He used his gun to sight up the hill. “No, she’s not.”
Well, that seemed incredibly stupid. Maybe they had tranquilized her and the drugs had worn off.
“Thought you were a cyborg, anyway.” His hand cannon cracked once, twice, and a man began to scream. “Get up there and punch a hole through the wall or something.”
“We’re not that kind of cyborg, sir. We’re the smart kind.”
“Oh?” His gun cracked twice more, followed by a new set of screams: he was shooting Raven’s men in the feet with vicious precision. “Then you should be able to figure out how to open a door.”
I was still laughing. My ears were ringing from the gunshots, and my body throbbed from Mare’s shared pain. I felt almost none of it: adrenaline was riding high. Yeah. Yeah! A run straight up a hill into live fire to rescue a bear from a burning truck was a great plan!
(So much for being the smart kind of cyborg, right?)
I gave Mare a kiss. She tasted of blood and coffee. “Ready?” I asked. She nodded. I pulled my hand from hers. My entire body started to shake from relief. Oh yeah, I was ready.
I jumped straight over the top of the car.
That move probably saved my life. Unexpected, dramatic…it gave Pappy an opening to get a read on the man with the gun. During the time it took the shooter to recover, Pappy had spotted them, aimed, fired, and—
This time, there was no screaming.
Up the hill. On all fours at times, the forest floor chopping into loam beneath my hands and feet. Leverage wherever I could take it: a tree, a rock, an old carburetor someone had dumped in the ditch.
I came over the edge swinging.
The enormous man from Raven’s hunting party was there. He was huge. Huge. Easily six-five and three hundred pounds. I darted to the side and punched him in the kidney as hard as I could, then kicked his knees out from under him. It wouldn’t keep him down, but it would buy me time.
Another sprint, and I reached the burning truck. A giant hole had been punched straight into the side of the engine, probably thanks to Pappy’s gun. The fire hadn’t yet spread to the back, but Brenda knew what was happening. The truck was a basic mover’s model with a rolling rear door. There was aggressive banging on the door from the other side, the sounds of claws scraping against metal as Brenda tried to burrow her way out. How was I supposed to—
“Agent Glassman!”
I turned to see Officer Tamino come over the crest of the hill, running along the road towards me. Oh yeah. That guy. He had been following Uncle Roy’s truck in his cruiser. Too late, I realized that he should have arrived before now, even if we had managed to lose him on the ride over.
Then, a woman with short black hair streaked with gray appeared: Raven, walking calmly behind him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Hi, folks,” I said, nodding to Raven. God, she was so good! “I’m livestreaming this. You know all the usual threats by now.” For once, I wasn’t lying. I was sending a live feed straight to OACET headquarters, and also to the phones of a couple of reporters with whom I was on excellent terms. Oh, and to OACET’s social media sites. And a friend at the Pentagon. And a few television channels. Saturation is protection.
“Stand down,” Raven said. The rest of her team stopped moving…at least, those still able to do so. She pointed towards the road. The bigger, stronger ones began to load the wounded into the Jeep. They left the body of the shooter, but stripped him of his wallet and a ring on his left hand.
I did a quick frequency scan of the immediate area. None of them were wearing or carrying anything digital, and the Jeep was an older model.
The truth finally caught up with me. I had thought that the only explanation for Raven’s behavior was that she was addicted to risk, but there was another, simpler reason. “Who are you, really?” I asked.
“Expensive,” she replied.
“We ran your photo,” I said. “Checked out your company. Your data’s good. Looks authentic.”
“Thank you.” She gave me a small smile. “I’ll pass on your compliments to my tech guy.”
Since Brenda was still alive, I had to know. “Why were you hired to take the bears? Trophies?”
“We thought there was just the one when I killed the male. When I learned there was a female?” Raven gestured to the truck. “I was told to take her alive. And when my client learned there were two female bears? He was ecstatic.
“You shouldn’t worry about the bears,” she assured me. “They’ll be well-kept and bred for their cubs. It’ll be a good life. Let me take them, and this ends now.”
“Don’t know about that,” I replied. “My buddy Officer Tamino is about to arrest you, you know.”
Tamino started to laugh. “Nice one.”
“I try. You’re a great actor. I can usually tell when people are lying to me.”
“I met her five minutes ago,” he said. “She made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Travel the world, hunting animals for lazy billionaires? Dream job.”
Raven’s eyes met mine as she shook her head slightly. Ah, poor Officer Tamino. Someone was about to be “accidentally” eaten by a pride of lions.
I grinned at her. “Respect,” I said. “I haven’t been played like this in a long time.”
“You’re still young,” she said, as she moved to inspect the engine on Brenda’s truck. “Come and find me when you’ve got some more experience. You might be worth my time, then.”
“Ooh.” Tamino sucked in his breath. “Ouch.”
I ignored him. Dead man walking and all. “What’s the offer?”
Brenda’s truck was shaking from the weight of the animal smashing against the walls. Raven pressed her hand against the back door, as if to test its stability. “Elizabeth,” she said loudly. “This truck’s dead. There’s another truck down the hill. Get it working and drive it up here so we can transfer the animal.” One of her team dragged a mechanic’s kit from the Jeep, and headed down the hill. Raven turned back to me. “I’d rather not have the full weight of OACET come down on me,” she said. “You’re my hostage until we’re outside of Anchorage. Then, I’ll leave you at the border, safe and sound.”
“And the bears?”
“Two rare white female bears?” Raven chuckled as if she couldn’t believe her luck. “My clients will be extremely happy.”
This seemed like a decent deal, to be honest. The Murphy family would be safe, I’d be a temporary hostage, and Brenda would live. Not to mention the moment of future joy when Raven opened Gladys’ truck and encountered seven hundred pounds of polar bear instead of—
Oh. Right. She’d probably have Gladys killed.
“About that second bear…” I started to say.
“It’s a polar bear,” Tamino broke in.
Raven whipped towards him. “What?”
“Polar bear,” I said with a shrug. “Figured a third white bear would be the only lure good enough to flush you out, but it’s hard to get another Kermode bear on short notice.”
She froze, as if a million questions were chasing each other around. Only one seemed to matter, though. “You knew about this?” she asked Tamino in a voice colder than death.
Oh shit. Oh shiiiiit. “That guy? Of course not. He made a good guess.” I stood there, glaring at Tamino, begging him to show some common sense. “This was all me.”
“Fuckin’ liar,” he said, grinning. “They got a polar bear from a local tourist trap, and got me to film it.”
“So there’s no reason for me to be here,” she said, eyes and face tight. “My people could have handled a single transfer without me. You could have told me back at your car, instead of making me come up here where I put myself on camera.”
I took a couple of steps backwards to put myself out of spray range.
“Well—” Tamino finally caught on. “I mean—”
Raven was fast. She reached behind her and pulled out a small pistol, a single crack! shattering the air. Tamino hit the ground by
her feet. I don’t think he even knew what hit him.
“We’re done,” Raven shouted to her team. She pointed at the road. “Go.”
The Jeep carrying the injured pulled out and started down the far side of the hill. There were still a few people standing around waiting for orders. Raven barked out some commands, and they began to move around, preparing to retrieve Brenda from the ruined truck.
“Elizabeth!” Raven shouted. “We’re moving her into the working truck. Get up here!”
“How are we going to do this?” one of Raven’s men asked her. A good question, as Brenda was still throwing herself at the door. I was honestly surprised the truck had held up as well as it had.
“We’re going to shoot both bears,” Raven said, as she checked her gun.
“What?” I couldn’t help myself.
“We’re cutting our losses. The client will have to settle for another trophy,” Raven said. “It’s a shame, but I’ve just shot a cop, and it’s easier to move a dead bear than a live one. We’ll dump the polar bear and use its truck for the Kermode white.”
I couldn’t argue with the logic. Still… “Can’t you just walk away?”
Raven turned to me, nothing but scorn on her face. Then, her eyes widened in shock.
I turned to see Pappy standing beside the second truck, his gun aimed at Raven. “Lady,” he said. “Get away from my bear.”
“Don’t kill her!” I shouted. This wasn’t self-defense, they’d throw him in prison and—
Pappy pointed his gun at the padlock and fired.
The back of the truck shot up, and seven hundred pounds of well-fed polar bear exploded into the daylight.
Raven brought the small pistol up, her target one of Gladys’ pitch-black eyes.
I hit Raven with my shoe.
What? I didn’t have any other weapons on me, and men’s dress shoes are pretty aerodynamic. I beaned her on the side of the head hard enough to shock her. For a moment, I thought about following it up with a flying tackle, but Gladys was already on it. The bear had locked on Raven as if she knew her enemy, and charged.
Raven turned to run. She was fast, but Gladys was faster and Raven knew it. The woman leapt off of the road and sped down the steep slope towards Mare’s crashed car. Why? Probably because Raven knew the only thing that could put Gladys down was Pappy and his monster gun, and he wouldn’t use it unless he needed to defend his family.
We’ll never know.
She wasn’t careful enough, or her luck had run out. Either way, Raven’s feet slid out from under her. She tripped, fell, rolled…
There was a hard snap as her skull met the sedan, and the momentum carried her body the wrong way around her neck.
Gladys stopped and snorted. I’d swear in any court of law that it was a sound of satisfaction.
“Ouch.” Pappy was standing beside me. “Well, I guess that’s that.” He turned towards the few remaining members of Raven’s crew. “All right, everybody get gone before the cops—”
“No!” I shouted. Now that events had slowed to a quiet scream, I could hear sirens in the distance. “Everybody lie flat on the ground, hands behind your head. Yeah, even you, big guy. On the ground or I’ll kick out your other knee.”
“Fuckin’ cops,” Pappy muttered, as he walked towards Brenda’s truck. As I rounded up Raven’s crew and made sure they were disarmed, he began to talk to Brenda through the wall. Finally, he popped the latch. As the door rolled up, the white bear stuck her head through the crack, grunting happily. “Hey, girl,” Pappy said, as he scratched her behind her ears.
Then, Brenda froze. She had spotted Gladys.
Pappy gave her a little pat on her shoulder. “Go on, girl,” he said.
“Oh, boy,” I muttered. I gestured for the people on the ground to scoot backwards and put more distance between us and the bears. We were hurtling towards disaster… No. Flip that around. Disaster would soon be hurtling towards us.
Brenda hopped down from the truck. She took a few cautious steps towards Gladys. Seeing them side-by-side was terrifying: Brenda was a massive beast, but Gladys made her look like a toy poodle.
The two of them touched noses. And then? Shoulder to shoulder, they turned and disappeared into the woods together.
“Whoa,” I said quietly. “An entire generation of lesbian furries just gave a heartfelt cheer.”
“See?” Pappy came over so he could clap me on the back. “I’ll give them a few days to calm down, and then I’ll go out and make sure they’re safe.”
“Right,” I said, as the first police car appeared, an ambulance close behind. I dug deep down and found my game face. “Okay. Time to do crowd control.”
“Hey, son?” I turned back to see Pappy stifle a smile. “What’s a lesbian?”
I shook my head and went to work.
EPILOGUE
Three days later, Mare still should have been lying flat on her back in a hospital. Instead, she was charging through the halls of the Anchorage Police Department’s main building, the only concession to her injuries was an arm in a sling to keep her broken collarbone immobile. She was back in her personal business uniform—a light blouse, long skirt, and flat-heeled shoes—and looked ever so slightly of a driving urge to murder.
I was walking behind her, waving to the folks we passed along the way. This was not my first visit to the station: I had spent a lot of time here over the last few days, putting different elements of the incident to rest. In spite of the bears and the bodies, the situation was fairly straightforward, as Mare and I had been recording and livestreaming the entire incident. It was clear that Team OACET had been defending ourselves. It helped that Gladys’ trainer had his phone out and was recording from the safety of his truck’s cab, and Uncle Roy had the police on the line the entire time. Believe it or not, the time elapsed from when I arrived on the scene to when Pappy started to troll me was just over four minutes. Time really does slow down in a crisis.
The captured members of Raven’s poaching party were decent sources of information. Turns out that Mare, Pappy, and I had busted a major charismatic megafauna smuggling ring. Several very rich people had to pay a lot of money to animal welfare organizations to stay out of the public eye, and a couple of leads led us to animal organ harvesting facilities. My gut told me that Brenda would have ended up in one of those, breeding rare cubs which would be cut into pieces and sold on the black market.
Uncle Roy and Pappy worked out a deal: Pappy helped him get Gladys back in captivity, and Brenda would be shipped to British Columbia where the largest population of wild Kermode bears was found. If she could be reintroduced to the wild, she would be. Kermode bears were a protected species, and some of the local folks considered them to be sacred animals. It was as good as we could get.
We were here at the station to wrap up one last detail, and Mare had made me promise to leave it to her.
Sergeant Hungerford was at her desk, head down in a case log. Mare did her the courtesy of a firm knock on the door before she slammed it open and declared, “You are never to go anywhere near my grandfather again.”
Hungerford jumped, but quickly recovered. She shut the log. “Not here in an official capacity, Agent Murphy?”
I turned the empty chair by the door so I could watch the action inside the room and also watch for anybody coming from the outside. Much in the way of an armed bomb, Mare tended to store up her anger and release it all at once. Sometimes this explosion was loud, but most often it was surgically precise. Best to keep it aimed at Hungerford.
“You took advantage of my grandfather,” Mare said. “You saw the bear cubs in his cabin, and put that news out into the poaching community. Worse, you used your relationship with him to manipulate him.” She paused. “You stole his knife, and you let yourself into the cabin and staged a scene that might have put him in prison.
“Worse…” Mare said, as she used her good hand to lean on Hungerford’s desk. “You willingly put my grandfather in danger.”
<
br /> Hungerford pushed a strand of her blond hair away from her face, but didn’t answer.
Mare let the moment hang until it became uncomfortable, and said, “Don’t worry. We can’t prove anything without doing serious detective work. But you will never go near my grandfather again. If you do, Agent Glassman and I will be back, and we will bring friends who make Sherlock Holmes look like a moldy cheese sandwich.”
There was a pause where Mare waited for Hungerford to reply. When it was clear the sergeant wouldn’t answer her, Mare turned and stormed out the door. As I stood to follow, I heard Hungerford whisper, “It was just a bear.”
I closed the door and shut her away.
I caught up with Mare on the front steps. She was shaking. Careful of her ribs, I moved to hold her, and asked, “Feel better?”
“Nope,” Mare replied. “Nope, not at all. How dare she?!”
“Easy money, probably,” I sighed. “People will do the worst things for money.”
Mare grumbled something nasty and leaned against me. Through the link, I could tell her pain was flaring again.
“Cmon,” I said. “Let’s get you to bed.”
She sniffed. “That’s your answer to everything.”
“I’m not going to break my brand-new wife during the first week,” I said, as I kissed her forehead.
Mare looked up at me, grinning. “Then tell me how you’ll break me next week,” she said, as she used her good hand to pull my face towards her own. “Be specific.”
I smiled as we kissed, with…oh, right.
My third marriage?
Once we got Mare up the hill and into the ambulance, the paramedics were worried about internal bleeding, so they rushed her straight to Intensive Care. Since Pappy was being questioned by the police and Douglas was getting his knee put back together, I told the receptionist I was her fiancée to make sure I’d be able to talk to the doctors.
Like a dummy, I didn’t think about how Mare’s family would take that. Pappy took it pretty well. As soon as he found out that I had called myself Mare’s fiancée, he showed up in her hospital room with a judge and told us that we were going to make it official, right then and there.
The Alaska Escape Page 9