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TWELVE

As the airplane bounced down the short runway, Merritt pressed her fingers into her eyes. Exhaustion pulled at her limbs like she had a thousand-pound monster squid dragging her deep into the Arctic Ocean. Ever since the meeting, she hadn’t been able to warm up.

Joni had called multiple times, obnoxiously asking about every minute detail of the community meetings with her fake “you’re the boss, Merritt, what do you think?”

Should a woman in her sixties be allowed to act like a spoiled child? Because that’s what her calls were, her pissy and offended because Nolan backed Merritt up.

And of course, Rachel had to add her drama to the mix. Where Joni was patronizing through false placating, Rachel was a downright witch.

All afternoon, Rachel called Merritt with more problems with the budget. The preliminary numbers for implementing testing for schist and containment procedures if the levels proved to be high enough to cause problems were staggering.

And Rachel took every chance she could on the many, many calls she made to Merritt to emphasize that “the idiot running things” didn’t have a hope of saving them from ruin and the company from failure.

The idiot obviously being Merritt.

And Rachel was right.

Merritt didn’t have a clue what she was doing.

She could organize a four-ton food drop to the remote Himalayan mountains, could convince the leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces to allow medical personnel into the al-Hol camp during a typhoid outbreak despite the increased aggression from ISIL, and could build makeshift shelters during the monsoon season in Bangladesh when the previous makeshift orphanage was swept away.

Yet keeping her family’s legacy from imploding and thousands of employees from losing their jobs might be too much for her to tackle.

She was so brittle, if one more crisis got thrown on her plate, she’d break.

She pushed a little harder on her eyes, then slid her fingers up and over her eyebrows, hoping the pressure would relieve the headache she hadn’t gotten rid of since she got the news her father had died. It didn’t help. Nothing helped.

“Rough day?” Tiikaan bumped his arm already pressed against hers with a soft jab.

“Yeah,” she replied with a humorless laugh. “You could say that. ”

As she scanned the snow-capped mountains they flew through, she took a deep breath and pulled her cracking edges back around her. She was letting Joni and Rachel’s pettiness get to her. Yes, if the graphite mine failed, the company would struggle, but it wouldn’t collapse.

Her dad was all about taking big risks for even bigger rewards, but he was smart. He wouldn’t have risked everything. He was too calculating for that.

With that reminder, she let the doom of the world slide to the back of her mind and focused on what she had to do next, at this moment, to move toward a solution. She pulled the note with the list of villages she needed to visit out of her satchel pocket.

“I’m going to need you to take my uncle Nolan and me to the villages Kobuk, Shangnak, Ambler, Klana, Noovik, and Kotzebue Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.” She folded and unfolded the paper. “We’ll visit two each day starting with the Shangnak and end out at Kotzebue.”

“Sure thing.” His reply came quick, but his voice was hesitant. “Why the meet and greet?”

“Some of the communities have raised concerns about the safety of the mine. I’m going in to let them know we’ve done a ton of testing, have every safety measure in place and the approval of the EPA, at least at the moment, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

She sighed. “I’m flying in blind, though. I don’t really know anything about the villages, their customs, or dynamics. I’ve got two days to learn all I can about them and create a presentation that eases their concerns. ”

“Is there?” Tiikaan’s voice lowered. “Something to worry about, that is?”

“That’s just it. I haven’t been able to figure it out.” She turned with her back against the door so she could face him in the tight space.

“Supposedly, my dad hired a geologist, and he’s got concerns he’s telling the villages. The only problem is I can’t find any documents, emails, nothing between my dad and this geologist. I don’t even know who the man is.”

She huffed out a frustrated breath and focused her rant. “What I do have are multiple reports from other geologists and the EPA saying we’ve done what is needed and are good to go.”

“So, that’s what you’re going to tell the villages?” He darted his eyes to her, then back out the windshield.

“Yeah. I mean, until I get more information or the EPA makes us shut down, we move forward with the mine.” She sighed and faced forward. “There’s just too much at stake to push back drilling based on rumors when we’ve got evidence that we’re good to go.”

An uneasy quiet settled between them, and she mentally ran through what she just said. Had she offended him with her determination to move forward? Was that the right decision when there were allegations that the mine wasn’t safe?

She’d seen firsthand the devastation pollutants in the water could cause. Did she really want to risk it? Could she afford not to?

Dad, why did you put the company’s future up to me?

“So… I overheard a conversation between Silas and th e HEAS guy.” Tiikaan’s cautious tone had all the muscles in her neck and shoulders tensing.

“What about?” She hated the tremble in her voice.

He glanced at her, an apology in his gaze. “Silas wanted to know why the geologist that was supposed to be ‘taken care of’ was suddenly making problems.”

Tiikaan’s use of air quotes made her want to vomit.

What the heck did that mean?

Had Silas wanted the geologist taken care of the same way her dad had been? Had the man she once considered her best friend changed so much he was willing to do anything to make money, including killing the only father he’d ever known?

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered and clutched her fingers around her necklace.

Tiikaan squeezed her knee before quickly jerking his hand back to the yoke. “Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“How do you suppose that?”

“Well, what if this mystery geologist’s claim is bogus or overblown? Maybe he’s anti-mining and is grasping for any excuse to shut the operation down.” Tiikaan shrugged. “That kind of stuff happens all the time.”

“Maybe.”

That would make Silas’ reaction more valid. Though she still couldn’t shake the question of why her dad had hired the geologist and where all that documentation went. Calling her dad meticulous about detailing everything was an understatement.

“If that’s the case, it would make sense Silas would be upset, and maybe the taken care of is nothing more than making sure the mine had everything up to par.” Tiikaan shook his head. “I don’t know much of anything about mining, but would the EPA give you the okay to proceed if there was concern?”

Maybe. She wasn’t so naive to not realize that there were often corners cut or wheels greased when it came to mining.

Some operations had so many lawsuits they should be shut down, but they weren’t. In fact, the lawsuits seemed not to have any negative consequences on future ventures.

Was that what was happening with HGR?

She shook her head.

As much of a bull as her dad had been in getting his way, he also prided himself on having the most environmentally conscious company in the world. He’d made great strides and sacrifices in improving mining practices so that not only was the impact less destructive, but also regenerative.

Maybe Tiikaan was right and the AMD claim was not genuine.

“Okay. So, until I have evidence to the contrary, I need to assume the mine is safe, which means I need to hold these community meetings in places I know next to nothing about.”

“I think I know someone who could help with that.” He banked the plane to line up for landing.

“You do?”

She shouldn’t be surprised. He had told her that Alaska was just one big small town. He flashed her a smile that gave her a jolt of energy that burned away her exhaustion better than any caffeinated drink ever had.

He winked. “How do you feel about Mexican takeout?”