startled. “What’re you gonna do, Ray?”
“Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.” Ray answered with a huge grin. Any resemblance to the injured man he had been pretending to be was gone now.
Sensing his approach, Wards turned to meet him just as Ray let loose with a huge roundhouse right that caught Wards squarely on the nose. He followed with a left that caught the bigger man in the belly, driving the air out of him in an audible “whoosh”. Then Ray just stepped back and waited. “Those were for my wife. I’d say that makes us about even. Do you have the guts to take me on when I can fight back, Mr. Wards?”
Lee looked on in amazement. Both of these men were massive and both looked very fit. Either of them could probably break him in half without trying. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a movement from Jose and turned back to cover him. Still alert, he moved around to where he had all three of the men in his line of sight.
Wards had straightened and was looking down his long, bleeding, nose in an arrogant stare at Ray, who hadn’t moved since issuing the challenge. Wards mouth curled into a sneer as he brought his fists up. “You little asshole.”
He charged, his right fist flying at Ray’s head. But Ray wasn’t there when he arrived. Stepping to one side, Ray brought another roundhouse right to the side of Wards’ head as he passed by. Then a straight right to Wards’ bleeding nose. Ray stepped back a pace and, visibly gathered his strength, came forward with a solid kick that caught Wards in the shin. Wards gasped and stumbled forward when the big work boot caught his leg. Ray was on his toes now, dancing to the left around Wards, peppering him with hard shots to the face, each of which seemed to draw blood. Wards tried to turn to face him, throwing wild roundhouse punches. But Ray kept dancing, bobbing and weaving, throwing more and more shots to the face of Wards. Finally Ray suddenly stopped and rocked back on his heels. Reaching as far back as he could, he brought a hard right over his shoulder in a massive swing that, once again, caught Wards solidly in the center of his face. Lee could hear the smashing sound as the bones in that long, arrogant, nose were crushed. Wards went to his knees, his hands cupping his face, as Ray stepped back again.
Then Wards proved that he was still in the fight. From his doubled-over position, he launched a tackle that caught Ray by surprise and took him to the ground with Wards on top of him. Wards’ clawed fingers scraped Ray’s face, digging toward his eyes. Ray grabbed the clawing hand and bent the fingers back hard. There was a sharp crack and Wards let out a short yelp, then swung his other hand at Ray’s head, drawing blood from a split lip. But Ray, with a mighty heave, threw Wards off and rolled swiftly away from him. Both men were on their feet instantly. Wards tried a kick at Ray, but again was too slow. Again he was rewarded with one of those punishing overhand rights to the face. His face was a solid mask of blood.
The two circled each other, both looking for an opening. Ray’s face was scratched and bleeding, but Wards looked worse, with a glistening red smear covering his entire face. Wards was limping slightly, but still moving well.
Suddenly, Ray jerked to his left and Wards’ defenses followed him. Ray switched his stance and unloaded a heavy right to the side of Wards�
� jaw. Wards hands dropped to his sides and Ray followed with a left cross that caught Wards on the other side of his jaw. Wards’ face went slack, and slowly his body seemed to wilt. His knees folded and when he was unable to crumble further, his legs and feet shot out in front of him and he sat back heavily. His body continued down and there was a loud thud when his head hit the road behind him. He didn’t move.
Ray looked at Lee with a crooked grin. “Glass jaw. Sure glad of that. He was starting to hurt me.” Then he sat heavily on the running board of Wards’ big truck, his face in his hands. All Lee could think to say was, “Wow!” He had never seen anything like this before and it left him astonished and almost speechless.
Trying to not disturb Ray, Lee moved to the pickup where he had seen a length of rope behind the driver’s seat. Returning to where Jose was lying in the road, he sat on the man’s back and swiftly tied his hands behind him. Then, taking out his pocket knife, he cut the rope into another length and tied the man’s feet. Wards was still not moving, but Ray was looking around and watching Lee as he immobilized the Mexican. When he finished, Lee still had about six feet of the rope left. He cut it loose and moved to where Wards was lying.
But Ray stopped him. “Hold up, Lee. I’m not sure that cord will hold this guy when he’s back in action.” Slowly, Ray stood and walked to his pickup. After digging around in the pickup bed, he came up with a tow chain that he kept for emergencies. Then he unlocked his big toolbox and took the padlock from it. He walked back to where Wards was still lying and gestured for Lee to give him the rope. He then tied Wards hands firmly in front of him, running the rope around his waist so that Wards’ hands were cinched tight to his body.
