A Yellowstone Promise: Yellowstone Romance Series Novella Read online

  Chapter Eleven

  “Why are you’re arresting us?” Chase asked the ranger who cuffed him.

  “Consumption of alcohol on public trails, disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment of the public, unlawful climbing in the canyon and defacing park resources,” the ranger rattled off. “And that’s just for starters. We’re sick and tired of getting calls about you trail crew guys causing all these problems on your days off. Maybe a night in jail will finally grab your crew leader’s attention.”

  Chase laughed in disgust. “I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol. Todd’s fall over the edge was an accident, and I saved his hide. We weren’t climbing into the canyon. There were witnesses.”

  “Look into the scanner,” the ranger said, holding out a portable retina scanner. Shit.

  Chase didn’t argue. It would serve no purpose, and might only land him in deeper trouble. He waited for the ranger’s reaction when he studied his computer pad. None came. No comment that Chase had been missing for over a year, or that he’d skipped out on his community service sentence.

  Finally, the ranger made eye contact with him. Chase didn’t flinch while the man stared at him, as if he were trying to remember something. A puzzled look formed on his face.

  “Your name’s familiar, Russell, although I don’t see anything recent in your files. The last entry about you was a year ago, when you and Todd Longley seemed to get into trouble on a regular basis,” the ranger finally said. He nodded to the other ranger. “I wonder how much longer they’re gonna keep you guys around on the maintenance crew. You’ve both had enough warnings over the last couple of years. Time to take you in and let a judge decide what to do with you.”

  He and the other ranger led him and Todd to their patrol vehicle. Todd glared at Chase, but thankfully kept his mouth shut. Chase frowned. What had the ranger meant when he said that there was nothing recent in his files? Surely he would have made some comment about the missing person flag at least, but all he’d alluded to were the times he’d been in trouble with the rangers last summer for doing stupid things with Todd and the rest of the guys, like cliff jumping at the Firehole River and the time they’d gone hot-potting.

  Chase looked around for Sarah. The patrol vehicle was parked in an area where he couldn’t see where he’d parked the car he’d driven here, and he hadn’t seen Sarah, either.

  “Look, Ranger Hamilton,” Chase said, glancing at the man’s nametag on his uniform. “My wife is waiting for me. I need to let her know what’s going on. We have an infant daughter back at Mammoth, and she needs her mother. I’m not even part of the trail crew this year. That was last year.”

  “You can contact her after you’ve been processed.” The ranger shrugged carelessly. He indicated for Chase to get into the car.

  Chase stopped and wheeled around to face the ranger. “This is crazy.” He stared at the man. His voice rose, and his body tensed. Even in handcuffs, it would be easy to get away from these rangers. He’d faced far more dangerous obstacles over the last year. He inhaled a deep breath.

  Stay calm, man. Anger flooded him. Anger at this predicament, and worry for Sarah. Chase scoffed. He was barely back two days in the twenty-first century, and he was in trouble again. All the more proof that he didn’t belong here.

  “Witnesses said there was a fight. Now, if you don’t want me to add resisting arrest to the charges, please get in the vehicle.”

  Gritting his teeth, Chase complied. Sarah was smart and resourceful. She would have done exactly what he’d told her to do. She’d figure out how to unlock the car door and get the phone to call Dan. Damn! Why had he left the phone in the car in the first place?

  Chase remained silent on the drive back to Mammoth, sitting in the backseat of the rangers’ vehicle. He stared at the imposing, modern-looking structure when they pulled up to a building with the lettering Justice Center etched into the stone over the entrance. Who knew that Yellowstone had an actual jail? And right at Mammoth, no less. He hadn’t even noticed the building the other day, which was right across the street from the Mammoth Clinic.

  Wordlessly, the rangers led him and Todd to separate holding cells.

  “You can’t keep us locked up in here,” Todd shouted.

  Chase cursed under his breath. Todd was drunk, but he needed to just shut up. He paced the small space of his own cell like a caged lion. Several times, he slammed his fist against the wall. Sarah. How many hours had passed since those rangers had picked him and Todd up at the canyon? What about Emmy? By this time, the baby was surely awake and demanding to be fed.

  The door to the holding area opened, and men’s voices echoed through the hall. Chase strained his ears.

  “He didn’t have any alcohol in him, but the other one did. We already notified his crew leader at Canyon. Seems like they went drinking and hiking on their day off.”

  “Chase Russell isn’t part of the trail crew.”

  Dan Osborne!

  Chase straightened to listen. Did Dan’s presence mean that Sarah had successfully contacted him? He smiled, pride for her swelling in his chest.

  “He’s one of my trackers on the SAR team looking for those missing boy scouts. I need him released immediately to get back out in the field.”

  “But protocol says-”

  “I don’t give a damn about protocol.”

  Chase raised his eyebrows at Dan’s booming voice. He grinned. The Osborne genes were strong, even across many generations.

  “I need this man released now. There are two young boys missing out there, and I need every available man out in the field looking for them.”

  “Wasn’t there an alert out for a Chase Russell the other day?” the ranger asked, and Chase’s stomach lurched.

  “Not that I heard of,” Dan answered with a scoff, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Must be someone with a similar name,” the ranger muttered.

  “Must be. Now get this man released so I don’t waste any more time.” Dan’s voice rose impatiently.

  “Yes, sir,” the ranger stammered.

  Chase met Dan’s eyes when the two rangers stopped in front of his cell. The annoyance on his face rivaled that of Daniel’s intimidating stare. The ranger unlocked the cell, and Chase stepped out.

  “Hey, what about me?” Todd called from his other cell.

  “You’ll be released in the morning,” the ranger said, after first darting a questioning glance at Dan.

  “Let’s go, Russell. You’re needed out in the field.” Without a backward glance, Dan moved briskly down the hall and out the door. He didn’t stop walking when they left the Justice Center and headed up the street toward the residential district.

  Chase lengthened his strides to keep up with Dan’s brisk pace. He leaned forward slightly and shot a puzzled look at the older man’s tense profile.

  “What did you do, Dan? My name should have flagged immediately when those rangers picked me up at Canyon.”

  Without altering his stride, Dan continued on his way to his home.

  “I went in the back door and closed your missing person’s case,” he finally answered in a low tone.

  Chase’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re jeopardizing your career. You could go to jail.”

  Dan stopped. He faced Chase, his features hard. “Yeah, well, if you keep your nose clean while you’re here and stay out of trouble, we can all avoid that.”

  Chase laughed in disgust. “Trouble always seems to find me. I wasn’t out looking for any.”

  Dan shook his head. He didn’t look pleased at all. At least his looks weren’t quite as intimidating as those Daniel could dish out.

  “You need to lay low from now on, Chase. For the remainder of the time you’re here, you’re staying in the house, or in the backcountry with the SAR team. Your little rescue at the canyon is already all over the internet. Good thing your face isn’t clearly visible in any of the videos I’ve seen.”

  Chase nodded. “Sarah was left behind at
Canyon. I told her to call you. Is she all right? And Emmy?”

  “They’re both fine. Sarah’s waiting for you at the house, more worried that a mother hen. She was pretty shaken up when we picked her up. Aimee and Jana had a hard time convincing her that those rangers who arrested you weren’t going to do bodily harm to you.” Dan cracked a smile, then his face turned serious again.

  “We might all be in a heap of trouble after all this, but the truth is, I’m glad you and Daniel are here.” He paused, his eyes searching. Chase’s brows furrowed, waiting for him to continue.

  “I need your help finding those missing kids. Time is running out. I don’t think anyone has any hopes of finding those two alive. We combed everywhere up and down the Gardner River to find them. Nothing. I can sure use a few men who are skilled at reading signs the average tracker might miss. I’m hoping Daniel and you can dig up some kind of clues.”

  Chase nodded wordlessly. His tracking skills had steadily improved over the last year, thanks to Daniel’s teachings, but would it be enough to help find some missing kids? He owed Dan his help, but once that search was over, he had to concentrate all his efforts to find the artifact the old Indian wanted, or his trip to the future would be for nothing.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I sure wish I hadn’t listened to Aimee and brought my tomahawk. I’m feeling a bit naked without it, heading into the back country.” Chase fingered the belt that held up the denims he wore. At least the knife he’d brought with him from the nineteenth century was securely concealed at his ankle. Luckily, he hadn’t worn the knife when he took Sarah to see the canyon. If those rangers from the day before had caught him with a weapon, not even Dan Osborne would have been able to spring him out of jail. A GPS device at his hip, which also served as a two-way radio between him and Dan, replaced the familiar weight of his weapon of choice for the time-being.

  After a tearful goodbye with Sarah, Dan had dropped him and Daniel off at the Sheepeater picnic area a few moments ago where the boys had last been seen. Sarah had clung to him as if she’d never see him again.

  “It’s all right, Angel,” he’d murmured against her lips, holding her close.

  “I’m afraid, Chase.”

  He’d stared into her blue eyes, a reassuring smile on his face. “You’ll be back from Bozeman in a few days, and by then I hope we’ll have found the missing kids, and maybe even the artifact for the elder. Then we can go home.” Chase had held her trembling body, wishing he could have gone to the hospital with his wife and daughter, instead of heading out into the wilderness.

  “You’ll be with your mom and Jana,” he’d said, hoping to sound reassuring. “You have nothing to be afraid of, and Emmy will be on the road to being a healthy baby.”

  She’d eased her hold on him. Her soft smile had warmed his heart as it always did. “I know,” she said with a sigh. “I love you. What if those men lock you up again? Or worse? You are risking your freedom for us.”

  Chase had stared down at her, his forehead wrinkled. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re my family, my life.”

  She nodded, then pulled his head down for one more kiss.

  “I’ll leave you two to search the area.” Dan’s voice forced thoughts of Sarah and their earlier parting from Chase’s mind. “If you find anything, contact me immediately.” He stared directly at Chase, then glanced at Daniel. “The boy scout troop was having a picnic here at the Sheepeater Cliff. According to the troop leaders, most of the boys were exploring the area, wandering off a bit. The trail along the Gardner River gets pretty close to the banks. With as high as the water has been, and erosion from the cliff, it gets a bit difficult to navigate in places.”

  “There are also some strong cascades a little further along the river,” Chase said, pointing beyond the tall vegetation that concealed much of the banks of the fast-flowing water.

  Dan nodded. “Yes, the Tukudeka Falls. That’s what we think happened to the kids – that they went off trail and then slipped and fell over the falls. The Gardner River is high and treacherous right now from the late-season snow melt.”

  “We ended up in the Sheepeater Canyon when we came here,” Chase remarked. He looked toward Daniel for confirmation to his next words. “We didn’t notice anything then, only met a group of hikers. Would the boys’ bodies have swept that far downriver?”

  Dan frowned. “We’ve searched the entire stretch of the canyon, both on foot where it is accessible and by helicopter. The Gardner winds pretty tightly through the Sheepeater Canyon in places. I can’t imagine the bodies having been swept all the way to Osprey Falls. They should have washed up somewhere.”

  “If they got swept even half-way through the canyon, they’re most likely dead.” Chase stared at Dan, whose eyes reflected what he’d just said.

  “Yes,” Dan nodded solemnly. “At this point, I’m looking at a search and recovery. I want to at least give the families some closure by finding the bodies.” He inhaled deeply, his eyes moving from Chase to Daniel.

  “I need to get back to headquarters and coordinate another aerial survey along the river, deeper in the canyon.” He frowned. “And keep the media at bay.”

  Chase nodded, and patted the GPS device. “I’ll keep you posted. We’ll start our search here and head downriver. There’s a lot of ground to cover in the canyon.” Plenty of places to hide and get lost in, if he remembered correctly from his forays to this area with the Tukudeka hunters. It hadn’t been difficult to conceal themselves whenever they had gone sheep hunting.

  Dan’s unmarked truck rolled away from the parking area toward the main road, stirring up dust. Chase stared after it until it disappeared around the bend, then he glanced at Daniel.

  “Ready to get this search underway?” Chase raised his eyebrows in surprise when he was met with a grin from his father-in-law. His own mouth widened in a smile.

  “I know you brought weapons, Daniel.”

  “Don’t mention anything to Sarah, and most definitely not to Aimee.” Daniel reached behind him under his shirt. He still wore his familiar buckskins and homespun, having refused to dress in modern clothes. He produced his hunting knife, and, to Chase’s astonishment, his beloved tomahawk. Daniel handed it to him.

  “Not a word to Aimee,” he warned again.

  The stern look on his face left no doubt that Chase would pay with possible bodily harm if he mentioned the weapons to anyone. He grinned, and accepted the tomahawk Daniel held out to him.

  “My lips are sealed.” Chase laughed, then winked.

  Daniel nodded, then led the way past several picnic benches to the river. He fingered the dense vegetation that grew along the bank, and stared at the water for several seconds. He looked downstream, then turned and scanned the cliff behind them, which was made up of tall columnar rocks like the ones the ranger they’d met along the Osprey Falls trail had pointed out to the hikers. Large rocks and boulders that had no doubt eroded off the cliff over time lay around in heaps, as if a rockslide had occurred here at some point in time.

  “What would a modern youth be most interested in?” Daniel asked after many minutes of silence.

  Chase shrugged at the question. “Exploring along the river, maybe. Or, climbing those rocks. But if they climbed the rocks, the worst they would have gotten is a sprained ankle, not disappeared into thin air. I hope we don’t find any evidence of a bear mauling or some other animal attack down in that canyon.”

  Daniel nodded. “There are too many tracks here made by other people. Perhaps closer to the cascades, we might be able to read the signs better.”

  Together, they scoured along the river’s edge for any clues to the boys’ whereabouts. The problem was, this area was frequented by many people who picnicked here and, although the area had been closed off to visitors since the boys’ disappearance, the ground had been trampled by countless feet.

  About a half-mile downriver, the water narrowed, and plunged loudly over jagged boulders to continue its course into the canyon of the F
ish Hawk, as the Sheepeaters had called this area.

  “There are more such cascades further along this river where it flows deeper into the canyon,” Daniel commented. “If the boys fell into the river, there is no hope for their survival.” His facial features hardened.

  Silently, Daniel picked his way along the cascades to descend into what was the beginning of the canyon. The water rushed loudly past them, making any talk useless. Following the course of the river, Chase kept his eyes on the ground, scoured the vegetation around him, and scanned the area across the river for anything that might be a sign of someone having passed through this area. Several times, he and Daniel came across scuffs in the rocks, or bent twigs and trampled grasses, but it had been easy to see that these tracks had been left by members of the SAR teams that had already searched this area.

  Hours passed, and Chase swiped his hand across his forehead. When the sun reached its zenith, he and Daniel rested beneath the shade of several pines for a bite of the sandwiches Aimee had packed for them. The water along this stretch of river flowed in a wide arc, creating a small island in the center. Even while they ate, Daniel’s eyes constantly scanned the area around them.

  Chase crushed his sandwich wrapper in his hand, and took a drink of water from his canteen, just as Daniel’s hand shot up in warning for Chase to be quiet. His head cocked to the side. He must have heard something. No sooner had he gestured with his hand, when the sounds of faint rhythmic whirring of helicopter blades reached Chase’s ears. The noise grew louder by the second.

  Daniel’s eyes shot to Chase, and his forehead wrinkled.

  “It’s probably the search and rescue chopper,” Chase offered. No doubt it was sweeping the canyon again.

  Daniel scowled. “A man cannot hear himself think, much less listen to his surroundings, with that incessant noise.”