“I know a guy who’s cleared to work with them. I’ll give him a ring, all right?”
“Okay. But when is he–”
“As soon as he can. I’m sorry I can’t make you any promises, but you know. The alternative is just to wait to see if she moves on on her own.”
Outside, the bird contentedly groomed her chest with the tip of her beak. It didn’t look as if she was in any mood to move on on her own, and Ros nodded again.
“All right, got it. Don’t disturb the wildly endangered bird.”
“No pictures, either. These guys, they’ve been hunted off and on for years. You let a picture get loose on Twittergram or what have you, and these woods will be full of assholes blasting away. No, just sit tight, and I’ll call in some help.”
The man was gone before Ros could ask him who was coming or even what the endangered bird was called, and she could only hope that he was true to his word about getting help.
I’m going to have to call Tabbie,she thought desperately.She’s going to laugh her ass off about this. Only someone with my luck could get an all-expenses-paid free vacation and then find herself and the property held hostage by an endangered buzzard.
She was just reaching for her phone when she heard a hard sharp rap. For a moment, Ros thought that the man had returned, possibly with some brilliant plan to relocate the birds, but then she realized that rather than coming from the door, it had come from the deck.
Suppressing a feeling of dread, she turned to find that the bird she had seen before had been joined by two others. One of the birds standing just inches away from the glass, peering inside with an intent beady gaze. The bird, whatever it was, had a crest like a peacock, and now it lifted up into a crown of feathers over its head, showy and almost gold in the afternoon light. As Ros watched, the bird shifted from foot to foot, its long neck snaking right and then left, and just as she thought that that was the end of it, that it was just dance time for buzzards, it opened its mouth and screamed.
It was potentially the worst sound that she had ever heard, a cross between stepping on a cat’s tail and trying to shove a tin can into the garbage disposal. As she covered her ears, Ros started to laugh, because if she didn’t, she would absolutely start crying.
Chapter Two
∞∞∞
Teagan was just getting ready to check into a motel when he got the call. For a minute, he thought about just letting it go to voicemail. Then he saw the name on the screen, and he stepped away from the desk, shooting an apologetic glance at the clerk.
“Dag. I would say that this had better be good–”
“But I’m the one calling you, and that almost never is. Sorry, man. You want I should start telling you about new restaurants to try, maybe, so you can get some good news with the bad? There’s this place out where I am now, they do a killer pot roast.”
“I like pot roast,” Teagan said, in what was probably the saddest way anyone had ever said that sentence. “Text me the address when you get a minute. What’s up?”
Dag was never one to mince words.
“Fire condor.”
“What the hell.”
“Yup. Mature female. Looks healthy as anything, so I called you instead of trying to trap her myself.”
“No, no. You did right. Shit. Where at?”
Teagan started walking back towards his truck. He had a few traps that would work for fire condors, and he could hit the road immediately. He told himself that was good luck.
“I’m a ways west of Halliford, just south of the Apostle Islands. I can text you the address.”
“Right. I’m going to grab some gas, and then I’ll be on the road. I’m actually pretty close. I’ll probably get there in about an hour, hour and a half.”
“Good. It’s a cabin off the lake, easy to find if you don’t miss the turn. There’s a green mailbox at the end of the drive. There’s a woman staying there right now, but I told her to stay in and not to mess with the bird.”
Teagan nodded. So much for that nap. At least his gear was still in the truck bed. He figured that he should have everything he needed, but who the hell knew? No one drove out in the morning thinking that they were going to be dealing with a fire condor.
“Anything else I should know?”
“Not as far as I know. She looks calm. She’s not putting off any sparks.”
“Well, that’s something. Thanks for the heads up, Dag. I’ll get it taken care of.”