As if reading his thoughts, the bear stirred as the barking drew closer.
Mark had a decision to make, and neither choice was viable. If he stayed where he was, the bear would shred him when coming awake; if he fled, the dogs would either tear him to pieces or tree him.
But if he could climb over the bear, getting away from the animal’s keen sense of smell, then the noise and the scent of the dogs might hold the waking bear’s attention. The hungover animal would be far from alert as it awakened. Bears did not see well. With the bear facing the mouth of the cave, Mark thought it just might work: what the animal first saw and heard as it awakened would become its focus.
The barking, incredibly close now, lifted the hairs on the nape of Mark’s neck: the dogs were charging up the hill.
Coming right for him.
60
THE GLIDER WAS TOO LOW, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING TO do about it now. With no source of thrust, only the wind and its forward momentum kept it aloft. The lower he flew, the darker it got. He’d circled once above the narrow field, just to the north of the small frozen river, spiraling down toward the treetops, over a sea of gray-green spires accented by the white carpet at their feet. It felt as if a cloak had been thrown over the narrow valley; the sun had left here hours before. And where the sky still glowed a pale blue, the earth beneath it was giving up on twilight.
There was no such thing as a missed approach, no second chances at a landing. He got one chance and this was it.
As he reached the near side of the field, Walt eased the joystick back, lifting the nose while avoiding a complete stall. For a moment, the glider seemed to stand still, its tail actually brushing the very tops of the tall pines.
“What was that?” Brandon panicked as the sound of the contact reverberated through the frail frame.
Walt’s focus remained on the field before him, a gray wash of indiscernible length, its surface impossible to read. If he judged this wrong…
The beauty of the glider landing in snow was that there’s no superstructure supporting the wheels; a glider lands on a very small nosewheel recessed in the frame and an even smaller wheel below the tail, meaning it is well streamlined for a landing in snow.
“Brace yourself,” he called out.
Walt held the nose up as long as possible, then eased the glider down into the snow with a lunge that rapped both their heads against the Plexiglas dome. His feet automatically pushed both pedals forward, attempting to brake, but it was his right hand on the joystick controlling the flaps that served that purpose. Snow streamed over the nose, blinding him. The right wing struck something, turning the glider sharply. The glider bounced and groaned and barely slowed, Walt convinced its light frame would come apart.
It submarined and then jumped up, actually lifting fully off the snow before smashing back down and finally grinding to a stop.
“You okay?” Walt said.
“Shit… shit… shit…” Brandon managed from behind him.
Walt shut down the electronics; he had no idea how they’d ever get the glider out of there, but that was the least of his worries. He popped open the dome, checked his GPS, and hand-signaled Brandon toward the far side of the field. Brandon gave him a thumbs-up and climbed out. The two men separated without a word.
Walt dug into his pack for the night vision headset. Though not fond of the technology, he appreciated the results: he could see far more clearly and much farther, the electronic landscape black and an eerie green but vivid. For now, he wore the contraption, not thrilled with the way it limited peripheral vision.
It took him a moment to distinguish what he heard: not coyote, not wolf, but a dog’s barking. Maybe two. Well away to his left-south- quite possibly across the river.
Then another sound: snowmobile.
Had his own guys jumped the gun and raided the cabin ahead of his signal? If Mark Aker was indeed out there, his life had just been put in great jeopardy.
Then a second thought flashed through his mind: had Roy Coats somehow seen the glider or been warned in advance of the raid?
Trudging on snowshoes, Walt hurried in the general direction of the cabin, ignoring the barking for now. If Mark was being held in the cabin, then the existence of the snowmobile meant one less man to guard Mark.
He would cut around to the east of the compound, leaving Brandon to approach from the northwest. Careful not to fall, he picked up his pace, believing time was suddenly in his favor.
61
BRANDON MOVED CAUTIOUSLY, THE LANDSCAPE AHEAD OF him green and black through the night vision goggles. A slight glow of greenish white in the sky ahead suggested the cabin-the exhaust from a woodstove, more than likely. But judging distance accurately was difficult, and, though he’d trained with the goggles, he had no idea if that glow was a hundred feet away or five hundred yards. Worse, the forest was immature, a victim of a massive forest fire a decade earlier, resulting in a mixture of towering dead tree trunks and a dense undergrowth of twenty-foot pines, bramble, and piles of decomposing slash from the earlier fire. Finding a way through it was challenging, due to the thick undergrowth. Had it not been for the GPS, Brandon would have lost his way. Instead, he found himself forced to take a long way around to the cabin because of a spine of rocky hill that separated the cabin from the field where they’d landed the glider.
His trailing leg felt the tension, though too late. The snowshoe had caught on something. Looking down, he saw the trip wire pull free and go slack.
He quickly took five long strides and dove into the snow, covering his head, expecting an antipersonnel mine to blow. He waited for a count of five. Then ten.
No explosion.
So the trip wire was a perimeter warning device.
He’d just officially entered the compound. And now, due to his stupidity, they knew he was here.
He placed his glove to his throat and squeezed, initiating radio contact with the sheriff.
“I tripped a wire,” he said. The radios were digital; there was no way any communication between the task force would be intercepted.
“Roger that.” The sheriff’s voice, calm and collected.
“I’ve got some highlights at tree level.”
“Three hundred yards north-northeast of my position,” the sheriff said, confirming he’d seen them too.
“North-northwest for me,” he said, checking the GPS, “so we’ve got good angles.”
“Find some high ground. Or some place defensible. Let them come to you. Stay in radio com. If you hear them coming, let me know. I’ll create a diversion and bring in backup. Keep ’em guessing.”
“Roger that.”
“No heroics.”
“Out,” Brandon said. He felt lousy for tripping that wire. The sheriff might feel obligated now to bring in the others. Their arrival would make Aker’s situation all the more tenuous.
The purpose of Brandon and Walt advancing the raid was to capitalize on the element of surprise. They had to squeeze the cabin from two directions to be effective.
There was no way he was letting up his end. He wasn’t one to go against orders, but he did so now, knowing full well the sheriff wasn’t going to wait. He wasn’t going to let him go in there alone.
THE PREY RETURNS, the narrator’s voice said inside the head of Roy Coats as he saw the LED flash on the wall-mounted box, indicating a perimeter breach. A hunter’s patience is his greatest asset.
He wanted this to be fun.
He leaned forward and grabbed for the walkie-talkie. His leg stung, and he worried he’d busted open the scab again. The damn thing wouldn’t stop bleeding.