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Twice during the early hours of the morning, two-man teams in four-by-fours attempted to head north on the highway to Waverly. One had crashed 300 yards outside of the village limits; the second was found abandoned by one of the patrols. Both men were missing. |
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During the night, the makeshift communications network set up by the RCMP began to fail, and by dawn only three of the original eight units were still operating. |
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The 0614AM transmission of the Everett-Forrester team was cut short, and Madden and Kendall took two men and hurried out to check out the situation. Both Everett and Forrester were found hanging from a tree near Clyde Everett's pickup truck. They were dead and stripped. |
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Madden and Kendall returned with the news and summoned what was fast evolving into a war councilCaleb, the other two RCMP officers, Gregory and Hawkins, Doc Ferris, Bert Johnson, and yours truly, who was still referred to as Researcher. |
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"How many men can we muster for another sweep?" Kendall began. |
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Gregory, the tallest of the three, picked up his clipboard and began to toll off the names. He came up with 13, then counted again to verify his figure. |
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"Christ," Madden muttered, "how many have we lost?" |
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"We've lost fourteen people since this |
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