The doctor was trembling—aftereffects of shock, maybe, or maybe just anger.
“Let the bastard suffer,” she said. “Nobody points a gun at my family. Sera, you may not be born to me or raised by me, but you’re mine now and no asshole in a military uniform is gonna take you away from me.” The doctor’s Southern accent had thickened with her emotional temperature.
The girl’s eyes widened, but her surprise turned into a giggle. “Now, Aunt Estelle, where’s your Christian charity? The man’s hurt.”
“Humph. Not feeling so very charitable at the moment. But I suppose I did take an oath.” She squared her shoulders and walked, not hurrying, to the groaning major.
Butterick’s face was contorted in pain, his leg askew. “My leg’s broken.”
The doctor knelt at his side and spoke in tones dripping with honey. “Well, bless your heart. You certainly took a nasty fall.” The major cursed and moaned as she prodded. “Possible concussion. Can you move your toes? Does that hurt? Oh, dear, your hip . . . Sera, run up and tell that soldier we’ll need a stretcher—after they use it to help Annie into the helicopter.”
Laughing, Luis looked around for his tablet—and found it smashed under a broad footprint.
Damn! He’d been counting on its maps for navigating the herd to grid Hb27. Without it . . .
His breath caught. Without it, the herd would be better off trusting Ruby to choose the route.
Ruby’s follow call made his head jerk up.
The herd was already on the move.
Ruby was heading east, toward the glacier, perhaps smelling spruce forest on the other side. The other mammoths obediently fell in behind, the troika grouped protectively around Opal and her little calf.
Good old Ruby. Wolves, helicopter, men with rifles: she’d wisely decided this wasn’t a safe neighborhood.
Luis watched them leaving, a lump in his throat.
Tramping down the moraine bank, Ruby began to pick a path over the glacier. The ice, so treacherous to human boots, seemed to be no problem for wide, supple footpads. Baby Jade slipped once, but her mother was right there to provide a supporting trunk.
With a final snort in the major’s direction, Diamond turned and strode after the herd.
Halfway across the glacier, Ruby paused to look back. Raising her trunk, she again sounded her call. Follow.
“Sorry, Ruby, old girl,” Luis whispered. “I can’t go with you this time. Time for you and me to part ways.”
For days, Luis had dreaded the moment when he would have to leave the herd, but now the decision was made. The herd was leaving him.
CHAPTER 41
Going home
Kanut and the young marksman loaded Butterick—swearing a blue streak—into the helicopter, strapping his stretcher over the four rear seats.
As Doc Dupris fussed over the major, the soldier turned desperately to Kanut. “Sir, the major piloted the helo here himself. How are we going to fly out of here?”
Kanut grinned. “Well, son, it just so happens I flew Black Hawks when I served in ’Stan. These days, I mostly fly the troopers’ A-Star, but I expect I can get us to Fairbanks.” He glanced over at Butterick. “What do you say, Major? Will you authorize me to fly your bird? Or would you rather call in another unit to rescue you?”
In terms profane enough to make Doc Dupris tsk and Kanut wince, Butterick declared that he would call for backup only when heaven, Earth, hell, and everything in between froze over.
Kanut nodded. “That’s settled then. Now, son, let’s go help the old lady to board. Be careful with her, she’s a heart patient.”
The soldier paused. “Sir? What about those animals we were supposed to kill?”
“This isn’t moose-hunting season, son.”
“That was no damn moose!” Butterick roared. “They’re elephants! Goddamn hairy, mutant elephants!”
“Now settle down,” Doc Dupris ordered. “You got a nasty knock on the head. Maybe an MRI is in order. Have you had any other hallucinations?”
The young soldier’s eyes returned to Kanut. “But, sir, what about my rifle?”
Kanut gave him a fatherly pat on the arm. “I guess you’re just going to have to tell your commander what happened. The major requested your weapon to, ah, examine it, and lost it when he was attacked by an angry moose. Did you know that in Alaska, more people are injured every year by moose than by bears?”
“Sir?”
Kanut hoped the young fellow hadn’t set his sights on an illustrious army career. But at least it was a better story than “my rifle was stolen by an illegal pot grower and stomped by a mammoth.” On the way home, he’d have to work on that story a little.
After lifting Annie into a seat next to the doctor, Kanut strapped her in—pink bathrobe, fluffy slippers, and all.
She smiled sweetly and clutched his hand. “You’re a good boy,” she whispered. “I knew the Lord would send someone. I’m glad it was someone like you.”
“I had a lot of help,” he answered shyly. He’d have to go visit his own mother again, soon. Maybe he’d get her a pair of fluffy slippers for the chilly mornings.
Sera came next, carrying their battered suitcases and her aunt’s red medical kit—what was left of it after being kicked around by a herd of mammoths.
“You happy to be going back to Fairbanks?” Kanut handed her into one of the three crew seats behind the pilot.
Sera’s smile lit the dingy helicopter. “Going home. Aunt Estelle, I was just thinking—the University of Alaska has a good environmental program, doesn’t it? I think I’d like to learn more about that.” Her aunt grinned like she’d won the lottery.
Going home. Kanut couldn’t wait. The
