Chapter 62

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Chapter 62: All these Heroes Come and Go 

"Edward, don't be stupid!” Roger nearly yelled, slamming his open hand on his desk in anger. “There is no way in hell I'm going to let you go out there with a gunman on the loose in this park. You're an interpretative ranger, not law enforcement. Even if you found people, what would you do? How would you protect them and yourself if this nutcase found you and started shooting at you?"

"So what's the alternative Roger, huh?” I challenged, my temper rising. “We just leave these people out there in the wilderness, completely ignorant of the danger?"

"Of course not!" Roger exclaimed indignantly. He paused and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm. I followed his lead as we both realized that we let the stress of the situation get to us. 

"I'm sorry, Roger. I know you have a lot going on right now and I don't mean to be adding to your problems. I just want to help."

"Running off into the park is not the way to do that," Roger said evenly. "Several helicopters are on their way. Most of them are going to try to pinpoint the sniper, but we'll send one out to try to locate the hikers and get messages to them, letting them know what's going on. They can even airlift people out if necessary."

"Who's going with them? I mean, they should have a ranger with them who knows the park well, to steer them in the right direction. Let me at least do that. It'll be safe in the helicopter."

Our eyes locked and I could see he was weighing his options. "Come on, Rog. You know what I'm saying makes sense. You have plenty of rangers out there to babysit the people who are already here. Let me go help find the rest."

"Fine," Roger huffed out, "but only because it makes sense to send a ranger in the helo. Hold on." He picked up the phone and dialed one of the numbers he had written down on a pad in front of him.

"Hey, it's Donovan from Mount Rainier. Is Officer Bentley available?" he waited a moment for the officer to get to the phone before he spoke again. "Officer Bentley, one of my rangers would like to go up with your guys in the helo that's going out to look for hikers. We think having him along will make your pilot's job easier. Is there still time to arrange that?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose as Roger listened to the response. I could hear a garbled voice, but I couldn't make out the words.

"Okay, that's perfect. I'll tell him and have him ready for you when your guys land," Roger finally said. "Thanks officer. Is there any other news? Yeah, I figured. All right, I'm sure we'll be talking again soon. Let me know if you hear anything and I'll do the same."

He hung up the phone and looked to me. "They're sending an armored SWAT team in the helo to help protect the visitor's center if necessary. They should be landing in the parking lot in fifteen to twenty minutes. When they get off, you can get on. Get ready. You may want to start writing out some messages that you can drop down to the people you find. It'll be easier to do that down here than in the helicopter."

"I'm on it. Thanks, Roger," I said as I turned to leave his office.

"Yeah, yeah," he waved me off. "And Edward?"

"What?"

"You may want to leave your hat in here. You'll have to wear some sort of headset in the helicopter so you can talk to the pilot, and the hat would just get in the way. And grab a parka, too. It'll be too cold and windy up there for that light jacket," he said, gesturing to a row of hooks where he kept his NPS issued jackets of different weights for different seasons.

"Oh, right," I said, pulling the hat off my head. "Feels weird to be working without it on," I said as I laid it on top of a filing cabinet.

"It'll be here waiting for you when you're safely back on the ground. I expect to see you here later today to pick it up. Got it?"

"Yeah, boss, I got it. Good luck with the coordination. With the choppers coming, they're bound to get him soon."

Roger gave a curt nod and went back to his map even as he was reaching for the phone. I shook off my jacket and hung it on an empty hook, grabbing Roger's warmer parka before leaving his office and closing the door behind me. 

"Any news, Ranger Cullen?"

Gabe Castro, a young volunteer who'd been working on the mountain for only a few months, caught me outside Roger's office, his face alternating between eagerness and anxiety.

"A SWAT team will be arriving here in a few minutes via helicopter to protect the Center. It's just a precaution. There's no immediate danger."

"A SWAT team? In a helicopter? Wow!" Gabe's eyes lit up with excitement. I was almost glad that the Hollywood glamour factor surrounding the arrival of our armed escorts distracted him from the very real danger out there. It was fun to see SWAT teams in movies, but being in a situation where one was required in real life was something different altogether.

"After the SWAT team is dropped off, the helicopter is going to look for hikers and campers in the park to let them know what's going on. I'm going with them. I'll need maps of the park to write a message on. Can you go get me some? And maybe some markers, thick and bold would be good." The kid looked eager to help and this was an easy task. He nodded, obviously happy to be given something useful to do, and ran off in the direction of the free literature counter. I headed for the gift shop store room, where I knew we had cardboard tubes filled with poster-sized photos of Mount Rainier. I picked up a full box and lugged it to the gift store counter, where the volunteer manning the register looked at me dumbly.

"Ring me up, April. I'll take all of these," I told her, pulling out my wallet to take out my credit card. 

"Um, okay," she said with a hint of disapproval. I could tell she thought this was a particularly bad time for a shopping spree, which made me grin. I left her with the credit card and tore open the box, pulling off the white plastic caps covering the tops of the tubes. Gabe appeared beside me with a stack of maps that were free to park visitors and a handful of thick sharpies. 

"Here you go, Ranger Cullen. What else can I do?"

"Let me think for a second what we want to say."

I began to compose a message in my head, then opened a map and grabbed a marker, quickly printing my message in the corner of the map that would not be needed by the hikers: 

A park ranger has been shot

Sniper is at large in the park

Carefully make your way to the Jackson Visitor Center in Paradise

Do not attempt to leave Paradise or hike/drive towards Longmire

I showed my message to Gabe and instructed him to use it as a sample. Then he and I started writing out more, shoving a rolled up map with a message into every tube.

"This is really smart, Ranger Cullen," Gabe said with awe when we were done.

"Gabe, how long have we worked together?" 

"I don't know," Gabe said, confused.

"You've been volunteering for a few months now, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I started out as a volunteer too, did you know that?" Gabe shook his head. "Well, all I want to say is that I was once just like you and now I'm just like you except I have an official NPS patch instead of a volunteer patch on my uniform. So you can just call me Edward. This ‘Ranger Cullen’ and ‘Sir’ stuff just makes me feel old."

"Oh, okay," Gabe looked relieved. From the looks of it, he had been expecting criticism.

"Good."

In the distance I started to hear a distinctive buzz. "That's the helicopter. They'll be here soon."

I looked around the visitor's center for the first time since returning. Everyone was congregated in the middle of the facility, away from the two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows. The other rangers had brought out every available chair and couch to the middle, but there was still not enough seating space for everyone, so the younger people camped out on the floor. I noticed there weren't a lot of kids and asked Gabe about it. He explained that they were all in the theater, which was not only the safest part of the building, but also the most entertaining. Apparently one of the families had a couple of Disney movies with them, which were being projected for the benefit of the youngsters instead of the usual film on Mount Rainier National Park history. A few teens and adults were talking in soft tones; others were looking and poking with frustration at their smart phones. Some people looked anxious, but there didn't seem to be any overall sense of panic. That might change, though, if they had to stay in the center for hours while the drama played out in the park around them. Even though everyone was calm, there was still something strange about the group, something that bothered me.

"How come no one’s talking on their cell phones?” I asked when I finally realized what the oddity was.

“The cops did something to the cell tower to jam the signal. I guess they don’t want the guy to be able to use his phone or something.”

“That’s a good idea, I guess, but it’s gonna piss the hell out of these people if they can’t call home for who knows how long. How many people are in here?" I asked, hoping someone had taken a count. Fortunately someone had, and Gabe knew exactly what it was.

"One hundred eighty seven visitors," he announced. I did some quick mental calculations.

"Okay. I have something else you can do. See if April or some of the other volunteers can help you, too. Find or make up something that can be used like a coupon, and hand one to every visitor. Then tell them that it's like a voucher for up to $20 to spend in the gift shop. Make sure the kids can go first so they can pick out some toys and stuff to keep them from getting too bored. Tell April she can charge all that to my credit card. She still has it."

"Wow, Ra... Edward! That's so generous!" Gabe's eyes were opened wide, but I stopped paying attention to him when I saw Roger emerge from his office.

"Clear it with Roger before you do anything, okay?" I told him and saw him nod in response.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention, please?" Roger's deep timbered voice was full of authority, causing all the heads to turn in his direction. A ranger muted the TV. "I’m Roger Donovan, the Superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park. As many of you already know, we have a situation in the park. Earlier today an armed suspect entered the park while fleeing from the scene of a crime in Seattle. Our law enforcement rangers were immediately dispatched from both here and Longmire to prevent this individual from reaching Paradise. Unfortunately, when he saw the roadblock, the suspect opened fire, hitting one of our officers. He then fled into the cover of the woods, from where he continues to shoot at our other officers, preventing them from reaching the officer who's been injured. 

"I want to stress that the suspect is down the road from Paradise and that we are not in any immediate danger here, in the visitor's center. However, you can obviously appreciate why we cannot allow anyone to leave and drive back down. Also, as a pure precaution, a team of trained officers from the Tacoma police department will arrive here momentarily to ensure that even if he leaves his current location, the suspect cannot get anywhere near the center."

"On behalf of our staff and the National Park Service, I want to thank all of you for your cooperation. We know this is not an ideal situation, but officers from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are heading our way and I'm sure they will have this situation resolved soon. I will be out periodically to provide updates. In the meantime, please just remain calm, stay away from the windows, and let any of our rangers know if there is anything at all that you need. My apologies, but we have been ordered to cut the power to the cell tower, which means you will not be able to use your cell phones to call home. We will set up an alternate way for you to contact your families as soon as possible. In the meantime, the snack shop staff will begin serving lunch shortly, and all food will be free of charge. I am very sorry that circumstances forced us to gather like this, but I think if we all try to make the best of a bad situation, we'll find time passing faster. This is a great opportunity to get to know people you'd never have met otherwise," he added. 

Just then the door opened and my friend Kevin stuck his head in. "The captain of the team would like a word, Roger. And the chopper pilot says they're waiting for someone before they take off?"

Roger threw me a look. I grabbed the box of message tubes and headed for the door just as an officer in full tactical gear, complete with vest, and helmet, walked in to speak with Roger. Outside I was met by two members of the SWAT team who had a bulletproof vest ready for me. One of them held my parka and the other the box of map tubes as I put on the vest and pulled the parka on over it. They then gave me a helmet and flanked me to provide cover as we jogged to the helicopter. I thought that was overkill, but I didn't protest as I battled the cold air whipped around by the helicopter blades, my progress more difficult with the awkward box in my arms.

There were only two men in the helicopter when I reached it: The pilot and an officer sitting directly behind him with a menacing looking, scoped, semi-automatic rifle held at the ready.

"Where do you want me?" I shouted, my voice barely audible over the noise of the engine and propeller. The pilot pointed to the seat beside him and mimed putting on the headset, which lay on the seat. I shoved the box into the foot well and climbed inside. I pulled off my helmet and replaced it with the headset as I settled into the seat. One of the SWAT guys outside closed the door behind me and they both gave a half-wave, half-salute to their buddy in the back before running back to the visitor center.

"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen," I said into the headset.

"Hey, Edward. I'm Pete and our bodyguard back there is Jeff. He's with us just in case, but my mission is to fly away from the action to find your scattered hikers. Where to first?"

I pulled a map out of one of the tubes and showed him our location first, and then the trails that were most likely to be used by the hikers.

"I think we should fly along this one, first. Technically, no off-trail hiking is allowed in the park. Hopefully everyone is following the rules. That would make finding them easier."

"Buckle up, then, Ranger, and keep an eye out your side. We're off."

I buckled my seat belt and felt the weird sensation of the helicopter lifting straight up off the ground, like a very noisy elevator. When we were high enough to clear the visitor center, the pilot veered to the side and flew over the building in the direction of the trail I pointed out earlier. I took a quick look in the direction of Longmire and saw a couple of other helicopters.

"Any news about the shooter?" I asked, hoping the helicopters would be enough to chase him out of the woods or at least distract him long enough so people could get to Aaron. 

"They still haven't seen him," Jeff answered. "Now that the helicopters are there, he stopped shooting. Smart enough to know that would give away his location."

"Have they reached the injured Ranger?" I asked anxiously, turning back to look at him.

"A couple of our guys are driving down from Paradise. They don't want anyone unprotected going out there, making an easy target," Jeff explained.

"Scout while you're talking, guys. Let's keep our task in mind," Pete reminded. "If the guy stopped shooting he could be on the move, maybe towards the people down there."

"Shit!" I turned back towards the window, angry at myself for getting distracted away from the job that I had insisted on doing. Pete flew slowly, since trees partially obscured this part of the trail and people would be difficult to spot. Even so, I didn’t see anyone below us.

“This is pointless,” I muttered angrily. “People could be right below us and we wouldn’t see them because of the trees. I should be down there.”

“You might be able to see more down there, but you would cover a fraction of the ground we can cover up here, and since the hikers are likely to be further away from the visitor’s center, I think you’ll do more good from the air,” I heard Pete’s voice in my ear and cursed myself for forgetting about the headsets when I spoke.

“Sorry, nothing against you and the helicopter. I’m just feeling useless right now. But I take your point,” I acknowledged grudgingly.

We flew for another fifteen minutes before we finally spotted people.

“All right Ranger, here’s your chance. Drop the messages.”

I quickly scribbled “Pass it on to other hikers you meet” on a couple of tubes and dropped them down to the hikers we could see. I hoped my instructions were clear enough. We hovered above, watching as the hikers pulled the map out of the tube and read my message. They gave us thumbs up to show they understood. As soon as he saw their signal, Pete continued flying further along the trail.

We repeated this procedure several more times before we reached the end of the trail. Although we found no people there, I dropped a couple of tubes just in case we missed any hikers on the way.

“Pete, they want you to switch on the com,” we heard Jeff say from the back. “Sounds like we’re needed elsewhere.”

Pete flipped a switch and suddenly we were listening to the SWAT communications channel.

“We pulled out the injured ranger and are taking him to a safe location to get air lifted to the hospital. There’s been no sign of the sniper and we think he may be on the move. We need all the choppers to help us flush him out. Do you copy?”

“Copy that. I have a National Park Ranger aboard,” Pete informed.

We heard a muffled curse, making it clear the man on the other line forgot all about me. “Is he wearing protective gear?” he finally asked.

“We all are,” Pete answered, looking towards me with raised brows.

“We don’t have time for you to put down. Tell him to keep his head low and stay out of sight. The more birds we have up there right now the better. We need you all to be our eyes in the sky.”

“Roger that. On our way,” Pete flicked the switch again so that we were on our own communication line. “You ready for this, Jeff?” he asked rhetorically. “Let’s go find us a sniper. Keep your head down, Edward,” he instructed.

I gave him a dirty look, pulling on my helmet over the communications headphones. “Seems to me you could use another set of eyes,” I told him. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste mine staring at the floor.”

The three of us kept our eyes peeled to the ground as Pete maneuvered the chopper in the direction of Longmire. In the distance, we could see the other two pilots scouring the area as well.

“This really is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Jeff muttered. “If the guy has any brains, he’ll burrow into some underbrush and keep his head down until nightfall.”

“Let’s hope he’s not that smart,” Pete chimed in. “We have no reason to believe he is. If he was, he wouldn’t have all the law enforcement in the area looking for him, would he?”

I was listening to the men talk when I caught a flash of color in between trees.

“I think I saw something,” I alerted Pete. “Just a flash of something blue. Could be a jacket or some trash. I don’t know.”

“Where?” Pete asked and followed the direction of my pointed finger.

“There it is again!” I exclaimed, seeing another glimpse of color through the trees. Pete turned the helicopter in the direction of whatever it was, placing it in his and Jeff’s line of sight and out of mine. I tried to look around him to see out his window. In the back, I saw Jeff slide open the window and bring the rifle up to his eye, pointing it out. I assumed he just wanted to use the scope. I couldn’t imagine him shooting without knowing exactly who or what was in his cross-hairs. One moment we were all excited at having spotted something, and the next all hell broke loose.

“It’s him, it’s him,” Jeff yelled. “Fuck, we’re taking fire! Get us out of here, Pete. Pete?”

“Fuck!” Pete yelled out while Jeff was still speaking. “I’m hit. The bastard got me. Get down, Edward!”

It took me a moment to obey - a moment in which I stared at the small circular hole in the window of the helicopter as I listened to Jeff firing his rifle from the back seat. Finally I ducked as best as I could into the foot well. I glanced over at Pete, who was grimacing and gritting his teeth in pain.

“Edward, can you switch on the com?” he asked in a hiss. I reached over and flipped the switch on the communications panel that I had seen him use before and listened as Pete reported the situation in a terse, clipped tone that was obviously filled with pain. The voice on the other end of the line assured him that backup was on the way. “Did anyone get hit?”

“I took a bullet in the arm,” Pete admitted. “Stings like a mother, but I think it’s just a graze. No apparent damage to the bird.”

“We don’t want to send this bird back to the taxpayers yet. It’d be safer to put her down somewhere,” the voice on the other end advised. “Do you see any suitable clearings nearby? If not, go back to Paradise.”

I poked my head up and looked out my side of the helicopter.

“There’s a clearing not too far to the north,” I told Pete, pointing again. “It looks big enough.”

“Can you tell them where we are?” Pete asked. He was grimacing in pain and I knew it was taking all his concentration to continue flying. I pulled out the park map to get my bearings before rattling off our location.

“He might come after you when you put down,” cautioned the voice over the radio. “We’ll send Kurt to give you air cover, but you’d best hunker down somewhere and try not to make an easy target.”

“Let the bastard try and get us,” Jeff shouted from the back. He had taken a break from shooting to listen to orders from the ground. “I’ll show that MoFo a thing or two about guns.”

“Just keep everyone safe and don’t do anything stupid, officer,” the command from the ground was curt. “We have teams making their way in the air and on the ground. No one needs to play Lone Ranger. We don’t want any friendly fire accidents.”

At that moment a bullet tore through the floor of the helicopter in between the front seats. Shocked, I followed its trajectory to watch it lodge itself in the roof. Jeff swore and pointed his rifle out the window again, spraying the area below with bullets. Pete cursed as well, turning the helicopter towards the clearing in a maneuver that flung my body against the door. My left hand tightened around the seat cushion as I gripped a handle on the door with my right. My breathing turned to shallow, panicked pants. I already knew the situation was serious, but until that moment I had managed to remain fairly calm. The bullet shattered all my composure and it took all the self-control I had not to piss myself in fear. None of my training had even prepared me to be a target of a sniper, and that last bullet came way too close to finding me as its mark.

“What’s going on up there?” he man on the radio asked frantically. “Are you guys all right?”

“Taking more fire, but no one else is injured. I’m putting her down,” Pete replied through clenched teeth.

The clearing turned out to be just large enough to accommodate the helicopter, though the rotating blades sliced through greenery on our way down. We descended quicker than I would have liked and landed with a brain-jarring thump, but considering the pressure and pain he was in, Pete did a great job.

“I’ll keep you covered. Keep your heads down and run for the trees over to my right,” Jeff indicated, directing us away from the location of the last shots. “He shouldn’t have had time to get here yet and he can’t see where the clearing is from the ground, but he probably saw where we landed so the dumb fuck might decide to come and try to pick us off.”

Pete had already turned off the engines and he and I had the doors open before Jeff was halfway through his speech. Before he was even done we were out of the helicopter and running for the cover of trees, bent low to make smaller targets. Jeff was running backwards, keeping his rifle trained on the opposite side of the clearing. He only turned when he too reached a tree line. Pete directed us towards a grouping of young pines that grew close enough together to shield us from view of anyone approaching from the clearing. He slipped to his knees with a grunt, turning his head to look at the dark stain spreading across the left arm of his jacket around a bullet sized hole.

“Motherfucker! Can you see an exit hole?” he asked me in a clipped tone. I looked over his back hopefully, but the jacket was undamaged.

“I don’t see one,” I said tentatively. “It’s not just a graze, is it?”

“Keep some pressure on it,” Jeff advised as he positioned himself in a crouch, leaning against the trunk of one of the pines. He quickly changed the clip on the rifle and pointed it in the direction of the clearing. “I’ve got a pretty good line of sight here. Unless he circles around us and comes at us from behind, I’ll spot him long before he’ll see us.”

“What if he does circle around us?” I asked with concern. The clump of pines provided no cover from the back, and the way Jeff was positioned, it would take him a few seconds to swing around. In those few seconds we could well be dead.

“You ever shoot a gun?” Pete asked. He took his right hand from where he was applying pressure to the wound on his left arm and unzipped his jacket. He reached inside and pulled out a gun, holding it out to me.

“No, I never have,” I told him, keeping my hands at my sides. “Not other than while playing video games, and even that’s been a while.”

“Were you any good at those games?” Pete pressed.

“All right, I guess, but like I told you, I haven’t played in years. I really shouldn’t...” I wasn’t lying. It had been years since I last played a violent video game. Shooting people, even bad guys on the TV screen, didn’t exactly fit in with my conservationist, anti-violence convictions.

“You don’t have to actually use it. Look, I’ll keep the safety on. This is how you take it off, just in case,” he demonstrated, “but for now you can keep it on. You don’t have to shoot anyone, but people are less likely to shoot at a man holding a gun. If the guys sees that and hesitates, it’ll give Jeff the time he needs to do his thing. I’d do this myself but I’m not feeling so hot.”

I saw that the hand he was holding out to me was trembling and watched perspiration bead up on his forehead and above his lip.

“Come on, man, take the gun,” he encouraged when I remained immobile. “This motherfucker is invading your park. You can’t just sit there, unarmed, and let him get away with it. I know you’re not a cop, but Jeff and I need you right now. Remember, the safety is on.”

I nodded and reached out to take the gun from him. As soon as I was holding it, he returned his hand to his injured arm, making me feel guilty for having hesitated. The gun felt heavy and foreign in my hand. I wasn’t sure what to do with it or myself.

“Can you reach some of those branches over there and pull them over here to cover us a little,” Jeff said quietly, motioning with his head in the direction of some foliage that had been torn down by storms. Grateful for the distraction, I scrambled over and yanked the branches back to our position. I piled them up to try to hide Pete, and then pulled over some more to provide a little cover for Jeff and me as well.

“That’s good,” Pete said. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna be fine. The cavalry is on its way.”

As if on cue, we heard a far off thwack, thwack, thwack of another chopper.

“Should they be flying over here? I mean, what if he starts shooting at them?”

“They have whole teams of Jeff’s aboard the other helos,” Pete tried to joke, but he couldn’t keep weariness from creeping into his voice. “If he starts shooting at one of them, he’s as good as dead. Assuming Jeff’s shots haven't found him already. For all we know he’s in the brush somewhere, bleeding out.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the idea of the guy bleeding to death somewhere on my Mountain wasn’t all that upsetting. Better that than him stalking us or any of the other officers looking for him. I sat next to Pete, who was clearly in a lot of pain, and told him to lean on me and make himself as comfortable as possible.

“It won’t be long now,” I said, as much for my own reassurance as for his. “Soon the other guys will get here and they’ll get you to the hospital to get that wound looked at. Is there anything I can do while we’re sitting here?”

“I don’t think so. It’s just my arm and even if the bullet’s stuck in there, it’s not like you can go around digging for it. It’d be nice if I could wrap it up with something so I don’t have to keep holding onto it, but...”

“I’ll use my shirt,” I suggested.

“You’d have to take off your vest to do that, and that’s a really bad idea,” Pete rejected the offer.

“I can tear a strip off the bottom,” I said, pulling up my jacket so I could yank my shirt out of my pants. I tried tearing the fabric, but the stitching held firm. “Shit. I could use a knife.”

“I have a Swiss army knife in my jacket pocket,” Pete said, sounding a little more hopeful. I found the knife in the second pocket I tried and used it to cut through the seam of the shirt. The rest was fairly easy to tear through, until I had to cut the fabric on the other side. It wasn’t much, but it was long enough to wrap a few times around Pete’s arm. I made sure the wrapping wasn’t too tight, but tight enough to keep pressure on the wound, allowing Pete to let his right hand down.

We sat and waited. Without discussing it, we all knew to keep talking to a minimum to avoid drawing attention to ourselves. From time to time I would glance over at Pete, whose face seemed to grow paler. We heard the helicopter rotors overhead, but nothing else than the usual wilderness noises. I kept looking at my watch until Pete told me that it was only going to make the time go slower.

“You got someone waiting for you at home?” he whispered.

I was surprised by the question. “Just a cat,” I said.

“Good. The cat has no idea what’s going on up here. Anyone else would be frantic. I’m sure this thing is all over the news.”

“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed, for the first time realizing that everyone I knew would have heard about the situation at the park. They were all probably going out of their minds. I reached into my pocket for my cell phone, but as I should have known, there was no signal. I wished like hell I had thought to give someone a call while I was at Paradise. A single call to Maggie or Seth would have done it, though in truth I probably would have called Jasper. It dawned on me that if the sniper managed to find and blindside us, the conversation Jasper and I had the previous night, while he was on his way to pick up Emmett at the airport, could very well have been our last. “At least it was a good one,” I thought. “At least I told him how much I love him. At least I have no regrets.”

“Yeah, my old lady is not gonna like that I’ll be late for dinner,” Pete mused.

“Are you kidding? She’s probably praying for a long stand-off, glad to have a day to herself,” Jeff teased.

“Fuck you, Jeff,” Pete retorted weakly. “Unlike some of your girlfriends, my wife didn’t install a revolving door in our bedroom.”

“Asshole!” Jeff responded, laughing. “At least I’m still free, playing the field.”

“Plowing the field, you mean.” Pete and Jeff both chuckled. It was obvious that they were used to exchanging this kind of banter. I tuned them out as my thoughts returned to Jasper. By now the national news feeds must have picked up on the story and he would know that a sniper was in the park, my park. He would know that a ranger has been injured. I could only imagine how frantic with worry he must be. He and all of my family and friends as well. All I could hope for is that Roger had more consideration than I did and that he called Yvonne to let her know we were all right, and maybe she called Maggie to pass on the news. Did Roger even know about the guy shooting up the chopper? If he did, I hoped he kept that news to himself. I took out my phone again, but no signal bars magically appeared while it was sitting in my pocket. Frustrated, I shoved it back into my jacket.

“Must be a smart cat,” Pete commented.

“I’m sorry?”

“You said you only had a cat waiting for you at home, yet you seem awfully anxious to call someone.”

“My sister. She lives in Kent. I was going to stop there after work,” it wasn’t a complete lie, and much easier than talking about Jasper. Jeff and Pete seemed like cool guys, but they were obviously straight and it made more sense not to discuss my sexual orientation with them just in case my initial impression was wrong. I might not have any regrets over how I left things with Jasper the previous night, but I wasn’t quite ready to die, and I didn’t want to give Jeff any reason not to want to keep me alive. I knew from my work at Rainbow Beginnings that not all law enforcement officers were as open minded as Roberto. There were plenty men on the force who had turned a blind eye to violence in the gay community, be it domestic or otherwise.

I glanced at my watch again, surprised that less than half an hour had passed since we left the helicopter.

“How long do you think it will take for the other teams to get here?”

“Hard to say,” Jeff opined. “We don’t know where they started from and they’re on foot. Plus they’re gonna be as quiet and careful as possible. They know Pete’s injured, so that should make us a priority. Still, it could be a few more minutes or a few hours.”

Realizing that I left the map of the park in the helicopter, I closed my eyes to visualize the path the teams would have to get to find us. These would be police officers, not rangers used to hiking through the wilderness. They would be hiking off-trail, uphill, with all the usual natural obstacles that implied. They would also be wearing their heavy protective gear and carrying weapons, and would proceed with caution, knowing they could be shot at any moment. Under those conditions, I could well imagine them taking hours to find us. And in the meantime, all we could do was play sitting ducks and wait, hoping that the law enforcement teams got to us before the sniper did. 

I sat in silence thinking about Jasper and how much I wished he was in Washington, instead of back in New York. I would have given anything to know that when this was all over I would be able to fall into the warm comfort of his arms. If he felt anything like I did whenever I thought he was in danger, he would need that comfort as much as I did. But that was not to be. We would have to make do with a call, or maybe a video conference. Even that was something to look forward to.

A noise in the forest in front of me startled me out of my thoughts. Nothing loud, but definitely something like a snapped branch. My muscles tensed and I sat up straight, pulling up the gun and pointing it as my eyes scanned the trees for any sign of human presence. Jeff sensed my movement and in a flash he turned around, his rifle pointing in the same direction as my gun.

“What is it?” he whispered.

“I’m not sure. I thought I heard a branch snap.” Without moving my gun off its target, I shifted positions until I had one knee on the ground with the other leg bent in front, ready to spring forward if necessary.

“Did you see anything?” Jeff probed further. “Which direction?”

“I’m not sure,” I whispered apologetically. “It was really faint.”

We both stared into the green, and we both heard rustling. I saw Jeff tense as he held the rifle scope to his eye, his finger ready on the trigger. I followed Pet’s instructions and took the safety off the gun I held, just in case, but I prayed Pete’s theory about people being reluctant to shoot at armed men was right. There was more rustling and then I saw movement off to my left. Jeff and I both shifted positions, and we both saw it at the same time. The noisemaker was not a man, but a doe. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and let my muscles relax a little.

“It’s only a deer,” I whispered to Jeff. He was way ahead of me, already turning to point the rifle back in the direction of the clearing.

I sank to the ground next to Pete and contemplated the gun I held in my hand. If it came to it, could I really shoot someone? I never believed myself capable of something like that, but I also knew I’d never hesitate to use any means available to protect Jasper, and this really was no different. Pete and Jeff and I were a unit, at least for the time being. Pete had done his job and made sure we landed safely despite his injury. Now it was up to Jeff and me to make sure we all stayed alive long enough to get him the medical help he needed and to get ourselves back to our loved ones. But how long would Pete stay alive? When I looked over his pale face was contorted with pain, his eyes closed.  

“Maybe I should go back to the helicopter and try to radio someone, get an idea of what’s going on?”

“No way. Too dangerous,” Jeff dismissed.

“I can be quiet and I’m pretty fast,” I argued. The inactivity and lack of information was driving me crazy.

“Not fast enough. That’s exactly what this asshole would want us to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was positioned somewhere around that clearing just like we are, with his rifle in place to take pot shots at whoever is stupid enough to go for the bull’s eye,” Jeff hissed.

I knew he was right, but it didn’t keep me from huffing out my frustration.

“They know where we are, though, right?” I couldn’t stay quiet. “I mean, Pete needs medical attention.”

“The other helos can see our bird and are hovering nearby to show the guys on the ground the way,” Jeff explained. He sounded overly patient, as if he was speaking to a child. I supposed it was a stupid thing to ask, but the fact that Pete did not pipe up to protest his need told me that my concern wasn’t completely unwarranted. Personally, I thought the sniper would have to be pretty dumb to station himself near a downed helicopter. Knowing that other teams would be coming to get us, he’d be placing himself right in the line of fire. Then again, nothing this guy had done so far screamed of high intelligence, and Jeff had more experience with this kind of stuff than I did.

Another hour passed in near silence, with only the sounds of us occasionally shifting positions. Then we heard a shot. It wasn’t exactly close, but not very far away either. Jeff tensed and shifted his rifle in the direction of the noise.

“This is the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. You’re surrounded. Drop your weapon and stand up with your hands in the air!” We heard a shouted command.

For a few moments everything was quiet again, and then we heard another shot, and another, and then volleys from several semi-automatic rifles.

“Shit, sure sounds like they found him,” Jeff said urgently. He looked like he wanted to run and join the action. He turned to look at me and cursed. 

“After all those shots, they probably already got him,” I tried to be sympathetic, even though I wasn’t the only one Jeff had to stay behind to protect.

“Maybe,” Jeff grudgingly conceded. “We’ll soon find out.”

For a few minutes the woods were quiet again, eerily so. Then we heard another shout. “This is the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Hands up. Hands up!”

There was another quick moment of silence and then a voice called “We got him, guys. He’s not gonna put his hands or anything else up ever again.”

Numerous voices cheered and the three of us couldn’t help but join in, albeit Pete’s cheer was fairly weak.

“Jeff, Pete? It’s all over. Where are you guys?” Someone called from the direction of the clearing.

“We’re over here,” Jeff shouted and stood, waiving his arm and walking towards the voice. “Pete needs medical attention. Can we airlift him out?”

I wanted to follow Jeff, but I felt someone should stay with the injured pilot. In less than a minute Jeff and three Kevlar-clad cops came back with a folded portable stretcher.

“I can walk,” Pete protested weakly, but the guys just told him to shut up and placed him on the stretcher.

“Let’s go, Ranger. Time to get you back to Paradise,” Jeff joked.

By the time we reached the clearing, the helicopter that we’d heard hovering before was right above the clearing, dropping down a harness. As the cops strapped Pete to the stretcher, and then placed him and the stretcher into the harness, I introduced myself to the officer in charge, and said hello to Mike, a fellow interpretative ranger that must have come along with the cops as a guide.

“It’s not that fucking serious,” Pete complained as the winch on the helo pulled the harness up.

“We don’t have another pilot to take this bird up,” One of the cops explained, “So we’re going to have to hike back.”

“That’s not a problem for us,” I assured him, speaking for myself and Mike. “We know this mountain very well and can take the lead.”

“All right, we’re gonna split up,” Said the cop with an air of authority. “Jensen, Fitz, Malik, you three and I will stay here to protect the crime scene until the techs get here to do their stuff. The rest of you, follow the rangers back to Paradise. Be careful, though. We’re pretty sure this guy was alone, but you never know. Keep your eyes and ears open just in case.”

“You got it,” one of the guys said aloud while the rest nodded their understanding of their assignments.

“Where is the body?” I asked curiously.

“He’s over there,” one of the cops pointed to an area directly in front of the helicopter. “He was lying in wait, hoping to ambush us as we hit the clearing. Guess he thought we were as stupid as he was. We were all spread out and a couple of guys approached him from behind. He tried to shoot at them too, but he was out of position and didn’t hit a damn thing. They got him, though.”

“He was such a dumb fuck. Did he think he could outshoot us all?” another cop questioned, rolling his eyes.

“Who the hell knows? Maybe he was strung out on drugs and wasn’t thinking at all,” yet another speculated

“But he was waiting here. Waiting to kill someone. That’s premeditation,” a young cop argued.

“We’ll never know. And who the fuck cares? The motherfucker is dead and that’s probably a good thing. This manhunt already cost the taxpayers too much money. At least we don’t have to pay for a trial. The way I look at it, he did everyone a favor when he started shooting at us first, even after we told him to lay down his gun.”

“We’re just lucky that Pete was the only one he actually shot,” I said. “Pete and Aaron,” I remembered. “Have you guys heard anything about the condition of the ranger who was hit?” I asked anxiously. An uncomfortable look passed between the cops and then an older one shook his head from side to side.

“I’m sorry. By the time they got him to the hospital it was too late.”

“No! That’s impossible!” Even as the words were leaving my mouth I knew how ridiculous they sounded. Of course it was possible. Aaron was dead and if but for a few lucky and prudent decisions, I could have been too. One of the bullets that hit our helicopter just barely missed me, and then if I hadn’t listened to Jeff and ran to get the radio, the sniper would easily have picked me off. I could have been lying dead in this very clearing. Jasper and the rest of my friends and family could have easily been in mourning, just like Michelle and her kids. “Aaron’s wife is a ranger too. They have three boys,” I said weakly.

“We heard,” the cop said, gripping my shoulder with sympathy. “We’re all really sorry. It should never have happened.”

“This is a park, a National Park, a place to preserve nature, not a fucking killing field. That bastard!” I felt the sudden urge to see the killer’s dead body for myself. I sprinted in the direction indicated by the cop, ignoring the calls for me to stop and evading the hands that reached out to try to halt my progress. Heavy footfalls thundered behind me as someone gave chase. I made it to the trees and a few paces in, far enough to glimpse the blue jacket that I’d spotted from the helicopter earlier in the day, before a cop stepped into my path. I tried to stop but I had too much momentum and slammed into his chest. Air came out of his lungs in a whoosh, but he remained standing, a solid obstacle I could not get around.

“What the hell are you doing?” the cop chasing me huffed behind me.

“I just needed to see him,” I offered my lame explanation, since I wasn’t sure I understood myself what had propelled me into the woods. “To make sure he was really...”

“You didn’t believe we got the job done?” The cop barricading my path smirked.

It’s not that,” I stammered. “I just...” I couldn’t reasonably explain why I needed to see the sniper’s body. I only knew that I felt I did. That until I saw him for myself, I wouldn’t have the closure I needed to put this horror behind me.

“We can’t risk you spoiling the scene,” the cop said. “But you can get a little closer. Will that do?”

I nodded and I felt him relax as he stepped out of my way. “Just a couple of steps!” he warned.

I took exactly two steps and moved aside a branch that was partially blocking my view. The man lay on the ground on his stomach. His face was turned away. I didn’t know if I was sorry or glad about that. On the one hand, seeing his face would have been more of a confirmation of his death. On the other hand, just seeing the jacket he was wearing soaked in blood and torn up with multiple bullet holes was enough to turn my stomach. I swallowed the rising bile and looked away.

“It ain’t pretty,” the cop who had chased me said.

“I know,” I said, turning around. “It’s just... He shot Pete and he killed Aaron...” I said helplessly. “I just wish...”

“That you could put a bullet in him yourself?” he guessed. It wasn’t a bad guess, but it was wrong.

“No!” I shook my head and my eyes narrowed as I was filled with overwhelming rage. “A bullet’s too good for someone like him. I wish there was a way to make him suffer the way the people he’s hurt suffered, and the way Aaron’s family is going to suffer without him. Those boys are too young to lose their father, and his wife shouldn’t have lost a husband. Why the hell did he do this? Why here?”

“We don’t know everything yet, but I guess there was some domestic dispute in Seattle. He’s suspected of killing a couple of people there. He took off to get away from the cops and drove all the way out here. Maybe he thought they couldn’t follow him onto federal land and that he’d be safe here? There’s no way to know.”

“Hey, the others are waiting on you to help lead their hike back to Paradise,” the cop reminded me. “Are you up for that?” he spoke kindly. “You can wait in the helicopter until they bring out a pilot who can fly it out, if you’d prefer.”

“No,” I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t want to wait. I need to get back to the visitors’ center and talk to my boss, tell him what happened, and to call my family so they’re not worried.” I started walking back to the clearing, annoyed that my outburst had delayed everyone else. Mike was waiting for me at the edge of the clearing.

“Hey, Edward, you all right?” He asked quietly as he approached me.

“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry about that,” I said, tilting my head back in the direction I just came from.

“No worries. You ready to get back? I think the easiest way would be...”

We agreed on a route and set out, trying to keep a pace that would be comfortable for the police. I was surprised to see the parking lot still filled with cars. I would have expected the police to let everyone go back down the mountain after they got news that the suspect was dead. I quickly learned that even though the possibility that the shooter was working with an accomplice was small, the police felt it would be safer to keep everyone on the mountain until it was dark.

Inside the center, the visitors seemed restless, but not unruly. I was happy to see some of the kids reading books and playing with toys I assumed they got from the gift shop. Hopefully they would remember this day for the adventure of doing something different, instead of the real reason they had been cooped up in the visitors’ center all day.

Mike and I were making our way to the Park Superintendent’s office when his doors opened and he stepped out. “Edward, Mike, thank God you’re both safe!” The relief on Roger’s face was clearly evident.  He motioned us into his office and closed the door.

“I wish I could tell you to go home, but they’re not letting anyone leave yet, so we still need you two. But I already spoke with the Regional Director about closing the park to the public. She gave me the go-ahead to close tomorrow. She needs to clear anything longer with Jarvis, but she’s going to argue for a week. That way the cops will have ample time to go over everything and we can operate with a skeleton crew and give everyone time to recover. She’ll also request help from other parks so that we can all attend the funeral.”

“Roger, have our families been told of what’s going on?” Mike asked. “I know you still need us, but could we call home?”

“I spoke with your wife personally, Mike. And Yvonne and the kids are at Maggie and Rosalie’s house, along with your mom and a bunch of other people, so they know what’s going on,” he said to me.

“And Jasper?” I asked quietly.

“I don’t know. I assume Maggie or Seth would have called him,” Roger speculated. “And of course you can both call now. Unfortunately I need to keep this line clear, but there is another phone that we have been using to let all the visitors call home. It should be free by now. If it’s not, let me know. You two deserve priority treatment.”

“You go first, Mike,” I told him. I saw how eager he was to speak with his wife and I wanted a moment alone with my friend.

“Thanks, Edward,” he wasted no time leaving the office and heading for the phone.

“How are you holding up?” I asked, noting the purple shadows under his eyes that even his dark skin tome couldn’t obscure.

“You’re asking me? I’ve been sitting here on my ass in the safe comfort of my office this entire time, while you and Mike and others were risking your lives out there. I was terrified when I heard he was shooting at your helicopter and that you were forced to land.”

“It was a close call,” I admitted. “I had a bullet whizz right by me. Another few inches and...”

Before I could finish speaking Roger jumped out of his chair and pulled me into a strong embrace.

“You were a moron for wanting to go out there,” he said. “And I was a moron to agree. Do you know what would have happened to me if anything had happened to you? Between Maggie and Seth, I would have been scalped and worse. You have no idea how it felt, waiting, knowing that this madman was out there and knew pretty much exactly where you were. I’m the one who talked you into this career path and this job. I’m responsible for you, damn it.” He spoke as he continued to hold me.

“You’re not responsible when it comes to homicidal maniacs running around our mountain,” I told him. “And while I appreciate this, if someone walked in right now and saw us like this, they’d get an entirely wrong idea,” I teased to lighten the mood and it worked. He released me and stepped back.

“If I was even remotely interested in men, you’d be at the top of my list,” he quipped, “but Yvie has spoiled me. There’s not a man or another woman, for that matter, who can compete with her.”

“You know I wouldn’t even try,” I chuckled. “I value my family jewels. Besides, you’re not my type. This gentleman prefers blonds.”

“And speaking of, why don’t you go out there and call him. I was worried plenty for you here, and I knew everything that was going on. I can only imagine how frantic he is all the way in New York with no up to date information.”

“Thanks, Roger. You’re a great boss and a better friend,” I told him and went out to look for the phone. One of the other Rangers pointed me in the right direction and when I got there Mike was just wrapping up his conversation. I waited at a polite distance, not wanting to rush him despite my desperate desire to hear Jasper’s voice. Thankfully, Mike didn’t take long.

“It’s all yours, Edward,” he said, setting the receiver in its cradle.

“Thanks, man. I won’t take long,” I assured him. I wished I could talk for hours, but with all the visitors still at the center, I knew all I would have was a few minutes. I picked up the received and dialed the number I had made sure to memorize despite it being programmed into my cell phone speed dial.

“Hello? This is Jasper Whitlock,” he answered tersely.

“Jas, it’s me,” I said.

“Edward? Oh my God! Are you all right? Where are you? What’s happening?” he fired off questions.

“I’m still at the park, but I’m okay. It was a little scary for a while, but they got the guy. We’re waiting here in the visitor’s center until dark in case he had an accomplice. That’s just a precaution, though. There’s nothing to suggest that he wasn’t alone.”

“And you’re all right? You’re not hurt? I’ve been terrified. This thing has been going on for hours, and you didn’t call and weren’t answering your cellphone.”

“I’m sorry, there was no time to call. And they cut power to the cell tower so that he couldn’t talk to anyone either. Jas, it’s so good to hear your voice. I love you!”

“I love you too, Edward, so much! I’ve been going out of my mind. You’re always telling me to be careful here, always worried about me getting hurt, and yet there you were with a gunman shooting rangers. Seth called Emmett this morning to check in. I guess he had a bad dream or something, and he thought something might have happened to Em or Nas. We had a good laugh over it, and then we heard the news from the park. When they reported that a ranger had been shot I swear my heart stopped.”

“It wasn’t me, Jas,” I assured him, not knowing how much information he had.

“I know that now. I didn’t then. Thank goodness I was still at Em’s place and he and Nas were there...”

“I’m sorry, Jas. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“You’re sorry that I had to go through that?” he was incredulous. “Seth told us that you were in one of the helicopters looking for hikers, and then we heard that the guy was shooting at the helicopters and that one had to make a forced landing. Edward, I... All I kept thinking was that I just got you back after so many years and I couldn’t lose you again. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you again,” he got choked up and I could hear in his voice that he was crying.

“Jas, Sweetheart, you’re not going to lose me. I’ve waited too long to win you back to let an asshole like this guy get in our way. This was just a fluke. Nothing like this has ever happened on our Mountain and will likely never happen again,” I tried to be as reassuring and soothing as I could. “Are you still with Emmett and Nasir?” I hoped he was, so that they could comfort him in my absence.

“No,” he sniffed. “I came in to work. I figured they would be the first to get any news, but we still hadn’t heard that they got the guy. Technically this is breaking news.”

“I’m not sure I was supposed to share that,” I said nervously. Until that moment I had forgotten the business Jasper was in. “Please don’t say anything,” I asked.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. The only news I care about is that you’re okay.”

“I’m just fine. There’s not a scratch on me. But listen, as much as I would love to keep talking, I’m technically still at work, so I need to go.”

“Oh,” he said, disappointed. “Okay, I understand. Call me later, when you can?”

“It might be very late for you,” I pointed out.

“You know I don’t care, not ever, and especially not tonight. Call me any time, as soon as you’re able. I just...even if you’re too tired to talk I just want to hear you breathing, to know you’re there.”

“Okay, I’ll call you as soon as they let us go. And Jas, could you call Seth and tell him what’s going on, and ask him to tell my sister? I’d call myself, but I really do need to get back to work.”

“Of course. No problem.” he replied immediately.

“Thank you! That will help me a lot. I’m sure they’re all concerned. But now I really have to go. I love you!”

“I love you too!”

I hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. I appreciated the fact that neither one of us said good bye. On a day like this, that was a sentiment I did not want to hear.

My brief conversation with Jasper helped lift my spirits a little and allowed me to concentrate on my work instead of dwelling on our loss. Our job mostly consisted of keeping the visitors occupied by answering their questions and attempting to divert their attention from the situation on the Mountain by giving them information about the park, instead. Having shown the available cartoons a couple of times, the theater was now running movies about the park, and a lot of visitors took advantage of that distraction. I very quickly realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and made my way to the snack shop where I wolfed down a sandwich before returning to work. Roger came out of his office periodically to give everyone updates, though unfortunately not the announcement that everyone was waiting for - our release to go back to our families. The police weren’t taking any changes and insisted on everyone making their way out of the park under the cover of darkness.

A couple of FBI officers had set up shop in a corner of the center and gathered information on every visitor, collecting their names and contact information and generally debriefing them, ostensibly to ensure that none of them were connected to the gunman. Given everything we already knew, I thought that was a colossal waste of time, but then again, no one in the center had anything better to do. We were all relieved by the arrival of twilight and then the gradual disappearance of all daylight. About half an hour after blackness surrounded the visitors’ center, the Police began releasing the visitors for the drive out. The rangers all stayed behind until the visitors, cops and FBI vacated the building. It was only then that I finally called Maggie. As I learned earlier from Roger, my mom was there, as were Seth and Garrett. I spoke with everyone briefly, reassuring them that I was all right and promising to relay the whole story when I got to Kent.  Roger and I were the last to leave Paradise and I followed him down to Longmire, where he parked his car. I knew he needed to stick around to talk with the police and the Longmire staff, who were going to spend the night at the lodge in the park. I offered to wait until he was done, but he ordered me to get back to Maggie’s.

“Everyone is worried about us enough already. No need to prolong that if I can at least send you home. Give Yvie a hug for me and my kids too, if they’re still awake when you get there. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

We exchanged a one-armed hug and I followed his orders. I had made this drive in the dark plenty of times, but this time the dark woods seemed more sinister than in the past. Logically Having seen his bullet-riddled body, I knew the suspect was dead and that he probably didn’t have any accomplices, but I nevertheless proceeded with more caution than normal. For the first time, I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the park exit and said good night to the ranger still staffing the gate, mostly to prevent gawkers from trying to get into the park despite its closure. I took out my phone and was disappointed to find I still had no coverage. I placed it on the seat beside me and drove home, glancing at the phone periodically to check if I was within range of a cell tower. It took another ten minutes, but I was finally able to call Jasper. I knew it was late for him, but he insisted that he didn’t mind talking.

“You know, you and the other rangers are celebrities now. When the producers of our show found out that my boyfriend was the ranger in the helicopter that was shot up and forced to land, she insisted I use my influence to book you for an interview on our show.”

I cringed, definitely not eager to discuss the ordeal on public television.

“I don’t know, Jasper. I think your producer should speak with Roger. I mean, Roger’s the superintendent of the park.”

“But he wasn’t in the line of fire,” Jasper pointed out. “I didn’t tell you this to make you feel like you actually had to do it. I mean, she would love for you to do it, but it makes no difference to me. I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to do it. You could use the time to make a plug for the national parks. It’s good exposure.”

I considered it for a moment. “So do they want the interview for the Sunday morning show? That’s just in a few hours...”

“No!” Jasper quickly objected. “I told her in no uncertain terms that you needed your rest and would not be getting up in the middle of the night after this kind of an ordeal to do an interview. They can talk to one of the cops for tomorrow’s show. Actually,” he hesitated. “I hope I wasn’t being too forward, but when she started talking about interviewing you, it gave me an idea. I told her that you probably wouldn’t be all too comfortable with it, but that I might be able to convince you if I can fly out there with one of the junior reporters and work the camera and do the editing. We could do a background piece and maybe a pre-taped segment and then go live for just a couple of minutes with the on-air hosts.”

I barely heard anything after he said that he would fly out here. “Yes,” I said quickly. “I’ll have to clear it with Roger tonight, but as long as he agrees, yes. If you fly out here, that is.”

“The way you say that, it almost sounds like you want to see me as much as I want to see you,” I could hear the wide smile in his voice.

“Want, yes, but also need. It would be so wonderful to see you and feel your arms around me, Jas. What happened today, it shook me up. Aaron wasn’t that much older than I am, you know?”

“I know. This kind of shit isn’t supposed to happen. You’re supposed to have the safe job.”

“Yeah, but this doesn’t mean that you can stop being careful in New York,” I warned.

“Of course not,” he chuckled. “It just means now we’ll worry equally about each other.”

His statement only served to remind me how difficult it was to live so far apart. I could only imagine how helpless he felt being so far away as updates were coming in about the situation with the shooter. I would have felt just as helpless if something had happened to him. We had to figure out a way to resolve the distance situation, and soon.

“Okay, so I’m on my way to Maggie’s house and Roger’s wife and kids are there too, so he’s going to join us there when he’s done with the cops at the park. I’ll make sure I ask him about the interview tonight and give you a call back. If he says yes, how quickly can you get here?” I asked hopefully. The sooner I could see him the better.

“I’ll talk to my producer first thing tomorrow morning. Assuming she approves, I can fly out as soon as I can pack my stuff and the equipment I’d need. We might be able to have dinner together tomorrow,” he speculated.

“Jas, that would be incredible! I have to think about what to make.”

“You don’t have to cook,” he protested. “We can go out or get take-out.”

“No, of course not. I want to cook for you. I want to show you my home. I want you to meet Remmy. If I were less selfish I would throw a party so you could meet everyone else, but I really want you to myself. Jasper, we have to make this happen!”

“I’m pretty sure I can make it work on this end. Just give me the green light after you speak with Roger.”

“You got it, Jas. Oh wow!” I was so giddy with the excitement of possibly getting to see him tomorrow, I almost forgot the somber events that were making it possible. Almost, but not quite.

“Jas, would you be able to stay long enough to come with me to Aaron’s funeral?” I asked quietly. “I haven’t heard anything about the arrangements yet, but it will probably be sometime this week. Roger said the entire park would be closed so we could all attend.”

“Yes, Edward, of course. I’ll be there,” he answered without any hesitation.

“But what about your work?” I asked, instantly feeling guilty for the position I’d just put him in with my request. I knew he had taken a lot of time off for me already, and this trip would be a special favor as well.

“Let me worry about that. It won’t be a lot of extra time, and you need me,” he said quietly. “I do wish I could be there for you tonight, but this is the best I can do...”

“Jas, I couldn’t go back to New York with you when your friends were in the hospital. You’re already doing more than I was able to and more than I could ever expect. I’m so grateful for that. Truly. And I can’t wait.”

We talked for the rest of my drive to Kent. I gave him a synopsis of what happened on the Mountain, at least the little that I knew, but I asked to wait to tell him the whole of it in person. I didn’t want to scare him with the details and, frankly, I wasn’t yet ready to go over them myself, not while I was driving and alone. He understood and helped distract me by telling me about how he’d spent Friday evening talking with Emmett while waiting for Nasir and even stayed the night. He joked that he was so exhausted from the long hours he’d put in at work during the week that the newlyweds’ reunion sex only kept him awake for a few minutes.

“It was a little difficult to look them in the eye the next morning,” he admitted. “I kept hearing their grunts and moans in my head, along with a bow-chicka-wow-wow 70’s porn soundtrack.”

I laughed with him over his predicament, knowing that was all before he found out there had been a shooting in the park. Once again I was grateful that he had been with our friends when the news first came in. I knew he had his own set of friends in New York, but they either barely knew me or didn’t know me at all, and I jealously thought they would not have been able to sympathize with and comfort him the way I knew Emmett and Nasir did. Jas and Nasir had managed to forge a pretty strong bond during their weekly meetings for after work drinks, as evidenced by the new nickname I couldn’t help but notice and comment on.

“I’ve never heard anyone but Emmett call Nasir by anything other than his given name. You two must be getting close.”

“Huh?” At first he seemed not to realize what I was talking about. “Oh, yeah, Nas. It’s just, you know, Em is Em and it sounds so awkward to always have to say Em and Nasir, but I knew I couldn’t call him Nasi, ‘cause that’s obviously Emmett’s,” he explained. “Anyway, at one point this morning for some reason, I can’t even think of why, I said “Em and Nas,” but kind of quickly so it sounded like M&S. You know, the reverse of S&M? I giggled like an idiot over that for, like, five minutes, just ‘cause it put all kinds of images in my head of the two of them borrowing leather harnesses and other stuff from Felix and Anton. Not hard to do with that giant picture of Em in just a partially laced up jock with all the boys around him at their place.” I heard him cracking up again as he told the story and I, too, chuckled. “It took Em a little longer, but then he got it too. And then we had to explain it to Nasir until he got the joke. Anyway, Nas kind of stuck, so... yeah.”

“Seth will be annoyed he didn’t come up with that himself,” I kidded.

“Nah, Seth’s got bigger fish to fry,” Jasper retorted, clearly unconcerned. “You don’t mind, do you? I know you and Nasir are close. I mean, you stood up for him and all. I don’t mean to horn in on your friendship.”

“You mean the way I horned in on your friendship with Emmett?” I retorted and instantly regretted it, the comment bringing back so many unpleasant memories of my trip to Rochester and the rift I caused between them.

“No, I didn’t mean that at all,” Jasper was quick to respond. “I’m glad Em was there for you when you needed him.”

“And I’m glad you and Nasir are there for each other now. We’re all friends, Jasper. If I was going to be jealous of anyone, it wouldn’t be Nasir.”

“Well, Em and I did nap in the same bed last night while waiting for his husband. Poor Nasir found us in bed together. At least we were clothed and in the guest room,” Jasper tried to bring levity back into our conversation. I took the hint and steered away from the heavier topic. The last thing we needed to talk about this night was my jealousy and how it had gotten me in trouble in the past. I had much more self-control these days, but our run in with Lance told me that I hadn’t yet conquered the green monster completely.

Jasper and I hung up when I pulled up in front Maggie and Rosalie’s house. I spotted familiar cars on the driveway and in the street, and knew everyone was still there, waiting for my arrival. People spilled out the front door before I even had a chance to walk all the way up, with my mom in the lead. She pulled me into a tight hug and just held me for a long time as everyone else stood back, giving us space.

“Thank God! Thank God you’re all right, Edward,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t bear it if something had happened to you. If it had been you who...” she choked up and could not finish.

“I know, Mom, but I’m all right. I’m perfectly fine. It’s all over and I’m fine,” I spoke equally quietly and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

“This reminded me so much of that time the hospital called, when you were in college. You were in surgery and they didn’t know if you were going to make it,” she recalled, sniffling in between words.

“Mom, I don’t need the hospital this time. I know it was scary for all of you. It was for me too, for a while there, but I wasn’t hurt. I’m fine. See?” I pulled back from her so she could take a look at me. I smiled, hoping to get a smile back. It took her a moment, but then she wiped her eyes and the corners of her lips turned up. She swatted at my shoulder.

“Did you have to go up in a helicopter? Was it not enough that you were in the park? You’re a ranger, not a police officer. You weren’t trained for that. And do you know how many helicopters crash every year, without anyone shooting at them? Are you trying to give me premature gray hair?”

“Oh, mom, don’t nag,” I said, pulling her back into a hug and kissing the top of her head. “It was something I thought I had to do. We were only going to try to find hikers in the park. It wasn’t supposed to be dangerous. Had I known we were going to be a target, I probably would have passed.”

I wasn’t actually sure if that was the truth, but I hoped it would make her feel better.

Maggie was the next to hug me, and though her embrace wasn’t as long or weepy as my mother’s, it was just as heartfelt. Rosalie came next, and then Garrett gave me a close hug, teasing about how he had been worried he’d lost one of his best clients. He stepped aside to make room for his husband, who grabbed me into the kind of embrace usually reserved only for his husband and Emmett.

“I heard your danger radar was a little off this morning,” I teased him when he stepped back, brushing my hand against the Eagle feather hanging from his hair. I expected a dirty look and a smart alecky retort, but he just looked at me and shook his head.

“It would have been a lot easier on everyone today if I was as psychic as everyone thinks I am. I had a feeling some imminent evil was about to invade our lives, but no more than that,” he relayed with a hint of sadness. “I immediately thought of Emmy, and I was relieved when I found that he, Nasir and Jasper were all okay. Then we heard this news. I asked the Grandfather Spirit to watch over you, but I had no idea how it was going to end.”

“Your intervention seems to have worked. You have some powerful magic, Seth Clearwater.”

“And a good thing too,” Leah chimed in. She came up and gave me a quick hug before standing back beside her brother. “We’re all glad you’re okay, Edward.”

We went into the house where I exchanged hugs and a few words with Yvonne, who had stayed inside just in case any of the kids woke up. Over coffee, I told everyone most of what had happened, keeping back some of the most disturbing details. The kids, who had all been asleep when I first arrived, woke up with the commotion and came out to say hello, rubbing their sleepy eyes. Larissa headed straight for her mother, but the boys all gathered around me, with Owen climbing into my lap and Ren and Liam sitting on either side. They asked about the bad man in the park and I listened while Rosalie gave them the G-rated version of events. Although Rosalie’s story was short, Owen didn’t quite make it to the end, falling asleep curled up against my chest. The other kids’ eyes were drooping as well and we were just about to put them all back to bed when we heard a soft knock at the door. Roger came in and I watched as he received a welcome treatment similar to mine. I gave him time to talk with Yvonne and to give us all an update on the situation before handing the boys over to Maggie and Rosalie and asking him for a private word.

“Jasper’s show asked to do an interview with me about what happened today. Normally I wouldn’t do it, but they would let him fly out here with a reporter to do it, and Roger, I really need to see him. Is there some protocol I have to go through to get that approved?”

Roger scratched his chin. “The official NPS press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at ten. The Regional Director will be there and that’s when they’ll officially announce the park closing - I guess Jarvis approved it earlier tonight. Christine specifically asked that you be there. We do need approvals to talk with the press outside of the official press conference, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t be granted.”

“I’ll ask if maybe they can interview us together to get the full story.”

“That’s not necessary, Edward,” Roger protested.

“No, it really is. I’d feel better about it if you were there. TV is not exactly my thing. You’re the spokesperson for our park. You should be there. I’m only doing it to see Jasper.”

Roger nodded and pulled out his cell phone. “It’s late, but I have a feeling she didn’t go to bed early tonight,” he muttered and I knew he was talking about the Regional Director, the woman who had once been a Superintendent of our park. I tried to step away to give him privacy, but he reached for my arm to keep me from walking away. It took a few minutes for him to explain, but when he eventually hung up he was smiling.

“She’s excited about the national coverage of this and wants us to portray the park and our reaction in the best possible light. She thinks you going up in that helicopter to search for hikers was brilliant, by the way.”

“You should have taken credit for the idea,” I shrugged. I wasn’t exactly looking to score points with the NPS.

“I’ll take credit for allowing you to do it. And for talking you out of going out there on foot,” Roger chuckled, and then abruptly stopped. We looked at each other and the mood turned somber.

“Have you talked to Michelle?” I asked. He nodded in confirmation.

“I spoke with her on the phone and stopped at their house on the way here. She’s holding it together for the kids as best she can, but she’s devastated.”

“I can only imagine. How are the kids?”

“I only saw the oldest boy, AJ. The others had apparently cried themselves to sleep. AJ had obviously been crying too, but he was trying to be the man of the house for his mom. It broke my heart.”

I nodded my understanding. “We’ll all step in to help her,” I said, confident I could speak for all the rangers. “We’re family.” I was already planning to establish scholarship funds for the boys and seed them with a hefty donation, so that Michelle would have one less thing to worry about for the future.

“You’re right, we will,” Roger nodded. “It’s not the same, though, and for them it will never be again.”

It was getting late. Roger and Yvonne gathered up Ren and Larissa’s things and were the first to go back to their home. Garrett, Seth and Leah left next, the guys reminding me that they were just a phone call away if I needed to talk. I thanked them and apologized for not having more time to talk with them after they had waited all day, but Garrett waved the apology away.

“Jasper may be able to fly out, maybe even tomorrow,” I told them.

“That is good news,” Garrett said, squeezing my shoulder to show his support. “How long will he stay? Maybe we can all have dinner at our place?”

“I think he’ll be out here a few days. Dinner may work. We’ll let you know,” I said, selfishly refusing to commit to social obligations when all I wanted was to spend time alone with my man.

“You’ll come to dinner,” Seth stated unequivocally, back to his old oracle self. “You’ll want to see Emmett. And you’ll both be there at the Halloween party, too.”

“Seth,” I sighed, “I don’t know if Jasper will be able to stay that long.”

“I do. I’ll arrange for your costumes.” His tone was final, and I was too tired to argue. Garrett gave me a look that was in part an apology and in part a reminder to accept the inevitable. We all knew sometimes Seth had insights the rest of us lacked, and that he almost always got his way.

Mom and I helped Maggie and Rosalie put the boys to bed and then said our goodbyes. She followed me to Covington and when we got there we stayed up and talked a little longer as I fed Remmy and changed his litter, apologizing for having neglected him. Remmy ate eagerly, but was otherwise forgiving, weaving around my feet until I picked him up to give him a long scratch. As soon as Mom saw my first yawn, she insisted we go to bed. She was familiar enough with the house and the guest room to take care of herself, so I hugged her and retired to my bedroom. I brushed my teeth and took a long shower, the hot water easing some of the stress of the day. When I was done I toweled off, but didn’t bother putting anything on before I slipped into bed, knowing my Mom would be considerate enough to give me privacy in the morning. I picked up the phone and, feeling slightly guilty about the hour, pressed the speed dial programmed with Jasper’s number.

“Edward,” his voice was groggy with interrupted sleep.

“I’m sorry to wake you,” I said.

“No, no,” he protested. “I wanted you to call.”

He had made me promise to call, which was the only reason I did. I never wanted to break any promise I made him.

“I have good news,” I told him. “Roger called the NPS Regional Director and I have the go ahead for the interview.”

I heard his relieved sigh. “I’ll call our producer as soon as I can to make the arrangements.”

“I have some bad news, too,” I teased him. “Seth expects you to stay for his Halloween party.”