NOVEMBER 14TH
OUTSIDE TERLINGUA TX, UNITED STATES
Jessica's knuckles were white from gripping the sides of her seat as the small plane landed on the poorly maintained air strip near the border town of Terlingua.
'I'm gonna be sick.'
Beside her she saw her classmate, Jonathan Hernandez, wasn't fairing any better. His face was blanched white as the plane bumped down the rough taxiway towards a pair of hangers. Slowing to a stop outside one of the hangers the pilot stopped the engine and directed the college students to a waiting extended cab pick-up with a gesture.
"Looks like y'alls rides already here."
As they approached, Jessica saw the front passenger door open and Professor Vaughan stepped out wearing hiking boots, khaki pants, grey t-shirt, a ratty baseball cap, and a pair of gas station sunglasses to block out the noon sun. Taking Jessica's Suitcase and putting it in the bed of the Truck he greeted them.
"Welcome to the Big Bend!"
Opening the rear passenger door Jessica climbed into the cab as Jonathan entered from the other side and professor Vaughan got in the passenger side beside the driver, a big Hispanic man dressed in the khaki uniform of the Texas parks and wildlife department and a straw cowboy hat. Turning in his seat the game warden offered his hand to Jessica.
"I'm Warden Sanchez but you can call me Julio."
Taking his hand and shaking it Jessica replied.
"Jessica Galatas, call me Jessica."
Next he contorted to shake Jonathan's hand.
"Jonathan Hernandez, nice to meet you Warden."
With Introductions out of the way Warden Sanchez straightend and put the truck into gear and pulled out onto the dirt road headed west. Professor Vaughan then spoke over his shoulder.
"The rancher, Mr. Lopez, who owns the land where the incident took place agreed to put us up for the week, Jonathan you and I will have one room and Jessica will have her own room. Be sure to be polite and professional anytime you interact with Mr. Lopez."
-
They drove through some of the most beautiful country Jessica had ever seen, desert stretching into mountains and beautiful vista's were everywhere. After some time they finally arrived at a pipe rail gate set in a barbed wire fence with chicken wire stretched along the lower half, Professor Vaughan hopped out of the truck and opened the gate while Warden Sanchez pulled the truck through and waited on the other side for Professor Vaughan to close and chain the gate. 200 yards further down the caliche drive sat a single story house near a large shop building and barn. The Warden pulled up to the house and put the truck in park but didn't turn it off.
"Alright this is yalls stop, There's some Border patrol guys down on the Rio that needs a tracker. If you need any more information about the case you can contact our office."
The trio got out and retrieved the luggage from the back before starting to the house as the Warden turned the truck around and headed back the way they came. As they approached the house the front door opened and a short Hispanic man with a thick grey mustache and thinning hair wearing a denim shirt and jeans stepped out to great them in a thick Mexican accent.
"Hola, I'm Victor Lopez, and I assume you are Maestro Vaughans assistants, bienvenido."
Extending his hand Jessica and Jonathan shook it introduced themselves in turn. Noticing Jessica gazing around the huge expanse of land around her, Victor smiled.
"Is this your first time in the Big Bend country Senorita Galatas?"
Jessica smiled and nodded.
"Yes sir, and Jessica is fine Mr. Lopez."
"Bien, Jessica then, and please call me Victor. My ranch goes from here to the edge of the state park in the west, to the Rio Bravo in the south for a total of 16 sections or 10,240 acres, we are in the north eastern corner now."
Jessica's eyes widened in surprise.
"16 square miles? That's very impressive Victor, what kind of animals do you handle?"
Victor held up first his thumb then index fingers as he said.
"Cattle and goats, are about the only things I've had luck with."
Professor Vaughan stepped forward before asking with a note of disdain in his voice.
"Mr. Lopez, is Mr. Lovec around?"
The rancher shook his head and replied.
"No, Señor Lovec took off to glass around the western fence an hour ago, he said he'd be back later tonight or in the morning."
Jessica side eyed her teacher but said nothing.
'I thought there was only 3 of us.'
Victor seemed taken aback for a moment and exclaimed.
"Oh where are my manners please come in, come in!"
Victor stepped aside and motioned everyone to enter the house.
-
9 HOURS LATER
Jessica sat at the small computer desk in the room Victor had shown her too earlier, having just showered and changed for bed her hair still wrapped in a towel. She looked at her laptop screen clicking through images, A pile of pig like carcasses, some missing legs or heads, some completely disembowled with intestines hanging out all taken from various angles flitted past. Finally she stopped on one that showed a ruler placed next to a jagged circular hole in one of the Javalinas flanks, looking at the ruler she noted it was almost 3 inches wide.
'buzzards getting at the carcasses maybe?'
She knew that the huge scavenger birds sometimes pecked their way into its meal to the point its whole head could fit in the hole. Sighing and blinking her eyes hard, she shut the computer down and stood walking to the small twin sized bed where she flopped down.
'Whatever killed those Javalinas wasn't after a meal, too much left behind. I wonder if it was a poacher?'
Shaking her head she tried, unsuccessfully, to clear the disturbing images out of her mind.
'Get it together girl, you're gonna see worse, it's all part of nature, prey eats plants, predators eat prey, predators die and become food for scavengers who die and become food for plants. The cycle continues generation after generation even in humans, death begets life, the population will breed and continue on..... breed.... breeding...'
Suddenly she imagined Deep blue starburst eyes set in a tan face.
'Stop. thinking. about. him. you hardly know the guy.'
Jessica felt her face get hot and with a sinking feeling slipped her hand below the covers into her shorts encountering the increasingly moist creases there.
'God fucking damn it.'
-
1:28 AM NOVEMBER 15TH
Jessica's eyes shot open as she heard footsteps going down the hall outside her room. Looking at her phone she saw it was the middle of the night.
'Who the hell is stomping around in the middle of the night?'
locking her phone she heard the next rooms door close in the large 4 bedroom house.
soon she fell asleep thinking about an old Truck with a dog in the bed.
-
6:30 AM NOVEMBER 15TH
Jessica awoke to the sound of the alarm on her phone, groggily she stretched and tried to remember what she had been dreaming about. Standing she twisted to pop her back before opening her Suitcase and taking out jeans and a green long sleeve lightweight cotton shirt. As she pulled down the shorts she slept in she remembered the night before then shaking her head angrily she pulled on her jeans and changed shirts not bothering with a bra, she never wore a bra or panties in the field as they invariably ended up soaked in sweat and terribly uncomfortable.
Leaving her room Jessica could smell coffee and some kind of meat cooking and faintly hear talking in the kitchen. Making her way across the house the talking grew more distinct before she turned the final corner from the living room into the kitchen she heard something that made her pause, the way one of the people in the kitchen was speaking was familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out way. After a moment it clicked.
'No. how? why would he be here?'
Shaking her head once again she turned the corner to see 2 men were seated around a small round kitchen table with a map spread out on it sipping coffee while a 3rd worked at the gas stove. Professor Vaughan and Victor looked up from the map on the table and raised their cups in greeting, Victor spoke first.
"Care for some coffee Senorita? Señor Lovec is making chorizo and eggs for tacos, he's an excellent cook and it's been years since I've had the pleasure of his food."
The man working at the stove spoke without turning his back, his accent completely indistinct.
"Don't get their hopes up old man, I'm not that great."
Jessica's arms hung limply at her sides and her jaw dropped.
'Impossible. stalker. weirdo. creep!'
Her mind raced as the man turned off the burner and removed the skillet he was using from the stove to place the food on a plate for the others to make their tacos. Picking up the large plate and a bag of tortillas Ryan turned and saw Jessica, he showed no sign of recognition that she could see other than a slight narrowing of his eye.
"Good morning miss....?"
'The fuck?'
Jessica saw Ryan give a small almost imperceptible shake of his head after speaking.
'I guess I'll play along... for now. He's never shown any sign of wanting to do me any harm.'
"Galatas. Jessica Galatas. Im one of Professor Vaughans students at A&M"
"Nice to meet you Ms. Galatas. My name is Ryan Lovec, Mr. Lopez hired me on to try and find whatever killed those Javalinas. I understand professor Vaughan was asked by parks and wildlife to do much the same."
"Pfft."
From the table Professor Vaughan made a sound of scorn into his coffee cup. At the sound Ryan turned to look at him, setting his cup down Professor Vaughan spoke with evident contempt in his voice.
"You left out a part, you meant find and KILL whatever it was."
Looking at Jessica Professor Vaughan continued.
"Mr. Lovec is a professional hunter and guide. We are here to study the case at an academic level."
Ryan shrugged and spoke to the professor while still looking at Jessica.
"Doesn't your school offer a bounty on feral hogs? I don't see any issue with dealing with nuisance animals, especially predators, that may cause damage to local farms and ranches."
Professor Vaughan nodded his head before replying.
"The school does offer a bounty on feral pigs, but I've never agreed with the policy. I've always been a proponent of population control methods that don't involve wholesale slaughter of animals from helicopters."
"You're entitled to your opinion."
At this point Jonathan walked into the kitchen still appearing half asleep and his hair a mess. Nodding to the pair at the table he poured himself a cup of coffee and started adding cream and sugar, as he turned and leaned against the granite counter he finally noticed Ryan and nodded to him without speaking. Jessica finally tore her eyes away from Ryan and looked at Professor Vaughan and asked.
"When can we go to the site?"
Having taken a large bite of a taco he had just made Professor Vaughan spoke with his mouth full.
"As soon as I finish this taco so you two had better eat fast, Mr. Lopez has offer the use of an ATV to get us around the ranch. Mr. Lovec can I ask you to carry one of us in your UTV?"
Ryan nodded while taking the final bite of his taco.
"I'm headed out there to look for more sign anyways one of you can hitch a ride if you want."
While speaking Jessica saw him cut his eyes to look at her. Professor Vaughan clapped his hands and stood.
"It's settled then, Jonathan you and I will take the ATV and Jessica you will ride with Mr. Lovec. The site of the kill is only about 3 miles away but the dust out here is terrible and the UTV won't be as harsh."
Ryan downed the last of his coffee and grabbing a straw hat laying crown down on the counter said over his shoulder while starting towards the front door.
"Grab whatever you need and meet me outside Ms. Galatas."
He then disappeared outside.
-
Back in her room Jessica grabbed a small empty backpack she had in her Suitcase and shoved some spare socks, sunscreen, her sunglasses case, an unopened disposable rain poncho, her phone charger with a car adapter, some tampons, and a pair of binoculars into the main compartment. After a moment of consideration she shook her head and slipped her big metal water bottle into the holder on the side before pulling on an Aggies cap and strapping Gators over her hiking boots.
'I don't know why you're really here but you're sure as hell going to tell me.'
Throwing the backpack over one shoulder she dropped the strap of her camera bag over the other and went outside to find Ryan loading a case of water bottles into a cooler in the back of a black 2 seater UTV with an enclosed cab. Inside the cab Jessica could see the same Akita she had seen with Ryan in East Texas, Having finished loading the waters Ryan opened the passenger door and the dog hopped out. Leaving the door open and moving to the rear Ryan patted the lowered tail gate for the huge dog to jump up into the open bed of the side by side.
"Throw your stuff in the back, don't worry the dog won't mess with it."
Jessica threw her back pack into the bed next to another larger backpack she assumed was Ryans and a Rifle case. Moving to the open passenger door she was surprised to feel cool air blowing from ac vents in the cab, settling in to the seat she eyed a tan colored bolt action rifle fastened upright into a rack between the driver and passenger seat. Looking at the barrel she could make out 300 Magnum stamped on the barrel but couldn't read it clearly at a glance. As Ryan climbed in the driver seat and started the side by sides engine Jessica saw Professor Vaughan and Jonathan pull out of the open garage door of the shop on an ATV with Jonathan waving at them before they turned west towards an open area with dense scrub brush.