Chapter 1 On the Run
Thirty years later
Why is she really in town?
Running Bear wasn’t buying his niece’s cock-and-bull story about still being on Spring Break.
Though he spent most of his time living off the grid, he kept a printout of Kaya’s college schedule folded in his wallet.
According to the heavily wrinkled, dog-eared slip of paper, her Spring Break had ended a week ago.
The University of Texas School of Law was very much back in session.
Was she in some sort of trouble?
Had she been suspended from campus?
Worse yet, had she lost her full-ride scholarship?
Surely not! His insides grew cold at the thought. There were no words to describe how proud he was of the way she’d spent the last several years studying her heart out. Her graduation was a month away. Over his dead body was he going to let her give up now!
He shoved a few bags of peppered beef jerky into a waterproof bag and tucked them inside his backpack. The jerky was as fresh as it gets. He’d spent the last few days running two dehydrators in Councilman Hawk Chesney’s log cabin on the Comanche reservation. Or the rez, as the locals called it.
Hawk’s cabin would forever feel like home since it had been Running Bear’s home for over fifty years — right up until he’d retired from the tribal council and sold it to Hawk.
He’d sold it to him extra cheap, with the agreement that he could pitch his tent anywhere he wanted and continue living off the land.
Hawk was the closest thing Running Bear had to a son, so it was an arrangement that worked well for both of them.
It was working even better now that Hawk had given Running Bear the tiny house mounted on a travel trailer behind his workshop. Running Bear spent a lot of time bivouacking in the wilderness, but he crashed overnight in the rustic little home between outings.
His love for the outdoors had turned into a business of hosting survivalist retreats.
It had started off as a side job for extra cash, but had quickly grown profitable.
During the retreats, he taught the immersive self-sufficiency of his Comanche heritage to his guests: things like fire-making, foraging for food, shelter-building, and first aid.
After roughing it outdoors for days on end, it was nice coming back to a proper home to take hot showers and sleep in a real bed. He hoped it wasn’t making him soft, because a wave of melancholy had set in lately that he couldn’t seem to shake.
He straightened to his full height, a movement that brought him face-to-face with himself in the mirror over the built-in dresser in his bedroom.
It was like staring at a stranger. He hardly recognized the man with the leathery grief lines beneath his eyes and the increasing number of silver strands threading his long black hair.
He’d probably already lived over half his life.
It was a sobering thought.
He wasn’t sure why he was feeling his fifty-four years so strongly today.
Maybe it was some sort of delayed reaction to the loss of his wife a year ago.
Or maybe it was because of the more recent loss of his older brother to cancer.
Or maybe it was because both tragedies were right on the heels of his younger brother, who’d moved away from the rez in his early twenties with his wife and infant daughter, succumbing to a deadly case of pneumonia.
The Dakota family had taken one hit after another. There were days when he wondered why he was still here. More and more often, he thought about what it would be like to fall asleep for the last time and join his ancestors in eternal rest.
Then his better judgment would kick in, reminding him that only a coward would look for a way out in his mid-fifties.
People depended on him — his family, his tribe, and his clients.
Maybe the melancholy he’d experienced lately was just his conscience reminding him that life was precious.
A reminder that every day was a gift from Above.
A reminder that while there was still breath in him, there was hope.
A burning need surged through him to make whatever time he had left count. Along with that burning need was the realization that a person couldn’t keep doing the same things and expect a different result. Something in his life had to change.
I have to change.
The truth slammed into him, rocking him all the way to his soul.
He looked in the mirror again, still not liking what he saw.
He’d been shackled to discouragement for too long, and it was showing.
The weight of it was slowing him down and holding him back from being the best version of himself for the Lord and the benefit of others.
It was time to do something about it.
He glanced around his cozy bedroom, and his gaze landed on the pair of scissors he’d tossed on a shelf earlier.
He reached for them, knowing that his friends would tease him mercilessly for what he was about to do.
They’d probably blame it on a midlife crisis, and they’d probably be right, but he needed to mark this moment.
He needed something visible that would remind him why he’d decided to shake things up.
He needed something that would spur him on every time he saw his own reflection.
He grabbed a handful of his hair, positioned the scissor blades around it, and started snipping. When he finished, the rough ends would require a bit of clean-up from the barber, but the lean-faced, hard-jawed man staring back at him looked more authentic.
Less bone weary.
Less defeated.
Hello, Bear.
He wasn’t sure where the inspiration came from, only that the newer, shortened version of his tribal name was a better fit than Running Bear had been.
He was finished running. Done weeping his brains out in private.
Done being depressed. He was ready to face the next chapter.
It might be true that half of his life was over, but that meant half of his life was yet to be lived.
And he was ready. He was finally ready.
His heart felt lighter as he went back to packing beef jerky. He discovered he had one empty zipper pocket left. He carried his backpack to the kitchen, grabbed a few more bags of beef jerky, and filled the pocket with them. It was enough to share, which would come in handy.
In less than an hour, he would lead a dozen business executives through the foothills — the largest group he’d hosted yet. He could only hope the well-dressed group of desk jockeys would be up to the challenge of high-altitude climbing, minimalistic camping, and bushcraft.
A quick glance at his watch told him they were already running ten minutes late. It wasn’t a good sign. Their group would spend the next three days without cell phones, laptops, pagers, and gaming devices. He wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if a few of them dropped out before it began.
A motor revved outside. It was followed by the rumble of a second motor, then a third, and a fourth.
There they are. Bear glanced at his watch again.
Better late than never. By the time he delivered his welcome briefing to them, inspected their gear, and confiscated any remaining electronics they might try to sneak along, they would be half an hour behind their scheduled departure.
He’d have to take a shortcut across one of their hiking routes along the way to make it to their final destination by nightfall.
Revise and adapt. His brain was already reconfiguring the route they would take. It was no different from the adjustments he made for inclement weather and other setbacks.
The front door popped open, and Kaya moved into his messy living room.
He glanced up in time to see his niece stumble over the case of bottled water he’d left in the entryway.
Though she’d been crashing on his couch each night, she’d been making herself scarce during the day.
He’d been worried he might not see her again before she returned to school, but he was equally worried about why she was still at home.
She staggered a few steps before regaining her balance.
“Uncle Uri?” Uri Dakota was his legal name, but she was one of the few people in the world who used it, maybe because she’d only recently become a part of his life.
Most people called him by his tribal name, Running Bear, though he would soon inform his friends that he’d shortened it to Bear.
“Whatcha need, kiddo?” She was twenty-four, but she was so short and petite that she looked younger.
The lines of exhaustion etched across her features were unfortunately all too adult-like.
She didn’t look as if she’d slept much last night.
Losing her dad had taken a heavy toll on her.
Sadly, her mom hadn’t been in the picture for a while.
Bear hadn’t even known his younger brother had gotten separated from his wife until Kaya had shown up at his door last summer.
He wished he could’ve been at his brother’s bedside while he was sick, but Bear had been hundreds of miles away, unaware his brother was fighting for his life until after he’d lost the fight.
He eyed Kaya’s rubber-soled hiking boots, jeans, and long sleeve athletic shirt, wishing she could join today’s wilderness outing. She sounded as if she could use some quality uncle time. However, she had a law degree to finish, and he had a job to do.
“I need your guidance.” She moved closer to him, looking jumpy and out of sorts. Something was definitely wrong.
“I’m listening.” He resisted the urge to glance at his watch again.
Instead, he indulged in a proud uncle moment.
That she’d gone out of her way to look him up and nurture a relationship with him after her father had passed meant the world to him.
Life was full of curveballs, but she was one that Bear had welcomed whole-heartedly.
Since his late wife had been unable to bear children, his two nieces and Hawk’s family helped fill the void.