The Shadowkiller Read Free Page B

break with their tight-ass sensibilities and get wild.
    On the third night, while everyone was roasting smores over a massive bonfire, Ty and the company’s founder and CEO, Bill Bender, went into the forest up above the camp. Bender and Ty both loved practical jokes. Their current mission was simple: now that everyone was comfortable in the woods, scare the shit out of them. The two techno-nerds knew how to pull a joke that would stick. Before leaving town Ty had made a digital recording and downloaded it to his MP3 player. Now hidden from the group, Ty connected the digital player to some small but ultra-high-quality battery-powered loudspeakers. A bit drunk and trying to conceal his laughter from the noisy crowd below them, Ty put the recording on standby and whispered loudly, “Ready?”
    Bender took a big pull off his beer. “What’s on there?”
    Ty could barely contain himself. “Animals!”
    They both broke into booze-enhanced hysterics and Bender gestured, “Let her rip!”
    Ty hit the play button. “I left a delay…twenty seconds and then ggrrrrrr! ”
    They broke into a run toward the campfire.
    No one had missed them as they approached the rowdy crowd, bathed in the dancing firelight. Ty sat back down next to Ronnie and she handed him his beer.
    â€œWhere did you go?”
    Ty smiled deviously. “Had to see a man about a dog. Or was it a werewolf?”
    Suddenly a frightening sound radiated from above in the woods and everyone fell silent. As the eerie growl rose in volume, a collective gasp emanated from the group. Ty fought to hold back a laugh.
    One of the programmers, a guy named Don Donovan, was incredulous. “It’s…it’s a bear!”
    Another throaty rumble issued forth and one of the wives asked meekly, “Ohmigod! Is it really a bear?”
    For more than a minute the terrible bear continued to taunt them from the dark forest.
    â€œDo you think it’s a big one?”
    â€œWho cares, a bear is a bear, stupid!”
    â€œCould it eat us?”
    â€œOf course it could eat us!”
    The angry bear caused the circle of petrified campers to draw closer to the fire and each other. Then, impossibly, a lion roared.
    â€œDoesn’t anybody have a gun?” implored someone.
    Two women began to cry.
    A trembling voice raised everyone’s worst fear: “Is that a bear and a mountain lion?”
    A fearful hush fell over the campers, and Ty and Bender positioned the bonfire between them so they wouldn’t start each other laughing.
    But when the elephant trumpeted, neither Ty nor his coconspirator could hold it in any longer. The dazed looks on the faces of everyone around that campfire caused the last good laugh Ty Greenwood had. The party dwindled at that point, partly due to the hour, but mainly because many felt the joke had gone too far. Ronnie finally laughed but later in their tent asked Ty, “Don’t you think it was in slightly bad taste?”
    Ty brushed it off. “C’mon, it was just a joke. And a pretty damn good one, at that.”
    The next morning the mood in the camp was damaged. A few, mostly spouses, grumbled that if anyone but Ty Greenwood and Bill Bender pulled such a gag, they would have been sent home and probably terminated. About half the gang now thought it was fairly funny, but the other half still didn’t see the humor at all.
    By around ten a.m. a large group prepared to shoot the rapids, sending several four-wheel drives downriver to retrieve the boats and ferry the passengers back. Ronnie wanted Ty to go, but he was ambivalent. It was already hot, Ronnie looked great in her bikini, and although the mood had risen somewhat since the group’s sullen breakfast, Ty could still sense a few cold shoulders among the rafters. Ty kissed Ronnie, urged her to go, and said he was going on a solitary hike. She protested but he’d made up his mind. He hoped that by afternoon