by Nancy CoCo
“Show me where Elias is,” Jim said. He was six feet tall, had blue eyes in a tan face, and looked a bit like the actor Paul Newman. “Ashton, check out the house.”
“It’s open,” I said. “I found the door unlocked and went inside to get a better look at the backyard.”
Jim frowned at me. “Elias is in the backyard, and you went into the house?”
“Yes,” I said. “It was the only way to safely see the entire backyard. It’s how I found Elias.” We took off down the sidewalk as I continued to explain. “I called Klaus Vanderbuen. He’s the closest bee wrangler. But he’s about fifteen minutes out.”
Jim followed behind me. I stopped at the corner and peered around the side of the house. Jim stepped around me and then ducked back beside me. “Those are some angry bees. Any thoughts on how to handle them? Should we smoke them?”
“Smoke them?” I asked.
“You know smoke tends to calm bees.”
“I think that only works if you are gently moving parts of the hive,” I said. “You need protective gear and maybe a bee box to capture them.”
“I’ll call it in,” he grabbed his radio. As he spoke into it, I crouched down, wondering if I could somehow crawl slowly toward Elias. But the bees swarmed the entire backyard.
“Ashton,” I heard Jim say into the radio when I moved back beside him.
“Yeah, boss,” the radio crackled.
“Can you see anything from inside the house?” Jim asked.
“I’m looking out the bedroom window. Bees are swarming the back porch as well as the yard. Looks like we have one man down and three hives demolished. I don’t see how whoever did this got away without being stung multiple times.”
“I’ll put a call into the ER to watch for bee attacks,” Jim said. “Can you tell if Elias is moving?”
“I’m not seeing any motion,” Officer Ashton said. “Looks like maybe blood pooling near his head. Also the back bedroom looks tossed.”
“I can hear the ambulance,” I said and hurried back to the front of the house. The ambulance arrived, and I rushed to the driver’s side. EMT Sarah Ritter stepped out. She was five foot nine with short brown hair and serious eyes.
“What do we have?” she asked as she headed to the back of her rig to get out her equipment.
“Bees,” I said. “Are you allergic?”
“Nope,” she replied and opened the back door. I saw Jim go into the house as the second EMT came around and parked behind the ambulance.
It was Rick Fender. He was my height, and rail thin with bleached blond hair and a surfer look. He grinned at me. “Maybe you can lure them out with that honey candy you make.”
“There are three hives of angry bees,” I said. “I don’t think my candy is going to soothe them. I hope you’re not allergic.”
“I’m not,” he said and grabbed the end of a stretcher.
“Where’s the victim?” Ritter asked.
“He’s in the backyard, but the bees are there, too, and they’re swarming. Listen, I called a bee wrangler.” I glanced at my phone. “He should be here in about ten minutes.”
“The victim could be dead by then,” Ritter said and pulled the stretcher and her kit toward the side of the house.
“I don’t think you understand,” I said. “The bees are bad.”
“I’m not afraid of a few stings,” Ritter said and moved quickly down the side of the house.
“Fine,” I said and threw up my hands. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
They rounded the back of the house, and I counted to myself. “Five, four, three—” Both EMTs came scrambling back to the side of the building without the stretcher.
Ritter waved a bee from in front of her face and stopped next to me. “That’s more than a few angry bees. You run the honey shop. Do you have a bee suit?”
“No, I only wrangled for a season and used one of Elias’s suits,” I said.
“How far out is the bee wrangler?” Jim asked as he and Officer Ashton stepped off the porch.
I glanced at my phone, “Maybe ten minutes? Is there anything we can do in the meantime? Elias could be dying.”
“I hate to break it to you,” Jim said. “But until we get those bees under control, there’s no getting to Elias.”
“I can try a hazmat suit,” Sarah said. “We have a couple back at the station. Don’t know if they will be protective enough against that many bees. But it’s worth a try.”
“Go get it,” Jim said. “Ashton and I will stay here and monitor the situation.”
“Dispatch wanted to call animal control,” I said. “But even if they have a bee suit, Klaus will get here before they can dig it out.”
“What if Elias moves?” Jim asked. “Will the bees attack him?”
“There’s a chance they will,” I said.
“Then we’d better hope he keeps his head down,” Jim said. “Fender, monitor the victim from a safe distance. Ritter, go get the hazmat suit.”
“And me?” I asked.
“Stay out of the way.”