Ninety Degrees Out

Chay cantered ahead, giving a sharp whistle for Jazz. His dog appeared from the path to Ursa’s den, and he whined, before yipping into a half howl, half growl. He knew it meant trouble from the past. Grabbing his pistol, he checked the chamber, made sure it was loaded, and dropped his reins to the path. Bingo moved to the side, reaching for the lush grass growing beside some raspberry bushes.

As he walked the stench of rotting meat grew overpowering. Why didn’t he pick up on it sooner? Right, winds were light and in the opposite direction of normal, pushing the putrid odor away from the houses.

Moving along the pathway he noted multiple sets of bear prints, all of them from the cubs who were almost half grown now. No tracks belonging to their mother. The young bears were too young to be with a mother yet. Bad habits were likely.

Jazz stopped suddenly ahead of him. Approaching the break in the trees where the camera was hanging, he peered across the grassy patch in front of Ursa’s den. The blonde grizzly mother was sprawled on top of some sort of carcass. He couldn’t make out what it was, but the cubs were busy eating grubs as they flipped rocks and logs over. Ursa wasn’t moving. Something was seriously wrong.

“Get your tranq gun,” Chay said as he trotted up to Alicia where she and Dolly were blocking the path.

“What’s wrong? I think the carrion we’re smelling is poisoned. Ursa isn’t moving, and I couldn’t get close enough to see if she’s breathing. I’m thinking she might be poisoned.”

“Did you hear that Ari?” Alicia asked her daughter.

Arimina nodded. “That’s really bad Daddy, and we don’t know what kind of poison do we?”

“No, the best thing you and Corky can do now is ride back to the ranch and bring Dr. Anya back with you. The cubs are okay from what I could see, but we need to put them to sleep so we can help Ursa.” Chay’s instructions were crisp as he turned Bingo toward the fork leading toward their house.

“I’ll go down as far as the gate, and help Ari with it,” Alicia said. “On second thought, I’ll go with her. What kinds of pest poisons are common here? Strychnine is possible what else?”

“That’s the one that most of us use if we need something for rats and mice. Usually on the bait along with some sort of trap. Kind of a guarantee that gives us twice the probability of killing them.”

“I’ll tell Anya, you get the tranqs. We’ll be back to meet you as soon as we can.” Alicia turned her horse to follow her daughter. “I hope we aren’t already too late to help Ursa.”

Chay turned to sniff the air. “What burning? Not our place the smoke is further the trail. “Did Aaron, Randy and Sara go back ahead of us?”

“Don’t think so, I’ll let them know there’s smoke up their way.” Alicia kicked Dolly into a trot.

“Hurry Mommy, we have to get help.” Ari slapped her reins on Corky’s neck and took off down the trail ahead of her.

Chay watched his girls disappear and raced back toward his house. If the Markham place was burning, who ever set it might be after his house too. Whistling shrilly, he saw Jazz streaking into the woods toward home ahead of him, Blue loped beside him as Bingo stretched into a run.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Holy crap, Alicia,” Aaron yelled as he pulled his horse up short of running into her.

“Smell the smoke?”

Aaron nodded, and so did Sara from where she rode double behind him. Randy edged by them and his mount’s hoofs pounded past Alicia.

“We think it might be your place Sara. Go, I need to find Anya, Ursa is in trouble.” She prodded her horse and went after Ari.

“You going to be okay, Sara? Hang on. We have to get up there. The fire repellant worked; I hope. You did say your parents put it on all the logs right>?”

Aaron felt her arms tighten around his waist, and her chin bumped into his back as she nodded. Leaning forward, he urged his horse after Randy. What the fuck was going on?

As they pounded down the pathway, the smell of acrid toxic smoke grew stronger. Randy was stopped ahead of them and he pulled on his reins, sitting up tall as his mount planted all four feet, skidding to a stop.

“Pull your bandana over your face, both of you,” Randy said as he retied his at the back of his head. The blue triangle hung down over his beard. “It’s not going to do much but it’s better than nothing. That doesn’t smell like wood smoke.”

“Mom and Dad had this incredible fear of fire. Dad had the entire outside coated with some new fangled fire repellent about ten years ago. Said he didn’t want to fall to a wildfire like those in Australia or California. He’d take scorched logs over an all out burn down.” Sara tied her own neckerchief over her nose.

“We’ll leave the horses here. Once we know what the damage is, we’ll come back for them,” Aaron said. “Besides, they’re really nervous already.”

“Maybe we should tie them to that tree,” Sara said, pointing to a sturdy branch. “They could run for it and head back to the ranch.”

“Smart.” Aaron took the reins and tied them to a low hanging limb of an alder close to the path. “Let’s go take a look.”

>>>>>>>>>

“Hey, man, I’m a friend. Don’t want nothing to do with crazy Rico and the bitch running with him mo more.” The wizened man held his empty hands out, showing Edward and Harry he was unarmed. His motorcycle was on it’s side with a cracked faring on the up side, and Harry could see oil dripping from the motor.

“How did you find your way up here?” Harry asked.

“Just ran up the highway and turned away from Anchorage on the first dirt road I found. Turned out to be a forestry trunk road. Kept on going until it turned into an obstacle course. Old man like me, ain’t got the legs for this kind of riding no more.” His grey head bobbed as he spoke. The skinny white braid hanging down from his chin swung as he moved his head side to side studying Harry and his adopted father.

“You sure as hell aren’t equipped to walk out here either.” Harry noticed his boots were scarred and scraped. They didn’t look at all comfortable.

The man looked down, as he noticed Harry assessing him. ’Been a while since I could afford new ones.”

“Join the club. What’s your name, man? I’m Edward Narson. Army vet and medic. This, is my son Harry.”

“Please to meet cha.” He stuck out his right hand and Harry reached out to shake it. The strength of his grip surprised him.

“We’re going to have to leave that here. We’ll take you back with us. We’re having a lot of trouble with Rico and his gang.”

Edward offered.

“Name’s John. They called me little John. Short stuff like me, it made sense.” He shook Edward’s hand enthusiastically.

“Can you get yourself up here behind me?” Edward asked as he pointed to his horse. “The stallion isn’t going to let any one but Harry ride him.”

“Nice horse. Gorgeous paint.” John said. “There’s a boulder back there that surprised me. Did me in. Damn bike is done. I’ll be fine riding double. Little guy like me won’t bother him much.”

Harry wondered exactly how old John was. “Hey, John, where did you come from?”

“Me, used to work the ranches in Texas after I finished my time in the Army. Got a hankering to see the world, bought a bike. Hooked up with Rico and his gang way down in Seattle, cause he wanted to go north for the summer. Never been to Alaska. They had a clubhouse, place to stay through the dark, but something went screwy in that one’s head with the stars spun. It was the craziest thing.”

Edward led his horse over the rocky road toward the offending boulder. He could see the scrapes in the sandstone from John’s crankcase. Swing up into his saddle he took his foot out of the stirrup and John scrambled up behind him easily.

“How old are you John?” Harry was curious.

“Seems I passed my seventieth birthday a while back.”

Edward turned his horse to head back toward the homestead.

“Man, you don’t ride like you’re that old,” Harry exclaimed.

“Active living, outdoor living. Keeps a man young.” John said. “Hey, noticed the radio you’re carrying. I know the frequencies Rico uses to talk to his gang. Bet that would be a help.”

“Damn rights, John. Hang on. We are officially in a hurry now. We need intel desperately. We know from Meg he was planning something big.”

“Meg? What happened to her? Great lady.”

“Long story man, she’ll tell you when you get back to the ranch. Right now, we’re at the homestead breaking horses. We sure could use a good horseman to help.” Edward said.

“Let’s get back, Harry. We need to get this info to Hakan at the ranch.”

Harry leaned forward, squeezing his thighs tight. Paint was what old John called his horse. Great name. He settled in to enjoy their run.