CHAPTER ONE GREYEAGLE
CHAPTER ONE
GREYEAGLE
“To a predator,
fear indicates weakness.”
Dean Koontz
4:00 AM
June 12th
Pine Ridge Reservation
South Dakota
Greyeagle awoke to his cell phone ringing. He glanced over at Sarah, who was lying across him languidly, and smiled. She was beautiful, and he didn’t want to wake her by moving.
“Are you going to answer that?” she said without opening her eyes. “It might be important.”
“If someone is calling me at four in the morning,” Greyeagle said tiredly, “it damned well better be.”
He picked up the phone from the wireless charger and noticed that the caller ID read “OST Tribal Police.”
“This can’t be good,” Greyeagle said.
“Who is it?” mumbled Sarah.
“Tribal police,” Greyeagle answered.
“What did the Mohawk Twins do now?” asked Sarah, chuckling.
Greyeagle smiled as he answered the line.
“Greyeagle,” he said.
“Is this Will Greyeagle?” asked a young-sounding woman.
“It is,” Greyeagle replied. “What can I do for you?”
“Your cousin, David Walks Far asked me to call you,” explained the woman. “My name is Katie Red Thunder. I’m a dispatcher for the Tribal Police and the Department of Game, Fish and Parks.”
“I know your father,” Greyeagle replied. “What’s going on?”
“I sent David out to Eagle Talon Campground to check on a couple of campers who hadn’t reported in,” answered Katie. “It’s really out there in the boonies. He reported in by radio a few minutes ago and said it looks like a bear attack. He asked for backup and for you, specifically.”
“Me?” Greyeagle said. “Why me?”
“I guess he wants you to help track the bear,” Katie said. “I told him to wait near the highway for backup to get there. He said he’d be heading that way as soon as he located the campers. All he’s found so far is blood and a torn-up campsite.”
“Eagle Talon is a bit of a drive,” Greyeagle said. “It’ll take me a bit to get there. Let me get dressed, and I’ll be on my way.”
“Thank you, sir,” Katie said, relief in her voice. “I’m worried about him out there all by himself.”
“David’s tough,” Greyeagle said. “He can handle himself until I get there. Did he seem like he was in danger when you spoke to him?”
“No, just worried,” she replied. “If it’s a bear attack, it’s a crime scene. We’ll need to secure it and then track the bear down and euthanize it.”
“Alright,” Greyeagle said. “I’ll head that way. I’ll get there as soon as I can, but it might be an hour or two. That’s a hell of a drive from here.”
“Understood,” she replied. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Greyeagle said and hung up the phone.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, sitting up in the bed, revealing her nakedness.
“My cousin asked for my help,” Greyeagle said. “David Walks Far.”
“He’s the game and fish officer, right?” Sarah said.
“Yeah, that’s him,” Greyeagle replied.
“Let me get dressed,” she said, slipping out from beneath the covers.
“No, you can go back to sleep,” Greyeagle said, reaching over and touching her cheek. “The boys will be up in a few hours. I can handle this. If David thinks it’s a bear, I’ll believe him. He’s as good a tracker as I am.”
“They’re sleeping in Grandfather’s cabin,” Sarah said, smiling. “They’re his problem when they wake up.”
Greyeagle chuckled.
“Take Mika or the Twins with you,” added Sarah. “I really don’t like you going alone.”
“I’ll see if anyone is awake,” Greyeagle said, smiling at her. “I won’t go alone. Promise.”
She stood up and walked around the bed, then slipped her arms around his neck. She melted against him, and he slid his hand along her cheek, held her by the back of the neck, then kissed her gently. She slid her leg up the outside of his and back down.
“Hurry back,” she said, winking as she slipped away from him.
“Now I don’t want to go,” Greyeagle said, smiling at her.
“Get out of here,” Sarah said. “My boyfriend should be here at any minute.”
Greyeagle chuckled as he started getting dressed.
“T?e?hí?ila,” Greyeagle said.
“I love you, too,” Sarah said, pulling the covers up. “Be careful.”
“I will,” Greyeagle assured her.
He finished dressing and put on a pair of knee-high moccasin boots with fringe around the top.
They were his tracking boots. They were far quieter than his usual tactical boots and left less sign of his passage.
Then he slipped a long-bladed hunting knife into each boot, along with a pistol belt that held his custom Guncrafter Industries Hellcat X2 Government with the frag grips.
Then he slipped four more magazines into his pouch, each loaded with 9mm Speer Gold Dot 147 Grain bonded hollow points. He grabbed his shoulder bag that held extra loaded magazines, a Dark Angel Medical SPEAR kit, and extra tourniquets.
He walked out into the living room of the camper trailer they lived in and found Mika was already awake and putting on coffee.
“I take it you heard the phone,” Greyeagle said.
“And your end of the conversation,” Mika said, grinning. “I sleep on the other end of the trailer, not on Mars.”
Greyeagle chuckled.
“I take it you told Cassie to sleep in, too,” Greyeagle said.
“Yep,” Mika said. “Just you and me, brother. Unless you want me to call Kodiak. I’m sure he’s awake.”
Greyeagle thought about it for a minute before speaking.
“Yeah, call him,” Greyeagle answered. “This might be nothing, or it might be dangerous. Either way, we can’t go wrong with having the Big Bear with us.”
Mika nodded and sent a quick text. After a moment, Greyeagle heard the odd cricket noise that Mika had for a text sound, indicating he’d gotten a response.
“He says ‘give me five’,” Mika said. “Told you he was awake.”
“Let’s take the Bison,” Greyeagle said. “Where we’re going isn’t exactly the easiest of roads to travel.”
“Yeah, I’ve been out to Eagle Talon,” Mika said. “That place is remote, even on the Rez. Great fishing, though.”
“And it looks like we’re going bear hunting,” Greyeagle added. “So, let’s pack the big rifles. No sense taking a risk on not dropping it.”
“We could just shift,” suggested Mika.
“Not unless we have to,” Greyeagle replied. “My cousin and the Tribal Police don’t know we can do that. Let’s try to keep it that way.”
“Spoilsport,” Mika said, grinning. “I need to stretch my wolf legs, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh, I do,” Greyeagle assured him. “But now isn’t the time. But be careful what you wish for. You might just get it.”
A few minutes passed as they gathered their rifles and gear. As Mika was filling the thermos with coffee, there was a light tap on the door. Greyeagle opened it, and Cody “Kodiak” Tapuche squeezed his massive frame inside.
“Ready?” he asked, sniffing at the air. “I hope you made enough for us to have a cup now.”
“Would I disappoint you, Big Bear?” asked Mika, handing Kodiak a big travel mug full of steaming coffee.
“Pilamaye,” Kodiak said, nodding.
“Hey, your Lakota’s getting better, brother,” Mika said, grinning.
Kodiak shrugged.
“I’m Ute,” he replied, as if that explained everything.
“If you two are finished,” Greyeagle said.
“Oh yeah,” Mika said. “Let’s get moving. We’ve got a long drive. Likely be sunrise before we get there.”
“Or close to it,” Greyeagle replied.
“Should we wake the others?” asked Kodiak.
Greyeagle thought about it for a minute before answering.
“I don’t think we’ll need everyone to deal with one rogue bear,” Greyeagle replied.
“What did this bear do?” asked Kodiak.
“Killed a couple of campers,” Mika replied.
“Damn,” Kodiak replied. “I prefer not to kill bears if we can help it. There are too few of them left.”
“Ordinarily, I would agree,” Greyeagle said, “but if it killed and ate people, we don’t have a choice.”
Kodiak just nodded grimly.
“Grab your rifle,” Mika said, “and meet us at the Bison. We’re out of here in two minutes.”
Kodiak nodded and ducked back out the door with his coffee. Mika handed Greyeagle a cup and smiled.
“Just black,” Mika said. “You heathen. Haven’t you ever heard of creamer?”
“I prefer it black,” Greyeagle said. “Old habits, I guess. The Army and being a cop kind of cemented it.”
“Have it your way, brother,” Mika said. “But I’m putting that chocolate stuff in mine. Tastes sweet, baby.”
Greyeagle shook his head and headed out the door. Mika turned off the empty coffee pot and followed him. By the time they reached the Bison, a massive black Ford F-650 4x4, Kodiak was already placing his gear bag into the bed of the truck.
“I’m driving,” Mika said, grinning.
“Good,” Greyeagle said. “That means I can get a nap in on the way.”
“Well, on second thought,” Mika replied. “Are you sure you don’t want to drive?”
Greyeagle smiled and held out his hand. Mika handed him the keys, then turned to Kodiak.
“Shotgun!” Mika said, grinning.
“I’ll take the back,” Kodiak said. “Gives me more room to stretch out.”
Greyeagle slid behind the wheel and placed his thermal mug of coffee in the center console cup holder, then hit the button to start the big 6.7L Power Stroke V8 Turbo-Diesel. After a moment, the glow plugs warmed up, and it rumbled to life.
“That’s my baby,” Mika said, grinning and patting the dash. “God, I love this truck. Want me to put the campground into the GPS?”
“No,” Greyeagle replied. “I know the way. Plus, I doubt it’s on the GPS. It’s not on any map that I know of.”
“Then how’d the campers find it?” asked Mika.
“I have no idea,” Greyeagle replied. “They must be locals. Not many people off the Rez even know it’s there.”
Greyeagle pulled out of the area where their campers were set up and headed down the short gravel road that led to the two-lane blacktop. From there, he turned left and brought the big truck up to highway speed. Once he hit sixty-five, he set the cruise control and let it roll.
After a few minutes, Greyeagle noticed that Mika was already asleep and hadn’t even touched his coffee. Kodiak sat in the back seat with noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones on, sipping his coffee and nodding to the music.
“Guess no one feels like talking,” Greyeagle thought as he reached for his coffee.