Читать книгу Car Trouble: A Cassidy Callahan Novel - Kelly Rysten - Страница 8

Chapter 2

Strickland didn’t call back for a week but when he finally did, it wasn’t what I had been expecting. It was obvious that he was calling from Rusty’s office and he sounded rushed, but something was definitely wrong.

“Cassidy, how would you like to try your hand at a case that could involve tracking?” Strickland said.

In the background I heard Rusty say, “I’m telling you Strict, she’s not going with you. If I have any say in this I will not let her on that helicopter.”

“You don’t have a say in this. It’s her decision,” Strickland replied.

“Give me that phone,” Rusty demanded. Whenever his voice grew angry it sounded like thunder rolling through a canyon. He could control it, but as it rose I sensed the power behind it. I didn’t want that anger directed at me.

“Hold on,” Strickland said before covering up the phone. I could still hear them speaking but their words were muffled. “Michaels, I’m telling you she will do fine. It’s a clear-cut case. A passenger missing from a crash. It’s a classic case for her.”

“That’s not it,” Rusty said. “I know she can find the guy. Just don’t take her to the site. I can’t ask her to do something I couldn’t do. She isn’t ready for it. This is the one thing I’d keep her from. I’d rather she go back against Peccati than go out to that site.” And then I understood. It was a plane crash. This wasn’t danger he was worried about. It wasn’t a physical challenge. It was an emotional thing. And I wondered, too, how I would react when I got there. But this had to be done. If someone was missing, then my feelings were of little consequence. I wouldn’t risk someone’s life just to spare myself the anxiety.

I’d seen Jack’s crash site. The officials knew I’d go out there even if I had to walk so they arranged an escort. I was sure the military had hidden things from me. Technically I wasn’t allowed out there at all but they knew who they were dealing with, how stubborn I’d be and I think they might even have been sympathetic about my situation.

When I stepped out of the Jeep to view the site, all I saw was flame-blackened rubble. It was hard to tell that it had once been an F-15, and when I saw the impact site I knew there was no way anybody had survived that crash. At that moment my whole world had turned upside down. My husband Jack was gone, just like that, and it had happened so fast.

“You aren’t asking her, I am,” Strickland said, “and I think she’s the person for the job. Cassidy?”

“I’m on my way and I’ll take care of Rusty. Give me ten minutes.”

I hustled, gathering my wallet, keys and pack. I jumped into the Jeep and took off for the downtown police station. With green lights the station was only seven minutes away but the lights were rarely green. Ten minutes later I pulled into the station parking lot. At the counter inside I asked to see Detective Rusty Michaels.

“I’m sorry Miss Callahan. Detective Michaels can’t see you right now.”

“Okay. Can you just tell him I’ll go wait by Lou Strickland’s car and I’ll see him when he has the time?” There, that ought to bring him out.

I went outside and found Strickland’s red Suburban. At least he drove a recognizable car.

It didn’t take Rusty long to get outside.

“I heard the whole conversation you had with Strickland. What’s wrong? Why don’t you want me to do this?” I asked. He was beside himself. This was a side of Rusty I had never seen before. He was struggling to find an answer. “It’s a simple tracking case. A passenger’s gone missing from a crash. I won’t have to deal with the crash. I’ll have someone with me when I find the missing passenger. They will do all the medical stuff. I just have to find the missing person. So what’s the big deal? There’s something you’re hiding or there’s more to this than Strickland is telling me. Which is it?”

“Cassidy,” he said and I knew he was really struggling. He only used my whole name when he was serious. “I just can’t. I can’t let you go.”

“Because it’s a plane crash? Is that why? Rusty, a crash is a crash. It’s not like they can take Jack away again. He’s gone. But this missing person isn’t. If I can find them I need to try. You can’t toss aside someone’s life just because of my feelings. That’s selfish. You have to let go. We’ll deal with whatever comes up and it’ll all work out.”

I looked around and Lou was sitting on a planter observing. Watching me verbally stalking my goal. He seemed impressed. Guess he didn’t have a daughter. If he had a daughter he’d know the power we hold.

Rusty knew my logic was good. He knew I’d make it through this. But something was eating at him. I sensed fear, but what would frighten Rusty?

“Look at me,” I said. “We have a mission here. What’s the goal?”

No answer.

“Rusty, what’s the goal in this situation?”

He only said it because he knew it’s what I wanted to hear, “To find the lost passenger.”

“And what do we have to do to achieve that goal?”

A big sigh. “Lou can find someone else. It doesn’t have to be you.”

“Nope, Lou wouldn’t have called me if he had someone better. So what do we need to do?”

He almost didn’t say it. “I’ve got to let you go look for him.”

“Okay, so are we on the same page now? Are you going or staying?”

“Lou won’t let me. He says this is your ball game. He says we both have to face our own challenges.”

“Is he right?”

“I don’t know.” Long pause. “I promised myself I would always be there for you.”

I swallowed a big lump in my throat. I spoke with as much compassion as I could find. “You did? But… you can’t do that. You know there’s things you can’t control. You know you were bound to run into one of those things eventually. And it’s not very fair to me. Here I lead this jinxed life and you are trying to make yourself responsible for the outcome of it? You are not responsible for what happens to me. If you are, then it’s my fault if you get hurt. You need to ease up. This is a simple tracking case. How old is the trail? Not a day old. Plane crashes are sudden things and they require sudden action. So it’s not a day old. I can find this guy. I won’t dwell on the crash scene. Remember, it’s like a puzzle. I take the pieces that I need and I figure them out. I don’t need to figure out the crash site. I just have to find a trail and follow it.”

He stood there looking defeated. I hated doing that to him. I’d have to make it up to him later but right now I had a helicopter to catch.

“So,” I said, “I’m going to go with Lou and you’re going to let me go and I’ll call as soon as I get back.”

I gave him a big hug and felt the familiar chin on top of my head. I felt the sorrow as he struggled and then reluctantly let me go. I pictured the punching bag in the barn at my parent’s house. When I got frustrated I’d go punch that bag. I imagined the punching bag at the station might get a workout this afternoon.

Lou came up behind me. He clapped Rusty on the shoulder and gave him an “it’ll all be okay” look. He steered me away before Rusty could change his mind. Gee, I hated doing that to him, but I was really curious why this had affected him so strongly.

I grabbed my box of tracker tools from the Jeep, stuffed them in my daypack and followed Lou. I carefully kept track of the route as he drove to the helicopter pad. I might have to find this place on my own next time. When we got there five people stood around waiting for us looking like they had spent the entire last week at Starbucks. They were ready to roll. I felt bad for holding things up. Strickland parked the Suburban and we both got out.

“You’re late Strict, but I can see why. I’d be late too if I was you.”

“Ease up guys. This is Cassidy Callahan. She’s our tracker today. I know what you’re thinking, but I’ve seen her work. You will show her the respect she deserves. She’s proven herself to me more than once. Lanksy, you went after Kelly Green. Cassidy found him, and called in a team from L.A. to come retrieve him. You’ll be glad to know he’s back home and doing fine. Cassidy, this is Roscoe Lansky, Landon Wilson, and Victor Gomez, EMTs. This is Thez Brockman, all around good guy, and Gordon Thompson, county coroner. Guys, Cassidy Callahan, tracker. Now let’s get going.”

Everybody else seemed to know exactly what their job was. They leaped into action and gear was stowed. This was a routine run and each piece of gear had its assigned place on the helicopter. Each person slid things into place like a well oiled machine. I was the loose cog and they knew it.

Everybody already had their favorite places staked out on the helicopter. I climbed in and found an empty spot. The helicopter clattered away, lifting us into the sky. I watched out the window as the ground faded below me.

“First time in a helicopter?” Thez Brockman asked.

“Nope, been there, done that. Reading the ground is just a habit, doesn’t matter how far down it is. It’s readable from up here, too.”

“Gotta be awfully big tracks to be seen from up here. What are you looking for? Big Foot?”

I decided I’d be better off studying the inside the copter. I had to work with these guys. I bet I could learn a thing or two before we touched down. I studied the men. Roscoe was intense and focused. I had the feeling that being rescued by him was more like a forklift operation. He was big, well muscled and very quiet. He preferred to be in the background. Landon was more easy going. He was lean and had a friendlier look to him. He would be the one talking to victims, calming them down while Roscoe tended to the real threat. They would make a good team together. Victor Gomez was all business, right now, but I suspected he hid a quick wit and a sharp eye. He looked like someone I could identify with. Not much slipped by him. He took things in and contemplated how things fit together, and I bet when he finally did speak, people listened. I was guessing, if Lou had one of these guys laying my test trail, Victor was the guy. He fit the tracks and his manner fit the way the trail had been laid out. Thez was the odd man out. All around good guy. What did that mean? And what kind of a name was Thez? He was tall, just a hair shorter than Lou, and it was because Lou had hair on top of his head. Thez was beginning to bald on top. He talked with his hands a lot. He was animated and alert. Gordon Thompson was older. He had been at his job a while and he was seasoned to it. He knew what he was getting into. He looked like a stabilizer for the group.

“So, Cassidy, what got you into our rag tag motley crew?” Thez asked.

“Mostly Rusty Michaels. He thought this would keep me out of trouble.”

“Oh yeah? You’re kidding. Out of trouble?”

Lou broke in. “Thez, if you knew what she’s been through you’d think so too. I talked to Michaels. Nuff said.”

“I don’t care if they know. Rusty would think they should know since they have to work with me. So much has happened, though, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

This got looks. Oh boy, were they going to have fun with me. Thez seemed to be the group social director so he started it off.

“Okay, well, since this is to keep you out of trouble, tell us the scariest thing that’s happened to you.”

“The scariest? As in fear or as in most dangerous?”

“Either. It’s just a question to get you going so answer whichever you want.”

“Well, the car bomb in Afghanistan was right up there, but that was years ago. Recently, I was hunted by drug dealers through the Angeles forest. It was dangerous because I had to follow a trail and it was wide open to sharp shooters. See, when Kelly Green disappeared it was because he ran into drug dealers up in the mountains. They shot him and dumped him over a cliff. So when I tracked him down I ran into the drug dealers, too. I lucked out. They dumped me over the cliff, then shot at me so it wasn’t so bad for me. After the rescue crew hauled Kelly off to the hospital I went back to do some surveillance on the drug lab. I didn’t know it, but they knew I was there and so they were looking for me. They caught up with me on the trail and it turned into a hunt. They were supposed to bring me back to their boss and I knew he’d kill me if I went back, so I wasn’t cooperating. They were hunting me with these high-powered rifles through the woods and I had to cross this big bare mountain. That was pretty scary, I guess. Yeah, dodging bullets is never fun and kind of scary. Actually the scariest thing I have felt was when I thought Rusty was going to stop me from going after Kelly. He didn’t want me to go alone and I couldn’t not go. I couldn’t leave Kelly out there if there was a chance I could find him. So really, that was the most scared I have ever been.”

“You went after Green alone?” Lansky asked.

“Yeah, I’d never worked with a team before. I’ve always been kind of a loner in the woods.”

They were all quiet. They looked at Lou for confirmation. All he had to do was nod.

“Have you been on any other rescue runs?” Thez asked trying to keep things going on a safer level.

“Not organized ones like this. I have done a little tracking for Rusty. I found Manuel Silva after the police lost him. That just kind of happened by accident because Rusty didn’t know I could track at the time. Once I found a lost boy scout but I just happened to be nearby and heard he was lost, so I asked for a starting point and tracked him three miles through the Angeles Forest. Then there was the time I rescued my nephew when the drug boss kidnapped him. He was pissed off at me for messing up his drug lab in the Angeles Forest. I guess the police went in later and closed it down and he blamed me. He was nutso, wanted to hunt me like an animal, took my gun away and turned me and Patrick loose. It was run or die so I ran, hid Patrick where searchers could find him and then I had to bring Peccati in without any firearms. I tricked him by leading him into a trap and he lost his rifle in the scuffle. I ended up in a boxing match with him until I could find his rifle and hold him for the police. I guess that was another one of my scarier moments.”

Silence again.

“So,” Thez said, “Does anything normal happen to you?”

“Only for short periods of time.”

My stomach did a little flip flop as the helicopter descended and then settled on top of a hill. Everybody hopped out and gathered in a group away from the blades. We hiked down the hill for a short distance until the noise level decreased.

“Lansky, Landon take care of the plane. The radio call into the station said a small plane spotted one passenger making his way northeast from the crash site. Why he went northeast I have no idea, the area is rocks and buttes. Seems to me like he’d head downhill, looking for a road. Victor and Thez, stay with Cassidy. Cassidy, stay on the passenger’s trail.”

I followed the group down and around the base of the hill. Lou was sticking to me like glue. I think Rusty must have told him about Jack. He wanted to gauge my reaction. He also needed to keep things under control. I meant to keep my feelings under wraps but I still felt a wave of nausea when we rounded the corner and saw the plane, debris scattered over a couple of acres of land. The tail section was intact but the cockpit had crushed into the main body of the plane. The debris was mostly the wings, having been sheared off by some small trees dotting the landscape. I stood silently until the nausea had passed and I could clear my head.

Focus on the job, Cass. Find a trail leading away from the plane. Don’t look at the cockpit. It’s not your job. I set my mind to the task at hand and trekked around the hill. Casting around on the ground, it wasn’t hard to find the tracks. One man had left the plane. One man… and something else.

I looked at Lou then started for the plane but he stepped in. He knew I wouldn’t go to the plane without a reason. He stopped me, understanding that it was something Rusty would have done.

“What is it Cassidy?”

“I need to see something…Okay, I don’t need to see it. I need something confirmed.”

“What is it?”

I showed him the tracks I found in the sand. Huge dinner-plate sized cat paw prints.

“This isn’t a mountain lion,” I said. “I’ve seen a few mountain lion tracks. Never seen a mountain lion. The tracks come from the direction of the tail.”

“Thez, look in the plane. Tell us what you see.”

Thez trotted over to the plane and glanced in. He crawled in through a gaping hole in the side. There was a short wait and he came out with two rifles and handed one to Lou.

“Those aren’t ordinary rifles.” I observed. “What did you see, Thez?”

“There’s a big cage back there, empty.”

I checked the rifle over carefully. “These rifles are loaded with tranquilizer darts. I hope our missing passenger thought to bring one of these with him.”

Lou got on his radio to talk to the guys in the cockpit. “Heads up guys. We’ve got a large cat on the loose. Keep your eyes open.”

“Okay,” I said, “the passenger first. The cat second.”

“Cassidy, if there’s injuries we’re leaving the cat. We can’t risk people’s lives for the sake of a cat. We’ll call in animal control once we know what we’re dealing with.”

“I know, just prioritizing. This cat is too big to bring back anyway.”

I found the passenger’s tracks again and picked my way along, reading the sign. This was going to be tricky because he was heading into the buttes and buttes meant rocks and rocks meant poor tracking conditions. I took mental notes as I went along. Smallish men’s boots. Looked like hiking boot tread. Could be a woman but the walk looked more masculine, the gait firm and determined, focused. This guy wasn’t looking for help. He was either hiding from something or looking for the cat. I couldn’t yet tell from the tracks if the person was injured. So far so good on that count.

The area around the plane was grassy, which wasn’t great for tracking but the trail was fresh so it wasn’t a problem either. It just slowed me down a little. This brittle yellow grass was much easier to read than other kinds. I wanted to take my time with this track. I had a feeling I needed to know something about the man I was tracking. This operation was not making any sense. Who would be transporting large cats in small planes across California? Was it legal? When things don’t add up I become cautious and piece things together trying to make sense of it. I take in all the subtle, little clues I can read.

Thez followed along, rifle in hand. Victor was behind him, calm, just waiting for his turn to act.

“Make yourself useful,” I told them. “Keep an eye out for movement, man or animal, doesn’t matter. If you see movement point it out to me.” Thez took his eyes off the ground and started looking around more.

I followed the tracks up into the bluffs and the terrain became rocky with sandy spots where the rock had eroded away. The guy’s trail became more erratic. He would walk and stop and his footprints would stay in one place for a bit, as if he was looking up into the rocks. He would then continue forward. I was convinced he was looking for the cat. He knew how dangerous it was with the animal being loose. I wondered whether his intentions were to shoot it or tranquilize it. If he was hunting the cat he must have a weapon of some kind. A tranquilizer gun or a rifle. Surely he wouldn’t just tranquilize it. That would only be a temporary fix for a very dangerous animal and there was no way one person could transport an animal that large back to the cage. If he found the cat he would be forced to shoot it. Why he didn’t just follow the cat’s tracks was a mystery to me, but many people just don’t think that way. They forget there are clues all around them and will just go by their gut reactions.

I’d followed the guy’s footprints around the bluffs in a fairly predictable pattern until suddenly I noticed that the man had knelt down on one knee. The weave of his pants was still visible in the dirt. This had happened very recently. I looked up at the rocks in the direction his leg had been pointing. I tried to picture what he was seeing and doing. Pictured the shot, pictured the casing falling. I looked back to the ground near the place where he had knelt. Finding the casing confirmed something in my mind. The guy was trying to kill the cat.

“Hey, guys, what do we do with evidence?” I asked. “I’ve never done this before but I know we ought to collect it in case this turns out to be a shady operation gone bad.”

Victor produced a plastic bag from a pocket and picked up the casing with a stick. It was a big casing. He then deposited the casing in the bag and we were on our way again. The passenger started into a kind of stealth mode. He wasn’t hiding his tracks but he was hiding from the cat. He would crouch behind brush and then inch forward. He was in a kind of defensive pursuit.

It’s just what you do if you are hunting something dangerous. Been there, done that, too. Sheesh! I was too young for all this.

I continued tracking and reading sign until I felt Thez stiffen and draw back to my left and slightly behind me. I sensed the tenseness from several yards away and I wondered how it was that silence shouted so loudly.

“What is it?” I asked quietly.

He crouched down and pointed. Movement. White movement. What would be white and be out here? Then it disappeared.

“Thez, is that dart gun loaded?” I said quietly.

Another motion and suddenly a shot went over our heads. I slipped into stalking mode heading for the shooter.

“Take it easy,” I called out. “We’re just search and rescue.” Another shot, this time lower. “If you’re within shooting range you’re within hearing range. Are you hurt? We’ve got medics. Just come out and we’ll get you patched up.”

I was staying on the guy’s trail, staying low so he wouldn’t shoot me. I was trying to close in on the situation when I saw the cat’s tracks cross the man’s tracks. Maybe he wasn’t trying to shoot us. Maybe the cat was close. The hair rose up on the back of my neck knowing how quiet a cat could be, how close it could come without being heard. It could also be stalking our rescue party. Now I was trying to keep track of four things. Where was the shooter? Where was the cat? Where was Thez? Where was the track leading? I looked back for Thez but couldn’t see him.

“Thez? You still there?”

No answer.

“Victor, where’s Thez?”

I backtracked to where Thez’s trail had departed from mine and followed until I found him sitting at the base of a large boulder.

“What are you doing here? We have work to do!”

“Did you see it?” he gasped nervously.

“No, but it doesn’t matter, we still have work to do. You’ve got the rifle but any of us might need it too. So we have to stick together here. You’re not going to leave me without the rifle are you?” He gave me a scared look.

“How long does it take a dart to work?” he asked.

“I don’t know, a few minutes, maybe?”

“We could be dead in a few minutes. That cat is huge!”

“We’ve got to find the passenger from the plane. He’s got a rifle. If we find him we’ll have more of a defense. We better our odds by finding him, so follow me. Let’s go get him.”

Thez stood and followed me reluctantly. I found the man’s trail again and followed in a crouch. I knew he couldn’t be far away. If his shots were reaching us he had to be close. I noticed the cat’s tracks following the man’s footprints. I really needed a rifle. I’d feel so much better with a real rifle. I had Thez with a dart gun and Victor with a pistol, yet I didn’t even know if he could shoot. I hurried forward. It looked like this situation could become intense real fast.

Quick and quiet, Cass, I told myself. You don’t want to startle the cat or the shooter, better to see them before they see you. I read the tracks and came to an open area. Finally there was the passenger standing with his back to the bluff, rifle aimed at a large white tiger. He was shaking. I turned and stopped the search party from advancing. I held a finger to my lips in the universal hush sign, and signaled for everyone to stay low. I took the tranquilizer gun from Thez. Victor appeared as if he wanted to take it from me but he didn’t know the situation yet. I looked at him seriously.

“EMT or sharpshooter?”

“I passed the test.”

“Thez?”

Nope, I thought, not Thez.

“I’ve got a plan,” I said, “wait here.”

“Cassidy…” Victor said trying to stop me.

“I’m no EMT. We need you after I take out the tiger. I can shoot it if I can just get the rifle.”

I looked again into the clearing. The passenger was shaking so bad there was no way he could possibly hit the tiger. He stood there in big game hunter clothes but it appeared to be more of a costume than a uniform. He was scared spitless. I stalked around to the side of the clearing getting closer to the man. He might not be able to hit the tiger, but I could. I didn’t want either of them to see me until just the right moment. This had to happen quickly and the less distance the more chance of success. I came as close as I dared, raised the tranquilizer gun and fired into the tiger’s shoulder.

“Toss me the rifle!” I yelled. The man looked at me, stunned. “Throw it!” The tiger took a step closer and the man shot at the tiger missing again. “Throw me the damn rifle!” I yelled again. “I can kill it!” He didn’t trust me.

I raised the tranquilizer gun and fired again. “Look,” I said. “I hit it twice. All I need is a real bullet!”

He heaved the gun unsteadily. I snatched it from the air but catching it brought me several steps closer to the tiger. The tiger swung in my direction. It stared me in the eye and let out a low, rumble of a growl. It took a step closer. The passenger took off running. The tiger’s muscles rippled as he prepared to leap. I squared off, raised the rifle, found the tiger’s heart in my site and squeezed off a shot.

The tiger dropped with a soft whuff. How could such a large animal fall so softly?

I looked at the man before me. He had been bitten by the tiger but not mauled. I suspected he’d tried to prevent the tiger’s escape. His left arm just hung there, the muscles torn. He had a gash on his head and cuts and bruises all over his body. All in all I thought he came through his ordeal pretty well.

“Thez, Victor, get in here,” I called.

Victor moved in, assessing the man’s condition. Thez joined him after walking a wide circle around the huge cat. The man was still shaking from his standoff with the tiger.

“Hey,” Thez said, “relax, it’s over. Don’t you know the old line? Cats in planes fall mainly on the plains? Too bad it’s not raining. Cats in planes fall mainly in the rain sounds better. Relax. You’ll be back in town before you know it.”

Thez continued reassuring the passenger while Victor patched him up. We then helped him back towards the other group with his left arm in a sling bound tight to his body. He refused the stretcher so Thez and Victor carried it back empty. I watched the man’s footprints and despite being off balance from the sling they remained steady, if a little bit shaky.

As we rounded the side of the bluff and caught site of the rest of the group, Lou smiled and waved like we were returning from a picnic to a big family reunion.

“One safe passenger and one dead tiger,” Thez reported.

“Who shot the tiger?” Lou asked.

“Cassidy did,” Thez said.

“Cassidy wasn’t supposed to be armed.”

“Well, maybe you should arm her,” Thez replied. “She’s a decent shot.”

I looked at him, pleading. “We won’t tell Rusty about this, right?”

“You better. Things like this tend to get around the station pretty quick.”

As the helicopter settled back at the pad an ambulance pulled forward and whisked our passenger off to the hospital.

“Meeting on the 15th. Everybody got that? Cassidy?”

“Yup, I’ll be there. I’ll need details later.”

“You need a ride to the station, anyway. I’ll fill you in.”

“I doubt if I need a ride. I bet Rusty pulls up before we get a chance to leave. I promised him I’d call when we landed.”

Lou handed me a sheaf of papers. “Welcome to the club. There’s a form for everything you can imagine in there. Have fun.” I helped people pack up any way I could, carrying, holding things while they unlocked their cars and trucks. I pushed a few buttons on my cell phone and Rusty answered on the first ring.

“Hey,” I said, “It’s me. I promised I’d call when I got back. How are you?”

“Relieved. You sound good. Guess you found your man?”

“Yeah, and a little more but we’ll talk about that later.”

I disconnected and turned around. Lou was waiting for me.

“I guess Michaels survived your day,” he said amused. “You’re lucky you did. What made you go into that clearing?”

“It was the only way to get a real rifle. I used the dart gun on the tiger twice but I was afraid he’d charge the guy before I got a bullet into him.”

“What would you have done if the guy hadn’t surrendered the rifle?”

“I’d have fired the rest of the darts hoping they did their thing fast. But I know that isn’t what you want to hear. Look, if you’re worried about me carrying I won’t carry a gun. We didn’t expect to need them for this case but we were lucky some came our way. I can shoot, though. In the Marines I went to sniper school. I grew up on a ranch. We did plenty of hunting, and we did a lot of target practice. You can ask Rusty. He’s seen me shoot; he’s seen me clean rifles. I don’t take them lightly. I don’t like having to use them, but I’m glad I was able to today. That guy was shaking so bad he couldn’t have hit the tiger if it had been the size of an elephant. His shots were going every which way. I thought he was shooting at us at first but all the shots were from missing the tiger.”

“Which brings me to my next question. Why did you advance when you thought someone was shooting at you?”

“Well, that’s a tougher one. I was really torn on whether to go forward because I knew the guys were following me. If it had just been me I wouldn’t have had a problem going in. I know how to stay out of sight. But I’d told Thez to stick to me because he had the tranquilizer gun and I knew he was the one authorized to use it. So I couldn’t advance without him but I couldn’t advance because of him. While I was battling that out it became apparent that the shooter was just desperate and that I needed to close in, gun or no gun. Thez wasn’t budging. He’d seen the tiger and he was scared of it, too. We needed Victor’s medical experience so I took the gun and went forward. I figured there was no use fearing the tiger until it went after me. As long as it was focused on something else I was safe. The guy saw me standing there but he didn’t trust me to be able to shoot the tiger so I shot it with a dart to prove I could do it. He didn’t throw me the rifle until the last second and I just did what I could. One shot right to the heart. I was lucky the rifle was built to take down a tiger.”

“Did you get a bruise out of it?” Strickland asked as he pointed to my shoulder.

“Any rifle built to take down a tiger is going to kick, but I knew what to do. I’ve shot bigger weapons than that. I wouldn’t want that gun for regular use, but it did the job.”

“Did you know I was in the background while all this was going on?”

“No, and you’re pretty good at it if I didn’t know.”

“The guys at the plane knew their job. They weren’t threatened in any way. I started closing in as soon as I heard shots fired. You almost didn’t get your shot at the tiger. Next time I won’t send you out with Thez. I didn’t expect trouble on this trip. I chose Thez because he is good at normalizing situations. You know how every hairdresser you go to you’re comfortable with because they talk about everyday things, and they don’t mind hearing the same stories over and over again?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Thez. The chatter on the way out to the site? If he hadn’t been there everyone would have been tensed up. They would have been suspicious of you, but Thez has a way of toning those things down, smoothing them out, without really trying.”

“Why do they call him Thez?”

“Because he’s an actor. A thespian. Used to be a cop, and a firefighter. I think now he’s got his own business. But he’s useful occasionally. Thanks for helping out today. I’m glad it turned out well. Our passenger is getting patched up and I’ll send someone out to collect the tiger. I hope it doesn’t hit the news. If it does, we can expect the save-the-tigers foundation to jump on us but I know and you know we did what we had to. Meeting, on the fifteenth. I’ll call with the details.”

“Thanks.”

Rusty pulled into the parking lot and swung into a parking place. He was almost out of the truck before he shut off the engine. He stood there for a second and then came over, wrapping me in a big hug, the relief clear in every movement. He didn’t speak for a long time. He let me go and stood me at arm’s length looking me over. No black eyes, no bruises, no bullet grazes, no cuts… I was still in one piece. Considering what I usually came home with, it was a miracle.

“You’ll never guess what I did today,” I said. Might as well get it over with right at the start.

“What?” he asked, knowing it was going to be a doozie.

“I went tiger hunting. And I bagged a big one.”

“Okay, this I’ve got to hear. How about Zeke’s? I think I might need a beer to go with this story.”

When we were settled at a table in Zeke’s bustling pizza place the atmosphere returned to its former somber mood. I had tried to sound glib about the tiger but Rusty wasn’t fooled for a second. He understood how much I loved animals and knew that I would never have shot the tiger unless things were very close. He was also aware that I’d not been armed. He concluded that things had come up unexpectedly, so I continued from a different point of view.

“Why did Lou give me all these forms? There’s one for everything, every step of the whole operation. How am I supposed to know which ones are for me and which ones I can ignore?”

“Welcome to the club. The boring part of search and rescue. Lou probably gave you all of them this time because he wanted you to see what it entailed. You’ll have to file a general report and the one where you explain why you fired the gun.”

“What do you do if you fired someone else’s gun? Guess I’ll have to go into some detail. I hope these forms have plenty of writing space. There was a tranquilizer gun and a rifle but the tranquilizer darts didn’t seem to work. I couldn’t tell if they had any effect on the tiger.”

“I think you better start at the beginning.”

I began by taking care to mention that Lou had followed us and had been prepared to act if needed.

“And so this guy was standing there shaking so bad he couldn’t have hit anything. The tiger was slowly getting closer and the guy didn’t trust me to be able to hit it. Guess I wouldn’t either if I saw me standing there. The guy was lucky he gave up the rifle when he did. I brought it down with one shot. I didn’t want to. You know I hate to shoot animals. But if I hadn’t, the guy would have had a heart attack or gotten mauled.”

Rusty looked on in disbelief. “I know you’re not making this up. If anything you toned it down so I’d feel better.”

“You know these calls aren’t always what they sound like at first. Nobody knew there was a tiger on board that plane. I bet there will be a big investigation about why tigers were being transported that way in the first place.” I paused. “Rusty, why were you so against me going on this call? I’ve never seen you so worked up before. This was different for you somehow and I don’t understand it.”

He looked at me closely, obviously assessing something. He then bowed his head with a defeated expression on his face.

“Tell me about when you saw the crash site,” he said. “Was it rough?”

I knew he had worried about that. Still, his feelings were too strong for this to be all there was to it.

“It was really bad for a very short time. When I first caught site of the wreckage I felt sick inside. But it passed quickly once I focused on the job. Lou was watching out for me. When I saw the tracks of the tiger I headed towards the plane, to check for any evidence that they had been transporting a large cat. Lou stopped me and sent Thez instead so I wouldn’t have to look.” The relief was written in every worried line of Rusty’s face. “Once we knew the situation it was time to focus on the job. I was okay as long as I kept my eyes off the plane and only on the ground.”

“You know, if you stick with this you’ll have to get some training. Are you ready for that?”

“What kind of training?”

“First will be reserve officers training. Then comes EMT training. If you are the first one on the scene, you need to be ready to take charge. Many times search and rescue gets there first, especially in your line of work. Tracking will take you where ambulances and fire trucks can’t go. Right now you are just finding people but eventually you will work as part of the team and you will be expected to know what to do.”

“That might be good for me,” I said. “I’ve got a good start with my Marines training. I just don’t know if I have the right mindset to do this from a medical point of view. I don’t faint at the sight of blood or anything but…”

“I know what you mean and it does take a certain mindset. If the idea appeals to you though, start the training. Lou won’t send you where you can’t be used for your own talents. If it turns out to only be tracking then he’ll just call you when he really needs a tracker. If you turn out to be good at something else he will be glad for those skills as well.”

“Rusty, you have to know, even though Lou stopped me from going into the plane, I was willing to go. It was my job. I’d have done it. I let him stop me because I knew it was something that you would have wanted. And I’m sorry that I stood up to you this morning. Did it make you look bad in front of Lou?”

“No. Lou is amazing. He reads minds or something. He knows what was going on. And you were right. You had to go. It was just hard to let you.”

“Maybe I’ll go to police academy, too.”

“No!” he said, suddenly alarmed again, “Level Two. Shoot for a Level Two. It’ll give you the skills you need without scaring me to death. And it’ll make it so I can call you up for cases, too. But please don’t join the force. I couldn’t handle that.”