Page 86 of Wind Valley

As they hurtled across the snow, Maura tipped back her head and let out a long wolf howl—pure freedom and joy straight from the heart.

46

For the next few months, a legal battle raged, with Firelight Ridge caught in the middle. So many rumors were flying around that Bear called a meeting at The Fang one day in mid-April. He asked Lachlan and Maura to attend, since they knew more about the situation than most people.

Almost the entire community showed up, even though it was “breakup” season and the snow was giving way to mud. A din of chatter and speculation filled the bar.

As Andrea Reed walked into the bar, Lachlan caught her eye and gave a quick shake of his head. She’d been lobbying him to take her side, but he couldn’t do that, even though she’d helped Maura escape from SS. She’d have to make her case on her own.

Shortly after she took her place next to Bear, Dr. Reed came in. He nodded at a few folks, including Pinky, before standing on the other side of Bear.

When there was no let-up in the busy chatter, Bear pounded on the bar counter to get everyone’s attention. Slowly everyone quieted down.

“We’ve got a situation here in Firelight Ridge. There’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding, so I figured we should hear from the people behind all this. As far as I understand it, Dr. Reed invented something called the Wave Core, it’s an energy-generating device that converts magnetic energy to something we can use.”

Andrea Reed stepped forward. “That’s where I come in, me and TNG Enterprises. A lot of you have gotten very generous offers for your property. We want to continue researching and developing the Wave Core right here in the area, in Wind Valley, and you all can benefit from that.”

“You the one with the free cell service?” Frank Stetson called out.

“Yes. That was a gesture of goodwill,” she answered. Lachlan and Maura exchanged a glance—goodwill, my ass.

“No, that was an underhanded way to get your hands on our land,” growled Old Solomon as he stood. “Read the fine print.”

“Never mind the cell service,” Andrea said quickly. “Imagine a brand-new source of renewable energy. You can be part of that. We’ll be hiring, we’ll be bringing in engineers and researchers. It will be a huge economic boom for this place.”

Martha the farmer got to her feet. “And if it doesn’t work? I heard it could make my sheep sick.”

“We’ll do everything we can?—”

Dr. Reed interrupted Andrea mid-sentence. Lachlan got the feeling he did that a lot. “They can’t promise anything. Until we fix the issues with the Wave Core, the wildlife will suffer.”

“What about people?” Ani called out. “What are the long-term effects? Or short-term, for that matter?”

Lachlan knew that Maura was most concerned about that. She’d started to wonder if Pinky’s confusion was simply old age or connected to the Wave Core somehow, even though it supposedly had been inactive all these years. Of all the residents in the area, he lived the closest to Wind Valley.

Andrea stepped in front of Dr. Reed. “We have a strategy to prevent any impact on people. We have experience with that, since our entire family was affected while we were here. But it wore off, and it gave us valuable information.”

Before she could explain further, Dr. Reed shouldered his way forward and took center stage again. “She’s lying. Even if we can eliminate the danger to humans, there’s no way to protect the wildlife. Not yet. This technology is a breakthrough, but it’s not ready. Not even close. They can’t guarantee that no one will be harmed.”

Shocking everyone in the bar, Jared Chilkoot stood up to speak. “That so-called professor sent someone onto our property with a grenade,” he said loudly. “Can’t trust him. Us Chilkoots can vouch for Andrea Reed and her company.”

The Fang erupted in an uproar of voices, while Dr. Reed tried to shush the crowd so he could explain.

“What’s in it for you Chilkoots?” someone shouted.

“You only look out for yourselves, not us!” yelled someone else.

Lachlan shot an alarmed glance at Maura. This was getting out of hand. Then he jumped as he heard his own name.

“Lachlan, you’re a scientist. What do you think?” Martha’s voice carried over those of the others, who all quieted down. Suddenly he was the focus of all eyes in The Fang.

Maura squeezed his hand, offering support, and he slowly stood up.

“There’s a lot to consider—a potential new form of energy, the wildlife, the wolf packs, the health effects, the economic effects, even the Ahtna legends about Wind Valley. But there’s one factor that no one has mentioned yet, and it might be pretty important…”

Mid-June

Lachlan took Maura to the best viewpoint he knew to watch the jökulhlaup—a craggy overlook with uninterrupted views of both Wind Valley to the east and Korch Glacier to the north, with a rare glimpse of Thunder Pass just west of the glacier. While it was impossible to predict exactly when the flooding would start, he’d been monitoring air and ground temperature readings closely, cross-referencing them with the past history of the Korch jökulhlaups, and had narrowed the time window to a roughly six-hour period.

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