Night Prey

“It was the only part of the house with lights on.” Her hand fluttered to her neck, where her pulse was racing. She hadn’t calmed down even after the drive over. Whoever had broken into the raptor center and her house had succeeded in their attempt to scare her by threatening to harm the birds at the center. She was furious at the threat, but she was also scared. Very, very scared.

Keith ran his hands through his wavy brown hair, then slapped the note with his hand. “Don’t tell my grandparents.” Strength returned to his voice, and he lifted his head. “Grandma and Gramps shouldn’t have to deal with something like this.”

“Good thing you are here to help.” The protective stance he had taken toward his grandparents was admirable. She found herself wishing he had been at the center earlier. He would have known what to do with the intruder. Maybe if Keith had stayed awhile to visit, there wouldn’t have been a break-in at all. Though she tried not to, mental images of birds fluttering wildly and the note on her laptop made her legs wobbly all over again.

Keith stepped toward her. “You look kind of pale. Are you sure you don’t want to come in and sit down?”

Jenna stepped across the threshold. “It’s kinda hot in here.”

“Not much ventilation,” he said.

She moved back outside and turned on the tiny landing. “I think the cool night air would be the best thing for me.” She was surprised that after all these years, he was still keenly tuned in to her emotional state. Surprised and flattered.

They had learned to read each other while rock climbing the last summer they were together. As climbers, they had always gone out in a group, but Jenna had proved to be his best climbing partner. Keith had been mentored by an older climber the year before. The next summer, their last summer together, he had taught Jenna. Because their lives depended on it, they had become adept at knowing not only what their climbing partner would do physically while hanging from a cliff face, but how their emotional states affected them. She wondered what he was reading from her now. She felt so anxious and confused, she didn’t know what to do. But his presence was making it better.

She stared up at the sky. Pulsating stars and wispy clouds accented the black dome above her. Strength returned to her limbs. She wasn’t shaking anymore.

Keith rested his back against the railing, lacing his hands together over his lean stomach. He looked up. “It is peaceful out here, isn’t it?”

“Always calms me down.” She took in a deep breath of fresh night air. “Better than therapy.” She bent her head, tracing the dark outline of the jagged mountains and flat buttes against the lighter shade of sky. Off in the distance, a light blipped and disappeared. She pushed herself off the railing. “What was that?”

Keith leaned toward her. “What?”

“Over there by those buttes. I think I saw a light.” She squinted and took a step toward the opposite railing, cupping her hands over the rough wood of the two-by-four. “I’m pretty sure I saw something. Do you have a pair of binoculars?”

“I can find some.” Keith stepped into the huge room, opened a couple of bureau drawers and lifted a coat and sweater as Jenna peered inside. Artificial light gave the space a warm glow. The place was free of clutter. Keith seemed to desire a bare bones existence. A black German shepherd settled in the corner.

She took a step inside. “I didn’t know you had a dog.” The shepherd lifted his head but remained in the bed.

Keith opened a cupboard. A dorm-size refrigerator and double burner resting on counter space indicated that the area functioned as a mini kitchen. “That’s my buddy, Jet.”

Jenna took another step inside. Two paintings, both landscapes, caught her eye. They were places she knew well, a river and a mountaintop no more than a few miles away. Was Keith aware that he was painting their childhood haunts?

“Found them.” Keith pulled a pair of binoculars from a lower cupboard.

She retreated to the balcony and turned her attention back to the area where she had spotted the light. Nothing caught her eye. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something or someone was out there.

Keith’s bare feet padded lightly on the wood floor. Once outside, he handed her the binoculars.

She leaned toward him and pulled the binoculars up to her face. She adjusted focus and scanned the landscape filled with shadows. “I saw what looked like a glowing light.”

Keith surveyed the tiny landing and then looked up. “Maybe if we get higher.” He tested the railing by shaking it. “I’ll climb first and then pull you up.”

He jumped on the railing and flipped himself on the roof with the deftness of an Olympic gymnast. He turned and stared down at her. “Your turn.”

Already, her heart was racing. As a young girl she had had a fear of heights. Keith had helped her overcome that, but she was out of practice. The old fears were back. She handed him the binoculars first and then crawled on the railing. “This brings back some memories.”

“We never climbed houses.” There was something guarded about the statement.

“Just rock cliffs, right?” Her life would have gone on a completely different trajectory if she hadn’t met Keith when she was ten. Like her father, who was the town’s librarian, she’d spent most of her time with her face buried in a book. She had always loved nature, but Keith’s desire to teach her to kayak and climb had awakened her sense of adventure. If it hadn’t been for him, she probably would have ended up working in a lab somewhere instead of running the rescue center. And she definitely wouldn’t be here, about to climb on the roof of a house, looking for answers to a mystery.

“You’re going to have to stand on that railing,” he coaxed.

“I know.” Her hands were sweating.

Keith pushed himself to the edge of the roof. “My hand is right here.”

She eased to her feet, finding her balance by resting a hand on the wall. Whether showing her how to rock climb or build a campfire, he’d been a patient teacher. Jenna lifted her head and locked into Keith’s gaze. She reached for him. He gripped her wrist. The warmth of his touch permeated her skin to the marrow. “I’m dizzy.”

“I’m right here. Other hand. Let go of the wall, Jenna,” he soothed.

He pulled her up and into his arms in one easy movement. She scooted toward him and away from the edge of the roof. Her hand rested on his chest. Beneath the softness of the cotton shirt, his heart pounded out a raging beat. She bent her head, out of breath. “I never did learn to like heights.” The truth was that when she was hanging from a mountain, if it had been anyone else beside Keith holding the rope, she probably wouldn’t have been able to climb.

“You always did just fine.” His voice warmed.

His face was close enough for her to hear the soft intake and exhale of air. She could smell his soapy cleanness. She’d kept Keith Roland frozen in time. All these years, he’d been the boy who was her summertime buddy. But he wasn’t a boy anymore. His transition into manhood had been marked by such tragedy that she’d held on to the part of him that had been so wonderful, the boy part of him. Here in front of her, holding her, was the man she couldn’t make heads or tails of.

He scooted away, and the coolness of the night enveloped her. “Let’s see if we can spot anything from here,” he said, clearing his throat.

Jenna pulled her knees up to her chest. Then she studied the outline of the mountains. Again, a light flickered and disappeared. She pointed and grabbed his arm. “Right about there.”

He lifted the binoculars, craning his neck slowly.

“See anything?”

He shook his head. “Maybe if we stand.”

“On the roof?”

He laughed, and there was something of the adventurous boy in the laughter. “Come on, you know I can talk you into almost anything.”

“That was when I was twelve. This is not a mountain. We don’t have any ropes to catch our fall. You stand up.”

He nodded. “Suit yourself.” He handed her the binoculars and eased himself to his feet. His hand reached down, brushing the top of her head while he continued to look straight ahead. She grabbed his hand at the wrist and placed the binoculars in them.

He wobbled as he lifted them to his face but maintained his balance. Jenna held her breath. She tilted her head.

“I see them,” he said a moment later. “Lights…moving.” After putting the strap around his neck, he let the binoculars fall against his chest.

“What could it be?”

“People on my grandfather’s land.” His voice intensified. “It’s hard to tell exactly where they are at this distance. Gramps and I used to ride all over the place on dirt bikes, but it’s been a while since then. I don’t know the trails as well as I used to.”

“I’ve gotten pretty good at reading the landscape from having to rescue birds in the weirdest places.”

“That would involve you having to stand up,” he teased.

She took in a breath. “I can do it.”

“That’s my brave girl.”

Her heart lurched. That was what he used to say to her when she made the decision to do something, even if it scared her.

He extended a hand to her and she rose to her feet. She leaned against him to steady herself. She could see the front edge of the roof from here. Even before she straightened her legs, the night sky was spinning around her. She dug her fingers into his arm. He braced her by placing his arm around her waist.

“Steady,” he whispered in her ear.

His hair brushed against her cheek. “Ready now?” She nodded, and he brought the binoculars up to her eyes. The view through the lens was not spinning. Pulsating circles of light floated phantomlike across the landscape. She could discern another larger stationary glow. “Somebody is definitely out there.”

“But where are they exactly? Gramps’s place is thousands of acres.”

She moved the binoculars across the view in front of her. The outline of the mountains revealed the shape of a wizard’s hat and a formation that everyone called the Angel’s Wings. “They have got to be close to Leveridge Canyon.”

“I remember that area. Should we call the sheriff, tell him where to go?”

Jenna shook her head. “The sheriff’s still looking for fingerprints at my place. It would take him a while to get over here. We should go out there now before they leave. What if what is going on out there now is connected to the shooting and the note?”

He rubbed his hands on his jeans, angling his head away from her.

“Someone is trespassing on your grandfather’s land. We can find out who is doing this and turn them in,” she persisted. If they caught whoever was doing this, they wouldn’t be able to harm the birds at the center.

The thought of any kind of confrontation terrified her, though. She needed Keith’s help. Why was he hesitating? The events of the afternoon showed that he could handle himself just fine, better than she could. “Please Keith, I can’t do this alone.”

He crossed his arms and stared out at some unknown object as though he were mulling over options. He turned toward her. “I don’t want you going out there by yourself. It could be dangerous.”

“Thank you.”

He shook his head and let his arms fall to his side. “I’ll see if I can find a map that might help us pinpoint where they are. The dirt bikes are fueled and ready to go in the garage.”

In less than fifteen minutes, they had climbed down from the roof and run to the garage. Jenna placed the bike helmet on her head. She watched him buckle a gun belt around his waist. Considering what had happened this afternoon, the gun was a reasonable precaution. Still, her heartbeat quickened as she slipped on her bike gloves. What were they riding out to?

Jenna turned the petcock on the fuel tank, choked the engine, flipped out the kickstart.

Without a word, Keith sauntered over to her bike while she stepped aside. He jumped down on the kick start. The engine revved to life. She had never been able to get a bike started on the first try.

While Keith started his own bike, Jenna swung a leg over the worn seat. She twisted the throttle to a high idle.

Keith burst out of the barn on his bike. Jenna clicked on her headlight and sped out after him. He waited for her on the road. The hum and putt putt sound of the bike motor surrounded her as she caught up with him, and they headed toward the dark horizon.

FOUR

The helmet enveloped Keith’s head, pressing on his ears and creating an insulated sensation. He glanced back, taking note of the soft glow of Jenna’s headlight. Despite the rough terrain, she kept up pretty well. Part of him wished he could leave her behind and check out the danger on his own. He didn’t want to put her at risk. But he doubted she’d let him go without her, and he wasn’t about to let her go into the canyon by herself. Even after all these years, he felt the need to protect her.

Still, the pinprick to his heart, the memory of her rejection, had made him hesitate. When he had held her in his arms on the roof, her hand on his chest had seared through him. It had taken every ounce of strength he had to pull away.

At seventeen, he had just begun to see Jenna as a young woman. He had been clumsy and unsure of himself. His attraction for her came out through roughhousing and verbal jousts. When they were on the roof, her touch had been like breath on a glowing ember. He clenched his jaw. He revved the throttle on the bike and lurched forward. So what if the feelings were still there, stronger than ever? That didn’t mean he had to do anything about the attraction and be hurt by her all over again.

The road narrowed. The bike bounced over the rocks. Up ahead, he could see the dark shadows of the granite boulders that formed the opening to Leveridge Canyon. He stopped the bike and flipped up his visor. The smooth hum of Jenna’s bike growing closer filled the night air. The crescent moon hung just above the flat-topped buttes in the distance.

Jenna came beside him, geared down the dirt bike and flipped up her visor.

Keith pointed. “If we go this way, we can get pretty far into the canyon before we have to hike in.”

She nodded. “Sounds good,” she shouted as she revved up the bike motor. She flipped down her visor and sped off, kicking up dirt.

He closed the distance between them and rode beside her. She nodded in his direction and then sped a little ahead. Finally, she brought the bike to a stop and dismounted. Keith caught up with her, stopped his bike and pushed the kick stand down.

Jenna pulled off her helmet, gathered up her long hair and twisted it into some kind of knot that held it off her face. He had never quite figured out how she did that. Moonlight washed over her tanned skin accentuating the melting curves of her neck.

She hung the helmet on the handlebars.

Keith turned away. His forearms had begun to hurt from shifting gears and managing the bike over uneven terrain. “You probably ride all the time.” He massaged the area above his wrist. Frustration shot through him. He just wanted to be able to do the things he used to do and not have to be reminded of his injury.

“Bikes do come in handy for work sometimes. Only when I try to start one, it takes three or four tries. It was nice to have help this time.”

He detected a tone of gratitude in her voice.

She turned off the headlight on her motorcycle and took in a deep breath. “Tell me we have a flashlight.”

“Why? You scared of the dark?” he teased as he clicked off his headlight.

“I’m not scared. You’re the big chicken,” she said.

He picked up on the strain in her voice. They were joking because they were both nervous about what they might find in the canyon.

Sitting in the darkness, he said a quick prayer that he would be able to keep Jenna safe. His calm returned.

He loved the remote parts of the ranch far away from houses and any artificial light. The intensity of the darkness had always caused his heart to beat faster. Tonight, the surrounding vastness reminded him of how huge God was. He was just a speck in the universe and God loved him anyway.

“I’m not afraid, are you?” she challenged and then laughed at their game. Her boots scraped the hard rock. She moved so she was standing next to him. Her shoulder brushed against his, sending a charge of electricity up his arm. “It’s like a game of chicken, right?” she whispered.

They stood for a moment, shoulders pressed together. The game helped lighten the tension over what they might be facing in the canyon. Keith focused on the gentle inhale and exhale of Jenna’s breathing.

He leaned forward and felt along the handlebars until he touched the canvas tool bag, then reached in. His fingers wrapped around the cold metal cylinder of the flashlight. He clicked on the light and shone it in her direction being careful not to shine it directly in her eyes.

“Should we get going?” She turned and headed into the canyon.

Once she wasn’t looking at him, he touched the gun on his hip. He had every confidence all his training meant he could deal with whatever they faced, but could Jenna? Once again, he thought that maybe he should have told her to go back home. But he knew he wouldn’t have been able to talk her out of coming. Her determination to end the threat against her birds was strong. That somebody thought his grandparents’ land was open for public use was wearing on him, too. The sooner they got to the bottom of this, the better.

He increased his pace and caught up with Jenna. He tuned into the sounds around him, ready to respond to any threat.

He shone the flashlight ahead of her. “Careful, you don’t want to fall.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

They hiked over the rocky ground as the canyon walls closed in on them.

She stopped and grabbed his wrist. “You hear that?” She spoke in a harsh whisper.

Keith turned his head and listened. A faint mechanical thrum, like a bee buzzing under a glass jar, pressed on his ears. He shone the light. Only the granite walls of the canyon came into view.

Jenna rested a hand on his shoulder. “We must be close. I say we keep going.”

He picked up on a hint of fear in her voice. “Let me stay in front.” He trudged forward, and she followed behind him. The noise faded in and out, but always sounded far away. The canyon walls, though, had a way of creating echoes that played tricks with sound.

The smolder of wood burning thickened the air and filled his nostrils. They were close.

The distance between the walls of the canyon increased as they stepped into an open flat spot with no vegetation.

He shone the flashlight which revealed motorcycle and four-wheeler tracks. “What happened here?”

“Trespassers, big-time.” Anger coursed through Keith. The nerve of people disrespecting his grandparents like this.

Jenna grabbed his hand and aimed the flashlight toward the source of the smoke. “It looks like the campfire was just put out.” She walked over to it and kicked at the rocks that formed a circle.

Keith edged toward Jenna. “We could hear the sound of their bikes on the way up the canyon. They are probably still pretty close.”

Even though he couldn’t hear anything now, an inner instinct told him they were not safe. The air felt stirred up.

He shone the light around the edges of the camp. Only blackness. A coyote howled in the distance. Jenna gripped his arm. Keith aimed the flashlight a few feet from the fire, revealing empty beer bottles. He wanted to believe that it was just teenagers having a party, but something felt more sinister here.

“Where do you suppose they went?”

He stepped away from the fire. The tire tracks went around in circles like someone was joyriding.

She continued to hold his arm as they stepped toward the surrounding forest. Some of the tracks led out of the camp to the east and others went in the opposite direction. “They split up,” she said.

Or maybe not. It was hard to tell. The tire impressions were distorted by darkness and uneven ground. The riders had crisscrossed over each other’s paths a dozen times.

As if she had read his mind, Jenna said, “I count two four-wheelers and two, maybe three dirt bikes.”

“At least.” It was a big group, anyway. He turned his attention in the other direction. Maybe another three or four riders had gone that way. What were they after? What had brought them here?

Jenna gripped his arm even tighter. “That’s a lot of people,” she said.

Whether they were teenagers or not, the thought of someone tromping around his grandfather’s ranch and shooting at him and Jenna infuriated him. Had Gramps’s land been targeted because he was older and less able to fight back?

Jenna tensed. “They’re coming back.” Panic filled her voice.

The mechanical clang of a bike motor echoed through the canyon. “I can’t tell where it’s coming from.” Keith angled his torso to one side and then pivoted in the opposite direction.

The noise grew louder, then softer, then increased in volume again.

“This way.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and stepped toward a stand of trees. After Jenna slipped behind a tree, he clicked off the flashlight and settled beside her on the ground.

The roar of the bike intensified. A second motor was added to the mix. He brushed a hand over the gun in his holster. Jenna pressed close to him.

They crouched with the darkness surrounding them. Jenna’s clothes rustled as she shifted on the ground. She stiffened when the bike noise got louder and then relaxed when the clatter of the motors faded.

“I think they are gone,” she said as she melted against him.

“Maybe.” He couldn’t hear anything, either, but he wasn’t convinced the danger was over.

He clicked on the flashlight to have a quick look. Jenna uttered a sound as though she were about to say something. But then her fingers gripped his upper arm.

The roar of a four-wheeler was on top of them with the suddenness of an explosion.

Jenna stood up halfway, and Keith pulled her down as he clicked off the light. “You’ll be seen.”

In an instant, a four-wheeler was in the camp, followed by a second one, blocking the path Keith and Jenna had taken into the canyon. As the noise assaulted his ears, adrenaline surged through him. They couldn’t leave the way they had come. Jenna clung to him, wrapping her arm through his.

The riders wore helmets, making it impossible to tell who they were. One of the four-wheelers turned in their direction, catching them in the headlights. They’d been spotted. Keith turned, pulling Jenna deeper into the trees.

The rider turned off his engine and dismounted from the bike. He stalked toward the trees where they had taken cover.

Keith searched his memory for the layout of this part of the ranch as they ran through the forest. Behind them, one of the four-wheelers faded in the distance.

They scrambled through the darkness. A branch whacked against his forehead. He shone the light briefly to find the path with the least hazards and then turned it off.

Jenna tugged on his shirt. “This way.” She sucked in air and struggled to speak. “We can circle back around to the other side of the canyon.”

Behind them, branches broke and cracked. They were being chased.

Still holding on to Jenna, he plunged into the inky darkness. They worked their way down a rocky incline away from the trees. Keith glanced behind them where a light bobbed.

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