I struggled to move, but my muscles refused to obey. It was too late, anyway. The boulder was already on a downward collision course toward me.
One last exquisite bit of pain, Kyle whispered.
The electronic beeps merged with the pounding in my brain to create a frantic cacophony. But the rock flew past me, smashing the radio collar to bits and bringing the strident racket to an abrupt end. After that, the world turned black.
I woke to a jackhammer throbbing in my head, and the cold, hard ground pressed against my skin. A deluge of tiny wet kisses showered my face, bringing to life every inch of me that ached. Even my eyelids hurt as I opened them. I found myself lying in the woods, embraced by a light blanket of falling snow. Dusk was ebbing away, having been seduced by the night and then quickly abandoned.
It didn’t take long for two distinct odors to curl their way into my consciousness. The first was easy to identify—the scent of gas. My neck screamed in pain as I gingerly turned my head to the right and spotted a propane tank standing nearby. On the other side of me lay the nauseating stench of death.
I agonizingly turned again and saw that the snow to my left was drenched in blood, its surface covered with a repulsive mound of viscera. I’d been placed near a steaming pile of bear bait.
I desperately tried to move, only to discover that my ankles and wrists were tightly bound with rope. I closed my eyes, attempting to elude the constant thump of pain. But nothing could keep the reek of death from pervading my senses, nor the drip, drip, drip of fear from poisoning my brain. A warm breath unexpectedly caressed my ear, and I jerked in alarm.
“It’s about time you woke up, Sleeping Beauty. I wouldn’t want you to miss the show. After all, you’re the star attraction.”
A flashlight clicked on to reveal Rafe Lungren kneeling over me. He made absolutely certain I knew who he was by shining the flashlight on his face. Then he turned the beam outward, bathing the area around us in a golden glow. My stomach sank as his point was made. This was the spot where Kyle had shot himself.
“I didn’t kill your son, Mr. Lungren. I tried to talk him out of pulling the trigger.” But I knew any hope of reasoning was useless.
“Well, that just goes to show the difference in how we view things, darlin’. The way I see it, you and the people you work for drove Kyle to his death.” Lungren’s brow hung heavy as a cliff over his steel-blue eyes. “Kyle did what any good militia soldier does when he’s caught. He neutralized himself as a source of information.”
I stared at the man above me. “Your son didn’t shoot himself over bear galls, did he?” I ventured. “He did it to protect something that you’re involved in. Poaching bear gallbladders was merely secondary.”
Lungren didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to; a flame came to life in his eyes with an abrupt flicker.
“He sacrificed himself to save your ass, and all you can call him is a good soldier?” I spat. “I hope it damn well was worth losing your only son!” I figured the best way to get Lungren talking was to make him angry.
Lungren drew himself up to his full height and towered above me like a vengeful prophet. “What do you know about loyalty, bitch? Only two-bit whores sleep with Indians!”
A gasp escaped me, and Lungren’s mouth twisted into a malicious sneer.
“Did you really think you wouldn’t be followed? I watched the two of you leave your motel room this morning. You deserve to die for that, if nothing else.”
Helen Lungren Running’s records had been among Hutchins’s Closed Cases. Now I knew who had ordered her death.
“Just like your first wife deserved to die because she left you for a Blackfeet Indian? I know what you’re involved in. Matthew Running believes the United Christian Patriots is selling illegal arms. But that’s not what’s really going on, is it?” I pushed some more. “So was Kyle’s mom your first victim in the trade? And did your son die knowing what Hutchins did to her?”
Rather than erupting, Lungren knelt down once again so that his voice rang strong in my ears.
“You’re a smart girl, Rachel. Bear galls used to be our major source of income until Hutchins came along. I like to think of what we’re doing as a service to mankind. Look at all the lives that are being saved. Besides, it’s not as if anything of importance is being sacrificed. Mud people are hardly a notch above animals.”
I attempted to roll away, which brought a smile to Lungren’s lips.
Shifting his weight, he drew closer. “And I knew you were laying a trap when Cherry Jubilee called. There is no proof of my involvement. I figured you deserved tit for tat. What better way to lure you up here than an anonymous tip about a radio-collared grizzly? Your predecessor fell for the same trick.”
“You killed Carolton?” I blurted, kicking myself for not having been more suspicious.
“No. A grizzly did that, the same as will happen to you. I just laid out the buffet.”
With any luck, a bear would come along right now and munch on the maniac hovering over me. “I didn’t lie to Cherry; there’s evidence that’s going to put you away forever. The FBI has already caught Hutchins, and they’re going through his records at the clinic right now.”
Damn! The records are under the front seat of the Ford! If Lungren searches it, he’ll destroy them!
“Do you really expect me to believe Hutchins would keep any papers that would implicate the United Christian Patriots in all this?” he patronizingly inquired.
“Apparently he kept more than you realize. The FBI will be picking Zarem up next,” I threw out.
“You know about him?” Lungren asked in surprise.
“That’s right; then it’ll be your turn. In fact, the FBI already has a warrant out for your arrest,” I bluffed.
“You’re bullshitting, Porter,” Lungren whispered in my ear. “Zarem and Hutchins are both good soldiers. Neither of them will talk. As for the FBI, let them try to arrest me. Maybe there’ll be a shoot-out at the compound, during which I’ll be killed. That’ll make me a martyr for the cause, just like my son. And Honey’s radio show will go on fomenting violence. Every militia group in the country will rise up against the government’s crimes.”
“I wouldn’t overrate her audience. From what I hear, the only people who listen are those with no brains.”
Lungren’s hand tightly encircled my throat. “Speaking of no brains, you should have had better judgment when it came to men,” he hissed, his fingers digging into my flesh.
I gasped for breath, only to have a piece of duct tape slapped across my mouth.
“I’d kill you myself, but having a grizzly do it is so much better. Of course, maybe you’ll get lucky and no bears will harm you. After all, you’re their big protector, right? I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.”
Lungren picked his rifle up off the ground, near my tracking device. The headphones were nowhere in sight.
“Happy hunting, Agent Porter,” he said, and then left.
Twilight was now gone. I listened until I could no longer hear the crunch of snow beneath his boots. The sound was replaced by a silence so deep that it penetrated every molecule. It was as though I’d been swallowed up whole and had landed in the belly of the universe. The snow glittered like a sea of sequins in the night, and the moon cast sinister shadows around me.
I wriggled back and forth, eventually picking up enough speed to roll onto my side. Then I lowered my bound hands to the ground in search of a sharp object, but found nothing. Damn! I couldn’t just lie here waiting to die. I continued to squirm in an attempt to loosen the ropes. Something pierced my thigh, and I remembered what was in my pocket.
I maneuvered my fingers inside, where they wrapped around the serrated heart pin I’d found on my office floor. But the pin’s jagged teeth kept catching in the fabric, making the process frustratingly difficult. I suppose it was a blessing in disguise that my limbs were numb with cold; I didn’t feel any pain as my fingers got nicked. It was only as I pulled the pin from
my pocket that I saw the blood. I thrust my fingers into the snow and washed it off, then I placed the heart’s lethal teeth against the rope and started to saw.
I was so focused on my task that the high-pitched yip of a wolf took me by surprise, and the pin jerked, cutting my fingers deeper. My flesh turned slippery, and tears of pain caused my vision to blur. I determinedly set to work again, damned if Lungren would win.
By now I’d lost all sense of feeling, forcing me to clutch the heart even tighter. But it had become slick with blood, and the pressure made it slip from my grip!
My fingers dove frantically into the freezing snow after it, but the jagged heart was nowhere to be found. I swallowed a muffled cry and stubbornly continued to grope, but the bitter cold made my fingers clumsy, and my mind grew fuzzy.
I slipped in and out of consciousness, no longer sure what was a dream and what was reality. I might have drifted off into death if a harrowing sound hadn’t jarred me awake. I heard the determined tread of a creature approaching from behind, causing my pulse to race.
I lay absolutely still, knowing the slightest movement would only attract a grizzly that much sooner.
If you act like prey, you become prey. The mantra repeated itself in a sickening loop in my brain.
But rather than feeling the crunch of my bones, I heard the chilling click of a knife flicking open. Lungren must have returned!
I furtively slid my knees to my chest, planning to roll onto my back and kick Lungren to kingdom come, damned if I’d leave this world without inflicting the maximum possible injury on my attacker. I waited for just the right moment to strike, when a familiar voice floated through the night.
“I’m here, chère. It’s all right,” Santou whispered.
The cry buried inside me now rose to the surface, as the blade swiftly released my ankles and wrists. I was pulled onto my feet, and stood on wobbly legs as Jake’s fingers ripped the tape from my mouth.
“How did you find me?” I blurted out, as Jake nervously glanced around.
“Running received your phone message and got worried when you didn’t show. He passed the information on to me.”
Suddenly a tiny red dot, smaller than a dime, mysteriously appeared on Santou’s chest. My mind momentarily went blank, during which precious seconds were lost.
“Drop!” I yelled, and lunged to push Jake out of harm’s way.
But it was too late. The bullet hit its mark. I stood in disbelief as Santou crumpled at my feet. The next instant, I was on the ground beside him.
“Jake! Are you all right?” I cried, my hands desperately trying to stop the growing pool of his blood.
“You’re next, Porter,” Lungren’s voice targeted me from out of the darkness.
A ruby-red dot sliced through the snowy mist and landed directly on my heart, followed by the explosion of a gun. The world came to a stop as I waited for the bite of the bullet. Instead, Lungren flew out of the brush. He’d been tackled by Matthew Running, who’d appeared from nowhere, as silent as a ghost.
I rolled out of the way as Lungren landed in the gut pile, with Matt closely barreling behind. Running momentarily glanced at me, ignoring his own advice: Never turn your back on a coyote.
Lungren seized the opportunity to ram his rifle stock into Running’s side, causing Matt to fall hard to the ground. He groaned and I feared he wouldn’t make it back up. Then the tracking device once again sprang to life.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A radio-collared grizzly was stalking the night—one that was very much alive! But I had little time to think as Lungren staggered out of the gut pile. Raising his rifle, he took aim at me.
“This is for Kyle!”
The words had barely left his mouth when a resounding roar ripped through the forest, and a sound like the thundering of horses became an enormous grizzly racing toward us.
“Matt! Old Caleb to your right!” I screamed, hoping to be heard above the crescendo of roars.
Summoning all his strength, Running leaped up and planted an explosive kick dead center in Lungren’s chest. The gun misfired as Lungren was propelled directly into the creature’s path. It was as if Old Caleb had been waiting for him all along. The bear grabbed the militia leader between his teeth and, lifting him off his feet, shook him like a rag doll. A dull thud echoed in the air as Lungren’s body was flung against a tree.
Matthew darted to me and grabbed hold of my arm. “Run!”
“Wait! Jake’s been injured!”
Running hesitated only a moment before lifting Jake up and throwing him over his shoulder; then we raced through the woods, pursued by Lungren’s bloodcurdling screams. We never looked back, but ran for our lives as Lungren’s shrieks slowly died, replaced by the grizzly’s roars which cannibalized the black night.
Epilogue
“Here, drink this. It will help stop those nightmares you’ve been having.”
I had no idea whether that was true, but I gladly took the cup of tea from Sally’s hands. Old Caleb’s visits had become a regular occurrence in my dreams over the past few nights.
“I caught Honey’s radio program today. You should have heard it; it was one helluva doozy.” Sally parted a bobby pin between her teeth, then restrained a wayward curl. “She’s turning her former stepson and that dead husband of hers into a cause célèbre.”
I had no doubt that Honey’s ratings were soaring. She’d not only vilified the FBI for arresting Zarem and Hutchins, but even claimed that the feds and the Blackfeet were illegally trafficking in the organs of militia members! She insisted Rafe and Kyle had been killed as part of a massive cover-up.
I’d been proven wrong on one thing, however. The militia’s Internet business hadn’t been used to sell body parts; it was making a fortune solely through survival gear and outdoor fashions. In fact, the IPO was still on the fast track to go public. But Lungren had apparently been foolish enough to entrust Benny with all the paperwork. That allowed the Bopper to scam the militia, placing the company in his own name. I’d also learned that though most of the mob’s cash had been returned, Vinnie was now a partial owner in the jesus is coming.com enterprise. I suppose that was one way of recouping the rest of the money.
“Are you going to see Jake today?” Sally coyly inquired.
Santou was recuperating nicely at the hospital in Great Falls. Though the bullet had penetrated the right side of his chest, it miraculously managed to miss all his major arteries. Even now, a shiver ran through me as I remembered how he’d lain unconscious on the ground, bleeding at my feet. Losing Santou would have been as bad as losing life itself. Since he was willing to forgive me my affair, I supposed I had no choice but to forgive myself. I’d acknowledged the fact that we were meant to be together over these past few days.
“Yes. It’s nearly visiting hours, so I plan to head there now. I’ll see you later tonight.”
But I had somewhere else to go, first.
Getting into the Ford, I drove back up into grizzly country. I knew I’d never be able to sleep until I faced down the bogeyman. While I might not be able to permanently extinguish my fears, at least I could put a lid on the box, choosing when and where to open it.
I navigated the winding mountain road, parked my Ford, and began to walk the ridgeline, moving past cedar and lodgepole pines. Snow-covered peaks gazed down, chilling in their beauty. Eventually, I reached a high ridge where the valley yawned below. This would be the last hike of the season. Soon there would be too much snow.
I let the silence embalm me. The stillness slowly filled my veins and I realized it wasn’t so frightening, after all. Perhaps it really was time to let go of the ghosts. And, with that, the permafrost that had encapsulated me for so long began to thaw.
As a magnetic presence filled the air, I realized I wasn’t alone. I turned my head ever so slightly. As I feared, Old Caleb was standing there.
His dark brown fur glistened and rippled under the sun, its silver tips kissed by the frost. Regal in presence, Old
Caleb stood less than fifty yards away. My hand instinctively slid toward the canister of pepper spray attached to my belt. I had no doubt this was the same bear that had killed Lungren. What would he do to me?
Old Caleb never made eye contact. Instead he continued to gaze upon his realm, as if taking one last look before heading back into the earth for his long winter sleep. Averting my eyes, I lowered my head to show that I posed no threat. Then I followed his lead and gazed down on the valley.
An enormous sense of peace came over me, even as I faced my own mortality. No matter the price, I truly believed this was the grizzlies’ land to roam—country so wild that it remained untouched by the track of man. When I finally dared to look over again, the bear had vanished. I made my way back down to the Ford on shaky legs.
I opened the vehicle door and climbed inside, where yet another surprise awaited me. There on the seat was a miniature sandbox, identical to Matthew Running’s. He clearly knew that my choice had been made. Arranged on its surface were a jagged gold heart, a grizzly claw, and his dog tag. The only thing missing was a wounded soul.
I gently raked the sand around them. While there was no escaping the past, it revealed that life was too short to be consumed by guilt and regret. There would always be ghosts, pain, and memories. I’d just have to figure out how to live with them.
My finger rested for a moment on the jagged gold heart. Then I turned on the engine and drove toward my future, where Santou was patiently waiting for me.
Epilogue
“Here, drink this. It will help stop those nightmares you’ve been having.”
I had no idea whether that was true, but I gladly took the cup of tea from Sally’s hands. Old Caleb’s visits had become a regular occurrence in my dreams over the past few nights.
“I caught Honey’s radio program today. You should have heard it; it was one helluva doozy.” Sally parted a bobby pin between her teeth, then restrained a wayward curl. “She’s turning her former stepson and that dead husband of hers into a cause célèbre.”
A Killing Season Page 23
