Summer 2013
Paddlefish Wars
Game Wardens lay motionless in the black, shadowy patches of boulders, weeds, and roots. As if playing a game of hide and seek, an occasional water snake popped its head up out of the water casting a periscope-like silhouette, then eased up onto a rock near the officers. Then, sensing something wasn’t quite right, it suddenly sloshed back into their black, watery escape. Except for an occasional mosquito, only the consistent lapping of waves onto shore could be heard clearly. Those sounds served only to blend with and mask what the observers were straining to hear.
Continually adjusting the focus and light-gathering settings to improve the green, grainy images seen in their night vision scopes, both wardens tried to keep their “targets” in ever-perfect view. They clearly understood it was two men whose deep voices dripped with a heavy, foreign accent. But, not until a pattern emerged would the odd scenario reveal its savagery.
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