Sharp Shootin' Cowboy (22 page)

“Yeah. I heard about that. He's bringing it to your office. Why don't you just dial it?”

“He already brought it back to me.”

“Then why—”

“Look, I can't explain all that right now. It's imperative that I get in touch with him. Could you please ask him to call me?”

Silence.

“Please Krista,” she begged. “It is really, truly urgent that I speak to him.”

“I'll pass on the message when I see him.”
Click.

She might as well have said “when hell freezes over.”

Haley stared at the receiver feeling helpless. She needed to act, but what could she do? If she went out to the ranch to warn Reid, she'd only give Jeffrey more time to wreak whatever havoc he had planned. If he meant to cause trouble for Reid with the Feds, which is what she suspected, her best course would be to go straight to Jim at Wyoming Game and Fish. She didn't know what he could do but at least he was a friend to the Everetts.

She phoned the Cody WGF office.

“I'm sorry, Dr. Cooper,” his assistant said. “Jim's gone to Cheyenne for a big meeting between WGF and the Board of Outfitters.”

“When will he be back?” Haley asked.

“In the Cody Office? Not until Monday morning. You could try his cell phone, but he probably has it turned off. That's why your call came to me.”

“Thanks. If he calls in, would you please ask him to ring me? It's urgent,” Haley added.

“Is there another officer who might be able to help you?”

“No. I don't think so. I really need to speak to Jim.”

Haley hung up with a sigh of despair. There was no way she could let this situation fester until Monday, but Jim was six hours away. Then again, if she drove to Cheyenne tonight, maybe she could head things off before Jeffrey did irreparable harm.

* * *

Reid left Haley's office before he lost it completely. He was already seeing the world through a fiery red haze.
Jeffrey.
What the fuck kind of pussy name was that anyway?

The moment he walked in and realized who was putting the moves on Haley, he'd wanted to smash the son of a bitch's face in. He knew he was overreacting, but he couldn't help himself.

He and Haley had made huge strides in the last forty-eight hours.
The
words
had even been on the tip of his tongue more than once, until Krista had come along and fucked it all up.

Even then Haley had gone as far as to say she
cared
about him, whatever the hell that meant. But once more, he'd let her go without a fight. He'd let her walk away because he was too chicken shit about another rejection to open his mouth. He was damned if he'd bare his heart without at least a token sign of reciprocation.

Fuck
that
shit.

It was past time to fess up. He was in love with her.
Goddammit.
The longer he thought about it, the more certain he was.

She'd left her phone behind, but he hadn't really needed the excuse to follow her into Jackson. He'd come to her office prepared to finally tell her straight out, to lay it all on the line—whether she was ready to hear it or not. Then he'd walked in on her about to lip-lock with Jeffrey.

He knew she wasn't into it, could see it on her face, but he was still filled to the brim with jealous rage. His choices were to walk it off or drink it off before saying—or worse,
doing
—something he couldn't take back. So he'd left. But instead of heading back to the ranch, he had a couple of beers at the Cowboy and then drove back to her office hoping to catch her alone.

He'd cooled down enough to talk, but to his rising frustration, she'd already left. Worse, they were
both
gone. He just hoped not together.

He punched her number into his phone. He'd take her to dinner. Maybe back to that Italian place, since they'd never actually gotten to the meal last time. After that, he'd just have to play it by ear. Three rings later, a male voice answered. Reid jerked the phone back from his ear to scowl at the number. It was hers, all right.

Forcing himself to breathe, he disconnected. He went to pocket the phone, glared at it again, and then with a long, colorful stream of Marine Corps expletives, pitched it out the window.

* * *

The next morning, Haley was waiting outside the Board of Outfitters Offices before they even opened. Jim pulled up with raised brows, Starbucks in hand. “Dr. Cooper? What are you doing here?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“Now?”

“Yes, Jim. It's vital or I wouldn't have come all the way down here.”

His gray brows furrowed. “What is it?”

“Can we go somewhere more private?”

“Sure thing. How about my truck? It's parked right over there.” He indicated a white Dodge Ram.

“Do you know Dr. Jeffrey Greene of the Wolf Recovery Alliance?” she asked once she was certain no one would overhear.

His frown deepened. “Only by reputation.”

“He is…
or
was
…my boss. He showed up yesterday with a group of board members who plan to sue Idaho over their wolf management plan.”

“I'd heard. They're also one of the plaintiffs in a similar suit against Wyoming.”

“He's going to make major trouble for Reid.”

“How's that possible?”

“Reid and I had an encounter with a grizzly when I went out to the Everett place to investigate. He had to shoot it. I took pictures to support my report, but Jeffrey is planning to use them to promote the WRC's agenda. He's going to state that Reid baited the bear to kill it.”

“There will be a major shit storm if he does.”

“That's what I'm afraid of. I need your help, Jim. I have my full report for U.S. Fish and Wildlife right here. I was hoping to turn it in before Jeffrey can cause any damage. I'm willing to make a sworn statement to the USFW and the Board of Outfitters. There was no wrongdoing on Reid's part.”

Jim shook his head. “Hate to say the truth doesn't matter, but if the WRC manages to circulate the lie, there's no putting that tiger back in its cage.”

“What do you mean? Reid is innocent.”

“But he'll still be tried in the court of public opinion. There are lots of people who've received death threats for less. Either way, it can't go well for him.”

* * *

The kitchen went dead silent the moment Reid walked in. His hand froze on the coffeepot. “Something up?” He grew increasingly disconcerted as his gaze tracked from Krista to his mother and father.

“You might say that,” his father replied. “I take it you haven't seen the morning paper.”

“Nope. What has you all so worked up?”

“Your mug shot,” Krista replied. “You made the national news, Reid.”

His father slid a copy of the
Casper
Star-Tribune
across the breakfast bar.

Reid snatched it up. “What the hell?” His pulse thundered as he read the headline. ABOVE THE LAW: WYOMING HUNTING GUIDE BAITS AND KILLS PROTECTED GRIZZLY
.
“Holy shit! How could this have happened?”

“It's also in
USA
Today
.” Krista handed him the article on her iPad. “They're all accusing you of grizzly-baiting.”

Reid quickly Googled “Wyoming bear baiting.” At least a half-dozen related articles popped up, all featuring Haley's photographs of him, the horse carcass, and the dead bear.

“It's a damned lie!” he cried. “That's not how it happened.”

“But it's still all over the Internet,” Krista said. “Can you sue her?”

“Haley?”

“Yeah. It was her, wasn't it?”

He groped desperately for any other explanation, only to come up empty-handed. It was
her
phone. She'd
insisted
on taking pictures. He remembered the near-kiss between her and Jeffrey. He'd thought she wasn't into it. He was such a deluded jackass! He'd thought she loved him, or was at least starting to. The realization that she'd played him was a knife in his gut.

“I don't know,” he replied woodenly, still unable to believe it. “But one thing is for certain: the Feds are gonna be all over this like flies on shit.”

His father stood and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry about a thing, Son. I'm calling Jared right now to take this up with the lawyers. He's already in Cheyenne for the Board of Outfitters meeting. They'll stand behind you, but I promise this is gonna get real ugly real fast. The board won't have any choice if the Feds insist on suspending your license.”

“Again?” Reid shut his eyes in disbelief.

Fool
me
once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
The adage hit him like a sledgehammer.

“I'm afraid that's the least of your worries,” his father continued. “You could be facing a felony charge over this, but I promise we'll fight it tooth and nail.”

“What are you gonna do, Reid?” Krista asked.

“Hell if I know.” He gave a defeated sigh. How could he have been such an idiot over her?

“I'll tell you what he's gonna do.” His father snatched up the latest copy of
Eastman's Hunting Journal
, stabbing a page with his index finger. “It says right here that Idaho Fish and Game are looking for a professional hunter to eliminate two wolf packs.”

“What has that got to do with me?” Reid asked.

“Everything, Son. This group that's causing you so much strife came up here to sue Idaho over this issue. Seems to me if they wanna play dirty, you can hit them back right where it hurts the most. Take the job. I've got connections. If I make the call, the contract is yours.” His eyes searched Reid's. “What do you want to do?”

Reid didn't hesitate long. He'd had enough. The job would offer solitude and time to think. And with all of his plans gone up in a puff of smoke, it was time to get the hell out of dodge. He nodded to his father. “Make the call.”

A week later, Haley pulled into the Everett ranch. Her stomach knotted with trepidation as she knocked lightly on the door. To her relief, it wasn't Krista, but an older woman who answered. She was tall and thin with vaguely familiar features.

“Mrs. Everett?” she began. “I'm Haley Cooper, a friend of Reid's.”

The warm smile evaporated from her face. “I know
exactly
who and what you are, Dr. Cooper. And you are no friend to my son or to his family.”

“Please! Listen to me, Mrs. Everett!” Haley cried, sensing the door was about to slam in her face. “I had nothing to do with it. It's all a big misunderstanding. I've been trying to reach Reid for almost a week, but he doesn't answer my calls. It's urgent that I talk to him.”

“I'm sorry. My son isn't here,” she responded tight-lipped.

“When will he be back?”

“I don't know. He's on an extended trip. I've got nothing more to say to you, Dr. Cooper.”

“Wait! I can explain everything!”

The door swung only marginally wider as Krista appeared behind her mother. “I'll
bet
you can,” she snorted. “Haven't you already caused my brother enough grief?”

“Did you ever give him my message?” Haley asked. “I called before any of this happened. I was trying to warn him about it. You
must
remember that. Someone stole the pictures from my phone. I had nothing to do with any of this.”

“Someone?” Krista's brows met in doubt. “Like who?”

“His name's Jeffrey Greene. He's the head of the Wolf Recovery Alliance. I used to work for him.”

“You mean before you came to Wyoming to spy on us?”

“That's not how it was. Not why I came here. I'm as much a victim in all this as Reid is.”

“I doubt it. You aren't about to face a felony charge, are you?”

“That's what I'm trying to say. Reid isn't going to be charged with anything. I've given my sworn testimony to U.S. Fish and Wildlife about what really happened. I want Reid to know I'm trying to make things right.”

“Why should we believe anything you say?”

“Do you honestly think I would have come here if I were guilty of setting Reid up?”

“Maybe…” Krista chewed her lip and then shook her head. “Probably not.”

“I've also quit my job. Call Jim Banks if you don't believe me.”

Krista blinked in surprise. “You really quit?”

“Yes. I gave my notice as soon as I knew Reid was in the clear. I refuse to be used and manipulated any longer. Please tell me where he is.”

Krista looked to her mother.

Mrs. Everett regarded Haley with a narrowed gaze. “Do you have anything
else
to say to my son?”

“Yes,” Haley confessed. “As a matter of fact, I do. I have a lot more to say to him, but the rest is private. I need to tell him face-to-face.”

After another pause, Mrs. Everett's mouth curved into a slow smile. “In that case, c'mon in, Dr. Cooper.” She swung the door wide open. “It seems we might have something to talk about after all.”

* * *

River of No Return Wilderness

Salmon River Canyon, Idaho

After collecting her equipment, Haley set out for Idaho, determined to track down Reid. The rangers at the Salmon, Idaho, station had informed her that he'd packed in with a horse and three mules carrying enough supplies to last a month. They told her Reid would probably work his way from the ranger cabin he'd be using as a base camp to the river where they'd be dropping his supplies, but precisely where he was now, no one seemed to know.

Given that he was somewhere unspecified in the second-largest wilderness in the continental U.S., her quest seemed all too much like hunting for a needle in a haystack. If that wasn't already daunting enough, with no roads for over eighty miles, she had only two approaches, either by chartering a plane and landing on one of the backcountry airstrips or by jet boat for the fifty-mile trek up the raging River of No Return.

To Haley, either option was more terrifying than any ride on Mickey's Fun Wheel.

Choosing what she considered the lesser of two evils, she boarded the jet boat at Corn Creek with her two packs and Reid's hunting dog. His family had sent Jethro, thinking he'd help her find Reid. But with the grizzly encounter still fresh in her memory, she was glad to have the dog's protection, as well as his company.

Mountains splayed out in all directions, flanking her as they traveled up the Salmon River Canyon. The unspoiled wilderness, alternating between treacherous rocky embankments speckled with bighorn sheep to heavily forested sections of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine, took her breath away.

But while others on the jet boat laughed and squealed whenever the boat rocked and listed, the numerous sections of the white water made Haley's heart hammer and knuckles whiten. She squeezed her eyes shut on a prayer that it would be over soon, but it was several hours before they approached the section where Reid would eventually make camp.

They finally pulled up along a sandy stretch of river, where Haley and Jethro disembarked with two packs containing a week's worth of food and equipment. They'd dropped off the other passengers at a rafting launch about twenty miles back. Now it was only Haley and the river outfitter.

“You sure you're going to be okay out here all by yourself?” the guide asked, looking reluctant to leave her.

“Yes. I've spent weeks at a time camping out in national parks in Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming. I'll be fine,” she replied with more confidence than she actually felt. She really had camped out for long stretches—just never completely alone.

“When do you want me to come back?”

“Five days,” she replied. “I'll be waiting right here. But if I'm not, please feel free to send a posse,” she ended with a hollow laugh. She reached down to scratch Jethro's head, inhaling a shaky breath as she watched the boat launch back into the river.

Minutes later, she found herself completely on her own in a vast, nearly untouched wilderness, a place numerous predators called home, and clueless as to where to begin her search.

With daylight growing short, she decided to make camp. Careful to avoid any stretches of brush where an animal might conceal itself, she chose a spot in the open to set up her tent. She then went about collecting wood for her fire pan. Although her campfire would be small, she hoped Reid would see it and come to her. If he didn't, she resolved to put Jethro on the scent first thing in the morning.

* * *

After two weeks of complete isolation, Reid was having second thoughts. He didn't mind being alone. That was the sole benefit of this whole gig. He finally had time to get his fucked-up head back together. At the time, he'd known bailing was a chicken shit thing to do, but he had a deep-seated need to get away from everything after Haley's betrayal.

Taking the job as a wolf killer had been a purely knee-jerk reaction. Now he faced serious qualms about his decision. It wasn't that he had issues with hunting in general. He believed to his core in responsible game management, but it hardly seemed ethical to introduce a species to a wilderness area, protect it for two decades, and then summarily exterminate it.

On the other hand, the wolf population in Idaho was booming, while the elk numbers were way down. And elk hunting was vital to the state economy. Ergo, the state's answer was to get rid of all the wolves. Not just a handful, but to eradicate entire packs. Issuing wolf hunting and trapping permits to sportsmen, however, had proven ineffectual. The vast majority of sport hunters had come up empty-handed. Wolves were too cunning. Hence the need for a professional, and Reid was uniquely qualified.

In the first week he'd caught four wolves in traps and shot two others. Problem was, he didn't feel right about it. Killing wolves purely to increase the elk population for hunters was doing the wrong thing for all the wrong reasons. And now that he'd faced up to his self-centered and petty motives for taking the job, the question remained of what he was going to do about it. Should he stay on and finish the contract or head back home to possible felony charges?

All things considered, it was a no-brainer.

Tomorrow he'd collect the remaining traps, pack up his shit, and go back to face the music.

* * *

Haley awoke just before dawn to a chorus of howling wolves. She lay in her sleeping bag for the longest time just listening. Although the lupine choir aggravated Jethro, their proximity didn't instill any fear in Haley. She found an odd sort of comfort in it. Wolves were her whole life, or had been for the last five years.

She wondered what would happen to her now that she'd quit her job. Teaching didn't appeal. No doubt Jeffrey would do his best to blackball her anyway. Perhaps this was the ideal time to pursue research full time? All she needed to do was secure enough funding. And fund-raising was her particular talent.

Jethro nudged her out of her ruminations. With wolves so close, she leashed him before exiting the tent. His natural instinct would be to track them, so she'd have to keep him close. A pack would rip a dog to shreds in an instant. Wolves' hunting style was the one thing about them she could never completely reconcile. Other predators killed their prey before eating them.

Wolves ate them alive.

After a quick breakfast of granola bars and powdered milk, she bathed in the frigid river, dressed, cleaned up the campsite, and prepared to depart. “C'mon, Jethro. You have a job to do.”

Pulling one of Reid's T-shirts from her pack, she let the dog get his fill of his scent. She paused, shirt in hand, purely to indulge her own senses. Shutting her eyes, she drank in his musky essence with a deep sniff that sent a ripple of desire coursing through her. But the T-shirt was no substitute for the real thing. Not even close. She had a lot of things to say when she found him, but
talking
wouldn't necessarily be her first priority.

* * *

Having made his decision to leave, Reid set out early to collect his traps. He'd laid out over a dozen in areas where he'd seen signs of wolves and had filled almost half of them the first week. Once he'd gathered them all, he planned to work his way toward the supply drop site on the river. He'd be over a week early, but planned to make the best of his situation on a river heavily populated with fish. Although it was too late in the season for steelhead, he had an excellent chance of landing a Chinook salmon. At least he'd eat well while waiting for the boat to arrive.

Unlike all the others he'd collected, the last trap wasn't empty when Reid arrived. A young wolf greeted him, growling and snarling with hackles raised.

Shit
. He hadn't planned on taking any more, but the deed was half done already. Dismounting from his horse, he unsheathed his rifle and approached by foot. “This just isn't your lucky day now, is it?” Reid raised the gun with a resigned sigh and took aim.

The wolf went silent, staring him down with its intense golden eyes.

His finger relaxed on the trigger. He lowered the rifle with a shake of his head.

He just couldn't do it. He was finished.

“Looks like I was wrong. You're one lucky bastard after all.”

* * *

Haley always carried a compass and a GPS, but neither did much good when you didn't even know your destination. She'd set out in a general northeasterly direction, but the dog had yet to show any sign of picking up Reid's scent.

Growing thirsty and frustrated, Haley dropped her pack and sat on a stump to rehydrate. She had the bottle poised to drink when Jethro began circling, whining, and pulling on the leash. She froze at a sound in the near distance. A bark? Was it a dog? She listened more intently, recognizing the lower-pitched, shorter bark of a single wolf.

Was it injured? Or maybe trapped? She couldn't risk her life over it, but also couldn't ignore it without investigating. Haley took quick inventory. She had bear spray, but that was iffy with wolves. She also had her tranquilizer gun and a few darts, but drugging took time. Provided she could keep him from harm, Jethro was her best defense.

She relaxed her tight grip on the leash. Given encouragement, the dog let out a howl and then half led, half dragged Haley through a quarter mile of brush and brambles.

She spotted the horse and mules first.
Reid?
It
had
to be him.

At the sight of its master, Jethro let out a howl and jerked wildly on the leash, yanking it completely out of her hand. Haley stumbled after him.

Reid spun around, freezing with a look of abject shock. For several seconds he didn't move, speak, or even bat an eye.

“Reid!” she gasped, breathless from the chase. “I can't believe we found you.”

“What the
hell
are
you
doing here?”

“Looking for you. Why do you think I would have come?”

“I don't know. Maybe to take pictures of me brutally slaughtering wolves?” One brow rose above a stare that gave her chills. His tone was equally glacial. “Or did you bring a whole film crew with you this time?”

Her heart, filled to the brim with joy only a minute ago, sank deep into her stomach. But how could she blame him after what happened? Of course that's what he'd think.

“Please, Reid. It's not like that at all. You have to let me explain.”

“What are you doing with my dog?” He posed the question through gritted teeth.

“Your brother said he'd help me find you.”

“My brother?” He looked confused. “Jared sent him with you?”

“Yes. And your mom gave me one of your shirts.”

“My mother? Why would they—”

“Because they know I didn't do it, Reid. Jeffrey did. He stole my phone and used the pictures to spread his propaganda and lies. I tried to call and warn you, but Krista didn't trust me.”