His mission: keep his ex-love safe

Discover the Mountie Brotherhood series

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Sam Thrace can’t believe the woman he’s rescued from certain death is Kara Park—his former sweetheart. Once brokenhearted, now he’s protecting the courageous archaeologist from someone out to sabotage her controversial pipeline findings. And as he and Kara escape into the remote Canadian wilds, neither is safe from their emerging feelings—or the threat to their lives.

MICHELLE KARL is an unabashed bibliophile and romantic suspense author. She lives in Canada with her husband and an assortment of critters, including a codependent cat and an opinionated parrot. When she’s not reading and consuming copious amounts of coffee, she writes the stories she’d like to find in her “to be read” pile. She also loves animals, world music and eating the last piece of cheesecake.

Also By Michelle Karl

Mountie Brotherhood Wilderness Pursuit

Fatal Freeze

Unknown Enemy

Outside the Law

Silent Night Threat

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Wilderness Pursuit

Michelle Karl

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08268-6

WILDERNESS PURSUIT

© 2018 Faith Boughan

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Sam and Kara heard the very thing they’d feared, close, coming closer...

“You can get us out of this, Kara. I believe in you.” Sam’s smooth, mellow voice cut through her anxiety. Retrieving the trowel to cut the ropes binding them required controlled movements. “I haven’t always had the most faith in your plans, but you know what you’re doing.”

She might have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. “I don’t, though. I’m really just making this all up as I go along.”

Another branch snapped. Kara jumped in alarm. The trowel flipped end over end, spinning away—right toward Sam’s outstretched legs.

“I’ve got it,” he said, but all trace of calm had disappeared from his voice. “We don’t have much time.”

Dear Reader,

I’m delighted and honored that you chose to spend your reading time with Kara and Sam. As a Canadian and an animal lover, I was happy to get the chance to write a story that showcased a small slice of the country’s incredible landscape and local wildlife—even if it wasn’t exactly the most enjoyable situation for my hero and heroine.

While the area of northern British Columbia in which I’ve set this story is real and the distances as accurate as possible, I’ve changed the names of the main towns for the sake of fiction—but yes, the RCMP serve in small, local detachments up in these somewhat isolated, rural locations. Fort Nelson is a real place, and the Liard/Fort Nelson River is a sight to behold. British Columbia has some of the most diverse ecosystems and breathtaking landscapes in Canada, especially up north!

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that Kara mentions Gwyn Ponth College several times in this story, and at one point talks about her lab getting shot to pieces at her previous job. Yes, Kara Park is the unnamed archaeologist in whose lab Ginny locks up the Amaran tablets in my book Unknown Enemy. Surprise!

I love hearing from readers. Connect with me at michellekarl.com or find me on Twitter, @_MichelleKarl_. Thank you so much for reading Wilderness Pursuit!

Blessings,

Michelle

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

—Psalms 145:18

For Kristen C, whose enthusiasm for this might have surpassed my own.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Kara Park slammed her car door with more force than necessary, but she couldn’t help feeling annoyed. She wasn’t scheduled to come north for another week, but her study of the previous dig season’s archaeological finds had wrapped at the University of British Columbia earlier than she’d expected—early April instead of late in the month—and she’d thought it would be wise to get a head start on the next contract. When she’d called Gaida Industries and told them she’d landed at Northern Rockies Regional Airport, and that she planned to drive over to their proposed pipeline site outside of Fort Mason before heading into town, the foreman had tried to talk her out of it, claiming impending weather, possible bad road conditions and other nonsense. Yes, there was a typhoon on the way, but it was projected to make landfall in the southern half of the province. Fort Mason and the surrounding area were fairly deep inland and quite far north.

At least the foreman had finally agreed to come out and show her where the site was—not that she’d given him a choice. She had the coordinates and a battery-operated GPS unit.

She nodded at the stout, balding foreman as he parked his car next to hers and hurried over, frowning. His skin had the leathery look of long days spent doing hard labor outdoors. “Ms. Park, I must continue to insist that you come into the offices first. There’s paperwork to fill out, and you can rest from your trip up here.”

Kara patted the camera bag she’d slung over her shoulder. “Mike Helfer, is it?” The man nodded. “I’ve got all the relevant paperwork here plus copies of the dig permits for the pipeline’s proposed location. And I promise I’m fine. It wasn’t a long trip, and I’m used to work-related travel for archaeology jobs. I just want to take a few photos of the site so I can start thinking about how best to square off the area and divide up my team. It’ll cut down a lot of waiting-around time if I can get all or most of the prep done before the others arrive. The sooner my team completes the required archaeological work on the land, the sooner Gaida Industries can install the pipeline.”

Mike’s frown deepened, but he must have sensed her resolve because he waved her forward with a grunt. “Fine. But don’t blame me when we get rained on.”

She pointed toward the sky. “There’s not a single cloud in sight. Well, maybe one or two, but I highly doubt we’ll have anything to worry about save maybe a little shower overnight. Please, lead the way. I have the coordinates, but it’ll be easier if I focus on where we’re going so I can mark our trail.”

As the foreman led them into the forest, she staked small orange flags into the ground to help orient herself, and so that she’d be able to find her way in and out if she decided to come out to the site alone during the week. The wilderness of northern British Columbia was largely undeveloped and uninhabited, so cell phone service even a few clicks outside town was nonexistent. It wouldn’t do to get herself lost on her way to work the first time she headed out by herself. She’d have to make sure to charge the battery on her satellite phone tonight.

As she followed the foreman, Kara admired the unruly wilderness that would become her office for the next few weeks—or possibly longer—while she and her team conducted an archaeological survey of the protected land where the proposed pipeline would cut through. The Canadian government required intensive surveys done on any land where there was a possibility of archaeological remains, and since the vast region of northern British Columbia had been the traditional territory of First Nations people for the past ten thousand years, it would be a surprise not to find evidence of inhabitants at least someplace along the pipeline’s planned location—especially through this particular area outside Fort Mason.

She planted another little orange flag and stood to see Foreman Mike disappear around a tree. She hurried to catch up. The bright yellow reflective stripes on his orange coat ensured that he stood out among the foliage, though to Kara’s advantage, the forest wasn’t as densely packed as it would be once spring got fully under way. A project like the pipeline site needed as long of a dig season as possible, though, so as soon as the temperature stayed consistently above freezing—instead of this up and down the province had been experiencing in the weather lately—they could start working without risking the health and safety of her team.

She drew alongside the foreman as he stilled his footsteps at the edge of a moderately sized clearing—a patch of dirt and grass, really, ringed by trees. Kara stepped closer to the center and looked around. The forest was definitely sparser here, providing a natural laneway through the area that would require minimal disturbance of the existing landscape. The pipeline would extend all the way through this area and for kilometers on each side, but she had to start somewhere, and this had been the most logical spot based on land surveys and existing data about the region.

“Now you’ve seen it,” Mike said. “Anything else?”

“I want to snap a few quick shots, then we can be on our way.” She pulled out her camera and began to take photographs, changing her angles and position around the area so that nothing would be missed. “I really appreciate your taking the time to come out here unscheduled, by the way. The faster the job goes, the sooner your company can start building. That is, provided we don’t find anything that otherwise halts the—wait a minute.” She paused, seeing an out-of-place streak of white through the camera’s viewfinder. “It looks like...bone. I think that’s a phalange. But see how it’s just lying there? Something about this doesn’t look right.” She pulled the camera away from her face and studied the area with bare eyes. “In fact, none of it does. The whole site looks as though it’s already been disturbed, like someone has come through and hacked at the ground with a shovel—”

Pain exploded in the back of Kara’s skull, and she pitched forward. Her camera flew out of her hands and rolled across the ground, coming to rest next to a tree several meters away. She landed hard on her shoulder, palms and knees carving shallow trenches in the dirt as she skidded to a stop. Sparks danced in front of her eyes as she tried to cry out, but she couldn’t tell if the muffled sounds she heard came from her or someone else. What’s happening, Lord?

She curled her fingers in the dirt and squeezed her eyes shut. The foreman! She forced her eyes open and exhaled in relief—there were still white stars in her vision, but she could see through them. Unfortunately, what she saw was a person wearing a ski mask standing over the motionless body of the foreman. Instinct drove her to help while she still had breath to do so, but when she rose up on her forearms and reached for Mike, the masked person’s gaze snapped to hers and then to someplace behind her. Pain exploded in her side as she felt the tip of a boot collide with her kidney.

“Someone’s coming,” a male voice growled behind her. “Let’s get out of here.”

“But we haven’t—” said another.

“We’re done here, let’s go!”

Kara heard a deep snort that sounded an awful lot like...a horse? But why would there be a horse in the woods? She pressed her palm against her temple as the throbbing in her head intensified. Were these men trying to kill her and the foreman? Would they finish them off before disappearing?

The sound of pounding hooves grew louder and then diminished, along with the sounds of shouting. And then the woods grew quiet again, save for her heart hammering with adrenaline against her rib cage, the rustling of the leaves above her and the occasional birdcall.

“Mike?” she tried to inch her way across the disturbed earth. “Mike, are you all right?”

He groaned but didn’t move. A flood of fear spilled into her veins. The foreman needed medical attention immediately, and while she had some on-the-job first aid training—no self-respecting field archaeologist didn’t—she had no equipment or supplies to help him, and her satellite phone was in her vehicle. She’d planned to charge it tonight in town. Everything hurt, but what other option did she have but to push through and somehow get the foreman inside her car and into town? She needed to find the strength quickly, before their assailants returned. They might have been scared off by someone else, but for how long? And what if the person who’d scared them was even worse?

“Mike, don’t move,” she said, frustrated at the breathiness of her voice. It was hard to inhale, which meant she had to consider the possibility of broken ribs. “I’m going to—”

Footsteps thundered through the brush. Before she could react, thin black equine legs stopped several feet away.

“I suggest you take the same advice,” said a new, male voice. “Don’t move.”

The voice tugged at a thread of memory, but her head and body ached too much to remember. She stopped moving anyway, in case the new arrival was a worse alternative to the people who’d attacked her and Mike. Lord, protect us. “I’m hurt and unarmed, and this man needs medical assistance. We’re no threat to you.”

She heard a sharp exhale as the visitor slid from his saddle. “Sam Thrace, RCMP. I’m no threat to you either, ma’am.”

Her stomach lurched. Sam Thrace? That Sam Thrace? The boy she’d dated in high school? She managed to peer at him from the corner of her eye, jaw nearly dropping at the sight of the insignia patches on his grayish-blue jacket and black vest. Royal Canadian Mounted Police? Had she entered some kind of alternate dimension?

She took a deep, shaky breath and turned her face to him. “Hey, Sam.”

* * *

Sam froze in place. He’d thought that voice sounded familiar, but it had been a long time since he’d heard Kara Park’s low, stern tones on the other end of a phone line. Even longer since they’d spoken in person. Eighteen years, in fact. A full half of his lifetime. What was she doing out here in the wilds of northern BC?

He’d ask later. Right now he had a job to do, potential assailants to watch out for and an injured man to transport back to town for medical assistance. He nodded at Kara once and offered his hand. She didn’t take it, instead choosing to stand on her own, one hand rubbing the back of her head.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She tried to shake her head but winced. “Not particularly. It hurt to breathe for a few minutes, but it’s getting easier. Do you have a satellite phone or a cell that gets reception out here? Foreman Helfer needs a doctor.” As if on cue, the foreman groaned and shifted, trying to raise himself up on his elbows. Sam shot to the man’s side, but Kara had the same idea. They bumped heads as they both crouched, rocking back on their heels.

“Sorry,” Sam muttered. “Maybe you should let me have a look, okay? You might need medical assistance, too.”

She raised both her hands in surrender. “Fine by me.”

“Sir?” He spoke loudly as the foreman coughed and tucked in his knees, attempting to sit up. Sam didn’t see any visible exterior wounds or bleeding, but that didn’t mean the man wasn’t badly hurt. However, it would take some time to get emergency services out here into the woods, so if there was any safe way for the man to get back to the vehicle that brought him here, it would be a faster process. “Can you tell me your name?”

The foreman nodded as he rose to his knees—then promptly wobbled and tipped sideways, taking a shaky breath. “What happened? I’m... I’m Mike. My chest hurts.”

“One of those guys kicked me in the side,” Kara said. “I didn’t see it happen, but they might have done the same to him. He could have broken ribs, a punctured lung...”

Sam pulled his satellite phone out of his belt. Guess they’d need emergency services out in the woods after all.

“Don’t bother,” Kara said. “I’ll drive him back. It’ll be faster.”

Sam narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re hurt, too.”

“I told you, I’m feeling better already. I played hockey in high school. Don’t you remember how excited my dad was when I joined the team? Hockey wasn’t popular in Korea until long after my parents immigrated to Canada, but he fell in love with the game during the 1976 Stanley Cup Finals when the Montreal Canadians swept the Philadelphia Flyers four games to none. My dad came to every single one of my games and practices, and built me that little rink in the backyard. I still know how to take a hit, thanks to that.”

“Without gear or a helmet?”

“Okay, well, no. But I can work through pain. I’m all right, Sam. Honest. I’ll get checked out back in town if you insist, but I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t think it was safe. You know it’ll be faster for me to drive him in.”

Sam didn’t like it, but he couldn’t deny that the longer they sat around talking, the worse it could get for the injured man. “Fine. I’ll carry him back to the car for you.”

“You’ll do no such thing.”

“You can’t—”

“How well did telling me what I can’t do work out for us before? I’ll take him. You go after the bad guys and find my camera. I dropped it when they hit me.”

She had a point. Telling Kara what to do had never gotten him anywhere, save pushing her away and ending their relationship. But it had been her decision to go to school thousands of kilometers away, so their breakup hadn’t all been his fault. Could she really blame him for asking her to stay in the province, or even the country, after high school? He’d loved her. She’d said it back to him, so he’d thought she felt the same way. Apparently they’d both been wrong.

He stood and scanned the ground for her camera. He saw no point in running through the woods after those goons—they could have gone anywhere, and the forest was both vast and filled with dangers. He’d take a look around the site for hints or clues to their identity, but it was never wise to run after someone in the undeveloped wilderness all alone, especially with twilight rolling in and a possible storm coming off the coast tonight. The weather reports had been shifting back and forth all day, but as of an hour ago before he saddled up Brenik, the forecast had swung in favor of the winds shifting and bringing the storm inland.

“Did you find it? I’m heading to my car.”

He turned to see Kara with the foreman in her arms. She seemed to be having no trouble hoisting the weight of a full-grown man. What on earth did she do for a living that would bring her out here, anyway?

“I don’t see it,” he said. “Sorry. We can come out tomorrow and have another look around, if you like. We can also file a report and order a new one in, but it won’t get here for a few days. Did you bring a cell phone you can take pictures with?”

Kara’s features softened and fell, her hard edge replaced with mild despair. “What do you mean, it’s not there? Did those guys take it? Well, that’s great. And I don’t suppose you see any small pieces of bone near your feet?”

He shook his head. “No, but that’s a good thing, right?”

Her expression darkened. “It’s not good at all. When I got here, I thought I saw a piece of bone, and it didn’t belong to an animal.”

That was unexpected. “How can you know that?”

“I’m a trained archaeologist, Sam. And finding human remains here means that this is a burial site, which means a lot of other things we can discuss once this man gets help. But if my camera was stolen...let’s just say those guys seemed willing to kill us to get it. Whoever that burial belongs to? Someone doesn’t want me to find it.”

TWO

Kara thundered through the forest toward her and Mike’s cars. Her camera, gone? She was even more convinced that she hadn’t been seeing things. The site had definitely been disturbed—quickly and messily—and that had been a human bone in the dirt. The laying of new pipelines was almost always rife with controversy in Canada, especially when a great deal of land was once traditional First Nations territory, with some areas still claimed by First Nations people. As a result, it was often inevitable that a government-mandated archaeological survey—a requirement before a company could start digging—would turn up First Nations artifacts or ancient burial sites.

The artifacts were manageable. They would be sent first to a research lab and then eventually to either a museum or be returned to their people of origin. Finding a burial, on the other hand, was a whole other situation that could require weeks, months or even years of delays for a construction project. There were further studies to be done, forms to be filled out, relatives to be contacted and specific cultural ceremonies to be conducted. Regardless of how ancient or recent the burial, respect for the deceased and their relatives always came first, but that didn’t mean that everyone was happy to allow companies to dig up the land. If someone wanted her camera—which now held visual proof that the site contained a possible burial—it likely meant that Gaida Industries already had protestors working to stop the dig. It was a tricky situation, because while finding bones would mean stopping the pipeline’s construction for a brief time, it wouldn’t otherwise stop archaeologists from coming in to dig up the land. But protesters usually set up camp next to the area where they were making a land claim—they didn’t just grab evidence or disturb the land and disappear.

No matter who had attacked her and the foreman or for what reason, it made Kara’s job harder, but not impossible.

Sam drew alongside her on horseback. She was still having trouble processing it—Sam Thrace, an RCMP officer in Fort Mason. In high school, he’d always said that he’d rather become a transient wanderer than end up in law enforcement like his father. The youngest of three brothers, Sam had always had big, unrealistic dreams that lasted for only months at a time before his interest turned elsewhere. He’d been unfocused, prone to laziness, happier to talk about what he’d like to do in life rather than actually strive toward any concrete goals. Literally the only concrete goal she remembered him having was “don’t end up in law enforcement like Dad.”

And now, having him here at Fort Mason? Also made her job harder...but not impossible.

“Take the main road south about two clicks, then head east at the first intersection. It’ll take you straight into town.”

“I know how to get to Fort Mason, Sam.”

“But you’ll want to go to the clinic and then come to the station. The health clinic is west of Queen Street, second building on your right. Beige siding, parking around back.”

“Thanks.” It was hard to keep the bitterness from her voice. Old, negative emotions warred with a sense of gratefulness that he’d arrived when he did. If he hadn’t been there, would their attackers have done worse? “I’ll come right over to file a police report after I get Mike in to see a doctor. I’ll need to visit the Gaida Industries office, too. They need to know about this, and I’d rather do it in person than call.”

“Agreed. I’d like to speak to them, as well.”

As they reached the edge of the woods, Kara prepared to say goodbye—and then groaned at the sight of the cars. Flat tires faced the road, and she was fairly certain that she had only one spare inside the rental. She sighed and gritted her teeth. Someone really didn’t want her here, and they’d made sure she couldn’t go for help after that attack if she’d lived. “I don’t suppose you can call a tow truck?”

Sam slid from his horse and patted the tall black creature’s neck. Kara didn’t miss how the animal leaned into his touch. She’d never really been a horse person, but she appreciated animals of all kinds—it was hard not to, working out in the field. There was nothing like having bits of her lunch stolen by a curious, inquisitive squirrel.

He rounded both vehicles and shook his head, sighing. “Whoever those guys were, they were definitely in a rush. Only the tires facing the road are slashed. Want me to see if the two tires on the foreman’s car will fit on yours? Looks about the same size. I can do it quickly. Unless...” He paused and looked at her, as though he expected her to snap at him again.

“That would be great, thank you.” She knew how to change tires, and part of her wanted to tell him so. But that wouldn’t help either of them.

Less than ten minutes later, Sam had the tires changed, and Kara had secured the foreman in the backseat of her car.

“Be careful heading in,” Sam said. “I called the station while changing the tires and told them what happened out here, but the truth is that there aren’t regular patrols too far outside of town. I only came out here thanks to a tip about a possible grow-op up this way. Whoever those guys were, I doubt they’ll come after you while you’re on the road, but you can’t be too careful.”

She slid into the driver’s seat and buckled the seat belt. “What about you?”

“I’ll be following behind on Brenik and meet you at the station. They’d have to be awfully dumb criminals to attack an armed RCMP officer.”

She offered a tight smile in thanks as he closed the door. She rolled down her window to verbally thank him and found herself caught in his gaze. Her throat closed up and the words on her tongue dispersed as though blown away by the wind. Had it actually been eighteen years? He looked the same as he did the last time she saw him. Older, of course, but settled into his sharp features. Square jaw, hair the color of Saskatchewan wheat, eyes containing the distinct bluish-green of polished apatite. She blinked, coming to her senses.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, then started the car. A handsome face didn’t equal a strong mind, and their relationship had ended badly almost two decades ago because of it. She had no reason to take a second glance now, not when she had a job to do.

Especially not when her life might be on the line.

* * *

Sam kept a sharp watch on the tree line at each side of the road as he rode Brenik back into town. He wasn’t sure which part of the day felt more unbelievable, the attack in the woods or the fact that Kara Park had popped back into his life again. Fort Mason and the surrounding area wasn’t known for violent crime—in fact, most of the crime in northern British Columbia was drug-related, domestic or break-and-enter incidents, not violent attacks. The few violent attacks they dealt with this far north were usually caused by grizzlies, not humans, and even those were incredibly rare.

He reached the station just as Kara pulled into the small parking lot. She offered a terse nod as she climbed out of the vehicle and strode inside with purpose. He couldn’t help the tiny smile that caught the corner of his mouth. Kara had always known what she wanted out of life and hadn’t been afraid to push for it, even at the expense of those around her—well, that wasn’t entirely true. It had come at the expense of their relationship, yes, but after she’d left the province to attend university in the United States, he’d realized that he should have expected it all along. Kara had never been the type to sit around and wait for life to happen to her. She went out and grabbed it by the reins.

He stabled Brenik behind the station and headed inside after Kara. She stood at the front reception desk, looking mildly confused.

“Small place,” he said, coming alongside her. “The stable out back is nearly as large as this building. There are only five of us at this detachment, and we have a part-timer who comes in for a few hours every day to do reception. Otherwise calls go to me or one of the other guys. It’s a forwarding system, so whichever one of us answers first takes the call, but Aaron has seniority.”

She shook her head slightly, as if she was having trouble processing his words. “Aaron? As in, your brother?”

“Yep. Leo’s here, too. I know, it’s unusual that we’d all be in the same detachment, but we put our names in to be assigned up here, and a series of circumstances made it happen.”

“Plus your father’s connections.”

“I won’t deny that it helped, sure.” He tried to study her face, but it was hard to read. Was that disgust or just exhaustion from the attack? “I assume the foreman is secure? Did the doctors say anything when you dropped him off? Please tell me you had yourself checked out, too.”

She pursed her lips and gently tapped her fingers on the top of the reception desk. “Yes, and I’m fine. Some bad bruising and mild whiplash, but I’ll be okay. As for Mike, they didn’t say much. I gave them the number for Gaida Industries and said you’d probably be stopping by to get a statement from Mike after he’s feeling better, but that’s about it. He was a lot more awake and alert by the time we reached the clinic, so I don’t imagine he’ll be in there long.”

“Good.” Sam rounded the desk and began pulling out the necessary forms to compile a report on what happened in the woods. “Hopefully he got a good look at the guys who came after you. Between the two of you, we might get enough of a description to go on. Please, have a seat.”

Twenty minutes later, Sam filed the paperwork and pushed back in his chair. Kara had been hit from behind and had caught only a blurry glimpse of one of the attackers, so her description was lacking. He needed to get back out there or send one of the other officers to check for clues—footprints, fibers, anything—but not with the wind picking up outside. In the impending rain and darkness, it’d be not only dangerous but impossible to see the terrain.

“Are we done here?” She raised dark, full eyebrows at him. “I need to head to Gaida’s offices and speak with them about what happened before everyone goes home for the day.”

“I need to head there, too.”

“I can go by myself, Sam.”

“I’m sure you can,” he said, resisting the urge to match her gently aggressive tone. Her combative attitude made him want to push back, but that would be petty and uncalled for. The truth was that he really did need to speak to someone in charge of the site. “But this is a police investigation, and that means I need to speak to all parties involved. I’d like to get some perspective on the pipeline site and see if they’ve had any other kind of trouble that hasn’t been reported.”

Her shoulders tensed and she stood, taking several steps away from the desk. Then she stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need me to drive, or are you taking the horse?”

He couldn’t stifle his laugh. “No, I’ve stabled Brenik for the night. The RCMP doesn’t use horses as often as you might think. I have a patrol car that can drive both of us. You should probably use your car as little as possible until you get the correct tires on there again.”

She didn’t protest as he led the way back out of the station and to his patrol vehicle, though the short drive to the office building where Gaida Industries had rented space was both silent and awkward. She stared out the window as he drove, and he searched for words that would bridge the decades-old gap between them—if only for the sake of the investigation. Beyond that, having as little contact and interaction with Kara as possible sounded as appealing to him as it clearly did to her.

At the office building, Sam kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, but at this point he feared more danger from the skies than he did from any person. Dark, angry clouds approached from the west, bringing nightfall early. He thought he saw a flash of lightning, but the storm was still a way off, making its intensity difficult to gauge. The strength of storms coming this far inland could also shift fairly quickly, so there was no need to batten down the hatches yet.

Kara marched past him into the building and leaned over reception. “I need to speak with the senior partner, Ed Tigh, immediately.” The receptionist, a small, middle-aged woman with dark circles under her eyes, stared up at Kara in confusion. “I don’t have time to wait, there’s a situation—”

Sam reached past her, flashing his badge. “RCMP. We’re here to speak with your boss.”

The woman blinked rapidly, then picked up her phone. Moments later, they were ushered into the office of an elderly, stocky gentleman wearing a gray suit. Ed Tigh stood to shake their hands, and Sam tried not to flinch at the contact. The man’s palm was warm and damp, and Sam couldn’t help but notice that his smile didn’t reach his eyes. Despite the outwardly friendly welcome, Ed’s body language indicated that this interaction was forced and unwelcome. Not that hostility toward law enforcement was something new for Sam—sometimes folks just didn’t like cops, regardless of whether or not they had anything to hide.

“To what do I owe this visit?” Ed sat back in his chair as Kara and Sam took their seats. “Something about a disturbance out at the site, I understand? I received a phone call about a half hour ago to tell me my foreman is at the med clinic recovering from a fight.”

“Not a fight,” Kara said, speaking before Sam could get a word in. “An attack.”

Ed ignored her, looking at Sam instead. “What happened, Officer?”

Something in the man’s tone, the way his gaze slipped right past Kara, rubbed Sam the wrong way. “Ms. Park just told you. There was an attack out at your pipeline site. She can tell you more about what happened to herself and Mr. Helfer, as I only arrived in time to chase off the culprits. They disappeared into the woods and may have taken Ms. Park’s camera. She’s not sure whether that was intentional—it’s entirely possible that the camera is in the bushes somewhere—but the fact is that your construction site is now a crime scene, and I’m wondering if you have any idea why.”

Ed folded his hands on the desk and sucked his teeth. “Absolutely not. I won’t deny that any pipeline project in Canada will attract opposition at the start, but Gaida Industries always follows protocol to reduce any potential...issues. We conduct the requisite surveys and background checks on the land.”

“Hence the hiring of Ms. Park, here.” Sam locked eyes with Kara, unsurprised to see frustration reflected there.

Ed’s gaze swung to Kara. “Why, yes, of course. We’re required by law to have archaeological surveys done on the land. It’s highly doubtful that there’s anything there, but you know how it is, bureaucratic nonsense—”

“I found possible markers of a burial, and I’m quite certain I saw a phalange in-situ.” Kara’s voice took on a matter-of-fact tone. Sam watched her take a deep breath and exhale, her shoulders visibly lowering as she engaged her professional side. “Officer Thrace is here to talk to you about the attack, yes, but I’m here to speak about the site. When Mike and I arrived, the site was...not right. It looked like the dirt had been disturbed and then haphazardly tamped down, like someone did a rushed survey of the top layers of soil and then dumped everything back into place. And what’s worse is that I’m certain I saw evidence of remains in the disturbed soil, like I said. I took several photographs to show you, but my camera disappeared during the attack.”

Ed frowned at her. “Remains? You mean bones?”

“Yes, but also the type of soil, lithic flakes...we’re going to need to hire private security to monitor the site, or at least install some kind of motion detection system, because—”

“You’re sure the bones weren’t from a squirrel? Or a rabbit? It’s highly unlikely otherwise.”

Kara coughed, and Sam resisted the urge to tap her arm in support. She could deal with it on her own. “You know that the land in this area is traditional First Nations territory, right? It’s highly likely that there would be artifacts on any given plot of land, as well as potential ancient burial sites. Surely your company is aware of that. This isn’t your first pipeline project.”

Ed nodded, and Sam almost relaxed at the man’s easy agreement—but it lasted only a moment before the man’s gaze snapped up and he leaned forward in his chair. “That would be rather convenient for you, wouldn’t it.” It wasn’t a question, but Sam didn’t understand why not. Kara stiffened beside him, but remained silent.

“What does he mean?” Sam asked her, but she shook her head, tight-lipped. “What do you mean, sir?”

Ed smirked at Sam. “Officer, I’m trying to run a legitimate business here. You understand, I’m sure. And you must also understand that as a businessman in an industry that’s often perceived as being financially sound, that occasionally there are individuals who try to take advantage of our success. Who might fabricate complaints or situations that benefit themselves in an effort to tip our pots in their direction, so to speak.”

“Don’t give me a verbal runaround, Mr. Tigh. If you’re accusing Ms. Park of something, I’m going to ask you to come right out and say it.”

Ed’s smirk vanished, replaced by a deep frown. “Fine. But I think you should ask Ms. Park what happens when an archaeologist finds a First Nations burial on a construction site.”

Sam swung his attention to Kara. She matched his gaze but kept her voice steady, despite the mounting anger he saw there. “Work stops until the burial is dealt with. A First Nations burial belongs to the deceased individual’s family, and the company’s project is put on hold indefinitely until we can determine their origin, contact the appropriate descendants and find a respectful way to move the remains. Initial investigations have to be conducted first to ensure that it is, in fact, an ancient burial and not recent.”

“Family? You’re going to find the family of a body from thousands of years ago?” Ed snorted in disbelief.

Kara kept her voice level, though Sam wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam rising from her pores. “Thousands, maybe. Hundreds, more likely. There are tests we can run in the lab, which are then matched with historical record regarding habitation in the area. We can also speak with First Nations chiefs to check tribal records kept in those particular communities. Trust me when I say that we have numerous respectful ways of determining ethnicity, origin and, in many cases, lineage of the deceased.”

“That sounds perfectly reasonable.” Sam shrugged. “I don’t see the problem here. Work stops until that all gets figured out and then construction resumes. There’s nothing unusual about the occasional necessary work stoppage.”

“No, Sam. When I say work stops, I mean it stops. The construction company has to step back, and since we’re dealing with government policy and sensitive First Nations issues, sometimes these situations can take months to resolve.”

“Months?” Sam felt his eyebrows leap upward. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when government is involved.”

Kara looked down at her hands and then back up at him. “And on rare or more difficult cases, years.”

Ed slammed the palm of his hand down on the desk. “And there it is, folks. Years. And the only people out there working and getting paid, while my company hemorrhages money, are those so-called ‘expert’ archaeologists in the field. I know how you people work. I know you jump from contract to contract. I guess it’d be nice to have a steady paycheck for a few years, wouldn’t it? All you need to do is find one little bone and claim it’s human—”

Sam had heard enough. “Mr. Tigh.” He risked a brief glance at Kara, whose eyes had turned red around the edges, her jaw tight. He thought he saw the subtle quiver of a woman enraged, and he didn’t blame her one bit. “That’s a very serious accusation you’re leveling at Ms. Park. Do you have evidence to support this claim? A reason to believe that she might sabotage your company’s work for her team’s gain, beyond hearsay?”

Kara’s gaze snapped to him. “I would never plant archaeological evidence, Sam. That would be career suicide, and completely unethical in too many ways to list right now. I can understand your concern for your company’s bottom line, Mr. Tigh, but I assure you I’m only here to do my job—”

“A week early, Ms. Park! Just enough time to get everything set up so that when your team arrives and you head out to dig, lo and behold—”

“Mr. Tigh.” Sam stood, his chair scraping back with a harsh screech. “I’m going to escort Ms. Park from the premises, and while I do so, I urge you to consider the implications of what you’re saying and how you’re going to back up this claim. Before I go, however, there’s still the matter of the attack out at the site today. I need to ask if you can think of any reason why someone might harm Mr. Helfer and Ms. Park. Have you received any messages, phone calls, emails, anything you can think of that might be relevant?”

Ed scowled as he stood to match Sam, pulling his shoulders back and puffing out his chest. “Absolutely not. Our public relations team has kept pace with negative press and successfully tamped down on any dissent regarding a pipeline in this area. Are you even certain these two were attacked? Because from my side of the desk, Ms. Park is the one standing here while my foreman is receiving medical assistance, so for all I know—”

“I suggest you stop speaking immediately,” Sam said. “Before you say something you regret.” He nodded to Kara. She stood and headed for the door. “And yes, they were attacked. You have the eyewitness statement of a law enforcement professional who’s standing right in front of you, who happened on the scene just in time. Things could have been much worse than they are—though I suppose we’ll need to hear back about your foreman’s condition before we can be sure of that. Mr. Tigh, I understand that you want to do right by your company, but you’ll make no friends with law enforcement in this area if you insist on making baseless accusations. I’d like to think we can work together to ensure that no one else is harmed on your work site, because you’d do well to remember that your company is responsible for the safety of its workers. I recommend making that phone call Ms. Park suggested when we first arrived—get some private security out there, or set up a perimeter alert. I have a feeling that your insurance providers aren’t going to be thrilled to hear about the attack today, and will probably tell you the same thing. I’ll be back to speak with you soon.”

He turned on his heel and followed Kara out of the building.

The moment they reached the patrol car, she collapsed.

THREE

Kara pressed her hands against the car tire to steady herself. She only needed to take a few deep breaths, get centered, maybe close her eyes for a few minutes...

“Kara!” Sam knelt beside her. “Are you all right?” He peered at her while she blinked at him, overwhelmed by a sudden wave of exhaustion. “You look like you could use some serious rest. It’s been a long day, and we can talk about all of this tomorrow.”

She nodded as he helped her stand, heat rushing to her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to show weakness like that—she couldn’t afford to show weakness at all, not in front of Sam, not in front of anyone, because Ed was right. It would be too easy to plant remains and pretend that extra work needed to be done, but she would never, ever consider such a thing. She’d never known anyone in her field to even think of it, and the very accusation that she would be anything other than fully professional was both insulting and humiliating. Tigh had barely even spared her a glance when they’d walked in the room, dismissing her from the start. It didn’t make any sense. Gaida Industries hired her, so why select her company’s bid if they thought she couldn’t do the job correctly in the first place?

“It has been a long day,” she agreed, pulling open the car door. “Sorry. I don’t think I’ve eaten for over twelve hours, and the very notion...”

“I get it.” She glanced sharply at Sam, but felt her anger soften when she saw the sincerity in his eyes. “That was uncalled for. If the man is going to level accusations at you, he’d better have a good reason for it.”

She nodded, but something still ate at her insides. “It’s like he didn’t even care that there was an attack. I mean, yeah, he implied that I made it up, but you did see the guys running away from the site, right?”

Sam nodded. “I did. And believe me, I’m going to be back in here tomorrow for a longer chat with Ed Tigh about that particular incident. But it’ll do no good trying to continue the conversation today when tempers are flared. Hopefully, Helfer will be released tonight, and I can bring him into the office tomorrow for a more productive conversation.”

“Because, of course, Ed will only believe the word of his foreman. My testimony doesn’t matter, even if Mike tells the same story word for word. And that’s not sarcasm.”

Sam winced. “I know. I have a feeling that Tigh is one of those types who’d believe the word of a man over that of a woman regardless of the situation, and while I find that abhorrent and unacceptable in this day and age, I’ll do what’s necessary to get to the bottom of this, all right? You have a job to do, and I don’t want to see anyone get hurt out there again, regardless of their employer or purpose for being there.”

“Thanks.” Kara took deep breaths to calm herself as Sam drove. Light raindrops pattered against the windshield. How did she get into this mess, anyway? She’d thought it would be a good idea to come up a week early and get some of the groundwork done for her team, which would save them a ton of time in prep. The team would be able to get to work immediately instead of spending time researching, measuring and taking initial photographs, ultimately saving money for Gaida Industries. So much for that.

A few minutes later, Sam pulled into the parking lot of the Number Six, a quaint motel with red roofing and trim, red doors and white siding. It looked in decent shape for a rural motel, and the thought of lying down and closing her eyes made Kara feel more relaxed already. As Sam parked the car, the raindrops grew fatter, hitting the glass with loud splats.

“Can I check on you in the morning?” Sam stared out the window as he asked, and Kara heard the hesitance in his voice. Did she want to interact with him any more than necessary? Not particularly, but she also had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be able to avoid him for a while.

“I need to go back out to the site,” she said instead. “If Ed won’t believe me because I don’t have proof, I need to go get some. I’ll take more photos. Maybe he’ll be more cooperative with both of us if I can show him tangible evidence of a possible burial.”

Sam sighed. “That’s probably a good idea. You need new tires on your car, so I don’t recommend driving out there in your vehicle, and I also don’t want anyone heading to the site alone, at least not until there’s been some kind of security set up. I can drive you in and have a look around for some additional evidence on the attackers’ identities.”

Kara’s hands tightened into fists. It felt strange to be around him after so many years of silence—silence she’d instigated and maintained, and yet here he was talking to her as if nothing had happened. Part of her didn’t want the awkwardness of being around him without addressing the figurative elephant in the room. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but want to know more about how Sam had ended up working in law enforcement. About his life. About what he’d been up to for the past eighteen years.

And in spite of herself, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him until the moment he’d walked back into her life today.

“Fine,” she said. “If that’s how it has to be.”

He climbed out of the car and opened her door, then escorted her to the motel’s office. “The station is literally across the road. If there’s any trouble tonight, though I can’t imagine why there would be, help will be here in a flash.”

“Thank you. I think it’ll be fine. The guys at the site were probably extremist locals, maybe even environmentalists who resent the pipeline project. Maybe attacking us was a crime of opportunity—or maybe they were dumb, treasure-hunting kids who heard the word archaeology and assumed that the site has buried riches. That would explain why the dirt and soil had been disturbed. I mean, it probably does have buried riches, but not in the way most people would think.”

Sam smiled, a gentle expression that made Kara’s heart skip a beat in surprise. “Get some rest. I’ll see you bright and early.” He waved goodbye and climbed into his patrol car. Had it really been almost two decades since they’d seen each other? She swallowed down a bizarre, unwelcome wave of regret—where is that coming from?—and stepped into the motel office.

Within minutes, she was lying on the motel bed in her room, staring at the ceiling and listening to the thudding of raindrops outside. Springs from the cheap mattress dug into her back, and the sheets felt scratchy under her palms. Not that she’d expected a four-star hotel. She was used to staying at budget motels while on dig contracts—or even camping outdoors. At least the place looked and smelled clean. Would she be able to sleep after the events of the day, though? She had planned to change into her pajamas, but exhaustion gripped her limbs now that she’d stopped moving, and it felt good to be still for a few minutes, even if her brain kept racing. Sam as an RCMP officer. An attack on the dig site. Taking this job had seemed like a good idea at the time—it put her about a four-hour drive away from her parents’ place in Fort St. Jacob, where she’d grown up. They’d been after her to come up for a visit since her return to British Columbia, and she hadn’t even considered that the youngest Thrace brother might still be in the area. It made no sense. Hadn’t he wanted to get out of the rural north as badly as she did?

Thunder rumbled in the distance and she yawned, closing her eyes.

A bang and a loud roar of thunder startled her awake. Her eyelids flew open to meet darkness as she grew suddenly overwhelmed with a sense that something was wrong. For a moment she wondered where she was. Fort Mason, she remembered. You’re in Fort Mason during a storm. That’s all it is.

She tilted her head toward the room’s front window where the curtains were drawn, blocking nearly all the light from outside, and released the breath she’d been holding. The wind outside shrieked and howled, and she thought she heard branches cracking on nearby trees.

I’m glad I’m safe in here, she thought.

And then the shadows in her room moved.

She screamed as a hand flew out of the darkness and covered her mouth. Another hand clamped around her arm and yanked her out of bed, throwing her into a chair in the middle of the room. She tried to lash out with her limbs, but a sudden sensation of cold metal against her neck stopped her short.

“You’ll stop moving if you know what’s good for you,” a low, masculine voice growled. The cold metal pressed harder, and she felt the sharp tip of a blade at the hollow of her throat. Rough hands grabbed at her, pulling her arms behind the chair. The crackle of zip ties and pressure against her wrists told her she’d been secured in place. Her legs were still free, but with the knife digging into her throat and the room in complete darkness, she had no way to know where to kick or whether fighting back would send the knife plunging deep into her flesh.

“I don’t have any money,” she said, surprised at how steady her voice sounded. “My wallet is in the bag by the door. Take the credit cards, take whatever you want. You don’t need to do this.”

“After I leave,” the intruder growled, “you’re going to pack up and leave town.”

Kara could hardly hear over the pounding of her own heart. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“The next time, you won’t get away with just a scratch,” the man said, ignoring her. “If you value your life, get out of town and don’t come back. Now.” The pain at her throat intensified, the tip of the blade digging into her neck with each word.

“I can’t very well do that when I’m tied up, can I?” She knew she shouldn’t have said anything the moment the words left her lips. She felt his anger increase as lightning flashed outside, and through the faint light that filtered through the crack in the curtains, she saw him rear back, his arm raised and ready to swing down on her—

And then the motel door flew open with a bang. Another body dived into the room and tackled the person who held her captive. They both tumbled to the floor and she heard a grunt of pain, and when the next flash of lightning came, she saw Sam struggling to take control of the knife in her attacker’s hand. The man swung at Sam with his free hand, trying to distract Sam so he could bring down the blade, but Sam kicked out and connected with the man’s stomach. He toppled backward, but the sudden movement meant the knife swung down anyway. It sliced across Sam’s forearm, and he shouted in pain.

“Sam!” Kara tried to rise, but the zip ties held her back against the chair. But her legs were free! She scooted forward and kicked at the downed man, knocking the knife from his hand. She tried to kick at the man’s face, too, but Sam’s injury and her partial incapacitation gave the attacker an advantage. The man scrambled to his feet and plunged out into the storm.

Sam rose to go after him, but paused in the doorway as lightning cracked and thunder roared almost simultaneously.

“Sam, don’t,” Kara pleaded. “Don’t go after him. It’s too dangerous.”

Sam stumbled back into the room and shut the door, then clicked the light switch. Nothing happened. “Power’s out.”

Kara gaped at him. “No surprise there. But Sam, how did you...what...”

Sam swept to her side and checked her bindings. “I saw his outline through the window when the lightning flashed. I was coming over to see if you’d rather ride out the storm in my parents’ basement. They have a generator and you won’t be next to a—” they both flinched at the sound of another crack of lightning “—picture window when there are tree branches coming down and debris flying around outside. And definitely no intruders. It’s up to you, but this place clearly isn’t safe.”

“All right. Yes. Thank you.” Kara’s heart leaped back into her throat. Did she want to be around Sam’s parents? Of course not. Was there a better alternative? Staying here certainly wasn’t an option. “Sam, he told me to get out of town. He threatened my life, and I’m fairly certain it was one of the same guys who attacked me and Mike at the dig site. He knew I’d be here. Someone doesn’t want that site dug up, and they seem willing to kill to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

* * *

Sam couldn’t sleep. He hoped that Kara was getting some rest in his parents’ guest room in the basement, and while he’d tried to catch some shut-eye on the couch upstairs, every new rumble of thunder pulled his consciousness right back to full alert. As soon as the sun came up and it was safe to head outside, he needed to get to the site of yesterday’s attack. He’d already called his brother Aaron and asked him to check out Kara’s hotel room, but Sam had a sinking feeling that neither attack location would yield much information of value. The storm might have washed away clues out in the forest, and the intruder at the motel had been wearing gloves, a mask and nondescript clothing. That didn’t mean it wasn’t still worth taking a look at both locations.

The basement steps creaked, and Kara’s sleepy face crested the stairs. Her black hair was rumpled and messy, in desperate need of a brush, and she looked as exhausted as he felt—and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off her. What is that about?

How did they end up in the same place at the same time again, anyway? He’d literally never expected to see her again, and thought he’d gotten over how much he’d missed her during those first few months—no, years—after she pushed him away. But having her here right in front of him...it was a reminder of their shared moments of laughter, of deep conversations, of stolen kisses as he’d walked her home after youth group on Wednesdays nights. He’d been a bit of an aimless teen, sure, and she’d had her life more or less planned out, but he’d believed they would make it work.

And then she’d gone and stomped on his heart and ruined everything.

“Coffee,” she groaned, pulling Sam back to reality. He might not be able to help his outward attraction to her, but it held no lasting meaning. She’d shown her true, inner self eighteen years ago.

“Nope, sorry. Power’s still out.” Kara sighed as his phone buzzed. The middle Thrace brother, Leo, was calling. Sam headed toward the front door, gesturing at Kara to put on her shoes while he spoke to his brother. “What’s the situation, Leo? Anyone have power yet, or are we looking at multiple downed lines?”

“Good morning to you, too,” Leo said, sounding remarkably alert for so early in the morning. “There’s a crew out now working on getting critical power restored, but another team is on the way from Fort St. Jacob to handle the residential grid. South of us didn’t get hit nearly as hard as we did, but it’s going to be tricky for them to get to us. It’s not pretty out there.”

Sam’s hopes plummeted. “Besides the downed lines?”

Leo sighed. “Trees, too, and large broken branches. The western road into town is covered with debris. The other guys have set up a roadblock until it gets cleared and the live power lines are raised again. Way too dangerous for folks to be driving around on it.”

“Well, that’s inconvenient.” Sam rubbed his eyes and glanced at Kara, who regarded him with an unspoken question. “Did Aaron fill you in on the attack at the Number Six motel last night? I know it’s technically my morning off, but it sounds like you and the others will have your hands full with storm recovery. I wanted to head out to the Gaida Industries pipeline site in the forest where the attack happened yesterday, see if anything pops out at me. If the same people are responsible for multiple attacks on Ms. Park, then I want them found and brought to justice immediately. She’s in Fort Mason to do a specific, time-sensitive job, and she can’t do it while she’s a target.”

“Ms. Park?” Hesitance crept into Leo’s voice. “That wouldn’t be the same Ms. Park who turned you into a blubbering mess when we were kids, would it? Please tell me it’s not. I know that’s a common Korean last name.”

Sam’s stomach dropped at his brother’s guess. “It’s the same woman, yes. Kara Park is the lead archaeologist on the project.” His brother’s silence spoke volumes. Sam lowered his voice and turned around. Kara took the hint and stepped outside onto the front porch. “I know how to do my job, Leo. I can handle it, and besides, that was years ago. Almost two decades. I’m over it. Over her.”

Leo sighed. Sam wanted to get angry, to tell his brother to mind his own business, but he knew Leo was only looking out for him—and he appreciated that, even if his brothers did tend to be a little overbearing at times. But wasn’t that what older brothers were for?

“I’m going out to the site, Leo.”

“That’s fine.” His brother’s tone shifted again, back to business. “And I’m on board with you working on your day off, but you can’t drive out there. There are literally live wires in the road. Aaron took his horse, Hera, through one of the back trails to set a roadblock at the other end about an hour ago, and apparently the trails aren’t bad. A little muddy and some minor debris, but at least there are no live wires. And the denseness of the forest means a trail is going to be easier going than the road in terms of debris size. Are you taking Kara with you? Is that wise?”

Sam closed his eyes. “Yes, I think so, and yes. If she’s a target, she’s safest with a trained and armed RCMP officer by her side. I know those trails outside of town better than anyone, and for that matter, I highly doubt there’ll be other people around at six in the morning after a severe storm.”

“Take Zephyr and Brenik,” Leo suggested. “They could use the exercise. Zephyr is looking a little pudgy around the middle these days.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sam teased, then hung up and joined Kara on the porch. She blinked her teardrop eyes at him, waiting. “We’ll take the horses. I’m going to be fully geared up, but stay close. So far, the cowards who’ve bothered you have fled when I’ve come on-scene, so I’m not too worried. But a little extra planning and caution doesn’t hurt.”

Her eyebrows raised, and she took a literal step back. “Extra planning? I guess a lot has changed, hasn’t it?”

“Follow me,” he said, ignoring her dig at his past tendency to skate through life without a care, expecting the world to bend to him instead of considering his future. He led the way outside. The sky still held the yellowish tinge of a recently passed storm, and the roads were littered with broken branches, sopping-wet leaves and loose papers, and plastic patio furniture. Sam worried that he might open the station’s stable to find frightened, skittish horses, but he needn’t have been concerned. The three horses for their detachment munched calmly on their breakfast and greeted him with soft whinnies. He readied the two most experienced horses of the group, Brenik and Zephyr, and handed a set of reins to Kara. “You remember how to ride?”

She leveled her gaze at him, then patted Zephyr on the snout. The creature’s eyes flicked nervously toward Sam, but she almost immediately succumbed to Kara’s curled fingers scratching behind her ears. “It’s been a while, but I think I can manage. These horses are massive. I’ve never seen horses this big before.”

“Brenik is seventeen point three hands. Zephyr is sixteen hands, and Hera over there is sixteen and a half. RCMP horses used to be primarily Thoroughbred, but now have Hanoverian in the bloodline for temperament.”

“Did you train these horses yourself?”

He couldn’t help but smile at the wonder on her face. She looked as innocent as a child, staring at these massively powerful but gentle giants. “No, the farm is located in Pakenham, Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley. At three years old, they’re transferred to a training facility at Rockcliffe Park Equestrian Center in Ottawa. Their handlers are total pros and do a fantastic job. Most horses are raised for a career in the Musical Ride. It’s an incredible spectacle, if you ever get a chance to see it. Aaron participated for a few years before coming to Fort Mason.”

“That’s the only time the RCMP wears those red uniforms anymore, eh?”

“It’s iconic, but yes—the red is really only ceremonial these days.” He waited until she’d settled herself in the saddle before getting situated, then led the way out and onto the road. The town felt unnaturally still and quiet after the intensity of the night before, and he couldn’t help but keep a constant watch on their surroundings. While he felt mostly certain that Kara’s attacker wouldn’t dare try anything while she rode with him, letting his guard down would be a mistake.

At the edge of town, Sam waved to his brother who sat in an RCMP patrol car, lights flashing. Bright orange pylons blocked the road, and one look down the main stretch out of Fort Mason showed exactly why. Leo hadn’t been exaggerating about the amount of debris on the road—Sam noted several fallen trees and multiple downed wires. Some of the power line posts leaned dangerously toward the road and would need to be righted before the route could be opened again. Anyone who needed to leave town would have to take the eastern road and add a solid forty-five minutes to their journey. That was both a benefit and a disadvantage of living in the mostly uninhabited wilds of northern British Columbia—it provided peaceful isolation from the frantic pace of urban life, but also meant an occasionally frustrating lack of accessibility to the rest of the province.

He steered Brenik toward a blue-and-white provincial parks sign that denoted the start of a maintained trail just outside town. “This should bring us fairly close to the dig site,” he said, looking back at Kara. “I assume you brought something to take photos with?”

She nodded. “I used a portable battery to charge my phone at your parents’ place. The resolution of the images won’t be nearly as high as with my camera—my cell phone is a few generations old—but it should do as proof for Gaida Industries.”

Sam’s shoulders tightened at the reminder of Ed Tigh’s attitude the day before. “Do you deal with a lot of pushback in your line of work? His hostility seemed uncalled for.”

Kara’s nostrils flared as she drew Zephyr up alongside him. “I wish I could say it’s unusual, but it’s not. I’m a woman working on contracts with industries that are male-dominated. Like any line of work, I run into people who respect my expertise and those who resent it, though I suspect I might encounter more resentment because government-regulated survey work, by its very nature, causes delays for companies looking to conduct large-scale digging and building operations. They often see my purpose as a waste of time and money, regardless of the necessary historical value in local archaeology.”

“So I shouldn’t be concerned about the way he spoke to you?”

Kara stared straight ahead at the path. “I can fight my own battles when it comes to my job, Sam. I appreciate your intervention in the physical ones, but I’ve handled these types before. I’ll just get the photos I need as proof, and then he’ll have to back down and let me work. If the survey isn’t complete, the government can swoop in and shut Gaida Industries down, so regardless of whether he thinks I’m making it all up or not, he needs me here to do this work.”

Sam ground his teeth, thinking about what her attacker had said last night at the motel. Gaida Industries might need the survey done, but someone didn’t want her here at all, and they’d gone out of their way to make sure she didn’t start digging. But if they successfully ran her out of town, wouldn’t another archaeologist just come along instead? Where was the sense in trying to scare her away?

After another kilometer or so, he pulled them off the trail and into the forest. The ground was damp, but not nearly as wet as the exposed ground that hadn’t received the benefit of cover from trees overhead. Kara had remained silent, and he didn’t know what to say—how did he talk to her about anything other than work and the attacks without dredging up old hurts and angry emotions on both sides?

Still, he didn’t mind the silence all that much. It gave him a chance to think over what had happened the day before. Even if Kara didn’t think anything of Ed Tigh’s hostility, something about the man’s attitude and the attacks didn’t sit right with Sam.

“It’s right up here, I think,” he said as they broke through a dense line of trees. “You can see the forest starting to thin here. Must be why they chose this area. You’re going to have quite the stretch of earth to survey, aren’t you?”

She nodded as the disturbed ground of the site came into view. “Yes, my team and I have several weeks of work at minimum, but the good news is that there are stretches along the proposed pipeline route that have already been surveyed over the years. The University of British Columbia runs northern field schools during the summer, which is to everyone’s advantage. It means less ground disturbance all around, if Gaida Industries can go ahead and lay the pipe through those areas.”

Kara dismounted and pulled out her cell phone, then crouched at the edge of the site. Sam joined her, but kept watch as she snapped pictures of the ground. He couldn’t see anything of note—it just looked like a large patch of tossed soil to him—but the expressions that flitted across her face were fascinating. One moment her brows furrowed in concentration, and the next her lips parted in surprise. Then she’d purse her lips and stare at the earth, then sigh, then smirk. It was as if she was having a conversation with herself, and to his bewilderment, he felt a sudden tug in his gut.

He wanted to be a part of that conversation. But no, that was ridiculous. She’s doing her job, the way I should be doing mine. Stop letting the past creep in and focus on the present.

He wrenched his eyes away from her and began studying the ground at the edge of the clearing, searching for any remaining hints or clues left behind by the previous day’s attackers. A footprint, fibers from clothing, a piece of dropped paper...anything at all.

He’d just finished a preliminary search of the perimeter when the horses began to shift their weight back and forth, shaking their heads. Brenik snorted and stamped his feet.

“What’s up, buddy?” He took the reins and stroked the animal’s neck. “Hold tight, we’ll be done soon—”

The crunch of movement across the forest floor froze Sam’s hand midstroke. Who else could possibly be out here? There were no cars allowed on the road, and he didn’t figure grizzlies would be awake and wandering around at this time of day—plus, it wasn’t as if he’d been quiet while trampling around the site and searching for clues.

The crunching noise was joined by a low, rumbling hum that quickly grew louder. An engine? Was someone riding a dirt bike on the trails at seven in the morning? He glanced at Kara, who stood and looked at him, perplexed—and then as suddenly as the sound began it stopped. Sam touched the Taser on his belt, but his shoulders dropped with relief as a familiar face walked out of the trees’ shadow.

“Foreman Helfer!” Kara’s jaw dropped. “You’re all right? What are you doing out here? I assumed you’d take a few days off to rest, at least.”

The foreman smiled, and Sam’s stomach twisted. Something wasn’t right. “I’m perfectly fine, Ms. Park,” the man said. “Unlike you, despite my best efforts.”

“Excuse me?” Kara tucked her phone into the back of her pants pocket. “Look, I’m glad you’re here. I went to speak with Ed Tigh yesterday, and he refused to believe that I saw bone in the disturbed earth—the phalange I pointed out to you. With my camera missing, I didn’t have proof to show him, but I think I’ve got enough in these new shots to convince him that this is definitely a First Nations burial site. I don’t know who disturbed it or doesn’t want me conducting the proper procedures for a find like this, but with these new photos and your personal testimony of what you saw—”

The foreman sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. “I’m very sorry to hear that. I wish you’d have come next week as you were supposed to, instead of showing up early.”

“What?” Kara narrowed her eyes at him and laughed. “No, I mean there really is something here. We should start the requisite procedures immediately. I can ask some of my team to come today instead of next Tuesday—”

“That won’t be necessary, Ms. Park.” Sam saw the foreman’s hand creep to a bulge beneath his coat before Kara did. Sam grabbed for his Taser—only to feel the pressure of a barrel between his shoulder blades. He raised his hands and prepared to flip around to incapacitate the person behind him, but the foreman’s gaze suddenly snapped to the side, meeting Sam’s eyes.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Officer.” The foreman pulled the edge of his coat back to reveal the handgun shoved into his waistband. “There are more of us than there are of you.”

Kara’s eyes widened and she swung her attention from the foreman to Sam and back again. “Wait, what? I don’t understand. What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” The foreman crossed his arms and sighed. “I’m doing my job, Ms. Park, which just so happens to be preventing you from doing yours.”

“But your injuries—”

“Weren’t as they appeared. Weapons on the ground, Officer. We didn’t count on your involvement, but now that you’re here, we’ll have to figure out what to do with the both of you.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Kara said. “You’re not serious. I’m here by government mandate. You need this survey completed and submitted by a registered professional.”

“And we will,” the foreman said, his voice growing hard. “It just won’t be you. If you’d arrived next week, you wouldn’t have found a thing and this would have been wrapped up within a few days, weeks at most. But now... I’m sorry, but Gaida Industries isn’t willing to sit around for years while the land is tied up in red tape. And we can’t have you running back to civilization and telling everyone about what you saw here. That goes for both of you.”

Sam’s mind raced. How could they get out of this? From the corner of his eye, he spotted at least three additional men trying to blend into the brush around the site. Undoubtedly they, too, were armed. He mentally kicked himself for not investigating the engine sound the moment he’d heard it. They must have come in on dirt bikes or ATVs...why didn’t I think of that?

“You don’t need to do this,” Sam said, hoping to buy time. Whatever the foreman had planned, it wasn’t going to turn out well for Gaida Industries. “A government contractor and an RCMP officer go missing, and more than a few people are bound to notice.”

The foreman turned to him with a smile, and Sam’s stomach sank at the confidence he saw reflected there. “Of course they are...but we’re out in the wilderness, Officer Thrace. And people go missing all the time for a variety of reasons. Thanks to Ms. Park’s insistence on invading our company’s space before we’d prepared for her arrival, you’ll both be joining those ranks.” This time, the foreman drew his weapon from his belt and leveled it at Kara. Slowly and deliberately, he pulled back the safety. “Permanently.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.