Snow Rising (The Great North Woods Pack Book 4)

by Shawn Underhill

  “Joseph is going personally?”

  David nodded.

  Lars made a whistling sound as he dropped his pack into the truck’s bed.

  “Cool?” David said.

  “I’m not the boss,” Lars said. “But I don’t blame you for wanting in on this.”

  They got in and drove the short distance to the airstrip. The jet was waiting and they saw duffle bags being carried on board as they neared.

  ***

  David marched up the stairs and ducked through the jet’s narrow door. Lars followed, wondering what would take place. He felt compelled to vouch for the kid but also felt compelled not to question the old man’s judgements.

  “Oh no,” Joseph said. “Turn right around, David.”

  “Let me go,” he said, standing his ground. “For my family’s sake.”

  “For their sake you should stay here,” Joseph said.

  There was a moment of silence. The old Snow stared hard at David.

  “Father,” Lester finally said. “Let him come along. He’s proven himself capable.”

  “I am not questioning you personally,” Joseph said, staring into David’s eyes. “You are capable and strong for your age.”

  “Father,” Paul said. “No disrespect. But let the boy be a part of this. He can handle it.”

  Lars stood there slouching near the door, his eyes lowered. He wanted no part of a family squabble.

  “Very well,” Joseph said after a tense silence. “If something happens to him, one of you can go and tell his parents. You can tell them how bravely and how capably he conducted himself before his untimely death. I won’t. Hell, I won’t.”

  David took the nearest seat. Lars waited until Joseph had retaken his own seat before moving by. He looked at no one. He sat down and peered out a small window. Then he heard a strange voice speak.

  “I am Ohan,” he said.

  Lars looked and saw a wiry man sitting stiffly in the seat across the aisle. He was all of six feet tall and wiry, dark, long-haired, almost wild. He was wrapped in a plush robe rather than dark clothing like everyone else aboard. He did not smile, yet his expression had a level of friendliness to it. He appeared to be a dignified man suffering through an indignity with patience and good grace. Lars knew that some of the wolves were against going about as humans. He wondered if Ohan was of the same school of thought.

  “Lars,” he said, extending his hand.

  Ohan looked at him steadily. Glanced at his hand. Nodded in a respectful manner.

  “That was you dealing with the helicopters today?” Lars finally said, retracting his hand.

  Ohan nodded.

  “Good work.”

  “Good work,” Ohan said. “You also.”

  “Our new friend Ohan will be working with you,” Joseph said, turning in his seat. The anger had gone from his voice.

  Lars looked to the old Snow, waiting for him to resume.

  “We’ve studied maps and focused our attention on a few possibilities,” Joseph said next. “One in particular.”

  Lars took the pages printed from a computer and looked them over as they were handed to him. Satellite maps. He shuffled through them silently and finally settled on one.

  “This one strikes me,” he said.

  “Me too,” Joseph agreed.

  “The yard is huge, but there are also plenty of obstacles to prevent a chopper from landing anywhere on the premises. That’s what I’d do if I didn’t want anyone getting near me. Dense woods on three sides. Long drive with a gatehouse. Probably plenty of guards. Probably dogs. No neighbors for damn near a mile.”

  “I think it’s the place,” Joseph said. “But we’ll know for sure when we land and meet Kraft.”

  Lars raised his eyebrows. The conversation paused while the jet powered up and lifted off. Once at cruising altitude, Joseph resumed.

  “You heard me clearly,” Joseph clarified. “I spoke with Kraft via phone after you left the farm. My patience was at an end and I called him using Merrill’s phone. Told him that since he’d sent armed men to my town, I was no longer willing to part with the cases. He could keep throwing funds and men at me and end up with nothing. Told him I planned to destroy the cases within the hour. I was very angry at the time. There was no acting required on my part to convince him of my earnestness.”

  Lars whistled. “How did that go over?”

  “At first he was quite angry, defiant. But two can play at that game. I convinced him that I was not personally interested in the cases and had no idea of their worth, they were associated with the Merrill’s, and I simply wanted them out of my life once and for all. Told him I’d consider selling them for a cool million in cash, if he was willing to be civil. Just a simple deal. No haggling and a quick exchange. He came around to the idea quickly and became quite reasonable. Almost gracious.”

  “Most people with half a brain would trade one dollar for twenty.”

  “It could be even greater than that,” Joseph said. “Double or even triple. There’s no telling.”

  Lars took a deep breath and then asked, “What’s your insurance plan?”

  “I told him I rigged the cases with a small charge of dynamite. Enough to destroy the heavy cases without killing everyone around. If one of his men produces a gun during our meeting, I’ll set it off.”

  Lars nodded.

  “The logging business makes for ample experience with explosives.”

  “And Kraft knows that,” Lars said. “So he’ll believe that it’s very possible. That means he’ll be civil during the meeting, on his best behavior. Won’t take any chance of losing the cases. Then he’ll cut some of his men loose to follow you and kill you.”

  “I’m assuming.”

  “So,” Lars said after a moment of thought. “Am I still taking care of him personally?”

  ***

  At the farm, Erica was surrounded by her parents, her brother, her cousin, and her grandmother. The jet thundered into the sky as five wolves were watching over her, compelling her to drink and eat. Mah the eagle stood watch, now and then taking flight in order to scan the sky and the road cutting through the center of Ludlow. Abel stood off from them, watching from a distance. He had passed beyond his concern for her, sensing that she had already turned the vital corner and was now growing stronger by the minute.

  At last she propped herself up, lying on her belly with her forelegs in front of her. She drank water, looked around at her family and asked where her grandfather was.

  “He has gone to settle the score,” Earl told her.

  “He will be back in no time,” Evie told her.

  She closed her heavy eyelids, lowered her head between her forelegs, and relaxed. She had felt herself turn the corner, her body rejecting the bullets. The burning of her wounds was becoming the itch of healing. She was in control of herself, but utterly drained of energy.

  ***

  As the jet streaked south, the night’s plan was reviewed in detail. David was added to the roster, and assigned to assist Lars with his part of the mission. All was clear and agreed upon.

  After landing and overseeing the refueling, Paul and Lester acquired two rental SUVs with cash and fake identifications. The team divided into the vehicles and drove west of the airport.

  Just before 8:00pm Joseph Snow called Kraft. He called using Merrill’s phone, then shut it off and discarded it. Kraft had been nervously polite. The final meeting place was arranged and precise directions were given. The map of the location was brought up on a 4G tablet. A quiet country road a few miles from Kraft’s home. Joseph had falsified his estimated arrival time by an hour. After ending the call and tossing the phone, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. He had guessed the correct location of Kraft’s compound. So had Lars.

  31

  Minutes before Kraft was set to meet with the Snows, three figures hiked off the road toward a little clearing in the dark. David and Lars carried duffle bags of supplies, while Ohan walked naked and carried no burdens
. The walk was short and relatively simple. The clearing was just large enough for an eagle to gain flight from.

  Ohan shifted once he stepped into the clearing. He stretched his wings and moved them lightly to prepare. He watched as David and Lars set the two bags down a few feet apart. They wished him well as he stepped forward and, one at a time, looped his huge talons through the carrying handles of the two bags.

  He lifted off with great effort, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees in the process. The night was dark with thin cloud cover moving in from the west. The winds were low but were enough to aid the great bird in his flight. He glided easily once above the tree tops. His eyes were nearly as sharp in the dark as a common eagle’s eyes are in daylight. He could see for miles and miles, or focus intently on something as tiny as a mouse scurrying from a trash can.

  Within a few minutes he was circling high above Kraft’s secluded compound. He swooped gradually lower, searching the vast yards for guard dogs. They would detect him, he knew, the moment he swooped low enough to alert their keen ears and noses. Which was exactly what he was planning to do.

  There were three dogs patrolling the yard unleashed. As Ohan spotted them, he made a steep dive, beat his wings with enough force to send ripples through the grass, and draw the attention of the dogs. From then on he began to manipulate the duffle bags, turning them with his talons, letting their cargo spill out. He made a path of spilled cargo from the side yard to the back corner of the fenced property. The path consisted of raw T-bone steaks and fillets of haddock, totaling nearly fifty pounds in all.

  As expected, the dogs couldn’t resist. Their barking ceased abruptly as they reached the first few steaks. Their handler waiting in the gatehouse would likely assume that they were simply barking at squirrels. It would take him a few minutes to walk around back to find out why the dogs were not responding to his calls and whistles.

  ***

  A minute later, Ohan passed over the little clearing. He saw Lars waiting at the center, his arms extended so that he was the shape of a cross. He was wearing multiple layers of shirts and jackets. The eagle dropped, steering with slight shifts of his wings, carefully closed his feet around the man’s outstretched arms, and lifted him into the sky.

  Lars fought to keep from screaming as he was flown through the night. His boots were dangling ten or fifteen feet above the trees. The wind rushed by his ears and chilled his face and hands. He’d been warm wearing all the protective clothing up till then, but now he was quite cool. I had to be crazy to agree to this, he thought. Damn fool. You deserve to die. No clue how you’ve lived so long with all the stupid crap you get pulled into.

  Shortly the ride was over. The moment his boots touched the grass behind Kraft’s mansion, Lars bent down and grabbed fistfuls of cold grass for the sheer appreciation of it. He stood, gathered himself, took a Taser from his coat, and began walking toward the sprawling house. He saw the dogs seventy or eighty yards away. They were eating ravenously and paid him no mind. He moved up close to the house to wait for David.

  The wait was short. David jumped the last six or so feet and hit the ground running. Ohan disappeared overhead. He would rest on the roof, crouching low, watching and listening.

  “Ready?” Lars whispered.

  “Yeah,” David said.

  They crept around the opposite side of the house from where the dogs were currently feasting. They assumed they were being monitored by cameras, but they also assumed that there was no one in the house watching the screens associated with those cameras.

  They were right. They slipped in through the unlocked front door into a silent house.

  “All this security and he leaves the door open?” David said.

  Lars laughed. “I’m guessing his mind is completely fixated on those cases. And I don’t think he anticipated someone like Ohan coming in from above.”

  ***

  Joseph Snow stood before the rented SUV. The cases were on either side of him and a little in front. Lester and Paul leaned on opposing fenders. All three were calm as Kraft’s cars approached. Steady. Joseph held the prepaid phone, speaking to Kraft.

  “Now,” he said. “We’ll begin with the drivers of each car. They will step out slowly and toss their weapons to the roadside.”

  “Really, Mr. Ludlow,” Kraft said. “This isn’t necessary. My men have been briefed on the importance of this transaction.”

  “All the same,” Joseph said. “I don’t like guns. Do as I say, and in a few minutes you’ll have your cases. You and I can be rid of one another forever.”

  The two drivers complied. Tossed their side arms into the dirt along the edge of the choppy old pavement of the little used country road. One of the men was smiling. Perhaps imagining how much he would enjoy shooting the man holding the phone before he could reach the airport.

  “Now the other men,” Joseph said into the phone.

  Quietly and precisely, three more men exited the two cars and tossed aside their guns.

  Lester stepped forward and began securing the smiling man’s wrists behind his back with thick plastic ties. He was rough and unkind about it, muttering warnings, and the man just went on smiling. Lester did the same to the others, then put one long strip of rope around them all. Pulling it extremely tight, they looked like a complaining mass of unsteady legs and tangled feet.

  “Sir,” Kraft said into the phone. “These are good men.”

  “Better than the ones you sent north?”

  Kraft sighed. “I gave you my word there’d be no violence. This isn’t personal. I only want the cases. There’s no need to abuse these men.”

  “Abuse?” Joseph said. “This is nothing, I assure you, in comparison with what we could do to them. No weapons required.”

  Kraft kept his mouth closed. He didn’t read Mr. Ludlow as a bluffer.

  “All right,” Joseph said.

  “Can I step out now?”

  “Slowly,” Joseph advised.

  Kraft stood up out of the car with a briefcase in one hand. He was a heavy man of roughly sixty years, squat, solid, narrow-eyed and big-faced. Thin wisps of white hair barely covered the top of his head. He wore a long coat over what appeared to be a loose jogging suit. Not a sharp dresser. Not a man who ventured often from his comfortable nest.

  “Come on over,” Joseph said. “I won’t bite.”

  Stepping slowly, Kraft approached with a forced smile. There was an old wariness in his eyes. He was a man who trusted few and liked even less. By such methods he remained safe, wealthy, respected, and most importantly, alive. He did not like the Ludlow’s in any sense. They radiated confidence, which in turn made him nervous. Very few people could make him nervous.

  “You don’t carry a weapon,” Joseph said. It wasn’t a question but rather the truth revealed to him by his nose.

  “No,” Kraft answered. “Haven’t for years. Hence the guards.”

  “I won’t kill you or your men,” Joseph said. “Though I am very angry with you, sir.”

  Kraft could see the faint glow of Joseph’s green eyes. He could sense his incredible strength. Strength, not arrogance. Strength—one of the few things in the world that Kraft respected. He only disliked it when it was wielded by another, who directed it at him.

  “Rowan Merrill has caused us both considerable trouble,” he said. “I regret trusting her.”

  “I’ll bet you do,” Joseph said.

  Kraft held out the briefcase. Paul took it from him, stepped to the SUV, and used the interior light to check its contents. Crisp cash, bound tight. It smelled musty, as if it had just been taken from a safe before being put in the case.

  “Looks good,” Paul said, though it didn’t really matter. His father cared nothing for Kraft’s money.

  Lester reached down and lifted Rowan Merrill’s two cases. He looked at Kraft.

  “The trunk will do fine, thanks,” he said.

  “You open it,” Lester said. “And don’t reach for anything but the button.”

/>   Kraft took his eyes from Joseph, turned and went to the nearest car. Reached in and hit the release. Followed Lester to the trunk. Lester placed the cases in. He could tell right away that the trunk had a false base. There were weapons under the carpet. Probably assault rifles. Maybe even a grenade launcher.

  “Satisfied?” Joseph said when Kraft returned.

  “Yes, sir,” he said, extending his hand. “More than satisfied. Thank you.”

  Joseph took his hand, stared into the man’s eyes, and began squeezing. He squeezed until he saw Kraft’s face began to distort in pain. He squeezed harder, until the man dropped onto one knee, struggling to keep from screaming. He squeezed until he knew he could squeeze no more without destroying the man’s hand. Kraft took the pain well. Better than most could.

  “Listen,” Joseph told him firmly. “You will drive yourself home now. You will not call for backup of any sort. In roughly thirty minutes, I’ll call you and tell you to come back to untie your men. If you look closely you’ll notice a small light in the woods. I’ve placed a tablet with a running webcam against a tree to keep tabs. If I see your guys move, or see you back here before I give the green light, I’ll detonate the cases with my phone. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, yes,” Kraft was saying, even before Joseph had finished.

  “Good,” Joseph said, releasing his hand.

  The man rolled over on his back, shuddering in pain but still not crying out.

  “I’ll have your phone now,” Joseph said.

  “I can’t,” Kraft gasped. “I really can’t.”

  “You will hand it over. Or else …”

  Slowly, grimacing, Kraft retrieved his phone and handed it up. In return he was given a cheap prepaid device. He slipped it into his pocket, his insides simmering with quiet rage, his skin flush and hot. All that kept him in check was the thought of the cases. The knowledge of their great worth.

  Then Joseph stepped away without another word, and Kraft, sitting up slowly, saw the three Ludlow men gathering up the discarded weapons. They entered their SUV, the front tires turned sharply, and he watched the taillights moving away into the night. He balled his good hand into a white fist, roaring and cursing into the darkness.