Page 106 of The Veteran

Eight minutes later they were overtaken by two large off-road trucks travelling at dangerous speed.

‘Shall we go after them?’ asked the police driver.

‘Let them go,’ said the sheriff.

The off-roads roared through the waking township of Red Lodge and headed into the canyon where the interstate bordered Rock Creek.

The gulch became narrower and the slopes more vertical, with a clear drop of 500 feet into the creek on the right-hand side and the sheer face of the wooded mountains on the left. The hairpin bends became tighter and tighter.

The leading vehicle came round the fifth hairpin too fast and too late to see the freshly felled pine lying across the road. The body of the off-road made it to the southern side but the four wheels remained on the north. There were five men in the truck and they had ten legs between them. Four were broken, to which could be added three arms, two collarbones and a dislocated pelvis.

The driver of the second vehicle had a clear choice: to pull right and drop into the creek or pull left into the mountainside. He pulled left. The mountain won.

Ten minutes later the least injured man was staggering back up the highway to seek help when the first tractor-trailer came round a bend. The brakes were still working perfectly. It stopped in time but jackknifed. Then the trailer, as if in silent protest at these indignities, rolled sedately onto its side.

Sheriff Lewis and his party of seven deputies had arrived in Red Lodge to be met by the local officer with a string of borrowed horses. There were also two Forest Rangers. One of them spread a map over the hood of a car and pointed to the landmarks in the Custer National Forest.

‘The forest is bisected, east to west, by this creek, the West Fork,’ he said. ‘This side of the fork there are tracks and campsites for summer visitors. Cross the creek and you are into real wilderness. If your man has done that, we will have to go in there after him. It’s no-vehicle country, which is why we have the horses.’

‘How dense is it in there?’

‘It’s thick,’ said the ranger. ‘What with the warm weather the broadleaf trees a

re still in foliage. Then comes the pine forest, then the rock plateau all the way to the high peaks. Can your man survive in there?’

‘From what I hear, he was born and raised in the wilderness,’ sighed the sheriff.

‘Not a problem, we have modern technology,’ said the other ranger. ‘Helicopters, spotter planes, walkie-talkies. We’ll find him for you.’

The party was about to leave the cars and move off when a message came through from the sheriff’s office. It was a patch-through from the air traffic controller at Billings Field.

‘I have two big helos waiting for take-off,’ said the man in the control tower. He and Sheriff Lewis had known each other for years. They fished trout together, and there are few stronger bonds.

‘I’d have let them go but they have been rented by Bill Braddock. They have filed flight plans for Bridger. Jerry says you have a problem down there. Something about the Bar-T wedding? It’s on all the morning news.’

‘Stall them. Give me ten minutes.’

‘You got it.’ To the waiting helicopter pilots the controller said, ‘Clearance delayed. We have an incomer joining the circuit.’

Sheriff Lewis recalled Jerry telling him about a skein of armed riders heading south from the ranch in pursuit of the runaways. They would logically have been caught by the darkness far from home and would have spent the night in the open prairie or at Bridger. But if they were recalled to the ranch, why not ride there on rested horses? He asked for a call to another friend, the head of the FAA in Helena. The official came on the line after being woken in his home.

‘This had better be good, Paul. I like my Sundays.’

‘I have a little problem with two runaways who have decided to head into the Absaroka Wilderness. I’m going in with a party of deputies and a couple of rangers to bring them back. There are some concerned citizens around here who seem to want to turn it into a turkey shoot. And the media will be along later. Could you declare the Wilderness area off limits for today?’

‘Sure.’

‘There are two helos at Billings Field waiting take-off.’

‘Who’s in the tower at Billings?’

‘Chip Anderson.’

‘Leave it to me.’

Ten minutes later the helicopters received a call from the tower.

‘Sorry about that. The incomer turned away. You are cleared for take-off, subject to the FAA Exclusion Zone.’

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