Twenty
Just the facts, Jack
“Let him out before he tears up the cage,” Frank shouted to Jake, who was standing in the bed of the truck. So, he pulled the rope that raised the door.
Cowboy attacked the door as it opened but didn’t leave the cage. Just when we thought we’d have to prod him to exit, he jumped down, looked left then right, and then took off into the woods. Max, rifle in hand, had been standing to the right of the truck, aimed and ready to fire if Cowboy made a move. The amount of time it took us to wench Cowboy into the cage, and get him over to Max’s side, the effects of the tranquilizer had worn off and he’d woken before we’d gotten to the drop zone. He’d started rocking the cage and attacking the door. So, we’d stopped and bailed out of the truck to set him free, before he injured himself.
I watched as the huge bear ambled his way deeper into the forest, his containment forgotten for investigating new territory. He looked back once, giving our group grunt as if to say, “Until we meet again,” and then stomped his way deeper into the forest.
Turning to Max, I finally asked, “Nala,” in hopes he’d heard news about the lost mother bear.
“We’ll find her, don’t worry,” he replied as he kept his eyes on Cowboy.
While we were watching the giant bear disappear, Max’s phone rang. I turned to him and waited while he answered, hoping it was about Nala. Max looked at the screen and growled, “About fuckin’ time,” then barked out, “Tell me you got somethin’ for me, Jack?”
I knew Jack was his cousin, a sheriff who lived in Colorado, that he’d asked him to look into Stetson and considering he had groped me, arrested me, harassed me, and generally pissed me off, I hoped he found something that would tighten the noose around the bastard’s neck.
“We headin’ back to try for another bear?” Shane asked as I watched Max talk.
“I think we’ll call it a day. I’d like to help search for Nala.”
“Is Max still mad about the nosedive?” Shane chuckled as he watched Max as well.
“He’s Max, what do you think?”
“Me? I think Max would be mad at any man who looked at you, so, yeah, I think he’d ring my neck if he knew I wouldn’t be opposed to your face bein’ between my legs.”
“What?’’ I gasped.
“But I wouldn’t be opposed to Lucy putting her face between my legs either,” Shane chuckled.
“Oh, my God,” I mumbled as Lucy walked up looking between us both.
“Though, both of you at the same time would be even better,” Shane smiled and then winked before turning towards the truck.
“Did he just?” Lucy mumbled beside me.
“Uh-huh.”
“Playa.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Explains why someone who looks like him is still single.”
“Yep,” I replied as I watched Shane climb into the truck.
That explained exactly why a man with a megawatt smile and looks that would make most women swoon is still single. God help the woman who tries to tame that man. Though, as I turned my attention back to Max, something told me the right woman wouldn’t have to work too hard. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, it seemed.
As I watched Max pace, his face looked like thunder as he listened to his cousin. When he stopped and looked back at me, I could tell then he wanted to kill Stetson with his own two hands.
“That doesn’t look good,” Frank observed as he walked up.
“I’d say Stetson’s goose is cooked if Max’s face is anything to go off of.”
“Thesaurus,” Lucy chuckled and my answering giggle had us both laughing out loud.
“Now you think it’s funny,” Frank sighed, making his way towards the truck.
Still laughing, Lucy winked at me following Frank so they could head back to base camp. I waved as they drove off, then I climbed into Max’s truck to wait. I watched from the side view mirror as Max finished his call. When he finally hung up, his face told me he was a man on the edge. His brow was pulled down in anger, his lips stretched thin as he worked them with his teeth. His face was a dark shade of furious I’d never seen. It told me to tread lightly as he stormed back to the truck, climbed in, and then curled his hands around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.
“Max?” I whispered as I reached out my hand and placed it on his arm.
“Give me a second,” he mumbled as he closed his eyes.
His jaw clenched as he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. His fingers curled and uncurled on the steering wheel as he gained his composure. Once he’d gotten himself under control, he turned to me, placed his hand on my shoulder, and squeezed once before rocking my world.
“That sonofabitch assaulted a prostitute, tried to rape her. She got away from him and tried to press charges, but his father, the Chief of Police at the time, swept it under the rug, buried it deep. Then he pawned the bastard off on Trails End with a beefed up resume—”
“Oh, my God—”
“— and now he’s had his hands on you,” he gritted out. “Gotta get to the house, Jack is faxing the report so I can take it to an emergency meetin’ I plan on callin’ today. Then I plan on havin’ a “conversation” with the man.”
“Max, please don’t . . . I mean, I’m sorry for what he did to that other woman, but I was fine the minute my knee connected with his nuts. Please don’t do anything rash.”
Raising his hand, he cupped my face and ran his thumb across my cheek, watching his thumb work. When his eyes came back to mine, he wrapped his hand around my neck and then laid his forehead against mine and whispered, “Mia, don’t ask me to be less than a man.”
“But you’ll end up in jail,” I told him as a knot formed in my throat.
“I go to jail for teaching that man a lesson, it’ll be well worth a night behind bars.”
“But—”
“He touched you,” he hissed as his other hand came up and trapped my face.
He pulled back and his eyes locked with mine, determined, furious, and I realized then he needed his pound of flesh against the man who had wronged me. His inner caveman was crying out to exact this revenge. Raising my hands to cup his face back, I watched in fascination as his eyes closed, his head turned, and then he kissed the palm of my hand. When he turned back, I leaned in as he had done and placed my forehead to his, giving him what he needed, permission.
“Okay, Max. Try to avoid the second cell if you can. The mattress is lumpy and you’ll have a sore back in the morning.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he answered, a grin tugging at his mouth.
“If you can’t, I’ve been told I give great back rubs—”
“I don’t wanna hear about other men,” he snapped, his grin gone, furrowed brows in its place.
“By my dad,” I smiled.
Max chuckled once, touched his lips against mine and then mumbled, “Stop bein’ cute or I’ll take you right here.”
“I can’t help it if I’m cute, I was born this way.”
“Still bein’ cute,”
“Still can’t help it, ask Lady Gaga.”
“Right, that I believe,” he grinned back and then kissed me. Unfortunately, he stopped before it could go further and told me to, “Buckle up, I got shit to do and a man to fire,” as he started his truck and took off.
We drove in silence to his house, my hands wringing in my lap the whole way. I didn’t want Max to get into trouble, but I had to admit, the thought of Stetson being handed his balls didn’t exactly bother me. He was a pig, no, that’s not right, pigs are pink and cuddly, so it wasn’t fair to them to call Stetson, a pig. Roach made more sense, slithering around, nasty, dirty—.
“Babe!”
“Hmm, sorry?”
“We’re here, are you getting’ out?”
I looked up, saw his cabin, and nodded unbuckling my seatbelt. He waited for me as I rounded his truck and then he took my hand as we climbed the steps of his deck. As he opened his door, I thought back to Booboo the day before and wondered how the search for Nala was going. Eager to be involved in the search, I stayed on his deck as he entered and pulled out my phone to call Lucy and Frank.
“Hey,” Lucy answered.
“Bring Frank over to Max’s so we can head out and look for Nala.”
“Still no sign of her?”
“Not that I’ve heard. How soon can you be here?”
“Give us twenty minutes to finish up here and then we’ll drive over. We’ll come through the meadow in Max’s truck.”
“Ok, see you in a few,” I replied and hung up.
My phone rang as I was heading inside and I saw Maxine was calling. She’d ridden with Jess to Fairbanks to take Brian to the airport. The drive took four hours and based on the hour, they were due to arrive back at any moment.
“You back?”
“It’s one of Max’s men,” was her abrupt reply. It hadn’t taken me long to learn the inner workings of her mind so I knew immediately what she was talking about.
“How do you figure that?”
“The axe, don’t know why I didn’t think about that sooner. Max supplied most of the axes for the competition. When it was over, they were all rounded up and hauled back to the lumberyard.”
“So, it was just my dumb luck that the axe used to kill Donald had my fingerprints on it?”
“That’s what I’m thinkin’. Wonder if that idiot Stetson even interviewed the men who handled the axes?”
“Big news on that front by the way. Jack called; he’s faxing information that will bury Stetson.”
“Is my boy delivering the news personally?”
“I think so.”
“Jess, head to Town Hall,” Maxine ordered then told me, “Mia, I’ll talk to you later, I gotta call to make,” and then hung up without further comment.
I had a good idea who she was calling and when I made my way to Max’s office, and heard him say, “Mom, you back?” I knew I was right.
When I entered, he narrowed his eyes at me and then bit out, “Mom, I’m not gonna feed his dick to . . . Christ, where do you come up . . . Jesus, I’m hangin’ . . . Fuck, no!” then he barked out, “Gotta go,” and hung up.
I bit my lips and tried not to laugh, but he made that impossible. Especially when he rounded the desk, put his hands on his hips, and leaned in saying, “Newsflash, babe, my mother’s nuts.”
“You didn’t know this?” I laughed.
“Fuck, yeah, just makin’ sure you did,” he grumbled.
“Thanks for the heads up, but I figured that out when I helped her make cock-o-late on a stick.”
“Jesus, don’t remind me,” he groaned.
“Did you get the fax?”
“Yeah, I called Madison and we’re meetin’ in an hour. You want me to take you back to your place so you’ll have your Jeep?”
“No, I’ll catch a ride with Lucy and Frank. I’m waiting here for them now, we’re gonna head out and join in the search for Nala.”
When he opened his mouth to no doubt tell me I couldn’t wander around the woods without him, I put my hand over his mouth and stopped him.
“Max, I made it all these years without your help, I need you to stop trying to protect me all the time. I got away from a killer once already and avoided being mauled by a bear. I think I can handle a stroll through the woods with two other people, armed with bear repellant.”
“Right, clearly I need to remind you that both those times I rescued you from certain death.”
“Now you’re just splitting hairs,” I groused.
“No, I’m keepin’ you safe so we can eventually make those ten kids.”
“How many kids do you want?” I asked, hoping to distract him. Of course, Max being Max, knew what I was doing and kept staring me down, so I stared back, crossing my own arms. After a moment or two of our battle of wills, he shockingly shrugged and let it go.
“I don’t care what we have as long as they’re healthy. You want one or ten just say the word, I’m more than happy to oblige,” he grinned, then hooked me around the neck and drew me in for a kiss. “I’ll see you later,” he told my lips and then kissed me again for good measure. When he let me go, he ordered, “Don’t separate from Lucy and Frank, no goin’ head to head with a bear, and if you see Cowboy climb the nearest tree and call me immediately.”
“I don’t climb trees, not and live to tell about it, and I can’t call you ‘cause I don’t have a satellite phone, remember. My cell is of no use to me once I head into the forest.”
“Christ, maybe I should—”
“Max! I’ll be fine.”
Max rolled his lips between his teeth, then stared and stared and yes, by the way, stared. It was starting to piss me off, this assumption I’d get into trouble every time I set foot out of doors. I was about to tell him to kiss my ass when he nodded once, kissed my forehead, pointed his finger at me in warning, and then he was gone.
“God save me from overprotective men,” I mumbled as I watched him climb into his truck. He needed to get used to the fact I was clumsy and sometimes I landed on my ass. And I needed to prove to him, and to myself, that I could hike in the woods without needing one of his men along for protection.
Speaking of hiking in the woods, I wanted to have a treat with me in case we came across Booboo so I made my way to his kitchen and pulled out what was left of the strawberries. Stuffing them in my pack, I pulled out my bear repellant to make room for water and a sandwich and then waited on the deck for Lucy and Frank to arrive. When they pulled up in Max’s truck, they piled out and I met them in the drive. Once they’d pulled on their own packs, we were all business, and they followed me as I headed in the direction Booboo had run the night before.
The terrain on Max’s land was rocky and steep compared to Grizzly Pointe. We slid down embankments (I scooted down them) but we kept moving down, searching. The tranquility of the mountain with its wild flowers poking out here and there seemed harmless, but I also knew it was riddled with danger if one didn’t keep their wits about them and their eyes peeled. There were fractures in the craggy hillsides that could pin your foot, causing you to stumble and injure yourself. Loose soil with rocks that could send you sliding to your death, and for someone like me (vertically challenged) it was mentally exhausting keeping track of where I was at all times.
Afraid I would fall and take out all of us, I led instead of followed. If I was going to stumble and fall, I wasn’t about to take two people with me if it happened near a ledge with ragged rocks waiting at the bottom. However, the further we hiked the flatter the landscape became as if we’d made it to the bottom.
“It’s surprising how different it is on this side,” Lucy commented.
“That’s the beauty of a mountain range, you get peaks and valleys, rivers and streams, and purple mountain majesties,” Frank replied.
“All this beauty and bugs to boot,” I interjected as I swatted something brown from my shoulder.
“At least you don’t get snakes this high up, too cold,” Lucy laughed as we pushed through two pine trees.
“Don’t say snakes, if there had been snakes here I never would have come.”
“If there had been, would you have second guessed a relationship with Max?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“You’d let a snake run you off from a man like Max?”
“I can say with certainty since I don’t have to worry about it, the answer is no, I wouldn’t let a snake run me off.”
“Must be true love,” Frank chuckled.
“He likes me just the way I am, clumsy feet, whoa,” I called out as I stumbled on loose rock and then righted myself, “clumsy feet and all. Though, I think I’m getting better at this climbing, don’t you?”
I turned to look at them both, but got crickets.
“Whatever, I think I’ve made progress.”
“That’s true,” Frank finally said, “you haven’t’ fallen into a river today.”
As I turned to say, “Hardy har har,” I caught a glimpse of brown fur to our left and below.
“Look, is that Booboo?”
“Where?” Lucy and Frank both asked.
“I think it is, come on,” I shouted and all three of us headed down the rock-covered hill further into the valley. When we got to the bottom, Booboo peaked his head out from behind a tree and called out to us, so we gave chase as he took off down the last the hill. His long claws gave him better traction on the loose soil and I was afraid we’d lose him, but when we made it to the top and looked down the rolling hill; we saw he was waiting for us.
“Hey, Booboo, remember me?” I cooed to the cub.
As we made our way down the cub seemed anxious, so we took it slow, not wanting to startle or enrage him. Within twenty feet of the cub, I saw what looked to be a hole in the forest floor, square, ten by ten in size and probably just as deep.
“Jesus, that’s a trapping pit,” I shouted and picked up my pace.
Trapping pits, more common at the turn of the twentieth century, were used for catching large prey. They range anywhere in size up to twenty by twenty, and in some cases have rock covered walls making it impossible for the captured animals to climb out. A hundred years ago when Trails End was founded, those living on the mountain would have used them regularly, and if I was right, Nala had stumbled upon an old one.
Booboo didn’t shy away when we approached; he just stood there looking into the pit crying out. When we reached the edge, I looked in and found Nala in the pit, alive and pacing, unable to crawl out.
“Oh man, how do we get her out of there?” Frank asked.
“There is no way to get the truck in here to winch her out, shit, um, maybe look around for a fallen tree we can drag over and drop in the pit?”
Lucy and Frank jumped up and started searching as I kept talking calmly to Booboo. I pulled out the strawberries I’d brought with me and tossed one to him. He ate it, then came closer and took another as I dropped one down in the pit with Nala. Nala watched me as I fed her son, never taking her eyes off us. Booboo kept pawing at my hand, wanting another berry, so I kept feeding him and Nala until the berries were gone. Running my hands through his thick, coarse coat, amazed that I was actually petting a wild bear in the middle of the Alaskan frontier, I turned my head when I heard Frank shout, “Found one, but we can’t move it.”
“We need something to lever it with, maybe some fallen branches,” I told him as I rose to my feet and headed his way.
“Good idea, guess that’s why you’re the boss.”
We found some sturdy branches off of a fallen tree and used those to jam under the log, then rolled it towards the pit. It took some time, but we finally got the log to the edge.
Nala, being a smart bear, moved back when the tree finally tipped down and gave her the ladder that she needed to crawl out. Booboo cried out for his mother as we took our packs and backed up, giving the mother bear a wide berth in case she attacked. Bear repellant in hand, we held our breath as we watched the log bob as Nala slowly climbed the tree and pulled herself out.
A collective exhale from all three of us broke the air when Nala was on solid ground. Then a collective “Awe” could also be heard when Booboo got up on his hind legs and buzzed his mother’s face in a bear version of a kiss.
Both bears looked over at us and stared for a moment. Then Booboo cried out as if to say, “Thank you,” then they both turned and walked away.
“That was beautiful,” Lucy whispered.
“Makes all the nights sleeping with the bugs worthwhile,” Frank agreed.
“I think we made a friend for life don’t you?” I asked them both and they nodded.
“We’d better head back before the sun sets or we’ll never find our way out,” Frank said.
“Which way?” I asked as I pull my pack back on in preparation to leave.
Lucy looked at me, I looked at Lucy, and then we both turned and looked at Frank. Frank looked at us like he didn’t have a clue, then he smiled and dropped his pack.
“Oh, thank God, I thought you were gonna say you left your compass at base camp.”
“Naw, I never leave home without it,” he laughed as he dug in his pack. After a minute of searching, Frank paused, closed his eyes and then looked up and whispered, “Fuck, I left it at base camp.”
“That isn’t funny,” I bit out.
“It’s not a joke. Which direction is Max’s house from the forest? Is it north, south, east, or west of our location?”
“I don’t know, up the hill. Didn’t you note before we left what direction we were headed?”
Frank paused and then muttered, “Shit.”
Lucy sighed as she dropped her pack, pulling out her cell as she mumbled, “I’ll call Jake.”
“Your cell won’t work out here we need a sat phone in the woods,” Frank reminded her.
“How were we able to call from base camp?”
“Max has a tower at his place; we have a clear shot from the meadow so we piggybacked his signal. When you get down in the valley, the trees block the reception.”
“No, no, no, do not tell me we are lost. I’ll never hear the end of this from Max.”
“Hey, where was the sun when we left Max’s house?” Frank jumped in.
Feeling my head begin to throb I rubbed my temples. It was a nervous habit when I was stressed or say, wanted to kill someone. Trying to remain calm, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Unfortunately, I thought about being lost in the woods with Cowboy and my calm went south for the winter.
“I wasn’t looking at the sun when we left ‘cause it tends to blind you if you do. I can’t believe this,” I whined.
“So we’re lost, is that what you’re saying?” Lucy hissed turning on Frank.
“No, we aren’t lost . . . we just don’t know where we are,” Frank defended as he took a step back.
“How long before nightfall,” I ground out, looking at my watch.
“I’d say an hour and a half,” Lucy replied.
I closed my eyes, trying not to panic, but the truth of the matter was, we’d been walking in circles for more than three hours so how could we possibly find our way back in an hour and a half.
“Ok, let’s not panic just yet. We climb up towards the top, maybe see Max’s house from there or get cell reception. If all else fails, we build a fire to keep the animals at bay and keep it burning until Max finds us,” I told them.
“He’s gonna kill me isn’t he?”
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. If we don’t find our way out, I’ll kill you myself,” I insisted as I tightened my pack.
“Then let’s start climbing,” Frank mumbled moving towards the hill, “I’ve seen your knee in action.”
“Just get us out of here Frank and my knee and your nuts won’t ever meet.”