Chuck turned to Janelle when they reached the cabin. “Why don’t you and the girls grab a snack in the mess tent? I’m sure Jorge will have something set out. We should be back by dinner.” He shrugged, working to display nonchalance. “Lex asked me to go along,” he said. “What am I supposed to do?”
“You’re supposed to go with him, that’s what.”
Chuck straightened. “Really?”
“It’s part of what you’re here for. This is a science expedition. You’re a scientist. Lex says he needs you to go with him. So, go.”
Chuck warmed at Janelle’s words. “I don’t mind helping him out,” he replied, no longer hiding his excitement. “Odds are we won’t see either the wolf or the bear again—though it does sound like Chance will be able to give us a sense of which way they headed and where they split up. We might even get an idea of what brought them together. My bet is one of them made a kill somewhere near here, and the other one was attracted to the carcass.” He remembered the rectangular form, almost certainly a grizzly, he’d seen chasing the elk in the meadow yesterday at dusk.
“I wanna go, too,” Rosie pleaded from Chuck’s side.
“As if,” Carmelita said.
“Your sister’s right,” Janelle told Rosie. Then she gripped Chuck’s arm. “I know you’ll be fine out there with everyone. But, still—” she arched her eyebrows “—no need to dive into any more lakes.”
“Only if I have to.”
She punched his arm, pecked him on the cheek, and herded the girls into the mess tent.
Kaifong and Randall joined Lex, Toby, Sarah, Chuck, and Keith, with Chance at his side, in front of the cabin. The drone rode in its frame on Randall’s back.
“All batteried up,” Kaifong reported.
Lex held out his hands. “As all of you know, observational analysis is the key to studying animal behavior. If we can catch up with the wolf and grizzly and capture them together on video, we’ll document something never seen before. That’s why I’m in agreement with Toby that we should head out right away. I want all of you to keep your eyes peeled. Toby will take us to the sighting location. Keith and Chance will lead from there.” He glanced at the sun, just above the western ridge on the far side of the river. “It’s later than I thought,” he said. “Let’s get moving.”
With the rest of the scientists looking on from camp, the group set out behind Toby. He strode across the grass, Sarah close behind. Keith followed, with Chance on a short lead in front of him. Chance came to an abrupt halt after only two dozen yards. Everyone stopped as the dog snuffled at the grass.
“What are you onto?” Keith asked Chance, squatting. He parted the stalks with his free hand. “What the...?” He picked up a hunk of steak from last night’s dinner. Chance’s snout followed, sniffing. Keith held out the piece of meat.
Lex’s face grew red. “This is ridiculous,” he stormed. “I could not have made myself more clear about the need to dispose of all food scraps in the sealed refuse kegs in the mess tent.”
“Looks to me,” Chuck said, “like someone got more than they bargained for.”
“You think someone did this on purpose?” asked Lex.
“Like you said, you’ve been adamant with everyone that all food scraps are to be thrown away in the kegs.”
“But why...?” Lex asked, his face screwing up in consternation.
“I bet somebody left this out here on purpose, looking for a photo op. They probably thought a coyote would come by, or maybe a fox. Instead, they lured in a couple of examples of the park’s megafauna.”
“No one would do such a thing,” Lex declared. “Everyone’s a pro out here.”
Chuck tilted his head to one side. “You’re right,” he said. “What’s your idea, then?”
“The cook, maybe? He’s new to the backcountry.”
“Martha would have cleared him. She probably made him take a ten-page test before he came out here.”
Lex shook his head. “I just don’t know.” His eyes went around the group, stopping at Sarah.
“What are you looking at me for?” she asked. She pointed at Toby. “He’s the one who probably did it.”
Toby stepped toward her. “If you think—”
“That’s enough,” Lex cut in. “Sarah,” he continued, “take the scrap back to the mess tent and dispose of it properly.”
“I didn’t—”
“I don’t care what you did or did not do. We’re wasting time.”
Keith gave Sarah the hunk of meat. Holding it away from her body with her thumb and forefinger, she set off toward the mess tent. Toby headed the other way, resuming his place at the head of the line. He stopped at the bottom of the meadow in front of the trees. Sarah, out of breath, rejoined the scientists as they formed a semi-circle around him.
“They were standing right here,” he reported, “looking at camp.”
“How far apart from each other?” Lex asked.
“Ten feet.”
“That close?”
“Maybe closer.”
“Unbelievable.”
Kaifong asked, “Did you observe any acknowledgment between them of one another’s presence?”
“Not that I could tell.”
Chuck cleared his throat. “Any sign of a cut in the bear’s right ear?”
“You mean a notch?” Toby glanced at Lex. “No. But it all happened pretty fast.”
Lex clapped his hands. “Okay. Let’s keep moving.” He turned to Keith. “Ready?”
“Chance didn’t get here by sitting around munching chew toys all day—” Keith rubbed his dog’s ears “—did you, fella?” He pointed at the ground, then at Chance beside him, then back at the ground. “Search,” he said to the dog. “Search.”
Chance sprang from Keith’s side, sniffing at the earth. Keith released the spring-loaded reel on the leash as the dog nosed back and forth through the grass. Within seconds, Chance froze, snout to the ground, tail in the air.
“That’s where the bear was,” Keith announced.
Chance spun from the spot, padded across the grass, and halted once more with a foreleg raised.
Keith said, “That’s the wolf.”
Chuck asked, “How in the world do you know which is which?”
“He’s predator-trained. We’ve developed a pecking order. Bears first, wolves second, mountain lions third, any other predators—coyotes, badgers, wolverines—fourth.”
Sarah grunted in approval. “Bears first,” she repeated. “Wolves second.”
Toby shot back, “The opposite of all the funding lately.”
Sarah whirled on him. Before she could respond, however, Lex stepped between them. “What did I tell you two?”
They turned away from each other, their jaws set.
“Good job,” Keith commended his dog. “You’re right, boy. There are two of them. Now, find. Find them both.”
Chance entered the trees. Keith slowed the dog, the leash reel locked, allowing Chance to tug him forward. The others came behind as the sun winked out over the west ridge and the forest filled with shadow. They moved through the woods at a brisk pace until they came to a blowdown—trees felled by high winds, the downed trunks stacked haphazardly before them like giant, toppled matchsticks. The blowdown created a formidable barricade. Chance leapt atop the nearest trunk and jumped from it to the next, straining at the leash. Keith hoisted himself onto the first toppled tree and balanced there before stepping to the next. Chance leapt from trunk to trunk across the fallen timber, winding through upthrust branches while sniffing noisily and whining with excitement. Everyone stepped with care behind Keith and Chance, making slow progress as the evening shadows deepened.
Chance plunged belly-deep into a swampy pool of brackish water on the other side of the blowdown. Keith balanced on the trunk of a fallen tree above the pool. “They went in,” he reported to Lex, who teetered atop a trunk behind him.
“Any sign of tracks?”
“Not that I can see.”
“We’ll go around. Can Chance pick up the scent on the other side?”
“No question.”
Keith hauled Chance through the water as he made his way along the tree trunk. He hopped off the toppled tree and jogged with the dog around the edge of the standing pool. Upon reaching the far side, Chance nosed the pine-needle-covered ground and pressed on through the forest.
The western sky glowed crimson by the time the dog broke from the trees into a small meadow. A cold evening breeze blew down the shadowed valley from the high peaks to the south.
Chuck slipped his hands under his jacket and pressed them to his belly, warming them. Not much daylight left. The wolf and grizzly likely were far ahead by now and moving farther with each passing minute. If the two were still together this evening—a big if—they almost certainly would split up before tomorrow, which meant tonight was key. But Chance and Keith were moving slowly, and darkness was coming fast. There had to be some way to speed up the search.
Lex checked his watch. “We should turn back, start again at first light.”
“There may be a better idea,” Chuck said.