Prey

Chapter Eleven

The mood in Room 102 was tense.

Lisa Abercombie and Dr. Morito Asai, each dressed in brand-new military combat boots and camouflage gear, had departed for a nearby restaurant a few minutes before, leaving Wolfe, Lightstone and Alex Chareaux standing around the bed in the small motel room glaring at each other.

Alex Chareaux had already spent about five minutes trying to explain that there had been a mix-up in the scheduling, but that everything was okay now because his brothers had spotted two record-sized bears. It would all work out just fine if everyone would just agree to hunt together.

For someone like Alex, it was a remarkably calm, dispassionate and even reasonable speech; but it hadn't helped because neither of his clients was willing to give in.

"This is pure bullshit," Lightstone growled, having to work now at keeping this new and very alluring woman out of his mind.

"That's one thing we agree on," Reston Wolfe nodded.

"But you are all here now, and my brothers and I are ready," Chareaux said with forced restraint, "so why should we not try to make the best of it?"

"I've got one good reason," Lightstone said. "I knew this hunt was going to be risky to begin with, but if you're going to add three more people, it's going to be goddamned dangerous. It'll be like a New Year's Day parade out there."

"You have a point," Chareaux admitted, "but there are ways of dealing with such risks. It is only necessary that we be careful."

"Seems to me you're asking all of us to be pretty goddamned trusting," Lightstone added. "We don't even know each other."

Lightstone wanted Chareaux to think that Henry Allen Lightner was still nervous about the possibility of getting caught on an illegal hunt, but what he was really trying to do was to stay in character. He'd already decided to go along with whatever arrangement Alex Chareaux managed to work out with the three newcomers, figuring that Chareaux was already suspicious and that his chances of getting another hunt set up in the near future were probably nil.

Lightstone knew that as far as Paul McNulty was concerned, all he had to do was to get Alex Chareaux and his brothers linked to an illegal hunt, and then maybe get a line on the taxidermist they used. The fact that there might be a couple of extra hunters along for the ride probably wouldn't matter one way or another.

But it was becoming increasingly obvious that a shared hunt wasn't acceptable to the other man in the room, whom Chareaux had so far declined to introduce.

"And I'm telling you I'm not willing to be that trusting," Wolfe was saying insistently.

"Then what am I to do?" Chareaux asked, bringing his arms and shoulders up in an exaggerated shrug.

"I offered you a multiyear contract, with very generous terms," Wolfe responded. "But if we're going to work together, I expect you to keep your word."

The expression in Alex Chareaux's dark eyes froze, and for a brief moment, Lightstone thought Chareaux might kill his foolishly arrogant client right there in the motel room.

But then, with a visible display of effort, Alex Chareaux brought himself under control.

"I understand your point," Chareaux said in what Lightstone thought was an incredibly calm voice. "But remember, it was you who asked to change the day of your hunt at the last minute. Had I been able to reach my friend here in time," he nodded in Lightstone's direction, "we could have rescheduled his hunt for another day. But now that he is here…"

"Okay, I think I see where all of this is heading," Wolfe said disdainfully as he turned to Lightstone. "How much is he charging you?"

"That's none of your business," Lightstone replied evenly.

"Look, I'll make it real easy. You walk away today, reschedule for some other time, and I'll cover the entire cost of your hunt."

"What?"

"I'm talking everything," Wolfe said confidently. "The mount, the delivery, the whole ball of wax. All you have to do is come back another day."

Incredible, Lightstone thought, finding it difficult to believe his ears. Ten weeks of delicate undercover work was about to go down the drain, all because some rich asshole couldn't wait another day to bag his illegal bear.

"No deal." He shook his head.

"Look-"

"No, you look," Lightstone said firmly. "I really don't give a shit about the money. I've got more goddamn money than I know what to do with. But what I don't have is time to waste on bullshit. I've been working on this deal with Alex for months now, and every time we try to get together something goes wrong."

"That's not my-" Wolfe tried to interrupt, but Lightstone ignored him.

"So now I'm finally here," he said firmly, "and I've got a pilot waiting on stand-by, and what I want is my goddamned bear. You and your friends want to go along on this little shebang, it's fine by me-" he shrugged "-but I want my bear."

"But we have a time factor also. You know that, Alex," Wolfe persisted, turning to Chareaux to make his argument.

"Henry," Alex Chareaux said quietly, "perhaps we can talk outside."

"Yeah, sure," Lightstone nodded. He followed Chareaux out the door, leaving Reston Wolfe alone and fuming in the motel room. Wolfe had already had to confess to Lisa Abercombie that Gerd Maas wouldn't be coming on this hunt after all, and it wasn't clear that the mercurial woman would still be waiting for him at the restaurant when he finally managed to get this latest problem resolved.

"More money than you know what to do with?" Chareaux asked with curious amusement when they were well clear of the door.

"No such thing." Lightstone said brusquely as they continued walking; he was working hard now to stay in character. "I'm doing okay, but I'm not fucking rich. The guy just got my goat."

"Yes, I understand. Listen, my friend, I apologize for allowing you to become involved in my problem," Chareaux said as they stopped beside the rented Bronco. "And I will not go back on my word in any case, you know that. But I want you also to understand that this man represents- how do you say? — very big business to me."

"Alex, if money's really the problem-"

"No, of course not." Chareaux shook his head. "I do not mean it in that way. I am told by your references that you always pay well, and anyway, I would not play such games with you."

"I want that bear, Alex," Lightstone said quietly, being careful now because he knew he was walking right on the edge of entrapment. "Boone and Crockett. You promised me that."

"Yes, I understand. And you will have your record trophy," Chareaux said. "But I must explain to you now that I did not tell the entire truth back there."

"Oh?"

"I said that my brothers and I have located two trophy animals, but that is not actually the case. We have located two animals, yes, but only one of record size. The other is the smaller one I told you about this morning. The woman and the Oriental man would not know the difference, I think, but neither of you would be satisfied with her."

"So now you've got one record bear promised to two trophy hunters. Sounds to me like you have yourself a real problem," Lightstone commented.

"Actually, it is far more complicated than that, because the other two wish to hunt also," Chareaux said. "But yes, you are exactly right. And it is even worse because this man has asked me to arrange a great many hunts for him in the future, and he is very careless about his money."

"In other words, he's a fat cat that you really don't want to lose, because if you play him right, you're going to skin him alive without his ever knowing it."

"You are a businessman, too. You understand these things."

"Alex, I know all about taking advantage of business opportunities," Lightstone said. "And I really sympathize, but-"

"So that is why I am willing to make you a very special offer," Chareaux interrupted."One that will appeal to you as a businessman."

Lightstone blinked. "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"There is another bear. It is huge, this one. So big and so aggressive that we have not yet dared to get close enough to make accurate estimates."

"You're offering me a bigger bear than the one I'm supposed to get today?"

"Yes."

"So what's the catch?" Lightstone asked, fully aware that Chareaux was playing Henry Allen Lightner's strings like a virtuoso.

"This one is still in the park," Chareaux explained simply. "He will not come out."

"Meaning that we'd have to go after him?" Lightstone asked, stunned; he hadn't expected this at all.

"Yes, exactly," Chareaux nodded. "Of course I don't have to explain to you that the risks involved in such a hunt would be far greater."

"You mean from other animals that might take us by surprise?"

"I mean park rangers, as well as the state wardens and the federal wildlife agents. Because even if it were the season for these bears now, which it is not, this hunt would be completely illegal. If we were caught in the park, we would have no way to explain ourselves."

Lightstone forced himself to hesitate, reminding himself that he was Henry Allen Lightner and that Lightner was still very much afraid of being nabbed by the feds.

"How far into the park would we have to go?" he asked. He was still hesitant for a number of reasons, including the unknown whereabouts of Special Agent-Pilot Len Ruebottom.

"A mile, perhaps. Maybe more, maybe less," Chareaux said. "This one is more difficult to predict because he has claimed a much larger territory than most. He also likes to move around at night, so he will not be easy to locate. We would have to take him at night."

"At night?"

"There is no other way," Chareaux said. "We would wait until very late this evening, and then go in on foot. Just you and I and Sonny. We know roughly where he is right now, so perhaps we would not have too much difficulty."

"A mile or so hike through the woods, at midnight, I assume with no lights, watching out for the park rangers, agents and wardens, to hunt down a bear that scares you and Sonny? You don't call that difficult?"

"We would use night-vision equipment, of course, and protected radios," Chareaux said, "but even so, we would be limited in our options. For example, you would have only one shot, or perhaps two at the most, because the people in the park would be alerted immediately by the noise."

"That's right," Lightstone concurred.

"One shot, unexpected, would be just an echo in the night," Chareaux went on. "But two, some time apart…" He left the rest unspoken.

"If I had any common sense, I'd say no, right now."

"Yes, of course you would, as I would," Chareaux nodded understanding. "But isn't it true that we are always drawn to the things we fear? The true man who fears the sharks will continue to dive. He who fears the heights will continue to climb. Who are we to change what has always been?"

"So what all this comes down to is that you want me to give up my nice easy hunt for one that's a hell of a lot more risky, just to keep your rich buddy in there happy. Is that about it?"

"That is it exactly," Chareaux agreed. "That is why I make the offer to you. This other one-" he gestured with his head back toward the motel "-I think he is not so much interested in the challenge of the hunt as he is impressing the woman. I have seen it many times before. It is in his eyes… although I think not so much in hers," he added with a smile. "For him, the risks of this special hunt would be much too great."

"I think I know why I'm willing to take the chance," Lightstone said after a moment. "But what about you? I'm paying you good money, but I'm not paying you that much."

"I value you as a customer, and you do not insult me by questioning my word." Chareaux shrugged. "Beyond that, I have caused you difficulty and I would owe you that much in any case. But even so," he added, "there is yet one more condition."

"What's that?" Lightstone asked suspiciously.

"If I have to send one of my brothers out into the park to find your bear, and have the other stay close to the ones we have already located, then I will have no one to assist me in helping my rich fool of a client to impress his woman."

"Yeah, so?"

"So in exchange for a more dangerous amusement later this evening, for which I charge you nothing because he will pay," Chareaux nodded back toward the motel again, "I would ask you to be my assistant now."

"You want me to work for you?"

"I think it would not be so much work as perhaps pleasure," Chareaux said. "After all, I am told that your aim is true. You are healthy and strong, the woman is sexy and beautiful, and it is clear that my foolish client has already made her angry for some reason. Who is to say that she would not be more impressed by you than by him?"

"What exactly would I have to do?" Lightstone asked, trying to convince himself that the woman had nothing to do with this.

"Carry a heavy pack. Help my brother to drive the animals. Be there with your rifle if a shot is missed and any of them are in danger. Assist me in cleaning and transporting their trophies. Be available as a distraction if the need should arise." Chareaux shrugged again. "It is not so much."

Only everything that I need to put you away, Lightstone thought, wondering if he was pushing his Henry Allen Lightner role too far.

"It is up to you," Chareaux said. "If you are agreeable, I can go ask him right now."

Lightstone hesitated for one last time, determined to make it look right, because he would never again have a chance like this with Alex Chareaux. Especially not if "transporting their trophies" meant what he thought it meant-that he would be allowed to help deliver the illegally killed animals to the Chareauxs' illegal taxidermist.

Wait until McNulty hears about this, he thought.

"I'm agreeable," he finally said. "Go ahead and ask."