Tracking Bear by David Thurlo

hated the thought, or more precisely, she hated the need for the father of her child to be armed. But there was nothing she could do about it, and she was still grateful that Kevin had worked so hard to keep Dawn safe during the threats against hernot too many months earlier. “I heard Sergeant Neskahi gave you some private instruction, and that’s good. Just remember to make sure of your target, Kevin, and don’t do anything that could injure innocent bystanders when a confrontation can be avoided.”
    “That was the topic of my first lesson. I’m always very careful.”
    As he strode off behind Ernest, who led the way outdoors, Justine calledto her. Ella joined her inside Belinda’s office. “Sorry for the delay. I had a question for the council member.”
    “Would you tell her what you just told me?” Justine asked Belinda as Ella sat down.
    “Investigator Clah, I was just telling your partner that although Mr. Franklin and Jason were on the same side when it came to NEED, they really weren’t close as father and son. Jason never could lowerhis guard around his father. Jason had been hurt too much in the past, and there were still issues between them.”
    “Like what?” Ella asked.
    “Professor Franklin left Jason’s mom when Jason was ten. But he never asked for visiting rights, and he remained off the Rez for most of Jason’s life. Although he provided child support, Jason never heard from him. Jason knew his dad was an important physicist,so he spent his boyhood fantasizing about him. Then, shortly after he graduated from high school, Jason found out that his dad was teaching at a branch college in Los Alamos. He saved his money and took a bus over there. When he met with his dad, the professor refused to explain why he’d never kept in touch, and he never apologized either. He simply asked that Jason let the past rest.”
    “And didhe?”
    Belinda shook her head. “Jason was very hurt. He wanted answers, but he couldn’t get them from his father, so he decided to bide his time. After Jason became a cop, and he had more resources available to him, he found out everything he could about his father’s life. But he never told me what he’d learned. My guess is that he was disappointed. He spent many years thinking his dad was somesort of Einstein, working on earth-shattering research. That had been his way of coping with a dad that never kept in touch. Then, when he learned the truth, he was forced to give up his idealized images. I think that probably broke his heart.”
    “If they weren’t close, why did the professor move back here?”
    She shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe Professor Franklin finally realized what he’d givenup by forsaking his son. Or, more than likely, he heard about the NEED project and decided he should come back and speak his mind.”
    “So you think Dr. Franklin returned primarily to fight against NEED, and Jason was just a secondary interest?” Ella said.
    “Yes, but it’s all speculation on my part. Navajos are taught not to speak for others, so maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. It’s possibleI’m being too hard on him.”
    “It seems to me that being on the same side of the NEED issue would have brought father and son closer together,” Justine said.
    “I think it did, to some degree. Opposing the development meant that they were of one mind. But in almost every other way, they were still miles apart. Look at it objectively. The professor is a gifted physicist whose field of preferenceis quantum mechanics. In that area, you deal with concepts and probabilities. It’s a field of science where nothing can be observed directly. By contrast, Jason’s mind-set, and his profession, is one where he acts based on what he can see and therefore prove. Their ways of thinking ran along two totally different wavelengths.”
    Ella nodded slowly. She could sympathize with that. She’d traveledthat same path with Rose. The way Rose viewed life—her adherence to the