Chapter 317 Chapter 317
When he reached the end of the street, he stepped over the rail and looked over the edge, he couldn’t see anyone from here. Dropping to his knee, he opened the case and took out his rifle and ammo. Standing he looked around, a tall tree caught his eye. No time to debate it, he thought. Going back over to the other side of the railing, he went over and looked up it. Swinging the rifle to hang flat down his back, he started climbing the old pine? He had no idea what type of tree it was, just that it had a lot of branches that would enable him to go up it fast. The branches were close enough at the bottom that it was almost like going up a ladder. He moved swiftly, ignoring the scrapes along his bare skin. Giving up his shirt may not have been the smartest plan, but Giana parading around naked in front of others was more important and by now half the village would know what was happening.
Pausing, he looked in the direction Giana had pointed out to him, he could see movement down there now. Going up a few more feet he turned and wedged his body between the branches. This was going to be a whole new challenge, to balance his weight and the rifle and not fall out.
With cautious movements, he brought the rifle around and awkwardly loaded it. Raising it up, he was able to use another branch as a support as he leaned his head down to see through the scope. He saw a flash of rust red and then moved it ahead of where the fox was running. He tensed when he got the wild animal in his sight, they needed to slow down, or they were going to reach it before he took it out. It was huge, and the boy had been right, it was angry and lashing out. The way it was weaving around, was going to make getting a good shot hard.
Deacon blew out a breath, centering himself as he made careful adjustments trying to predict the animal’s movement. The bear stopped and reared on its hind legs; Deacon squeezed the trigger. He didn’t pause to see if he’d downed, it, just loaded another round in with a well-practiced move. When it was loaded again, he brought the bear back into his sights. It was down, but still alive. Adjusting his aim for the animal’s head, he squeezed the trigger. The sound of the shot was still echoing when the animal stopped moving.
Blowing out a breath, he moved the rifle slowly, looking for the children, he spotted them on top of a boulder, huddled together. The one was probably around twelve and the girl she was hugging looked to be six or seven. He closed his eyes for a second, waiting for the heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach to settle, and then moved it back to the bear. Walker was there, on the other side of it looking it over. Giana darted past him, wearing only his shirt, and ran to the kids.
His phone vibrating had him almost slip off the branch he was standing on. Great timing, Calum, he thought, shifting so he could reach to get it out of his pocket. He braced his shoulder on the branch and hit the button to answer it.
“Not a good time, Cal, I’m twenty feet up a tree, being stupidly heroic to save some kids from a bear.”
“Did you?”
Deacon jolted it was not Calum on the other end.
“Save the children?”
“Yeah,” he said slowly.
“Then I’d say it was more heroic than stupid.” There was a pause, “it’s Shepard Addison, I was told it was time for us to have a talk. Is this a bad time?”
Deacon looked toward the gorge, then to the ground, “sorry sir, I thought it was Calum calling me back.”
“I gathered that. Calum called me. We’ve been keeping something from you for a long time and the time has come to tell you.”
Deacon adjusted his footing.
“Would you like to get out of the tree first before I continue?”
“Ah,” Deacon braced his shoulder against the limb and moved his rifle off the branch, “it might be a good idea, sir.”
“Very well. I’ll call you back in two minutes.” The line went quiet.
Swearing softly, Deacon jammed the phone into his back pocket and moved the rifle to hang down his back again. What the hell was he talking about? He went down the tree so fast, barely taking the time for his footing to be sure enough before he moved to the next. He felt the bark and hardened sap dragging along his flesh but didn’t have the time to slow down.
His boots hit the ground together as he jumped to the ground. Pulling the rifle off his shoulder, he went over the railing to put it in the case. Turning he saw a small group had gathered and was watching him, he hadn’t even noticed them on the way down.