Feral Nation - Convergence (Feral Nation Series Book 6) Read online

  “The outsiders moving in are rustling cattle where they can,” Nantan told Eric. “Soon, there won’t be any left.”

  “Well, I can see that they would, considering how much ranch country there is out here. I suppose relatively tame cows are a reliable source of meat for those who are too lazy or lack the skills to hunt wild game.”

  “Slow elk,” Nantan laughed. “They are easy to kill! And at the rate they’re going, most of the herds around here will be wiped out in a couple more months. The range lands out here are too big to patrol, and there are too many desperate people who are hungry. After that, I’m afraid if enough of those outsiders passing through survive long enough, the real elk and other game will become scarce too.”

  “I’ve seen it before, in parts of Africa,” Eric said. “Never thought I would here though. It still seems so big and wild out here; so lonely in these mountains and deserts.”

  “Some of it was, when most people still stayed in their cities and towns. But now that they’ve poured out of the population areas looking for someplace to go, you never know where you’re going to find them. Not all of them are bad people of course. Some are just folks with the sense to try and avoid trouble by going where they don’t expect to find too many others. The only problem with that though, is that too many of them from all those different places have the same idea.”

  “And so, they bug out to what they think are safe refuges, only to find them crowded with all the rest who have converged there looking for the same!”

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s why we’re leaving on a boat; at least if I can get my family back to Louisiana where it’s waiting for us.”

  “You may not be the only one with that idea either. You may find that the paradise you’re thinking of is full as well these days.”

  “Maybe, but putting an ocean crossing between us and the worst of this can’t be a bad thing. And I know a few choice islands most people wouldn’t associate with paradise. Some that are hard as hell to get to as well.”

  Nantan was silent for a moment, thinking that over, but then said: “We’ll make our stand right here. It may not end well, but I’d rather die here than anywhere else I could think of.”

  Eric couldn’t argue with that concept, but he wasn’t attached to a particular piece of land, either here or elsewhere. He’d come so close to dying in so many places that it mattered little to him where it happened when the time finally came. Eric had no fear of death, but none of what he was here for had anything to do with himself. Sure, there were risks for his family regardless of where they went, and no guarantees they’d survive the passage or find refuge on the other side, but weighing the odds, Eric was still inclined to believe it was one of the better options. But he wouldn’t make that decision alone, as he had no intention of forcing anyone, including Megan, to do anything they didn’t want to do. Eric knew Megan had become attached to Aaron and leaving him behind was going to be hard for her. Vicky was another complication if she decided she wanted to go with them, as Eric hadn’t planned on such a big crew. He figured Jonathan would still want to stay in Louisiana, but the kid had been so helpful to him that Eric wasn’t looking forward to leaving him behind either. And then there was Shauna and her other family…. Eric stopped himself from thinking that far ahead. Just getting back to Louisiana was going to be challenging enough. Megan had done her best to describe the location of that highway checkpoint where she’d met the helpful sergeant that saw to it that she was taken to the reservation, and Eric intended to start there, once he got Shauna and the others out of the cabin. He would appeal to him and work his way up the chain of command as far as necessary in an attempt to arrange some sort of safe transport for them all. He expected it could be done. After all, Lieutenant Holton had made it happen for getting them out here. Eric didn’t talk of any of this with Nantan and his companions though, as they seemed to prefer silence to idle conversation, which suited him perfectly.

  Once they had crossed into the state of Colorado, Nantan and his men led Eric on a route that still kept them well to the west of the Continental Divide, but within the big national forests that adjoined one another to create a virtual corridor of wilderness north to south along the backbone of the state. They traveled long hours each day, stopping only when it was too dark to proceed and camping with minimal cooking and other activities that could give their presence away. The gear the Apaches carried was minimal, but all top-quality stuff, including sleeping bags and bivy sacks rated for serious winter camping. These men didn’t seem bothered by the cold anyway, and Eric figured they could get by without that stuff if they had to. They were clearly at home living outdoors in conditions that were harsh by any standards.

  “It’ll be a lot worse in another month,” Nantan told Eric. “Good thing you’re going now to get them out. That cabin will be cut off in the winter.”

  Bob Barham had told him as much, and Eric knew it was precisely why the old man had stockpiled so much firewood, as well as food and other supplies. He’d been planning to winter over up there, and there was probably enough for Shauna, Vicky and Jonathan to do the same, but Eric was sure glad they wouldn’t have to now. It was already going to be bad enough facing Shauna again, and he fully expected to be on the receiving end of her pent-up fury the moment she laid eyes on him. The good news he had to tell her would soften her up some, of course, but he knew Shauna well enough to know that she wouldn’t let him off the hook so easily after what he’d done to her.

  Nevertheless, Eric was looking forward to seeing her again, and found himself thinking about her a lot. This was an interesting situation they found themselves in, now that everything had changed here at home and he’d come back to get her and Megan out of danger. Eric had initially hoped to find them all in Florida, of course, and even when he learned he would have to go to Colorado to get Megan, he’d never planned on bringing Shauna here with him. But here she was, and her husband, Daniel, was more than a thousand miles away. Shauna had barely mentioned him since they’d left, and Eric wondered how that would change once she learned that their mission out here was complete, and it was time to go back. Would she look forward to returning to him? Eric didn’t know, but he did know that he’d enjoyed the illusion of having his family back, of working together with Shauna as a team, with a common goal of finding their daughter and doing their job as parents to keep her safe.

  “It’s probably best to use the main trail once we get to here,” Eric pointed, as the men crouched around the national forest map Nantan had spread out on the ground before them the next morning. “The approach to the cabin from that direction isn’t obvious, but I’m well familiar with it now, and we’ll only have to use the trail for a few miles before we turn off again.”

  “And we’ll pass this militia camp where you got the information about where to find Aaron and your daughter?” Nantan asked.

  “Yes. It’s not far off the trail. They set up there so they could intercept any travelers using that route.”

  “And you’re sure you left none of them alive?” It was Luke who asked. He was the best tracker and woodsman on the security force, according to Nantan. Ethan and Aaron had agreed, when they learned he was going.

  “Positive, but you’re welcome to have a look around. It isn’t far out of our way at all, and you may find something useful.”

  “We’ll see it on the way back from the cabin,” Nantan said, looking at Luke. “Let’s go there first because we don’t want to keep Eric’s wife and friends waiting any longer than necessary.”

  Another day of hard traveling took them to the trail intersection Eric had pointed out on the map. Luke went ahead on point and the rest of them spread out at considerable distance along the path to lessen the chances of the group running into an ambush. It was already late in the afternoon and Eric was unsure if they’d reach the place they would turn off for the descent to the cabin before dark, but then everything changed when they all caught up to Luke. He had dismounted from h
is horse and was busy studying the ground along the trail and down the slope on the east side.

  “What is it?” Nantan asked.

  “One horse, and one person, likely a woman, followed the trail to this point from the north, and then turned off and headed down that slope.”

  Eric and the others dismounted, but Luke waved them back until he was finished studying the sign he found in the snow and in the muddy places in the sunlight where it had melted. Hearing what Luke said, he thought he had a pretty good idea of what it all meant.

  “Dammit, Shauna!” He muttered under his breath. “I should have known you wouldn’t be able to wait!”

  “Two days ago,” Eric heard Luke say to Nantan.

  “Are you sure it was just one woman and a horse?” Eric was trying to make sense of it. Would Shauna leave alone, without Jonathan and Vicky? If so, then why was she walking instead of riding. He knew Jonathan couldn’t walk out on his own at this point, and that even if Vicky and Shauna were walking, they would have to take a horse for him, but with so many horses available, why would any of them walk? And why was there only one set of footprints? None of it added up… unless either Vicky or Shauna was riding on the same horse with Jonathan…

  “Only one woman and one horse,” Luke assured him.

  “And you’re certain it was two days ago? That’s long enough that they could be far away by now.”

  “Yes, give or take a few hours. Here, look at this.”

  Eric wasn’t a tracker, but he understood when Luke pointed out and explained the clues he used to deduce the time frame. “Then we need to get to the cabin as soon as possible and see if Jonathan and Vicky are there,” he said. “Shauna may well have taken off on her own. Once we know, do you think it will be possible to track her?”

  “Sure, unless she hits a road somewhere and stays on the pavement.”

  “Maybe you’ll find more sign between here and the cabin that will tell you more.”

  “If it is there, I will find it,” Luke assured him.

  Eric followed close behind him as Luke backtracked along the trail. Eric didn’t have to tell him where the turn-off point was, because Luke found the prints from the woman and horse where they exited the drainage. A short distance down, he found something else.

  “They camped here; built a fire. And yes, there was someone else with the woman. A man. Look at this:”

  Eric saw the pile of coals and partially burned wood in a narrow slot between two boulders. And the footprints Luke was staring at.

  “You said your friend, Jonathan was injured. See here? You can tell where he used a stick or staff of some kind to help him walk.”

  “Yeah, Bob made him crutches. Are you still sure the other woman wasn’t with them?”

  “Only one woman and one man so far. You were right, the injured man must be riding the horse while she is walking and leading it. But he dismounted here, of course, because they camped.”

  “That’s another thing that doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would they camp so close to the cabin if they were leaving? It’s just a short hike down from here, and they could have easily made many more miles after their last night there. We’d better hurry on down there. It’ll be dark soon. Hopefully, we’ll get the rest of our answers when we get there.”

  Eric knew something was wrong even before they reached the clearing where the cabin stood, and his companions sensed it too. For one thing, it was too quiet down there, and though they didn’t see any smoke wafting up out of the drainage from a fireplace, there was a distinctive smell of a recent burn, but no evidence of a forest fire that he could see. Eric signaled to the others to wait, while he went on ahead. If either Vicky or Shauna were still there, he didn’t want to surprise them with the sudden emergence of a band of strangers. But when he reached the area through which he knew he could normally see the cabin through the trees, he could tell that it was gone!

  Eric held his weapon at ready and crept closer, using the natural cover as much as possible until he was near enough to see the details. The sight that met his eyes instantly brought to mind that recent day when he and Keith and Bart had likewise discovered Keith’s house burned to the ground. Bob Barham’s cabin was destroyed, and for a moment, Eric didn’t rule out the possibility that it was some accident that perhaps explained the reason they found those foot and hoof prints leading away from here. But then he circled around through the trees for a closer look before stepping out into the open, and that’s when he could see that the barn was also burned down, and none of the horses were in sight. He studied the scene from concealment for several minutes, and then turned and waved to Luke and the other Apaches to come ahead. Eric wanted Luke to check the area first, before any sign that he might find there was disturbed, and so they waited while he went ahead of them, taking Wolf, their second most experienced tracker with him.

  The two of them checked the rubble first to be sure there were no human or animal remains among what was left of the cabin and barn, and then scoured the ground all around, looking for evidence to complete the story.

  “There were many men here, Eric.” Luke said, when he waved Eric over, pointing out the obvious boot prints. “Ten at least, maybe more. It’s hard to be sure when there’s so many, and they were all over the property.”

  Eric moved closer to the blackened rubble. “How long ago?”

  “Two, maybe three days. I’m guessing it was just before the woman and the horse made those tracks out of here.”

  “So, they escaped whoever did this. But we don’t know if they all did. We’ve got to find out where these men came from, and where they went!” Eric scanned the clearing around the cabin site, and then his eyes fell on something down there in the lower meadow out front and stopped. It was Bob Barham’s grave marker that Eric had erected himself, but at the base of it was something that hadn’t been there before. He asked Luke to come with him and then headed directly to it. It was a small cairn of rocks about two feet tall, carefully arranged for stability and with purpose, but why? Eric crouched down in front of it, examining the smooth stones that must have been collected from the nearby creek, and that’s when he noticed a bit of something plastic under one of them; just the corner of a plastic bag. Eric began moving the stones aside until it was uncovered, and he could see it was definitely a bag, and that the top had been tied in a knot to close it. He could feel something inside and he tore it open to take out a folded piece of a map. At first, he thought there might be a route or something marked on the map, but seeing nothing there, he turned it over and found Vicky’s note on the back.

  Eric read the message through twice, taking in what it said as he knelt there beside the grave marker. Men that may have been soldiers had come here, and they had taken Shauna and all but one of the horses away. They had also taken all of the guns and supplies and then set the fires that burned the cabin and barn. Vicky and Jonathan had escaped because they hadn’t been there when the men arrived, and they had Tucker because they had taken him with them that morning because of Jonathan’s broken leg. The part of the note that Eric kept reading over again was the last part that said the two of them had followed after the men only to find the other horses shot dead and a trail that ended where vehicle tracks began. Vicky had sketched a rough map to the place, down the creek and then right on a gravel road to another turn off. She said they had returned here and found a small survival cache Bob had left nearby, and with that and Tucker, the two of them had left to make their way to the Jicarilla reservation, in hopes of finding Eric there.

  “Dammit!” Eric cursed as he got to his feet, the note in his hand. Lucas and Nantan and the others were all gathered around him by now, anxious to hear what the message said. “The footprints you saw were Vicky’s. She was leading an Appaloosa gelding called Tucker, and my friend Jonathan was riding him because he still can’t walk. And my ex-wife has been taken away by the men that were here. Vicky and Jonathan saw it happen and saw them take everything from the cabin before they bu
rned it. She counted thirteen of them, but there may be more. They followed them, hoping to find a way to rescue Shauna, but they had trucks hidden near a road down in the valley and from there, they drove away. I can find the place where they had them parked.” Eric held up the sketch Vicky drew at the bottom of her note. “When Vicky and Jonathan saw that they couldn’t help Shauna, they decided to try and make it to the reservation to tell me. All of you should go on back there as well. Maybe you can catch up with them along the way. I appreciate your help getting here, but I’ll continue alone from here and see what I can find.”

  “No way are we letting you do that alone, brother. Without Luke, I doubt you’d be able to find them, and even if you did, you’d be far outnumbered. Wolf will track the girl and the young man and escort them safely back to the reservation once he catches up to them. Their trail should be easy to follow, and they are moving slow. Besides, he knows where they are headed. The rest of us will go with you. Luke will be our tracker, and all of us will have your back when we find those bastards who took your wife.”

  “We don’t know that they aren’t soldiers,” Eric said. “But if they are, they are a disgrace to the uniform. Vicky said they shot all the horses once they got the guns and other goods loaded into their trucks.”

  “Then let’s go to that place at first light in the morning and see if we can determine what they did after that. We’ll camp here now, and Wolf will go in the morning too when we leave.”

  Eleven

  IT WAS A LONG night for Eric, as he was impatient to get going to find Shauna’s last known location that Vicky had described. He would have preferred to go ahead and travel there in the dark, despite the cold, but Luke had persuaded him otherwise, saying they might miss something along the trail that could prove to be valuable information. Luke wanted to arrive there in daylight, with time to scour the area for clues before the rest of them converged on it. Eric was grateful for Vicky’s note and all the information it contained, but it was really bad news to learn that the men had switched to vehicles such a short distance away. Vicky and Jonathan couldn’t follow beyond that point, and Eric doubted Luke could either. But the Apache tracker said it wasn’t necessarily a lost cause.