C. Box: Free Fire

Out on the sequined meadow, a herd of elk emerged from the trees and ran across the virgin snow, hoofbeats thumping, sets of antlers cracking against one another as the bulls scrambledto separate themselves. The herd, more than eighty of them, thundered across the road in front of the truck, leaving a wake of snow, snatches of hair, and a dusky smell.

“Maybe this is it,” Ashby said.

Joe didn’t want to think that.

“Something really upset the balance,” the ranger said, pointingtoward a sputtering spray of superheated water that was shooting through the snow in the meadow the elk had just vacated.“It’s affecting the whole park. That geyser wasn’t there even two minutes ago. Now look at it.”

Joe had an impulse to call Marybeth, wake her up, tell her that he loved her. Tell her good-bye.

But the trembling stopped.

As did Steamboat Geyser. The new little geyser in the meadow spat out a few more gouts of water, then simply smoked, as if exhausted.

Joe realized he’d been holding his breath, and he slowly let it out. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight his knuckles where white. “I think it’s over,” he said. “I think we’re okay.”

“I hope so,” Ashby said.

Joe inched the truck forward, crossed the trail the elk had made, eased out into the meadow.

“I was just thinking I should start going back to church,” Ashby said. “Or put in my papers for a transfer to Mount Rush-moreor someplace like that. The Washington Monument. Maybe Everglades.”

It took until they could see the lights of Mammoth Village for Joe to fully relax. He wanted to know what had caused the eruptions and the earthquake, what had upset the underground plumbing system.

“We’ll probably never know what caused it,” Joe said.

“That’s the thing about this place,” Ashby said. “It’s so much bigger than us. We’re nothing here.”

Early the next morning, as the sun came up, Joe walked through the still and silent Gardiner cemetery. The snow was untracked until he got there. It took twenty minutes to find the gravestone for Victor Pickett. He couldn’t think of anything to say.

Before driving to Billings to see Judy and his father and return Lars’s pickup and meet Marybeth, who would take him home, Joe called the governor’s office. Rulon took the call and listened without comment as Joe outlined what had happened. Rulon’s only reaction was to curse when Joe told him about Chuck Ward.

“That sneaky son of a bitch,” Rulon said.

“So you had no idea what he was up to?” Joe asked, trying to sound casual.

“Of course not. What are you implying?”

“Nothing, except the last thing he told me,” Joe said, trying to swallow except his mouth was dry, “was that you knew everything.”

There was a long pause. Then the governor said, “Of course he’d say that. And he’ll probably say more and try to implicate me in order to cut a deal with the Feds. But he can’t prove anything,not a damn thing. Why would I send you up there after the fact to investigate if I had a role in anything?”

“Maybe because you thought I would fail,” Joe said.

“Well, I did think there was a pretty good chance you’d screw things up,” the governor said breezily. “That’s what you do. But no, I didn’t know about the microbes, although I’m fascinatedby the possibilities. We’ve got to own them. They belongto us. .”

Joe could hear the excitement in Rulon’s voice. He listened as the governor speculated about the possibilities of gasification,of transforming the world of energy production.

“Do you realize what you’ve found?” the governor finally asked.

“I think so,” Joe said.

“Can we get those microbes?”

“I have no idea,” Joe said. “The secret will soon be out.”

“Then we have to move fast,” Rulon said, and Joe could picturethe governor gesturing to his underlings to come into his office. “I’ve got to go,” he said.

“I understand,” Joe said, “but there’s something else.”

“What?” Rulon said impatiently.

“My friend Nate Romanowski. The Feds took him.”

“I told you I didn’t want to know about him,” Rulon said. “In fact, I think our connection is going bad.”

“Governor-”

“I’m losing you! Damn! You’re fading away! Good-bye, Joe. And damned good work. Let’s keep in touch!”

“Governor. .”

Instead of going North into Montana, Joe drove south into the park. It was hard to believe that the night before was the first major snowstorm of the season. By mid-morning, the roads had melted and were merely wet, and the sun blasted off the snow in a white-hot reflection.

He could see the tracks of the snow coach Olig had stolen going in and out of the Sunburst Hot Springs turnout, but Olig was gone. So was Clay McCann, Joe thought, so was Clay McCann.

Sunburst was dry, likely a result of the earthquake the night before. The pink microbes in the runoff stream were flat and turning gray as they died. Joe ran his bare hand over the flamer holes that once expelled natural gas. Nothing. He lit a match and waved it over the holes until it burned down to his finger-tips.

Yellowstone, joe thought, as he drove out of it, was the most beautiful place on earth. It was the beginning and the end of everything he knew. He couldn’t wait to get home.