Squirm

The three arrive at the Diamond Checkers motel in Immokalee to await the arrival of the poacher. Dennis says he has a reliable informant who knows Baxter’s whereabouts. After they all settle into their room, Dennis awaits a phone call from his spy while Summer and Billy walk over to a nearby 7-Eleven. Summer admits that part of the reason for her arrival was her concern that Dennis might decide to go back to his old family in Florida. Billy reassures her that Dennis is committed to Lil and isn’t looking back.

In the convenience store parking lot, the teens see three hounds kenneled in the back of a pickup truck. They start to pet the dogs but are warned away by the surly Texan who owns them. Back in the hotel room, Billy tells his father about the episode. His physical description of the dogs and their owner has Dennis worried. They are Walker hounds who have been trained to track their prey silently. Their owner is Axel Burnside. He is well known because he specializes in tracking big cats. Dennis deduces that Baxter must have hired Burnside to help in the panther hunt. Dennis, Summer, and Billy pile into their truck to stake out the Lonesome Rooster Motel where Baxter will be staying. After waiting for an hour, they watch Baxter and Burnside meet in the parking lot. The conversation doesn’t appear friendly, but Dennis is elated that the game has begun. 

After arguing, Baxter and Burnside stomp off to different hotel rooms. After witnessing this exchange, the three vigilantes return to their own motel for the night. The next morning, Billy, Summer, and Dennis prepare to follow Baxter to his hunting grounds. They stop in the 7-Eleven, where Billy bumps into Burnside again.

Billy takes the man aside and threatens to expose his illegal panther hunt by posting about it all over the internet. The dog trainer hotly denies that he would do such a thing. He says that Baxter lied to him to get Burnside and his dogs to Florida before springing the news that they would be hunting an endangered species. Baxter offered him $20,000, but Burnside threw the money back in his face. Relieved, Billy gives this news to his father and Summer. However, their celebration is short-lived because Dennis’s informant calls to say that the hunt is still on. Dennis reveals that his knowledgeable informant is Baxter’s own wife, Daisy.

Dennis explains that Baxter’s wife is still fond of her husband, but she hates his trophy hunts. He has always lied about them, and Daisy Baxter only knows about her husband’s illegal activities because Dennis alerted her. Now, she has become his informant. The Dickens party drives to a private ranch with a large fence around it. Dennis uses bolt cutters to break the chain padlock, and the SUV drives past the “No Trespassing” sign posted on the fence.

Once in the enclosure, they park their vehicle and camouflage it. Then, they continue searching for Baxter on foot. They eventually find his Range Rover, but the hunter isn’t there. Dennis sends the drone aloft, where it feeds back images of Baxter carrying a deer carcass as bait. Dennis plans to spook any hungry panther that comes near the dead deer with the drone before Baxter can shoot it. Unfortunately, the drone malfunctions and crashes into a cow pond. It’s time for another plan.

The alternate plan to scare away the panther is to make a lot of noise, so Dennis fires his gun, Summer strikes a dead tree with a stick, and Billy honks the horn of Baxter’s unlocked Range Rover. After all the wildlife in the area is frightened enough to flee, the Dickens party drives away. At the ranch gate, they’re met by a sheriff’s deputy. They explain what they are doing there and state that a poacher is on the property. However, a ranch hand with distinctive red hair and a belligerent attitude drives up and claims that he didn’t see any poacher. After Dennis gives the ranch hand $100 to cover the cost of the broken padlock, the ranch hand agrees that the owner won’t press trespassing charges. Billy asks the man if his name is Rusty because he found that name on a note in Baxter’s car. Billy’s narration states that “Rusty’s cheeks turn almost as red as his hair. He stomps back to his four-wheeler and roars away” (178).

Afterward, Dennis explains that trophy poachers put out the word that they will pay people to arrange special hunts for them. Dennis surmises that Rusty must have been Baxter’s contact at the ranch. Later, they notice Baxter’s vehicle on the highway being pursued at top speed by Rusty’s truck. Everyone is relieved when Dennis confirms through Daisy that the panther hunt is off. Later, Summer tells Billy about her own father. He is a Lakota who used to drink alcohol and beat her mother. Summer hit him with a shovel when she was only eight. Now that her father is in jail, she hopes never to see him again. That evening, the group camps near Everglades City, where Billy once lived with his mother and sister when Chrissie was following an eagle nest in the town. Billy sends Chrissie a photo of the same pair of birds who are still nesting there. After dark, Billy shows off his snake-capturing skills by catching and releasing multiple reptiles while Summer and Dennis take photos. As they prepare to settle down for the night, Dennis receives a voice mail from Daisy. Apparently, Baxter isn’t going straight home to California because he has some unfinished business in Montana. Billy asks Dennis, “What if his ‘unfinished business’ isn’t a bear? […] What if it’s you?” (187).

Back in Fort Pierce, Dennis and Summer spend a day with the Dickens family before heading back to Montana. Dennis unexpectedly invites his old family to come to Montana for a visit. Chrissie is enthused by the idea of seeing a golden eagle, and Belinda is still resentful but doesn’t refuse. Dennis goes out in the yard to teach Billy how to fly a drone. By the time they return to the house, Chrissie has already spoken to Lil and made plans to fly to Montana the following week. Dennis belatedly realizes that the timing is terrible since Baxter may be looking for him, but he can’t object since the idea was his in the first place.

A few days later, Billy is arranging for a leave of absence from his bagging job at Publix when he runs into Chin and his father. The boy gives him a present: a handmade pocket knife engraved with a coiled snake and with Billy’s full initials— “B.A.D. […] Billy Audubon Dickens” (193). Billy is overwhelmed and pleased with the knife. Later, he’s also pleased to learn that Belinda broke up with Dawson. He finally tells his sister about Dawson’s intention to shoot the neighbor’s cat with a BB from a slingshot. Before leaving for Montana, Billy calls Rusty and warns him not to arrange any future panther hunts on the ranch where he works. The boy says that drones and a network of spies will be watching him. Rusty promises to look after the local panthers and not let anything happen to them because he fears being caught and sent to jail.