CHAPTER 2
The Superintendent pointed him to a large atlas sitting opened on the corner of his desk. It was open to the Yellowstone page. The wilderness area that the Superintendent had mentioned was in the Northeast corner of the park and looked to be very large. The caption said it extended over 2 million square acres and was heavily forested. It ranged from valleys to peaks, from heavily timbered to no trees at all at higher elevations. Being way north the weather was unpredictable with snow flurries possible any time of the year.
“Terms? What do you mean.”
“Show me where the murder occurred.”
The superintendent pointed to a spot on the left center of the map.
“About thirty miles from West Yellowstone? Josh looked up at the superintendent questioningly.
“That’s my understanding, yes.”
Josh silently studied the map for another minute then spoke.
“By myself. No back-up and or communications. It has to be entirely my way.”
The Superintendent studied him for a minute. He had been superintendent for years and knew Josh’s reputation with the Yosemite Indians. With his innate abilities, he had quickly mastered their lore and soon earned their acceptance as a complete equal in his ability to track and elude in the forest. Some even acknowledged he was their superior.
“You want to go after him Indian style, one on one?”
“Yes sir.”
“Are you sure that’s wise? After all he’s a proven murderer and he must be very much at home in that wilderness.”
“I think it’s the only way to catch him.” Josh succinctly replied.
The superintendent realized that Josh had already made up his mind. With a sigh of reluctance, he asked, “What will you need from us, camping equipment?”
“No sir, that’s the last thing I need. I need several Ninja items from the nearest martial arts store. I think it’s in Fresno.”
“Call them right now, explain what you need and then give me the phone. I’ll get whatever you need by this afternoon.”
“I take it Yellowstone’s expecting me and is in a hurry?”
“You got it. What else do you need?”
“A helicopter flyover of the area before anything else.”
“And what else?”
“Nothing, that’s it.”
“What about equipment like tents, sleeping bags and clothing?”
“None of those. I’m convinced that the only way anyone’s ever going to catch this guy is to beat him at his own game. I’m going to track him as an Indian would. I’ll move like an Indian, camp like an Indian, hunt and eat like an Indian and most importantly, track like an Indian. Otherwise, he’ll elude me the same way he eluded the other rangers. The few other things I’ll need I can pick up in Yellowstone.”
“Okay, you’re the boss. How soon can you leave?”
“How do I get there?”
“They’re going to fly you. We’ll chopper you out to Fresno. They’ll have a department plane waiting for you. We’ll make sure your martial arts stuff will be on the plane.”
“They’re really serious about this, aren’t they?”
“They really are. And they’ve already talked about giving you a chopper flyover, so consider it done. Can you leave this afternoon? How much packing do you have to do?”
“Yes and practically none.” Josh answered.
Within an hour Josh had explained the situation the Fern, received her reluctant backing and was packed, on a helicopter and on his way on route to the Fresno airport. There, he was driven directly across the field and to a waiting small jet. He was handed a wrapped package as he boarded.
He gave a thumbs-up to the pilot and they took off. “About an hour and a half,” the pilot offered. Josh opened the package and described the contents to the curious pilot, who remarked, “That’s gonna’ be real educational. Nobody’s ever put Indian and Ninja warfare together before.”
Josh shook his head. “It’s just part of what I demanded if I accepted the assignment. I told them that I needed to get there as soon as possible if I was going to have any chance of tracking the guy. I also told them I needed a quick fly over to get the lie of the land.”
As the pilot flared for a landing at West Yellowstone he directed Josh’s attention to a far corner of the small landing field. “There’s the chopper. They’re directing me to taxi straight there. Looks like someone’s in a hurry. Rotors are turning and the pilot’s waiting to go.”
When he stepped off the plane a rangy looking, six-footer approached Josh with his hand outstretched.
“Josh?”
Josh took his hand and nodded affirmatively.
The man introduced himself. “Larry. Larry Schlader. Chief Ranger.”
He brushed by Josh, grabbed the gear bag from the co-pilot turned and led the way to the chopper calling out, “Time’s a’wastin’ let’s go.”
Josh studied him as he followed to the chopper. He immediately liked what he saw and heard. The man didn’t waste words on needless introductions. He also was a man of action; jumping in him-self and grabbing the bags. No self-aggrandizement there. Josh thought he looked to be in his late forties and extremely fit. Casually dressed in jeans and a denim jacket, he was almost bald with a sharp, deeply tanned intelligent face, he reminded Josh of Yul Brynner.
As the pilot revved up the rotors, Larry introduced him to a second man in the chopper. “Joe. He’s the ranger found the site,” he yelled as he thrust earphones at them.
Joe was short and swarthy, dressed in full ranger clothing. He leaned over and shook hands with Josh but didn’t volunteer any comments.
“If there’s enough time I thought we’d circumnavigate the complete area, give you an idea of what you’re up against.”
“Don’t need it.” Josh abruptly answered.
Larry looked surprised. “I thought you requested it?”
“Flyover yes but not the whole thing. I want to circle the scene of the killing and then fly a zig zag pattern directly north, north-east from there about fifty miles. That’ll do it.”
Josh had studied topographical maps of the entire wilderness area and determined to his own satisfaction, considering mountain ranges, unfordable rivers and areas that were crisscrossed with park trails, the most likely direction their quarry must have taken.
“You’re sure that’s all you want?”
Josh explained his reasoning to Larry. “First of all nobody has any idea where this guy hides out yet his attacks have all been near the south-western corner of the wilderness area, right?” Larry shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.
“So we have to narrow down his location possibilities to have any chance of catching him. The whole wilderness area covers over two point two million acres, about the size of three Rhode Islands, impossibly large to find someone in but also impossibly large for one man to cover. He has to be within one or two days of the south west corner of the park.”
A grudging, stretched out, “Okaaaay,” from Larry. But why specifically north north-east?”
“It’s the heaviest forested and least tracked area and heads away from civilization.”
Joe tapped his arm and pointed down. “There it is. That’s where the family was killed. See that faint track going south west? That’s the road they took into the campground.”
“Close enough. I’ll have to cast around a lot to pick up anything but he has to have gone in that general direction.”
Larry raised his eyebrows. “You’re planning on tracking him? Pardon my French, but that’s the dumbest damn idea I’ve ever heard.”
Josh realized the reasons that he had been called in hadn’t filtered down to the Chief.
“You don’t think I can trail him?”
Larry shrugged his shoulders at the other ranger. “That’s what I’m saying. You’ll never find him. We need a half dozen choppers and a lot of men, that’s the only way he’ll get caught. Why d
id they send for you, what makes you so special?”
Josh heard the disapproval in his voice and tried to explain. He needed everyone’s cooperation if he was going to succeed.
“I’ve got a plan plus some experience that’s a little unique. I think it’ll give me a fighting chance to find him and bring him in.”
Sarcastically, “Yeah? What’s that?
“Simplistically, it’s this. We know where he was a week ago when he murdered that couple and we can probably track him from there.”
“Track him? In the forest? Like an Indian? Hell, not even our Indians here in the valley could do that anymore.”
Josh finished his sandwich and coffee, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, saying. “We’ll see.”
Larry eyed him for a minute. “Okay, it’s your funeral. In the mean-time we’ve arranged to keep the local mountaineering shop open late so you can get any supplies you need like tents, sleeping bags and so on.”
“Don’t need it.” Josh responded.
The chief ranger hesitated for a moment, “Don’t need what?
“I don’t need any supplies. Everything I need is in my bag.”
Both rangers glanced at the bag. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”