Chapter 7
Kendra figured they would be running through the forest as bears, trying to locate Younger's scent, but she'd never expected to camp out with a grizzly bear bounty hunter while looking for a fugitive.
They picked up her camping gear from her house, then went to the grocery store to buy a week's worth of food. Beyond that, they could fish as grizzlies, though Kendra had some fishing gear to use to fish with also.
"Did Younger have camping equipment in the vehicle?" she asked Grayson.
"Yeah. The works. So he'll be all set for hiding out for a good long while if we weren't such great trackers."
"Do you think he might have gone into another area of the park?"
"He might. But as Rowland said, he might figure no one would return here, looking for him. And since they went to Sun Point in the first place, that makes me think that he knows this area better than most. People are creatures of habit."
"Do you think he'll have a bear rifle this time?"
"It's illegal to kill a grizzly."
"Yeah, but he might be carrying a weapon he could use on anyone who tries to take him in."
"Yeah. He might. Or another kind of handgun, as Billy had. Not that Younger can legally carry one because of his criminal record, if he has one handy. But he could have bear spray and bear noisemakers also in case he encounters bears."
"The bear noisemakers won't scare us off."
When they finally reached the park, they decided to explore first and see if they could smell if Younger had returned to the area. The green car he had been in wasn’t there, but he could have been dropped off.
"He might have gone into Glacier National Park at another entrance."
"Yes, absolutely. We'll check here first. If we smell Younger’s scent past where Billy grabbed Anne, we'll keep looking for Younger in this area. If we can't find any sign of it, we'll go to the west entrance."
"Sounds good. So we're not going to take our camping gear with us," she said.
"No, we'll leave it behind for now. If we locate his scent, we'll come back with the gear."
"Okay. Have you ever tracked a fugitive into the woods who was a survivalist?" she asked.
"Two who were, and one who wasn't. The one who wasn't was about frozen to death. He was grateful I saved his life, and he was easy to take in. The other two? It took me a couple of weeks to locate them."
"Were they together?"
"Yeah. It wasn't an easy task. Marcus, my twin brother, was supposed to go with me, but he had broken his leg in a car accident.
A drunk driver on New Year's Eve hit his SUV while Marcus was out on a fugitive job, so he was out of commission.
The fugitives were armed robbers, and I had to capture them. "
“I hope Marcus was okay.”
“Yeah. He was really mad, though. The guy who ran into him head-on had several DUIs, lost his license, had no car registration, and had no car insurance. He went to jail that time.”
“I don’t blame your brother for being angry. It makes me angry.”
Grayson smiled.
“Oh, by the way, I only have a double sleeping bag.”
He chuckled. “That should work.”
“Sure, for you. With all those muscles, I’m not sure there’s room for anyone else.”
He laughed out loud. “I can sleep on a blanket. Or sleep in my bear coat.”
“We’ll see.”
Once they parked at the location they were at before, they got out of the vehicle, grabbed backpacks with water and snacks, and locked it. Then they headed out on the trail.
Both were quiet as they listened and smelled the air. Many different people had walked the trail, including Younger and the teen. They finally reached the spot where the teen had grabbed Anne.
They continued on the trail, still smelling Younger’s scent, though it could be just the wind carrying it around the area. A grizzly’s sense of smell was seven times that of a bloodhound’s scent so they really were great at tracking.
They needed to walk about a half mile to make sure that if they smelled Younger, he had made it farther down the trail.
Heart pounding, Kendra said, “He has been this way.”
“Yeah. Let’s keep going.”
They walked for another mile, and when they had gotten that far, Grayson said, “We might as well go back and get our camping gear. We’re going to be at this for a while. We can make camp and then do our searches from there.”
“I’ll call Rowland and tell him we’re camping in the backcountry in our search for Younger.”
“Good idea.”
“Yeah, Rowland.” She looked over the park map. “We’re going to be at Sun Point. And then taking separate trips to try and find his scent. But so far, Younger has been on the main trail he used earlier.”
“Let me know if you get any leads.”
“We will.”
Then they ended the call.
“It has already been an hour since we started walking. We’ll stop at the first campsite in another three hours, set up the tent, start a campfire, and eat,” Grayson said.
Grayson had taken the bulk of the camping equipment, leaving her to carry the sleeping bag, her own backpack, and a bag of gear, including towels. He carried the tent, mattress, fishing gear, water, and camp stove. It proved his beautiful muscles weren’t just for appearance’s sake.
They also had extra clothes and rain gear. She could smell the rain coming and checked the weather app on her phone. “Heavy rain is on its way.”
“Yeah, I was smelling it too. Another good reason to get our camp set up. Once we eat, we can take off on a few short hikes from the campsite, looking for his trail.”
“He’s still going this way. Do you think he’ll camp where we do?”
“No. He’ll camp illegally. That’s why we’ll have to go into the bush to try and locate him.”
She thought a grizzly could carry all this gear and move faster than humans. She hadn’t gone camping in a couple of years. Hiking, sure, but not carrying this much gear. Though it was still less than it would have been had she had to carry all of it.
They paused to drink some water and ate protein bars. They hadn’t seen anyone on the path so far, but they were hopeful they would find Younger since they hadn’t lost his scent. It was hours old, so he was way ahead of them, probably because Grayson had needed to be looked at in the clinic.
It seemed to take them forever to reach the campsite. There were only two flat spots for camping; the other already had two tents. No one was around, and she figured they were all hiking. Thankfully, the two sites were separated from each other by trees so they had privacy.
“We have fresh water,” Kendra said.
“Yeah, some of the spots don’t. This is great. A beautiful view of the lake and mountains. It’s lovely.”
She wished they were on a camping date now, not just chasing down a fugitive. But of course, if they could catch him, that would make it even more worthwhile.
He helped her set up the tent, and he was a real pro.
She knew how to do it too, but he was just really quick about it. “I’m going to get some firewood.”
They already had a fire ring of stones waiting for them. No fire bans were in effect, so they could use it. But she also had a gas stove in case a fire-danger alert came up. Though with it getting ready to rain later tonight, they probably wouldn’t have any trouble.
“We’ll go together.” That was one of the things that took the most effort. Gathering firewood and keeping it stockpiled. She also figured the two of them could handle the threat from Younger better if they ran into him.
They went into the woods and started gathering fire material. She was picking up tons of dry twigs and smaller branches, while he carried larger logs. She didn’t smell any sign of Younger in this direction. They needed to follow the trail further when they began searching for him again.
Then they set up the twigs and sticks and started the fire. This was fun. It was still light out, being early summer, and she was ready to start cooking hot dogs, something she rarely ate, but they were great for a campout.
“When was the last time you went camping?” Grayson asked her.
They sat on the foldout chairs and roasted their hot dogs over the fire. The flames flickered, and the skin on the hot dogs bubbled up.
“I went a couple of years ago. It had been some years before that when I went with my sister before she was murdered. So it was hard for me to go alone, but I had to. I had a fugitive who had headed into the forest, but, like your one case, this guy wasn’t prepared to live on the land.
The nights turned cold, and he had nothing to protect him.
It snowed and sleeted, and he was soaking wet when I found him.
He had gotten so turned around that he had planned to go back to one of the trails, but he couldn’t find it. ”
Then they put the hot dogs on buns, and he added mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup. She added just ketchup.
“He was lucky you were tracking him.”
“He was. He was freezing. He was lucky he didn’t lose his fingers and toes.
He was dressed for warmer weather during the day and had no warm clothes for the night.
No shelter, and no food. And he didn’t know how to build a temporary shelter or get out of the forest. He didn’t have any water and made the mistake of drinking from the river, which made him really sick. He ended up with E. coli and Giardia.”
“Which led to diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps.”
“Yeah. Nausea and fever too. He lost a lot of weight and was terribly dehydrated.”
“Was he appreciative that you found him and got him medical attention?”
“No. He was totally pissed off that I caught him and turned him in.”
Smiling, Grayson shook his head and fixed himself another hot dog.
She ate another too. “I love them roasted like this.”
“Yeah, me too.”
She was ready to make s’mores also. She hadn’t had those in years either.
Grayson cooked two more hot dogs for himself, but she was ready for a s’more and began roasting a marshmallow, then stuck it between chocolate bars and graham crackers. When she took the first bite of hers, she moaned with delight.
Grayson smiled at her, and when he was finished with his last hot dog and she was finished with her s’more, he licked the chocolate off her lips. “Hmm,” he said.
Then he made a s’more, and when he was ready to eat it, she waited to lick the chocolate off his lips. He laughed.
“Do you want another one?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll have another too.” Then they both melted their marshmallows, layered another s’more, and ate it.
And licked each other’s lips of the remaining melted chocolate and marshmallow, which morphed into the hottest kiss she’d ever had. Tongues stroked, and his hands went up her shirt until he reached her breasts and massaged them through her lace bra.
Then they heard the voices of three men coming down the trail.
“More of this later.” Grayson said it as a promise, cupping her face and kissing her again. “Let’s go and try to track down Younger, and then we can retire to our tent for the night.”
She was usually so mission-focused, yet she was ready to just ignore going after Younger and join Grayson in the sleeping bag for the rest of the night. She still wasn’t sure if they would both fit in it.
They both shared mutual sighs, grabbed their backpacks, and headed out on the trail to search for Younger’s scent again.
They walked about two miles when they discovered that Younger had left the trail and headed into the forest. She felt a sense of exhilaration, that the real hunt was on now that they were in the thick of the woods.