Alaskan Catch

by Sue Pethick

  “Can’t you just leave him at home?”

  “I’ll have to,” Sam said. “At least until I can find someone to watch him. But Bear’s a big guy, and he gets bored if no one’s around. I don’t want him getting out and wandering the streets while I’m gone.”

  Kallik was thoughtful a moment.

  “Why don’t I ask Marilyn if she knows somebody? There’s a lot of girls in her women’s circle who could use a few bucks working from home.”

  “That’d be great. Thanks.”

  “So, problem solved?”

  Sam shrugged. “One of them, anyway.”

  Kallik lifted his empty bottle and gave it a waggle.

  “Well, if you need me to solve another one, you’ll have to buy me another one of these.”

  “You got it.”

  Sam got up to fetch them each another, stepping carefully over Bear, who had fallen asleep at their feet. When he returned, the dog lifted his head, blinked sleepily for a moment, then lay back down and continued his nap. Sam set the bottles down and took his seat. Kallik was looking at his phone.

  “Everything okay?”

  He nodded. “It’s Marilyn. She’s got another name she wants to run by me.”

  Marilyn had been looking for a traditional Tlingit name for the baby, something they could both agree on—so far, without luck.

  “What’s this one?”

  “KaGák.”

  Sam repeated the word as best he could, trying to get the emphasis right.

  “I like it,” he said. “What’s it mean?”

  Kallik looked up. “Mouse.”

  “Uh-huh. So, what do you think?”

  “Not sure yet. Giving kids the names of animals isn’t my thing, but it’s traditional, and Marilyn’s always felt bad that she wasn’t given a native name. Mostly, I just want something that doesn’t sound like something nasty in English.”

  “Well, it’s not too bad. Doesn’t sound like anything a kid could make fun of, but then, kids can be pretty creative when it comes to making fun.”

  “I’ll tell her it’s a maybe.”

  He sent the text and put his phone away.

  “So, problem number two?”

  Sam hesitated. He hadn’t been planning to mention Travis’s visit when he asked Kallik to join him, but he figured it was better to get it out in the open rather than take the chance that someone would mention it later. As far as he was concerned, his engineer’s performance issues were a thing of the past, but that didn’t mean they’d gone unnoticed. The guy needed to know he was skating on thin ice.

  “I got a visit from Travis this morning.”

  “So I heard.” Kallik tilted the bottle neck toward him. “Oscar and Ben saw him leaving. They talk.”

  “He’s concerned about some of the stuff that went on the last few months.”

  “With me?”

  “Yeah. You know: tardiness, lack of focus. The equipment we lost in that storm.”

  Kallik’s face collapsed in on itself.

  “I already paid them back.”

  “I know that,” Sam said. “I’m not blaming you.”

  “So, what did you say when Travis brought it all up again?”

  “I told him the truth: you had a rough patch, but it’s behind you now.”

  “Damn right. Why can’t he let it go?”

  “Because that’s the way he is,” Sam said. “That’s the way they both are. They treat us like a bunch of little kids instead of professionals.” He leaned forward to press his point. “That’s why we need to get out of there—both of us. I need to know you’re with me.”

  Kallik stared at the table and slowly shook his head.

  “I can’t, man. Marilyn would never forgive me. She’d say a bird in the hand is worth a dozen flying free.”

  “Yeah, well, what if the bird in your hand’s about to fly away, too?”

  The engineer’s face flushed. When he looked up, his eyes were almost bugging out of his head. “What?”

  Sam chewed his lip. He hadn’t meant to say anything about Jack’s threat, it had just popped out. Now that it was out there, though, he could hardly take it back.

  “Travis told me that Jack wants to fire you. I don’t know how serious he is. Maybe he will and maybe he won’t, but I thought you should know.”

  Kallik opened his mouth.

  “And . . .” Sam continued, “before you accuse me of playing dirty, I didn’t tell you that so you’d agree to join me. I did it so you could be prepared in case the worst happens.”

  His assurance seemed to do the trick. The engineer’s look of outrage subsided.

  “I know that, man. You’ve always played straight with me. Sorry. I just—”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’d have thought the same thing.”

  The door to the bar flew open and a gaggle of young voices kicked the noise level up, disturbing the comfortable, low-key atmosphere. Sam turned and looked back over his shoulder.

  “Who the hell is that?”

  “College kids,” Kallik said. “They were in here last week, too. Think they’re locals now ’cause they’re here for the summer.”

  Sam watched the four girls and two guys at the bar fishing out their IDs so they could buy drinks. One of the girls looked familiar.

  “Oh, crap.”

  “What?”

  “That girl, the one in back. She’s the one Bear knocked down at the cannery.” He turned away and hunched his shoulders. “I can’t let her see me. She’ll come over and rip me a new one.”

  The engineer craned his neck.

  “Hey, she’s cute. You sure you don’t want to go over and say hi?”

  “Positive.”

  Sam pulled up his shirt collar and turned his face to the wall.

  Kallik chuckled. “Then I hate to tell you this, man, but even if she hasn’t seen you, she’s definitely seen your dog.”

  Sam reached down, but Bear was already on his feet. Before he could grab the dog’s collar, he’d taken off. As the Newfoundland trotted over, the group at the bar greeted him like an old friend. Seconds later, the girl walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Hey there. Remember me?”

  Sam glanced up into the same emerald eyes he’d seen that afternoon.

  “Yeah, I remember,” he said. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Got a bruise on my shoulder, but that’s my fault. I saw that guy giving you crap out on the dock. Sorry if you got in trouble.”

  How old was she? She seemed pretty poised for a college kid.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “I was just worried about you.”

  “I’m Emily, by the way.”

  Emily stuck out her hand—it was really soft—and he shook it, feeling self-conscious about the calluses on his own.

  “Sam,” he said.

  She hesitated a moment, glancing back at the others.

  “Well, as long as there are no hard feelings . . .”

  “No,” he said. “No hard feelings.”

  “Okay. Well, I’ll see you around, I guess.”

  “Yeah. Sure. See you.”

  She turned away and took a few steps, then looked back.

  “By the way, what’s your dog’s name?”

  “Bear.”

  “Bear.” Emily nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good name for him.”

  Sam’s heart was pounding. As he turned back, Kallik grinned.

  “Oh, my my, those green eyes. You look like a kid with his first crush.”

  Sam scowled. He’d never been able to hide his emotions; people always told him they could read his mind on his face.

  “Come on,” he said. “I promised your wife I’d get you home by bedtime.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Emily found the rest of the interns crowded around a table for four that they’d augmented with a couple of borrowed chairs. Uki and the guys had started drinking back at the restaurant and their faces had the feverish glow of inebriation, Rachel was nursing her first beer
of the evening, and designated driver Kimberley was having another Diet Coke. Emily set her beer on the table and took a seat.

  “Sorry. I just needed to talk to that guy a second.”

  Rachel and Kimberley exchanged a look.

  “You know Sam Reed?” Kimberley said.

  “Is that his name? He just said it was Sam. Why?”

  “He’s a captain on one of the tenders. That was his dog we saw when we walked in.”

  “Yeah,” Emily said. “That’s the one that knocked me down at the cannery. I thought I should let him know I was all right.”

  The two of them were still staring at her.

  “Did I miss something?”

  “Kimberley knows him.” Rachel smirked. “She thinks he’s hot.”

  The rest of the group erupted with cries of, “Ooh, Kimmie!”

  Kimberley ducked her head. “Cut it out, you guys.”

  Noah, who Emily suspected had designs on Kimberley himself, cast a dismissive glance at the door.

  “Looked like any other tender jockey to me.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Rachel said. “Men have no idea what women find attractive.”

  Emily shrugged. She had, in fact, found Sam rather good-looking, but she wasn’t going to say that—especially now. Besides, she already had a boyfriend.

  “So,” Uki said. “Tell us more about aikido.”

  At the restaurant, they’d all been too busy eating to pump Emily for information. Now, it looked as if the subject was unavoidable. Word of her martial arts showdown with Bear had obviously been the topic of discussion after she left the cannery.

  “You guys don’t want to hear about that stuff.”

  “Why not? The way you turned that dog away from the slime line was cool. I mean, he must weigh almost as much as you do.”

  “Yeah,” Rachel said. “Tell us what happened.”

  Emily stared at the bottle in her hand. What was there to say? What she’d done had been pure reflex—the result of hours of practice and repetition. When she thought about it now, the only clear memory she had—besides Bear—was of Sam running toward her, his sun-bleached hair flying, his strong arms reaching for her. To Emily, who was used to Carter’s lithe build and finely wrought features, it was like having Thor show up to rescue her. She felt her face redden.

  “In aikido, the first principle is to use as little force as necessary to stop an attack without hurting either yourself or your opponent. Unfortunately,” she added, rolling her shoulder, “I wasn’t entirely successful.”

  “Without hurting them?” Uki squeaked. “What’s the point if you can’t kick their butts?”

  “Why do you have to be such a badass?” Noah said. “Try acting like a girl once in a while, will you?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Native girls are badasses.”

  “Okay, okay,” Rachel said. “Neutral corners, everyone. We haven’t got much time here. Tim wants us on the docks by six.”

  A chorus of groans went up around the table, but it was far short of a mutiny. Emily figured it was still too early in the season for anyone to have developed a really bad attitude.

  “Speaking of Tim,” she said. “What was that call about this afternoon? You guys said something about problems at the cannery.”

  Dak nodded. “Tim hasn’t said much about it, but Noah’s brother interned there last year. He says it’s been going on for a while.”

  “What’s been going on?”

  “We already told you,” Noah said. “Stuff that makes the inspectors look bad.”

  Emily pursed her lips. She was getting tired of Noah’s attitude.

  “Okay, but what kind of stuff?”

  “Reports from NOAA that have gone missing,” Dak said. “Fish Tim okayed that gets pulled by the quality testers.”

  “So?” she said. “Stuff happens.”

  “Yeah, but it’s been happening a lot more than it used to and always when Tim’s there.”

  “You think someone’s got it in for him?”

  Glances darted around the table.

  Dak shrugged. “Could be. Some of us think so, but like you said, it could just be a coincidence.”

  “The problem,” Uki said, “is that there are people saying it’s our fault.”

  “Ours?” Emily said. “How can it be our fault?”

  “We’re a distraction. Tim has to spend so much time holding our hands that he can’t do his job.” She shrugged. “At least, that’s the rumor.”

  “But without internships . . . I mean, this might be the only way I can get a job in my field,” Emily said.

  Dak nodded. “This might be the only way anybody can get a job that isn’t beholden to the canneries. Without independent inspectors, they’d be the ones in charge of how much fish gets processed and what kind of quality it is. I’m not saying they don’t care, but if it hurts their bottom line . . .”

  “So, what can we do about it?”

  Noah laughed. “What are you talking about? We can’t do anything. The only thing we can do is keep our heads down and hope the job lasts long enough to get a good reference out of it.”

  The rest of them nodded their resigned assent.

  “Well, I’m not going to just sit back while the program gets canceled,” Emily said. “I’m going to do something.”

  “Oh, really,” Noah said. “Like what?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something.”

  * * *

  The other girls had long since gone to bed as Emily sat on the open couch, mulling over the problems at the cannery. It upset her to think that someone might be deliberately trying to wreck the internship program—not because it threatened her own position, but because shutting it down would prevent other young people from gaining valuable experience they couldn’t get elsewhere. She knew the others thought she was joking when she said she’d find a solution, but she was dead serious. She’d never been one to do nothing when someone was being picked on. If she could find out who was making Tim look bad, then at least he’d have a chance to fight back.

  Unfortunately, there was no way she could get close to anyone inside the cannery. Emily had seen the suspicious looks she’d gotten from the people there. Even if they knew something that would help, they’d probably figure it wasn’t worth risking their jobs to share it—especially with an intern. And what if the problem included people on the dock, as well? She didn’t know enough about how fish were caught, bought, and processed to even recognize a problem if she saw one. No, what she needed was someone who knew how the entire system worked and could recognize a discrepancy when they saw it.

  What about Sam Reed?

  He certainly knew how fish were bought and sold, and Emily knew that most people who worked in the fishing industry had worked in the canneries at one time or another. His dog had knocked her down that day, too, so he sort of owed her a favor, didn’t he? Even if he couldn’t help her, she thought, he might know someone else who could.

  The thought of talking to Sam Reed again gave Emily a frisson, a feeling she immediately suppressed. She wasn’t looking for an excuse to flirt with the guy. She wasn’t Kimberley; she didn’t care if Sam was “hot.” She had a real problem on her hands and asking him for help was a legitimate path to a solution. Her interest in contacting him was completely professional.

  Even if he did look a bit like Chris Hemsworth.

  Thinking about talking to Sam Reed reminded Emily that she hadn’t spoken to her own boyfriend that day. She rummaged around in her bag and took out her phone, frowning when she saw how low the battery was. Her mother had been after her for months to buy a new one, but there hadn’t been time. She’d look for the charger, she told herself, just as soon as she’d checked her messages.

  There were two from her mother and one from Tim reminding her to wear old clothes tomorrow, but nothing from Carter.

  Probably too busy at the hospital, Emily told herself. She’d just send hi
m a text.

  Hope UR fine. TTYL?

  In seconds, she got his reply. Emily squealed in delight as she read it.

  Taking a break in the Drs lounge. Call me.

  Emily felt giddy as she dialed his number. Carter picked up on the first ring.

  “I wasn’t sure if you’d be busy,” she said. “Glad I caught you.”

  “Actually, things have been pretty slow tonight. I’ve just been hanging out in the lounge.”

  “You should have called,” she said, trying not to sound critical. “I always love talking to you.”

  “Yeah, I guess I could have. Sorry.”

  “Well, the important thing is, we’re talking now.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  She stretched out on the couch.

  “It’s been a long day. The flight took forever and then as soon as I landed, we went straight to the cannery. I didn’t even have time to change.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “The place is huge—and loud! And, oh God, all the blood and fish guts. I almost threw up.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Then this enormous dog ran in and knocked me down. I was able to keep it from getting into the fish, but at the last minute, I lost my balance and fell. My lab coat got covered in fish slime.”

  “Mmm.”

  Emily frowned. Somehow, she’d expected a bit more of a reaction.

  “Carter, did you hear what I said?”

  “Your flight was fine, you went to work, a dog knocked you down. Did I miss anything?”

  “Well . . . no.”

  Emily sighed. This was a far cry from the fantasy of having Thor almost sweep her off her feet.

  “I just thought you’d be more concerned,” she said.

  “Of course I’m concerned, but if you’d been seriously injured you would have said so. You’re a big girl. I know you can take care of yourself.”

  Carter was right, Emily thought. She didn’t need to be coddled and fussed over; she had her mother for that. Speaking of whom . . .

  “I talked to my mom earlier. She told me she ran into you today.”