Tundra Threat

by Sarah Varland

  “I’m doing fine. You do stuff like this all the time, Luke.”

  “Yeah, but you’re my little sister. It’s my job to look out for you. And Will’s, since I asked him to.”

  Any ideas from the night before that Will might be doing this because of...feelings for her evaporated from her mind as the truth settled on her with the grace of an anvil. He was watching out for her because of her relationship with her brother and because Luke, and maybe Will, too, didn’t believe she could handle the case on her own.

  But she could. She’d just have to show them somehow. “I’m fine,” she insisted to Luke, determined not to let him hear how much his words bothered her.

  “Just be careful, okay?”

  “As much as I can be,” McKenna said, her resolve growing. “But I do have to do my job.”

  “I know. Love you,” he added as they prepared to hang up.

  Her heart softened a little. He might be overprotective, might be annoyingly competent at his own job sometimes, which made her feel as if she could never measure up, but he was her brother. “Love you, too.”

  Ten minutes later, she was on a road out of town, headed into the remoteness of the tundra.

  Sometimes the sheer vastness of this land overwhelmed her. It was beautiful, especially now, in the last few weeks of summer before winter came—there was no fall this far north. The shades of green were vibrant against a sapphire sky, and the bright pink of blooming fireweed provided more contrast to the scene. It was beautiful. So beautiful it was hard to believe that the land could be so deadly. The contradiction was difficult to wrap her mind around.

  Then again, McKenna supposed most things in life were like that—the most dangerous offered the most reward. Will’s face flashed into her mind. Oh, yes, giving in to the desire to pursue a relationship with him would be dangerous for sure. There was their history to contend with—their newly re-formed friendship would end if things didn’t work out. Besides that, there was the danger of how much she knew she could feel for Will if she let herself. She knew deep in her heart that if she ever allowed herself to fall in love with Will, it would be all at once, with nothing gradual about it, and he’d have her whole heart in his hands. For someone who liked to plan out her life in meticulous detail, that was a dangerous scenario.

  She should know. She’d come close once, and look how that had turned out.

  Besides, Will didn’t see her that way. Shouldn’t she have gotten that into her head by now?

  McKenna pushed Will from her mind, knowing she had to give all her attention to her job today. As previous days had proven, she needed all her senses on alert, or the results could be disastrous.

  SEVEN

  McKenna’s watch showed it was almost six by the time she pulled the ATV back into Barrow. She’d meant to wrap up a little closer to five, especially since she’d started working well before seven that morning. But she’d been happy with the progress she was making getting to know the area, and hadn’t wanted to quit.

  She’d half expected to run into Will sometime during the day. Not that she needed to check his paperwork. Truman Hunting Expeditions, according to the records her predecessor had left and her own investigations the previous day, was meticulous about having its ducks in a row. She was confident that Will’s group would have had their paperwork in order.

  Thankfully, everyone she’d come upon that day had been hunting legally. McKenna thought it made her first day doing that task easier since she hadn’t needed to arrest or fine anyone.

  Now she just had to wrap a few things up and she’d be ready to go home with her notes on the murder case and see what progress she could make.

  Her stomach growled, angrily protesting the fact that she’d forgotten to pack a lunch. Maybe she’d see about food first and then work on the case.

  She parked the ATV and made her way inside the building. The cool late-afternoon air crept straight through her jacket. Goose bumps rose on the back of her neck and she tried to shrug them away as she fumbled with her key and unlocked the door to the small building.

  Uneasiness washed over her. Was she just cold? Or did that uncomfortable feeling come from the awareness of being watched?

  She’d felt relatively safe all day. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She’d been fine. It had been relaxing, even. Now, in town, she felt on edge again. It didn’t make sense.

  McKenna finished what she needed to do and walked to a window, moving one blind slightly to peer out and look for anything out of the ordinary.

  Everything looked as it should.

  She was being paranoid. McKenna glanced down at her watch. It was well after six now and her stomach was no longer just protesting—it was demanding food. Since she had none in her office, she was going to have to leave.

  She flipped the light off, let herself out and locked the door behind her, noting that the moment she stepped outside again she immediately felt aware of something watching her every move.

  McKenna walked a little faster, wishing she’d driven that morning. Her house was easily within walking distance, but she hailed the first cab she saw anyway, thankful that they were plentiful, even in a town as small as Barrow. She’d been surprised to see so many when she arrived in town, but their overabundance had certainly come in handy tonight.

  “Too cold to walk tonight?” the man asked in a friendly tone as she climbed in. Clearly, he was accustomed to shuttling people short distances because of the weather.

  She nodded. “Yeah. Too cold.” She said the words absently as she watched through the window to see if any cars made a move to follow them. None of them did. She had to be being paranoid.

  She paid the cabbie after he pulled in front of her house and hurried inside as fast as she could, desperately trying to stop thinking of all the terrible scenarios that hovered in her mind as dismal possibilities. She knew it was good for her to be on her guard, but she wasn’t used to doing it constantly. McKenna was a wildlife trooper on purpose, not a cop like her brother. She just wasn’t made for this nonstop pressure.

  “How was your day?” Anna asked as McKenna shut the door and reached down to pet the dogs. Her roommate was curled up on the couch with a mug of what McKenna guessed was hot chocolate. Anna practically lived on the stuff.

  McKenna shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “Which is normally good. But I guess not right now, with the case you’re working.”

  “I need a new lead. Desperately.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open,” Anna offered.

  McKenna shook her head. “No, I don’t want you to risk it.”

  “Oh, I won’t do any investigating myself—but if something catches my eye, I’ll let you know. Hey, by the way, did I tell you my parents sent me a stack of books in the mail today?”

  “Ooooh.”

  “I’m going to go take a bath and read, I think,” Anna finally proclaimed in a determined voice. “I need a good, funny book to take my mind off of all I’ve heard from you and Will about this case lately.” She turned as she left the room, a sly smile edging across her face. “Although, speaking of romance...” She winked and then left before McKenna could protest.

  Romance? No. She might have feelings for him, but he just saw her as a friend. Worse, he saw her as Luke’s little sister.

  Her phone made its text message noise. It was Will. As if he’d read her mind and realized she was thinking of him.

  She opened the message.

  Missed you today. Any chance I could convince you to run away with me tomorrow? To hang out and go four-wheeling or something?

  McKenna would never admit to anyone the butterflies she’d gotten when she’d read that second sentence, before Will clarified. It was ridiculous, really. She should know he wouldn’t ever mean anything like that in relation to her.

&
nbsp; Then again, he did want to spend time with her. Time that clearly wouldn’t be focused on work. Wasn’t that a little like a date?

  McKenna shook her head, hoping to shake some sense into her obviously overtired brain. This was Will.

  She texted Will back.

  Can’t tomorrow. I need to see if I can turn up any leads on this case.

  His reply came after only seconds. That’s what I meant—I thought we could go four-wheeling and keep our eyes open for anything that might relate to your case.

  Of course that’s what he’d meant. Heat flooded her cheeks. When he put it that way, it was a pretty good idea. She’d tapped out most of the resources she could find in town. If she was going to learn anything new, she’d have to expand her boundaries. Until something else happened, she was stuck anyway. Maybe the chance to take a break from being in the office would help her think. Better yet, maybe they would actually run into someone who had seen suspicious activity on the day the hunters were killed.

  Yeah, of course. Sure, let’s do it.

  She tossed the phone down and went to tell Anna her plans through the closed bathroom door. Anna told her to have fun, making some more cracks about hers and Will’s so-called “relationship.” McKenna laughed and was still laughing as she walked down the hallway to her own room. She wouldn’t have thought she’d like having a roommate, but Anna was fun. She was becoming a good friend faster than McKenna would have thought possible, so that was one positive that had come from all of this. She should focus on that.

  * * *

  “Your brother and I used to do this a lot—borrow our parents’ four-wheelers and ride all over,” Will commented as he readied the four-wheelers for their trip.

  “I remember.” McKenna raised her eyebrows. “I always wanted to go and you’d never let me.”

  “No, Luke would never let you.” Whether it was because he didn’t want his little sister tagging along, or because he’d suspected his best friend had a thing for his little sister, Will didn’t know. He’d never asked. His feelings for McKenna were something he’d never liked to think about.

  They rode in silence through town until Will pulled off the road to park his truck at the edge of Barrow, the farthest they could drive before switching to the four-wheelers.

  McKenna laid a hand on his arm. Just that soft touch probably made his heart skip at least half a beat.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Her voice was quiet. Not demanding. Not teasing.

  Which made him wonder how serious a question this was going to be. Not that it mattered—he’d always been able to talk to her about anything. He shifted in his seat. “Sure. What is it?”

  She studied his face for a minute. “Why are you up here? I mean, I know you wanted to get out of Seward, see more of Alaska. And that you were never big on cities.”

  “Unlike you.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, unlike me...”

  Her voice trailed off, almost as if she was asking herself the same question Will had asked himself a hundred times. If they’d been more similar, if their dreams about their adult lives had been more in line, would they have tried out the idea of a relationship?

  No, they were too different in other ways. And she was still his best friend’s sister.

  “Anyway. What brings me up here? That’s what you’re wondering?”

  She smiled, almost shyly. “Yeah.”

  “After Rachael died...” He stumbled over her name, feeling odd for some reason about mentioning his wife by name to McKenna. “I knew I wanted to get even farther from the city. I was living in Palmer at the time, so it wasn’t too big of a town, but I wanted smaller.”

  “Why not just go back to Seward?”

  He shrugged. “Partly like you said before. There was more of Alaska I wanted to see.” That and facing his hometown, the familiar life he’d always known with the weight of losing his wife pressing against him from every angle, had seemed like more than he’d be able to bear.

  “So you ended up here.” She raised her eyebrows. “In the bush. With a business degree.”

  He laughed, thankful for the lighter note the conversation had struck. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds. I’m planning to use that degree here one day, you know.”

  “Working at Truman Hunting Expeditions?”

  The thought of work made his throat tight. The job he’d once loved became more and more stressful every day, with the new type of clients who kept coming in. “No. That’s not something I want to do for much longer.”

  “What do you want to do?” Her voice was sweet and curious. As if she genuinely cared.

  Part of him wanted her to care.

  “I want to have my own business.” Will looked at her, searched her eyes for any sign that she thought he was crazy, that this dream of his was too big. He didn’t see any doubt in her expression. Only an excitement that mirrored his own.

  “Will!” she exclaimed. “You’d be great at that! Hunting has always been a passion of yours, I know, and you do it so well and so responsibly. And that would put that business degree to good use.”

  A degree she’d helped him decide on during one of their long conversations years ago. He’d been so uncertain about his future, but she’d always been able to see his strengths and encourage him to pursue them. “Thanks. I’m not sure when I’ll do it, but it’s an idea anyway.”

  “I think it’s a great one.”

  The way she smiled at him, as if he was some kind of dream come true, took him off guard. He wanted to do something to get that look off her face. He was nobody’s dream come true. Even if McKenna...intrigued him and always had, he wasn’t starting out fresh the way she was in life. He couldn’t possibly take the risks another relationship would require. She’d be better off thinking of him as she always had. As a friend.

  Because it was all he could ever be to her.

  “Come on.” He nodded toward the waiting tundra as he opened the door of his truck. “Help me get these unloaded. We have a full day of four-wheeling ahead.”

  * * *

  “So, about earlier,” McKenna began as she loaded her gun into one of the cargo bags on the four-wheeler.

  “What about it?”

  McKenna watched him, studied his eyes as he watched her. She felt her cheeks flush and silently called herself ridiculous. There was nothing life changing in the question she was about to ask. She was just curious. That was all.

  “You said Luke would never let me tag along.”

  Silence stretched between them until Will said, “Yeah.”

  “Would you have let me come?”

  He held her gaze, and her heart fluttered as emotions she was sure she was making up danced in the depths of Will’s eyes. “I might have.”

  The boldness that seemed to have suddenly come over her vanished just as quickly. “Well...” McKenna couldn’t contain the nervous laughter. “We’ll have to do some serious riding today, then. Make up for lost time.”

  He watched her for a minute and then finally nodded. “Yeah. That sounds good.” He turned away to ready his four-wheeler, and McKenna was left almost breathless. What sounded good? Serious riding, or making up for lost time?

  “There’s a river up here.” Will motioned. “It’s not too far.” He grinned. “I’ll race you to it, if you think you can keep up.”

  “You’re on.” She took the challenge and they were off.

  They rode for hours, occasionally stopping to take a drink from their water bottles or eat a quick snack before hitting the trail again. McKenna kept her eyes open for any signs of other people whom she could potentially interview. People who loved the land had special insights to offer—if she could find someone out here, maybe they’d have information that could help her in her investigation. But so far it was just her and Will. She signale
d to him that she was stopping for a bathroom break and he waved his acknowledgment as he continued up the trail.

  Pulling over, a glance down at her clothes had confirmed McKenna’s suspicions that she was covered in dust and must look like a mess, but she didn’t care.

  When she was ready to go again, McKenna gunned the engine, eager to get back to Will. Its roar filled her ears and the cool wind whipped her face. She knew her cheeks would be red and her lips would be chapped by the time this day was done, but it would be worth it.

  She pressed the gas harder, flying over the trail. Uneasiness crawled up her spine and neck and she sent a glance over her shoulder.

  Not fifty feet behind her was another ATV. And it wasn’t Will’s; he was up ahead of her. Whoever was driving this one was hunched over, dressed in all black and wearing a mask.

  She sped up a little, hoping it was just coincidence, that maybe a perfectly nice man had decided to go for a ride on the same trail they had, dressed in all black. Nothing nefarious. Just a coincidence.

  He sped up, too. So much for that.

  McKenna glanced around her, looking for a place she could cut off of the main trail and lose him in the vastness of the tundra. For once she wished she’d been living here longer—so she’d know all the shortcuts and places to hide.

  As it was, she could veer off the trail, but she was so unfamiliar with the territory that it might end up being a bad move. She could be lost forever out here.

  No, it was better to stick to the route she knew. Will shouldn’t be too far ahead. If only she could reach him before the mystery man reached her.

  The world slowed as the ATV slammed into her from behind and McKenna fought two warring impulses—hang on with all her might, or let go so she wasn’t crushed if another attack came.