FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 80

Chapter 80



I continued to crawl, parting brush from my face, then stopped. Right in front of me, the grass and weeds had been tamped down. An animal could have slept here. Or Powers knelt in this exact same spot.

Just ahead I saw a moccasin print, then another. Recent.

I saw something move. 

A female coyote led her two pups toward the larger cave, clenching a dead squirrel in her powerful jaws. She stopped suddenly, causing the pups to ram into her rump. A genuinely comic moment for a photographer. I could only smile.

The mother turned my way, her nostrils flaring, and saw me hiding. City coyotes are accustomed to humans. As long as I stayed still, I was not a threat to her or her pups.

Another scent.

She turned back to her cave. A man was inside her home.

Using her snout, she pushed her pups back and out of the way. When the smaller one started back for the cave, she nipped his flank. He rejoined his brother.

I could hear the mother’s soft guttural growling as she slunk low toward the cave. 

Thut!  A pistol shot rang out, muffled by a silencer.

She spooked and ran back to her pups. She left them and began barking non-stop.

I saw blood oozing from a wound near her ribs. Surface wound?  I was not close enough to tell. Not bad shooting, I had to admit, considering it was still dark. If it was the same small caliber pistol, it would have no scope. Only the silencer. 

Thanks to the brave mother, Powers had fucked up. Now I knew exactly where he was.

I remembered the desk sergeant’s words. This was the perfect time to retreat. The problem was, I didn’t want to. I began to rationalize: If I leave him there and head back, he could climb up the rocks that would lead him out of the park. He would be in the Diamond Heights area. Heavily populated. To his right would be a shopping complex. With a bank. Would a guard be as highly trained as a city cop?  Probably not.  Ironically, Powers would be quite close to a building that the SFPD used to train its troops. 

On the plus side, no one would be stirring around the grocery store and bank for at least four hours. The one exception would be a guard who patrolled the area throughout the night.

Another mitigating factor: Powers had a .22 caliber pistol. It would take a perfect headshot or one to my heart to kill me or anyone else.

There was still time for him to sneak away and make the easy climb up a cliff to the street above. But when would he appear?  Did he  know I was there? If so, how long would he wait me out?

I began to think along another line: What were the chances of jumping him?

The caves were surrounded by trees and brush in all directions. The earth in front of the caves was beaten down hard. If I could get behind the two tall rocks, somehow… Sooner or later he would emerge.

The coyote was yipping and growling by turns, giving me some cover.  So I rose into a crouch and slowly groped to one side, away from the cave’s mouth. Soon he would have to sneak out of the cave and shoot her dead or risk being discovered. If I could make it there before that…





 

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