The Cynic and the Wolf by Julie Steimle (ebook voice reader TXT) 📕

Almost immediately Audry witnessed a convergence of rangers. They came in from nearby stations around the lodge, seeking snowmobiles for themselves also. A number checked their sidearms to make sure they were loaded and easy to grab before taking off across the snow.

"Creepy," one of the ski bunnies said, inching toward Audry.

"I know," another chimed in, looking visibly shaken. "Hunters coming into our ski area. Someone could get shot."

Audry nodded. The hunters would be stopped… but someone could still get shot. She had wished the rangers had tazers or tranquilizer guns, never mind what the hunters had—but she was sure those pistols were basic police issue. Hopefully they did not use hollow point bullets. Hopefully they just had rubber bullets—because on principle, Audry hated guns.

 "What's the matter with you?" A skier came up, practically snarling at Audry. "What business is it of yours to meddle in other people's affairs?"

Pulling back, Audry stared for three seconds at him before narrowing her eyes in a dirty glare, "This is an animal reserve."

"So?" that guy snarled back. "That just means more animals to hunt."

The snow bunnies gasped. So did a few others listening in.

Audry shook her head firmly. "No. That means there is no hunting allowed."

"So you are just going to fink on somebody because you don't like what they are doing?" he growled at her.

"Fink?" Audry's voice rose in pitch. "They brought a gun onto land where guns are forbidden. And I don't want animals to get shot!"

"I don't want to get shot," chimed in a snow bunny.

"I know. Stray bullets where people are skiing?" the other said. "That's insane!"

"Why don't you mind your own business?" that skier snapped, not so much to the snow bunnies but to her. The expression on his face looked like he would slap her. It was odd, because he was really taking this personally.

"I am an animal conservationist! That is my business!" she shouted at him, putting her hand on her tranquilizer gun. It was possible he was with the hunters, scouting out the rangers for them… which in that case meant he was dangerous.

He laughed with a lousy sneer. "Oh. One of those people. Look, hunting is a sport—"

"Football is a sport," Audry snapped, her hand loosening the strap that held the tranquilizer gun in place so she could get her fingers around it. "Hunting is murder."

"Don't tell me you are a vegan too," he said.

"Proudly," Audry answered, prepared to take him on.  

He laughed even more, snidely shaking his head

"I happen to know the guy who owns this place," she snapped at him. "And he would not like hunting on his land. I also happened to know that the conditions and terms on the rental document you signed in your lodging and skiing use agreement stipulates that there is no hunting of any kind on the premises."

He rolled his eyes, though his glare on her settled more darkly.

"And I know this for certain because I have studied this document for my Master's thesis. I have copies of it," she said. "So: 'any violation of that agreement, or form of destruction to the natural habitat here, be it animal or plant life, will result in your immediate loss of privilege to use the area, and it will be cause for your removal and future ban of use.' And that is a direct quote."

Glowering at her, his eyes said he did not care. They also said if he found her alone, he might kill her. Audry lifted her camera to take his picture. He immediately lifted his hand to cover the lens.

"Give me that!" he reached for it.

The snow bunnies screamed.

"We’re right next to the ski patrol, idiot," Audry said, taking pictures anyway in the hopes she could get something incriminating. "I could scream rape, and they will come out."

He jerked back, his eyes going to the ski patrol building. Then he pulled his hood up and ski mask over his mouth. "You'll get yours! You interfering b—"

"That's no way to talk to a lady!" one of the snow bunnies shouted.

All of them surrounded Audry to give her protection.

Rick's university friends also came nearer. One said, "Hey, what's this about?"

The creep flung out a hand towards Audry and said, "This special snowflake is interfering with someone's second amendment rights."

"No," Audry snapped. "The second amendment does not state a person has the right to ignore NO HUNTING signs."

Rick's friends looked to the man. They murmured, "There are people ignoring the NO HUNTING signs?"

"Rick is going to be ticked," one of them said.

"You know the Deacons?" that jerk snapped angrily.

They all nodded. "We go to school with Rick Deacon."

"At Brown," one of them clarified.

The man drew back, taking in all their faces.

"So you know Rick?" one from the group asked Audry. It was one who had seen her in the lodge earlier.

Rolling her eyes, Audry said again, "He was the one who gave me permission to do my Master's thesis on their property. But I barely know him."

They all nodded. The boys were checking her out, their eyes taking in her shape and face carefully.

But then one of his friends said, "But do they really care about the 'no hunting' thing? I mean, Rick is an outdoorsy kind of guy, but he has like, millions—"

"Billions," a friend interjected.

"Ok, billions of dollars—and a number of houses around the world," he said. "I mean they've got the penthouse in New York City, the mansion in that small town in Massachusetts, the home in LA, and I think they own a place in Vancouver and an apartment in Shanghai in China. What does he really care about the environment? They’re into manufacturing."

"That's true," one of them said.

Audry stiffened, wondering what they knew about him.

"I think the Deacons just have to say all that pro-environment stuff to remain politically correct," one of them replied.

This remark rubbed Audry backward. Because if it was true, she would be furious that the Deacons’ show of kindness to nature was false. However, this one thing they were saying about the hunting, she believed, was untrue. She had plenty of evidence proving they were wrong.

"No," Audry said loudly. "That is not the case. They are strict about that no hunting rule. I've visited this place year round, and I know from the staff that the Deacons are genuine about preserving the wildlife here."

That friend of Rick's scoffed, shaking his head in denial.

"I'm not making this up," she retorted. "Rick himself genuinely asked me about my project, which is about preserving the wildlife on recreational land. He was not faking. He really does care about the environment." And for good measure she added, "And that is perhaps the only thing we have in common."

But the guy just laughed, gazing on her as if she were blind. "He was just flirting."

Audry bristled. Her cynical self had suspected as much. And yet…  

"Rick doesn’t do that," one of the girls in the group countered, shaking her finger at that guy. She then glanced to Audry, "I am sure he was being genuine."

"Why?" that guy asked while the jerk who had gotten mad at Audry skied away as he realized she had not lied about knowing Rick—and he was more bothered that his friends were also there. "I mean, the girl is hot."

Audry flushed, her mouth opening in protest. She wasn’t a piece of meat after all.

But one of the other girls in the group spoke up, "Because, Rick is hung up on some girl in California whom he met while camping when he was a kid."

"I hear that girl has a boyfriend now,” one of the girls cast back. “I hear he's upset because even though he liked her a lot, she wasn't interested."

"No," the first girl who had taken up Rick's cause replied. "They were just friends. But there was this girlfriend he has down south somewhere—like Georgia or Tennessee—that he had gotten pregnant."

"No way!" the other two said.

But one of the boys heaved a sigh, cutting in. "Correction. It was Alabama."

"The thing is, she miscarried," that girl said. "It was a total secret that was, like, hushed up. But he can't get her off his mind. He's been on and off again about marrying her. But his heart is broken because his dad wants him to stay away from her. That is why he doesn't date much."

"Where did you hear this from?" one of them asked.

"His last roommate," she said.

"That can't be true."

“He overheard it. His dad called a lot and had people check in on him.”

Yet Audry listened intently, because she had heard a similar rumor ages ago. It had been leaked out that Howard Richard had fallen in with a freaky cult one summer where he had met a girl whom his father had not approved of and had forced them to break up. She hadn't heard anything about a pregnancy though, but she had suspected they had slept together.

"I doubt it," the guy friend who had started the whole conversation said. "Rick is like… I dunno. Too uptight. Like a priest. And stone cold sober. I can't get him to go to parties. I mean, I'd love to see him get wasted."

"He can't afford to get wasted," another of his pals said. "The paparazzi are always on his tail. I'm surprised they didn't follow him here."

"I'm surprised he even arranged this trip. Are we really going to meet his friends from Gulinger Private Academy?"

"You just want to meet Selena Davenport."

"And why not? She is damn gorgeous!"

"She also has a boyfriend in the CIA."

"I just don't see why Rick dumped Selena Davenport," one of the guys said. "She was hot."

Disgusted—and forgotten—Audry snowshoed away.

Going around back to the kitchen entrance, realizing that it was best for her safety to pick up the sim cards in the daylight, Audry's mind was in a muddle. Admittedly, this was the first time she had seen hunters attempt to sneak onto the land to hunt. But why now? Why in the middle of winter? What were they hunting? It wasn't like there was a whole lot of game out there. And it certainly would be easier to hunt in the daytime. Night hunting made no sense.

Going to the door, Audry noticed that the chicken yard had been raked over and smoothed. Seed had also been sprinkled on it and a lone chicken had been let out into the snow.

Audry stared at it, her heart aching for it.

That poor sacrificial chicken.

Audry was half tempted to let it out of the fence. But then where would it go? Out in the wild where it would freeze to death or get eaten by a fox? And she could not take it inside. The staff would see and hear it, and they would make her put it back out. There was no place to hide it either, even though she only had two days left and could drive it to somewhere safe to live as a real free range chicken. But instead, she went to the door and took off her snowshoes on the stoop. Shaking off what snow she could, Audry went inside.

While taking off her coat and stomping her boots, Audry suddenly was jostled by Mrs. Gruber who had wrapped her arms round her with a tight squeeze around her midsection. "Bless your heart. You did good."

"What?" Audry looked at her, surprised by this praise.

"Those hunters you reported are being tracked down as we stand here," Mrs. Gruber said. She then leg to, trotting back to her huge pot of cocoa. It seemed a bit late for making another batch. Interpreting Audry's confused looks, Mrs. Gruber said, "This is for the rangers for when they come back."

"Oh…" Audry then turned to finish taking off her snow things.

She set aside her backpack and camera and hung up her coat. The moment felt surreal. Audry had never heard Mrs. Gruber say yay or nay to her