Page 4

Four

Vince plowed down the path, which was just barely flattened grass in spots. Moose, Cadee presumed. Farther ahead, the path would forge through salmonberry bushes.

She threw on her pack and followed Vince.

Slowly. She’d let him walk as far ahead as he wanted.

You abandoned my dad, so you abandoned me . How could he say such a thing? He knew Cap had been like a dad to her.

What was Vince thinking?

Okay , God. How could he even think I would abandon Cap? How could he? God, we’ve got to be teammates. Even if we can’t be friends, we’ve got to be teammates. How? How?

Her fists unclenched. She took a deep breath.

It was grief. Nothing more. Grief had left him angry, dark. And it had left her…what? Racing into whatever fire she was fighting? Vince or no. Jade or no. Any of the Midnight Sun crew, it didn’t matter. She just raced into a fire.

Sometimes she let loose on Vince. She bit her lips together. Sometimes she let loose on God.

Either one. Both.

Grief had left her bitter.

Forgive me, Jesus.

She stood still, her eyes closed.

No, she didn’t feel forgiven. But forgiveness wasn’t a feeling. Christ was at work in her life, and she’d just leave it at His feet.

Cadee opened her eyes. In the meantime, she needed to try to settle things with Vince. She jogged a bit and caught up to him where he was squatting by a birch tree, sipping from his canteen.

“Hey.” She squatted beside him.

No response. Just that usual dark simmer.

She took out her canteen and had a drink. Stood and stowed it away.

Vince’s brooding eyes stayed on the horizon. Why wouldn’t he meet her gaze?

“Come on, Vince. Let’s talk things out. We need to work together.”

Still no response.

“We must be teammates and act as teammates. Look, I’m sorry I ran into the fire like I did at Resurrection Pass last month.” Maybe that would lower the simmer? She did owe him an apology.

He stood. “Yeah. You did. I was shouting at you to stop, wait for the team’s help. Not the only time, right? Well, congratulations on saving the woman. Is that what you need to hear?” He picked up his pack. “It’s time to move out. Ingriq Village needs us. ’Bout time you showed up.”

She heard an eagle’s high whistle call as she and Vince stomped through salmonberry bushes and around spruce tree roots. But only silence emanated from Vince.

Suddenly, the smell of rotten fish attacked her nose. She drew to a stop. “I knew we were close to the river, but it doesn’t usually smell this bad.”

Vince tightly nodded his head. He shoved aside the last salmonberry clump and gestured her through.

She didn’t want to go through, because she knew what they were about to see.

But she pushed past the bushes.

And there it was.

The river was clogged with fish bodies. It was a salmon die-off, the fish flowing with the river instead of swimming upstream to spawn. Mouths half open, they floated on their sides, shining with the fish oil in the water. Every now and then, there was a half-dead salmon, flopping weakly, trying to make it upstream. But it was clear it wouldn’t.

“This is June. How is this happening?”

Vince barely held back the gag thanks to the smell of the dead salmon.

There were eddies where the bodies had gotten caught and spruce roots in the river that had caught some as well. Others were floating downriver. There was a relatively small cliff face on this side, but the other side of the river was flat, broad, with shallow spots that caught the fish too, until the current sped them on downriver.

It was a lot of dead salmon. There were hundreds—more, even, than after the annual spawning season.

Flies were heavy, and he waved his hand in front of his face to shoo them away.

He looked over at Cadee in her suspenders, her Nomex pants. Since their Ember training, he’d always seen that she was totally woman, totally firefighter.

No, they weren’t going to be friends. But Jade had forced—assigned—them to be partners. He popped his jaw back and forth.

He took a deep breath. He couldn’t go down the forgiveness path. At least, not yet. But they did need to be teammates. He followed her to the edge of the cliff face. “This is crazy,” he said. “It’s salmon season. It isn’t time for them to die.”

“I’ve got my camera,” she said. “I’m going to take a couple photos we can include in our debrief with Jade, because this is not normal.”

Nothing about this was normal. Her response to his question about his dad, her outrage, really, when he was the one who should be furious.

Except, maybe he wasn’t as furious as he initially had been. Not given her tears, her clear grief. So many secrets, and even more unanswered questions. But maybe they could wait.

“Let’s get going. We need to get to Ingriq before the fire does,” she said.

“Yeah, I saw the weather report Jade texted us. The wind there is almost as crazy as it was this morning, and it’s supposed to get even crazier this afternoon. Let’s just take a couple minutes.”

Cadee nodded, and they separated, taking pictures as they walked along the cliff face.

Vince noticed a headband with stark red and black lines lying on the riverbank. He took a shot of it, along with the dead salmon. Probably it was nothing, but maybe it was something.

Suddenly, Cadee shouted, “Vince, come here!”

He took off running in her direction. Stilled.

She stood with a man who wore an almost blood-red Henley and black tactical pants—very military.

And clearly, the man had appeared out of nowhere. Or had he been tracking them?

He was ruddy, blond, wearing a black wind jacket. The brashness of that—Vince would remember this man, for sure.

Vince slowed, walked up. “Hey. What’s up?”

“This is Landon.” She offered a smile, but it seemed almost fake. Her eyes darted to the man, then back to Vince, holding his gaze. “Landon says he’s Fish and Game.”

He didn’t believe the guy was from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game either. Vince stepped between them and dropped his fire pack on the ground next to Cadee’s. He held out his hand to the guy. “Vince.”

“What’re you two doing out here?”

“We wanted to take a nice long hike on our lunch break.” They were dressed in their smokejumper gear. What did the guy think they were doing? Vince forced a laugh. “Probably went too far off the road.”

The man’s eyes rose. “Yeah, you did.”

“How about you?” Vince smiled. “What are you doing out here, Landon?”

“Boss wanted me to check out this river. The smell is terrible.”

Vince turned, looked at the river, keeping the guy in his peripheral vision. The man was almost sending goosebumps up his spine. “This shouldn’t happen during salmon season, right?”

“That’s why it might not be safe for folks like you out here. Who knows what could happen?”

Vince’s breath caught in his throat. Something about this guy was creepy. He wasn’t sharing the truth with a creepy stranger. He wouldn’t be surprised if this guy was one of those militia people who’d been chasing them, up to no good out here.

Was he responsible for the dead fish?

Landon also turned to the river. “This is a mess.”

The guy had a gun in the back of his pants.

Vince pushed Cadee behind him. “It is. I’ve seen it, but not during a salmon season.”

Landon seemed to frown, to consider the fish. “I certainly can’t tell what’s causing it.”

A buzz came from his pocket, and he pulled out his phone. He glanced at it, gave a forced sigh. “I gotta get back. Good luck on your hike. Hope you find a good salmon fishing spot.”

Then the guy took off. At a run.

Vince and Cadee just stood there. Silently. She didn’t step away as he expected her to. Instead, she threaded her arm through his.

“That was…weird.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

In the distance, an ATV fired up. Headed away from them.

A few seconds later, Cadee whooshed out a breath. “He had a gun.”

“Yeah. I saw it.” And it had scared him to death.

Her eyebrows pinched together, and she massaged her neck. “But…” She shook her head. “After our argument…” She shook her head again. “So that’s why you shoved me behind you.”

“Of course. You think I’d leave you unprotected with a guy like that?” He frowned. “You think I’m gonna let you get hurt when I’m standing right here? With my DEA training—” He stopped himself, but it was too late.

“What?”

He bit his lips together, tight. Oops. Because now she’d ask why…and frankly, if he told her the truth, she would never look at him the same again.

Not that she looked at him the same now. But that was different.

She pointed at him. “No answer. Fine. But there is one thing I do deserve to know. Did you break up with me because of your dad?”

His throat tightened. But he nodded.

She closed her eyes, breathed deep. Squared her shoulders. “Right. Okay.” She opened her eyes. “I sent Jade the pictures of the salmon. She can send them to Fish and Game. Let’s get moving.”

Right.

Cadee continued the trek to the village, but Vince needed a minute.

Forget her leaning up against him. Forget the way she’d threaded her arm through his.

They were apparently back to fighting.

Back to their stalemate.

More frustrated than he could handle, he walked up to the edge of the river and let his gaze slide over the salmon-packed river. There were hundreds of dead salmon. No way was this natural. Who had killed all these fish?

He glanced at Cadee walking away. Things between them hadn’t gone at all like he’d hoped, deep in his heart.

Hoped? Oh, how had he gotten there? But maybe he had hoped for a different answer—any answer, really. Instead, he’d gotten accusations. Defensiveness.

Anger. As far as he could see, everything was falling apart. It was enough to make him?—

The edge gave way. He slid down the steep, muddy incline. Snatched at a tree root sticking into the air. Missed. Grasped at a boulder. Missed. Splashed into the river.

Instead of a silted bottom, the riverbed dropped off into a strong current of icy snow runoff that caught the breath in his throat.

Stole it right out of him.

The flow of the river pushed his head beneath the surface. A salmon flowing down the river with him bumped into his head. Another hit his hand. Fish oil coated his hair, face, and hands as he struggled to keep above water.

Nomex pants might be great for fighting fire, but they were terrible for buoyancy. The water sucked him down. His boots dragged the bottom, and he kicked off.

He scraped at the water, batting it with both arms to force himself up for a breath. Finally, he pushed his head above the surface but shoved away a fish body from his face. He threw himself at a rock sticking up out of the water like an island.

He tried to grab the rock, but the fish oil slicked his hold, and he slid off. A logjam had caught a pool of dead salmon, and they pulled at his shirt. He pushed away from it, back into the current, and then he was swept downstream like a dead fish.

“Vince!” Cadee yelled.

He caught sight of her, running toward him along the cliff-face side, just before he got sucked under.

There was another rock poking out of the river. He threw himself at it.