Yeti Unleashed Page 25

  “Oh my god, no,” Dixie muttered in a low voice. And she grabbed Harry’s arm.

  Chapter 28

  It was past midnight. The sky was clear, the stars shown bright while a silver sliver of a moon hung on the western horizon. Johnson and Falco stood at the gate marking the beginning of the property belonging to Cal Pacific’s Nevada Primate Research Facility. In the distance loomed Cinder Mountain, a dark foreboding mass. After driving most of the previous afternoon and evening to get to where they now stood, Johnson had parked the car and the pair surveyed the distance to the mountain.

  “The facility is at the top of that mountain there,” Falco said with an unbelieving tone.

  “Unfortunately,” Johnson said.

  “I didn’t realize the mountain was that large. It’s going to be quite a hike. And then a climb. I wasn’t prepared for a big job.”

  “Let’s get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we can get back home.” Johnson climbed over the gate, took the lunch pail containing the bomb from Falco, waited for his friend to join him, then the pair started off across the open meadow. The dry brittle grass crunched underneath their feet. A soft breeze blew in their faces.

  Halfway across the meadow Falco stopped.

  “I need a rest,” he said.

  “Not now,” Johnson said, plodding on toward the dark mass of Cinder Mountain. “We can rest in the trees. Besides, we need to get this bomb planted before it gets light. I want to be far away from here when it goes off.”

  Falco shook his head and continued behind Johnson. Crossing the meadow meant they were exposed, there was no way to conceal their presence. Johnson hoped their dark clothing would help conceal their approach. Once he glanced back toward the gate. The car was nothing more than a dark silhouette. He doubted anyone at the facility could make out what it was.

  He was having second thoughts about bringing Falco along, for the man was not in good enough physical shape for the climb that awaited them. Maybe Johnson would just leave the man in the trees while he proceeded ahead. He thought about Norma and what the future held for them. If she didn’t come across with her promise of providing him with a nicer apartment, he would have to dump her. And once this job was finished, he would dump Falco as well. Maybe even take all the money for himself.

  When they reached the foot of the mountain, they rested in the sanctuary of the forest before beginning the upward climb to the primate facility. Falco seemed to be doing better, he wasn’t breathing hard, wasn’t complaining. The initial ascent was rugged with numerous rock outcroppings blocking their way. Johnson scurried around and over them. They were in the middle of a forest and the sliver of moon offered meager light to illuminate their progress.

  Higher up, the forest thinned out leaving large sections of mountain open to the sky. An owl hooted somewhere in the trees and crickets chirped a nighttime serenade. Johnson drank from a canteen, passed the water to Falco who sat on the ground. He scanned the area. Ahead, the climb became steep once again with huge rock outcroppings blocking the ascent. There was no trail.

  Johnson led Falco over a series of boulders, the man wheezing behind him. Limbs and vines from the underbrush slowed their progress. At one point, Falco tripped over a root, fell to the ground with a thud.

  “My legs hurt,” Falco said. “This is a stupid way to earn money.”

  Johnson turned and glared at him. “Dammit, shut up. Go back to the car if you want to. Just shut up.”

  Near the summit the climb became easier. The underbrush thinned.

  Johnson stood before a tall security fence.

  “Quiet,” he said in a hushed voice. “We’re here.”

  Signs were posted on the fence every fifty feet. PRIVATE PROPERTY! KEEP OUT!

  “This way,” Johnson said, pointing to the north. “We’ll follow the fence a ways. See if we can find an easy place to enter.”

  He led the way, stumbling along the fence line. Every few yards, Johnson stopped and peered through the fence into the dark void beyond. All was quiet. There was no movement.

  Soon they came to a corner where the fence turned to the west. It was a heavy chain-link affair with razor wire along its top. Satisfied that no one was patrolling the area, the two men continued on. Once, through the trees, Johnson caught a glimpse of several buildings, each with a dim light in the window. After an hour of stumbling in the dark, they arrived at a large metal gate. A dark guard shack stood next to the gate. The road from the bottom of the mountain continued beyond the gate, and Johnson thought he could make out the silhouette of a building in the distance. The guard shack appeared deserted.

  There was no one walking the facility grounds.

  Everyone must be in bed. Johnson opened the lunch pail, set the digital clock’s alarm, and handed it to Falco.

  “Set it at the side of the gate. Be careful. It’s armed.”

  “We’re not going to set it off inside the compound somewhere?” Falco said.

  “No, this will do. Norma just wants to make a statement. Doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Let’s go.”

  Falco took the lunch pail and set it behind a gatepost where it wouldn’t be seen. The two men started back down the mountain.

  ***

  The chopper pilot squawked his sighting to Sheriff Calder and Sergeant Jessup who followed in the sheriff’s jeep. The Yeti were halfway up the southern side of Paiute Mountain and appeared to be lounging in the sun. The pilot requested further instructions.

  “Able Leader, this is Chopper One. Do you read?”

  Jessup grabbed the radio and responded.

  “Go ahead, Chopper One.”

  “Yeti sighted. Halfway up Paiute Mountain. Request further instructions. Sergeant, do we engage? Repeat, do we engage?”

  “Negative, Chopper One. Meet us at Double Hot Springs,” Calder said into the radio. “Sergeant Jessup and I will board your aircraft then get us back up there. Copy that?”

  “Roger, Sheriff. Double Hot Springs. We can be there in five minutes. Will wait for you.”

  “Fine,” Calder said and Jessup signed off. “Well, Sergeant, what do you make of that?”

  “We’ll finish them off before dark. That’s good. I’m tired of all this chasing around.”

  Calder reversed his course and sped toward Double Hot Springs, a good thirty-minute drive over rough terrain. While driving, he hoped this was the right decision, not to let the scientists try to recapture the animals. He understood they were about to destroy valuable scientific specimens. But maybe it was a small price to pay for the innocent dead victims.

  When they roared into the region called Double Hot Springs, so named after two large bubbling pools of hot aqua-blue water that extended to unknown depths, they found the helicopter perched nearby, its rotors slowly turning.

  “Andy,” Calder said, “come with Sergeant Jessup and me. Sergeant, can you have Williams take the jeep back to Elko and wait for us there? This shouldn’t take long.”

  Jessup nodded and gave Williams his instructions. The man sneered and sulked to the driver’s side of the vehicle. The sergeant gathered the shoulder-fired rocket, grenade launcher, and flamethrower and headed toward the chopper at a trot. Calder and Hardin climbed in behind Jessup, buckled themselves into their seats as the aircraft lifted off the ground, deliberately at first, then screamed northwest, climbing into the clear sky.

  Calder watched the hot springs get smaller then disappear from sight. Ahead, he could see Paiute Mountain looming like the spine of a large animal, its peak dusted with snow. A gray-bearded old man keeping watch over his vassals below.

  As he gazed out at the passing landscape, a thought once again struck Calder that he was speeding toward a rendezvous with destiny that would change the course of scientific understanding. Understanding of the human race. That’s what Dr. Olson said they were attempting at the research facility. Calder had the sudden feeling that what they were about to do might hamper that understanding profoundly. If that were the case, he reasoned, t
hen killing these animals would be a morally reprehensible act. On the other hand, these beasts had ravaged and killed several people, citizens of his county, people he had been elected by and sworn to protect. He had a duty to avenge their deaths and see to it that it never happened again.

  “Sure we’re doing the right thing here?” he asked Jessup. “I mean aren’t we about to destroy scientific specimens”

  “Look, Sheriff,” Jessup said, coldly, “we’re here to do this job. It’s too late for such philosophical arguments.”

  “But we have the time, right now, to reconsider the appropriateness of what we’re about to do. My gut says take them out but my mind tells me we should listen to the scientists.”

  “Why this sudden change of heart, Calder? Don’t you remember that poor man behind the gas station in Grant?”

  “Of course I do. But I’ve been thinking that these Yeti are not doing anything different than what you or I would do if the situation was reversed. Remember Planet of the Apes?”

  “Are you kidding?” Jessup said with a sneer. “That was just a stupid movie. You can’t be serious, Calder.”

  Calder stared out the chopper window as the ground shot by.

  “Yeah, I know,” he said. “Just a stupid movie.”

  They continued on in silence, all the while Paiute Mountain loomed larger. Calder’s stomach churned with his newfound morality.

  ***

  Somehow word had filtered back to Cal Pacific University that the Yeti had been spotted and the strike force was closing for the kill. Dr. Bernard Wickingham sensed that soon the Olsons would be back in San Francisco and his laboratory would become a reality. Harry Olson possessed what Wickingham thought was rightly his--fame, a beautiful wife, and a position of authority at a major university. But he reasoned that these dividends would only come his way if he played his cards right. He salivated at the prospects of his upcoming talk with Dixie Olson. Okay, he thought, he was jealous, he could admit it to himself. Once he published his paper on the wooly mammoth, the world would recognize his intellect and talent. Cal Pacific was just the first step in a journey to an Ivy League appointment. Then he would show those who said he would never amount to anything.

  ***

  Harry craned his neck and sought to locate the helicopter in the brilliant sunlight. He heard the whine of its turbine but couldn’t find it. Then a flash glinted off its fuselage and he saw it, like an ominous bird of prey speeding directly toward them. He shot a glance up the mountain.

  The Yeti were gone, probably frightened away by the chopper’s noise.

  “Dammit,” he muttered under his breath and kicked his horse to alongside Drayton. “Now what?” he screamed.

  “Keep going,” was Drayton’s reply. The man urged his horse forward.

  The security chief found a narrow trail and moved his horse onto it. At least the going was smoother, thought Harry, glancing over his shoulder toward his wife. She looked as if she was on the verge of tears, a blank look on her face, her eyes squinted and narrowed. Dixie held the saddle horn with both hands, a sign, he knew, of fatigue or pain.

  He resumed his search for the Yeti, scanning the mountain hillside. They were nowhere near the lakes, although he couldn’t be sure for the mountainous terrain partially obstructed his full view of them. Large rock outcroppings required that they steer a convoluted course around them, the lush vegetation dwindling as they moved higher. Unfamiliar with the countryside, Harry had no idea where the Yeti could hide, whether there were caves in the area or not. The Yeti’s natural habitat was to live in the caves of the high Altai Mountains of Mongolia so finding one on this mountain would seem a natural instinct for them.

  The lakes, mirrored gems with their inverse image of Paiute Mountain reflected in their quiet waters, seemed a special anchor of the alpine landscape. Their rocky or marshy shores, at any other time, demanded a few moments or hours of reverent meditation.

  “They’ll be seeking shelter,” he said to Drayton, “a safe place away from us and the chopper noise. A cave system if they can locate one. Know of any up here?”

  “No, I don’t. Never been in this part of the state. Funny, I never felt the need to leave Cinder Mountain.”

  The helicopter buzzed low overhead and banked in the direction the Yeti were last seen. Harry saw Sheriff Calder in a rear seat but wasn’t able make out the other occupants when the aircraft turned toward the lakes. When it arrived over the spot where the Yeti were last seen, it hovered, facing the mountain, gradually banking right and left as if to give its passengers a better view of what lay below.

  “Need to hurry, Bruce,” Harry said and he kicked his horse into a trot. They were still a long way from the lakes and the chopper but he pressed on, nevertheless. From his perch atop his horse, Harry watched the helicopter as it buzzed up and down the mountain slope, crisscrossing its flight path. If the Yeti are still up there, he thought, they’ll find them.

  But the Yeti never showed.

  The chopper again hovered for several minutes then veered to its right and disappeared around the far side of the mountain.

  “They are going to search the other side,” Harry said. “Let’s keep pushing.”

  “If they have moved to the other side of the mountain,” Dixie said, her voice shaking, “we’ll never reach them in time.”

  The drone of the helicopter decreased as it put distance between it and Harry’s group. They pushed hard. The horses began blowing and panting.

  “You mentioned you are relatively new to this area, Bruce. How did you get the job with the facility?” Talking helped take Harry’s mind off his aching legs and back.

  “It was pure chance that I stumbled onto it,” Drayton replied. “Lots of jobs are available to ex-cops so I wasn’t worried about finding employment--just wanted a good job with good people. Not long ago, I found it at the primate facility. Radner has been difficult to work with at times but overall I have enjoyed the work. It’s certainly different.”

  “We scientists are indebted to folks like you, Bruce. With these large animals around, you keep everyone safe.”

  “Until now,” Drayton said, shaking his head.

  “Don’t beat yourself up over this. This was the fault of a stupid graduate student, not you.”

  They were closer to the lakes now and Harry could make out a flat area of the mountain next to a rounded knoll on the far side of them.

  “Let’s head for that flat ledge over there,” Drayton said, pointing. He led the group in that direction.

  The helicopter shot from behind the mountain, speeding in a low arc, banking hard. Its turbine screamed overhead, sending Harry’s and Dixie’s horses into a panic. As the chopper continued on, Harry managed to get his and Dixie’s horse under control and pointed toward the lakes and a flat rock face forming a short wall under a rock overhang. A large hole was at its base. “See that?” he said. “They may have ducked in there. Looks like a cave or recess of some kind. They couldn’t have gone far so they must be in there.” He motioned Siscom to the head of their column. “Gerald! Get up here! And load that gun of yours!”

  The helicopter set down on the flat expanse but kept its rotors whirling. Two men emerged and Harry could tell it was Calder and Sergeant Jessup. They carried large weapons.

  What happened next occurred as if in slow motion. Harry watched, mesmerized. They were still too far away for Siscom to use the tranquilizer gun if the Yeti appeared--if they were even in that cave.

  Crouching under the chopper’s rotating rotors, Calder and Jessup approached the opening in a crouch, their weapons at the ready. Halfway to the cave, they hesitated, looked over their shoulders at Harry, then continued. The whine of the chopper’s turbine echoed through the mountain valley below, causing a faint rumble in the distance. Drayton pushed his horse toward the helicopter, and the rest followed.

  Then Harry saw them. Two large, brown, hairy creatures standing at the opening. They advanced several steps until they were in the bright
sunlight. Calder and Jessup stopped and shouldered their weapons. Both Yeti looked first at the approaching men, then down the hillside and Harry jerked when his stare met their red, glowing eyes. The larger of the two Yeti, Sasha he reasoned, tossed her head back, and roared. It was a roar that echoed down the mountain, pierced Harry’s heart. It was if she perceived what was about to happen. It wasn’t a growl he had heard before but a sound of incredible anguish. And resignation.

  For Harry, time slowed. It was as if a slow motion movie played in front of him, each frame jumping to the next. His pulse pounded in his neck while he gripped the reins until his hands ached.

  In unison, the Yeti advanced toward Calder and Jessup. In an instant, they raised their weapons and fired two rockets into them followed by grenades. A horrific explosion erupted and a fireball shot skyward. Black smoke billowed from the animals’ charred remains.

  Behind Harry, Dixie’s scream echoed up the mountain.

  “Noooooooooo!”

  Chapter 29

  At the exact moment of Dixie’s scream, a deafening explosion rocked the plain. She jerked her head toward the sound and in the far distance saw dark smoke billowing up in the direction of Cinder Mountain.

  “What the hell was that?” Siscom said.

  “It came from the facility!” Dixie screamed and pointed to the top of the mountain. “My god!”

  Harry scrambled to Dixie’s side and stared at the rising black smoke.

  “Damn,” he said. “What in the world is happening?”

  Drayton joined them, the small group stunned by what they had just witnessed--their Yeti executed and now an explosion at the facility. Drayton’s mouth was open in horror.

  “We need to get back there,” he shouted. “Something terrible has happened.”

  They mounted and hurried back to their jeep. It was all Dixie could do to keep a lid on her reeling emotions. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she shot a quick glance at Harry. His jaw was set firm and his eyes flashed anger. “Harry!” she cried. “They did it! They killed our Yeti!”