Jed didn't need a reminder from this old hunter that the rest of his tracking would be similar to the pursuit of a trophy royal bull elk. If the hunted animal feels he is being followed, it will circle to wait and watch their back trail. The trick is to figure out exactly which way the elk will move after deciding that the sense of danger was only a false alarm. Then, if the hunter's deduction was correct, he would be in a position for a clean shot, and the meat would not be tainted by the adrenaline of fear.

Following Uncle Only's advice, Jed checked the directory for an 800 number, and then called 800-AIR-WEST. He drove through the night to Seattle to pick up his ticket to area 402, Eastern Nebraska; major city, Omaha. Thanks to direct connections, the hunter had taken his stand when Rice and Kearns finally arrived.

An old friend of the family, "Uncle" Only had cleaned out his cash register for Jed, no questions asked. Even at that, what with the price of the air fare, and the deposit on a nondescript rental car waiting across from the baggage pick-up exit of the airport, it had been necessary to compromise on his wardrobe.

Jed was dressed in a quickly selected, off the rack suit, from the Goodwill store in Seattle, listed in guidebooks as the world's largest. His cheap cardboard suitcase was filled with other changes. On account of the locale, he had also purchased a pair of Nebraska "hog farmer" pin-striped overalls, a white coat that could double for the impression of medical technician or TV repairmen, and on a hunch, a complete set of U.S. Air Force sage green fatigues.

And then he waited by walking purposely about in the humid summer heat tainted with a whiff of essence of stockyard, meeting every plane that possibly could have carried arrivals on an evasion escape route from Cascade City.

He needn't have worried about recognizing faces. The red backpack instantly gave them away. Whereas the two had first attracted Jed's attention on Heartbreak Glacier because they didn't fit a classification in the anthropologist's mind, now the packs didn't seem to belong with the baggage of two business type travelers.

Conversely, Rice and Kearns didn't spot Jed, in his suit and tie, leave the men's room, adjusting the fly on his pants. Keeping his head down by pretending the zipper was stuck, Jed was able to pause long enough near the pair to overhear Kearns' indignation of not being met. Consequentially the hunter was in position to follow when the pair hailed a cab.

A glance at a city map, while keeping a loose tail on the easy to follow taxi, convinced Jed that his hunch was correct. He drove with one hand while changing into the uniform of a USAF Staff Sergeant.