Chapter 41
41
Ruth flung her hands in the air. “Mr. Amundsen, it’s me, Ruth Chilkoot. I’m…friends with Gunnar.”
Anthony Amundsen looked like he’d aged more than the ten years since he’d left town. His hair was more white than blond, and silver stubble covered his face. He looked like an aging lion, but his eyes were just like Gunnar’s—the same sunny blue. He wore olive drab clothing that looked vaguely military.
He lowered the gun. “I know who you are, Ruth. I thought you were down in the pass.”
“I…escaped, I guess?”
“And came up here? How did you find me?” He shook his head. “Never mind all that. You need to get out of here.”
“Why? What’s happening? Are you doing something about this insane situation?” He didn’t look like he was; he was so far away from the action, not doing anything as far as she could tell.
“I can’t talk about that, sorry.”
“What do you mean? Did you know the whole town is cut off? There are little kids there!”
“I know.” His face went grim. “I’m sorry to say they’re being used as hostages. But they aren’t being harmed. I was in town up until this morning.” He gestured into the woods behind him, at a sleek high-powered six-wheeler ATV. “The kids are fine, I made sure of it.”
While she was relieved to hear they were fine, she still didn’t like the idea of them being hostages.
“Shouldn’t we be trying to rescue them?”
“They’ll be fine,” he repeated.
She didn’t like that answer. He might as well have said, “don’t worry your pretty little head.” Who was he working for? A horrible thought occurred to her—was he with Luke too? “Why are you here, Mr. Amundsen? Or…Sergeant Grant?”
His bushy eyebrows shot up. “Interesting. You two have been busy.”
“Answer the question.” She wasn’t sure where she was getting the nerve to confront him; maybe it was how similar he looked to Gunnar. Gunnar would never hurt her, and she didn’t believe that his father would either.
“Look, I can’t give you all the answers you want. But I’m not here to hurt you or anyone else. I’m trying to keep a dicey situation from exploding into a big one.”
“But you can’t talk about it,” she said slowly. “So that means you’re working for someone else, and it’s top secret or classified or whatever the word is.”
Although he didn’t answer, she saw a flash of confirmation in his eyes. Relief shot through her veins. “So someone’s coming to help us. The police, the state troopers, whoever. We’re not alone.”
He looked uneasy. “Not…just yet. We’re keeping all this quiet while top-level negotiations are ongoing.”
That sounded like a bunch of words that didn’t mean much, or at least, nothing good.
“What kind of negotiations?”
“I can’t get into details. My part is done. It’s over my head now.”
“What do you mean, over your head? Who’s over your head? The…” She scrambled for the right combination of letters. “CIA? Are you a CIA agent after all, like Bridget thought?”
He didn’t answer. Of course.
She looked around at the peaceful forest, the stark mountains, as the distant drone of another helicopter echoed through the pass. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s doing anything at all. They have Gunnar. They have my sister Sarah. Shouldn’t we try to get them back?”
“Gunnar can handle himself. I trained him for it. I’ve been watching, and he’ll be fine.”
“And Sarah?”
“Sarah’s a complication. I’ve alerted the chain of command to her presence.”
A complication. A complication ?
“No,” she said firmly, stepped toward the cabin. “I don’t accept this.”
“I’m sorry, Ruth, but you don’t have a choice. This goes up much higher than you and me. We’re talking about geopolitics here. National security.”
“I know. I mean, I don’t understand all of it, but I know Luke is using Firelight Ridge and a bunch of innocent bystanders to get what he wants, and by the lack of a whole army coming in here to make him stop, it’s probably working. He’s going to end up with his own little kingdom, isn’t he? It’s all he’s ever wanted.”
Anthony’s jaw shifted just the way Gunnar’s did when he was contemplating something he didn’t like. “That’s up to the powers that be,” he said curtly.
“Oh really? Did you know all this land is supposed to belong to the Ahtna?” She gestured toward the pristine meadow below, the colors painted in sunset tones. “I’m sure the gold deposit ought to be theirs too. Luke cheated somehow, or paid someone off, to get boundaries redrawn.”
“Ruth, maybe you’re shocked that this kind of thing happens, since you didn’t grow up learning history, but it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Don’t patronize me,” she snapped. “I’ve tried to make up the gaps in my education. That’s not the point. Thunder Pass is part of Ahtna territory, or used to be. Do they know that Luke is ‘negotiating’ with the US government about it? It seems only right that they should.”
“I have no idea about any of that. If they have good lawyers, they can probably get a decent settlement. That’s probably the most they can hope for. Maybe they’ll get more inholdings out of it.”
She stamped her foot on the ground, feeling as impotent as a child in the face of a clueless grownup. “I don’t understand you. How long have you been spying on Luke? Ever since you came here?”
“I wouldn’t call it spying. I was looking for that gold too.”
“Okay, but you know Luke. You’ve known him longer than I have. You know he doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants. And you’re just going to let him get away with this?” Her voice started to rise, but she wrestled it under control. “He wants to act like Firelight Ridge belongs to him, but he doesn’t care about anyone who lives there. He’s dangerous .”
“My mission—” Anthony began, but she cut him off with a swift gesture.
“I get it. You work for the CIA, so there’s nothing you can do. But I can’t live with that. I’m going to get some help.”
She dug into her backpack and pulled out her lighter.
Anthony laughed. “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”
“As a matter of fact…it came to me just now, when I was talking about the Ahtna. Don’t you know how firefighting works out here? There’s a mutual aid pact between the Ahtna, the Forest Service and the National Parks department. If anyone spots signs of a fire, they send helicopters to check into it. There hasn’t been any rain up here in a while. Look how dry these spruce needles are. A wildfire starting up here, this close to Firelight Ridge, would definitely bring everyone out to help.”
He stepped toward her, clearly with the intention of stopping her, but she held up her hand. Amazingly, he paused.
“Don’t you think the Ahtna at least deserve a chance to know what’s going on? These mountains are Ahtna territory, and if they’re not, they’re part of the Wrangell-Elias National Park, which means they’re supposed to belong to the people . That’s us. You and me. I just learned that I’m an American citizen and that I have rights. I’m not going to just give them up!”
After a long pause, he gave in and shook his head with a reluctant smile. “I always thought you were the best of the Chilkoots. There’s a gas can inside.”