Shaking his head, Luis escorted the women away from the milling animals. Excitement over, the mammoths were twittering among themselves like excited children, not yet ready to settle down to the serious business of eating.
Sera, too, was bubbling over, bouncing as she walked. “I’ve never seen anything like that. The wolves risking their lives to get something to eat. The mammoths risking their lives to save the baby.”
Her aunt put her arm over the girl’s shoulder. “Not just the mother,” she said softly. “The whole community. Especially the aunts.”
Sera nodded like that meant something to her.
Kanut met them with a grin. “You ladies all right?”
The doctor halted, arms crossed. “No thanks to you. Where’s your gun? A couple of shots would have dispersed the wolves in a moment.”
Kanut raised his spray can. “A little deterrent was all that was needed, no need for shooting.”
The doctor raised her chin. “We might have been killed.”
With a touch of malice, Luis answered, “He doesn’t have a rifle. He lost it.”
Kanut snorted. “He means one of his mammoths stepped on it.”
“After he lost it.”
Incredulous, the doctor looked from one man to the other. “No rifle? Neither of you? Not even a popgun? This must be the worst rescue ever.”
Giggling, Sera pulled her aunt up the hill. “Let it go, Estelle. Mr. Kanut’s right, killing a wolf would be just as bad. I think he was very brave to help chase off the wolves with nothing but a can of pepper spray.” She waved at the old lady, sitting on the camp stool by the tent.
But the old lady was looking up, scanning the clouds.
The doctor looked up, too. “Is that thunder?” But there was no smell of rain in the air, and the gray clouds were thinner than they’d been for days.
The sound steadied and grew louder.
Kanut grinned broadly enough to stretch his face. “That’s a helicopter!”
Dr. Dupris threw her arms in the air. “Thank you, Lord!”
Sera was already sprinting to the tent. “Miss Annie! Miss Annie!”
“Look! I see it!” The doctor waved, shouting yoo hoo as if the pilot would hear.
Laughing, Kanut walked with her up toward the camp.
Luis watched them go with relief. At last, Kanut could take his lost lambs and leave Luis in peace—with all the food and supplies and his own tent and sleeping bag. He’d have plenty of time to let baby Jade strengthen her legs as he took the herd north by easy stages. He’d enjoy the journey, a last few days to say goodbye to his mammoth family before calling for pickup in some tundra meadow.
Finally, things were going right.
As the helo circled, Kanut recognized the Black Hawk profile from his army days. Maybe it was a national guard unit coming to rescue them. He didn’t care who it was, as long as the women got to safety and he got back to home and family.
At the tent, he sorted the old lady’s things into her overnight bag. “You’ll be in Fairbanks soon, Miss Annie.”
She nodded, a faraway look in her eyes. “I didn’t want to make this trip, you know. Thought I’d be better off spending my last days in the village. But the good Lord knows best, I guess. If I hadn’t come along, I’d never have seen any of this. Those mammoths, back from the dead—who would have thought? And the wolves—seeing them was a special gift. And I’d never have got to know little Sera. She’s a fine girl. I’m hoping I’ve done her and Estelle some good, too.”
“You’ll have a lot to tell your friends, when you get back home.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad Sera took her pictures. Otherwise, they’d never believe it.”
Sera was scrambling to cram clothes back into suitcases. “What about the tent?” she screamed over the noise of the incoming helicopter.
“Leave it,” Kanut called. Cortez would be pleased—he could keep all the food and gear and stay with the mammoths as long as he liked. He’d been decent, all things considered. Kanut would do what he could to keep him and the mammoths out of trouble.
All three women waved as the Black Hawk descended, the girl performing an acrobatic gyration that would have the pilot’s eyes popping out.
The drab green helo touched down fifty yards from the tent, as gently as a noisy bit of thistledown. The door slid open and two figures in camo fatigues stepped out.
Kanut held Doc Dupris back, letting the men clear the wash from the blades.
“Thank God you’re here,” she called. “My patient needs to get to Fairbanks Memorial as soon as possible. Do you have a gurney?”
The taller of the men stepped past her to face Kanut. Smiling, he removed his mirrored sunglasses.
“Hello, Trooper Kanut,” Major Butterick said. “I had a hunch that tracking you down would be a good idea. Marksman, those are your targets. Within the next ten minutes, I want all those animals dead.”
CHAPTER 39
Defection
On a pier at one of the westernmost points in the continental US, Anjou shivered despite his jacket. Even at midsummer, the wind blowing into Alaska from Siberia chilled him to the bone. If there was one place on Earth colder than Alaska to live in, it had to be Russia.
Outside the bare shed where Anjou and Ginger had taken shelter, the rain lashed both the pier and the boat bobbing alongside. Men in rainslickers shouted and cursed in unintelligible Russian. The place smelled of fish.
The next hour would change Anjou’s life. Once he followed Ginger onto
