Page 6 of A Rebel's Shot

“Yeah, but you don’t want to mess with her. She may still be in high school, but she’s got the woman-in-charge vibe down. Practically runs the place.” Declan gave him a look that bordered on scared. “For my safety, please, please don’t change a thing.”

“Fine.” Tiikâan would be walking anytime he could.

Declan took him around town, pointing out the seven restaurants and what to order. The man always had food on the brain, but Tiikâan had to admit the variety would be a nice change from the two restaurants back in Tok. Declan drove by the Inupiat Heritage Center, urging Tiikâan to check it out if he had time.

The dirt roads and weathered houses with bikes and car parts and fishing gear for yards made him feel right at home. They even had a decent-sized grocery store.

The only part of the area that might make him itchy was the lack of mountains. Flat tundra stretched for miles south, disappearing into the horizon. Blue ocean headed north. Being surrounded by two-dimensional land when jutting mountains called to him could break his spirit.

Not that he wasn’t already expecting this job to do that very thing.

Declan slowed as he drove past a new massive two-story house overlooking the ocean. It stood out like an eyesore. Must’ve cost a fortune to build.

“This is where your meeting is.” Declan’s voice got serious for the first time. “Clayton Harland, the owner of the oil company, had it built a few years ago when he started spending a lot of time up here researching. Ran the business out of the place.”

Declan tapped the palm of his hand on the steering wheel, sighed, and sped up.

“Shame about him dying in the plane crash. Decent guy, if a bit hard-nosed. Kind of reminded me of John Dutton from that showYellowstone.Hat and everything. Take-no-prisoners patriarch, but he sure didn’t mind greasing the bureaucratic wheels with the cha-ching. I got new uniforms and equipment for the team from the guy.”

Tiikâan hadn’t heard that Harland had died. He probably should have done more research before he came up here.

Any research, actually.

But he’d wanted to get the most out of what little time he had and didn’t really care. In this type of job, money was money. Didn’t matter who he got it from, as long as he got it.

“When he or his family are up here, they live and work from there.”

“Good to know.”

Since Tiikâan was meeting this Merritt guy there, did that mean he was family? Tiikâan had the impression he would be flying a manager around, not the oil heir.A manager was one thing. Mostly levelheaded, they were just a guy doing a job.

A member of a dynasty? From his experience guiding, those people were on a different level of demanding.

Declan drove up to a twenty-by-forty single-story on stilts. “The Barrow Bachelor Bunk awaits.”

He tossed Tiikâan the car keys as they approached the steps leading to the door. Tiikâan rolled his eyes at the sparkly purple unicorn hanging from the loop. One thing’s for sure. He’d have a hard time misplacing the bright key ring.

The house was exactly what he expected to find. Sturdy laminate flooring. Living room with a small kitchen lining the wall. Two matching bedrooms on one end of the house had enough space for a queen bed, a side table, and a plastic three-drawer dresser in the cramped closet. Used dressers were harder to find in Alaska than gold.

The bathroom between the bedrooms had a shower stall, toilet, and tiny sink. The living room window with the view of the ocean was a nice touch. When everything cost an arm and a leg, it didn’t make sense to fancy up a place.

“Well, I should head back to the mansion and get this meeting over with.” Tiikâan really didn’t want to.

Declan nodded and sat at the table, firing up his computer.

“Working on the next bestseller?” Tiikâan scanned the bookshelves of familiar spines.

Declan had been writing thrilling mysteries set in Alaska since they were in high school. Tiikâan was gladDeclan had moved forward with indie publishing. The awards stacking up hadn’t surprised Tiikâan at all.

“Yep. This one’s set down Dutch Harbor way, but it’s giving me fits.” Declan’s face scrunched at his computer, then his head snapped up. “Oh, hey. When you get back, I want to introduce you around. I have some hunter friends you’d like to chat with. I thought since you’ll be here for Nalukataq, the festival of the whale, you’d want to get in on the tradition. You won’t be able to hunt being Athabaskan instead of Inupiat, but I’m sure I can get you on a boat.”

“Man, that would be killer.”

Surely, this Merritt guy would want to experience a true tradition of Alaska that had been going on for centuries. Tiikâan would just have to sell the festival hard. Make it so the guy couldn’t refuse.

“All right. I’m out.” Tiikâan swirled the key ring on his finger.

Declan saluted without looking up from the screen. Being in Barrow for the summer wouldn’t be so bad with him around. They hadn’t had time to hang out since high school.

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