She turned off the Jeep and sat. Now what? It had all seemed simple the way Zack had explained it. He'd guard the one road and she the other. But now that she was here, the question of how exactly she would go about this caused her some anxiety. Once a vehicle came upon her from behind, how could she know if they were innocent vacationers and hunters, or the suspects? And if it was the truck with the beast, how could she keep them at bay?

  The woods around her were silent at first, but then as she listened at her open window she became aware of small sounds; the occasional moan of the wind through the treetops sounding like a far-off vehicle rushing by, the echoing rap of a woodpecker with the speed of a hydraulic drill, the snap of a twig somewhere nearby, a rustle of something in dry leaves on the forest floor. Her nerves grew taught, and she picked up her cell phone and glanced at it. Her heart sank as she saw there was no signal.

  Susan now felt utterly and helplessly alone, with no way to reach out for help, and with no plan.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Zack found a rock of a suitable height along the road near the intersection and sat down. In the stillness that followed, the full realization of the foolishness of his plan settled upon him like a dark cloud.

  He glanced at his phone. He had no cell signal, which was not surprising. His phone was SAT-capable, as was Eagle Feather's phone when he bothered to answer it. But Susan did not have a SAT phone, which left her on her own. Not good planning, that.

  It was now late afternoon. In the Central Valley, which he'd just left, there would be daylight well into the evening. But here among the mountain ridges, darkness came much sooner. He had no light other than that on his phone. His phone battery was at seventy-five percent, so that was okay if he didn't spend battery power recklessly.

  His mind turned to the tactical situation. He would try to stop any vehicle approaching from the forest, interview the driver, and use his FBI credentials to search the vehicle if necessary. If there was resistance, however, he'd be in a precarious situation, without a vehicle, without backup. Just the sort of situation an agent was taught to avoid. Janice must never know about this, he thought..

  Worse, he'd placed Susan and Eagle Feather in even more precarious positions. He grimaced at the thought. Maybe he should call Janice, and ask her to divert the hunter agents to Susan's location. But he had no idea when that mission was scheduled to begin. If the helicopter wasn't already in the air, it would do no good. There just wasn't time.

  Zack called Eagle Feather instead.

  "How close are you to your position?"

  There was a pause before his response, which sounded breathless. "Not close. Maybe fifteen minutes from my truck. Then twenty minutes to the location."

  Zack sighed.. "Okay, change of plans. Forget your assigned location. I want you to drive on to Susan's location." Zack gave him the GPS coordinates. "She needs backup. At this point, it's all a long shot anyway."

  Zack slipped his phone back in his pocket. If the vehicle with the beast had left the forest by the Pine Canyon route, they were probably too late anyway. But the vehicle would then most likely drive east on Route 166, which meant it must pass Zack's location if it had not done so already. Since Susan had left him here, no vehicle had gone by traveling east. But he would need to note each one that did.

  Zack regretted his impulsive plan. Rather than trapping the mysterious vehicle and the equally mysterious beast, he had ended up dividing his team, possibly exposing Susan to danger, and worst of all, wasting valuable time.

  The whine of an approaching vehicle interrupted his mental self-rebuke. It was traveling at high speed on the highway, coming toward him from the west. He set his phone on camera mode and waited.

  The vehicle swept by at high speed. It was a panel truck, with a colorful design painted on the side. It went by too fast for him to read. Right behind it was a black sedan and behind that a white pickup truck, followed by a black pickup with a covered bed and a red logo on the door, which he couldn't read either. Then nothing.

  He sat back down on his rock and reviewed the film. He paused it where the panel truck was directly abreast of him, and studied the picture. The colorful design turned out to be balloons of many colors with writing blurred by motion, but just legible: Party Supplies. The truck was not coated by dust nor was its body raised for off-road driving. however, it could not be dismissed as a possibility.

  Zack dismissed the black sedan behind it and paused on the white pickup truck. It had no identifying features but was large and capable of handling rough roads, but its bed appeared empty, and it was so clean it seemed it must have just been through a car wash. Still, Zack could not dismiss it.

  The last vehicle in his film, the black pickup with the bed cap was interesting. Its sides behind the wheel wells had dirt spirals coating them, a truck that had traveled dirt roads. It had good ground clearance and big tires. The tonneau had shaded windows concealing anything within.

  Zack zoomed in on the round, red logo on the cab door. It showed a single tree encircled by lettering. He zoomed more. The lettering read New Generations. That was all.

  Silence settled around him once again. He felt the first whisp of a cool breeze forecasting the setting of the sun. Once the illuminating orb had dropped behind the mountain range, this game would be over.

  Zack's stone grew increasingly uncomfortable. The pain from his ribs demanded a rigidly upright posture which grew tiring, yet to stand to alleviate those tiring muscles would be even more painful.

  Another parade of vehicles came to his ears and then appeared one by one, flashing by, but coming from the east, and so of less interest. At this hour, there appeared to be more traffic heading west toward Santa Maria than east toward Maricopa. Probably evening commute traffic, Zack thought.

  He heard the hum of more traffic, now coming from the west. With it, came the distant percussive sound of a large diesel vehicle engine braking on the descent. Zack stood, groaning, and readied his phone. He noticed while peering through the camera how shadows had lengthened since the last photos. His abortive idea would mercifully end soon, he thought in disgust.

  The big semi had a long tail of impatient drivers, tightly packed. Zack filmed. Then more vehicles flashed across his view from the opposite direction, momentarily confusing him. It seemed a useless task, but he continued in the forlorn hope something useful might be visible in a detailed study of the footage later.

  With a grunt of real pain, Zack resumed the seat on his rock. By now the sun's orb had caught the higher fringe of the mountains and shadows merged into dusk and any further attempt at filming would be useless. His mission narrowed to guarding against any vehicle exiting the National Forest interior on the road behind him.

  But none ever came.

  Zack sighed with relief when his phone buzzed. It was Eagle Feather.

  "Any luck?"

  "Nothing," Eagle Feather said. "I followed a tanker truck all the way from Tepusquet Canyon Road to Susan's location. It was slow and smelly. She had the road blocked, but no vehicles had approached her from either direction." He paused. "I don't think she was disappointed."

  Zack sighed. "Well, this has been a real bust. Okay, then, come pick me up, please."

  It was fully dark when the two-vehicle caravan pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. After arranging for two more rooms, they all gathered in the hotel dining room.

  Susan asked the question they all had in their minds.

  "What now?"

  Zack felt both pairs of eyes on him. He felt helpless. "Honestly? I have no idea."

  He sipped his beer.

  No one spoke.

  Eagle Feather broke the silence. "I am not wrong," he said. "I was not wrong before about where we found the girl. No one had walked away from that place."

  Susan nodded. "He had used the trees."

  "Yes. And I am not wrong now about the beast entering a truck or a van. But someone drove the truck to that place. It was not there long. The beast entered the van and they drove away."

  Zack's eyes rested on his friend as he gave a slow nod. "Yes. Evidence is evidence and facts are facts. If the only solution seems impossible––"

  "Then the impossible is the only solution," Susan said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  After dinner, the three friends retired to Zack's room to review his series of short videos on his laptop. The films were all they had from a long day's effort.

  Susan plopped down on the bed, propping her head on an elbow to see the screen.

  "We tried to do the impossible today," she commented. "The chances of catching that truck were minimal, to say the least. What if they decided to stay in the woods and camp for the night?"

  "You don't need to remind me it was a bad plan," Zack said, a little piqued. "I know it well enough."

  "It was all we could do," Eagle Feather said.

  "What about the helicopter Janice was sending to scout the forest service roads?" Susan asked.

  "I suspect the reason we've not heard from her is they were not successful," Zack said. "I worry she's ready to pull the plug on our entire mission. She'll quietly fill the woods with hunters and hope for the best. But she would never have it known that the FBI was hunting a Bigfoot."

  He opened the first video he'd shot of passing traffic and paused on his best shot of each vehicle. He noted the description of each one on a hotel pad. A total of twenty-four vehicles had passed going east in that time frame. Of those, he had clear pictures of fifteen; the others were just blurs. Everyone offered their thoughts and comments on each picture as he paused it.

  "Okay, that's it," Zack said, sitting back in his chair. "Of the fifteen vehicles that are clear enough to identify, only five could have traveled those forest roads. Three of those five are pickup trucks with no sign of dust or dirt on them."

  "Could they have washed them somehow?" Susan did not sound convincing.

  "Anything's possible, however unlikely," Zack said. "But for now, let's talk about the remaining two. One is the black pickup truck with the dual wheels and caked dirt and that red logo on the door." He glanced at his pad. "The logo reads New Generations, and the truck had a tonneau cover on the back. We agreed it was a good possibility. The other was the grey camper truck in the final group with good ground clearance and big tires, its body streaked with dirt." He looked at them. "Thoughts?"

  "The Mercedes camper truck should be easy to track down, don't you think?" Susan asked. "It is very expensive, possibly custom ordered. How many of those could there be?"

  Zack shrugged. "I've personally seen a lot of them. But yes, it's a good place to start."

  "We can Google New Generations," Eagle Feather said. "Something might pop up, and if it doesn't, that's grounds for suspicion."

  Zack relinquished the keyboard. "Sure, go ahead," Zack told Eagle Feather. "I'll begin researching Mercedes camping vans in California." He picked up his phone, but it rang on its own as if coming alive at his touch.

  "Hi, Janice," he said, without even glancing at the screen.

  "Any luck?"

  "No, we did not trap any suspects on the service roads. We're checking two possible vehicles that passed on the highway, but it's a long shot."

  "The helicopter surveillance was unsuccessful," Janice said, in her turn. "Either there was no vehicle out there, to begin with, or it had left the forest by the time the helicopter arrived. They returned to Santa Maria to transport our hunters to the area early tomorrow morning."

  Zack groaned. "I had hoped you'd postpone the hunt until we've exhausted all our leads."

  "It seems to me you have."

  Zack had no response.

  Janice went on. "Okay, the bad news. I sent another group of hunters to where you were attacked, but the Tule River people won't let them on the reservation. They think we're trying to destroy an important icon of their culture. We'll need to convince them of the danger to their people. I don't know how long that will take, but if they threaten to go public over this, we'll have to pull out."

  "I think you should pull them out anyway."

  "Do you? It would mean the end of your mission. It's gone on too long. We can't risk any journalist reporting this story. It would make a mockery of the FBI."

  "We might yet find a lead from our research of these vehicles," Zack said, in desperation.

  "Good luck with that."

  Zack held the now mute phone up in the air like a dead thing,

  "She's ending it," Eagle Feather guessed.

  "Pretty much. But keep working on that logo. I'm gonna call a friend who works for the California DMV. It's all we've got left."

  He turned to his phone, but again it rang before he could place the call. This time it was Louis DeSoto.

  "Zack, did you send a pack of hunters to go after Hairy Man?" His voice was a high-pitched squeak. He was upset.

  "Well, no, I didn't. But my boss did. This creature is dangerous."

  "The tribe will not allow it. You people want to hunt down a part of our culture."

  "Wait a minute," Zack said. "You were gung-ho to catch this thing, last I knew. Now you're opposed?"

  "I wanted to understand it, to solve the puzzle of its existence. Not try to kill it off."

  "Them off," Zack said. "We've established there is more than one. And right now my ribs are telling me how dangerous these things are."

  "The bear is dangerous, the mountain lion is dangerous, the rattlesnake is dangerous, but my people never tried to eradicate them," Louis said, sullen. "We learn how to live with them. We share their spirits."

  "Look, Louis, you are the one who started all this. This creature kidnapped a girl and killed a man right there under your nose. You made the right call to go to the FBI. This thing can not be left to roam around endangering anyone it comes across."

  "My people will not let you hunt it down like a wild boar."

  "Louis, you must admit the recent actions of this beast are an aberration from anything in its past. It has changed. It is now dangerous."

  Louis mumbled. "It didn't kill the girl, did it? And maybe the man who died tried to hurt it."

  Zack became exasperated. "Look, Louis, I am no more happy than you about agents going into the woods after this creature. No good can come of it. Judging from what happened to me, I doubt they'll be successful anyway. It's a recipe for a real mess. But when citizens are kidnapped and killed, whether by a mountain lion, bear, or Hairy Man, that creature must be removed."

  "Well, convincing me isn't going to help," Louis said, finally. "I have no authority one way or the other. You'll have to convince the Tribal Council."

  "Okay, who should I call?"

  "Call Jim Yazzie. He's the Range Rider Supervisor. His department is the one that will ultimately have to deal with your hunters. If you can convince him, he might convince the Tribal Council. But I wouldn't hold my breath."

  "Okay, Louis, thanks for that. I'll give it a try. What's his number?"

  Zack called the number Louis supplied. A deep, resonant voice answered.

  Zack identified himself.

  "How can I help you, Agent Tolliver?"

  Supervisor Yazzie listened while Zack explained.

  "This is a complicated situation, Agent Tolliver," Yazzie said. "I suggest we meet in person. Can you come to Porterville?"

  "I'm here."

  "Excellent." Yazzie agreed to meet Zack in the hotel coffee shop at eight the following morning.

  Eagle Feather was waiting for Zack to finish his call. "Take a look at this, White Man."

  Zack went to look over the Navajo's shoulder. A business web page filled the screen. The bright red logo they'd seen on the truck was prominently displayed.

  "Where are these people located?" Zack asked.

  "Right here in Porterville," Eagle Feather said. "It seems they are a combination of lab research and services." He scrolled down the site. "They offer dairy farmers various ways to enrich the quality of their herds, including by cloning."

  "Hmm. So they take a cow that gives a lot of milk, for instance, and duplicate it for them."

  "That's the general idea."

  "I didn't know that was a thing," Susan said. "Or even legal, for that matter."

  "Animal cloning is not necessarily prohibited," Zack said. "But the line is not clear. It all depends on what you want to clone, and what state you are in. For instance, there is no federal law on the books currently against human cloning, but California has a law against it."

  "Okay, but these guys are only talking about cloning cows."

  "Then they're within the law here."

  "So people drink milk from unnatural cows, and don't even know it," Susan said with a grimace.

  "The FDA studied it and finally concluded milk from cloned cows was just as safe as natural cow milk."

  "You've probably already drunk some," Eagle Feather said, grinning

  "No! Don't they have to label it?"

  "No, they don't," Zack said. "labeling is not required for cloned dairy or even meat products."

  Susan's face registered her disgust. "But what was their van doing in the woods, anyway?" she asked.

  "Whoa, there. We only assumed they were in the woods because of the dirt on their truck, but that could just as well come from driving any ranch road."

  "Yeah, I guess so."

  "What about the other truck?" Eagle Feather asked, with a look at Zack.

  "Oh, right! I've got a call to make." Zack glanced at his watch. "Given the hour, though, I'll have to make the call in the morning when the DMV is open." He yawned. "I've got a meeting with a Range Rider Supervisor, whatever that is, tomorrow morning at eight in the coffee shop. Anyone want to join me?"

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  The rattle of heavy-duty cups on saucers and the murmur of sleepy voices coincided with the wafting aroma of bacon cooking as Zack rounded the corner of the corridor to the hotel breakfast nook. It was busy. He scanned the tables as he entered the room and picked out Susan's blonde head near the windows.

 

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