Gabe glanced around and pointed at a teenaged boy. “Run and get Caz from the health clinic. Tell him to bring the stretcher.”

The kid darted across the street.

“Tell me what happened,” Gabe said to the woman before leaning into the vehicle. Rope tied around Chevy’s body was holding bloodstained gauze in place. Gabe took a quick look beneath and winced at the long parallel slashes. Caz’d have a job picking debris out of that mess.

Restoring the dressings, Gabe pressed down to help slow the bleeding. “Looks like he got crosswise of a bear.”

“Must have. He staggered out of the forest, and sweet Jesus, I almost ran over the idiot. I pulled his jacket off, strapped a pressure dressing on him, and managed to get him into the pickup.”

“All extremities moving?” Gabe asked. The head wound had stopped bleeding, but the surrounding swelling and bruising indicated the man had hit something solid.

“Yes. Chief, he said something about his boy. I yelled and yelled before leaving, but the boy never answered.”

Oh…fuck. Gabe’s jaw clenched. Leaning forward, he slapped Chevy lightly. “Wake up, man.”

Chevy moaned. His eyes fluttered.

Caz joined Gabe. “What’s going on?”

“Bear attack. Sounds like the guy’s kid might be out there.”

“With a pissed-off bear? Dios. Ask your questions. I’ll transport him after.”

“Chevy, wake up.”

Chevy’s eyes opened and slowly focused. “MacNair. What the eff?” He moved, groaned, and looked down. “Oh God.”

Reaching out, he tried to grab Gabe. “Niko. My son. Is he here?”

“No, he’s not.” Niko. That was the kid who’d found the pup under a car. Hell. Gabe took Chevy’s hands. “Where did you see him last?”

“We got a mo—” Chevy’s gaze caught on Gabe’s badge for a long second. “Hell. Okay, I shot a moose. We were packing out the meat and walked between a sow and her cubs. A brown.”

Shit. Pretty much what he’d figured. Brown bears could be aggressive, especially the mothers. “She attacked?”

“Yeah. I yelled at Niko to run and tried to get my weapon up, but…” He shrugged.

A bear’s charge was fast. Unless Chevy had already been aiming his rifle that direction, he couldn’t have done anything.

“Did you see Niko afterward?”

Fear was in the man’s eyes. “Bear swatted me good, knocked me into a tree, and then I heard Niko yell. She took off after him. Jesus.” A shudder ran through him. “After my boy.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck. The kid couldn’t be more than ten.

Chevy looked at Gabe. “I passed out. Don’t know how long. When I came to, I tried to find Niko, only I kept falling.”