Chapter 8

(Day 4 — 6:30 a.m. — Walker Lake Base Camp)

At first light Grif awoke and dressed before stepping out into the cool, misty morning. Tara was already fixing the coffee and poured Grif a cup. She smiled at Grif, and told him, "I thought she had you for sure last night. I would have intervened somehow if she had gotten you in bed."

Grif laughed, and said, "Thanks Tara. This is like a slippery slope, and it scares the daylights out of me!"

Tara replied, "I don't know that she is a bad woman, but look what business they are in. They mean to put us out of business. She is pushing all of your buttons though Grif. It is almost like she has your Operating Manual."

"So why are you so all of a sudden protective of me, Tara?" asked Grif.

Tara laughed, but then admitted, "Grif, you and Rudy are my best friends in the whole world. I am just looking after your happiness. You really don't want to marry into the Animals First Foundation. Mrs. Wilson would have you back in New York, and I know you would be miserable there. I just don't think she is right for you."

"Well," replied Grif, "that makes us even. You are smitten with Rudy, and to him you are just another pilot with a good STOL plane."

Tara looked hurt. Grif started to apologize, realizing her hurt, but Tara said, "No, you are right. Maybe if I was ten years younger, and one of his pretty airheads..."

"Don't beat yourself up Tara," Grif told her. "If you weren't a nice looking woman we probably wouldn't have gone out last year. I know it was wrong for me to ask you to marry me and I don't hold it against you that you wouldn't."

"It would have been selfish of me to have married you Grif," Tara admitted. "It just seemed like I didn't want to make someone I really care about miserable, and I'd have made you miserable."

"How would you have made me miserable by being my wife Tara?" asked Grif.

"Because I don't know any happily married people," sighed Tara. "Married people are miserable people. At least the ones I know and I couldn't bring myself to enslave you, and make you miserable."

"Tara, are there things that we need to discuss?" asked Grif. "You are the best friend I have and you know I love you dearly. I would never lie to you, or do anything to hurt you."

Tara replied, "I don't know, maybe she is what you need. She's rich for sure! She could bring a lot into the business if she didn't take you away from us. You are going to have to forgive me Grif. I lied to you about Rudy."

"About what?" Grif asked. "I never knew you to lie about anything."

"Good morning everyone," Sheila sang out, like a woman in love.

Grif's first instinct was to run and hide. "Morning," Tara replied. "Sleep well?"

"Like a dream," answered Sheila. "How about you guys?"

"I slept all right, but I had some unsettling dreams," admitted Grif.

Sheila's smile vanished. She now looked at Grif, then at Tara, and asked, "Is there something between you two that I should know about?"

"Nothing that should concern you," Tara countered. "Grif and I are each other's best friends. We work together; we live in the same boarding house, although in separate rooms. We dated last year for a while until I decided that I couldn't make him happy by marrying him. We confide in each other. Is that a problem?"

"Not at the moment," answered Sheila. "I will make him happy though. I will give Grif everything his heart could possibly desire. We will even have our own business jet he can fly."

"Grif isn't for sale," Tara defended. "You should know from last night that he can't be beguiled or bought. I don't mean to upset you at this time, but you of all people should know when something seems too good to be true, it usually is."

"Ladies," Grif interrupted, "We still have two more members of the group to locate, and we need to get breakfast, and then get going."

They both looked at him as though he was ducking the matter at hand and both expected him to back them. After a pause, Grif told Sheila, "Tara's plane can land almost anywhere, even on the trail, where mine needs a runway or water. I need to go with Tara in case she has a problem with your nephew."

"And leave us here defenseless?" Sheila grumbled.

"No, I will leave you the shotgun if you promise not to shoot me," said Grif.

"I doubt anyone will come here and we will be back in thirty minutes if they are where I picked up your sister last night," Grif explained.

"Then why can't you take your own plane?" Sheila persisted, making Grif's mind up for him about her.

"Because those two ponds were joined due to the rain the other night," Grif replied. "They are soaking into the ground and I barely made it off yesterday. It hasn't rained since, and I am not going to risk my airplane and your relatives because you think because I got lucky once, I will again."

Tara suggested, "If you are worried about the kid, why not go out in the rowboat and fish a while? He can't get to you then if he shows up and I guarantee he won't try to swim out there. Please, let us go, so we can get back. Someone has to be here when the troopers and game wardens get here. Otherwise, you folks would have spent the night in a hotel in Fairbanks last night."

Grif gathered his gear and started to inspect Tara's Maule. Sheila came over to him and asked, "Didn't we have something last night? We still do, right?"

"We can still have whatever we had last night," said Grif, "as long as you understand the friendship I have with Tara."

"What is Grif short for?" asked Sheila. "Honey if we get married, I can't let you keep your girlfriends. What would my friends in New York think?"

"It is short for Griffin," he replied, "and Sheila, I couldn't live in New York. I plan to spend the rest of my life in Alaska. I can go outside on vacation, but if I spend too much time out of state, I can lose my various licenses, and citizenship."

"But Griffin dear," pleaded Sheila, "You wouldn't have to work. We have the Foundation to support us. Plus, we now have Barry's life insurance policies. I will buy you two brand new, state of the art airplanes to fly. We can just travel to our hearts' content. The kids go to boarding school, and it will just be you and me, Honey."

That thought about the kids being sent off to boarding school was the last straw. Grif liked her kids and if they did eventually get married, he planned on being a father to them, not that they would know what a father was. His idea was one of living in Alaska and home schooling them.

Tara came up and said she was ready to go if he was, and climbed into the cockpit. Grif sat in the copilot seat. She looked at Grif, and said, "You realize that we are going to get sued over the bears, don't you?"

"They signed a contract," said Grif, "that explicitly denied the support of any guides, or weapons."

"That doesn't keep them from suing us to China and back," Tara pointed out. "It almost looks like you might have to fall on your sword here Grif, and play house with the nice rich lady so she doesn't."

Now instead of seeing an angel, Grif saw only the devil tempting him to sign away his soul. He pointed to the twin ponds ahead, now no longer connected, and Tara set the Maule down right on the trail. Kathy had been awake only a few minutes when she heard the plane approach. She watched it land and taxi almost to the campsite. While Grif turned it slightly to line up with the trail, Tara helped Kathy aboard. Kathy explained that her brother had left her for dead, and taken off without her.

Tara and Grif loaded what was left of the camping gear and climbed aboard. Tara was quickly airborne. Flying to the River Trail, they soon spotted Ricky and the two Zodiacs tied together. He motioned for them to go away. Tara suggested that he was just trying to finish the trip he paid for, and they could pick him up in Kobuk in a few days. They turned back to the Base Camp, and landed.

The boat was offshore, With Tommy, and Bonnie in the bow, and Donna in the Stern. Sheila at the oars, rowed in to see just who came back. It was only Kathy. Ricky, they explained, was floating down the Kobuk River.

Sheila glared at Kathy, and said, "This is your fault. He wanted to kill us."

Kathy started to cry, and dropped to her knees, and said, "Yes, it is my fault, and I am so very, very sorry. He tried to kill me too. Please try to find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Sheila said, "I thought you were a willing participant."

Kathy turned to her again and Sheila saw the dark bruises and cut lips and the eye almost swollen shut. "Last night, when we found the note about Mom going to the hospital, I told him 'No more.' Actually I told him a LOT of stuff was no more and he didn't like it that I wanted to go back to be with Mom. He knocked me out and kicked me all over. Then I saw a huge bear walk past headed this way. I can still see that big old thing like he was walking right in front of me!"

Kathy's bear tale was interrupted by the "wop-wop-wop-wop-wop" sound of the ADFG helicopter approaching from the Northeast, followed by the State Police helicopter. Tara placed the guns inside the main tent. They hovered overhead for a moment, and then sat down within thirty yards of the camp. Two Wardens and Two State Troopers walked towards them. "I am looking for Griffin Walker," the senior trooper said.

He answered, "Here. These are the families of the men killed by the bears down the trail. Mrs. Ray and her younger daughter have gone on to get her medical treatment. Where, I don't know."

"We are terribly sorry," he said. "I am Lieutenant Roberts; this is Sergeant Miller, my pilot, and State Game Wardens Carson, and Gifford. We recovered the bodies of your husband and brother-in law ma'am. At the request of your sister, Tracy Ray, I am here to pick up your niece, Kathy Ray, and your nephew, Ricky Ray. I am also to return you and your children to Anchorage to accompany your husband's remains back to New York for burial."

Then he continued, "I also have arrest warrants for Ricky Ray on the charges of assault and battery and Kathy Ray for aiding and abetting."

"Ricky isn't here sir," Sheila said. "I'm Sheila Wilson. Ricky is trying to float his way down the river. Probably he will try to get his own flight back home. Mr. Walker and Ms. Caldwell will verify that."

"So can I," said Kathy.

Donna then explained to the officers that Kathy told her that she was just trying to keep her brother away from her aunt and cousins. She just had to be convincing in order to not arouse his suspicions.