Kill The Wolf
Robert Schott
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Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 by Robert Schott
Cover Art Copyright 2010 by Robert Schott
ISBN 978-0-615-41747-9
A Books Come Alive eBook
License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This novel is fiction. All characters places and events are a product of the imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The author, Robert Schott, has been a full time visual artist since 1980. He currently lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida.
To find out more about Robert and his work visit - www.everythingicreate.com or email at gatorschott@gmail.com
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Dr. Alan Greenwood is a brilliant scientist in his field. When his marriage goes awry he becomes increasingly unstable. With his University position in jeopardy Dr. Greenwood takes a sabbatical to study a wolf pack in the Canadian Rockies.
Raven Wolftalk is a Native American Holy man, a Shaman. He believes Dr. Greenwood is about to loose his soul and undertakes the task of spiritually saving him.
Lee Cochren once was a respected hunting guide. Drinking and illegal activities have taken him in a downward spiral.
The Canadian and United States government make a deal to move the wolf pack Dr. Greenwood is studying to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Powerful ranchers bordering the park hate the idea and vow to never let it happen. They hire Lee Cochren to sabotage the wolf relocation project and he is all to glad to do it relishing in his role as saboteur.
Dr. Alan Greenwood has bonded with his wolf pack and has in effect become one of them. He takes an oath to protect them no matter what the cost.
On a full moon night in September, Robert, an accomplished artist looking for adventure and a career boost walks into the middle of a blood bath that could very well cost him his life.
Book One
Full Moon May
Chapter One
I run
with the wolf
I run
stalking
I run
howling
I run
full moon nights
I run
with the wolf
from the field notes of Dr. Alan Greenwod
*
“KILL THE WOLF!”
“KILL THE WOLF!” The screaming man was sitting in the back of the helicopter.
“KILL THE GODDAMN WOLF!” The man screamed again as loud as he could. They all wore head sets for communication but as the argument over the wolf heated up the man riding shotgun up front tore off his headset not wanting to hear the screamer directly behind him. This only made the screaming man louder.
“SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT!” The man screamed again losing control of himself as he ripped off his own head set.
*
The group of four men were out looking for trophy elk but without much luck for the second day in a row. The weather kept them in town the previous day and with nothing else to do a few drinks had been consumed at a favorite local bar. A few drinks except for the screaming man. After the others had gone he sat for a long time in the little bar, a very long time. Something he was known to do all to frequently.
His name was Lee Cochran and he wouldn’t be on this hunting trip at all if not for Claude Reeming, the man who sat next to him now in the back of the helicopter. It was not only his drinking that caused a downward spiral from being one of the best and busiest hunting guides in Western Canada to one of the most avoided. There were other things. Worse things.
Stupid son-of-a-bitch Lee thought as he was roused by a phone call from his bed at 6:00 a.m. One of his cardinal rules would be broken today. Never drink heavy and go into the field the next day. Going into the field was an obsession with Lee. That’s why he was one of the best. His stock did not go down in recent years because of any diminishment in his hunting skills. In that aspect he had become better if anything.
They left at daybreak after the frontal system had moved out much quicker than the weatherman said it would. Last night he’d seen the radar and heard that stupid son-of-a-bitch tell him that it was going to keep raining for another eighteen hours at least.
Shit, he rubbed his head as he sat on the edge of his bed after hanging up the phone. Lee was a solid, rugged man. He spent his entire life outdoors and it showed. At fifty-three he had a weathered, grizzled look, the remaining hair on his balding head almost totally gray. He stood about five feet eight inches and weighed around one hundred eighty pounds. He looked powerful and he was with big features, a barrel chest, thick arms and legs, and massive scarred hands. His face, once just average looking, in recent years had become hard, darker, and cruel.
He sat on the edge of the bed thinking in his younger days after a night of drinking he could just pop out early in the morning ready for action. He was lying to himself. In his younger days he never drank heavy and he never drank when involved on a job.
Shoulda known better, shoulda known, he told himself. He had depended on the weatherman to be right about today. A mistake. Stupid son-of-a-bitch! This time it was directed at himself. Every time he depended on someone else they let him down, he should know better by now. If life had taught him one thing it was never depend on anyone but himself. He cursed liberally. The last thing he felt like doing was getting up and going out in the field today.
Lee drove to the small airfield. He stumbled from his weathered old jeep on shaky legs a disheveled mess. The three men waiting for him all turned in his direction and stared. David Hockney, the pilot of the helicopter threw up his hands in disgust. He turned and walked towards the building that was his place of business and home. It was clear to him and the others that Lee had stayed much too late at the bar last night.
The airfield was nothing more than a large gravel parking lot next to a hanger. The hanger was large enough to fit the helicopter into with a workroom off to the side. The hanger situated some one hundred yards from a two story log cabin home.
Claude Reeming followed the pilot back to the house, it was his money being spent.
“David, David”, he called out after him. Claude caught him at the bottom of the stairs that led up to a big porch running along the front of the building.
“Now wait a minute, it ain’t that bad. I can handle Lee. Hell I’ve known that man for years, never known him to act up in the field”, he said as he studied the pilot. “Never in the field”, he added again for emphasis and to make the distinction. He needed to salvage this trip if he could.
Dumb ass, Claude thought, this is the last time for you Lee. He turned back to the pilot. “Come on it’ll be all right, hell, I got Big Jim over there and this means a lot to me, David. It means a lot to me. Now I been using you regular and you been doing a good job for me, don’t let this mess us up boy. It’ll be all right”.
David turned and looked back at the drunken guide. He was the owner and pilot of the helicopter, Wildflight. His wife Taylor had named it and they worked the business together. He was hardly a boy but he let the remark slide taking no offense.
Besides Claude was right, Claude had been a good customer for a number of years and he didn’t want to change that. The two men talked and worked it out, the pilot reluctantly agreeing to take them out. I am going to regret this David thought as both men walked back to the waiting helicopter. David made sure his clients were secure in their seats then went through his preflight checklist. He lifted them straight up a hundred feet then left the small airfield hoping he’d made the right decision.
That’s it, David thought breaking off the pursuit. The only reason he had been chasing the wolf in the first place was to watch the animal run, certainly not to shoot it. Besides being illegal, running down an animal from the air until it was exhausted then killing it was something he detested.
The man called Big Jim never saw a wolf run in the open field. When they had spotted one on the way back in Claude asked him to run the animal for a short distance. David didn't see any harm in it, besides they didn't have any luck today and it wouldn't hurt the animal to run it for a while so he agreed.
But Lee had ruined it. What the hell is he screaming for? He knows I won’t let the wolf be shot, the man must be losing his mind David thought. He’d known Lee for a long time, much longer than Claude and he normally avoided him at all costs. The only reason he consented to this hunting party was because Claude had pressured him and it was the beginning of the summer season. After a long winter he could use the money. The weather had already canceled two other jobs this month.
Now he had this idiot, this screaming asshole to deal with. He looked over at Jim Knox sitting next to him in the front of the helicopter. Jim sat rigidly strapped in his seat, face red, fists clenched around his rifle. David saw the anger and hatred building up.
*
Jim Knox just turned sixty-five. This hunting trip was a gift from Claude Reeming, a gift to commemorate his retirement Claude laughed when he told Jim of the trip he had planned for him. Jim and Claude were both old school ranchers. You worked until you couldn’t anymore and then you hoped that one of your children would keep the ranch going. Both men were far from the point where they needed to stop.
Jim Knox was called Big Jim for a reason. He was six feet four and carried around two hundred fifty pounds. He had always been a big strong man. His sixty-five years slowed him some, but not much.
He really didn’t want to go on this trip. Claude was not what he considered a close friend. They had known each other all of their lives and respected each other but never been close. Jim rarely agreed with Claude’s politics or the way he practiced them. He found Claude overbearing and opinionated. He kept a polite distance from the man.
They both lived in the United States and both held land close to Yellowstone National Park. In their part of Wyoming, Claude Reeming was a powerful man. He owned a big ranch that had been in his family for three generations. His grandfather, Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Reeming, was a pioneer and quite a legend in the state.
*
Jim Knox preferred to stay out of local politics as much as he could and just go about his business. And by going about his business he had done very well for himself. He was a second generation rancher. His father came to Wyoming late in life, had enough money to buy a medium sized ranch and work it.
It was Jim who had built the ranch up and made it something. He had done it through hard work and a reputation as an honest and smart businessman. A lot of people looked up to Jim and admired him. He was an active member of his church and frequently he and his wife, while she was still alive, had volunteered their time and money to help others when needed. He was a man of his word, a man to be counted on and whether or not he wanted it he had influence.
Claude had spent considerable time and money on this trip to obtain and leverage Jim Knox’s influence. Through Big Jim, Claude planned to make a power play. The politics in Wyoming were changing. Certain issues were becoming very divisive. He needed all the help he could get and using Big Jim could make a difference.
*
Claude kept quiet waiting for Lee to shut the hell up. He had to act soon though this was getting out of hand. Claude cursed to himself. He didn’t want a confrontation with Lee. No telling what might happen if the man got any more worked up, it was ugly enough now. Claude was just about to say something when the pilot broke off the pursuit leaving the wolf to disappear over the next hill.
David turned his helicopter and started to gain altitude. Chasing the wolf he flew almost at ground level following the terrain. It was fun in a way. The wolf was an amazing animal, could run forever and flying just a few feet above the ground was exhilarating. Now as he turned for the trip back to town he started to bring the aircraft up in a lazy circle. At the same time Lee let go another barrage of profanity when he saw that David was breaking off the chase. He reached out and shoved the back of David’s seat with one of his massive arms.
It takes both arms and both legs to fly a helicopter and when the unexpected jolt hit David his right hand slipped on the controls. The aircraft spun and headed down. At less than thirty feet off the ground they didn’t have far to go. David recovered quickly but not quick enough. Just as he leveled the craft it hit the ground with a jarring thump, bounced then hit again.
The craft settled with one side of the landing gear resting on a rock. The helicopter titled to the right and the big blades started chewing up the tall grass missing the hard ground by a few inches. David immediately began an emergency shutdown hoping the rotors overhead would not make contact with the ground as they spun around.
As soon as the helicopter hit the ground Big Jim unbuckled himself turned in his seat and threw a fist into the stunned face of Lee Cochran. It happened so fast Claude didn’t see it coming until it was over. David was to busy trying hold the aircraft together to pay attention. Lee sat, mouth gapping in total surprise when Jim Knox smacked him hard again. Lee went from shock to rage instantly, he lunged forward at Big Jim but the seat restraint held him back. Big Jim punched him three more times before Lee could unbuckle himself and fight back.
The fight caught David’s attention now and he couldn’t believe it. These fools might tip the entire craft over. His side was the side resting on the rock and the two fighting men struggled on the lower side, rocking the craft. He knew if those big rotor blades hit the rocky ground and flew apart someone could die.
David screamed at them. No effect. He unbuckled himself turned in his seat and with his foot shoved Big Jim. Jim Knox tumbled out. He had a grip on Lee and Lee came out on top of him. The helicopter rocked back to David’s side and the landing gear slipped off the rock further leveling the craft. David worked furiously to secure things.
Lee landed on Jim Knox knocking the wind out him momentarily. Lee’s face started to bleed where Big Jim’s fists had opened him up. The fall out of the helicopter knocked the wind out him also. Both men lying flat labored to catch their breath. Lee got to his knees first and lunged at Jim. Jim saw it coming and threw up a fist. To slow, it glanced off Lee’s shoulder as Lee fell on top of him.
Lee was a very experienced fighter. He had rolled around on a bar room floor punching and kicking many times. His arms and fists went to work on Big Jim’s face and ribs. Jim took his two hundred and fifty pounds and turned his body throwing Lee off to one side. The ground was still damp from yesterday’s rain and caused Lee to slip as he tried to brace himself. He fell back hitting his head hard
Hitting the ground stunned Lee just long enough for Big Jim to get to his feet. Jim looked down on the man, hesitated as if trying to make a decision.
It was a mistake. Lee, collecting himself saw Big Jim standing over him, saw the hesitation and moved. But he was slow from the blow on his head and Jim moved faster, kicking out his right foot catching Lee in the stomach rolling him over. Jim advanced on him but surprisingly Lee rose to his feet quickly and threw his shoulder into Jim’s midsection knocking him back and driving him into the ground.
As big as he was Jim Knox was still no match for Lee. They rolled and kicked and punched. Fists flew, knees, everything that each could do to harm the other they tried. It was an ugly fight. Big Jim tired first and then Lee had him. He threw two big fists into the older man’s face that went unanswered. He knew he had won and he released his grip on the older man and stood over him breathing heavily.
Lee looked at the beaten man lying there looking back at him. Lee Cockran won most his fights and he had looked many times into the face of the man he had beaten. Usually what he saw was fear and defeat. That’s not what he saw now. Jim Knox was not afraid nor did he look defeated. As a matter of fact he moved to get up. Damn, Lee thought, I might have to really work this guy over good. Which was o.k. by Lee. He would beat the man into submission no matter what it took and feel no remorse. He lifted his boot to send a crushing stomp into Jim’s face.
BAM! BAM! BAM! The sound of the revolver blasted in Lee’s ear and froze him. He turned around to see David out of the helicopter and holding a pistol in his right hand.
“BACK OFF LEE!” David yelled. “Back off you son-of-a-bitch!” He yelled pointing the gun at him.
Big Jim, bloody and bruised got up slowly. Lee stared at David, judging him. He knew David would not shoot. “What are going to do? Shoot me?” Lee taunted, his face streaked with blood. “You gonna shoot me, David? Huh? Go ahead. Shoot me ya fucking asshole. Goddamn pussy. You don’t have the fucking balls”.
Lee turned fast, so unexpectedly no one had a chance to react. Big Jim, standing, caught the kick on his left knee. He felt something pop and the pain made him yell out as he crumbled to the ground. Lee lifted his boot ready to smash down on Big Jim’s head.
Lee felt the percussion of the bullet and the burning of his flesh as it missed his face by a fraction of an inch. He spun around infuriated, eyes wild. Claude, still in the back of the helicopter had his rifle trained at Lee. Small wisps of smoke drifted from the barrel.
“I’ll Kill ya Lee”, Claude Reeming said in a deep, flat, dead pan voice with no trace of emotion. Their eyes locked across the distance. Lee stood motionless this time.
David rushed in and helped Jim Knox to his feet. They made their way to the aircraft with Jim limping badly. He struggled to get in his seat, David helped him or he wouldn’t have made it. David ran to his side jumped in and started the aircraft up. It took a few minutes to preflight then it was ready for lift off. During this time neither Claude nor Lee had moved. The chopper started to lift off.
“HEY!” Lee shouted over the noise of the engines, “What are you going to do, leave me out here? LEAVE me out here! Fuck! You gonna leave me out here!”
David glanced back at Claude. Claude didn’t move he kept his rifle aimed at Lee and said nothing. David lifted the craft off the ground. He gained altitude and at about thirty feet he swung out and turned in a large circle around Lee standing in the clearing below. He looked over at Jim Knox who was breathing heavily, his face cut and bruised but the real pain coming from his knee that he grasped with both hands.
“Try to buckle in!”, David shouted to him. He nodded but didn’t move. Claude reached up from behind Big Jim and buckled his seat restraint for him, patted him on the shoulders, then leaned back and buckled himself in.
The whole trip up to this point had been a giant disaster for Claude. The first day rained out. The second day gloomy, overcast and with Lee hung over they had not found any game. Then the fight. It could not have gone much worse.
The helicopter circled. Lee screamed at them waving his arms, cursing. David thought he looked like a mad dog and even believed he saw Lee foaming at the mouth. A mad dog, my God, the man’s finally gone completely crazy. Completely mad dog crazy.
Claude watched him too and had similar thoughts. A mad dog. He watched Lee rant and rave jumping up at them swinging his arms and fists, screaming.
That son-of-a-bitch, he should have shot him, shot him dead without much regret after doing what he had done. Not that he was overly concerned about Big Jim. That was not what really angered him. It was his own interests that Lee had jeopardized.
But maybe not, he had acted to save the day hadn’t he? Now it might turn out all right, hell, it might even be better this way. His mind went to work on that, looking at the fight from all the possible angles. Claude quickly decided he could easily spin the events of the day to his advantage.
David broke off from the slow circling and headed back to the little airfield sixty miles away leaving Lee alone on the ground by himself. Screw him, David thought.
Claude settled back into his seat feeling better about the fight and his part in it. He had other thoughts. A mad dog all right, a man totally out of control. There were uses for a mad dog sometimes. He could easily think of a few right off the top of his head. A small smile played across his lips.
Chapter Two
The large alpha male was out in front leading the other two. The hunters moved silently in a single file at a quick lope, almost a trot. It was a pace they could keep up for hours. As they moved their senses gathered in information from the forest around them. The environment told them a story they instinctively comprehended, an accurate picture of everything happening was made plain to them as well as the recent history of what had occurred in the last few days and weeks. They knew what animals had passed across their path, their age, sex and physical health, how long ago and in what directions they were traveling. The fragrance of the grasses and flowers wafted through the trees locating the open glens and meadows for them. They sensed the dryness of the earth and the movements of birds, field mice and other small mammals. They heard the insects and the running of water from a small brook a hundred yards away. They knew everything about this world they traveled in, everything to take and everything to avoid. This was their world, they lived and roamed in it fearlessly because they have no reason to fear. The predatory skills of the Timber Wolf refined through millions of years of evolution put them at the top of the food chain. Little on the face of the earth is as deadly a killing machine as a wolf pack on the hunt.
*
Lee watched the helicopter disappear over the tree line and listened as the sound of the aircraft faded into silence. Now the only sound was his cursing and yelling. “I’ll kill you!” He screamed. “I’LL KILL YOU!” His rage completely consumed him. He stood there screaming and cursing in the direction of the disappearing aircraft as he realized they were not coming back. He bellowed his frustration, the sound of it carrying off into the distance and alerting every animal within range of his presence.
Those bastards, those son-of-a-bitches, I’ll get’em, I’ll get’em he swore to himself. And that big son-of-a-bitch, I’ll kill that bastard, I’ll kill him! He ranted and raved shaking his fist at the sky. Slowly he began to collect himself. He took stock of his injuries. He felt his head, the bleeding had stopped and the lacerations were just superficial.
The fight, his rage and for that matter his hangover left him exhausted. He sat down and leaned against a rock closing his eyes. Christ, he thought in a rare moment of self-appraisal, what have I done now. Jesus H. Christ!
He knew full well the implications of what would happen but he refused to think about them. He focused on the moment instead. The helicopter would clearly not come back for him today. It would take an hour to get back to the little airfield. Fifteen to thirty minutes to unload and refuel, a hour back to pick him up then another hour home again. He looked to the southwest. Just about an hour and a half left until dark if that. Not enough daylight left and the pilot would not fly through the mountains at night.
No, they wouldn’t be back. He shook his head to clear it if he could. He wasn’t concerned but if he was going to have to spend the night out here he needed to make a few preparations. He had been by himself in the backwoods more times than he could count. Of course he usually had a tent and supplies not to mention his rifle or a handgun at the very least. But not tonight, not this time. No big deal he told himself with his usual bravado. His anger was now abating as he refocused his energies on the situation at hand. Lee was sixty miles from nowhere, alone, no supplies and unarmed.
First things first he told himself. He noticed just before the fight broke out they had flown over a small stream. He headed that way to clean up and he would need some drinking water. The stream could not be more than a few hundred yards. As he moved along the open meadow with the tall grasses he patted his coat and felt the candy bars he always took with him in the field, still had those he thought. Then he patted and felt his hunting knife still in its sheath at his side. Not totally without supplies or protection he smugly snorted to himself.
Lee knew that most men would be worried and even a little desperate if they were in his situation right now. But he wasn’t. Not with his experience and knowledge of survival. Lee knew he was in for an uncomfortable night but what the hell, he wasn’t no little girl, he told himself bolstering up his confidence as he walked along.
He'd clean up at the stream then cut the long grasses and make a nice spot for the night. It will be cold at this time of the year but his coat and other warm clothing would do him just fine. They'd be back in the morning and he knew it. As much as they may hate him right now they would not let him try to walk back sixty miles through this terrain unarmed and with no supplies. No, they were too decent for that. They'd be back first thing in the morning. Of course there would probably be a Mountie with them. Lee was sure of that also. Screw'em. He had already burned every bridge behind him anyway. Screw'em all.
After cleaning up and refreshing himself, Lee took out his knife and started to cut the long grass that grew around him. He moved back from the stream not wanting to deal with the insects that gathered there. He was in no hurry, his rage gone now he only wanted to get himself settled in as best he could before dark.
*
The big alpha male stopped suddenly, head up listening and sniffing the surrounding air. He located what he was looking for. He made a change in direction and started out again. This time the pace quickened. The three wolves moved through the forest in complete silence. They weaved their way around massive tree trunks and effortlessly hopped over fallen ones. The three wolves were on a specific mission, a killing mission, and the alpha wolf had sensed out the unfortunate prey.
The three wolves slowed as they approached the large clearing ahead. Careful not to exit from the tree line they stopped and stood. The alpha spotted their prey. It was standing across the clearing some two hundred yards from them atop a small rise in the landscape. They made no sound as they studied their intended victim. The leader turned to the other two and with gestures and noises outside the real of human hearing communicated with them. They broke off from him and moved back into the trees then skirted the clearing working their way around and behind the animal, that unaware, stood lazily in the meadow. The big male waited frozen in place for the others to get in position. There was no predetermined signal to initiate the attack. Primal instincts and timing guided the wolves. A few minutes passed. Then suddenly the quiet meadow exploded with action. The mature doe that had been grazing quietly on the rise bolted into a full gallop. It was headed directly towards the large wolf. A second later the two wolves came into view as they crested the rise.
Even running flat out the wolves would never be able to catch the deer. A mature healthy deer was just too fast for a wolf in an open field. The deer made a cut to the right and immediately one of the wolves cut to the right also at a wider angle. The deer noticed him and cut back to the left, back to a course that headed straight for the large alpha wolf. The deer streaking now at an incredible rate of speed closed within twenty yards of the tree line. That’s when the big alpha wolf moved. It broke out from the long evening shadows of the trees right in front of the approaching deer. The deer instantly saw him its eyes flared wide in terror. It tried to cut sharply left, stumbled, turned over but was up immediately and running. Fractions of a second were all the big wolf needed. His angle of intercept gave him an additional advantage and now the deer was caught between a wedge of descending wolves.
The alpha wolf reached her first. His huge front paw ripped at her flank and knocked her off balance, she stumbled again. As fast as the deer was at recovering the big male wolf was faster and with blinding speed and accuracy grabbed the deer’s head between his jaws and pinned the animal to the ground. In a split second the others were on her. She tried to kick out at them and struggled to gain herself back on her feet.
One of the wolves sank its teeth into her back thigh and held on tight as he pulled against the alpha’s grip on her head stretching her out and exposing her belly. The third wolf lunged at her midsection ripping it open. The alpha wolf with his powerful jaw muscles crushed the skull of the deer sending death spasms through its body. The midsection now being torn apart as the big alpha wolf released his grip on the head and joined the other two in devouring the deer.
There is a well defined dominance order in a wolf pack. The big alpha male is at the top and he gets the choicest morsels. The wolves ripped apart the deer swallowing large chunks of meat. With only three of them there was plenty to go around but they fed in a frenzy anyway. It was a spectacle of hideous sight and sound. Their heads and fore legs became covered in blood, they growled ferociously and snapped at each other as they tore apart the deer. The feeding frenzy lasting until they were gorged.
*
Lee Cockran wasn’t afraid of what was out there but he wasn’t stupid either. Grizzly bears, mountain lions, lynx, black bear, wolves all inhabited these mountains and hills. And then there was also perhaps the most dangerous of all, the bull moose. He’d seen a man gored to death by a bull moose once. To him they were the most fiercely territorial animal he had ever encountered. He heard of a story by a railroad engineer about a bull moose charging his train head on because it had dared to cross the moose’s territory. He believed it. That was one animal he did not care to meet unarmed.
Lee had encountered them before of course. Standing there facing their charge until the last possible chance to squeeze off a round, the thought of it even now exhilarated him. But he didn’t have his rifle now so he moved his body down into the grass pile and gathered it in around him. Through the grass he gazed up at the sky and watched the moon rise above the trees. Full moon he noticed and then thought, they’ll be howling tonight.
*
Filled to the point of bursting the wolves stopped eating and began to clean themselves as they lay down next to the kill. The big alpha male intoxicated by the hunt and the kill looked at the other two. He was satisfied he had done his job as leader of the pack. Darkness enclosing around them as they laid there in a gorged drunkenness. The big wolf sat up, leaned back his head and let loose a long baleful howl.
Chapter Three
He chose the spot well. Through the binoculars he could see the entire clearing in front of the den. This gave him the opportunity to observe the pack and its individual members as they came and went. His position was slightly elevated above the level of the den and approximately two hundred yards away. Far enough away and well concealed behind a rock pile that he doubted they would discover him any time soon.
Approaching sunset the cool spring air was turning cooler. Glad for his insulated clothing he zippered shut the coat. He didn’t throw the insulated parka top over his head yet. Although if it got cold enough it was nice to know it was there.
Unrolling the small mat he arranged it in a position so that a crevice in the rock pile gave him an unobstructed view of the den opening. He took out a note pad and pencil from the small backpack he’d brought along. He left lap top computer behind at the base camp in favor of the more traditional means of taking notes. He had some food and a thermos of coffee in the pack also, enough stuff to get him through the night.
That was his mission, to stay out all night and observe the wolf pack. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have attempted something like this. But last night with the moon almost full and a cloudless sky he could hardly believe how bright it had been. It looked like tonight was going to be as clear or nearly so and the moon should be totally full, shinning brightly. Bright enough to continue his research? He didn’t know but he was about to find out.
As far as he knew something like this had never been done before. Even if he couldn’t see much, the idea of being out here in the light of the full moon researching the behavioral patterns of timber wolves was very romantic. It would make good copy and he knew it. After all he told himself wasn’t that a large part of it now, making good copy.
The project did not start out with that thought in his head but as things changed so had the thoughts in his head.
Writing good mass appeal copy became important to him for the first time in his career. He started this project two years ago spending that much time in research before he set one foot into the field. From this point on he figured it might be two or three years longer before completion. He was in no rush.
He visualized the jacket cover of the book. Yes, five years in the making by Dr. Alan Greenwood, Field Biologist, it would read. Dr. Greenwood, a man who specialized in wildlife management, specifically large predator mammals. Large, predatory mammals being the operative phase. He knew that nothing attracts the attention of the public like large predatory animals.
This fascination and its primal origins he knew quite well. He was an expert in this area. He taught this very subject at the college level for over fifteen years. He was officially in the biology department at the University but he taught several courses in conjunction with the Anthropology department. His area of expertise did overlap somewhat with the study of the evolution of man. After all, as he told his students, wasn’t man a predator animal and the most successful one at that.
*
Fifteen years ago Allen Greenwood got his doctorate and accepted a full-time position at the University. Tenured now and second in command of the Biology Department he was very satisfied with his accomplishments and his career. Satisfied that is until she changed it all for him, his wife or rather ex-wife now as of two months ago.
The Bitch. That is how he thought of her now when he did think of her, which was everyday. Several times a day actually. The Bitch. His life wasn’t exciting enough for her, not enough money for her, his friends all old and to boring for her, teaching not good enough for her, she wanted kids, she wanted this, wanted that, blah, blah, blah.... Well, he’d show her. He’d show her good. Let her run down to the States and work for some big time biotech company for three times his salary. Mess up his life. The Bitch.
Backwater University in a God forsaken part of the world my ass, he thought. Screw her, when he was done she'd see, she'd see all right. When he was done it would be the center of the world. At least as far as he was concerned it would be. At least as far as the study of large North American predatory mammals was concerned. Hell, that should be good enough for anybody he reasoned, even for her. The Bitch.
He would win her back or at least make her regret leaving him, humiliating him. She said she couldn’t be happy teaching and there were no other opportunities for her in his part of the world. At first she had begged him to go with her. He would not hear of it. How could she not realize that as soon as that old man Schultz retired or died he’d be the man. It would be his department! What did she expect? At forty-two he wasn’t about to start over and get in line again at some other university. Shit! He had tenure! “Tenure for God’s sake!!”, He screamed at her, “TENURE! Don’t you understand. TENURE!
He did not want to admit it but in the end he got what he deserved and he knew it. They all warned him. Hell, he had warned other men about the same thing. Never, never, never fall in love with them. Take them to bed, have your fun, then watch them graduate and move on. And for God’s sake do not consider even for a second the “M” word. There was bound to be another one the next semester or the semester after that. If you are stupid enough to fall in love it will only be you who loses.
He gave out the advice but he didn’t take it, not this time, not with her. She was young of course, twenty years his junior. She was very intelligent, tall, thin and beautiful in a classic sense. She was also full of fun. Something he would destroy quickly. A fully tenured Doctor and Assistant Departmental Chairman she had been in awe of him. It would be easy he knew. He was tall well built and approaching handsome. The way she looked at him when they first met, she was there for the taking and he took.
The University officially took a very dim view of its staff becoming involved with the students. There were all sorts of rules and regulations addressing the situation. For some it only served to add more spice to the excitement of such affairs.
It happens, people are people, what are you going to do he had always thought. Certain young women living away from home for the first time were very attracted to older and successful men. It was not like he was banging everything in sight he wasn’t a wild man or anything. In the twelve or so years before he had met Jennifer there had only been what? Eight or nine? What's the harm in that? Besides they always wound up with a good grade. He had made sure of that. Hell, half the time that's all they were after anyway he long ago convinced himself.
But she was different. If there ever was perfection she was it. From the way she looked to the way she walked, talked and laughed. Perfection. A beautiful presence flew into his life on angelic wings. He could not believe it himself when he realized that he had fallen in love with her. It changed his whole life. He became almost delirious with joy. He looked back on his life and saw he had never been happy before. She was the one thing that had been missing and then he found her.
When he was certain, absolutely certain. When there was not doubt whatsoever, he confided his feelings to a few of his peers. It was a mistake. They laughed at him. They told him all the usual horror stories. The same ones he had told others. It stung him badly. Besides, you’ll get over it they told him. There will be another one, a better one next semester. The damn fools. The idiots! He could never understand even now how they had not seen she was different. How right it was for him to be with her. They were fools, grinning, laughing fools. He hated all of them for it.
He hated them for being right too, at least partly right. The part about how she would get tired of it real fast after the hero worship wore off. That part played out pretty much right on schedule and began the rapid dissolution of his marriage.
They met when as a junior she took one of his classes. Half way through it they started to see one another. They keep seeing each other until she graduated. She officially moved in with him and three months later after they married in a small ceremony. Her family hated him and tried to talk her out of it. Her father went so far as to physically threaten him.
Well, they would be happy now wouldn't they he thought bitterly. The marriage lasted only six months. At first it was blissful, for his part anyway. For her it had turned into something else quickly. She was twenty-two years old and married to a man forty-two with friends who were his age or older. Her youthful dreams of a career in biochemistry fading rapidly when she woke up to the fact that her only options for employment were to teach at the grade school level or maybe get a job in the local mall. This was a small college town far from the action she dreamt about but had somehow lost sight of. As for their relationship, it never got beyond the teacher-student roles they brought into it from the beginning. Children were not an option with him. She looked into the future and what she saw scared her, how could she have done it. She tried to talk to him about it but he would not listen to her at all. She called home crying. They were right and she was wrong. It was a giant mistake the biggest of her life please come and get her. Please come and get her now!
And that was that. Now he hated her almost as much as he loved her. But he had a plan now. He would show her and that ignorant, meddling family. She wanted excitement. Hang on baby because he was taking off and she’d be on the dock waving good-bye.
Damn it, he shook his head. When did he start to think like a cheap romance novel? His entire life was becoming like some parody of a TV soap opera. He had embarrassed himself to his colleagues and lost all self respect. His emotional state became unstable and there was nothing he could do about it. He went from fits of uncontrollable anger to episodes of weeping. He always considered himself above displaying such immature emotional behavior and this made it all the worse for him. He felt himself slipping into and wallowing in self-pity.
*
A large male wolf suddenly walked into the clearing interrupting Alan’s train of thought. It was the alpha male of this pack. The wolf glanced across the distance to where Alan sat behind the rocks and stared. Two other wolves, a male and a female soon followed. The big wolf went to the front of the den opening while the less dominate wolves laid down off to one side. He could not hear from this distance so he tried to imagine what and how the alpha male communicated to its mate inside the den chamber. He needed to get some high tech listening devices. They were on his list. Devices that could pick up the slightest sound hundreds of yards away. Until then he'd have to make do. After all, he thought bitterly, on this project he was by himself, operating on his own money. He cursed old man Schultz again. The Bastard.
He knew that the den went back into the side of the hill for maybe four to eight feet to a nesting chamber. This was something he planned to measure in detail once the wolves moved on to a rendezvous site. He couldn’t believe his luck at finding this wolf pack at this particular stage of its yearly cycle. The alpha female had obviously given birth within the last month. She spent the entire day in the den with her young pups. She rarely left the den and then only for a short period of time. He had only seen her once. She would never leave her pups alone. When the pups reach about four weeks they would start to emerge from the den and get their first look at the world.
Once the wolf pack abandoned the den site he could examine it fully at his leisure. He could document the den by taking photographs of it inside and out. He would measure it from all angles down to the nearest millimeter. Maybe get a shot of himself in the den to show relative size. That would look good in the book he thought with a smile.
The alpha female appeared at the mouth of the den. Alan lifted his field glasses and leaned forward as if a few inches closer would let him see better. Night vision goggles, put that on the list he made a mental note. The alpha pair greeted each other with all the warmth and affection that he had ever seen any two animals exhibit for each other.
Their tails wagged, they licked each, rubbed heads together and sniffed. They stood facing one another and for all the world looked like they kissed. He knew how demonstrative wolves were with their affections for one another but until he saw the full extent of it he did not fully appreciate the accounts. For a brief moment he envied them. This pair bonded for life and would no doubt act like this towards each other until something happened to split them up, usually death.
The one cause of death that rarely happens is the result of an attack by another predator. The wolf is the top predator in any domain it inhabits. All other predators know it and rarely go after a mature wolf. Wolves have even been known to attack and kill grizzly bears, an incredible display of prowess. No, if a wolf were to be attacked it would be by one its own kind. It is not uncommon for members of one pack when they encounter another to attack and even kill.
As Alan watched he couldn’t imagine another wolf attacking this Alpha male. It had to be one of the biggest wolves in all of Canada. Its generally believed that wolves are bigger than they are. The average size for a female is between 50 and 60 pounds, for a male between 75 and 100 pounds. The all time record weighed in at 175. There is some anecdotal evidence of wolves in the 200 pound range but no one has any hard data on that. From years of studying mammals both predator and prey Alan considered himself a good judge of size. He had never seen wolves in the field before but assisted for a few zoos on wolf habitat. This male he was watching now had to be in the 160 to 175 pound range. It was an enormous wolf. Clearly he was twice the size of any of the other wolves in the pack. In fact it was twice the size of any wolf Alan had ever seen. Its coat was silver gray with reddish brown markings over the shoulders and back, his chest was white and legs light brown. The female about 65 to 70 pounds, was herself large for a female. She was similarly marked but much darker in color.
The other two wolves were much darker, their coats being a deep charcoal to black. Next to the grayish color, black was the most common color for a wolf except in the very far north. There the wolf is almost exclusively white.
Alan's opinion on why wolves were commonly perceived to be larger than they are was simple. Some of it comes from fear of the animal and what it can do. It tends to make one believe that they are larger than they are. But he believed that most of the misconception came from paw size. Their paw size can be three times the size of a dog of comparable height and girth. Very few people have ever seen a wolf in the wild but they do see their tracks and their tracks are huge. Seeing a wolf print in the snow or in the mud will send a shiver up the spine of anyone. Wolves need long legs and huge paws to make way in the snow and to give them the speed and endurance on the hunt. Alan would explain it to his students this way, if the size of a wolf were comparable to the size of a dog relative to its paw size, then a wolf would stand about five feet at the shoulder, a truly frightening prospect.
Lowering his glasses he leaned back against the rock. Yes, he was big Alan thought but even if he wasn’t, the alpha male would dominate the pack. Alan had accumulated various bits and pieces of knowledge about wolf behavior during his career. He never concentrated on wolves but he kept abreast of the newest information as it made its way through the scientific journals. He started this project before his marriage. It was right about the time he met her, the Bitch, when the idea for this project began to crystallize in his mind.
*
In the beginning it was going to be like all the other papers he had ever written, intended for the academic audience only. It would be cold and flat and full of scientific jargon. It was the neutral style all students learn while in graduate school. Some stay with it and others loosen up once they start to feel comfortable in their careers. Alan not only stayed with it, he perfected it. He took it to another level. He held pride in how abstruse sounding his work read. With no intention of writing for any audience other than his peers, he wanted to make sure that even they would have to concentrate to get through his work.
In the beginning it was going to be like all the other papers he had ever written, intended for the academic audience only. It would be cold and flat and full of scientific jargon. It was the neutral style all students learn while in graduate school. Some stay with it and others loosen up once they start to feel comfortable in their careers. Alan not only stayed with it, he perfected it. He took it to another level. He held pride in how abstruse sounding his work read. With no intention of writing for any audience other than his peers, he wanted to make sure that even they would have to concentrate to get through his work.
Wanting very much to be regarded as an intellectual he was satisfied that his writing reinforced that image. He had little interest in popular writing and looked down on his peers who catered to the layman and the less or barely educated. He liked the status of his Doctorate and his assistant chairmanship. It set him apart he believed, and anything he could do to set himself apart from the masses he took advantage of. His work was presented in the most challenging way he could make it. An undergraduate picking up one of his papers would find himself lost in a sea of scientific jargon full of references that would send him headed for the stacks.
On the current wolf project it had been two years since he wrote and submitted his formal outline requesting grant money. His outline called for a two-phase approach. Phase one consisted of groundwork and preparation. During that time he became one of the world’s leading wolf experts. And he did it without ever leaving his office.
For all his stuffiness, Alan Greenwood was the real thing in the brain department. Not only blessed with a high IQ he also possessed an incredible memory. For the last two years he had focused all his resources on accumulating the world’s knowledge of wolf behavior. He researched the subject at length and at depth. He read and committed to memory every fact and study about wolves in the English language.
Ahhhh.... the Internet, he thought many times. What a wonderful, wonderful playground for a mind like his. He loved computers and telecommunications with their unlimited interconnected nodes which had placed the knowledge of the world at his fingertips. And because of that he now held and could retrieve in an instant all the scientific fact, all the folklore and the native American myths relative to the timber wolf.
The second phase was simple or so he imagined. The fieldwork. Now that he knew what others knew he would go, as they say, where no man has gone before. He planned to be to the wolf what Jane Goodall was to the Chimpanzee. He would study them in the field for more hours, more days, more weeks than any one before him had ever done. Then in the end he would be the Man. The man they all came to. The Wolfman he thought with a smile.
In that he was totally confident. Then things would be different Alan assumed. His ascension to the Chairmanship assured. Then she’d regret leaving. The Bitch.