Chapter Three

Saturday, September 21st.

Best Western Hotel. Calgary.

Travis was the last one to get up and shower. Me and Virge were starving and ready to go downstairs for the free breakfast, but we had to wait for Dad.

A lot of snow was coming down and overnight the wind had picked up. It howled outside and rattled the windows of our hotel room. I stared out at the thick blanket of white that covered everything in the city of Calgary.

In the breakfast room, we heard people talking about the storm blowing through Calgary bringing at least six inches of snow and heading south into Montana.

"Storm is gonna follow us home, Dad," said Virge.

"Sounds like it," said Travis. "Maybe we'll get a bit ahead of it. Finish up your breakfast and we'll go trade in the Jeep. We'd better make tracks and haul our assess south."

"Can we run with the siren on?" asked Virge.

"Umm…let's save that for an emergency," said Travis. "With a big storm like this, we might run into a few tight spots on the way home." He winked at Virge. "Then we'll turn it on."

"Can I get the new truck outfitted with equipment like your truck, Dad?"

"Yep. Thinking on it. Not much use to us if we can't use it as an extra sheriff's vehicle. We'll get it done as soon as we get home."

That made Virgie smile.

Fontana Residence. Sicamous. British Columbia.

"Look at all the snow," said Lucy. "Hope we don't go in the ditch today."

"We'll go a bit slower to make sure that doesn't happen," said Annie. "We'll take it easy on the highway and we'll be fine. I have no intention of going in any ditches."

Lucy laughed but then pointed at Tammy who hadn't touched her breakfast.

"Eat your breakfast, Tammy," said Annie. "If you refuse to eat, then you won't be going to the hospital to see Eldon. That's something I'll make sure of."

Tammy sucked in a big breath and picked up her fork. "I'm sorry, Mama. I'm being a big baby."

"Yes, you are, and if Eldon is depending on you, then you'd better pull it together for him. I know you can do it. You're a strong girl, Tammy Traynor."

"I can take care of him, Mama. I'm strong and I won't cry at the hospital. I promise."

"Attagirl."

Gary's New and Used. Calgary. Alberta.

Travis turned into the first used car lot he came to and drove up close to the office. Snow was coming down harder and the wind was gusting and creating white-outs.

He wanted to get going home. Drive south and try to outrun the storm, but they had to get rid of the bounty hunter's wheels first.

Inside the warm office, Travis drummed up a salesperson, or it could have been the owner of the lot. The skinny guy with glasses and a bad haircut didn't bother introducing himself.

"I've got a Jeep I want to trade in," said Travis.

"Okay. Let me have a look at it." The guy shrugged on a parka with fur around the hood and it reminded Travis that the boys didn't have warm coats or gloves. If they happened to get stuck on the way home, the boys wouldn't be warm enough to walk any distance.

"Nasty day," said the guy as he held the door open for them to go back outside. He flipped his hood up against the wind and they couldn't see his face.

Travis pointed at the Jeep parked close to the office.

"Okay, a few years old, but looks to be in decent shape. How many clicks are on it?"

"Check for yourself." Travis didn't know because he'd never sat in the driver's seat.

"Hundred and ten K," said Virge. "Runs like a top."

Travis smiled. Virge could be so funny.

"You trading for cash or for a newer vehicle?" asked the sales dude.

"Newer," said Travis. "For the boys." He tilted his head wanting me and Virge to pick something we liked.

We walked around a bit and we'd already decided we liked driving the Jeep a lot.

Virge pointed to an orange Wrangler that looked practically new and I nodded.

Dad wandered over to the sales guy—could have been Gary the owner—but he never bothered to tell us. "How much in the difference between the two Jeeps?"

"Umm…let's see. I think I could let that orange beauty go for about twenty K plus your trade."

"Bullshit," snapped Travis. "Ten cash and we're out of here. We've got to get ahead of the storm."

"Fifteen," said the guy.

Dad took a stance in front of the guy and hollered in his face. "You fuckin deaf? I said ten cash. Let's go boys."

"Okay, okay. I'll take ten cash."

"Damned right you will. I'm giving you a fuckin gift and you're turning all greedy on me. How many fuckin deals have you screwed up in the past by doing that?"

"Let's go inside and do the paperwork."

Dad sped the paperwork along with some well-placed curses. When it was time to pay, he whipped out his debit card and we owned that orange Jeep.

Me and Virge were pretty happy as we drove off the car lot looking for the highway that would take us south to the Montana border.

"Can hardly believe Dad bought us this cool orange Jeep, Harlan. I fuckin love the hell out of it."

"Yeah. I love it too. Wait until we get the equipment on it. Gonna be fuckin aces."

Enderby Hospital.

Mama and Lucy sat in the waiting room while I went into the ICU to see Eldon. This time, his eyes were open, and he tried to smile at me. I leaned down and kissed him. "I love you."

He smiled but didn't speak.

"Is the pain bad?"

He shook his head. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. My mama and my sister are here. They're staying with me at the cabin until you come home from the hospital."

"Do they want to take you home?"

"Yes, but I'm not going. I already said so. Daddy was a bit pissed when I said that, but he had to go back to work. He took my brothers and went back to Montana."

"Uh huh. You should go, Tammy. You'll be safer with your family than with me."

"No. I'm not leaving you." I picked up Eldon's hand and held it. "I love you too much to leave you."

I-15 Southbound.

We headed south. Dad leading the way in his pickup and me driving the new Jeep. Beauty to drive and equipped with four-wheel drive if we ran into any drifts or unplowed sections of highway.

With the high wind blowing snow all over, visibility was a problem, and seemed to be getting worse the farther south we went. We weren't leaving the storm behind like Dad thought we would. It seemed to be snowing harder every mile we pushed south.

We passed different spots on the road where there'd been a white-out and cars were in the ditch on both sides. A lot of fender benders, and tow trucks everywhere. People were walking along the side of the highway looking for rides. Most of them going north, not south.

Lethbridge. Alberta.

Travis pulled into a service center at one of the Lethbridge exits. We filled up the trucks with gas, then went inside to warm up with hot coffee and a sandwich. The heat inside the store felt good after standing out in the wind at the gas pumps.

The convenience store was huge, and they offered just about everything you could want. They had a big outfitter section at the back near the washrooms. A rack of parkas, bunkers of hats and gloves and hunting stuff, lots of camping equipment.

Didn't see any guns. Not a gun store.

Dad pointed at the rack of parkas. "Try those coats on, boys."

Virge didn't like the thought of wearing a parka and he bucked. "We're warm in the Jeep, Dad."

Travis gave him a look. "I'm talking if y'all are not in the Jeep, Virge. Then what? You freeze your ass off?"

We had to try the parkas on while Dad picked out hats and gloves for us. He bought a warmer coat for himself and after he paid for all the winter stuff, we put it on and shoved our other jackets into the plastic bag.

On the way out we stopped at the coffee station and got large coffees for the road. "Let's see if we can make it to the border without sliding off the road," said Travis.

"Did you call and tell Billy we were coming home?" I asked.

"Yep. Him and Ted are flooded with accident calls, and they need us bad."

"Tell them to save some of the calls for us," said Virge. "We're coming as fast as we can."

"Won't be too fuckin fast," said Travis. "Gonna be impossible to get a fuckin tow if we go in the ditch, so take it easy." He looked at us and was thinking hard. "Who's turn is it to drive?"

"Mine," I said.

"Be careful, son. Keep your headlights on."

"Copy that."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

Molly took calls one after the other and wrote down the locations of the accidents. She'd give them to Billy in the order they came in, but it would be hours before Billy and Ted got around to all of them. She wished Travis and the boys would get back. This early snowstorm was turning into a nightmare.

A few minutes later, Billy called in from highway two south of Ethridge and Molly read him the next one from the list.

"This sounds like a bad one, Billy. A two-vehicle collision and there is a fatality. I already sent Doctor Olsen to the scene."

"Where is it, Molly?"

"Between the Ethridge turn-off and Cut Bank."

"Okay. Doc Olsen is coming from the opposite way, and he might get there first. I'll call and tell him I'm on my way. Ted's right behind me with the tow truck. Anything from Travis?"

"I'll try him again and let you know."

"Thanks. I'll call in as soon as I'm done this one."

Billy told Ted where they were headed, and let Ted go first. Billy drove the Bronco and followed the big tow truck. Ted plowed through the piles of snow, clearing the drifts, and making it possible for Billy to get through with the squad.

When they got to the accident scene twenty minutes later, cars and pickups were parked on both sides of the crash, and nobody could get past the wreckage. Both vehicles had skidded into the middle of the two lanes and the highway was blocked.

Hard to see anything. The wind was ferocious and the snow turning to ice pellets was hard and biting on their faces.

The victim on the road had been thrown through the windshield and was covered in a blanket of snow. It was impossible to tell if he was suffering from rigor, or frozen solid.

Billy checked the dead guy's vehicle. "He seems to be the only person from the Hyundai, Ted. Check the pickup and see how many are hurt."

Ted opened the door of the other vehicle and took stock. Came back and told Billy.

"Driver is hurt pretty bad," hollered Ted over the noise of the wind. "He's stuck behind the air bag. His wife or passenger ain't moving at all. We'd better wait for Doc Olsen or the paramedics. We can't move those people."

Border Crossing. Alberta/Montana Line.

The lineup to cross the border was about half a mile long. From where I was sitting in the line, I couldn't even see the customs booths.

We crept along about two miles an hour for the next half hour before we got near the office, but as soon as we were close enough, Dad waved us out of the line and over to the building. He was going to speed things up and get us through that way.

Me and Virge sat in the Jeep and waited for Dad to talk to Mark, the customs guy we knew. When he came out of the office he stuck his head in my window and said, "Pull into the semi and RV lane, Harlan. Mark is going to shoot us through."

"Fantastic."

"There's a big pile up on the I-15 north of Sweetgrass and the highway is blocked waiting on the sheriff. Guess that would be me. My county and I've got to get down there to see if I can sort it out."

"How bad is it?" asked Virge.

"Don't know until we get there, son."

Wearing a heavy parka, the boss ran out of the building, raised the gate and shoved us through the booth used for the tractor-trailers.

"This is service," said Virge. "We don't have to wait no longer."

"Wonder how long that accident has been waiting on us to get there?"

North of Sweetgrass. Montana.

Travis parked as close as he could get to the vehicles blocking the Interstate. Before getting out of his truck, he called Billy. "Hey, partner, I've got the accident north of Sweetgrass. On my way to help you after I'm done here."

"Great," said Billy. "When you finish, call Molly, and take the next one on the list. She's got them in order. Some of them have been waiting for hours. Me and Ted have the one between Ethridge turn-off and Cut Bank. It's a fatality and it's taking a bit of time to clear it."

"Copy that."

Travis hopped out of the truck and was grateful for Harlan and his experience. The boys were putting out pylons and trying to clear a narrow path to get vehicles past the bodies lying on the highway.

"I'm happy as hell I've got this fuckin parka on, Harlan. I'm warm but the fuckin wind is biting into my face with those fuckin little ice pellets."

"You need one of those ski masks, bro. Make you look like a bank robber."

Virge laughed.

Fontana Residence. Sicamous. British Columbia.

"I don't care how much you cry, Tammy," said Annie. "We can't go to the hospital to visit Eldon. The road is closed to traffic and won't be plowed until tomorrow."

"I have to go and see him, Mama. He'll think I don't love him anymore."

"He can think whatever he wants, Tammy. We are not going out and getting stuck on a mountain road in the dark. Go to bed and stop crying. I'm sick of you acting like this."

Tammy stomped off to her room and Annie took a couple of beers out of the fridge for her and Lucy.

"Why's Tammy being such a baby, Mommy? We're staying here in the middle of a mountain trying to help her and all she does is cry and act contrary."

"She needs to grow up, Lucy. She's talking about getting married and she's not mature enough to handle a commitment like that."