Fox Run

by Robin Roseau

  She took another photo and sent it to Lara. They only talked for a few minutes before hanging up. Lara didn't ask to talk to me. That actually made me feel bad. As soon as she hung up, I stopped my racket, and Elisabeth let me out of the cage. She slipped me into another harness, one I could slide in and out of. Then she played with my phone for a while until she pulled up a map program. I practiced unlocking it. We had marked the location of Natalie's property, and the phone had a GPS. I was all set.

  She ran me to shore in the dinghy.

  "Are you sure you can find it."

  I licked her hand. I'd find it.

  She gave me a quick hug. "Play it safe, Michaela. Please, play it safe." Then she let me go, and I took off into the woods.

  I counted footsteps. That was how I estimated distances. I ran five miles then stopped and listened while I slipped out of the harness. I dug the phone out of the bag and fumbled until I got it turned on. I was a little off course, so I adjusted and took off. I repeated that at five and a half miles, then again when I was about a quarter mile from the property.

  At that point, I stopped and lay down, listening. I waited like that for an hour. I heard no noises except the normal forest noises. After an hour, I crept closer, very cautiously, listening for noises every hundred yards.

  Finally I heard my first noise: a cheap door slamming then after a short moment, an even cheaper door. The noises repeated in reverse a minute later. I thought that was odd. I crept closer.

  Eventually I came to the edge of a clearing. Across the clearing, three hundred yards away, was a small cabin and next to it, an outhouse. After making sure I was downwind, I settled down to wait.

  Forty minutes later, a man stepped out of the cabin. He carried himself like a wolf. He crossed the grass to the outhouse. Afterwards, he smoked a cigarette before returning to the cabin.

  A short while later, two men came out. The distance was way too far to make out details, but it looked like the one in back was pushing the first one to the outhouse, and the first one was smaller.

  I watched for hours. By the time I turned around and cautiously left, I was sure I'd found it. I hadn't gotten close enough to be sure, but I thought this was it.

  When I got back to the lake was when I realized we made a mistake. We had marked on the phone's map the location of the property, but we hadn't mapped the location of the boat. I got to the water, and the boat was nowhere in sight.

  I mentally flipped a coin and turned right. I ran for a half hour but never saw the boat. I turned around. I ran past where I'd started and for only another five minutes before I saw the boat resting at anchor. I ran down to the water and yipped twice. Five minutes later, Elisabeth picked me up on shore. I waited until we were back on the boat before shifting back.

  "Well?"

  I explained what I had seen.

  "Are you sure it's the right place?"

  "Elisabeth, I don't know. I have never met the youths that were taken. I met them as wolves, but I don't know what they look like. I don't know what the kidnappers look like. But I don't believe in coincidence. I think it's the right place. But I would have to get a lot closer to be sure, and even if I were peeking in the window, I'm not sure I'd be completely positive."

  We went back and forth about it. What if she went? She knew the youths. We decided she'd be spotted or smelled. We talked about pictures, but anything I could take would be too indistinct at the distances I'd be.

  In the end, we decided we had to talk to Lara. She would have to decide if we scouted more or acted on what we had. We both went to bed.

  I slept poorly again.

  Early in the morning, we motored back to where we left the other tracking collar. I went to shore and picked it up. While I was gone, Elisabeth sent a text to Lara asking if she was free to talk. We waited for her to call us.

  We waited two hours, and then she called. Elisabeth answered.

  "I am alone," she said.

  "Is David around?" Elisabeth asked her.

  "No. He, Reggie and Eric are following up on a lead."

  "Lara, do you remember how David met Natalie?"

  "Yes. He did an old fashioned bride hunt. No one does those anymore."

  "So he is an extreme traditionalist. I bet he hates a female alpha."

  "He has always been supportive," Lara said. "He has saved my life more than once. He loves me."

  "And he was very loyal to your father?"

  "Yes."

  "Which means he doesn't want to challenge you, because he'd have to kill you. He wants you so embarrassed that you resign as alpha."

  She thought about it. "I don't buy it."

  "Did you check our location last night on the map?"

  "Yes. You're in the Upper Peninsula."

  "Thirty miles from here is a piece of property in Natalie's maiden name."

  She was silent for a good minute. "What did you find, little fox?"

  I told her. I told her all of it. I finished with, "Lara, I can not absolutely say I found the pups and their kidnappers. I've told you what I've found. What do you want us to do?"

  There was a long pause before she said quietly, "Please put Elisabeth back on the phone and then give her some privacy."

  "Yes, Lara. Lara, I am so sorry."

  "You didn't do it, Michaela."

  "Here is your sister." I passed over the phone then moved forward on the boat and sat down at the bow, staring out over Lake Superior. It was peaceful. I tried to ignore Elisabeth and Lara talking quietly, but it was hard to ignore the faint sounds of my lover sobbing over the phone to her sister. But this was something for the two of them now. I was new to this relationship, but this was someone they had known a very long time.

  Eventually Elisabeth hung up with Lara and came forward to sit next to me.

  "I am so sorry, Elisabeth."

  "I know. Michaela, the alpha of the Madison wolf pack has kindly, formally asked the alpha of the Bayfield foxes to get photographs of a certain cabin from as closely as she can without getting caught."

  "Oh shit," I said. "With a phone camera, I bet."

  "It's all we have."

  "I'd have to be so close, Elisabeth. And I can't operate the phone that well with fox hands. I would have to be human."

  "You are very quiet, fox. Can you do it?"

  "If they catch me, I'm dead, and they'll kill the pups, too, I'm sure."

  "Don't get caught."

  I took a big breath. "Do you have infravision or anything like that?"

  "No. Just very good night vision."

  "So if I'm belly down in the tall grass not moving?"

  "I won't see you."

  "Let's go to shore together. We need to see how closely I can sneak up on you."

  "I'll be alert," she said.

  "Then the point you hear me should be safe." She nodded.

  I took a breath. "All right. I would approach the corner of the cabin as fox. If I get there, I'll switch to human, then slide very carefully to a window and take pictures. When done I back away, put the phone back, shift, and then get out of there."

  We anchored the boat well offshore, leaving the known tracking collar on the boat. If anyone checked our location and asked, we could tell them we found a fishing spot. Together we used the dinghy to head back to shore. I shifted, and Elisabeth outfitted me with a little harness I could duck into that would carry the phone. Then I slipped into the woods while she sat on the beach. Whenever she could hear or smell me, she would just speak conversationally to tell me. I would be able to hear her just fine. She would huff quietly every few minutes if she didn't hear or smell me just to let me know.

  I wanted to see how close I could get to her. I ran off a thousand yards due inland then slowed down and circled to the south and headed back towards Elisabeth as quietly as I could. I was pretty sure even in the dense trees and brush I could get pretty close without her knowing. From downwind, I could get exceedingly close to even the shyest of prey, but of course, a were's sense of
hearing and smell were better than a rabbit's.

  I closed to within two hundred yards with a fairly standard amount of caution. After that, I watched every step, planning my route through the brush for tens of steps ahead. I was absolutely silent. I couldn't hear my own steps, although I felt perhaps she could hear my heart beat. I certainly could.

  I slinked to within forty yards of her. I could hear her when she shifted in her seat on the sand, the sand crunching lightly under her. She sighed once, and I heard the occasional huff. When the wind was just right, when focused intently on her, I could hear her heart beating, slow and steady and strong.

  I turned to the right. It took me ten minutes, but I exited the brush onto the sand, thirty yards from her. The breeze was blowing my scent out over the lake. I couldn't believe she hadn't heard me. I couldn't believe she hadn't smelled me.

  I turned my nose to her. Slowly, I stalked closer, one fox step at a time.

  The breeze shifted and immediately her head snapped to her right. She stared at me.

  "No fucking way!"

  I was only fifteen yards from her.

  "No fucking way!" she said again. "Oh my god, Michaela, please don't tell anyone you got that close."

  I shifted and she faced away from me, not looking at me.

  "Can you hear my heart beating, Elisabeth?"

  She strained. "No."

  "You can smell me though."

  "Oh yes, you're very easy to smell in this form. If I were in wolf form and you are upwind, I can smell you for a very long distance. Anything else and it varies by the wind." She paused and glanced over at me, then looked away. "Michaela, when you're a fox and I am human, I can't tell by smell you're were. I can if I look at you, and I can as wolf."

  "If they smell me as humans, they might think I'm a standard fox."

  She nodded. I walked closer and she handed me a towel to wrap around myself. "I'm going to walk away. I want to know when you can't smell me anymore."

  We spent another hour at it. By the time we were done, I knew one thing. If I could approach from downwind, I could get exceedingly close as a fox. As a human, this was going to be very tricky.

  We took the dinghy back to the boat and motored south, a mile from shore. The water was slightly choppy; there was a breeze, and the waves had a mile to form. We slowed down and I climbed down into the dinghy with everything I would need.

  "Be careful, little fox," Elisabeth said to me.

  I motored to shore, leaving the dinghy anchored to shore but set so I could make a fast getaway if I needed to. I stuffed my clothes into the dinghy and shifted, slipped into the carry harness with the phone, and set off into the woods.

  I knew where the cabin was now, so it was easier for me to approach. It was breezy, and I shifted so that my approach would be from downwind. By the middle of the afternoon I was twenty yards from the edge of the clearing and only about ninety yards from the cabin. If the breeze shifted, I would need to retreat, but I watched the cabin for a while then ducked behind a large tree and shifted to human. I crept to a well concealed spot from where I could watch, and I got the camera ready.

  It didn't take long to realize I should have brought clothes. I'd been warm while wearing fur, but my human form wasn't very happy. I sighed. I should have thought of that. I would have to shift back to fox now and then just to warm up.

  Shortly before what should be dinner time, there was a procession of people to the outhouse, in ones and twos. I was significantly closer than I had been last night, and it was clear I was looking at adolescent boys being led one at a time to the outhouse. I took pictures, all the pictures I could. I didn't know if Elisabeth would be able to identify people or not.

  I stayed where I was until evening. Sunset was shortly after seven, and it grew chilly. The wind lessoned and shifted towards the west somewhat, but I decided my current location was adequate. As the sun set, I decided I'd gotten the last photographs I would get from this location, and I replaced the camera in the carry harness and shifted back to fox.

  Ah, to be warm again.

  I watched.

  I waited until a second procession to the outhouse, then gave it another twenty minutes. A wolf stepped out and smoked a cigarette. Inwardly, I smiled. That should destroy his sense of smell for a while. I saw he had a beer in his hand. Good. Maybe they were all drinking.

  When he went inside, I began my approach.

  I took my time, shifting towards the back of the cabin as I got closer so I would be out of sight if anyone stepped outside. There were no windows on this side of the cabin, and I felt reasonably safe.

  I crept all the way to the corner of the cabin without any sign I'd been detected. From inside, I could hear the sounds of rough talking, but it was muffled through the thick walls. I shifted human and waited, listening.

  Then I crept around the back side of the cabin. There was light spilling from a window. I slowly slipped to the window, verified I knew where the lens was on the phone, and slipped it over the window so the lens barely peeked. I snapped a picture and looked at it. Then I took another, looked, and then I took a series of pictures, poking the phone barely past the frame of the window from different sides. The entire time, I listened for any shifts from inside the cabin, any sign someone was coming closer to the window.

  Nothing.

  If Lara's security was this lacking, I would be having a chat with her.

  I slowly slinked back to the corner of the cabin, crouched down, and shifted. I used my tail to brush away any signs of human footsteps before slipping into the carry harness and leaving the way I come, spending far less effort on being quiet. They weren't even listening for me.

  I reached the safety of the woods with no alarm being raised.

  This had been way too easy. I hoped I hadn't been wrong. Maybe this was just a wolf family and not Lara's missing wolves. They should have had patrols out. They should have expected visitors. They shouldn't have been so complacent. Maybe as a fox I should have been able to get that close, but no way should my human form have been able to stand there and take photos.

  If this were the right place, I was going to count my blessings from now until the cows came home.

  I hurried back to Elisabeth. When I reached the dinghy, I called her.

  "Oh thank god," she said. "I was so worried."

  "This can't be the right place, Elisabeth. I have to be wrong. This shouldn't have been this easy."

  "I'll pick you up. You got pictures?"

  "Yes, lots and lots of pictures."

  I waited until I saw the boat a mile from shore. I set out in the dinghy. Elisabeth tossed me a line. Once I was on board the boat, I took over at the wheel and Elisabeth stowed the dinghy. It was way too heavy for me, but she made it look easy.

  She caught me staring at her enviously.

  "I couldn't have done what you did, little fox, any more than you can do what I just did."

  I nodded to her. Most of the time, I accepted who I was.

  She took the phone from me and began looking through the photos. I turned the boat north and opened it up, taking us away from this section of lakeshore as quickly as I could. Elisabeth's lips pressed together after viewing only five or six photos. She turned to me. "You took more risk than you needed to." She pointed the phone at me. "This is Derek." She switched to the next. "This is Alex. And this one is Jeremy."

  She flipped through the rest of the pictures, and there were tears in her eyes. "David, why?" And then her expression hardened, and the sadness gave way to clear, cold fury.

  "Elisabeth," I said. "I now report to you and the alpha. I will not argue with either of you until this is over, but I will not take orders from anyone else. I want to know what Lara intends to do for operational security, but I will behave."

  She nodded and smiled briefly. "To think, you are actually offering to behave. I never would have expected it."

  We found a new cell signal well to the north, not wanting the tracking collar to show up too c
lose to Natalie's property. It wasn't even midnight. Elisabeth grabbed her phone and sent a text to Lara, letting me see it. "Fox is being difficult. Call me when you get this." We anchored off shore and waited.

  When Lara called back, Elisabeth told her, "The fox is being unruly. She refuses to shift. She has some choice things to say to you. I think you should be somewhere private, Lara."

  "I'll go for a drive. Am I going to cry?"

  "Yes."

  "Damn it. All right. I'll call you back."

  Her phone rang twenty minutes later. "Hey," answered Elisabeth.

  "I'm alone."

  I held out my hand, and Elisabeth gave me the phone.

  "Hello, Alpha," I said coldly. "Are you truly alone?"

  "Yes. I went for a drive. I had to order the rest to stay behind. David wanted to send Reggie with me."

  "Are you absolutely positively no one followed you?"

  "I'm driving along the highway south of Hayward and there are no lights behind me. I'm alone."

  I gave the phone back to Elisabeth, and she told Lara everything. When she was done, she said, "The fox wants to know your plans for operational security but has agreed to follow any orders from you or me until this is over."

  "Put her back on."

  "I'm so sorry, Lara," I told her.

  "Me too. I'm sorry about the cage, too."

  "You so owe me for the cage. So owe me."

  "I know. I am going to send David back to Madison to check on things there, telling him I am worried about things there."

  "Have him bring Reggie with him."

  "Yes. I will coordinate with Elisabeth as soon as David is gone. Will you really follow orders?"

  "Yes. No question. As long as they don't involve me going back in the cage."

  "No. No more cage."

  "Your part in this is done then, Michaela. I need you safe."

  "I couldn't possibly help in combat, Lara. But I can lead you to the cabin, and if you need me to scout, I can. If you send me away, I'll go, but I hope you'll let me be here."

  "You've earned it, but you are to stay safe, and I'm going to need Elisabeth. I can't worry about you."

  "I'll follow orders."

  "Are we all right, little fox?"

  "I hope when this is all said and done, you will court me properly."