The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2

by Robert Udulutch

  Ty stumbled out of the woods next to his snow machine. It was still upright and idling. He was covered in snow and pine needles, and the shoulder of his jacket was torn and hanging but the bear’s claws had barely grazed him, leaving only two thin red lines.

  As he mounted his machine he saw Jero struggling under the bear and he raised his assault rifle. The immense animal was a mass of whirling brown fur and every time he started to pull the trigger it moved and he almost shot Jero.

  Jero was bloody and his jacket was hanging open. He had four long red stripes down the front of his ripped white thermal top, and his chains had been torn off. He was missing a piece of pectoral muscle and nipple, but he was still pounding away at the bear’s face with his huge arms.

  Ty tried one shot to the bear’s rump in a spot he felt was safely away from Jero.

  The animal pounded a huge paw down into Jero’s bloody chest and then bounced up on its hind legs. It stood and turned its massive head towards Ty and howled down at him through its large, blood-tinged white fangs.

  Ty dropped the gun as his bladder let go. He stared at the bear for a moment, and then grabbed the throttle with shaking hands. “Sorry Jero,” he said softly as his bloodied Mexican friend looked up at him from the snow under the bear. Ty pulled the handlebars hard and looped in a wide arc around the bear before shooting off down the trail towards Tavish and Jia.

  Smudge had intended to leap at Ty, but after he dropped the gun and roared away she just landed in the trail left by his sled. She saw them speeding towards Glasgow and darted down the trail after them, giving the bear a wide berth and using the packed down snow left by Ty’s tracks to gain speed.

  The gray wolf dipped and then sprang to the side as Tavish’s sled zipped past. It snapped at his arm and caught him on the elbow. He jerked the arm free, leaving some flesh as the handlebars twisted and the front skis bit into the snow at a crazy angle. The front end of the snow machine dove wildly, tossing the back end. Jia’s body came off the sled completely and she threw her arms around Tavish’s waist to keep from falling off as the black vest flapped around her. Tavish overcorrected and the sled banged down hard and canted in the opposite direction, whipping Jia to the other side of the sled. She clung to Tavish, and barely missed being chewed up by the spinning track as the sled bounced hard and flipped her away again.

  Glasgow landed on her feet, spat out the chunk of jacket and elbow skin, and immediately shot off after the violently wobbling sled.

  Red Plaid raised a bloody hand but Ty roared past him, looking straight ahead with a frozen stare. Red Plaid watched him go, and then looked down at his assault rifle as the blood trickled down and mixed with the falling snow landing on it. Squinting through the red seeping into his eyes he clicked off the safety. He raised the weapon and blinked away the blur to aim at the bear who was stomping down on Jero’s chest with both front feet. The animal’s forelimbs were straight from its shoulders to its paws and every time it dropped back down Red Plaid could hear Jero’s ribs snapping under the hundreds of pounds of bear. Jero huffed painfully but was still pummeling away with his red-smeared, cannonball biceps pumping.

  As Smudge ran around the bear she saw Red Plaid sitting in the snow and raising his rifle. She picked up as much speed as she could on the packed trail and veered at the last second. She reached the man as he was taking aim and knocked the barrel away just as he pulled the trigger. The gun spat fire and sprayed a stream of bullets across the snow and up into the trees. Smudge grabbed the man’s bloody head with her split paws as her momentum carried her past him. She snapped his neck with one flex and a sharp twist.

  Smudge landed on her feet in the deep snow and leapt back onto the packed trail to catch up with Glasgow as Red Plaid pitched face forward into the red flecked snow.

  The gray wolf heard Ty’s snow machine come screaming up behind her. She spun but he’d moved well over to the side of the trail and cruised around her in a wide arc without looking at her. The fabric of his torn jacket flapped and his bare white shoulder showed through. Glasgow could see the stain on his crotch, and smelled his mess as he went past her. The human stared ahead wide-eyed and was stammering something to himself.

  Tavish finally got his sled under control. It straightened out and slammed back down on both front skis as a battered Jia sat up behind him. They roared off with their machine spitting out a tail of snow as they caught up with Ty.

  As the machines pulled away Glasgow slowed to a stop on the packed snow left by their tracks in the center of the trail. Smudge came up next to her as the machines’ whining motors slowly faded.

  They heard Jero scream behind them. There was a series of loud snaps, and then there was silence.

  Before the powerful sleds disappeared around the next bend Tavish slowed and angled his machine across the trail. He and Jia looked back at the two dogs watching them, and the huge bear in the background. They exchanged a look, and then Tavish turned back to the handlebars and they sped away to follow Ty towards the mine.

  The bear growled behind Smudge and Glasgow.

  The dogs turned and Smudge bobbed her head in as close an approximation to bear contentment as she could remember from her brother. She motor-boated a deep grumble that she was hoping came out as, Thanks big momma, we owe you one.

  The bear swatted a huge paw of bloody snow at them. She gave the wolf and odd dog a look, huffed, and then picked up the top half of Jero and ambled back into the forest towards her den.

  Smudge turned, and noticed Glasgow was staring her.

  What? Smudge said, Don’t give me that look. I’d still put this one in the win column. And what happened to you? You can take down an elk but you can’t stop a human’s little sled? I should start calling you Can’tis lupus. Smudge turned back to face the trail and mumbled, I know a coyote back home who’s tougher than you are.

  Glasgow growled and Smudge said, Alright, I’m sorry. Don’t bunch your furry knickers. Let’s just let it go and focus on the task at hand.

  Both dogs’ ears rotated back to the mine trail and they listened to the fading whine of the snow machines.

  Smudge answered an anxious shoulder twitch from Glasgow. Not yet, she said, We have another stop to make first.

  Chapter 82

  Blu’s cruiser crunched quietly down the icy, tree-lined road with its lights off. She slowed as she entered the clearing, and then stopped on the rim road that ringed the mine’s west bowl. Hamish pulled up next to her in his truck. They got out and each slung their assault rifles before picking up their hunting rifles and stepping to the edge of the road.

  The boerboels appeared out of the trees a few meters to their left and crossed the road to look down into the mine as Spot came out of the woods to their right. He checked in with Rook and Vuur, and then nodded to Hamish that all was clear in the woods behind them.

  Hamish waved Spot over, and as he joined them he noticed they were standing between a wide pair of grid tracks made by two snow machines. The tracks were fresh, and crossed over each other in several places as they followed the access road down into the mine complex.

  Spot sent the police dogs to patrol along the mine’s ridge as Hamish and Blu looked through their scopes at the complex of buildings. Nothing was moving in the snowy, early morning haze and there were no lights on in the compound. Aside from the slight wind whistling through the trees behind them everything looked quiet.

  Blu read Hamish’s worried face as he turned to look back at the trails that would eventually lead to the ranch. She noticed Spot was staring into the trees as well with his ears pricked up and swiveling. Even though his furry face was harder to read when he was all white, she would have sworn the smart dog and Hamish had the same concerned look.

  Blu looked around and noticed there were no tracks other than the packed grid patterns from the machines.

  She said, “I’m sure she’s fine. She probably didn’t even catch up to the snow machines after that first encounter. They were flying away and
Smudge and the wolf were still standing in their tracks when I saw them last.”

  “Looks like she caught up to two of them,” Hamish said quietly as he patted Spot’s head.

  Blu said, “Didn’t you say she’s the toughest dog you’ve ever met? I expect that’s saying something, and isn’t she with a big damn wolf for fuck’s sake?”

  “Aye, but they should have been here by now,” he said, turning back to his rifle.

  They scanned the mine complex for a moment before Hamish said, “I got nothing.”

  Blu nodded agreement as Spot checked with Rook and Vuur who had found a hiding place a hundred meters further down the mine rim road. The big police dogs stepped from the shadows and indicated all was clear. There was nothing moving down in the mine that they could see.

  Hamish was familiar with the dozens of logging and fire control roads that connected to the mines big bowls, but he’d never been down into the complex itself. Between the pits a narrow strip of land housed all of the mine’s processing, maintenance, and administrative buildings. They were accessed by north and south roads, so there were only two ways in or out of the complex. Wide gravel roads for the huge rock trucks led from the cluster of buildings and spiraled down into the tiered mine bowls until they ended in pools of water at the bottom.

  They were at the top of the mine’s north access road. The south access road ran parallel to train tracks that would eventually run past the town, and take the mine’s ore pellets to the steel mills in the south.

  Spot sent the boerboels ahead. They moved further along the rim of the bowl and turned to head down into the mine. They took turns leap-frogging past each other. One brother navigated the steep rocks and crossed the wide spiraling mine road as the other brother kept watch. They alternated until they found hiding spots among the car-sized snow covered boulders that rung the open lot around the complex. The brown dogs had been easy to spot against the snow, but their coats turned out to be good camouflage against the muddy rust color of the mine.

  The police dogs signaled the all clear to Spot.

  Hamish led them down into the mine, keeping close to the walls of the ring road and out of sight of the buildings as much as possible. They alternated like the police dogs, covering each other with the rifles until they came to the boulders where the wide road left the mine pits.

  As Spot and Hamish moved closer Blu scanned the huge, jammed together corrugated metal buildings. They were all different sizes and shapes and there were doors and windows in no logical order, and a maze of conveyors and catwalks spider webbed between them. Hundreds of other obstacles were scattered around. There were huge rock trucks dwarfing regular sized work vehicles, mining equipment, parts wrapped in plastic on pallets, and large electrical panels. Any one of them could effectively hide a shooter.

  There were also fifty meters of open snow covered gravel between them and the closest building, and Blu didn’t like their tactical position. Even in the blowing snow they’d be exposed as soon as they stepped out from behind the rocks. She thought about suggesting they just hold the compound and call in backup but she knew that stubborn look on Hamish’s face. He wasn’t in a waiting mood, and Blu could easily see the dog had the same impatient look. “Why am I suddenly picturing fish and a barrel?” she whispered.

  “Aye,” was all she got out of Hamish.

  Spot sent the boerboels to patrol the far side of the complex. He told them to stay out of sight and report if they saw any movement.

  Hamish moved down a few boulders so he was as close to the nearest building as possible. Blu watched him set down his hunting rifle and unsling his assault rifle. She did the same, and cursed herself for not taking Hamish up on his offer to join the damn shooting club. She had fired this kind of weapon a few times but not to the degree the hobbyist nuts would have. She had once watched that crazy Harry Chogin shoot a smiley face in a wooden target with a fully automatic assault rifle at a hundred meters. He also drew a circle around the target’s groin before he cut its head off.

  She took one last scan of the complex and flicked off the assault rifle’s safety. She flashed Hamish the all clear sign and whispered to herself, “I damn sure hope it’s all clear.”

  Blu was concerned with the men Vic had sent to the ranch, and their firepower. Vic had been an asshole since the day he arrived and he liked to play Mafioso, which included surrounding himself with a couple of bad boy miners. She also knew he had his fingers into most of the nefarious action in the camps. Blu had eight mines and more than forty logging operations in her jurisdiction. She didn’t mind letting the boys be boys a bit, as long as they kept it to their own partying and no one got hurt. Weed, some pills, a little meth from time to time. She would make enough busts to keep it in check without affecting production and pissing off the owners down south, but this was different. Vic had added the local logging thugs to his payroll, and some of those boys were the real deal. It wasn’t difficult to find bad asses on logging crews as it was a pretty common job for hardcore head cases just out on parole, but Vic wasn’t normally so ambitious and it was an escalation of a disturbing trend. Over the past year she had been building a pretty solid case as Vic dabbled in additional revenue streams after the price of steel took another big dip. His bonuses must have been taking a nose dive, and in addition to the typical back country trifecta of meth, weed, and tax free booze she’d caught wind he’d recently added prostitution, trafficking, and even dog fighting.

  Vic had become a first class tabernac that needed to be dealt with, but what annoyed Blu most was the idiot kept a step ahead whenever they were close to catching him red handed.

  All of that didn’t explain these new high-end weapons. Blu suspected Barton may be right and Vic had gotten himself mixed up with a bigger player. Regardless, she wouldn’t have thought him ballsy enough to try to fuck with Hamish. That stupidity might just earn Vic the very bad day he had coming. Although her big Scottish part-time lover could be a little blustery, she knew he actually had to be pushed pretty far before he cut loose. When it finally happened Lord help the idiot, or more often idiots, who were doing the pushing. She’d interviewed more than a few big, bloodied loggers who were reluctant to admit they’d had their asses handed to them by a gray-bearded old man.

  Blu also knew how he felt about Christa, and messing with her would earn someone a lesson from Hamish he’d only teach them once. It was obvious he felt the same way about his grand-nephew…and she was starting to think he felt the same way about these smart damn dogs, too.

  Chapter 83

  Ty picked himself up from the mining office floor, holding his jaw which was already starting to show red knuckle marks.

  “No,” a crimson faced Vic said, standing in front of Ty with his fist still clenched, “You aren’t going anywhere. You are going to grow a pair and go open the garage door. Then you are going to grab those two remaining idiots down there and post them in the west windows. I don’t want any fucking shooting unless I say, and I don’t want to hear any merdi fou shit about white dogs and imaginary wolves and bears. Did I not tell you to lay off smoking that crap today?” Vic turned his back on Ty. He went to his desk, and as he yanked open the side drawer and took out a bottle he rubbed the scar on his face. He looked out past the blowing snow and down into the dirty mine. He spun off the top of the bottle and said, “We’re going to finish this. Now foutre le camp so I can think.”

  Ty stared at Vic for a moment before snatching up his assault rifle. He skulked out of the office and stomped down the metal stairs as the office door slammed closed.

  Vic poured himself a tall drink as the Rotty-wolf started barking again. He heard Ty kicking it and yelling at the two men waiting in the garage.

  “Jesus Chrisse,” Vic said to himself as he picked up his radio.

  A few minutes later Jia and Tavish came up the metal stairs and into the office.

  They had come from the Suburban which was still parked behind one of the out buildings at the back of the co
mplex. Jia was wrapped in one of Lucy’s big leather jackets and Tavish was carrying a first-aid kit. As he removed his coat and wrapped a bandage around his elbow he looked at his watch.

  Vic said, “Don’t get your kilt in a tizzy, it takes time to get down the mountain in this snow. He’ll be here.”

  Jia nodded to an empty glass and Vic poured her a drink. She felt around in Lucy’s coat pockets and found the spare keys and a large pistol. She pulled it out and confirmed the clip was full.

  As Vic poured, the Rotty-wolf started barking again and Ty came pounding up the office stairs. He leaned into the office just as assault rifle pops rang out from the far side of the garage. He said, “They’re here.”

  “Saints en crisse, I thought I told you connards no shooting,” Vic mumbled as he downed his drink and grabbed the assault rifle off his desk, “Tres bien, time to turn this fucked up day around.”

  Chapter 84

  Blu saw the two men at the same moment as Spot but it was too late.

  Hamish and Spot had already darted off low and fast into the open. They were heading towards the corner of the closest building, hoping the wind whipping the falling snow across the clearing would help to obscure them. Spot ran ahead so he could stop often to look up at the buildings as Hamish caught up. Spot was trying to check every window and every shadow, but there were just too many places for a bad guy to hide.

  When they were half way across the open lot, and had made it to the packed snow left by the huge rock trucks, he saw the men appear behind the hinged windows. He also saw they had noticed Hamish. They immediately pushed open the sashes and stuck out their assault rifles.