The Huntsman

by Rafael

  CHAPTER 28 Call of the Wild

  “Ekani my brother. It’s been too long since we last spoke.”

  “The months become an instant when I hear your voice, Janesh.”

  “Catch up must wait for another day. I have no time and need your help.”

  “Then hurry. I will do whatever you ask.”

  Ekani never saw the tiger that charged from the underbrush. Its speed paralyzed him as he stared at the unblinking eyes, fixed on their prey, reflecting certain death. A blur hurtled through the air and tackled the beast mid-leap. The wild man rose to watch the behemoth gasp its last breath from a spear through the heart. He turned and stumbled three steps before blood loss rendered him unconscious. The tiger had ripped the man’s back open with three slashes from shoulder to waist. His bleeding soaked the ground.

  Ekani would later swear the Lord Vishnu had given him the courage to chase the water buffalos from their drinking hole. Four times he carried its mud to pack the stranger’s gashes. Then he carried the heavier man twenty-three miles to the park rangers’ station. At the hospital, though the mud had stopped the bleeding, a fever and severe infection kept the man at death’s doorstep for four days.

  Ekani never left his side. He burned incense and prayed to all the deities but especially Dhanvantari and Aiyaapa, the gods of health and forest. Without any identification, Ekani referred to him as the Mahān Śikārī when the remarkable story gained a riveted national audience. Their friendship had only deepened every year since.

  “I called in a few favors and obtained all the necessary permits from the National Forest Service for an expedition into the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. I want you to use the permits to reserve campsite G. Its remote location and difficult access will insure availability. Rest and recover but remain there two, three days at most. The move is temporary and only a feint. Others may be trying to find you. Continue to campsite J and await my arrival.”

  “Isn’t that rarely used and even more remote? And isn’t it on the opposite end of the reserve?”

  “That’s right. So your logistics won’t be easy but security is paramount. Tell no one of your true destination. Not even the park officials. By the time they find out where you really are my work should be done. Make whatever purchases or rentals regarding supplies, tents, vehicles, power generation you feel appropriate for a four-month encampment. My friend Chatur will contact you to arrange the necessary funding and knows of the plans. Inform him when everything is in readiness. He’ll decide if and when the expedition will set out.” The line went silent.

  “Janesh?”

  “I’ve changed my mind. Time may be of the essence, Ekani. The expedition will consist of scientists who are engaged in a project others want to halt or expropriate. It is vital they complete their work and Camp J’s isolation will insure that. As soon as you’re ready, departure must be immediate. I want you to lead them there. I think that covers everything. When I can I will join you. Do you have any questions?”

  “None, Janesh.”

  “That is why I called you. When I disconnect, I’ll transmit all the authorizations, permit codes, pictures, and dial codes. In two hours I’ll be aboard a super-express. Two hours later I’ll be in Honolulu. I should be back within two weeks.” Again the line went silent.

  “Janesh?”

  “If I do not return, my brother, I am grateful for the time you gave me.” The link disconnected. An incoming upload flashed. Ekani stared at the mobile.

  * * *

  Early-morning fog thinned, revealing another sign warning hikers away from the rugged, dangerous cliffs ahead. Janesh stopped to remove his jacket and stuff it inside the backpack. A bright sun, now over the treetops, promised more heat to steam Kauai’s Alakai Preserve. He raised the binoculars to scan the faint trail sloping up toward Kawaikini. A glance at the GPS locator placed the strong signal within a half mile. The trail ended a mile farther at a cliff. The directional arrow angled left toward the mountain, away from the dense, tropical forest on the right.

  Duncan and Ronan had stopped scouting to sniff and paw something on the ground. Janesh lifted a dusty and grimy camera. A few wipes and a pretty blond, frozen in the viewer, smiled back. The dogs picked up a scent, noses-to-the-ground trotted toward the woods, then circled a tree growling and barking. A corpse, half eaten by scavengers and insects, hung by its rotted face, decayed arms pasted to its back.

  Janesh circled in place, scanning the sky. He had to be close. So did Miranda. Spear unsheathed, he continued up the trail. The locator continued to show the signal within a half mile.

  At the cliff’s edge, his brow furrowed. The signal’s distance had increased to ¾ of a mile. He walked back and watched the distance decrease. Of course! Binoculars raised, he began a slow scan of the mountain face. Half way up he stopped at an opening partially obscured by brush and vines.

  Eyes fixed on the woods, growls rumbled from Duncan and Ronan’s chests. A helicopter rose from the cliff’s edge, bullhorn blaring for him to halt and raise his arms. Along the tree line, ten police SWAT types emerged, cheeks fixed on their machine pistols, advancing in lock step. Behind them three civilian types followed. Janesh lay down the spear and raised his arms, turning slightly so everyone could see the hunting knife dangling from his belt.

  “On the ground now, hands out.” Janesh complied.

  “Down.” The dogs followed suit.

  “Watch the dogs, watch the dogs.”

  “Down.” Janesh repeated. Heads lowered to their forepaws.

  Two helmeted cops placed boots on his wrists while a third began a thorough search. He removed Janesh’s knife along with the spear. “He’s clean.” The cops stepped back, the civilians moved up. The middle one spoke for the three.

  “You can get up now, Mr. McKenzie.” His badge displayed Central Intelligence Agency, the name said Lon. The other two displayed badges belonging to Kauai homicide. “My police colleagues have granted me a favor in speaking with you first. They want to arrest you as an accessory to murder.” Janesh remained expressionless.

  “Six miles from here is a ranch belonging to a very prominent local family. The community is outraged over how they died. Phone records revealed your girlfriend placed a video call to you from there at the time of death. We thought how convenient when we traced your mobile headed back here.” He looked up the mountain. “Is that where she’s hiding?” Janesh ignored him and turned to the detectives.

  “You two real cops?”

  “We’re as real as it gets, buddy.”

  “Good. You look like honorable men. Let me tell you how you found the family. They were hanging from a wall, pasted by their faces. The left side of their faces. Their arms had been ripped off and pasted to their backs.”

  “Read him his rights, Andy. Only the killer could know that.”

  “Down this trail about a ¼ mile, you’ll find a month-old corpse pasted to a tree in the same exact way. You’ll also find a camera. I’m betting besides mine, the corpse’s prints are also on it. There’s a girl’s picture displayed date-stamped a month ago. I have no idea where she is, but your case will fall apart when my lawyer proves I was not on Kauai a month ago. And that’s another thing. I’ll bet Mr. Lon never mentioned to you the same exact MO killed three of his colleagues.” Janesh returned his attention to the CIA agent. “Did you, Mr. Lon?”

  The two detectives looked at one another and at the agent. Andy motioned to a uniform. “Take Jim and check it out.” The other detective turned to Janesh.

  “Is your girlfriend in the cave?”

  “All I know for sure is the mobile you traced is.”

  “We’re still going to have to talk to her. At a minimum she’s a material witness.”

  “Detective, I don’t want to sound melodramatic but I’m about to. You and your men are in grave danger. This case goes way, way beyond a simple homicide.”

  The two uniforms returned trotting up the trail. Jim had the camera in a plastic bag. He handed over hi
s mobile showing a grisly image hung on a tree. “Just like he said, Lieutenant.” The detective turned the bagged camera over, noted the month-old photo.

  “What exactly is going on, Mr. McKenzie?” Janesh locked eyes with him. What could he say? The truth? Nothing better came to mind.

  “I can’t say for sure. I was about to go into the cave and find out. I and others think it’s an alien.” Andy almost snorted.

  “An alien? Like from another planet?” Janesh nodded. All three stared at him. Looked for any indication he might be delusional or plain crazy. Andy leaned his mouth toward a shoulder radio. Clicked it on. “Pete, you read me?”

  “Go ahead, Andy.”

  “Land the chopper. I’m sending up six men to check out the cave.”

  “Roger.” While the aircraft maneuvered, Janesh turned back to Agent Lon.

  “What exactly is your angle?”

  “Dr. Ang’s project. It’s our property. We want it back. You have it.”

  “So you thought to pin a bogus murder rap on me so I would plea down in exchange for the equipment? What does it do?”

  “We don’t know. But it would go a long way toward explaining why three agents are dead.”

  The helicopter’s turbines drowned out further conversation. From a rear compartment two rope guns emerged along with rappel lines. Six SWAT members boarded and the helicopter rose vertically, parallel to the mountain’s face. Once even with the cave’s entrance a crew member shot a hook claw into the rock face above the opening then another. Before he could brace the line to the helicopter, its lights blinked out and the engine cut off. It dropped like a stone. The updraft turned the rotor and forced an out of control tumble. Two men flew out. When the chopper hit the ground it collapsed on itself then exploded. The two men thudded into the inferno. Duncan and Ronan growled and barked.

  Before anyone recovered from the shock, a scream filled the small clearing. Everyone turned in time to see legs then boots disappear into the thick foliage. A more distant cry for help sounded. Janesh looked up to see a female lean out from the cave. An upper breeze tossed her red hair. Hands cupped around her mouth she screamed again. “Help me.” As quickly, she ducked back inside.

  Between two SWATs a huge, iridescent bird appeared, enormous wings flapping, beak snapping and hissing. Shortened reflexes pulled triggers. One cop fell dead, two bullets through the face. The other, saved by his armored vest, lay gasping in pain from a pounding that had cracked ribs. The creature disappeared.

  Andy’s two-handed cop grip whirled his service revolver in every direction. “Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.” His partner too searched for a target.

  “What the hell was that? What the hell was that?”

  “Xenoform confirmed. Xenoform confirmed.” Lon shouted into his mobile. “Request emergency extraction. Immediate extraction requested.”

  Janesh rushed over to the dead cop, pulled a flashlight off his belt, cleared the machine pistol, loaded a fresh clip, and chambered a round. Two more clips went into his pocket before re-strapping his knife.

  The two remaining SWATs rose from comforting their injured teammate. “We have to go find Charlie. He might still be alive.” Grim-faced, his partner nodded. Janesh whirled on them.

  “No. He’s dead. You go in that forest, you’ll have no chance. Stay here where the dogs will alert you if it nears.”

  “We can’t just leave him.” The other nodded.

  “He’s trained to survive.”

  They disappeared into the forest. Janesh turned away, certain he’d never see them again. He looked at the detectives. “The dogs are your only chance. The thing can cast false images. They’ll know where the real one is. It’s your only chance until help arrives.” He gave the dogs a guard order then headed up slope.

  Self-induced urgency fueled his ascent the first third of which would occur beneath dense forest that collared the cliff’s base. Unlike the summit approaches on the other three sides where step-sucking bogs, waist-high grass, and dense jungle conditions often produced lost hikers who became food for the feral pig population, his route went straight up. Akin to climbing stairs at this point, superb conditioning permitted a steady, distance-eating pace.

  Through breaks in the leafy overhang, he eyed the ascent’s exposed middle warily. In addition to whatever climbing difficulties awaited, the threat of attack from a flying creature would be constant. Out from the forest he estimated a thirty-minute climb to the cave’s entrance. He grabbed a rock and watched despairingly as it came loose, rolled down, and disappeared into the woods. The area’s prodigious rainfall made the mountain’s exposed surfaces an unstable mix of stones and dirt that would hurl a careless climber to his death. Stillborn described his thirty-minute estimate. Frustration, anxiety, and rage threatened to overwhelm.

  Janesh shook himself. More than ever he had to merge with the Earth. Head lowered, eyes closed, his breathing slowed. A thumping heart steadied. His mind blocked thought and opened senses. He touched the whirls and eddies of passing breezes, heard the ground’s subtle shifts and slides. If an attack came he would know.

  He opened his eyes, surveyed the rocks above. A hand reached out and gripped one. Muscles flexed and pulled. It held. He gripped another then another. Where the ground fell away, he scraped deeper until steel fingers closed around dense, packed earth. He climbed. The mountain’s height pulled him. Twenty minutes later, the Mahān Śikārī’s hand closed around a nylon rope.

  Janesh shimmied up the 400ft length and continued past the entrance. Above the opening he pulled out the other SWAT line before swinging into the cave. Pressed to the side, away from his silhouette, he waited for eyes to adjust. Nostrils flared. Rot and decay wafted from within.

  His eyes could not pierce a gloom from which no sound emerged. Every nerve tensed. He wished for his spear, tailor-made for the confined space. A ricocheting bullet could hit anything including Miranda. Janesh prayed she lived, steeled himself if not. He clicked on the flashlight, held it alongside the cocked machine pistol on full automatic. Scattered bones marked the path ahead. He stepped out. One careful step followed another. Ears strained to pick up any sound.

  He rounded a bend. Against a wall lay a skeleton. Straw-dry blond patches fell from its head. He recalled the photo showing a vivacious woman filled with life. Janesh shuddered. Around another bend his heart stopped. Ten yards away, back against the wall, face buried against her hands, sat Miranda. Encircled by the light’s halo, he searched for any sign of injury or blood. He strained to push air through a constricted throat. “Miranda?” Face still buried, her voice whispered.

  “Janesh? Is it you Janesh?”

  “Yes, my darling. It’s me.” She raised her face away from her hands, blinked at the glare. Her voice rose.

  “Janesh? Is it really you, Janesh?” He moved the light aside, tried to sooth her.

  “Yes, Miranda, it’s really me. Come. We’re leaving together.”

  She sprang from the wall and threw herself against him. Arms wrapped around his neck, she squeezed hard, tried to speak between sobs. “I didn’t want to hope, Janesh. I didn’t want to believe. I wanted to but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to hope it was you.”

  “Sshh, sshh. It’s okay, Miranda. But we’re not safe yet. We have to go.” She pulled her head back, wiped the tears away. A radiant smile broke through, words rushed out.

  “We are safe. For the moment anyway. Until the Seer figures out I lied. Kreetor wanted to know if the dogs were like the Unwinged. I told her they were the Gatekeepers. That it doesn’t work without them. She’s lost track of it because it hasn’t been on. She has to kill the dogs but isn’t sure how since they can see her and won’t attack until they lead her back to the Gate.”

  Janesh searched her face, convinced hysteria or the emotional aftermath of a hideous ordeal had overtaken her. He gave her hand a gentle press. “We still have to get out of here. C’mon.” She jerked him back.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” He hesitat
ed, unsure how to respond. She leaped back up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her voice became a whisper.

  “It’s okay. You will. Just promise me you’ll never leave me again.” She shook him with surprising strength. “Promise me, Janesh McKenzie.”

  “I promise, Miranda Logan. I’ll never leave you again.” A deep kiss sealed his oath.

  At the entrance he cinched one end of the spare line into a harness knot around her. “I’m going to lower you down to a point where you’ll find toe and footholds you can cling to. When you have a firm grip I’ll climb down to where you are than lower you again. Don’t look down or to the sides. Keep your eyes glued to the mountain.” He saw the fear and doubt in her eyes, hugged her close. His grin calmed her. “I not only won’t leave you, I won’t drop you either.” She nodded and smiled weakly.

  For the next hour sheer strength and stamina lowered her to the tree line where Kawaikini’s slope finally left the vertical. Miranda laid cheek to ground, letting it soak up the fear and powerlessness that had become her daily existence. She felt drained, emotionally spent and yet curiously exhilarated. With each passing second Mother Earth swelled and restored her confidence.

  Dirt from above slid past. She smiled, content and happy. If she lifted her head she’d see Janesh. Strong Janesh, powerful Janesh. She would not fear again. His hand came into view, waited for her grasp. Miranda kissed it, pressed it against her face. Her eyes closed. No. She would not fear again.

  The two emerged from the forest to a dispirited, diminished group. The two uniforms had returned. Janesh gave them a nod of deep respect and admiration. It acknowledged their bravery. The men had brought back Charlie. Though dismembered, his family would have a gravesite to visit. Thirteen men had come to Kawaikini. Only five would walk away.

  Janesh returned the weapon and flashlight. He gathered spear and backpack and turned toward the detectives. Miranda stood alongside, both arms wrapped around his. “I’m leaving. You’re not safe in my presence. Will you stop me?” Both shook their heads. Andy spoke up.