Firebreak

Parker and Elkins and Wiss walked on down past the ring of camera towers. Anybody watching? No. Still no. Occasionally, it seemed to Parker, he could hear

Lloyd's breath in his ear, but nothing else. The man didn't hum or whistle on the job.

'Gotcha!'

The three kept walking, didn't break stride. Wiss said, 'Larry? They see us?'

'Picked you up on the perimeter cameras, now they're phoning Havre. Hold on.'

The three kept walking, not on the road but paralleling it, looking around as though for game. Two minutes later, Larry's voice said, 'They're confused, because this is Thursday and the season doesn't start till Monday. They think you're jumping the season on purpose, you probably figure to be alone up there, maybe you're down from Canada.'

Elkins said, 'What do they plan to do about it?'

'Nothing, unless you approach the house.'

'I see the house now,' Wiss said.

They slowed, moving toward the lodge. The people inside were lawmen, and so would ask questions first. But the image they should be given was of dumbass hunters, maybe half-smart wiseguys looking to make a kill before it was legal. They should not be given an image of people stalking the lodge with robbery in mind.

'Angle to the right,' Parker said, 'as though we meant to go around the house.'

They could see it clearly now, looming ahead of them through the trees, gleaming white in the world of gray and brown and dark green. The two lawmen

inside were not visible, but were certainly watching the three orange coats approach.

Wiss said, 'Larry, the next message you get, divert.'

'Oh, I know. Nothing happening now, though.'

Parker said, 'We should stop here, talk it over among ourselves, point different directions, discuss which way we want to go.'

They did that, and then Parker pointed toward the house, saying, 'Now I'm saying maybe we should go see if somebody's home.'

Wiss and Elkins looked toward the house. Elkins said, 'And we're talking it over, do they know much about hunting around here?'

Wiss said, 'We're wondering, will they help us, or call the cops?'

They looked at one another, and shrugged, and moved their arms around. 'And now,' Parker said, 'we're deciding what the hell, let's just go over there and knock on the door.'

They all nodded at one another, then moved toward the house, angling first to get back onto the paved road, then walking downhill.

'That's far enough, fellas.'

The loudspeaker had a brassy loud twang to it, and seemed to be coming from the trees all around them, not from the house at all. The three stopped and looked around.

'This is private property. Move outside the perimeter of the towers.'

The three turned to one another. Parker angled

himself so his face was away from the lodge as he said, 'They might have a directional mike in there.'

Elkins, sounding aggrieved, said, 'I don't see why we can't just ask. It Wouldn't kill them to be friendly.'

'Besides,' Wiss said, 'my own opinion is, we're kinda lost.'

Parker turned to face the lodge. 'Well,' he said, 'if we just keep going downhill, we'll get to the road some time or other.'

Wiss said, 'But where on the road? This thing isn't panning out at all.'

'Move along, fellas.'

'Screw this,' Elkins said. 'What are they gonna do, shoot me? I'll be right back.' He took a step toward the house, then stopped and said, 'Jesus, wait a minute, I'm carrying a rifle.' Turning, he extended the Remington to Wiss, saying, 'Here, you hold it for me.'

'Sure.'

Without the rifle, Elkins started toward the lodge again, and made about half the distance before the door over there opened. This north side of the lodge featured a wide white door, heavily framed with half columns. Leading to it were four broad shallow wooden steps, gray-painted, up from where the road curved around close to the house before circling it to meet the even more elaborate entrance at the front.

This entrance was elaborate enough, with plenty of room on the top step for the guy who now came out, looking stern. He was a tall man, not heavy, and wore what seemed like a military greatcoat in dark blue over a flannel shirt and blue jeans. A dark blue hard-billed officer's cap was on his head. So this would be the state CID inspector, casual in the house, putting on his official wear to repel the interlopers. Pointing a rigid finger at Elkins, he said, 'This is a restricted area, my friend. Move along out of here.'

Instead of which, Elkins kept moving forward. He was about twenty yards from the CID man now, not hurrying, closing the gap. Behind him, Parker and Wiss also moved forward, more slowly. Holding his hands out, Elkins said, 'Mister, this isn't a very friendly way to treat a fella. We're just trying to—'