CLAWS 2

by Stacey Cochran

  The roar of the helicopter blades grew louder, as they prepared to board.

  “Are we going to have enough room?” Janet said over the noise.

  Angie gave her a thumbs-up and motioned for her to step aboard.

  • •

  The helicopters raced over the sea of ponderosa pines like a hungry pack of wolves. To the southeast, enormous granite peaks rose several thousand feet above the tree line. The lower slopes just above the tree line were red and orange with minerals deep in the soil, but above twelve thousand five hundred feet, the mountains looked like something from another world. They were enormous, gray and covered with snow.

  The view out to the west was breathtaking. Hovering along the steep cliffs at thirteen thousand feet, Angie and Governor Creed could see all the way to Utah and the four corners.

  Jack Dante leaned forward from the back seat of the helicopter, pointed and said, “Those three peaks to the west are Mount Wilson, El Diente, and Wilson Peak. Mount Wilson is fourteen thousand two hundred and forty-six feet above sea level. All three are above fourteen.”

  His voice crackled over the headsets, and Angie felt like she was hovering above the world. The views were astonishing, so high that she felt like she was reaching up into space.

  “Hold on, folks,” the pilot said.

  The helicopter ducked to the left and dove a couple hundred racing towards the mountains across the valley.

  “I think that’s Trout Lake,” Jack said, pointing to a lake across the thin strip of highway far below.

  “The highway?” Janet Creed said over the headsets.

  “That’s 145,” Angie said. “From Dolores to Telluride.”

  The helicopters raced along the tree line for a few seconds, but they could see another range of granite peaks to the east. It looked like a sea of massive peaks, and for the first time, Angie got a sense of the wilderness area with which they were dealing.

  “You really get the sense that grizzly bears could live up here,” she said, “in this range.”

  “It’s hard to imagine that all this will be developed within the next ten years,” Janet Creed said, “if Foxwell has his way. It’s just incomprehensible.”

  Indeed, the mountain range to the east was so vast that it was difficult to see how any one person could scar up such an enormous, rugged piece of land. It just seemed beyond even the human capability for destruction, the mountains were so large, high, and vast. They were easily thirty miles north to south by sixty miles east to west, and the entire region was, as yet, almost completely untouched by human encroachment.

  “The highest gondolas will only climb to about twelve thousand five hundred feet,” Janet Creed said, “from the initial plans for the resort that have been released to the public.”

  Jack said, “You can already see where they’re beginning to map out that forest down there to clear away for ski trails.”

  He pointed to a sea of trees just to their left out the helicopter window.

  “This is where his resort will cross over the mountains to Telluride?” Angie said.

  She turned and looked at Jack, who nodded.

  “That’s to the north,” Jack said. He turned and pointed to the southeast. “Over there, that’s Grizzly Peak.”

  “Grizzly Peak?” Janet Creed said.

  “Thirteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight feet.”

  Grizzly Peak was a squat, solid peak with two visible sloping ridges to the north and south. It was vertically jagged, carved like a washboard by millions of years of wind and glacial erosion. It was above the tree line.

  Angie saw the other two helicopters trailing them. The pilot rose up over the ridge, and the range just completely opened up in front of them to the east.

  “God,” Governor Creed said, “it’s beautiful.”

  Jack said, “The site of the attack is to the southeast.”

  “We’ll be there in about two minutes,” the pilot said.

  It was easy to comprehend a pocket of grizzly bears going undetected in this wilderness. It was just inaccessible—for the time being—by anything but helicopters. Many of the lower slopes though seemed like prime alpine skiing terrain, and it wasn’t hard to imagine chairlifts and heated gondolas scarring up the virgin terrain.

  The thought made Angie feel physically nauseous.

  • •

  The helicopters touched down on the south side of the pond. Snow blasted up into the air, swirling around the blades. Angie and Governor Creed stepped down and surveyed the scene.

  “The attack occurred at that end of the pond,” Angie said over the roar of the helicopters.

  Governor Creed nodded, and they started to walk. Jack, Laura, Wendy and Dan joined them.

  “This land is private ranch land,” Dan said. “But the forest to the north is National Forest.”

  “How far north?” Janet Creed asked.

  Jack Dante said, “The boundary’s about a half mile.”

  “And how much wilderness land are we talking here?”

  “You saw it, Governor,” Angie said. “It’s a big piece of land, maybe six thousand acres.”

  Jack said, “That’s about right.”

  The group continued on around the pond, and Janet Creed saw the blood still on the snow. All other evidence was gone, save for a strip of yellow police tape where the forest road descended down the mountain. The tape prevented anyone from driving out into the clearing around the pond.

  “It was a single SUV,” Angie said. “Nine kids. Eight were dead by the time the paramedics arrived. One survived.”

  “She died yesterday morning,” Jonas said.

  “I hadn’t heard,” Janet said. “Was there some sort of complication from the attack?”

  Jonas cast a glance at Angie.

  “The girl wasn’t harmed in the attack,” Angie said.

  “Come again,” Janet Creed said.

  “The girl, Carson Richards was her name, she wasn’t seriously injured in the attack,” Angie said. “She was the only one.”

  Janet looked from Angie to Jonas, anticipating an explanation. She realized that something was going unsaid between the two. Laura actually stepped in.

  She said, “The girl died of a massive heart attack. It apparently had nothing to do with the attack at all.”

  Janet looked questioningly from face to face.

  “It’s got a few of us thinking,” Angie said.

  “Thinking what?” Janet Creed said.

  “There’s not enough evidence to know,” Jonas said. He hesitated, then said, “It might be foul play. Angie was hazed by locals the other night—”

  “We’re not sure they were just locals,” Angie said. “Two men scared the hell out of me at my place in Telluride. One was wearing a Yoda mask—”

  “A Yoda mask?” Creed said.

  “Like the Star Wars character,” Angie said. “It was a rubber Halloween mask. More troubling, though, the guy had a machete.”

  “Oh, my God,” Janet Creed said.

  “They dismantled the ignition on my truck and threw a pig’s head at me.”

  “Why has no one told me this before?”

  “It just happened two nights ago,” Angie said. “And at first we didn’t think there was any correlation at all. Carson’s death changes that. We may be dealing with something much bigger than any of us had previously thought.”

  “What are you saying?” Janet Creed said.

  “What do you know about Abraham Foxwell?” Angie said. “Is he the kind of person who would have goons working for him that would do something like that?”

  “It’s possible. The man is the twelfth richest person in the United States. He has many, many people underneath him. In my last election, he actually funded several key ‘activist’ groups that nearly cost me the governorship. Many of these groups use words like ‘truth’ and ‘honor’ in their names, a sure sign that they’re as far from truth and honor as anyone could possibly be. So, he’s definitely not above pu
nching someone below the belt, or spending the money to have others do it for him. Threats, maybe. But murder? Even I wouldn’t think he’d go that far.”

  “He might if he was desperate enough,” Jonas said. “If the price of losing was too great.”

  Angie looked at him and felt a surge of attraction. It helped her case to not have her be the only person talking conspiracy. Otherwise, she just sounded paranoid.

  Janet said, “Well, the only way he could lose on this would be if this stuff about grizzly bears were true—” Her voice stopped short because Angie had removed the bear claw from a pocket and held it up. “What’s that?”

  Angie said, “This is a claw that I pulled from the side of the SUV.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s a grizzly bear claw, Governor.” Angie handed it to her. “The bear must have struck the side of the truck. Its claw lodged in the metal.”

  Governor Janet Creed just stared at it for a moment. She looked from the claw to Angie’s eyes, back to the claw again. It was like she was hearing something she had not thought possible.

  “You’re serious,” she said.

  Angie nodded her head. She glanced at Jonas.

  “What does this mean?” Governor Creed said. She just couldn’t get her mind around it.

  “It means,” Angie said, “that there’s a seven hundred pound grizzly bear walking around up there in those mountains missing a claw it had just two days ago.”

  “You’re not kidding me,” the governor said. “You didn’t plant this?”

  Angie looked shocked. “No,” she said. “No, I didn’t.”

  “I’m sorry,” Creed said. “I just . . . I just . . . do you know what this means?”

  Everyone looked at her.

  “It means we can stop Abraham,” she said.

  Angie nodded.

  Governor Creed said, “We may need more than a claw, though. Tell me you’re not joking. This isn’t some sort of hoax?”

  “Not unless someone planted that claw before we got up here yesterday morning,” Angie said.

  “Could they have?”

  “It’s possible. Not likely. But possible. However, the tracks found in the snow were grizzly tracks, not black bear tracks. The size indicated an animal somewhere in the seven hundred to eight hundred pound range. A big healthy male. It’d have to be a hell of a hoax.”

  “Tracks?” the governor said. “Like tracks that we could follow?”

  Angie nodded. “Yes.”

  For the first time, Angie realized the possibility that the governor had not ever truly believed that finding a grizzly bear in southwest Colorado was likely. It made her want to ask why she’d sent her here in the first place, but Angie restrained herself. She wondered if Governor Creed fully appreciated the implications of their finding a substantial clue indicating that a grizzly bear roamed southwest Colorado.

  She said, “Do you understand what this means in terms of numbers?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s just that we’re dealing with an animal whose likely numbers in the region are probably less than ten. Keep in mind grizzlies were thought extinct here as of 1979. It creates a bit of a problem.”

  “A problem?!” Janet said. “If there’s a grizzly bear in these mountains, it means we can shut down Abraham Foxwell. It means we can shut down his resort. It would be an endangered species—”

  “Critically endangered,” Wendy Norton of CDW interjected. “Nearly extinct, Governor. In fact, it would be a subspecies that was thought extinct, but now recovered. That’s only happened a few times with large mammals—”

  “The Okapi,” Angie Rippard said, “was once thought extinct, but a population was discovered in 1901.”

  “The Great Plains Wolf,” Laura said, “was thought extinct as recently as 1926, but studies in upper Michigan proved that a remnant population survived, which enabled them to become a protected animal.”

  “Microtus bavaricus,” Angie said, “the Bavarian Pine Vole is yet another.”

  Governor Creed said, “So, explain to me the various threat levels for species, like what is endangered?”

  Angie said, “There are seven primary threat levels for animal species: Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct.”

  “How do you determine a threat level?”

  Angie said, “That’s made by an IUCN Council.”

  “IUCN?”

  “The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, best known as ‘World Conservation Union’.”

  “And how do they make a determination?”

  Angie said, “There are many factors determining a specific threat level for a species; one is sheer number. For example, a unique subspecies numbering less than fifty animals could be classified as Critically Endangered. It’s thought that the grizzly bear of southwest Colorado would represent such a subspecies, if any were found of alive—”

  “Which is what this claw implies.” Governor Creed handed the bear claw back to Angie.

  “Right. Other factors might include rapidly diminished numbers, say ninety percent in ten years, or extreme fluctuations in geographic ranges. There are a lot of criteria determining a particular classification.”

  “So, you said there was a problem. What did you mean?”

  Angie looked from the governor to everyone else.

  “Numbers that low change the entire situation.”

  “How?”

  “Well, if it was a black bear that attacked these kids, the standard protocol would be to hunt and kill it. That’s what you do with problem animals. But if you do that here, and word gets out that it was, in fact, what we think it is, you’re going to bring down the wrath of every conservation group on Earth.”

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  “I would not hunt and kill an animal whose numbers are less than ten on Earth,” Angie said. “You’d look like a villain. But if you don’t do anything, word is going to spread on that side of the fence, and you’re going to look like you don’t care about the nine lives lost. In either case, politically, you’re screwed.”

  Janet laughed. “The story of my career.”

  “Well, ultimately, Governor,” Angie said, “how we proceed in this matter is up to you.”

  Twenty-one

  Angie saw Ernie Houseman’s van on the flight back over the mountains to Telluride. As luck would have it, Governor Creed had actually flown back in a different helicopter than she’d first come over in, and only the pilot, Jack, Jonas, and Laura Metzenauer were with her when she saw it.

  “What do you make of that?” Angie said.

  They saw Clear Lake at a distance of about a quarter mile, and the van looked like it was lying on its side. Angie glanced back behind her from the helicopter and saw the other two choppers about a half mile back. Governor Creed was in one of them. Angie pointed for the pilot to get in closer to the van.

  Jonas said, “Is that van on its side?”

  The helicopter raced out over the lake and approached the van on the far side.

  Laura said, “It looks like it.”

  Jack Dante said, “What in the world is it doing up here? This land is supposed to be off limits, since the B.L.M. auction.”

  Angie said, “This is Foxwell’s land?”

  Jack nodded.

  “The main hotel is slated to be built on that slope over there overlooking the lake.”

  Angie switched channels on her headset and spoke to the other two helicopters: “We’re going to check this van out.”

  Governor Creed came back, “What’ve you got, Angie?”

  “Probably nothing,” Angie said. “You guys go ahead. We’ll meet up in Telluride in about thirty minutes.”

  Governor Creed said, “We’ll see you there.”

  Jonas watched the other two helicopters climbing up the slope on the far side of the lake. They passed over a ridgeline and vanished into the dista
nce.

  Their pilot circled the overturned van at a distance of about fifty feet. Grocery bags and other debris fluttered over the ground because of the chopper’s wind.

  “My God,” Angie said. “It looks like it went twelve rounds with an earth mover.”

  Jonas said to the pilot, “Can you set us down?”

  The pilot nodded and looked at them from behind opaque sunglasses. The helicopter circled out wide toward the end of the lake, and then the pilot set them down in a clearing.

  • •

  The group of four approached the overturned van. The snow on the ground was fresh, and it crunched under their feet. Angie stepped around the front side towards the front window. Jonas just stood there, ten feet away, trying to make sense of what had happened here.

  Laura said, “How did it get on its side?”

  Jack looked at her and shook his head. “Looks like the door is open on the top. Hey, Jonas, help me up?”

  Jonas helped him to climb up the side so that he could see in the sliding side door, which was open to the sky. Angie was in front looking in through the window. It looked like a tornado had roared through the inside.

  Jack was up on the side, leaning over looking through the door. Jonas held his feet.

  “I got it,” Jack said.

  Jonas stepped back two steps, and Jack hung there looking down inside the van.

  “There’s blood up here,” Jack said, “on the paneling.”

  Angie stepped around, alarmed, and said, “Blood?”

  “And hair,” Jack said.

  He looked down at what was the top of the door. It looked like someone’s head had struck the doorframe, leaving a tuft of hair, skin, and blood.

  “How in the hell,” he said. “Hey, help me back down.”

  Jonas stepped up to him and helped him back to the ground. The van creaked under his shifting weight. Jack touched down on the snow and looked quickly around the clearing.

  Angie said, “What happened here?”