“Gun’s over there.” Graham lifted his chin toward the pistol several feet away. “The rifle’s somewhere down below.”
Jack peeled off his fleece vest. “Put this under your hand.”
“Thanks, man,” Graham said as Jack helped him position the fabric next to the wound. “So, Rick?”
“Around the other side. My, uh . . . my partner is watching him.”
Graham opened his mouth to say something else when the quiet of the forest changed. Machines and even a helicopter broke through the silence.
Chapter 41
Steph
Sheriff Hepner’s questions were straightforward, and Steph answered them the same way.
When the rescue team had first arrived, there were many minutes of chaos. Snowmobiles approached from the road as a helicopter circled over them, its spotlight illuminating the area.
Steph had put the rifle down and her hands up. As expected, they’d come in full tactical gear, which explained the delay. She understood they had come in under an abundance of caution, but still would’ve liked to have seen them arrive sooner. Much sooner.
Now she sat on the seat of a snow machine, wrapped in a warm blanket and aching from head to toe while the sheriff asked basic questions.
The helicopter landed on the road, and a team, which included Steph’s friend Gina, was moving Graham to the heli to fly him out.
Steph’s gaze traveled to one of the other snowmobiles, where Jack was being checked by the medic. Gina, an RN and leading the on-site medical team, had already triaged both Steph and Jack. Steph insisted she was cold and tired, but otherwise fine.
Gina’s assessment produced a few things she noted with concern. Steph’s cheekbone was bruised, possibly a hairline fracture, and she would need X-rays. She had a black eye, which was a surprise since she had little pain, and her coretemperature was low but not critically so. Her hands were checked, her feet, the various places where the night had left its marks.
Steph had a wicked cut on her hand from the knife she’d used to stop Rick. Steph hadn’t even realized she’d been cut and bruised until after the adrenaline wore off and she saw some of the blood was her own. The short blade of her pocketknife had found its mark in Rick’s carotid as she’d stabbed over and over again.
She closed her eyes as she tried to force the memory of what she’d done down to a place where she could deal with it later.
Overall, Gina said she believed Steph would recover, but her friend seemed most concerned about shock, given Steph’s exhaustion and everything that had happened, especially the fact that she had killed Rick with a pocketknife.
Steph knew shock was a possibility, and she did what Gina instructed, which included staying wrapped in the blanket and riding in the sled back to Silver Mane’s Lodge.
Jack’s condition was more serious than Steph’s because of the frostbite on his feet and fingers, as well as the gunshot wound to his bicep. Gina agreed with Steph’s assessment that it was a clean wound and praised the bandaging she had done.
Steph appreciated that Gina said little about her and Jack being out there together or being chased by the poachers. Knowing Gina, the conversation would come later, but for now, she was the perfect medical professional.
Another group of rescuers went to the poachers’ camp. According to Sheriff Hepner, Graham was happy to detail its location, stating that his uncle Todd needed medical attention.
Steph was only slightly surprised that Graham was related to him. She’d learned enough about him to understand he was out there mainly due to family obligations. He also admitted that the promise of a big payday was a factor.
“You doing okay, Steph?” the sheriff asked, touching her arm.
“Yeah, uh, did you ask me something?”
“The kid there.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the stretcher Graham was on. “He said the guy still at camp took a beating.”
Steph shrugged. “They were going to kill Jack. I did what was needed. We both did.” She kept her eyes on Jack as she spoke.
His posture stayed straight despite everything the night had taken from him as he answered questions from sheriff’s deputy Adam Boverman. Boverman was too brash for Steph’s taste, but Jack seemed to be holding his own, though he looked awful.
A thermal blanket was draped around him, and his feet were still wrapped as she had done them, with the pink bandanna on one and the Wyoming logo neck gaiter on the other, now covered by an extra blanket.
Gina wanted to wait until they reached the hospital before unwrapping them. The strips of fabric around his fingers were now covered with proper gloves, heavy and insulated, loaned to him by someone on the rescue crew.
“You’re going to hear about this for a long time,” Sheriff Hepner said.
