Chapter 18
Slade, Conway, and their prisoners were finally on the Border Trail Route. They had yet to reach the first downed tree, but it was coming up. The difficulty was that the trail was narrow for two men trying to walk side by side. Conway wanted Slade and Fitz to go first so he could make sure he could see that Fitz didn’t get loose or injure Slade.
Slade tugged an uncooperative Fitz along the trail. Fitz kept trying to step on Slade’s snowshoes like Slade had done to Fitz to take him down. They slipped on an icy patch and Slade held his footing, but Fitz went down. At first, Slade was glad that Fitz had fallen and not himself, but damn, it was hard to get a reluctant man to his feet when he didn’t have a good grip on the ice either. He was determined, though, and managed to yank Fitz to his feet. Both nearly fell because of the steeper, icy conditions.
Conway was patiently waiting for Slade to get his charge under control—as patient as he could be. He looked as growly as Slade felt. Slade hoped the other officers were on their way here to help out soon.
Once he began moving forward with Fitz again, he paused at a flatter area and watched Conway move Otis through the icy area. Both kept their footing and continued on their way. But when they came to the first big tree that had fallen across the path, Slade knew they would have a renewed struggle and this time he and Conway might not be successful in navigating the hazard with their prisoners. Plus, Slade was carrying the laptop, which put him at an additional disadvantage.
“Maybe we should wait for the other officers to reach us,” Slade said to Conway. He normally didn’t give up that easily, but the men were handcuffed behind their backs and moving them over the trees was impossible like that. For Slade and Conway’s safety, they couldn’t remove the handcuffs. More men could help get their prisoners through the maze of fallen trees more easily.
Slade set the laptop on top of the tree trunk and then tried to help Fitz to climb over the tree, but Fitz struck at him with his body with every ounce of strength he had. Slade knew they couldn’t make it this way. It was too hard to get through the trees and underbrush to the lake or he would just take them that way.
Conway called his fellow police officers on his radio. “Hey, it’s King. We can’t get our suspects to you over the fallen trees on the Border Route Trail. We’ll need your assistance.”
One of the officers responded over the radio to him that they were equipped with Tasers, no problem. Conway laughed. He was also carrying a Taser, but if he used the Tasers on the prisoners, he and Slade would need to carry the men all the way to the cabin afterward, so it was better to have additional help.
Slade hated waiting in the cold though. He wished they could move these guys along and shorten the distance at least. The other officers would take about half an hour to reach them.
That’s when Slade heard something moving behind them on the trail. He didn’t have a good feeling about it. “Down on the ground now,” he told Otis and Fitz. They looked at him like he had to be kidding! They weren’t taking orders from a civilian, even if he was deputized.
Trusting Slade, Conway took his cue and grabbed the men and forced them down on the ground. “What’s up?” he asked Slade.
“Someone’s coming. It could be anyone, but if it is Danbury, he’s armed and willing to use his gun.” Then Slade motioned to the trees where they could wait to ambush Danbury if he came along the trail. No one could hear anyone coming like Slade could, but he’d earned Conway and Tanner’s trust that he had excellent hearing.
Conway called Tanner to tell him what they were hearing.
Slade set the laptop down on the snow. Fitz called out as loud as he could, “What are you afraid of? Bears? They’re hibernating this time of year.”
Again, Slade wanted to knock the troublemaker out. Slade didn’t hear anyone coming then. He suspected whoever it was had stopped to try to figure out a different way to reach them, and if it was Danbury, he would try to free his cohorts. Slade knew Fitz was trying to share their exact location with Danbury, if that’s who was coming.
Conway glanced at Slade. Slade signaled that the man was silent. Conway nodded. He could be a bulldog when it came to catching his perp, but he was also the most easygoing person Slade knew and wouldn’t hurt anyone in the process if he could help it.
Then he heard someone moving through the woods north of them. The person had to be Danbury because Slade doubted that he would have left the trail otherwise. Traveling in snowshoes through the dense underbrush would have been nearly impossible. If nothing else, he would give Danbury kudos for being loyal to his friends.
Slade indicated to Conway that the person was approaching north of him now.
Conway shook his head. He motioned for Slade to take his place. Fitz and Otis were still lying on the ground next to the fallen tree, but Conway and Slade couldn’t be at the same location in the woods, or the two men could run the other way. But Conway was armed, so he wanted to be the one to confront Danbury, if that was who was coming.
Slade wanted to turn wolf in the worst way. If he could, he would run through the woods and tackle the guy, end of story. They each took the other’s place. They both crouched down behind trees and waited.
“You might as well give us up,” Fitz loudly said. “You want to enjoy Christmas with your families, don’t you?”
Slade and Conway remained quiet.
Fitz sat up and Otis did the same as if they were planning to get out of there. With their hands cuffed behind their backs, they would have a harder time getting to their feet while wearing snowshoes in the deep snow. They would most likely need help to stand. Which was why Slade had told them to get down on the ground in the first place. Plus, if gunfire was exchanged between Conway and Danbury, the other men would have a better chance of not getting hit by a stray bullet.
Then someone fired at Conway, but it sounded like the slug hit a tree. Slade hated that he couldn’t do anything to help the situation. He had to stay right where he was to make sure the other two guys didn’t try to escape with the diversion. Conway returned fire. Danbury cried out in pain.
But it didn’t mean Conway had hit anything vital, and Slade didn’t trust that Danbury was being honest either. He could be faking being hit so Conway would think Danbury was incapacitated.
Conway called Tanner on his radio, “Hey, it’s King. Danbury and I have exchanged gunfire. We’re hunkered down at a fallen tree on the brT.”
“We’re nearly there,” Tanner said.
Slade was relieved to hear it. He hoped the officers would get here sooner than later. Everything was quiet for now. No groaning, no movement, but he didn’t trust that Danbury was mortally wounded or dead.
Slade noted that Conway was staying put, keeping cover, remaining there to make sure the other prisoners didn’t escape. Some officers would be in too much of a hurry to try to take down Danbury, but Conway was doing his job the right way.
Then Slade heard movement in the woods headed toward the trail but on the other side of the huge fallen tree. Slade whistled to get Conway’s attention. He glanced back. Slade pointed in the direction he heard Danbury going now. Conway changed his stance to confront Danbury should he suddenly appear. Slade suspected Danbury was trying to reach the tree and then come up and over it and shoot Conway.
Again, Slade wanted to do something. He was eager to climb the tree deeper in the woods and take Danbury down before he could reach the tree. But he reminded himself that he needed to stay put and make sure Fitz and Otis didn’t try to get away.
Then Slade heard the crunching of snow on the trail from the direction they had been traveling and figured that was Tanner and the other officers. Slade whistled to get Conway’s attention again and indicated someone else was approaching them on the trail.
Slade was aware of footfalls on the other side of the tree trunk and assumed Danbury was making a last-ditch effort to free his friends. He was taking an awful risk for them.
Slade motioned to Conway that Danbury was moving in behind the tree on the other side. Conway gave Slade a thumbs-up.
Fitz was watching them and shouted, “Don’t do it! They’re waiting for you. Get out of here!”
Everything was quiet then and Slade suspected Danbury was taking Fitz’s words seriously. Footfalls moved back into the woods. Danbury was probably making a run for it.
Tanner and the other officers came into view and Slade said, “He went that way.”
“We’re on it,” Tanner said. “Are the two of you okay?”
“We’re good,” Conway said. “I called in more reinforcements. They’re on their way here now. They’ll help us get these two to the cars. I might have hit Danbury, or he might have been pretending that he was injured.”
“Okay. Got it.” Then Tanner and the other men began tracking Danbury.
Slade wanted to go with them because he could hear and smell Danbury. “He’s headed back north through the woods,” he called out. He knew he was definitely making an enemy of Fitz and his cohorts.
Tanner and the other guys were crashing through the woods, while four new officers and Dulcie headed toward the fallen tree from the other side.
Dulcie called out to Slade, “Two officers are with Sheri. Tanner called me to help his team to track down Danbury.”
“Good,” Slade said. Since Dulcie was a wolf, she would better be able to aid Tanner and the others. And she was armed.
Once Dulcie took off after Tanner and the others, the new officers climbed over the fallen tree and Slade assisted them in getting the suspects over it. One of the officers grabbed the boxed laptop still sitting in the snow.
Then Slade told them, “I’m going ahead to the cabin.”
“Are you sure, Slade?” Conway asked.
“Yeah. I’ll catch you later.” Slade could make some more headway if he was on his own, not trying to help the police move the two cuffed men to the patrol cars over all the downed trees. If he smelled or heard Danbury going in his direction, Slade would take him down. He wanted to call Sheri, but if Danbury was headed back this way, he didn’t want to alert him that he was walking this way on his own.
Slate had moved so fast without having to deal with the prisoners that he was soon out of sight of the police. That’s when he saw a tiny trail of blood droplets on the snow off the trail. Aw, hell. He had to follow it and see if he could catch Danbury. What if the guy was bleeding out? Again, Slade didn’t want to call anyone and alert Danbury he was closing in on him.
A human couldn’t hear Slade coming from a distance as he slowly moved though the underbrush, watching for more drips of blood on dead leaves stubbornly clinging to twigs, snowshoe prints in a few places, snapped branches. When he drew closer to Danbury, Slade smelled his scent—frustrated, angry, injured, in pain.
Slade was barely moving now, smelling Danbury’s odor more strongly. He saw some snowshoe prints in the tangled underbrush, then heard a muffled cough. He went in a wide circle, judging the direction of the cough so he could sneak up on Danbury from behind as carefully as he could, not wanting to get shot.
Then he saw Danbury sitting, leaning against a tree, clutching his chest, his other hand holding the gun. He looked like he was still ready for a fight. Slade found a stout branch he could swing at Danbury if he tried to shoot him. He just hoped he could get close enough to disable him if he needed to without either of them being hurt.
Slade brushed up against a branch, making it snap. Hell . Danbury turned sharply around, his gun trained to shoot. Slade threw the stout branch at Danbury. The stick struck Danbury’s gun arm, knocking it away. The gun fired a round upward, slicing through a tree branch.
As soon as it did, Dulcie came out of practically nowhere and seized Danbury’s gun. She and Slade handcuffed Danbury in front of his chest. Then Slade pulled out his personal first aid kit and unzipped Danbury’s parka. He couldn’t believe how hardheaded this guy was in wanting to free his friends, considering the wound he had suffered.
He pulled up Danbury’s sweater and shirt and started to bandage the gunshot wound to slow down the bleeding while Dulcie called Tanner on her radio.
“We got him,” Dulcie said.
“Hot damn, good news,” Tanner said.
She gave them their coordinates. “Slade got here first.” She winked at Slade.
Tanner and the others soon joined them, then carried Danbury to the trail and began making their way to the cabin and the patrol cars. “Call it in, will you, Wulff?”
“Absolutely.” Then Dulcie called for an ambulance.
Slade was glad they’d caught all three men and he hoped they would be incarcerated for a while at least. “Since all three men are in custody, I’m on my way back to the cabin.”
“Thanks so much for all your help,” Tanner said.
“Anytime.” Slade hurried off and called Sheri, eager to return to her. “All the men have been caught. I’m on my way home.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful on both counts. Dulcie left me here with a couple of men so she could help track Danbury down.”
“Yeah. She and I got him. He suffered a gunshot wound after shooting at the police.”
“Oh, no. Are all the officers all right?”
“Yeah. I thought we might return to help them locate the merchandise, but Dulcie can do that as well as we can, and after all this, I’m ready to hit the sack with you.”
“Absolutely. I’m so glad we met her. I invited her to our pizza party. She’s eager to meet everyone.”
“The others will be glad to learn we have one of our kind on the police force,” he said.
“That’s for sure.”
When Slade arrived at the cabin, Sheri welcomed him home as if he was the most special person in the world. He really loved how affectionate she was with him. But the other two officers were there so he and Sheri couldn’t do what they wanted to do immediately.
She frowned when she saw the blood all over Slade’s parka and his gloves.
“Danbury’s blood, not mine. I bandaged him the best I could to help stop the bleeding,” Slade said.
The officers thanked Slade for his assistance with this case, took his statement about what had happened, and thanked him again.
“You’re welcome. Anything to get these guys into custody.” Slade began pulling off his gloves, hat, and boots. Then Sheri helped him out of his parka.
“I’ll start cleaning the blood off your gloves and parka,” she said.
“I’ll help you.”
They worked to get the blood out of Slade’s clothes, then hung them up in the downstairs shower to dry. Then they heard an ambulance arrive, and as soon as the police brought Danbury to the cabin, a couple of EMTs saw to him. Fitz and Conway weren’t fighting the officers any longer—too many police officers to deal with this time.
Fitz gave Slade the evil eye, appearing to promise him retribution. Because of having a whole wolf pack to back him up, Slade wasn’t too worried about it.
Otis and Fitz were taken to a couple of squad cars, and once they were sitting inside them, the officers drove them off to jail. Danbury left in the ambulance with a police escort.
Tanner and Conway thanked Slade and Sheri for their help and Dulcie said she looked forward to seeing them again soon.
Once everyone left, Slade hugged and kissed Sheri.
“I’m so glad they caught them,” Sheri said. “Now, it’s time to go to bed.”
“My thoughts exactly. But first, it’s shower time.” Slade wanted to make love to Sheri and cuddle with her the rest of the night through. Forget about stolen merchandise, Wild West shoot-outs, thieves on the run, crashed airplanes—it was time for them to be a mated couple and just enjoy being with each other.
They made short work of their clothes and then they were in the shower, soaping each other up, kissing, rubbing their bodies together, laughing, and loving each other with glee.