Chapter 11
Cole listened as Janice laid out everything she'd discovered, his mind cataloging each detail, assessing the threat level with every new piece of information.
She was in deeper than she realized. And the fact that she'd gone out alone in the morning to document the illegal staging area made his chest tighten with a combination of admiration and frustration.
Brave. Reckless. Exactly the kind of person who could get herself killed trying to do the right thing.
He pulled out his phone and sent the GPS coordinates to Sadie. “I’m sending my team the location you gave me. They can pull satellite photos.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow… that’s… um… kind of sophisticated.”
He grinned, nodding. “We have a lot of resources at our disposal.”
It didn’t take long for Sadie to send the images. "Here is the satellite imagery," he said, turning his phone so Janice could see. "This shows the clearing where you found the equipment."
She leaned closer, studying the screen. "Um… it’s hard to tell.”
He enlarged the image, and she began to nod. “That's it. You can see the blue tarp over the tailings pond."
His phone buzzed with an incoming call from LSIMT, and he hit speaker. "Cole, it’s Todd. There’s no visible activity now. Storm is probably keeping them at bay." Cole scrolled through the images Sadie had sent, then turned to Janice. “Did you see any housing? Tents, temporary buildings?”
She shook her head. “No… just what I have in my photos.”
"Got the intel you sent," Logan's voice cut through. "Landon's been digging into Northern Summit Resources. They're extracting rare earth minerals, specifically neodymium and dysprosium. Used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicle batteries."
"Big money," Cole surmised.
"Huge money. And the permits they filed show a modest operation outside protected wilderness. But if they're staging equipment where your Ms. Lynch says they are, they're way outside their permitted zone."
Janice spoke up. "This is Janice Lynch. I’m a veterinarian with a background in chemistry and limited experience in mining. I’m studying the effects of climate change on wildlife. But I'm seeing elevated levels of potentially harmful chemicals in the water."
"Can you prove the contamination is coming from their operation?" Logan asked.
"Not definitively. Not without samples directly from their tailings pond.
" Janice's frustration was evident. "That's the missing piece.
Right now, I can prove there's contamination in the creek, and we can prove they have illegal equipment staged in protected wilderness.
But I can't definitively link the two without samples from their waste containment. "
Cole watched her as she spoke, noting the passion in her voice, the way her eyes lit up when discussing her research.
This wasn't just a job for her. This was personal.
The wildlife, the ecosystem, the delicate balance she'd spent months documenting…
she cared about all of it with a fierceness that was both admirable and dangerous.
"Landon's also looking into Charles Penson's connections," Logan continued. "Who's protecting him, who signed off on his permits, who's got a financial stake in his operation. This kind of thing doesn't happen without political cover."
"How long until you have answers?" Cole asked.
"Normally not long, but to ask the right people he trusts without sending an alarm to Penson, these things take time." Logan paused. "In the meantime, you should probably stay with Ms. Lynch. If Penson knows she's been documenting his operation, she's vulnerable out there alone."
Cole glanced at Janice, who was chewing her bottom lip, clearly torn between wanting the protection and not wanting to admit she needed it.
"Agreed," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
After the call ended, Janice sat back in her chair. "The best way to get absolute proof is to go back out and get samples directly from the containment pool. That would give us everything we need to prove Northern Summit is contaminating the watershed."
"No." Cole's response was immediate and flat.
"It's the only way—"
"It's too dangerous. You already went out there once. If they catch you going back..." He didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to. The implications were clear.
"So what, I just sit here and hope my current evidence is enough?" Janice's frustration flared. "You know I can't definitively link the contamination to their operation without direct samples."
"Then we find another way."
"There is no other way." She stood, pacing to the window. "The site will hold the source of evidence. Samples from there will show exactly what chemicals they're using, what's leaking into the groundwater."
Cole watched her, understanding her frustration but not willing to budge. "If I go, I go alone. You can tell me what to look for, what samples to collect—"
"You don't know what you're looking for."
"Then you can tell me."
"It's not that simple." She turned to face him. "There are specific collection protocols. Proper documentation procedures. That’s the only way for it to hold up in court, anyway.”
“No.”
His one-word reply caused her shoulders to slump, and he hated to take away her enthusiasm.
Her chin lifted stubbornly. "It's my research. My discovery. I'm not letting you take all the risk while I hide here."
"You're not hiding. You're being smart."
"Nope. I go too."
They stared at each other, neither willing to back down. Cole felt a reluctant smile tugging at his lips despite his frustration. Stubborn woman. Beautiful, brilliant, and absolutely stubborn.
"Fine," he finally said. "But we do it my way. We plan it carefully. We go prepared. And at the first sign of trouble, we leave. Agreed?"
"Agreed. We'll need to be ready at first light tomorrow. That gives us time to plan, gather equipment, get some rest."
Cole nodded, already mentally running through logistics. "My team will keep researching Northern Summit tonight. By morning, we should know more about what we're dealing with."
The afternoon faded into evening as they worked through the details.
Janice showed him her water-sampling equipment and explained the protocols for collecting and preserving evidence.
Cole studied the satellite imagery, planning their approach route and identifying potential escape paths in case things went wrong.
By the time full dark fell, they'd eaten the sandwiches Janice had made. She cut small slices of pie, and he grinned. “Make it last longer?”
She smiled and nodded, and he was stunned at how glad he was to see the ease of her earlier fear.
Knowing her attractiveness was the last thing he should be thinking about, he bundled up and stepped outside to check on the snowmobile and secure it under the overhanging shed for protection.
The night was cold, and with more snow predicted, he hoped their decision to go out tomorrow wouldn’t backfire on them.
He took a moment to call Logan with an update, then stood in the silence, listening to the forest settle around him.
Cole stood in the cold night air for a moment longer, dreading what came next. Janice had offered him the shower, warned him the hot water would only last about five minutes, and told him where to find towels.
He grabbed his duffel from the SUV and headed back inside.
Janice was sitting in front of the wood stove, drying her hair.
She'd changed into long, soft flannel pajamas covered in some pattern he couldn't quite make out in the firelight.
Her blond hair hung loose and damp around her shoulders, catching the golden glow from the flames.
Cole's gut tightened. She was beautiful. Not in a polished, made-up way, but in a natural, unguarded way that hit him harder than he'd expected. This was her, comfortable in her own space and unaware of how the firelight played across her features.
"Shower's all yours," she called, looking up at him. "Towels are in the cabinet under the sink."
The bathroom was tiny. Cole had to turn sideways to get through the door, and once inside, there was barely room to turn around. The shower stall was clearly designed for someone Janice's size, not a six-three man who'd spent years in the gym.
He stripped down and stepped into the narrow space, his shoulders nearly touching both walls.
The showerhead was positioned at about chest height on him, which meant he'd have to crouch to get his hair wet.
He turned on the water and waited for it to warm, trying not to think about the fact that Janice had been standing in this exact spot a few minutes ago.
But it was impossible not to notice. Her shampoo sat on the small shelf.
The vanilla scent reminded him of Christmas cookies.
The bar of soap carried the same scent. The whole tiny space was filled with it, surrounding him in a way that made his gut tighten with an awareness he had no business feeling.
Shaking his head to dislodge the unfamiliar thoughts, he considered staying in there long enough to let the water become ice cold to tamp down the heat that filled his blood.
Instead, he washed quickly and efficiently, the way he'd learned in the military. No wasted motion, no lingering. The water was already cooling by the time he rinsed the soap from his skin. He turned off the spray and dried himself with one of her towels.
When he emerged a few minutes later in a thermal shirt and sweatpants, his hair still damp, Janice was still sitting in front of the wood stove, her hair appearing almost dry. He wondered if it was as soft as it looked.
She glanced over and caught him staring. "What?"
"Nothing." He cleared his throat and moved over to the sofa. "I'll sleep on the sofa."
"You're too big for the sofa." She gestured to the small piece of furniture that barely accommodated his frame when he sat. "You'll be miserable."
"I've slept in worse places. I'll be fine."
"I'm smaller. If anyone's taking the sofa, it should be me." She moved to a plastic container stored under the bed and started pulling out blankets.
“I’m not taking your bed,” he argued. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
"Technically, neither of us owns this cabin. We're both guests of the university."
"Janice—"
“Cole…”
He realized it was the first time she’d said his name. And he liked the way it sounded more than he should have noted. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he chuckled.
She dumped an armful of blankets and pillows on the floor near the wood stove. "There. I've made your bed. Now I'm going to mine." She crawled under the covers of the double bed in the corner, pulling the quilt up to her chin.
Cole bent and snagged the blankets. He made his makeshift bed on the floor, positioning himself between the door and Janice's bed. Old habits. Always put yourself between the threat and the person you're protecting.
The cabin settled into quiet, just the crackle of the fire and the occasional groan of timber adjusting to the temperature. Cole lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, hyperaware of Janice's presence a few feet away. This was going to be a long night.
"Cole?" Her voice came softly through the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For coming here. For believing me. For helping." A pause. "I was scared. I didn't want to admit it, but I was. And now I'm not. Or at least, not as much."
His chest tightened with an emotion he didn't want to examine too closely. "Get some sleep, Janice. Tomorrow, we're going to gather the evidence you need to determine whether the mining is endangering the wildlife out here. And if so, it’ll go a long way to putting Charles Penson out of business."
"Okay." Another pause. "Good night, Cole."
"Good night."
He listened to her breathing slow and deepen, knowing she'd fallen asleep with the trust of someone who believed he'd keep her safe. The weight of that trust settled over him like a physical thing.
He'd keep her safe. No matter what it took. Because somewhere between breaking into her cabin and watching her stand up to him about going after the water samples, Janice Lynch had become more than just an assignment.
She'd become someone worth protecting. And Cole didn't fail the people he protected.