CHAPTER 13
Riggs
Two hours earlier.
“I see you still have that horseshoe stuck up your ass.”
Ash ignores me and scans the area. “Where are the snowmobiles? And why are you messing with the cameras?”
I’m strapping on my chest harness with a GoPro attached to it. We didn’t wear the cameras on this trip, but we didn’t leave them behind just in case. And just in case just happened.
Ash showing up out of the blue like this is good luck, but then Ash has always had good luck. One of these days, we should make another trip to Vegas.
I finish with my harness. “Snowmobiles?” I don’t know what he’s talking about, and I don’t have time for one of his long explanations. Right now, I need him to suit up, and quick. “I was about to head back to the lodge when a Pacific fisher ran behind the shelter. Its head is stuck in a can.”
I’m glad to see he brought his bag. It means he has his GoPro.
Ash is scanning the area with disappointment written on his face, or maybe it’s relief, I can’t tell. “That little…” he mutters under his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
He lets out a sigh. “Forget it.”
Whatever it is, we don’t have time. “Hurry!”
He drops his canvas currier bag to his feet and quickly reaches in the top. “I’m on it.”
As he pulls his GoPro and chest harness out, I point my flashlight into the trees.
Even though my light isn’t much larger than a roll of quarters, it has a powerful 1800 lumens that lights up the forest like noonday.
Ash and I invented the compact light two years ago.
We made it for ourselves, but now Elsie sells them to the military, along with several of our other inventions.
Ash adds his light to mine. We can see just about everything now, so where is the little guy?
“If I remember right, there are only about three hundred Pacific fishers left.”
“I googled the wildlife in this area before we came,” he says. “It’s half that.” He drops to a knee, pointing his light into a dense thicket to our right. “Over there!”
It may be blinded by the can over its head, but it still hears us thrashing through the snow and trees.
As expected, it takes off running. Ash and I split up trying to cut it off.
I’m crashing through one low-hanging tree limb after another and Ash is doing the same while the fisher darts one way, turns, then bounces off a tree and keeps going.
For a little guy with little legs, it’s fast.
After about thirty minutes of chasing the poor animal, I stop to lean against the trunk of a majestic Jeffrey pine to catch my breath. Running through the snow is taking a lot of effort.
“Got it!” Ash calls out.
I point my light his way to see he has the fisher clutched to his chest. Thank goodness.
He carries the animal to the camp and sits on one of the camp chairs. “Dang, the can is really stuck. The sharp edges are cutting into its hide.”
I bend down and shine my light at it. “Looks like it’s been on there for a while. Look how emaciated she is.”
Ash rolls the fisher over. “Yep, she’s a she. Let’s take her back to the lodge. I think we’re going to have to call a vet.”
“Good idea. The Forest Service will want to know about her too. Pacific fishers have been on the endangered list for a while.”
As soon as we step through the doors at the lodge, staffers recognize the problem and call the manager.
She comes down, gets a quick rundown on what’s happening, tells someone to call the forest rangers, and then instructs a guy at the front desk to see if he can get a hold of a veterinarian.
A crowd has gathered around us, and there are more than a dozen cell phones recording everything.
After a while, I look up and see Blondie in the crowd. She’s with that cute, curvy girl, Rhonda. Figures they would be here. I’m glad to see Blondie again, but at the same time, it was kind of nice to have said our last goodbye.
Ash is sitting on the floor with the fisher in his lap while I examine the animal for obvious injuries.
“Forest rangers are on their way,” the lodge manager informs us.
She’s a thin, gray-haired woman wearing one of the lodge’s red polos.
She carries herself like an older version of Elsie, so there’s no mistaking who’s in charge.
“And we were able to reach a vet. She and the forest rangers should be here in about an hour.”
As soon as the crowd hears it’ll be an hour, they lose interest and start walking away.
Then Ash hands the fisher to me with, “Take her for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
I roll my eyes knowing what a minute is to my brother. What he meant to say was, I might be back in an hour when the vet arrives, but probably not.
He hops to his feet, ready to head in Rhonda’s direction, but hesitates, then stops and turns to me.
“By the way, Elsie had phones delivered. Yours is in my room. Oh, and the cash is in the safe. It’s the usual combination.
” He reaches in his pocket and tosses me his room key.
“Room 312. I have another key, so you can have that one. Just make sure you knock first, you know, just in case.”
“Got it. Did Elsie say anything else?”
“Yeah, I almost forgot. Most of the film crew won’t be here until sometime tomorrow afternoon. A few are already here somewhere. Elsie got them the luxury suites. And it’s not just the people from National Discovery.”
“Who else is coming?”
“All the CEOs we were supposed to meet in LA. They’re bringing their families too. Elsie rented snowmobiles for all of them.”
“So, we’ll do the whole thing here? Little kids and all this snow sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
“Not exactly. We’ll do a few things with them, not much, then they’ll stay for the weekend while we head to Big Bear to set everything up for them, then they’ll meet us there for the week like we originally planned. Elsie wants us to leave as soon as the film crew is done.”
He pauses and scratches the stubble at his chin. “I was thinking—”
He doesn’t have to say it, I already know. “You want to stay here while I go to LA to get everything ready.” Of course he does.
He grins like I’ve already agreed. “Good,” he says, slapping the back of my shoulder.
“Glad that’s settled.” Suddenly his gaze drifts up to something behind me.
Whatever it is, it’s holding his attention like I no longer matter when it comes to his plans, probably because I don’t. “I’ll be right back.”
Before I can object, he’s already walking off.
“I didn’t say yes,” I call out after him. But he doesn’t care. I know because he simply waves a hand in the air not bothering to look back. Typical Ash.
I wonder if that Rhonda girl is the reason he wants to lag behind. Sitting here cradling the fisher, I watch as he saunters up to her, tilts her chin up with his finger, then plants a kiss on her puffy lips. By the way she’s kissing him back, I think I have my answer.
Resigned to my fate as the sole babysitter of this little furball, I massage the fisher’s back with long, soothing strokes as she nestles into my lap. I can feel her heart racing. Poor thing.
On the other hand, Elsie is going to lose her mind when she hears about this.
An animal rescue is exactly the kind of thing big network execs go crazy over.
And I still can’t believe Ash showed up when he did.
I never did ask him how, or who he was expecting to find out there, but it was perfect timing.
He really must have a horseshoe up his ass.