 Recorded Books, Incorporated, presents an unabridged recording of Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman, narrated by George Guadel. This work is copyrighted, 1999, by Tony Hillerman. This recording is copyrighted, 1999, by Harper Audio. Tony Hillerman dedicates this book for Officer Dale Claxton, who died doing his duty, bravely and alone. He goes on to write, On May 4th, 1998, Officer Dale Claxton of the Cortez Colorado Police stopped a stolen water truck. Three men in it killed him with a fuselage of automatic weapons fire. In the chase ensuing, three other officers were wounded. One of the suspects killed himself and the two survivors vanished into the vast empty wilderness of mountains, maces and canyons on the Utah-Arizona border. The Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the manhunt. Soon it involved over 500 officers from at least 20 federal, state and tribal agencies and bounty hunters attracted by a $250,000 FBI reward offer. To quote Leonard Butler, the astute chief of the Navajo Tribal Police, the search became a circus. Citing reports sent to the coordinator were not reaching search teams. Search parties found themselves tracking one another, unable to communicate on mismatched radio frequencies. Local police who knew the country sat at roadblocks, while teams brought in from the cities were floundering in canyons strange to them. The town of Bluff was evacuated, a brush fire was set in the San Juan bottoms to smoke out the fugitives and the hunt dragged on into the summer. The word spread in July that the FBI believed the fugitives dead, possibly of laughter, one of my cop friends said. By August, only the Navajo police still had scouts out looking for sign. As I write this July 1999, the fugitives remain free, but the hunt of 1998 exists in this book only as the fictional memory of fictional characters. And now. Hunting Badger. Deputy Sheriff Teddy by had been leaning on the door frame looking out at the night about three minutes or so before he became aware that Cap Stoner was watching him. Just getting some air by said too damn much cigarette smoke in there. You're edgy tonight, Cap said, moving up to stand in the doorway beside him. You young single fellas ain't supposed to have anything worrying you. I don't, Teddy said. Except maybe staying single. Cap said, there's that. Not with me, Teddy said. He looked at Cap to see if he could read anything in the old man's expression. But Cap was looking out into the Ute Casino's parking lot showing only the left side of his face with its brush of white mustache short cropped white hair and the puckered scar left along the cheekbone when as Cap told it a woman he was arresting for driving while intoxicated, fished a pistol out of her purse and shot him. That had been about 40 years ago when Stoner had been with the New Mexico State Police a couple of years and had not yet learned that survival required scepticism about all his fellow humans. Now Stoner was a former captain augmenting his retirement pay as a rent a cop security director at the Southern Ute gambling establishment just as Teddy was doing on his off duty nights. Would you tell that noisy drunk at the blackjack table? Just the usual Teddy said calm down or he'd have to leave. Captain comment. He stared out into the night saw some lightning. He said pointing just barely must be way out there over Utah. Time for it too. Yeah, Teddy said he wanted Cap to go away. Time for the monsoons to start. Cap said the 13th isn't it? I'm surprised so many people are out here trying their luck on Friday the 13th. Teddy nodded sample complete ready to continue.