Alaskan Wolf (16 page)

W
hen Mariah heard a car pull up outside only a minute later, she was amazed that help had arrived so fast. But it wasn't EMTs or local law enforcement who came to the front of the cabin and knocked on the door.

The man who stood there was in a military uniform—pale green camouflage fatigues. He was moderate in height, with a nearly shaved head and intense brown eyes.

“Ma'am, I'm Staff Sergeant Jonathon Duvale. I'm looking for a civilian, name of Patrick Worley.”

Mariah felt herself begin to relax, if only a little. This could be the person Patrick was told to expect
here by his superior officer, an aide being sent from his home base of Ft. Lukman, according to his phone call with Major Drew Connell while they were in the car. If so, this soldier would know who Patrick was. He could be of tremendous assistance right now.

If not—well, she had to find out.

She walked outside and shut the door behind her. From the headlights she could see that the vehicle she'd heard was a military jeep, and there were a couple of other soldiers in it. “Patrick isn't available at the moment, Sergeant. I'm a friend of his, Mariah Garver.”

His eyes lit momentarily in apparent recognition of her name. “Then you might know the particulars of my mission here, Ms. Garver…?”

“Could be. Are you a member of Alpha Force?”

“Sure am. Although…”

“I get it.” He didn't have to say any more. Mariah figured, from his hesitation, that he was one of the backup guys, and not a shapeshifter like Patrick. “Please call me Mariah. I'm really glad you're here.” She gave him a quick rundown on what had happened. “I haven't gone around back,” she said quietly, “but my assumption is that Austin DeLisio's body is there. I doubt that he's still alive, and if he's gone, his death could cause a lot of questions—bite marks and all.”

“We'll handle it, Mariah.” He looked across the
yard toward the dock area where the small submarine was mounted on the pontoon boat. “I suspect that when his body is found in the bay in a few days it'll be hard to tell what happened to him.”

“I see,” Mariah said.

“And Patrick? He's not here at the moment, is he?”

“No, he…went to get help.”

“I figured. Okay, we'd better get busy before the local guys arrive. See you around one of these days, Mariah.”

She went back inside, not wanting to watch what these soldiers were up to. In a minute, she heard their vehicle drive away—and not at all too soon, since the local cops got there only a few minutes later.

She hoped that Patrick was far enough away to be safe, but close enough to be aware that help had arrived.

 

Three days later, Mariah sat in the business center at her B and B going over all her wildlife photographs, after uploading them onto
Alaskan Nature Magazine
's employee website.

She had some wonderful pictures, definitely enough for an interesting article on the animals in and around Tagoga. Her story wouldn't contain some big revelation about how the decimation of the local glaciers affected the creatures' populations, but
that was fine with her. It would be centered more around the kinds of animals she had seen while on the glaciers, primarily on dogsled rides—animals that appeared to thrive on the cold and ice.

She had complimented the Great Glaciers Dogsled Ranch, which she knew would please Toby Dawes. He had hinted at the possibility earlier, when she had initially asked to hire a sled.

She'd also included Tagoga Bay sea life. Not fish killed by the glacier decimation, though. Only the few whales she had actually seen, and dolphins, otters and sea lions.

On the other hand, she was also writing another article that her editor, Harold, would adore—assuming she got the approval to finish it. And she wouldn't finish it, or allow it to be published, without Patrick's, and his superior officers', okay.

Mariah was surprised that what had happened in Emil Charteris's cabin, and the effects on the people there, had quickly taken a different twist from what she had discussed with Sergeant Duvale.

The local media had only gotten snippets of what had allegedly occurred, so there was a lot of buzz around but no real explanation.

That would be up to her—despite lots of irritated contacts from Flynn Shulster, who reminded her that he'd wanted to interview her on his TV show even before she'd had her confrontation with Emil and his
family and figured out what really was causing the glacier destruction. He'd offered to pay her well. And give her great publicity for her articles, her boss's publications, whatever.

She had declined as graciously, and firmly, as she could.

Not that she declined
all
publicity, but what she wanted to do was to write about it in a way that was okay with Patrick and his people.

On Patrick's request, she had already sent a story draft to be approved by the officer in charge of Alpha Force, General Greg Yarrow. Once he okayed it, it would become the definitive explanation. And Mariah would have the scoop. Which years ago would have made her gloriously happy. Should even have made her pretty excited now, but she couldn't quite get up the appropriate enthusiasm.

At least it contained the government spin on what allegedly had been happening regarding both the mines in the lower forty-eight and the disappearing glaciers here.

The official story? The now-deceased business mogul Austin DeLisio was involved in both situations. Unfortunately, he would not be able to answer for his alleged misdeeds because he had been killed in Tagoga Bay when the explosives he was about to set—from the submersible his friend Emil
Charteris had inadvertently rented for his nefarious schemes—went off on their own.

He had supposedly been out on a glacier at the time, and his body had been found a day later.

Interesting that Thea Fiske's superstition had apparently come true. There had been a second death, after the second silence in Fiske's Hangout.

“Hello, Mariah.”

The door to the business center had opened while her mind wandered, so she hadn't even seen Patrick come in. But now her vision was filled with the wonderful sight of him. His dog, Duke, trotted in at his feet.

“Patrick!” She stood and hurried toward him and into his arms. They hadn't seen much of each other over the past couple of days—although she had confirmed, when he had returned to town a few hours after leaving the cabin, that she had seen the sergeant from Alpha Force. Apparently, Patrick had already been in contact with him and they had coordinated their stories about what had happened to Austin DeLisio.

Mariah reveled in the feel of being held tightly against Patrick. His mouth captured hers in an exquisitely delightful kiss. But thereafter, he broke away.

“Any word from the general about your story?” He was all business again. Just as well. Mariah had
already started the process of mentally leaving him, since the physical separation would start much too soon.

“Not yet. Have the cops told you anything about their investigation of DeLisio's ‘accident'?”

She sat back down at the computer and began absently to stroke Duke's head.

Both Patrick and she had been debriefed almost immediately by the local authorities, the same ones who had investigated Shaun Bethune's death, including the cop named Pilke, and Detective Gray.

Mariah had truthfully related that Austin DeLisio had admitted killing Shaun because of his expertise in computer research. Shaun had apparently connected the nerdy Fiske's Hangout piano player with the powerful mining magnate and was asking enough questions to make DeLisio nervous. DeLisio had broken into the mushers' building at the Great Glaciers Dogsled Ranch and murdered Shaun.

And then he had collaborated with Carrie Thaxton to get Mariah and Patrick to Emil Charteris's camp to ensure that they wouldn't reveal the truth about him, assuming they knew it. He had left them there, with Carrie holding a gun on them, when he went outside the cabin and presumably departed the site. Fortunately, they'd been able to subdue Carrie.

Jeremy Thaxton was still in the hospital, but was
expected to be okay. Emil's wounds were fairly significant, but he, too, would probably survive.

As would Carrie. But she was under sedation and psychological evaluation. She had admitted to being Austin's lover, to conspiring with him to conduct his dangerous mining operations that had threatened the entire ecological balance here in Tagoga.

All of that had apparently made sense to the local authorities, and to the FBI guys who had also come to debrief her about DeLisio and his operations.

The thing was, she kept raving about werewolves attacking Austin. Coming inside to have conversations with Mariah. Carrie claimed it had something to do with Patrick Worley, but Patrick had been completely accessible to the authorities and cooperated fully in answering their questions. Shapeshifting? Not that Carrie had actually seen anything like that.

Jeremy had been unconscious throughout the ordeal. Emil had been in the other room—and also unconscious, after being shot. Neither of them had seen anything, either. And Patrick had simply laughed at the whole idea, just as the detectives did.

Fortunately, the next full moon was a couple of weeks away. And although Patrick had been shot, since the bullet had not been silver it had caused no harm. He had shown Mariah the nearly healed entry and exit wounds.

“It sounds as if you've accomplished your mission
here,” Mariah said brightly. “How long will you stay around?”

“Long enough not to appear suspicious. Turns out there are guys training dogs for the Iditarod near Anchorage that need some extra help, and I'll head that way for a while as part of my cover. From there, I'll continue to Ft. Lukman.”

“Right. And I'll be returning to Juneau in another day or two.” She bent over and gave Duke a big hug, and the large shepherd-wolfhound mix licked her face. She squeezed her eyes closed to prevent them from tearing up. She would miss this dog. And she would miss his owner even more. She now knew that Patrick's persona as an itinerant musher, with no roots or ambitions, was not really him. That was the kind of man she had learned to run from.

But the man who he really was—a military guy? That held some appeal, might even be worth considering a move away from Alaska someday.

But a military man with secrets like his…how could she ever imagine building a life with him?

Not that he'd even hinted at such a thing.

Her cell phone rang. The number on the caller ID was unfamiliar. “Hello?”

“Ms. Garver, this is General Greg Yarrow.”

“Oh, yes, General. I'm with Patrick Worley right now. I'll put you on the speaker phone.” She pulled her cell phone away from her ear and pressed the
button, noting that Patrick checked to ensure that the business center door was closed. “What did you think about my story of what's been going on around here?”

“Excellent job, Ms. Garver. I can see why Patrick wanted your security clearance given priority, and why he trusted you. You have my approval to send the article to your editor and have it published as is. On behalf of the U.S. government, and most particularly Alpha Force, you have our gratitude for being so understanding about the delicacy of the situation, especially in light of national security and our need for discretion.”

She couldn't help beaming, especially at the warm smile Patrick sent her way. “Thank you, General.”

“Thanks, Greg,” Patrick echoed.

When Mariah hung up, she looked at Patrick. “Well, I guess this is the end of our working together here.”

“Yes, but, Mariah, I don't want this to be goodbye.”

She shrugged one shoulder, attempting to appear indifferent. “I don't especially, either, but what do you suggest?”

“I don't suppose you'd like to move to the lower forty-eight and write about wildlife around Maryland?”

Mariah had sworn off thinking about serious
relationships with any man a long time ago. And yet, with all that had happened between them, she'd been thinking about what it would be like to spend forever with Patrick—the pros and cons.

But his invitation, though it sounded sincere, didn't suggest forever. Even if it had, she wasn't sure what she would decide. As much as it hurt, she aimed a sardonic smile at him. “Not currently on my agenda. And you? Any thoughts of giving up Alpha Force and staying a part-time dog musher?”

Not that she'd changed her mind about guys with no direction, but at least that might be a way for him to hang out in Alaska—near her.

“Definitely not on my agenda.”

“Then I'll see you around, Patrick.”

She hoped. Oh, did she hope…but she knew reality was not on their side.

 

The next few weeks passed quickly—except that time seemed to drag between the communications Mariah received from Patrick. Not that they were sparse. In fact, she received several emails and text messages every day, as well as at least one phone call. None contained any pressure, but there was always an invitation for her to come see him, since after a week in Anchorage he had gone back to Maryland. And a suggestion he would come and see her as soon as he got some leave—if she wanted him to.

She left that door open. And she missed him. A lot. Even though figuring out what to do about it seemed an iffy enterprise at best. And forgetting him seemed impossible, even if the communications stopped—and she absolutely dreaded that possibility.

At least Mariah kept busy—traveling back to Juneau, enjoying the publication of her glacier wildlife article and delighting Harold with her story on Austin DeLisio—including his alleged part in the murder of Shaun Bethune, the havoc wreaked on mines in the lower forty-eight and the damage to the Alaskan glaciers.

She also had to field interview requests by other media folks. She granted only a couple, and those were only after approval by General Yarrow and Patrick. One even included, after all, a short on-air debriefing with Flynn Shulster—to get the persistent pseudoscientist off her back. In all, she was cautious to explain her role as a distant observer who happened to be there when DeLisio was trying to ensure that no one around him was able to voice their suspicions.