Chapter 19
Nineteen
An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.
—Martin Buber, philosopher
Kate wandered slowly along the rocky creek bed, camera in hand, trying to capture the light as it danced on the rushing water, filtered by the quaking aspen leaves, creating a mesmerizing play of shadows and reflections. As she adjusted the focus on her lens, a deep and guttural huffing sound echoed through the forest, reverberating off trees, filling the woods with an ominous presence. It sent a shiver down Kate’s spine. Slowly, she turned around to discover that Maisie was standing on a long, rocky creek island between a grizzly bear on one side of the water and her curious cub on the other.
Maisie, eyes wide, frozen with fear, had realized what danger she was in. Kate lifted her hands like a stop sign to indicate that Maisie should stay put and not run.
A scream built in Kate’s throat. Why had they left the truck without bear spray? Why had she let Maisie rush her? She was responsible for this girl! Stay calm , she told herself. Think, think, think.
But she couldn’t think what to do. She couldn’t think at all. How was that possible? A person had to think.
No. She didn’t. Hadn’t Coop just told her about the importance of paying attention to your gut instinct?
So what was it telling her?
That the sow only wanted to protect her cub. Bluffing. Please, please, please, be bluffing.
Think, think, think.
Kate scanned the area, her mind racing as she assessed the situation. She needed to create a clear path for the cub, now standing up on the log, to reunite with its mother. Her eyes fell on a large boulder on the creek island, about ten to fifteen yards behind Maisie. That’s where she needed to get herself. Kate gestured toward it with an urgency, just as the bear let out a loud huff, heavy with warning.
“Kate, I’m scared!” Maisie’s loud voice had a quiver.
Kate slowly made her way into the water toward the creek island, all the while trying not to think about Coop’s warning that bears were excellent swimmers. She kept one eye on Maisie and the other eye on the grizzly—who was watching her cub. Maisie still hadn’t budged.
When Kate made it behind the boulder, she called out to Maisie. “Take slow steps to back up.”
With cautious steps, Maisie began to inch her way down toward safety. When she was just a yard or two from the boulder where Kate now stood, the bear huffed again. Startled, Maisie slipped over a rock and fell, prompting Kate to act swiftly. She picked up a big rock and threw it about two feet beyond the bear cub on the log, startling it so that it darted into the water toward its waiting mother. Don’t look , Kate thought. Don’t look a bear in the eyes! But she couldn’t help herself. She did look, just as the mother bear looked over at her. Their eyes met and held, just for an instant. But in that look, there was some kind of communication between them, some understanding. It was the strangest thing, yet it was real.
Then the bear lifted its nose, as if catching a scent. Kate looked down the creek and saw something large moving along the creek bed. She squinted. It was a man, holding a bow and arrow. He paused to draw the string, aiming straight at the bear. Kate grabbed the world’s loudest whistle, brought it to her lips, closed her eyes, and blew with all her might, as long as she could, until she ran out of breath.
When she opened her eyes, the bear and its cub were gone. So was the hunter.
Tim Rivers raced down the winding roads of Grand Teton National Park, his heart pounding with urgency. He was trying to catch up with Sally before she made it to Pilgrim Creek Road, desperate to stop her from making contact with the poacher, to talk some sense into her before it was too late. Before the poacher found 399. For the hundredth time since yesterday, he’d wished Coop hadn’t told Sally the bear was out of her den—even more so, he wished he hadn’t given her the lair’s coordinates. Unintentionally, Coop sealed the bear’s fate.
Just as Tim turned onto the main road, a silver Camry whizzed by, driven by none other than that tall Yellowstone ranger. Without a moment’s hesitation, Tim grabbed the microphone to radio in to law enforcement. “This is Ranger Tim Rivers,” he said. “There’s a silver Camry heading out of the east end of the park within the next few minutes. Stop him. The driver is a white male, in his thirties, tall. Extremely tall. Possibly wearing a Yellowstone ranger uniform.”
“Copy that.” The LE ranger on the other end took down the information. “So he’s a ranger?”
“No. He’s an imposter. Detain him. Don’t let him go.”
“Understood, we’ll intercept the vehicle. What’s the charge?”
Tim’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Um ... speeding. Just hold him ’til I get there. Got that? Do not release him.”
“Copy that. We’ll take care of it,” the ranger said before signing off.
His phone buzzed with Sally’s name on the screen. He’d barely answered when she snapped at him. “Tim, I heard you over the radio. Stay out of this. That’s an order.” She hung up.
Ignoring her, Tim accelerated. He had never disobeyed a direct order in his life, but today was different.
Arriving at the parking area off Pilgrim Creek Road, he saw Sally’s car, as well as an official game warden car. Panic surged through him. He parked and sprinted up the trail, his mind racing with worst-case scenarios, praying he wasn’t too late.
Kate continued to blow on the world’s loudest whistle, as Maisie, shaking like a leaf, cowered behind the boulder. “Are you okay?”
“No! I’m terrified.” Maisie’s voice quivered with raw emotion.
Kate’s own fear mirrored Maisie’s. An eerie silence filled the forest, even louder than the rushing creek. Huddled together behind the safety of the boulder, Kate prayed for help.
Maisie’s breathing had grown erratic and her face was flushed. “I think I’m having an asthma attack. I forgot my inhaler.”
Oh man. Kate had no idea what to do next. Except ... to pray. Oh God , please , please , please. The words ran through her head, a silent plea repeated over and over.
“Kate,” Maisie said, wheezing, “I need help.” She was breathing with difficulty, and her face, now pale, had drained of the flushed color. It even had a bluish tinge. Her eyes filled with tears. “I want my mom.”
Kate’s mind swirled—what options did they have? The mother bear and her cub had gone in one direction, the hunter in another. But which direction had they gone? She had no idea. Danger from the bear, she understood. Danger from this hunter, she was unsure of.
Oh-God-help-me. Please-please-please. I don’t know what to do.
Help came sooner than Kate expected. She’d barely finished her desperate prayer when she heard Coop shout her name.
Kate poked her head around the boulder to see Coop and Frankie cresting the hill on the narrow trail that led to the creek. She waved to them. “Coop, over here! We need help!”
Coop rushed over to them, scrambling down to the creek, splashing through the water to reach them, concern etched on his face. “What’s going on? What’s happened?” Frankie followed right behind him.
Kate couldn’t believe they’d come back down the mountain so soon. “Maisie’s having an asthma attack.”
Frankie’s attention homed in on Maisie. “No, she’s hyperventilating. Maisie, take a seat.” He gently guided her to sit on the ground, surprising Kate with a tenderness she hadn’t expected from him. Placing a comforting hand on Maisie’s back, he began rubbing it in soothing circles. “Keep your back straight. Breathe in slowly and steadily. Breathe in, hold, breathe out, hold.” He said it over and over.
Following his instructions, Maisie complied, and gradually, her breathing started to improve. A normal color started to return to her face.
Relief trickled through Kate. “Thank God you came when you did.” She looked up at Coop. “How did you know to come?”
“Frankie forgot his phone and insisted we return to the truck so he could listen to music. We weren’t far from here when we heard the whistle.” His gaze kept returning to Maisie. “What brought this on? Why’d you leave the truck?”
“Bear!” Maisie wheezed. “Hunter!”
Coop’s head swiveled. “What bear? What do you mean ... a hunter?”
“Look.” Kate pointed across the creek to a tree with an arrow sticking out of its trunk. “Someone out there is trying to kill a bear.”
Listening, even Frankie appeared shaken, his usual bravado replaced by genuine concern. “How close were you to the bear?”
Kate cleared her throat. “Not exactly a football field.” More like, fifty heart-stopping feet.
Coop’s gaze swept the creek. “Did you see which way the hunter went?”
“No,” Kate said. “We were hiding behind the boulder.”
Through his binoculars, Coop looked up and down the creek, then crossed the water to pull the arrow out of the tree.
A shrill voice pierced the air. “Cooper!”
Kate peeked out from behind the boulder to see Sally far up the creek, clutching a hefty rifle.
“Coop, hon, is everyone alright?”
“Sally!” Coop said, stepping a few feet away from the boulder. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “What are you doing here?”
Sally raised her rifle, aiming it upstream. “We got him!”
Kate shielded her eyes to see three people coming around a bend in the creek to reach Sally.
Frankie stood up to see. “Who are they?”
“I think ... they’re state game wardens,” Coop said.
“Who’s between them?” Frankie said.
“Must be the poacher who shot the arrow,” Coop said.
By now Maisie, fully recovered and fully curious, had stood to join them, watching carefully as Sally and the others drew near. She let out a loud gasp. “But that’s ... he’s Oliver!”
No way. Kate squinted. It was! It was him.
Sally, close enough now to hear, let out a loud snort. “Oliver? Is that the name he told you?”
As they walked past the creek island, Oliver tried to break loose from the agents. “I came to protect Kate and the kid! The bear was coming for them! Kate, tell them!”
“You’re a liar!” Maisie shouted. “And I am NOT a KID!”
“Kate!” Oliver was pleading. “Tell them about us! Tell them how I came here to propose to you!”
Kate’s mind struggled to absorb the sight of Oliver, held firmly between two game wardens. “I don’t ... I don’t get it. What is going on?”
“They’ve got me mixed up with someone else. Kate, tell them! This is all a terrible misunderstanding.”
“Is that so?” Sally said, hands on her hips. “Cuz Tony Feldmann’s been singing like a canary ever since he was nabbed trying to leave the park just a bit ago.”
At that, the change in Oliver’s countenance was immediate, from sputtering protests to utterly silent, mouth drawn in a straight line, a look on his face like he could murder someone. And then it was gone, and he was back to claiming innocence.
Who was Tony Feldmann? Kate couldn’t keep up.
She wasn’t the only one.
A red-faced Tim Rivers appeared out of nowhere, looking just as confused as Kate felt. “What,” Tim said, huffing and puffing as he reached them on the creek island, “the Sam Hill is going on?”
“Pops!” Maisie hurried down the hill into her grandfather’s arms. “That man tried to kill the bear! And then he was going to kill us too!”
“Don’t listen to the kid!” Oliver yelled.
“I AM NOT A KID,” Maisie yelled back.
Oliver ignored her. “Kate! Sweetheart! You’re the only one who can clear this up. Tell them who I am! Tell them about us!”
Ignoring his protests, the agents kept pushing him along the creek bank toward the trailhead that would lead down the hill to the parked cars. Coop motioned to the rest of them to follow along.
“Hold up!” Sally hurried over to the game wardens. She took off her ranger hat and pulled a thick envelope from it to hand to a warden. Then she reached into her shirt and pulled a small tape recorder to hand over. “Take good care of this. You’ll be needing all of it for evidence.” She turned to give Tim a look .
“Oh boy,” Tim said.
“Sally,” Coop said, “who is that guy?”
Sally turned to face Coop. “Hon, have you ever heard of Wade Schmidt?”
Frankie whistled. “Aww, yeah! My dad’s talked about him! Big-time poacher. Stealth hunter!”
“He’s what?” Kate said. “He’s a ... stealth hunter?” How could she have missed so much?
“Wade Schmidt,” Coop said, “is one of the most wanted poachers in the national parks. No one’s been able to catch him. They’ve never even gotten an image of him. He uses all kinds of disguises. All kinds of aliases. All kinds of ways to keep from being identified.”
Like Oliver, the churchgoing, straightlaced boyfriend. It was all a facade. A sickening nausea flooded over Kate.
Coop turned back to Sally. “So this was a sting?” Hands on his hips, he said, “You’ve been working a sting?” He sounded impressed.
She grinned, ear to ear. “Sure was, darlin’. Wade Schmidt offered up thousands of dollars for the pleasure of hunting the world’s most famous bear.”
“Kate!” Oliver said, turning his head back to shout as the agents led him down the trail. “Katie-Kat! Tell them! This is all a big mistake!”
But it wasn’t. Somewhere, deep inside Kate, she knew it was true. Slowly, her mind started to piece things together. Meeting Oliver at the zoo, right in front of the bear exhibit. His keen interest in bears. His fascination with 399. His evasiveness whenever she asked him about his work.
How relentlessly he pursued her. He was a hunter. She was his prey.
She squeezed her eyes shut. What a fool she’d been.
Still at a distance, Sally put her hands on her hips. “Zoo Girl, I hope you got yourself that picture you wanted.”
It took a moment for Kate to realize Sally was talking to her. Her eyes popped open. “What do you mean?”
“Hon, that’s the bear you came for.”
Kate gasped. “ That bear was 399? Really and truly? You’re sure? You’re absolutely sure?”
“Darlin’, I know my bears,” Sally said. She narrowed her eyes at Tim and jabbed a finger in his direction. “I know a lot more than some people might think.”
“Oh boy,” Tim said.
“But I have to give you props for tipping off LE to detain Feldmann. That ended up being helpful.” Sally spun around and hurried to catch up with the game wardens.
Frankie gave a light punch to Maisie’s arm. “You okay? You aren’t talking nonstop like you usually do.”
Maisie managed a shaky smile. “I think I’m still in shock.”
“Let’s get you two back to the lodge,” Coop said.
Wait. Kate couldn’t leave Pilgrim Creek without her camera. She just couldn’t. She looked at Coop. “I really need to retrieve my camera. It’s my only chance.” Her only chance to redeem this disaster.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Coop said. “After all this?”
“ Because of all this. I can get it myself. I don’t have to involve anyone.” She’d done enough of that with Oliver.
“No, Kate,” Coop said, “I’m not going to let you go alone up there. You’ve already had one bear encounter for the day.” He looked at Tim. “Would you mind dropping Kate at Jackson Lake Lodge? Frankie and I have an errand.”
“Aww, yeah!” Frankie said, pumping his fists. “Let’s race to the top.”
“Hold it, cowboy,” Coop said. “First let’s get everyone to the jeep.”
Tim and Frankie helped Maisie cross the creek.
“You’re really alright?” Coop said.
“I really am,” Kate said. “I’ve never felt such a stone-cold fear before, but I’m fine.”
He held out a hand to help Kate, then didn’t let her hand go until they reached the vehicles. As they parted, he gently pulled her a few feet away from Maisie’s listening ears. “I’ll come looking for you as soon as we’re back in the valley.”
“Coop, I feel like such a fool. I can’t believe how deceived I was.”
“Well, as bad as you might be feeling, rest assured that Wade Schmidt is probably feeling a whole lot worse.”
Thank God for that , Kate thought. “Coop, why didn’t the bear attack us? Maisie was right in between the bear and her cub.”
“You handled it well by not panicking. But I know what Tim would say in situations like this. Someone,” he said, pointing upward, “was looking after you.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you, God.
Tim bellowed for him to hurry up. At the last second, Coop leaned forward, placed a light kiss on Kate’s forehead, and squeezed her arms. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Then he and Frankie started up the trail for the second time.
Kate watched them go, still feeling dazed, but this time in a good way. Her heart lifted like it was light as air.
Before Tim started the car, he turned in his seat to check on Maisie. “Breathing easier now?”
Maisie nodded, still subdued.
Turning his attention to Kate, Tim said, “And you? Feeling alright?”
Kate hesitated, then shook her head. “I feel foolish, embarrassed, even angry. But also strangely grateful.” And happy.
“Grateful is a good place to be.” Tim gave her a reassuring smile before starting the ignition.
Sitting in the back of the game wardens’ SUV, the cuffs digging into his wrists, Wade simmered with a mix of anger and disbelief. How in the world could this have happened to him? He shot a glare at the metal mesh separating him from the front seat. For years, he had prided himself on staying ahead of the game. Always a step ahead. Always.
How had he made so many mistakes?
Feldmann. It was all Feldmann’s fault. That fool fell for the act of a pint-sized ranger, who’d been playing him like a puppet from the start.
Then there was Kate. Her betrayal stung like a thousand beestings, sharper than the cuffs on his wrists. He had underestimated her.
Wade had approached Kate with the same precision and confidence he brought to his hunts. Meeting her at the zoo, wooing her, dangling that particular bear in front of her so carefully that she thought she had been the one to discover it, and then to come up with the notion of photographing it. Hunting 399 had been Wade’s plan all along. Kate was always meant to be a decoy, a clever distraction. Even the marriage proposal was a ploy. It didn’t matter to him if she said yes or no; the goal was to divert attention, like a magician captivating the audience’s gaze while executing a hidden trick. The public proposal was insurance. Plenty of witnesses to attest to his identity as Oliver, the boyfriend. Kate was his guarantor.
But then, as he pleaded with her to identify him, she said nothing. Nothing. That kid, Maryanne, was more helpful than Kate. At least the kid admitted she recognized him. Called him Oliver.
Wade had been so confident that he had Kate firmly under his control. She’d always bent to him, accommodated him. Yet today she betrayed him with her silence.
The small ranger peered into the SUV, her smug expression infuriating him even more. “Now you know how an animal feels when it’s been trapped. One thing I will promise you, Schmidt. That was your last hunt.” She stepped back from the vehicle and clapped her hands. “Take him away, boys.”