Page 25 of Three-Inch Teeth

“We just started blasting,” Joe said. “I don’t think either one of us had a clear shot.”

“Is Bill still with us?”

“Barely,” Joe said. “He’s breathing.”

“Thank God for that. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life,” Cress said. “I’m still a little in shock.”

“I think we all are.”

“Did you call for help?”

“Jennie did.”

“I hope like hell they get here in time.”

Cress stood to full height and waited for Hoaglin to catch up to him. When Hoaglin did, the two men scoured the ground for more signs. Hoaglin pointed out a depression in the loam and said, “She went up the hill again toward the south this time.”

Joe followed their gaze up the timbered slope, downriver from the attack. About three hundred yards away and halfway up the canyon, he saw the top of a spindly aspen vanish from view as it was smashed down by force.

“Did you see that?” he asked.

“Affirmative,” Hoaglin said, pointing out to Cress where the tree had been felled. “She’s moving fast and she doesn’t care what she smashes along the way.”

“Let’s go get her and finish it,” Cress said to Hoaglin. “Let’s hope she’s mortally wounded and will bleed out.” He showed his fingers to Hoaglin.

“Not a lot of blood,” Hoaglin said. Then to Joe: “Do you know where you hit her?”

“Nope.”

“Joe,” Cress said, “I’m going to ask you to stay here with Jennie and Bill until the EMTs show up. I don’t want to chance it that the grizzly circles on us again and comes back to cache Brodbeck’s body. Are you okay with that?”

Joe nodded. Although Gordon had shown she was fully capable of defending herself, she was presently engaged in patching up Brodbeck’s wounds and stopping him from losing too much blood. He just couldn’t leave her there on her own.

“If that bear comes back, do what you did last time,” Cress said. “Keep shooting until your barrel melts down.”

Joe patted the deep pockets of his jacket to confirm that he had a fresh twenty-round magazine within easy reach. He did.

“Got it,” Joe said. “Now go end this nightmare.”

*

BRODBECK WAS BARELY alive, but fading, after he was carried across the river to the Twelve Sleep County emergency medical van a half hour later. The response time had been impressive given the distance to the ranch, but to Joe it had felt like an eternity.

He looked for Gordon and found her sitting with her back to a tree trunk, her rifle across her thighs. She looked shell-shocked, and Joe felt the same.

“I can’t see how he makes it,” she said. “He lost a ton of blood and some of those bite wounds looked deep. I can’t believe what happened. That bear came down the mountain by a different route and just attacked him. She hunted him down right in front of us.”

“Yup.”

“Bears don’t do this, Joe,” she said, almost plaintively.

“Let’s hope one of us made a solid hit on her,” Joe said. “And that Cress and Hoaglin can track her down.”

*

JOE WAS GRATEFUL when, an hour later, one of the fixed-wing aircraft Cress had requested appeared over the mountains and descended to search the timber in tight concentric circles. The pilot made radio contact with Gordon and confirmed they were searching for a lone grizzly bear.

They’d heard nothing from either Cress or Hoaglin over the radio since they’d left.

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