A heartbeat later, he was tackled to the tile. The forged documents were gathered from his person, still damp. From the stairwell window came another muffled bellow, low and echoing. “The bear’s responding,” a nurse whispered from the nurses’ station. “It’s like he knows.” Martinez locked the cuffs, saying, “He does.”
Rowe kept yelling as they led him away. “You can’t prove anything!” But Reed was already on the phone with forensics. “Finger print matches, so does the mud stain on your coat. Game over, buddy.” The bear’s final growl faded into silence. One ranger exhaled, trembling. “That animal just called the verdict before we did.”