Lone Wolf

30

I KEPT MY SPOT by the fence while Lawrence ran back to the cabin for the tools of his trade. He was back in under ten minutes with his two cases. From the larger one he pulled out the laptop, which he made sure, when he opened it, wasn’t facing the house. Didn’t want them seeing a tiny square of blue light off in the distance. In the same case he had two sets of headphones and some other gear. He handed me one set of phones, which I slipped around my neck, and he did the same with his. He got his shotgun microphone from the other case and gave it to me.

“Point that at the house, holding it steady as you can. I’m not quite ready yet, but it’ll help me do other stuff if you can do that.”

“Sure,” I said, holding the gun with both hands. “This is about my skill level right here.”

Lawrence began tapping away at the laptop, moving the cursor around, opening boxes. I didn’t have the foggiest idea what he was doing. “Do I need to have any of this explained to me?” I asked.

Lawrence didn’t even look at me. “No.” He slipped on his headphones, as if doing a test, then took them back off. “The first thing we’re going to want to know is whether the dogs scarfed down those bugs without destroying them.”

I watched the farmhouse. Soft sounds emanating from within, a shadow passing by a window. The dogs appeared out of the darkness, bounding up the porch steps and scratching at the front door, bumping into one another. Someone, I couldn’t tell who, opened the screen enough to let them slip inside. “Hey, boys!”

“They’re back in,” I said.

“I think we’ve only got one,” Lawrence said, pulling one side of the headphones away from his ear. “I’m picking up one mike, but not the other. It must have got chewed right through.”

“Can I listen?”

Lawrence told me to slip my phones on. This is what I heard:

“Pa-thump, pa-thump, pa-thump, pa-thump.”

“What the hell is that?” I whispered. There was another background sound, too, harder to pin down, but regular, almost a whistle.

“That would be DOS,” Lawrence said. “Dog Operating System. Heartbeat, breathing. I’m gonna see what I can do to filter some of that out.”

I listened some more. “Pa-thump, pa-thump, pa-thump and that’s all pa-thump, pa-thump homework pa-thump dishes, beer over here pa-thump, pa-thump.”

“This is crazy,” I said. “You can’t hear a damn thing for the heartbeat. And it sounds like whichever dog swallowed the mike is roaming from room to room.”

“Zack, just chill,” Lawrence said, fiddling some more with his computer. “Okay, I’ve got your shotgun mike working now, so just focus it on the house. I’ll start coordinating the mikes, aim for the same thing from different directions. The dogs have had a good runaround. At some point, they should collapse and snooze. If one does, the other probably will.”

“They do share a brain,” I said.

On the headphones: “Hey, boy, howya doing. Fuck, what did you get into?”

Slightly muffled, but an actual entire sentence. Timmy, I figured, or one of Charlene’s sons. Commenting, no doubt, on the dog’s breath. After a meal of fish guts, you really needed a mint.

“There’s a blanket on the floor in the kitchen,” I whispered. “They curl up there.”

Lawrence stayed focused on his screen, which looked like a graph with different bars sliding up and down depending on what sounds came through the headphones. He made some adjustments with the cursor. The heartbeats, while still there, receded faintly into the background.

With the headphones on, my hands wrapped tightly around the shotgun mike, and watching the house so intently, I jumped when Lawrence tapped my knee. “Shit!” I said. “You just gave me a fucking heart attack.”

“Aim the mike more toward the back of the house. I think that’s where the kitchen is.”

“That’s right,” I said, recalling the layout from the dinner. I adjusted my aim ever so slightly. Lawrence held up his hand, indicating I should stop.

“Jeffrey!” Timmy, no doubt about it. Some shuffling, footsteps.

“Yeah?”

“…what…you…doing out of your room?”

“…get some water…”

“You’re grounded, buster…want out, you’ll hand over those figures.”

Lawrence shook his head. “Aww man, I never meant to get the kid in trouble,” he said softly. “Couldn’t he have just hid them from the get-go? Shit…”

Jeffrey again. “But I really like them.”

“Yeah, well, no water, no dessert, no nothing for you till you hand them over to me.”

“Jeez, Dad.” A different voice, not so deep, softer. This had to be May, unless Charlene liked to call her husband “Dad,” which seemed unlikely. I whispered to Lawrence, “The daughter, Jeffrey’s mom.”

May said, “What’s the big deal about a couple of little figures? So what if they’re black? They’re just-”

“As long as he’s…my roof, he’s going to live by my rules, and that…for you, too. Am I gonna have to take…belt to ya?”

“It’s…fucking nigger’s fault.”

Wendell or Dougie.

“…go back and kick his black ass…”

Lawrence didn’t flinch, just kept listening.

“No,” said Timmy. “We got more important things…do.”

“It’s not right, him gettin’ away with that. My neck’s still hurtin’.”

“Yeah.” The other brother. “And my back, I think it might be broken or something.”

“If your back was broken, you wouldn’t be standing there.” Timmy.

“You shoulda seen it,” Jeffrey said. “He had both of them on the ground in like seconds.” I thought I could detect a hint of admiration coming through.

Then some shouting. “Sorry,” Jeffrey said.

“It was wrong, what he did.” Another woman, but not May. Charlene. “You can’t tell my boys they can’t make this right. It’s their pride.”

A bang. Someone bringing a fist down on a table, maybe. “Not now!” Timmy, for sure.

I whispered to Lawrence, “You’re always causing trouble. I thought it was just me.” Lawrence waved at me to shut up.

“Put him to bed,” Timmy said. “Little shit’s gonna learn…for…all…”

Lawrence fiddled with his settings. We were losing the conversation. “Dog’s on the move,” Lawrence said. “Come on, boy, go back to the kitchen. Shit!”

The voices largely faded away. The little bit we were getting, I guessed, was from the shotgun mike in my hand.

For the next five minutes we got little more than the sounds of a dog patting around the house, a voice occasionally coming in, then fading out. We each had one ear covered with a headphone, the other exposed so we could talk more easily to one another.

“This is hopeless,” Lawrence said. “We’re going to have to come up with another plan.”

“Like what? Wanna say sorry to the boys with a delivery of Big Macs, you can sneak some bugs into the special sauce?”

Lawrence looked pissed and frustrated. And then, from the headphones, clear as a bell:

“I’m gonna head out to the barn.” Wendell, I thought. “I could use a hand.”

“Yeah,” said Timmy.

The dog had returned to the kitchen, and was, I suspected, curled up again on the rug. I was steadying the shotgun mike, about to slip the other half of the headphones into place, when I heard some rustling behind me.

“Lawrence,” I said.

A few feet off, something bumping into branches. I set the shotgun mike onto the forest floor and reached slowly into my inside jacket pocket, where I’d tucked the can of bear spray Dad had found in Leonard Colebert’s backpack.

“There’s something out there,” I whispered. I was holding my breath, and I was betting Lawrence was, too. More rustling in the trees, about fifteen yards off to the left, it sounded like. The idea of encountering the bear in the daytime was scary enough. But the thought of running into him at night, that was truly terrifying.

Lawrence was reaching into his jacket for something, too. If he’d brought along bear spray, I was unaware of it. But then I saw the moonlight glinting off something metallic, and it became evident that Lawrence had something more powerful than a small can of spray. He had a gun.

He wouldn’t want to be using it, I was pretty sure of that. The sound of a gun going off, that could draw the attention of the Wickenses in a hurry, possibly before we’d had a chance to clear away the surveillance equipment. If we were busy fending off a bear, we weren’t going to have much else to think about.

More rustling this time, a few steps closer.

Lawrence whispered. “Spray first. Then gun.”

I understood the reasoning, but didn’t much like the idea that I was to take the lead here. Wasn’t Lawrence the more likely man of action? And didn’t you have to get a lot closer to spray?

I raised my arm, my finger poised above the button that would release the noxious spray.

The trees rustled again, and then there was a thud, like whatever was out there had just taken a tumble.

And then: “Shit.”

Lawrence and I looked at each other. I’d seen a lot of bears perform tricks in circus acts, but I’d never heard one use foul language.

“Oh man,” the voice said again.

“For crying out loud,” I whispered. “It’s my dad.”

I slipped the bear spray back into my jacket, noticed Lawrence putting away his gun, then moved through the trees in the direction the sounds had come from.

“Dad?”

“Zachary?”

I found him on his knees, patting the ground, looking for the crutches he’d lost when he’d fallen.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked. “Dad, we thought you were a goddamn bear. I almost nailed you with bear spray. If that hadn’t worked, Lawrence was ready to shoot you.”

“I saw you two heading out here and wondered what was going on.”

“Are you out of your mind? Trying to walk up here?”

“My ankle’s been feeling a lot better lately and I thought I could make it without much trouble.”

“Have you twisted it again?”

“I don’t think so. I just got a branch in the face is all. Lost my balance.”

“Dad, go back to the cabin.”

He reached out a hand so that I’d help him up. “I wanted to talk to you,” he said when he had hold of me.

“Listen, Dad-”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since Lana and I, since we tried to explain things, and, well, I don’t know. I wondered if you were okay.”

“I’m okay, Dad.”

“Because, I wouldn’t want you to…I guess what I’m saying is, it’s been nice.”

“Nice? What’s been nice?”

“Having you up here. It’s been nice having you up here this week. I mean, it’s been kind of crazy around here, but it’s been nice. That’s all.”

We were both quiet for a moment, listening to the sounds of the night. The odd cricket, the breeze blowing through the branches.

“I’ve liked it, too, Dad.” I paused. “I’ve got to go back and help Lawrence.”

“Sure. What are you two doing?”

“We’re listening to the Wickenses.”

“Really?” Surprised, and intrigued.

“Shhh! Keep your voice down.”

“Can you do that? Listen in on them, without their permission?”

“Dad, if we got their permission, wouldn’t that sort of defeat the exercise?”

“Oh yeah, I suppose.”

“Listen, Dad, head back to the cabin. We can talk some more later, okay?”

“Zack!”

Lawrence was whispering at top volume. “Zack, Jesus, get back here!”

“Okay,” Dad said, “I’m going. But we’ll talk later, right?”

“Yeah. Get home without getting eaten, okay?” I reached into my pocket to offer him my bear spray.

“No,” he said. “I got my hands busy with crutches. I’ll be okay.”

He turned and started hobbling back. I watched him until he was swallowed up by the trees and the darkness.

A moment later, I was squatting down next to Lawrence again, slipping my headphones back on, pointing the shotgun mike at the house.

“What I miss?” I said.

“Shut up,” Lawrence said, trying to listen.

There was still the faint dog heartbeat in the background, and its breathing. But the voices were coming in pretty clear again.

“I can do it, Timmy.” Dougie, I thought.

“I don’t know.”

“Trust me, I can do it. I’ll show you. I won’t forget anything. And I’ll find a good parking spot for the van, then find a good spot to watch from.”

A chair squeak blocked out Timmy’s reply. All I heard was “…parade to remember…”

“Yeah, for sure.” Wendell. “The remote, I think the button’s a bit sticky.”

“It’s fine.” Timmy. “Want to double-check the…though.”

“I get to take the remote.” Dougie.

“Yeah, if you don’t fucking forget it.” Wendell.

“Fuck you.”

“What kind of sandwiches you want?” Charlene again.

“Ham,” said one.

“With cheese,” said another.

“No mustard on mine.” Timmy, I thought.

Whatever they planned to do at tomorrow’s parade, I guessed no one wanted to do it on an empty stomach.

“Okay, let’s get this done.” Timmy Wickens.

More chair scraping, people getting up from the table. Seconds later, the back door of the farmhouse swung open and three figures made their way across the yard to the barn. A large door, big enough to admit a vehicle, was slid open, and someone flicked on a light, and once the three of them were inside, the door was slid almost all the way shut with just enough space left for someone to squeeze through.

“You heard that?” I said. “Remote? And parade?”

Lawrence nodded solemnly. “We need to get a look at what they’ve got inside that barn. Whatever they’re putting together, it’s in there.”

“So, how do you propose to do that?”

Lawrence smiled. “We’ll sneak over.”

“Across the yard? You’re joking, right?”

“The dogs are inside. They’re probably asleep now. It’s late. We should be fine.”

“Lawrence, really, there has to be another way to-”

“We need to know what’s in that barn. And we haven’t got that building bugged, the dogs aren’t there, and it’s even farther away from here than the farmhouse. The shotgun’s not going to work. We need to hear what’s going on in there.”

I patted my jacket, felt the can of bear spray inside it.

“I guess if this stuff will slow down a bear, it ought to slow down a dog,” I said.

“Maybe,” Lawrence said. “Those dogs, they might be too dumb to know they’ve been hit.”

Lawrence removed his headphones, folded up his laptop, placed his equipment in their cases. Then he had his foot into a gap in the wire fence, and it sagged under his weight as he got his other foot into a higher opening. In a moment, he was over the top and hopping down onto the other side.

He looked at me on the other side of the fence, his fingers wrapped around the top wire. “Are you coming?” he asked.

I sighed, and started climbing.