by Kim McMahill
Dr. Stephen Clark knew he had broken multiple company policies, but Grace was like a daughter to him, and he feared there was much more to her family crisis than it appeared on the surface.
Not only had he encouraged her to get on the road as soon as possible, but he had also suggested she do whatever she needed so she could continue working long distance if the situation required a lengthy commitment. From what little she had relayed to him last night, that scenario seemed more than likely. Company rules strictly prohibited the removal of any research data from the secure lab and working offsite, but the project couldn’t just be put on hold, and having someone else fill in for Grace was absolutely out of the question.
They were in a race to confirm the reliability of their data, and the impatient corporate management team was unlikely to accept any excuses. They wanted specific results, and they wanted them yesterday.
Stephen normally went home at least an hour earlier, but he was a coward. The thought of leaving the confines of his underground lab facility and crossing Uinta Vitamin and Nutrition’s lobby overhead, exposing himself to anyone else leaving the building, especially the Vice President of Product Development, Janice Green, made him shudder.
Janice had taken a special interest in him and Grace lately and not in a good way. If she asked about Grace, he didn’t want to lie, but he needed to buy a little time to gather facts before confessing to Grace’s absence and all the other company infractions they had committed. They were both in serious danger of being fired if anyone from the management team learned the truth.
Looking at the clock, he knew it was pointless to delay any longer. If the roads were as bad to the north as the weather reports indicated, Grace probably hadn’t arrived at her uncle’s ranch yet. As much as he craved news and clarification on the situation, he wasn’t likely to receive any information before morning. The details Grace received from the local deputy the night before were sketchy, but one thing was clear. Something horrible had happened in Wyoming.
Stephen wandered out into the lab, and all was dark. Jonah and Kathleen, along with twenty other researchers, had long since gone home for the evening, leaving the sterile environment in an eerie and unwelcoming silence. He had worked in this same facility for nearly thirty years and contributed to a number of products to help improve animal health, in which he took great pride. However, he couldn’t help but fear his long and successful career was nearing an undesired and less than prestigious end.
Returning to his office, he shoved several non-confidential reports into his briefcase and grabbed the trade journal which had just arrived in the afternoon’s mail from his desk. As Stephen reached for his jacket, his hand froze, and his pulse accelerated. The unmistakable sound of stilettos clattering across the concrete floor grew louder, and there was only one possible source.
“Dr. Clark, you’re here late.”
At five feet nine inches tall without her heels, Janice Green towered in his doorway in them, creating an imposing and intimidating silhouette despite her willow thin build. Her severely cropped, shiny black hair framed her narrow face, and she sported just enough makeup to accentuate her full lips and dark brown eyes without detracting from the serious and competent look of a shrewd, demanding business professional.
“Just leaving. What brings you down to our humble little cave at this time of night?” Stephen replied.
She shuddered, her eyes darting around the barren office space. “I don’t know how you work in this hole, but that’s beside the point. I’ve left two messages earlier today, which you haven’t returned. That’s out of character. Usually you’re responsive, so I thought I had better check and make sure nothing was wrong. I imagine there are many opportunities for accidents to occur in this dungeon.”
Stephen followed Janice’s gaze to his phone. The unheard message light was off, so he couldn’t claim he hadn’t gotten her summonses.
“I just listened to my messages a few minutes ago and assumed you had gone for the evening. Since you’re here, what can I do for you?”
“I’m getting a lot of pressure from Hugh to rush the final report on your latest project, but I was able to buy you thirty more days to continue testing the product.”
“I think we need ten times that, but I’ll take what I can get. Grace will be pleased when I tell her in the morning. As you know, our little team primarily works on nutritional supplements for animals. This project has turned out to have a lot more, uh, potential. With the stakes so high, we want to be sure about side effects and long term consequences before going public. There’s still work to do on studying the transition from animals to humans, which really isn’t our forte, so we’ll need to bring in Stenson’s team. There’s no reason to believe it won’t work, but we need time and additional expertise to validate results and determine the potential for modification for human consumption.”
A crooked smile without warmth formed on her lips. “I find your ethics admirable, though I wouldn’t say Hugh shares my sentiments. I hope this extension I was able to negotiate shows you who your true ally is in this endeavor. From now on, you report everything directly to me, and I want a daily briefing. You go around me to Hugh, and your time will quickly run out. Am I making myself clear?”
Stephen nodded, his mouth suddenly too dry to speak. Despite the good news she brought, the exchange felt more like a threat than a gift.
“Tomorrow and every day from here on out, you will contact me at four sharp, even if there is nothing new to convey. I do not want to venture down here again.”
“Thank you,” he managed to get out as he watched the woman disappear into the darkness.
Chapter Four
A desperate pounding noise on the driver’s side window brought Grace abruptly out of her helpless sobbing. She lifted her head, wiped the tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her coat, and looked at the face staring back at her through the fogged window.
The man stopped knocking on the glass the moment her eyes met his. He stepped back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. As she studied his expression, she decided it didn’t look at all too friendly. Quickly assessing her options, no good plan came to mind, and she was too exhausted to care.
Grace took several deep breaths to summon her courage and unbuckled her seat belt. When she got out of the truck and stood in front of the man, it took a moment before she felt strength return to her tired legs. Grace didn’t consider herself a short woman, but she had to tilt her head back to look into his cold, unreadable eyes. She had never seen this man before… She was certain, if she had, she would have remembered those broad shoulders, the square jaw, and the power in his wide stance.
Shaking her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts and focus, she wondered if she were hallucinating after being on the road for so long. No other vehicles were in sight, and the figure in front of her hadn’t said a word. His intense scrutiny and the heat emanating off his body convinced her he was real.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Grace demanded, trying to sound tougher than she felt.
A smile eased slowly across his lips, softening the hard planes of his rugged face.
“You must be Grace, Moss’s niece.”
She wasn’t sure why his assumption didn’t sound all that flattering, but she was too tired to worry about her reputation and nodded.
“You didn’t answer my questions,” she emphasized.
“Deputy Logan Carlson. I was just starting to feed the animals when your truck crested the hill.”
Grace felt the tension drain away. She hadn’t known if this stranger was dangerous when she emerged from her vehicle, but she didn’t see any other choice than to face the problem head-on. Locking the doors and driving away clearly wasn’t an option. She had been lucky to make it to the house, and doubted a return trip to the highway would be possible as the snow continued to fall at a depressing rate.
“Sorry. I’ve been on the road since dawn, and the past few hours have been real n
asty. I hadn’t expected anyone to look after the animals, so felt I needed to get here as soon as possible.”
He nodded and turned toward the corrals. Grace stared at his back for a moment. She wasn’t used to seeing men who looked like Deputy Carlson in her line of work which, unfortunately, was pretty much her whole life. She adored most of the researchers she worked with and respected the cunning intelligence of many of the corporate management team, but at the moment they became an entirely different species.
“I was just going to wing it, but now you’re here you can tell me what to do,” he stated as he stopped and turned to look at her, interrupting her thoughts.
Grace leaned over the seat, grabbed a small bottle out of her bag, slipped it into her pocket, and then quickly closed the distance between them. “Thanks. Normally I’d insist I don’t need help, but I might just collapse in the snow before I’m done if I don’t take you up on your offer.”
“Good thinking. I wasn’t in the mood to argue. Lead on.”
She was thankful none of the animals had been housed in the destroyed barn. Her uncle had recently moved her beloved Charlotte in with the rest of her kind, and the horses were usually in the stables at one end of the barn only long enough to be grained, pampered, saddled, or to foal.
Moss had stacked as many standard-sized bales as he could in the barn’s loft before winter hit to keep the feed dry and handy. Now it was all gone. Luckily, the bulk of the hay was baled in massive rolls and stored outside in fenced enclosures to keep it out of reach of the elk, deer, and moose. The quality wasn’t as good as that of the smaller baled hay fed to the horses, but at least the animals wouldn’t starve.
As Grace glanced at the burnt-out building, she knew she wasn’t done crying, but her pity party would have to wait until the animals were tended to and Deputy Carlson was gone. All the grain, tack, veterinary supplies, her equipment, high-quality hay, and the ranch tools had been destroyed by the fire, but at least she had enough feed to make do until the weather cleared and she could replace what had been lost.
“Where are the dogs?” Grace asked in sudden alarm as it dawned on her she hadn’t been mobbed by her uncle’s two mutts when she got out of her truck.
“The garage was unlocked, so I put them inside and fed them first, since they weren’t too sure about me being here,” he replied, studying the tense lines in her face. “Look, to our knowledge, no animals were caught in the fire, and I’m really sorry about Butch. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I have a few for you, but it’s almost dark, so let’s do what we can for the animals, and then we can go inside and talk.”
“We better start with the cattle. We’ll need to use the tractor to transport the round bales. The pasture isn’t far.”
Grace strode toward the old tractor with the deputy at her heels. She hoisted herself onto the cold iron seat, and after a quick prayer and several tries, its engine coughed to life. She exhaled with relief, not knowing what they would have done if it hadn’t started, since she wasn’t fluent in all the tricks her uncle used to coerce life out of the ancient machine. By the time she reached the hay enclosure, the deputy was standing at the gate, holding it open while she drove through. Lifting one round bale with the tines of the tractor’s head, she backed out and waited for him to secure the access.
She was startled when he jumped up on the tractor and stood beside her, his body sheltering her from the bitter wind. Grace forced the cold, stiff gears to engage and lumbered toward the pasture. As they approached, she knew this wasn’t going to be easy. The cattle were congregated near the entrance, pushing on the barbed wire, nearly collapsing the fence as they pressed for food that was a day late in coming.
Deputy Carlson got off and yelled, waving his arms at the cows and tossing snowballs at the impatient mob in an attempt to encourage the herd to move back, but only a few budged. Grace gasped as he took out his gun and fired in the air. She thought it was a little dramatic, but the cows inched back enough for him to open the gate for her to drive through. Setting the bale down on the frozen ground, she waited while he retrieved the knife from the leather sheath secured to his belt, cut the binding, and then quickly stepped out of the way before being overrun by hungry cows.
“Not sure how I would have accomplished that alone!” she yelled over the roar of the tractor as they went back for another bale.
After the cows and horses were hayed and watered, Grace walked toward the pig shed and corrals. She leaned on the top fence pole, almost too tired to move. One of the cats jumped up and nuzzled her cheek.
“I can get some dog food out of the garage for the cats, but I’m not sure what to do about the chickens and pigs. Their food was in the barn,” Grace stated.
“I figured that. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Grace just nodded and stared at the short opening into the shed. She hadn’t seen any of her pigs yet, but assumed they were huddled inside, trying to stay warm. She remained in place, running her hand affectionately over the thick fur of one of the three cats now vying for attention. When the unmistakable sound of a snowmobile’s engine broke into her thoughts, she turned and watched the machine approach, towing a sled piled high with bags of feed.
“Do you want pigs or chickens first?” he asked.
“Pigs,” she replied as she reached down and hefted one of the fifty pound bags of feed up onto her shoulder.
The interior of the shed was dark. The only illumination came from outside through narrow slits between the boards. Grace hoped for the best as she groped in the dusky light for the string to turn on the bare light bulb she knew was hanging from the ceiling.
When the light illuminated the space, she was relieved to see three pigs huddled together and partially buried under the straw piled in the corner. They jumped up and surrounded her immediately, snorting and squealing in anticipation of finally being fed. Grace dumped the grain mixture into their feed bin and broke the ice out of their water trough.
She stepped back, knelt down, and watched. After about five minutes, the smallest pig in the group took a break from eating and trotted over to her. Grace rubbed the pig’s ears, held out a pill on her open palm, and laughed as Charlotte greedily gobbled up the treat. Grace studied the pig in the dim light. The animal was very thin, and though a bit lethargic, she didn’t seem overly traumatized by the events of the previous day.
“You’re a good girl, Charlotte. Tomorrow I’ll give you a thorough exam and mix up your favorite slop.”
Grace pulled off her gloves. Her numb hands caressed the pig in an informal examination. Her relief at finding no obvious injuries paled in comparison to the comfort she found in the familiar activity of caring for her animals. Oblivious to her surroundings, Grace continued to coo lovingly in Charlotte’s ear as her mind drifted to her uncle, Butch, and her job.
Logan stood in the doorway’s shadows, silently watching and listening as Grace issued tender reassurances to the pig. He was hesitant to interrupt the unusual moment between woman and swine. Rumor in the valley was she didn’t socialize much, was more comfortable communing with animals than people.
He’d heard she was some sort of research scientist, so his mind had conjured up an entirely different image of her than what he’d seen so far. He hadn’t expected a physically strong and appealing woman with eyes so blue they didn’t look real, hair so blond and curly it made her look almost childlike, skin so smooth he ached to touch it, and a vulnerability that just didn’t mesh with her determined attitude.
Chastising himself for his inappropriate thoughts, he stooped through the short doorway. When she looked up and smiled at him, the transformation took his breath away. She looked so young, innocent, and beautiful.
“Something wrong?” she asked, the smile easing away.
Logan shook himself mentally.
“No. I just thought, if you’re done, I’d help you unload your truck so you can get inside and out of this brutal cold.”
“Thank you. I would really ap
preciate that. Well, Charlotte, I guess this is goodnight. You’d better get back to the trough before those pigs eat everything.” She chuckled. “No insult intended,” she added to the backsides of the two other pigs.
“Hmm?”
“What?”
“I thought Charlotte was a spider, not a pig.”
“Yes, but since she’s female, I couldn’t call her Wilbur, could I?”
“Guess not,” Logan replied, hiding his grin as he stooped through the doorway and headed toward the house with Grace at his heels.
Chapter Five
“Hey, sweet stuff, when are you going to give Freddie a little sugar? I can take you places you’ve never been before, if you know what I mean.”
Janice ignored the comments from the man huddled in the doorway of the abandoned building as he was nearly every day. Normally he seemed harmless enough, but the later in the evening, the drunker he got, and the ruder the comments became as she walked by. He looked too young and healthy to be living on the fringes. But that was his problem, not hers. No one had bothered to protect a twelve-year-old girl, so she certainly had no intention of lending a hand to a street bum.
“You think you’re better than me? Come back here. Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you.”
She cursed Dr. Stephen Clark under her breath as she picked up her pace. If he’d just returned her calls, she’d have never had to force herself into that windowless pit he called a lab, nor would she be making the trek home so late at night. She wasn’t afraid of the bum. She was more than capable of handling herself in any dangerous situation, but if he became a problem she had to deal with, it might draw unwanted attention in her direction. Much of her success over the years had come from her ability to remain below the radar, coming and going with little notice or questions.
Leaving the crass comments behind, Janice snugged her thin, ragged, long coat tightly around her to conceal her expensive business suit and covered her hair with a faded scarf. She glanced both ways down the street before slipping into a dark, narrow alley. Something large jumped out of a dumpster and quickly disappeared into the shadows. Janice hoped it was just a cat and not a rat, but didn’t dwell on it…life was full of much bigger threats than a disgusting rodent.