In the Barren Ground Read Online Free Page B

one-off, okay, no need to report this, right?”
    She gassed the engine and spun her wheels, kicking up a spray of snow crystals as she took off in the direction of the airstrip. Anger thumped through her veins. Along with all sorts of other feelings and fears she did not want to articulate. A guy just didn’t sit down and consume a bottle and a half of spirits and was then still able to talk if it was a “one-off.” She had no time for that. Wanted to have no sympathy for him. Bastard was putting her head in a place she did not want to be.
    The tree-lined track that led to the small airstrip and hangars was eerily silent, shadows lurching in her headlights. She caught the occasional glimpse of animal eyes glowing green in the dark. She drew up outside Crash O’Halloran’s house behind the “airport.”
    Tana sat for a moment in her truck, watching his house, thinking of Timmy, feeling as though she was about to strike a deal with the devil. But it was either him, or fail to get out to the wolf attack site tonight.
    Tana banged on O’Halloran’s door, praying she’d find him in a better state than Jankoski. The door opened almost immediately, startling her. Warm light spilled out into the night. His dark-blond hair stood on end. He wore a tight, long-sleeve tee. Tattoos poked out from the base of his sleeves. His jeans slung low on his hips. He grinned, and it put dimples into his rugged, weather-browned cheeks, amusement into his light-green eyes. He reminded her of a scarred and cocky junkyard dog. An edginess crackled through her. Because he intimidated her. Just a little.
    Then she glimpsed Mindy Koe in the room behind him, snuggled on the sofa, watching TV. Mindy saw Tana’s keen and sudden interest. The girl gathered a blanket around her shoulders, got off the sofa, and exited the living room.
    Fuck.
    Tana glared at him. “You sober?”
    “Unfortunately.”
    “‘Unfortunate’ is exactly what I’d use to describe both you and Jankoski,” she said. “I need a flight. WestMin mining camp. Can you get me in, stat?”
    He studied her face for a moment. His eye contact was brazen, intimate. Tana held her ground, resisting the urge to blink, or swallow.
    He glanced skyward, scratched lazily at his stubbled chin and neck, and then looked toward the small wind sock billowing gently at the end of his porch.
    “It’ll have to be a straight in and out,” he said. “Several storm fronts approaching. First wave could punch through before morning.”
    “You can leave me there, fetch me tomorrow once it’s clear.”
    “ If it’s clear,” he said. “What’s with Jankoski?”
    “He’s unavailable.”
    A slow, sly smile creased his face. “Let me get changed. Then I’ll get the ol’ Beaver girl warmed up.” He closed the door in her face.
    Tana cursed under her breath, removed her gloves, and fumbled with her cell phone. Wind was already increasing, tiny crystal flakes beginning to prick her cheeks. Coyotes yipped in the woods, their cries rising in pitch and excitement. She wondered what had been killed as she pressed the Dial button. When her call picked up, Tana said, “Rosalie, I’m flying out with O’Halloran—been a fatal wolf mauling north of the WestMin camp.” She gave Rosalie the details, then said, “I might not make it in tomorrow. Can you look after my boys, let them out, feed and water them? Their kibble is in the kitchen upstairs, moose meat in the fridge. I’ve left the door to upstairs unlocked.”
    “No problem.” A pause. “So, where’s Jankoski?”
    “He no longer works for us.”
    “Was he wasted again?”
    “Again? So he’s a drunk? Why did no one tell me?”
    “Most people out here run into trouble with liquor now and then, Tana. Who’s going to take his contract—Crash?”
    The man who likely flew in the illegal alcohol that almost killed Timmy Nakehk’o. The man who has an underage woman in his house right now. Not on her life.
    “We’ll find someone. This is