Spot raced past the bar stools and came in behind the big Rotty-wolf just as the dog was starting to stand up. He grabbed the leash and clipped it to the dog’s collar as the animal reflexively snapped, but without any real target he only bit the air an inch from Spot’s snout. Spot rolled forward with the looped end of the leash and slipped it over Jero’s boot before bolting away.
Tavish hit the breaker and the lights came back on. He looked down at the mess on the kitchen floor and at the closed back door. He ran his fingers through his hair and whispered to himself, “What in the bloody hell?”
Sholto let the struggling Ben up from the floor and stood in front of him.
Spot and Smudge were at Hamish’s side, wagging as if nothing had happened and trying hard to control their panting.
Ben put what had happened together pretty quickly. He noticed his dogs’ rib cages expanding and contracting in sync while the last of Smudge’s hyper-expanded neck muscles were returning to normal.
The group of tourists saw Jero and the thugs on the ground, and Ty leaning against a table on unsure feet. They looked at Hamish who was protecting a very pale looking Willie.
Valerie smiled her best smile at Hamish and thought, He didn’t even break a sweat.
Jero sat up and looked around, and while rubbing his jaw angrily shoved away his pals. He got to his feet and started to stomp towards Hamish but the leash stopped him. As he hopped on his front foot he looked back at his dog who still had a vapid look on his face. Jero pulled the leash off his foot and backhanded the animal hard on the side of the head.
The jukebox spun back up and Mick was crooning, “…I can’t get no…I can’t get no satisfaction…”
Willie smiled, but then caught himself and bit down hard on the inside of his cheek.
Ty steadied his feet, drew himself up to his full height, and looked around the room. He took a minute to process and then nodded to Jero and the rest of the boys as he slowly reached around his back and snaked his fingers under the waistband of his jacket.
Hamish saw the move and readied a hand sign for Sholto as she planted her back feet and picked a target on Ty’s forearm. She was ready to charge when the front door banged loudly open.
Chapter 34
“Good evening, gentleman,” the captain said as she strode into the bar with a deputy trailing behind her.
She crossed the room and stared down Ty as she passed. He was only a tad taller than she was, and not much wider. He let go of the concealed handle of his knife and dropped his hand to his side.
She nodded to Tavish who had returned to the bar and was sliding his axe handle back into its hiding spot.
The big cop scanned the room as she walked up to Hamish and removed her dark green Surete du Quebec hat. The yellow trim and badge on her hat were repeated on her fitted jacket and along the seams of her crisp uniform pants.
Ben noticed she had large features to match her stature, and they all worked well together. She was an attractive woman with sharp, but also warm blue eyes. She had an athletic build with shapely curves even her bulky vest couldn’t hide. Her light hair was tight to her scalp, tied back into a ponytail with several rings of elastic bands.
Her deputy took up station between Jero and Ty, and folded his arms. He tapped his fingers on the butt of his holstered pistol. He wasn’t much taller than Jero, and about as tough looking as Willie. His hat looked comically big on his boyish head.
“Causing trouble again, Mr. Walker?” the captain said, “What exactly is it with you Jocks?”
Valerie started to speak but the captain shot her a look that shut her up. The cop gave the top half of the tart a long look, and then smiled at Willie before turning back to Hamish.
“No issues, Blu,” Hamish said, “Just lads having a pint and a dance to entertain the tourists.”
Captain Blu smiled, and looked down at Spot and Smudge, and then at Ben. She nodded at Sholto, and the old German shepherd wagged at her.
Without looking at Willie she said, “I assume those of you hitting the trails in the morning should get a good night’s sleep, eh?”
Willie corralled the table of tourists, tossed a small pile of money on the table and herded them along the far wall and out the front door. Everyone, including the dogs, watched Valerie struggle to put on her coat and walk at the same time. Willie helped her through door and gave Hamish a thank you nod before closing it behind him.
Blu shook her head slowly as the door banged shut. She put on her hat and said to Hamish curtly, “Okay, let’s go.” She took him by the upper arm.
The thugs started to hoot and one chanted, “QPP, QPP,” as Jero said, “Chido sheriff! Take that culero out of here.”
As Blu walked Hamish past the smiling Ty and Jero they moved aside to give them a wide path. Ben followed with Hamish’s jacket and the dogs in their wake. The deputy gave the thugs his best glare before turning on his heels and taking up the rear.
“Tavish,” Blu said, tipping her hat to him as they walked past the bar.
Hamish locked eyes with the smiling Ty as he passed, and then took his coat from Ben and put his arm around the boy as they walked to the front door.
The deputy had parked his car so close to the front steps it was almost completely blocking them. Noticing Blu’s annoyed look he pushed past the group and scrambled down the steps, fumbling with his keys.
Blu said, “Swing back around in an hour, Dave, and let me know if they’re still here. Goodnight.”
Deputy Dave paused with his hands on his hips. He was going to ask if she needed help with these perps, but his fifteen weeks of intensive police training and eight solid months of field experience allowed him to quickly assess that the captain had things well in hand with this old man, boy, and three dogs. He climbed into his car and drove off, accidentally hitting his lights for a second as he left town.
Blu had parked her cruiser next to Hamish’s truck in front of the now closed grocery store. As they crossed the street Willie’s motor coach was just pulling away and he honked a quick goodbye blast as he disappeared down the dark street.
Ben and the dogs jumped into the back of Hamish’s pickup as Blu joined him in the front seat.
The big cop turned and put her arm over the back of the center console. She looked at Ben for a moment and said, “Jesus you look just like your dad. You okay, Ben?”
“Yeah, thanks ma’am,” Ben said.
“Sorry you had to see that,” Blu said to him, “We have some bad element here but normally it’s a pretty nice place.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ben said, “It’s okay. I wasn’t worried.” He put an arm around all of the dogs in the back and jostled them as he said, “Sholto had my back.”
“Sholto’s last bar fight,” Hamish said, smiling back at Ben.
“So what happened?” Blu asked Hamish.
“Vic came in and then he left, and a few minutes later the boys’ choir showed up,” Hamish said, “Beyond that I truly have no idea what just happened.”
“Huh,” Blu said, raising an eyebrow at him, “Well I recognize that Inuit bully, Thibault Lavoie, and the midget Conan with that half-wolf abomination is Jero. They work for Vic but those other delinquents are from the logging camp. An odd mix. Wouldn’t have thought those boys are drinking buddies. Bad guys teaming up is never a good thing.”
“Did you hear about the winter bear?” Hamish asked.
“Yes,” Blu said, “but I would really like to hear about this alleged wolf attack.”
Hamish wasn’t too surprised she knew about it. Blu was very good at her job. Hamish told her everything he’d heard from Willie about the crazy tourist and the alleged crazy wolf at the river.
“Sounds like a lot of bull-,” Blu said, catching herself before adding the shit, “Still, something happened out there and it’s awfully bad timing. Vic and the logging brass would like nothing better than to have an incident with our wolves.”
“We were just out there and the pack looked tops,�
�� Hamish said, “We got a real close look at the alpha, right Ben?”
Ben looked at Blu with wide eyes, and nodded vigorously, “He looked pretty dang healthy to me, Captain, ma’am.”
“We’re so bloody close, Blu,” Hamish said, “We’re at the tipping point. We have four established families now, a sustainable base for that park. If we have one more successful year the university will take over the research and tracking, and the national funding kicks in to cover their protection. Even Vic can’t fuck with them once that happens. Hell, in another few years we can have managed tours, sustainable hunting—“
“And tourist dollars that will save this place,” Blu said, interrupting him, “and stop it from being a one assho-, um, man show. I got it Hamish, you know I do, but officially I can’t take a stand. I’ve got to pretend I represent everyone’s interest and I have five municipalities and aboriginal lands to juggle.”
“You’ve done plenty, Blu, “Hamish said, “You’re a right square bloke and we appreciate all the help. Including tonight.” He reached into the back seat and grabbed a handful of his shepherd’s neck fur and said, “Not that Sholto needed any help mind you.”
Blu asked, “You know the new bartender, Tavish?”
“Aye, just met him tonight,” Hamish said, “Seems a likeable enough sort of fella. Gonna have him up to the ranch tomorrow, might find out a few things. Why, you want the lad’s digits?”
Ben laughed until he noticed Blu wasn’t smiling. Ben thought she must be the only one of Hamish’s buds who didn’t play his friendly ball-busting game.
Blu said, “I just like to know Vic’s new staff is all, and bartenders tend to have big ears.” Turning to the back seat she said, “Ben, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay with us, and please tell your parents I said hello.” To Hamish she said, “And you, try to stay out of trouble. Oh, and tell your nutty bunch over there at the shooting club they might want to consider renaming their upcoming ‘Wounded Warrior Fun Shoot’. Christ it’s as bad as the rehab clinic’s ‘Baked Sale’ last year.”
“Aye,” Hamish said, and then turned on his best smile, “You coming over later? You know Christa would love to have you over for a drink.”
Captain Bluette ‘Blu’ Pinard got out of Hamish’s truck. Before closing the door she leaned back in and said to Hamish with a smile, “Christa, huh? Goodnight Ben.” She put her hat back on and slammed the door.
As the big cop got into her cruiser and nodded as she backed away, thick snowflakes started to fall.
Chapter 35
Ten minutes earlier Jia and her bodyguard were sitting in their black van.
She said, “Lucy, can you turn the heat down back here? You’re roasting my parts off. And back up a little, I can’t see the back door around your big freaking head.”
Lucy did indeed take up so much space in the front seat of the Suburban that he blocked almost the entire left side of the windshield. He put the black van in reverse and backed up at an angle so they were broadside to the back exit of The Grubbery.
He started to tell her for the tenth time that there were climate controls back there but he just spun her heater dial to low instead.
They were parked in shadow, far back in the rear lot of the laundry mat next to the bar. They watched as Vic walked away from the front of The Grub in his stomping gate, talking on his phone and heading down the main drag. They saw him again as he walked past the next alley, and the next. He then turned down a dirt side street, stomped past a garage, and ducked into the dark. He eventually came up next to the van and climbed into the rear seat next to Jia.
“They’re on the way,” he mumbled.
A minute later two large beat-up pickup trucks and a rusty Jeep pulled into the dirt lot next to The Grub. Six large men walked towards the front of the building.
Soon after that they watched from the Suburban as the lights above the back door and the parking lot of The Grub went out.
Jia almost told Lucy and Vic to get in there, but a moment later the lights came back on.
And then two police cars pulled up.
“Shit,” Vic and Lucy said at the same time.
A minute later they saw a group of tourists get herded into a white van, and shortly after that one of the police cars left. It hit its lights for a second before disappearing north out of town and into the dark.
A few minutes later the other cruiser pulled out and headed south.
The back door to the bar opened and a man slipped on a coat as he trotted through the newly falling snow to the Suburban. He pulled open the door and slid into the rear-facing seat behind Lucy.
“What in fucking hell happened in there?” Jia asked, and then she said, “Lucy, turn the heat on back here, I’m freezing.”
As the asset wiped a little mud from his custom boots he told them what had happened inside the bar.
Chapter 36
“Are you positive?” Ben asked.
I’m not positive, Smudge signed, But I am pretty sure. Ninety percent. Eighty. Definitely seventy five.
If you’re right sis, how the hell did that stuff get all the way up here? Spot asked, not looking up from his tablet. He was afraid he knew the answer to his own question and no one answered him. No one wanted to say it.
Ben got off the bed and paced the floor.
“Well,” he said, “If that nasty stuff from those drums at the Dorschstein’s place is up here we need to tell Uncle Hamish. Those assholes from the bar aren’t up here doing high tech research, that’s for sure. We gotta say something.”
The pups just looked at him.
“Right?” Ben asked.
Give us one night, Spot signed, looking up, We need to know more.
“Spot, really?” Ben said, throwing up his hands.
He realized he had said it a little loud. He lowered his voice and said, “You guys want to run around in the dark up here? It’s not like back home, this is the real deal. There’s things in the woods around here that make One Ear look like a hamster. No way, we have to say something.”
The pups just stared at him.
“Oh, I see,” Ben said, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. If I try to tell Unc what’s going on and you two decide to be all ‘regular dog’ I’m going to look like more of an idiot than he already thinks I am. And we’ll be shipped home on the first sled out of town.”
Smudge signed, What exactly are you going to tell him?
She looked at her brother who nodded agreement and added, And what do you expect him to do about it even if he believes you? We don’t have enough info to say anything of use to him, not yet. And I need you to do some more homework while we’re gone.
“C’mon guys, gimme a break,” Ben said as he walked to the window and looked out at the heavily falling snow and the elkhounds huddled in their igloos, “You might as well paint a target on your backs. Your black coats work well back home but have you noticed everything up here is white, or some light shade of muddy grayish white? Even at night you stand out. I can see you two dummies coming from a thousand meters in a snow storm.”
He turned around and his pups were standing next to each other on the bed, and both of them were pure white.
Chapter 37
Early the next morning Christa tapped on Ben’s bedroom door. Ben had only nodded off two hours earlier and it was barely an hour after the pups had crept back into the house, dried off their snowy coats, hidden their borrowed sled dog boots, and curled up on the bed together with Smudge’s chicken.
Christa poked her head into Ben’s room and said, “I’m heading down to the shooting club with Rook and Vuur if you want to come.”
The pups were up like a shot, standing at the door and wagging in sync.
Ben rolled over with a groan. He looked at his beckoning dogs, and then looked up at Christa and said, “Yeah, I guess we do.”
A few minutes later they pulled out of the garage in Christa’s pickup truck and drove past Captain Blu Pinard’s police crui
ser. It was parked next to Hamish’s truck in the driveway, and both were covered in snow. She had stopped by for that drink last night after all.
Christa and Ben decided to leave Sholto at home, not wanting to open Hamish’s door to fetch her.
Christa looked at Ben as they left the driveway and they both giggled.
Ben asked, “So would that be Sholto’s last thing she can’t ever un-see?”
Christa laughed all the way down the mountain, and as they wound down the switchback roads Ben asked her about the shooting club.
Christa explained how Hamish and her parents had formed the club with Greer and Ellena Nellis. They used to meet at the Nellis’ ranch, and it started as a few friends shooting a little and drinking a lot, and catching up on the local issues. Membership grew, and although technically still a heavy-drinking gun club they started to get involved in things like environmental programs and municipal improvements. Before long it became a popular forum for volunteerism and local action, along with downing a few sixers. Blu would stop in for the larger monthly meetings under the guise of talking gun safety, and then stay for a few cold ones to keep her finger on the programs the club was sponsoring, as well as the current gossip. These meetings grew too large for the Nellis’ place. The current club had been an abandoned building that was part of the mine’s property, as was most of the town, but the municipality exercised their right to force a transfer of ownership as the club committed to make improvements to the land. Basically they gave it to the club, and the Nellis’ financed the build out. Christa told Ben that taking over dilapidated property was a common practice with so many deteriorating towns in the mining belt. The companies were usually cooperative, but it sure didn’t sit well with Vic.
When Hamish started the wolf program and the Chogins joined the club, there was more friction.
The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2 Page 18