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Jean-René came out of his tent at the first trembling of the ground. The rest of the team gathered around the fire where the morning watch had just put on coffee. He’d just leaned down to pick up the pot when the ground had started shaking again. He landed hard on his butt, startled, but wide awake.
Without warning, a large tree cracked. It snapped at the base and splintered. It twisted and came crashing to the ground. Landing in the middle of the fire at the center of camp, a spray of sparks and flame were jettisoned into the air like firecrackers.
His heart sank in his chest when his eye followed the trunk of the tree to see the remains of his flattened tent beneath the once-tall pine tree. He genuflected blankly, saying a silent prayer under his breath.
Derry picked him up under his arm pits, while Katie stomped out burning flotsam as it came to rest on the ground. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Jean-René was alert, though definitely shaken. “Thanks.” He wiped the litter from the seat of his pants with trembling hands. He froze when a distant howl broke through the forest. Everyone else froze too. A second call answered a moment later from a different direction.
“Think the quake upset the Bigfoots? Bigfeets?” Katie fumbled for words.
“Oh my God, Lauren is gonna be mad she missed that.” Jean-René cussed to himself. As he paced, he debated what to do.
“Your camera wasn’t in your tent, was it?” Katie asked, calmly.
“Tabernaque!” He nearly doubled over, pounding his fists in his knees. A long string of French expletives rolled out of him like a river. “Tabernaque!”
“Surely that’s not the only one you brought,” Derry said.
Jean-René paused a moment. “Lauren’s, maybe.”
He climbed over the fallen tree to Lauren and Rowan’s tent. He returned with her Nikon. It had night-vision, as well as FLIR. They might need that.
He fumbled with the controls. He was not as familiar with her little gizmo. He raised it to test it just as a giant beast crashed through the trees. It skidded to a stop less than thirty feet away. Jean-René froze, but not before he clicked the camera on.
A second form sauntered out into the clearing behind the beast. The man pulled out a pistol. He leveled it at the group. The rangers already had their weapons drawn, but they were startled by the hairy beast beside him. The creature dropped the heavy bag he was carrying and raised his arms, roaring at them.
“Well look at this, Squatchy.” Mitch grinned devilishly, stroking his unshaven chin. “Got us a couple of Rent-A-Cops think they’re gonna shoot us.”
“Put the gun down,” Miller said, pulling his credentials from his shirt pocket, “FBI. You’re out numbered.”
“Outnumbered?” He scoffed looking smugly at what was clearly a fake-Bigfoot. “I don’t feel outnumbered, do you, Squatchy?” The beast grunted. Katie took a step back, positioning herself beside Jean-René. “The way I see it, Squatchy here is worth two of you. Besides, I know something you don’t.”
“Oh yeah?” Jean-René felt his blood rise in his face. This guy was ticking him off. Who did he think he was fooling? That was no Bigfoot. It was a very large man in a monkey suit. That was the hoax-monger in a monkey suit! It had to be.
“Yeah.” The man seemed very relaxed. That ticked Jean-René off too. “I know where your people are.”
Katie muffled a gasp only Jean-René could hear. Miller spoke calmly. “What?”
“Tall guy and the chick with the long dark hair?” he described Rowan and Lauren. “Oh, she is so sweet.” He inhaled, as if breathing in Lauren’s perfume, his eyes squinting as a broad, wicked smile spread over his face. “We’ve met her before,” he said. That frightened Jean-René even more. “Hot babe.” He made a motion with his hips that made Jean-René nauseated. “I’d tap that any day.”
“Where are they?” Jean-René demanded. “What have you done with them?”
The man paused. He stroked the trigger of his gun as he trained it on Jean-René. “I don’t think I want to tell you,” he smiled, wickedly.
“I will tear your limbs from your body!” Jean-René spat angrily. Katie caught his arm, holding him back. “Where are they?!”
That made Mitch smile even wider. He laughed menacingly, stopping, snapping his aim on Miller. The agent started to move, but froze when the gun turned on him. “They’re alive. For now.” He pointed with his gun. “Drop your weapons, or I promise you ... they’ll never see the light of day.”
No one moved.
Mitch pulled back the hammer on the gun and honed his aim on Katie. He studied her up and down, his menacing gaze softening maliciously. “Oh, you’re fine, too.”
“Bite me!” She taunted, weapon still drawn.
“Put the gun down!” Mitch started towards her in a near charge, but Miller flipped the safety on his gun back on. He held it up in surrender. He eyed Jean-René with a cautious gaze.
“Fine,” Miller said. “Fine.” He laid his weapon down and kicked it away from the aggressor.
“Go on, the rest of you. Put your weapons down!” Mitch yelled.
“Do it,” Miller instructed. Hesitantly, the rest followed suit.
“We don’t have any beef with you. Just tell us where Lauren and Rowan are,” Miller said.
“We left ’em down in the caves for the Bigfoots to eat up,” the fake Bigfoot chuckled, muffled behind his mask.
“If you hurry, you might be able to find ’em before the squatches do.” Mitch turned just as a rock hurled through the trees and pegged Billy in the side of the head. Billy cried out. “That hurt!”
“What the hell?” Mitch caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eyes. “Don’t touch it!” A gunshot echoed. The dirt just inches from Miller’s hand exploded. He had almost made it to his gun. He turned with his hands up by his ears. “Another move like that, and I might get lucky. Might accidentally shoot someone,” Mitch turned the gun turned towards Katie. Jean-René noticed her stiffen.
“Something bit me, Mitch.”
“Shut up!” Mitch snapped. “You think a little bug hurts? Wait until I get a hold of you.”
Jean-René had seen the rock flying through the darkness. He strained to see where it had come from. He was debating making a dash for it. But he had no idea what these two were up too. He didn’t care. He just wanted to find Rowan and Lauren. He moved behind the others, lifting the camera. He scanned the trees. There was something there. He flipped over to thermal imaging. There was a form behind a nearby tree, and he tried to discretely pan in on it. He waited until he was sure no one was paying him any mind. He zoomed the lens in.
“Pick up the bag, dumb ass,” Mitch rebuked his partner.
His large companion, still holding his wounded head, bent down to collect his bag. He fumbled with it. Its contents spilled out amidst the pine needles. The remaining fire light made the stones sparkle. “Are those diamonds?” Katie asked.
“So it would seem,” Mitch chortled.
“We’re gonna make ten dollars!” the Bigfoot said. He scrambled to get the stones back in the bag. Most of the stones were no more than pebbles, a couple might have been the size of acorns.
“Ten dollars? That’s got to be a half-a-million dollars’ worth of uncut stones!” Katie gasped, her voice rising. “You can’t take those. It’s against the law. This is a National Park.”
Mitch just laughed. “I figure in the right market, I’ve got more than a million,” he said. “And I can take them. You can’t stop me.”
“What are you going to do? Shoot us? You can’t take out all of us,” Miller said. “You pull the trigger and you might get one of us, but the rest of us will take you down before you get off a second shot.”
Mitch laughed even harder. “In that case, I think I’ll start with you,” he raised the gun, and cocked back the hammer. Suddenly, a large stone flew through the trees and struck Mitch in the side of the head. He was sent tumbling. The gun fell from his hand. It landed at Katie’s feet. Everyone scrambled but she managed to grab the weapon and trained the gun, first on the fake Bigfoot, then on Mitch. He rolled over and moaned. “Son of a ...”
“Don’t move,” Miller and Derry had their guns again too.
“What the hell was that?” Jean-René swore. He turned the camera in the direction the rock had come from. A smaller form appeared from behind a tree. A hand raised then flipped him off. He sucked in a breath, forcing himself to maintain his composure and stifle a smile. That could only be one person. A wide grin spread across his face.