As soon as I realized what had happened I dropped over the ridge, sliding to the bottom. Down below was a bush area, mostly thick black spruce, crisscrossed with trails. I quickly found his footprints and set off after him, but I quickly thought better of it, here was a fellow who had already assaulted three Members, showing no inclination for giving himself up, and I was alone without a radio. I scampered back up the ridge but still found myself alone. Tracy had left. No doubt she had gone to try and locate him coming out of the bush, but I now had no way to contact anyone. So, it was back to plan “A”, and I slid down the embankment once more, and started following Herman’s tracks.
At these temperatures, walking through the snow, unless it is fairly hard packed, is noisy. And as I got to a junction of two trails, not far from the ridge, I could here someone walking down the other trail to where I was. I positioned myself at the edge of the trail where I could surprise him, and prepared for the fight that was no doubt going to follow. The footsteps came closer and closer and I tensed, ready to spring. Suddenly out from the trail stepped… Mark and Wayne. I don’t think I would have won that fight. They had come into the trails hoping to catch him running from me.
After a quick conference we decided that Mark and I would continue to try and follow his trail, while Wayne would return to his truck and join Tracy in trying find him coming out of the bush. Mark and I had almost made our way out of the bush when Wayne called to say that he just saw Herman go into the McKay Apartments, a short run away from where we were.
Now the McKay apartments have four entranceways, and the way it is constructed meant that you couldn’t easily get from one half of the building to the other. When we got to the building Wayne was no where to be seen, and I ran around back to watch those two doors. Once again my not having a radio presented a problem. No one was running out and I had to get in and help. But which door to choose? Picking the one closest to where I was, I ran in and on the second stair landing I found Wayne and Herman.
Wayne had just knocked the fire extinguisher out of his hand (Yes, he still had it) and knocked him to the ground. I jumped on him and eventually got the handcuffs on him, as by this time everyone was there and helping. He continued to struggle as we took him out to one of the trucks. As there was a real possibility that he would kick out a window Mark and I crawled into the back with him. Mark sat on one side of him, I sat on the other, we linked our arms through his, and each put an leg over his, pinning him to the seat. Wild he continued to fight against us.
One of the things you learn in self-defense is that pain is an effective way of stopping someone from fighting. In order to be effective the person you are applying the pain to needs to know that the pain will stop if they stop. One of the things that I never learned, until out in the field, is that certain focused individuals will not feel pain, or react to it. Quite often it is people who are under the influence of something, but it could be anybody who is extremely single-mindedly focused on something or someone. It is a little unsettling when something you do, that should be causing someone pain, has no effect.
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3 responses
This guy sounds a little spooky! So, you’re making us wait for another installment, eh?! (-:
I’d lost your coordinates, Clare, but googled for “The House” and “Arctic Bay.” You came up first off! I’ll check more often now, having discovered the cliffhanger story. I’m still in love with the Arctic, via your blog, Atanarjuat, and various documentaries! Best to you, and Leah, and Kevin and the new little one. Coming south any time soon?
bev,
Just trying to build the anticipation, either that or I just haven’t made the time to sit and write lately…
Hey Maureen, good to hear from you. If all goes well I’ll see you sometime around the end of March. I’m planning on travelling with Dad, Uncle Wayne and various and sundry cousins to Vimy in April. Leah, TRAVIS, and Hilary are staying home however.