Mountain Rampage. Scott Graham
Читать онлайн.| Название | Mountain Rampage |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Scott Graham |
| Жанр | Криминальные боевики |
| Серия | National Park Mystery Series |
| Издательство | Криминальные боевики |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 9781937226466 |
This is a work of fiction set in a real place. All characters in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Torrey House Press Edition, June 2015
Copyright © 2015 by Scott Graham
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means without the written consent of the publisher.
Published by Torrey House Press, LLC
Salt Lake City, Utah
E-book ISBN: 978-1-937226-46-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957372
Cover design by Rick Whipple, Sky Island Studio
Interior design by Jeff Fuller, Shelfish • Shelfish.weebly.com
Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution
For my parents, Reg and Bev, with thanks for sharing their love of the Colorado mountains with me
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WEDNESDAY
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THURSDAY
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT SCOTT GRAHAM
MOUNTAIN RAMPAGE
“It may be, if we quit shooting animals on one side of a Park boundary line, that in due time we shall become sufficiently civilized to stop killing people on the other side of the boundary line.”
—Enos Mills
Father of Rocky Mountain National Park, 1870-1922
The ram never heard the shot that killed it.
The heavily muscled Rocky Mountain sheep, its horns long and curled, grazed its way up the shadowed northwest ridge of Mount Landen accompanied by its herd of two dozen ewes and first-year lambs. The ridge scalloped the dawn sky high above tree level. The herd nipped at bunches of dry grass shivering in the stiff breeze between lichen-covered rocks.
The ram stopped to gaze at the forested valley far below. The ewes and lambs halted, too. Any predator attempting to approach from the forest would reveal itself long before it grew close. But predators were not a concern here on the north face of Mount Landen in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park’s Mummy Range.
The grizzlies that once constituted the ram’s only real threat were gone, hunted to extinction more than a century ago. Black bears and the park’s few mountain lions fed below tree line on easier prey—deer, elk, raccoons, porcupines. The bighorn had no need to fear humans; hunting was a thing of the distant past in the park. Only the long natural history of its species compelled the ram to maintain its vigilance.
Satisfied all was well, the ram lowered its head and resumed grazing. It paused again as it topped the rocky crest of the ridge. The rising sun splashed the ridge with rust and orange against a cloudless turquoise sky. The ram stood with its powerful chest thrust forward, wind whipping its thick coat. To the north and west, the surrounding peaks and folded cirques of the Mummy Range took shape in the growing light.
The bullet, moving far faster than the speed of sound, struck the ram in its side. The slug mushroomed upon impact, ripping through the animal’s lungs and shredding its heart before bursting through its ribcage in a spray