Wild Rescue (16 page)

Chapter 63

When I got home
I went straight to Sam’s office above the barn. I didn’t want to face Mom because I knew she’d ask me where Bryce was, and I wasn’t going to lie.

Sam’s office is really cool. There’s a weight/exercise room on one end, where Bryce and I work out and play video games. On the other end is Sam’s office with a desk, file cabinets, and pictures of planes. Sometimes I go there just to think. Maybe the smell of coffee gets my mind going—it smells like one of those big bookstores we go to in Colorado Springs.

I couldn’t find anything that would scare off bears, mountain lions, or coyotes. Maybe something that made noise would work. A fire would keep them away—we had done that while camping.

Suddenly the intercom crackled to life. “Ashley, Bryce, are you over there?”

“I’m here, Mom.”

“Would you and Bryce get in here, please?”

Of course, as soon as I got inside, she said, “Where’s Bryce?”

“Around,” I said, sticking my head in the fridge. “What’s for dinner?”

Mom had a hand on her hip when I turned around. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you two all day.”

I wanted to tell her all about Buck and Bryce, but I just shrugged and gave her my best laid-back answer. “Mom, it’s an alpaca thing.”

I could tell she wasn’t buying it. When she found out about everything, we’d have a lot of explaining to do, but that could wait.

I spotted Leigh’s key chain on the counter. She’d just gotten her driver’s license, and Sam had bought her a fancy chain with something attached.

“What’s this?” I said, holding it up.

“It’s spray Mace. Don’t ever touch that. It can blind people temporarily, and it’s only to be used if Leigh is attacked.”

“How close do you have to be?”

“It sprays something like 15 feet, but don’t—”

“I know. I know. I won’t use it on Dylan. Though I could have used it with Denise and Liz.”

She smiled. I could tell she wanted to talk. I ran for the front door.

“Where are you going now?”

“To check on Mrs. Watson.”

Chapter 64

I woke up as the truck shook
and realized it had been lowered. Someone got in and started the engine.

I couldn’t believe I had fallen asleep. My body felt like a pretzel, and my mouth tasted like pennies. The guy got out and shut the door. I threw the cover off and sat up. My arm looked like I had a tattoo. It was covered with lines and dots from the floor, plus I had drool all over my cheek. I hate when that happens.

Just as I was about to make my move, Eddie reached for the door and I had to lie back down. He reached in and turned the engine off.

The phone rang, and the owner stuck his head into the garage. “Lover boy, it’s for you again. You’ve reached your quota.”

“Yes, sir,” Eddie said. He returned with the cordless phone, sat in the pickup, and rolled up the windows. “You make it out of there? . . . Good. What about the—? . . . You sure, ’cause I’m not going into that place with—”

Eddie seemed more and more excited. “Okay, good. You gave them the right name? . . . All right, on break I’ll call them from a pay phone and chew them out, tell them I want him taken care of.” He lowered his voice and acted like he was older. Then he laughed. “Hey, we’re almost home free. This’ll be our last gig and you can finally tell your mom to shove it.”

I was relieved when he was finally out of the truck again. I had been wrong before, jumped to conclusions about people, so I tried to think of anything he could be talking about that didn’t involve stealing. “Our last gig” made me think of music—could he be part of a band? Maybe the trailer was for hauling amps and equipment.

I was hot, tired, and ready to get out of here. It was getting hard to breathe again, but how could I slip out without anyone seeing me?

“Excuse me?” someone said. “I need to get in my dad’s truck.”

Ashley.

“I left something in there. Can I—?”

“Sure,” Eddie said, “go ahead.”

Ashley climbed inside. “You still alive?” she whispered.

“Barely.”

“I’ll cause a diversion in the waiting area. When you hear me scream, get out of here.”

Ashley took some papers from the glove compartment and got out. I sat up and got ready. Seconds later Ashley screamed, and the mechanics rushed toward the sound.

I jumped out and crab walked out of the garage to the parking lot. I leaned against a tree, finally able to breathe.

Ashley came out of the waiting room, brushing off her shirt and smiling.

“What’d you do in there?” I said.

“You know that big stack of tires? It’s kind of not there anymore. Clumsy me.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I could’ve been stuck there all night.”

We crossed the street and hurried toward Mrs. Watson’s house where Ashley had parked her ATV. I stopped short.

Ashley turned. “What?”

I put my head down and kept walking. Eddie was on the other side of the road watching us.

Chapter 65

I kept complimenting Mom
on how tasty everything was at dinner until Bryce kicked me under the table. I guess he thought I was overdoing it, especially in front of Dylan and Leigh.

“Mom?” Bryce said. “What would you think about Ashley and me sleeping at the Morrises’ tonight? Mr. Morris said he wanted us to.”

“Can I go too?” Dylan said.

Mom shook her head. “Not with Sam gone. I don’t want you out there alone. That big dog you told me about can take care of the alpacas tonight.”

I was desperate to persuade her without telling what had happened to Buck, and I especially didn’t want to say anything about the evidence of a bear. Bryce seemed at a loss for words too.

“Let them go,” Leigh said. “If there’s a problem, I’ll go get them.”

It was like someone had opened a window on a hot day, turned on a fan, and handed me a frosty glass of lemonade. Leigh had never jumped in for us like that, and I could tell Mom was just as surprised.

She sat back and studied Bryce and Leigh and me. “Well, if Leigh will pinch-hit for Sam, I guess it’s okay.”

“And tomorrow night too,” Bryce said, jumping up and taking his plate to the sink. “They have satellite, and it’s like 50 times clearer than our cable.”

“We’ll see,” Mom said.

“But it’s the Cubs and the Cardinals at Wrigley.”

“We’ll see, I said.”

Chapter 66

The alpacas seemed more jumpy than usual,
probably because they missed Buck.

Ashley kept looking at Denise’s house and then the road. “I still say he didn’t attack her,” she said.

“Wasn’t there blood all over?”

“Yeah, but just in one spot. Don’t you think if she had really been bitten, she would have left a trail? And if Buck thought she was a threat, why didn’t he kill her? Why did he stop, and how did she call the paramedics?”

“I thought Denise called them,” I said. “If the jogger was just making this up, how did she know anyone would be watching?”

“Maybe she waited until she saw someone outside at Denise’s.”

“But why, Ash?” I said. “What would be the point?”

She shrugged. “What if someone was trying to get Buck out of here so they could rob the house? Otherwise they’d have to kill him or the neighbors would hear the barking.”

I snapped my fingers. “None of the places that were robbed had a dog. Mrs. Watson took hers with her.”

“How would the burglars know?”

“They probably check the places out first.”

It was getting dark, so we made sure all the alpacas were in the barn. Whitney was still walking back and forth.

The phone was ringing when we got back inside. It was Mom. “Mr. Morris called a few minutes ago and said he wasn’t able to reach you. He asked how things were going. I told him you were staying there tonight, and he seemed happy about that. He said he’d call again Sunday or Monday. Everything all right out there?”

I heard a yip and a howl, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. “Yeah, great.”