confessed everything this afternoon. We even found the decomposed body and what was left of the collar.”
Joe was stunned.
“There was a bear here, Trey. I saw the tracks. I saw what he did to the body of a dead cowboy.”
“Must have been another bear, I guess,” Trey said unconvincingly.
Joe fought against telling Trey about the bear Nate had been “communicating” with. If he told his supervisor, both Joe and Nate could be faced with federal charges.
The telephone was silent on both ends for two full minutes before they hung up.
Joe stared out his window, confused. A thirty-year-old bear collar? A bear that had vanished off the face of the earth for three decades had suddenly reappeared?
“Nah,” Joe said out loud, deliberately shutting off that line of inquiry.
God, he needed a beer.
Coments later, as Joe was about to head to the kitchen, Nate called.
Joe said, “You’re just the man I want to talk to.” He heard Nate chuckle.
“I just heard some interesting news,” Joe said. “They found the missing grizzly. It never got here.”
“That is interesting,” Nate said slyly. “But we both know there was a bear.” “Yes,” Nate said. “I guess we do.”
“And I remember there was something you were starting to tell me just before we went out to the campground. We never finished that conversation.”
“No, we didn’t.”
“Maybe we should finish it now,” Joe said.
Nate was prone to long silences, and he lapsed into one now. Joe waited him out.
“Hypothetically speaking,” Nate said, “if I knew there was a grizzly still around here and told you about it, you would be duty-bound to report the discovery, correct?”
“Correct,” Joe said. “Grizzlies are on the endangered species list and they fall under the authority of the department.”
“That’s what I thought.” Another long silence. “Nate?”
“I’ve learned so much. Not all of it is comfortable. But in the end, it gives me hope.”
“Why is that?”
“There are bigger things than us out there, on other levels. Luckily, they take care of their own.”
“Nate . . .”
“All I can say right now is you need to trust me on this, Joe. It’s fascinating, this experience. You’ll be the first to know what happens, I promise.”
Joe sat back, thinking, recalling things Nate had said.
In my dream, the bear was sent for a reason. He has a mission. That bear may be more than a bear.That bear is here for a reason.
We happen to be in the right place at the right time where conflicts on different levels are overlapping.
You should open your mind a little.
Using FBI resources, Agent Portenson tracked the path of Eric Logue from his years in the army to his escape in North Carolina to the Riverside RV Park.
Associates in the army confirmed Eric’s downward spiral from exceptionally talented surgeon into madness. He was wealthy as well, having in-vested in technology stocks early and selling just before the bubble burst. Eric first showed signs of paranoia and obsession with paranormal phenomena while in the Philippines. He had been suspected of drug use, along with Nurse Bob. When his patients began emerging from surgery with wounds and grafts not related to the procedure, he was put under a full-time watch. After a suspected Filipino enemy combatant with a minor leg injury died from massive blood loss after being operated on by Dr. Logue, an inquiry was launched that resulted in his court-martial.
While in custody, guards reported that Eric claimed he was in contact with aliens and had regular nighttime visitations with them. Eric said he had been instructed by his contacts to collect samples for them. The guards suspected that Eric’s delusions were an attempt to get the charges dismissed due to mental incapacity. Then, while being transferred to another facility, Eric escaped.
He had purchased his name in New Orleans, from a man who specialized in new identities. The pickup and trailer came from a dealer in Birmingham. There was no Iconoclast Society, no wealthy benefactor who financed the research. There was only Eric, so filled with messianic self-confidence that he was practically above suspicion.
Deena had been interviewed by Hersig while she recovered in the Twelve Sleep County hospital. Afterward, he’d called Joe and recounted the conversation.
Deena had met “Cleve” in Helena, and she knew nothing of his past and she really didn’t care to hear about it. He had never mentioned having a brother. What she knew was that he had been sent to her at the exact time she needed him most. He knew things that she hoped to learn, and was in contact with other beings on an intimate basis. He was their human conduit. At least that’s what he told her, and she saw no reason not to believe him.
If it really was Cleve who did the mutilations, she said, he was simply following orders.
Yes, she had agreed to let him experiment on her. She saw it as no different than getting tattooed or pierced. She was a little pissed off at him, though, when he cut off the top of her ABDUCTEE tattoo.
