by Linda Mackay
“Could be.”
“Someone want to tell me about the wolf?” Ed asked.
Everyone emphatically said, “No!”
If my secret were known by anyone at the park or USGS my job would be finished. My bosses would have zero tolerance for an employee who believed she was a shaman with mystical abilities. If you think the world has become more enlightened with New Age thinking, then try telling people you’ve seen a fairy eating a corn dog while talking to a frog with blue teeth and orange hair. See how that works out for you.
“Okay then, I won’t ask about wolves, but I do need an answer about taking the boat to get the body?” Ed asked.
“What boat?” Todd asked.
“The park service boat is still in the water at Bridge Bay Marina.”
Ed was a ranger for north Jackson Lake and Colter Bay; naturally he’d be certified to drive an NPS boat. “What about the incoming weather?”
“Earliest arrival is 24 to 36 hours. We can leave tomorrow morning about seven. We load the remains and are back with plenty of time to spare.”
“I don’t know, Ed. The lake is a fickle lady. If the storm front sends in winds before its arrival we could be faced with three to six foot waves.” Lake Yellowstone and I had a tumultuous relationship. I should’ve divorced her years ago, but the geologic secrets she hid on her lakebed kept me committed for life. Even after she’d thrown me overboard on several occasions and tried to turn me into a human iceberg.
“Ed and I can go alone if you don’t want to come.” Mac’s easy willingness to leave me behind was like falling off a snowmobile. You hate when it happens, but don’t want your companions to know how much it hurt, so you climb back on the infernal machine.
“No, I’ll go. You’ll never find the landing spot or body without me.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Mac said.
“I’m with Jorie on this one,” Ed said. “I prefer to have her experienced eyes leading us to the shore landing.”
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the others,” Todd volunteered.
“Oh please, you don’t want to go because you tossed your lunch the last two times we were on the lake.” Amanda squawked like a chicken.
“I had food poisoning.” Todd defended himself.
“Twice? I think not.”
“Once, I did.”
“Fibber.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Mac cut off the argument. I want Liz and Tata to remain here, keep working on the thumb drive, and protect the evidence we’ve collected,” Mac said.
“I still don’t understand Bull’s extreme measures in encrypting files like he was protecting the original Constitution of the United States,” Todd said.
“In a way, he might very well be,” I said.
Ed returned to the quiet of his cabin. Todd and Amanda went to bed. Mac, Liz and I sat next to the blazing fireplace sipping scotch.
“I’ll never get used to this stuff,” Liz said. “I prefer working in Russia, where vodka is the national pastime.”
“I think I’m about ready to call it a night,” I said.
“Jorie, we need to talk to you,” Mac said.
“Nope. I’m out.” Putting my glass on a side table, I stood, and put my hands over my ears. “Blah, blah, blah, I’m not listening.” I closed the door to the bedroom I shared with Amanda and Liz.
“What are you blah, blah-ing about?” Amanda asked.
“Those two always want to talk, and it never ends well for us.”
“The intelligent option you chose was to say blah, blah, blah, and leave the room?”
“I need to sleep, and I’ll bet whatever they say would keep me awake.”
Amanda shook her head. “The more you hang around them the lower your IQ drops.”
I found it hard to argue with her assessment. Quickly slipping out of my clothes, I put on a clean tee shirt and climbed in my sleeping bag. I wriggled around trying to get comfortable. “This sucks!”
“Now you know why some employees bring their own mattresses,” Amanda said.
“I can’t believe people pay ridiculous amounts of money to sleep on these crappy mattresses.”
“Those who object are staying in the hotel suites, not the cabins, and most definitely aren’t employees.” Amanda threw a sock and hit me in the head.
“What was that for?”
“Testing Newton’s first law of motion,” Amanda said.
I threw the sock back. “That was Newton’s third law; for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Amanda tied a tee shirt in a ball and threw it. The shirt quickly dropped to the floor. “That was Newton’s second law.”
“Force = mass x acceleration. You added mass, threw it with the same force, thus it accelerated slower and never made it to the bed. What’s your point?”
“What does more mass add?” Amanda asked.
“Inertia.”
“Exactly.”
I waited while Amanda stared at me like I was a student who failed to complete their homework. “I give up. Why are we talking about inertia?”
Amanda sat up in her sleeping bag, leaned over and picked up her ball of clothes. “Because, matter remains in its existing state, unless that state is changed by an external force. Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to change.”
“You’re full of it.”
“The external force at work is greater than your resistance.”
“You think I should go back out and listen to them?”
“To late, you’d lose face,” Amanda said. “I’m just quoting Newton to remind you that you are the object at rest, but you can’t stay at rest because an unbalanced force is acting upon you. Sorry, sweetie, it’s the law.”
“Goodnight, Amanda.”
“Dismiss me if you want, but unless you get in the game, the third law is going to crash down on you tomorrow.”
I looked out the window. The night sky was black as a deep cave. Rolling over to face the wall, I wondered if Amanda was right? Would my action--refusing to talk--ignite an equal and opposite reaction of more information than I wanted to hear? For now, I chose to apply Newton’s first law and be happy as an object at rest that stays at rest.
Chapter 21
Whose idea was this?” Mac pulled the balaclava out of his coat pocket and over his head.
With only the slits of my eyes showing, I lowered the scarf tied around my face and yelled over the sounds of the wind and lake water bashing the boat. “Told you this was a bad idea.”
Ed stood at the helm grinning. He wore a regulation ranger winter coat and a bright multi-colored stocking hat that was everything but regulation. “It’ll all be over soon, I’m running flat out since the conditions are great.”
Behind the glass enclosure of the small boat, I stood between the two men. Mac yelled in my good ear. “Did he just say the conditions were great or grave?”
“Does it matter?”
“Jorie!”
“He said great, but on Lake Yellowstone great goes to grave faster than a Ferrari goes from zero to sixty.”
“Relax and enjoy the ride. However, if you are a praying man, it couldn’t hurt,” Ed said.
The rest of the ride was uneventful, which is what I hope for every time I’m on her water. I directed Ed to the shore. His eyes darting side to side I could tell he worried what the shallows held. After the July explosion the lake had changed so dramatically, until a new underwater map was released we were driving blind.
“Jorie, get on the bow and watch for obstructions,” Ed said. “You know the drill for directing me starboard or port.”
Luckily the lake and beach cooperated to provide an easy landing. Thinking this was part of the reason the assassins originally chose this area, it also made me wonder how many boats they’d rented to make illegal landings with supplies. “Let’s make this quick,” I said.
Mac jumped off the boat wearing a backpack stuffed to bursting.
Tying th
e boat to a tree I yelled. “I’m carrying plenty of supplies for this short excursion, you can leave your pack.”
“Body bag,” Mac said.
“What?”
“I’m carrying a body bag.”
“Where the heck did you get a…never mind.”
Ed raised the Boy Scout sign. “I was an eagle scout. I’m always prepared.”
“I’ve never seen a Boy Scout with a body bag in their repertoire,” I said.
“The ranger part of me helped with that.”
It was a short ten-minute hike on the game trail. Mac and Ed began lowering the decomposed body out of the tree when a low yip came from my good side. Peeking around a tree trunk was the nose and one eye of the gray and brown male wolf that originally brought me to the body. I nodded, and he took a tentative step forward.
It was that movement Mac told me later that caused Ed to see the wolf. He pulled his .44 and the wolf growled taking up a defensive position. I turned my eyes to the left and saw Mac knock the gun and Ed to the ground. The wolf jumped from behind the tree and in seconds was between me and the men, head down, growling ominously. Neither humans nor animal moved. Mac was watching me for a signal at how he should proceed. I tried to communicate with the wolf that all was well, but he was having none of it. Finally, I made the decision to behave more as an alpha female, than a subordinate human. I dropped to all fours behind the wolf and sent the message to back off.
The male turned his head and we were eye to eye. I nodded and turned away. The male ran back into the trees and nodded before disappearing.
I stood up, heart pounding. Mac released the pressure he was using to keep Ed down. “Sorry, man but you were about to get us killed.”
“Me get us killed? That wolf was planning to attack us, you two are lucky we’re not dead.” Ed was pissed and I didn’t blame him. But he was also proof how people witnessing the same incident have conflicting accounts. “Jorie, you know better. I’m going to have to write you up.”
“Don’t even think about it, my friend,” Mac said. “That wolf was protecting Jorie, from you.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Mac spoke so quietly I barely heard him. “Be very careful who or what you call stupid, or I’ll have Jorie call in that alpha male and it can have you for lunch.” Mac turned his back on Ed and looked at the body that had fallen from the trees when he’d dropped the ropes to deal with Ed.
Ignoring Ed, I kneeled to help Mac put the body in the bag. I leaned in so Ed couldn’t hear and said to Mac, “I can’t really call in a wolf.”
Mac winked. “I know, but it scared the crap out of Ed and shut him up.”
The bag secured, Ed took one end, Mac the other, and we began the hike out. I detoured briefly to recover the buried leg. Carefully digging with the small camp shovel, I felt the presence of the wolves before I saw them.
Come.
My body filled with calm and settled in what I can only describe as another dimension when the gray male, his mate and pups slipped from the cover of the trees and joined me. The male dug with one paw, his eyes appearing to be focused on both the ground and me. The female joined him. I took small strokes with the shovel so I didn’t startle them. One female pup joined us in the dig while the other rolled in the dirt we unearthed.
The leg appeared and the male nosed it toward me, while the female and pup stepped back. I picked up the leg and sniffed it. The male did the same.
I take these bones and return peace to your forest. I told the wolves.
The alpha female walked forward and stood within inches of my face. Many spirits walk this ground, yet they could not stop the evil that came to this place. A great evil that resounds across many worlds. They cannot change the path it walks. You can. We give you power, we walk with you.
I looked into the face of the female wolf and before me appeared generations of spirits from natives, to mountain men, trappers, hunters, military, males, females, and onto wolves, bears, eagles and hawks. I blinked and they were gone.
The female alpha backed up to where her family waited.
Thank you. I will use this power wisely.
Behind the wolves I now saw two large blonde grizzlies, a coyote, two eagles and a raven. The spirit animals of my ancestors: though not spirits, but living beings, just as the wolves before me.
I howled.
The wolves joined.
The bears roared.
The coyote barked.
The birds flew circles over us all calling to the forest.
I put the decomposing leg in my pack, and began to walk away.
Two steps. I turned back.
The forest was silent.
“You okay?” Mac asked when I rejoined them on the trail.
“You heard?”
“Let’s just say it was a call of the wild I could never explain,” Mac kissed the top of my head.
“And Ed?”
“He didn’t hear a thing.”
Ed wasn’t talking to us. Mac ignored him and I followed his lead. My brain knew Ed had every right to be upset and confused; but it was his anger and defiance that were overruling my brain. I wanted to leave him behind to walk home. Dad and Frank believed long, cold walks were good for clearing a person’s thinking. I knew psychologically it was the separation of angry parties that usually cleared thinking, and at this moment I needed separation.
The wind gust almost knocked me over as we exited the protection of the trees. “I told you this was a very, very, very bad idea.”
“We’ll be fine.” Ed finally spoke.
Mac looked at the waves on the lake. “It was just a gust. But let’s not dawdle.”
I looked at Ed who was still pouting. Just flipping great. I was about to get in a boat with a novice lake traveler and a boat driver whose mentality had deteriorated to that of a six year old. Now I was thinking about walking home.
Instead, I unhooked the anchor line and jumped in the boat. Ed reversed away from shore and a few minutes later we were leaving the protected arm of the lake. The wind increased and so did the waves. Mac smiled as we were tossed by two-foot waves. I looked at Ed concentrating on hitting each wave at the proper angle to keep us moving safely forward.
Lake Yellowstone is one of the most unforgiving bodies of water on the planet. It can turn from glass smooth to killer magnitudes in seconds. That magnitude was now generating three and four foot waves.
Ed yelled, “Secure that body, I’ve got to turn and head to shore. It’s about to get really bumpy.”
I pulled a rope from the utility box and helped Mac tie the body to the hooks. As soon as it was as secure as it was going to get, we checked for any other lose items. “Fasten your seat belts.” Ed yelled back at us.
Mac looked at me. “It’s a joke,” I said.
“Not much of one.”
The boat abruptly turned, the wave caught the side of the boat and dumped me off the seat. I waved off Mac’s help and chose to remain on the floor. There were more things to hang onto down here; unfortunately it was also wetter. The cold waves splashed over the side of the boat and dumped on my head. I would’ve shivered, but I was too busy trying not to be tossed out of the boat to allow the cold to overtake my adrenaline.
The pitching slowed and so did the cold shower.
I stood and saw we were precariously close to a shoreline that would not be forgiving to the boat hull.
“I can’t beach her here,” Ed said. “We’re not to far from Bridge Bay, so I’m going to tack in and out of the waves. If we get lucky, we’ll make it.”
“Well, that’s something you never want to hear your boat captain say,” Mac said.
“Don’t worry,” Ed said, both hands tight to the wheel. “If we can’t make the marina, I’ll force a landing at a safer shoreline in about five minutes. Then we walk.”
“That’s not happening,” I said.
Both men looked at me like I’d literally gone off the deep end. “This bon
ehead idea is on you two, and I’ll be damned if I’m carrying this body and possibly destroying a boat because you two turned chicken. Turn into the wind, we got this.”
A few minutes later, I was wishing I was the one in the body bag. My bravado and my hat had gone over the side with the last wave. I loved that hat. Wet hair blew in my face, but I couldn’t brush it aside. I needed both hands to hold onto the boat. I soon felt the boat slow and Mac’s hand pushed my hair out of my eyes. “It’s safe to look, sugar.”
The calm waters of the marina lay ahead of us. I stood to stretch my aching muscles. A gust of wind tossed the boat and dumped me on top of the body bag. Both men started laughing.
“I said you could look, I didn’t tell you to stand up,” Mac said.
“Bite me, Special Forces.”
Ed looked at Mac. “You were special forces?”
“No. She just calls me that.”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
“We’ll add that to the list of things you’re going to explain,” Ed smiled.
“You’re keeping a list?” I asked.
“Yep. Decided if we survived this ride, being mad was a waste of time.”
“Perspective,” Mac laughed. “Sure makes life interesting.”
“I may not be mad anymore, but I am going to need answers.”
Answers were not my forte.
“Why does that bag need to be in here? This isn’t Weekend at Bernie’s.” Amanda had been pacing around the body bag like she was waiting for something to jump out of it.
“I love that movie,” Todd said, “Hey, Ed do you have that on Blue-Ray?”
“I’m a dude. Of course, I do.”
“We are not watching Weekend at Bernie’s,” I said.
“How about Weekend at Bernie’s 2?” Liz smiled.
“We can watch a double-feature tomorrow while we wait out the storm,” Amanda said.
“I’ll make Bernie Burgers,” Todd said.
I left the lunatics inside and headed to check the weather. Zipping up my coat, I looked left and right for bears, bison, moose or elk before stepping out the door. Not seeing any I called out to alert those the dark was hiding from my view. Neither human nor beast wanted an encounter that could quickly take a dangerous turn.