Yellowstone Standoff. Scott Graham

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СКАЧАТЬ to conduct decent research again this year, just like your roadside-only decision hurt us so much last year.”

      Lex released the podium and folded his arms across his chest as Sarah continued.

      “Forty people working out of the same base camp? With that kind of crowd around, all of us involved in mammalian studies will have a tough time collecting meaningful data. The only team that’s sure to get any decent work done is the Archaeological Team. It’s not like anything they’re here to study will be going anywhere.”

      Clarence dug his elbow into Chuck’s side.

      “As for the Grizzly Initiative,” Sarah went on, “we’re studying real, live grizzly bears. We have to go deep into the backcountry on our own in small teams to assure our presence doesn’t alter the bears’ behavior patterns. We’re trying to study their natural movements and traits, free of human interference, not their response to the crowd you’ve got heading across the lake to the Thorofare region tomorrow.”

      Lex’s steel-gray eyes glinted behind his glasses. He touched his upper lip with the tip of his tongue before he spoke. “I’ve acknowledged the difficulties inherent in last year’s decision, Sarah. Moreover, while your concerns are duly noted, I stand by this year’s determination that all backcountry teams will do the best they can while performing their summer research out of, and spending every night at, Turret Cabin base camp—which, I might add, park staffers have spent the last two weeks working long and hard to set up on your behalf.”

      “It was a grizzly bear,” Sarah said. “A grizzly bear doing what grizzly bears do.” She turned in her seat to face the Wolf Initiative team members on the opposite side of the room. “I feel for you guys. I really do. I can only imagine how hard it’s been for you after what happened to your Territory Team. But you’ve got to understand. Our two teams are studying different creatures with different study protocols, different needs.”

      “Sarah,” Lex warned.

      She continued to face the wolf researchers. “I don’t think you people can really comprehend the risks those of us with the Grizzly Initiative take every single day we’re in the field. Remember, it was a grizzly that attacked your team, not a wolf. Do you know the last time a wolf attacked a human? I’ll tell you when: never. But grizzlies? They attack. It’s what they do. They defend their young, their food, their turf. Learning what we can about their natural behavior by studying them in the backcountry is the best way we have of determining how best to keep people safe around them—and keep what happened to your team from ever happening again.” She turned to Lex. “You already cost us a year of critical research, along with the knowledge advancement that would have come with it. Now, with this group-camp requirement of yours, you’re about to cost us another year of legitimate, backcountry-based research.”

      “That’s enough, Sarah,” a male voice said from among the wolf researchers.

      Sarah spun in her seat, her mohawk swinging with her. “What was that?”

      Silence.

      “Too chicken to show yourself?” she challenged.

      “No,” the voice came again.

      A head turned, revealing the profile of a man with a long, sloping ski jump of a nose. A brown beard hid his chin, and a thick mustache, big as a cigar, ran around his face, almost connecting with his long sideburns.

      “No, I’m not chicken,” the researcher said. “In case you didn’t hear me, what I said was, ‘That’s enough.’”

      “I’ll decide what’s enough, Toby,” Sarah replied, climbing atop her folding chair. Before Chuck realized what was happening, Sarah launched herself at the mustachioed man with her arms outstretched, her hands aimed at his throat.

       4

      Those are some fiery scientists you’ve got working for you.” Chuck sat across from Lex at one of the long tables in the bustling staff cafeteria. The segment of sky visible through the front window was a glowing rectangle of pre-dawn magenta. Janelle and the girls were still in bed, but the cavernous room was filled with uniformed rangers getting ready for their shifts, and with many of the researchers who’d attended last night’s meeting.

      Lex held up his white paper napkin like a bullfighter’s cape, fending off Chuck’s comment. “Just one, really. And there are extenuating circumstances involved. Besides, the scientists don’t work for me. If they work for anybody, they work for Martha—or, more specifically, for themselves. You saw as much last night. They’re focused on their personal research projects, as they should be, and on how the park’s decisions will affect their studies and dissertations. They’re a pretty hard-charging bunch of kids. All of them have been studying their butts off since kindergarten, making perfect grades every semester, getting their papers published in the most prestigious journals, attending the best grad schools. They’re top-notch young scientists, and, what you witnessed last night between Sarah and Toby notwithstanding, they get along well together. They support one another, go out of their way to help each other out.”

      “They definitely were unified in their dislike of sharing a camp this summer.”

      Lex wiped his mouth and set his napkin next to his plate of bacon and eggs. “Like I told them, they’re lucky to be going into the backcountry at all this summer.”

      “It has been two years, though.”

      “One year and eight months, to be exact.”

      “A long time—” Chuck hesitated “—even as bad as it was.”

      Lex pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Do tell.”

      “I saw the video last night,” Chuck admitted. “Martha forwarded it to one of the Grizzly Initiative rookies. He showed it to me on his phone.”

      “Then you know there’s lots of room for debate about what happened.”

      “It looked fairly straightforward to me. The grizzly acted like a grizzly would be expected to act when the wolfies didn’t announce their approach.”

      “What do you mean? The two of them were talking and laughing. They were making their presence known.”

      “They weren’t yelling out to let anything and everything know of their presence, even though they knew they were approaching a kill site. Everything I read over the winter told me grizzlies have to be shown who’s boss. The wolf researchers didn’t do that. They were thinking gray wolves when they should have been thinking brown bears, and they paid the ultimate price for their mistake.”

      “You’re really suggesting the attack was their fault?”

      “We both know I wouldn’t be headed into the backcountry with my wife and kids if I thought otherwise, nor would you be letting me take them. I’ve come to the same conclusion I suspect you and all your grizzly experts have. What happened to the Territory Team was avoidable, preventable. Seeing the video last night reinforced that conclusion in my mind.”

      “What that bear did was not normal behavior,” Lex said, his voice flat. “It went out of its way to attack.”

      “It was sleeping,” Chuck countered. “It woke up startled. It went with its first and most basic СКАЧАТЬ