Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
E zra had been ready to guide Chauncey with their mission to save hikers when he made eye contact with an older woman. A desperation in her body language and the way she kept looking at her phone ramped up Ezra’s need to offer aid and support, despite being so close to his quarry.
“Hi, can I help you?” Ezra asked, and something in the universe clicked. The woman lifted her eyes from her phone and lasered in on Ezra. Immediately, Ezra groaned. This happened to him more frequently than he expected. Strangers always asked him questions for either directional or random information, even if he didn’t have the skill set to provide them the best service. When he visited a big box store, he was targeted within minutes of stepping inside. This was one of the first times a stranger approached him outside.
“I’m trying to get my maps app to work, but it’s having a really hard time loading. Are we on LTE or 3G? I can’t tell. Anyway, my children really want to meet Wiarton Willie, but I’ve managed to get myself all turned around, and you seem like a good man.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m not from around here either. I’m actually heading north, and this was a quick leg stretch. Maybe?—”
“You can still look at the map and tell me if I’m at the right place or not.” She thrust her phone at Ezra as a wild light entered her eyes. Ezra reluctantly took the phone, worried his life was in danger if he didn’t offer assistance.
Frustrated by this new development, Ezra glanced toward Chauncey’s truck, praying the man hadn’t slipped away while Ezra was distracted. The dusty vehicle hadn’t moved. The woman snapped her fingers. Ezra stared at the phone and tried to orient himself to the small dot on the screen. He was the worst person for following directions, and the way the woman had the map set up threw him off as well. The “YOU ARE HERE" dot wasn’t where it was supposed to be, but Ezra did his best to explain.
“You need to get to the bay where you can see the statue. After that, I’m not sure. Like I said, I’m not from around here. I usually stick to the number six when I travel.”
“Can’t you be more precise?” The woman’s vibe was beginning to grate on Ezra’s nerves. He glanced around the plaza, hoping for a sign, and smiled when he found it. A brown directional one was right there, pointing out the way to the groundhog’s home.
“There it is. Follow that. Anyway, I have to go. I have somewhere to be before dark falls.” Ezra inched away, relieved the encounter was over. He took a step and ran chest-first into a firm body. “Oh, shit.”
“What were you doing?” Chauncey asked as he glared at Ezra. Man, Ezra hated being tall. For once, he’d love to stare up into someone’s flashing eyes, instead of down at their forehead or bangs. Chauncey’s fierce tone was wreaking havoc on Ezra’s libido.
“The lady was looking for Wiarton Willie,” Ezra whined. Not the impression he was hoping to project to Chauncey.
“And you helped her why?” Chauncey grabbed Ezra’s arm and dragged him back to the messy truck. Ezra allowed himself to be pulled along. Chauncey’s hold on his arm was warm.
“It’s one of those weird coincidences for me. These things happen to me all the time.”
Chauncey stopped dead near his truck. His head dropped, and Ezra could barely hear what he was whispering. Ezra leaned in. “Are you alright?”
“Nope. Just had a giant puzzle piece fall into place.” With that cryptic comment, Chauncey threw himself in his truck and muttered, “Get in.”
“What about my car? I can’t leave it in the Tim Hortons parking lot! It’ll get towed!” Ezra stepped toward the restaurant where his clean car waited for him. “I can follow you.”
“We don’t have time for that. And the employees don’t care about parking lot etiquette. As long as it’s not overnight.” Chauncey arched an eyebrow at Ezra, and the intensity burned a hole deep within Ezra, pushing him to start moving.
The truck was a complete disaster. Takeout wrappers and papers were strewn everywhere. The combined smell of coffee and oil made Ezra’s stomach roll. Ezra shoved the garbage onto the floor and sat gingerly. Nothing sticky was on the seats, giving him some relief. “You should?—”
“Don’t even start with me, greenhorn,” Chauncey snapped. He threw his truck into gear and pulled into traffic. “Why didn’t you tell me you were an agent?”
“I’m not. I’m like a lowly office grunt. April won’t let me do things.” Ezra snooped around as best he could. He had to get a better picture of Chauncey in his head. So far, what was written in the reports and what Ezra had seen for himself did not mesh. This person driving the truck, while handsome, was not cool.
“Tell me again how you tracked me down and what you planned on doing afterward?” Chauncey kept his eyes on the road, deftly manipulating the truck through the narrow side streets.
Ezra had been watching Chauncey’s tanned forearm with its light dusting of hair. He imagined caressing it, feeling the texture against his own body while marvelling at the dichotomy of soft skin and the roughness of the man’s personality.
“Ezra?”
“Right. Sorry. Anyway, I just looked at the notes from your briefings, made a few extrapolations, and boom, here we are.” Ezra smiled. If Chauncey expected him to prove his abilities, Ezra would do so. He pulled out his phone and opened his app with every note dealing with SPAM. “April was hoping you’d get back to her about this mission thing happening up here.”
“We connected, and I said no. We’re done.” Chauncey turned left down a dirt road and slouched in his seat. “What’s your deal though?”
“I didn’t get that far.” Ezra swiped up on his phone, searching for the most recent file. April had mentioned something in passing to him, but he had dismissed it as irrelevant. “Oh! Here it is! Apparently, there’ve been a few sightings of Bigfoot near a large house on the water near the park. There were rumours about people trying to capitalize on the whole cryptid craze. Which is dumb considering Bigfoot doesn’t live here. So, she wants us?—”
Chauncey cleared his throat.
“She wants you to debunk the internet legends and do your thing with the thing,” Ezra grumbled. He was a part of this, despite what Chauncey and April said. They could be an us if someone only took a chance. Adding field work to his resume would enhance it, and he’d be able to understand what it took for agents to complete their job. “I can help you.”
Incoming Phone Call
“Why does your phone do that? It’s annoying.” Chauncey’s hands on the wheel tightened as the device continued to speak.
“It’s been acting weird since this morning.” Ezra turned away to answer. “Hello?”
“What do you think you’re doing? This was supposed to be a down-low mission. Only you were supposed to be involved, and now you have him?”
“I don’t think?—”
“Yeah, we know. You don’t think. Plans’ve changed. Meet us at the trailhead. We’ll talk then, but get rid of the beast.” The person on the other end disconnected, leaving Ezra to listen to the dial tone.
“Who was that delightful piece of shit?”
“Not sure. I assumed it was a wrong number last time.” Ezra searched his phone history. The person was phoning from Guelph or had a Guelph number. Obviously from Ontario then. But what did he mean about missions and trailheads?
“So, it’s not the first time he called, and you still think that? No wonder April didn’t want you out in the field. What was he nattering about?”
“To get rid of you.” Chauncey’s insult hurt Ezra to the core. He was a good researcher. He could help people. While going out in the field was still new to him, this mission seemed fairly innocuous, which would lead to some experience. Why did Chauncey have to be so mean? Every report Ezra had read about him said he was a nice guy. This was not the person he’d crushed on.
“Ezra.”
“Chauncey…”
“Jesus Christ, don’t call me that.”
Ezra consulted his notes and searched for a reason. Everything he had included aliases, nicknames, birthdates, and favourite foods. Nothing in there said anything about Chauncey disliking his name. “What do I call you then?”
“Chaz. My nickname is Chaz.” He said it with such authority, Ezra almost believed him. Ezra swiped through his notes once more, searching for any mention of Chaz and finding none.
“But I don’t have?—”
“It’s my name. You're supposed to believe the person telling you. Not some fucking file folder. Right?” Chauncey growled. Ezra turned his head slightly before sitting facing forward. Chaz’s expression warned him this was a touchy subject. Chauncey vibrated while white-knuckling the steering wheel.
“I guess, but you don’t seem like a Chaz. I think of Chazzes as rich snobs with cream sweaters tied around their shoulders. Not…” Ezra took in Chaz’s ripped jeans and threadbare T-shirt. Holes were forming around the neckline, and the shirt was so thin Ezra could see the dark hair through the fabric. “Not this?”
“And you expect Chaunceys to be any different? Get your head out of the clouds, beanpole.”
“Please don’t call me that. I’m not really that tall. Anyway, I can’t see you being a Chaz. You don’t believe you’re a Chauncey. So, what do we do?” Ezra drummed his fingers on his knees. This situation had spun out of his control, and with the word "beanpole" triggering bad memories from high school, it was time to tell his crush to take a hike.
“We go with what I decide because it’s my name. And it’s Chaz.”
Ezra shrugged at Chauncey’s edict. The man still didn’t look or feel like a Chaz.
Chauncey had to be psychic as he continued speaking. “I won’t answer it. I assure you, I will ignore you.”
“Whatever. Anyway, April asked you to chase down a Bigfoot?” Ezra changed the subject before their childish argument could devolve further. "Bigfoots aren’t in Ontario.”
“It’s been mentioned.”
“But that’s ridiculous. They live on the West Coast where all the big trees are.” Ezra tried to rationalize this mission, but nothing would compute. Did April’s request and the weird phone calls have something to do with one another? April never gave him the details, so he couldn’t compare, and what he did glean from the little tidbits told him this was not new. Someone from the evil league had set up a base on the peninsula. The things Ezra learned just by adding a keyword extension to his internet browser. The evil league was rarely mentioned at Ezra’s level, and what he did know was from the dusty message boards. All Ezra had right now was: Bigfoot, Bruce Peninsula, and scared hikers. The two phone calls he received were likely connected to his three notes.
“Yes, Ezra. I know that. You do too. But apparently everyone else is out to lunch. Tell me more about those phone calls,” Chauncey said in a long-suffering manner. This wasn’t Ezra’s fault.
“I only received two. And they were wrong numbers.” Ezra opened his call history again and noted the different Guelph numbers.
“They talk to you about a mission near a park the same day April told you she was sending another agent, and you’re still sticking to the wrong number theory?” The derision in Chauncey’s voice hurt. It showcased how ill-prepared Ezra was for field status. So, Ezra didn’t make intuitive leaps, but Chauncey didn’t have to be so mean.
“I don’t think I like you.” Ezra crossed his arms and leaned on the door, trying to get as far from Chauncey as he could in this beat-up truck. The name suited him, and Ezra was going to call him that from now on. Stupid Chauncey.
“I do not care. But anyway, since we’re both in it at the moment, let’s go over what information we have. Bigfoot is at a park? Which one? The details are a bit sparse. So how about you call April and get her to share everything she knows?” Chauncey’s dismissal prickled Ezra’s frayed nerves. He didn’t want to cooperate, but he had to. If only to prove people wrong.
“I have no desire to tell April I’ve gone rogue. She’s your connection.”
“She’s your actual boss. However, I’m driving, and talking on your cell is against the law.” Chauncey returned. Ezra hated how right Chauncey was.
Scowling, Ezra dialed the number April gave him to use in case of emergencies and prayed she wouldn’t answer. When the phone rang a dozen times, she finally picked up.
“Ezra, you never call me. It’s always over the computer. What’s up?” April’s voice was soft and so unlike their other interactions that Ezra pulled the device away from his ear and gaped at the screen. Chauncey shrugged.
“So… I decided to have an adventure today, and I met up with Chaun—Chaz to discuss some things?—”
“I didn’t realize you were acquainted with Chaz. How did that come about?” The soft query sharpened as she spoke. Trouble was brewing.
“He phoned me?—”
“I did not. Give me that.” Chauncey reached over and stole the phone from Ezra’s loose hold. Ezra sighed in relief. Being interrogated by April terrified him. He had gone rogue, and she didn’t forgive people when they did their own troubleshooting in the field. He hoped he could beg for forgiveness if he managed to solve the mystery of the Bigfoots.
Ezra pretended he wasn’t listening in on Chauncey’s conversation. He stared at the trees whizzing by as Chauncey shared what little they had with April. The back and forth was interesting. Chauncey didn’t seem to care about April’s authority or being polite. Nothing about mysterious phone calls was mentioned. Ezra’s whole part in the matter was glossed over.
“Send the details to Ezra’s phone. What park to start at and what exactly we're looking for. That sort of bullshit.” Chauncey drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “You pulled me in, April. We do this my way, or I walk.”
A few more minutes of snarling between the two, though Chauncey didn’t seem to be backing down. Chauncey grunted a few more times before disconnecting and tossing the phone onto Ezra’s lap.
“She’s pissed you’re involved. Said you don’t have SPAM clearance. It’s why she didn’t share all her information with you.” Chauncey shrugged. “Anyway, according to her sources, there’s an abandoned trail these idiots are attempting to use to create Bigfoot sightings. We have to check if this is a scam or the real deal.”
“Obviously scam. And our plan?” Ezra asked. He tried to ignore the insult about not being SPAM-worthy. Sure, he didn’t blow up electronics the minute he spotted them. Or create near impossible labyrinths of people to get away from a quarry. He was an indoors sort of guy, keen on discovering connections on the internet. That was his biggest contribution—finding the most irrelevant things out there and tying them together. He also could attract strangers who needed help for inconsequential quests.
“We’re going Bigfoot hunting.”
Ezra blinked and glanced at his shoes. They were not meant for tromping around the woods. The soles had no traction, and the leather was not protective. “I’m not prepared.”
“That’s okay. We’re doing it anyway.”