A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (7 page)

“We could kill him,” Curly Potter, the towns bush pilot shouted.

Max closed his eyes, praying to God for deliverance as tempers boiled over much like his own had when he heard the news. In the time it had taken him to calm down, Mayor Madison had called an emergency meeting with the town council to discuss Zimmer pushing to have Grizzly Pointe area reclassified as a national forest

“That can be plan B,” Martha Tallchief, the town’s postmaster and head gossip, shouted. But a part of him thought she meant it.

Martha was in her sixties and had lived in Trails End her whole life like everyone else sitting in the room. Mayor Madison, a descendant of Guy Madison, the first Mayor of Trails End, was leading the discussion in the only diner the town had. It was empty except for the town council because everyone else was at the Founder’s Day celebration.

Word had spread fast about Zimmer’s oath to have Hunter Logging shut down and the mood of the town shifted from levity to one of gravity quickly. Madison, who’d been standing silently while Max tried to intimidate Zimmer, had followed Max after he left with his mother. When he’d punched Zimmer, Madison had lectured him about cool heads in a time of crisis. Madison may have been right, but Max wasn’t the type of man to stand by and watch a woman manhandled, especially a woman like Mia who was clumsy and, in his opinion, needed a man to protect her.

When Ralph Potter, owner of Last Call Bar and Grill, seconded Curly’s motion to have Zimmer killed, Max stood up and barked, “No one’s killing that sonofabitch. He has one congressman on his side, we just have to make sure we have more. It takes years to get a bill pushed through so no one needs to fuckin’ panic just yet.”

“And if we don’t get the votes on our side?” Ralph asked Max.

“Then we string him up by his entrails,” Martha hollered.

The diner erupted in nervous laughter as Madison tried to bring order to the room. This was getting them
nowhere, Max thought, so he turned to leave before he lost his temper again.

Maxine put her hand to Max’s arm when he turned to leave so he looked down and saw the concern on her face. Seeing that about killed him, his mother was as tough as nails and gave him a headache daily, but he’d do anything for that old woman who his father had adored.

Hunter logging was all they had left of his father, a big, strong man who’d swept her off her feet and told her he was gonna marry her. His mother, a transplant from Gunnison, Colorado, had laughed when he’d told her that. He’d been ten years her senior when they’d met one summer in Colorado, but she’d had it in her head he was too old for her. Not taking no for an answer, his father had won her over easily and he’d whisked her off to Alaska where she bore him one son.

Max cupped his mother’s face and watched as a single tear ran down her cheek. Leaning down, he placed a kiss to her forehead and swore a vow to his father that Hunter Logging would not die on his watch. “I’ll take care of this, Mom, don’t you worry. No one's taken Dad away from you.”

Ignoring the room and questioning eyes, Max turned and left the diner—he had a man to find.

“You’ll be here all night give me that,” Lucy stated as I struggled to get the one-man tent staked. I looked up, rolled my eyes, and handed her the hammer in disgust.

We were in a breathtaking meadow halfway up the ridge on Grizzly Pointe. I’d seen several deer during our climb, which scattered as we hiked up the side of the low-grade mountain. It had taken less time than I thought to get to the meadow where we’d set up base camp for our stay. Now Frank was out scouting for our bears after setting up his own tent and Lucy and I had stayed behind to finish our own and organize supplies. Of course, it was taking me longer than it should to figure out how to pitch this damn tent.

My thoughts were still back in Trails End and the havoc Donald was causing with the town, or more accurately, with one brawny resident with moss-green eyes.

“So, you and the boss man, huh?” Lucy asked.

Sighing, though I should have expected this, I popped my head over the top of the tent and pointed at her.

“If you learn anything from me during this trip, learn this, don’t shit where you live, that was the stupidest mistake of my life thus far.”

“Got ya, writing that down, though, for clarification purposes only, Trails End isn’t where we live. How about we amend that to read don’t shit where you live except when there are lumberjacks around?”

“Oh, my God, you did sleep with Jake.”

“Technically, there was no sleeping involved.”

“Really?”

“There may have been a nap.”

I looked around as if there were actually people listening, then leaned in and asked “And?”

“Are you asking me if it was good?” Lucy laughed.

“Of course, I am,” I agreed, “he’s a lumberjack for Christ sake. Women who read romance novels dream of men like that.”

“Wait, I thought you and Max—”

“I didn’t sleep with him,” I interrupted, “I barely remember last night. Apparently, I stripped in front of him and called him a grizzly bear.”

Lucy choked on a laugh.

“Don’t laugh,” I warned when she threw her hand over her mouth. “You‘ve seen him, he’s, he’s, well, he’s Thor in flannel,” I explained and then admitted “I’m awkward with men, Lucy, I always have been. There is no way I could relax enough around that man to sleep with him.”

“Then I need your purse.”

“My purse, why?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you standing there telling me you had that man in your room and you didn’t sleep with him. And furthermore, even if you could, you’d be too, insecure, embarrassed, is that what you’re saying?”

“Um, yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Then hand me your purse.”

“I don’t get?”

“’I just appointed myself the president of the local charter for the sisterhood and I just voted to revoke your card.”

“Seriously, just for being uncomfortable around Max and not throwing myself at him?”

“Jesus, Mia, a man like Max, who looks like that . . . a two-year-old would vote you out.”

“Great, fine, I’m an idiot, but I plead drunk as my defense Madam President. Besides, I didn’t come here to get laid I came here to work,” I groused.

“Somethin’ tells me you should do a little more of the first and less of the last,” she mumbled.

“I’ve done the first,” I defended, “on occasion, but those were—”

“Spineless hippies who try to shut down towns?”

“Right, thanks for reminding me. Can we move on from my pathetic love life and get this tent up? The sooner we get started, the sooner we can leave the bugs behind.”

“Hey, if we get our work done early can we stay a few days and enjoy the locals?” Lucy asked, wiggling her eyebrow, looking hopeful as I moved to the opposite side of the tent.

“It’s not my call, but I’m pretty sure with the hornet’s nest Donald stirred up SIOZ will pull us out as soon as we’re done.”

“I bet you could get Dr. Zimmer to back down if you slept with him. Maybe if you showed him some of your "Joel" moves he'd reconsider."

“Hmm, tempting, but no.”

“If you sleep with me, I promise not to sign the petition,” Frank whispered in my ear.

“Jesus, Frank, make some noise when you walk up,” I snapped, “I’m not sleeping with anyone, least of all you, Mr. Happily Married.”

“Killjoy,” he sighed dramatically.

“Can we move on to a new topic? Tell me you found our bears.”

“Saw fresh signs so we should be good. What’s left on our to-do list? Food, lanterns?”

“SHIT . . . shit, shit, shit,” I shouted. “With everything that happened, I forgot the kerosene for the lanterns.”

“Ouch, unlucky break for you, Mia. First rule of camping: Whoever forgets it has to go back down and get it,” Frank explained tossing me the keys to the Jeep.

“You’d make a clumsy woman like me walk down that hill all alone?” I asked incredulously with just a hint of whine thrown in for good measure.

“Nice try, but I wouldn’t want you to lose your “sister card” for not proving you’re as capable as a man.”

“Shit, that whiny voice usually works,” I whined with emphasis.
Dammit, I don’t want to run into Donald.
“Fair warning,” I announced. “If I see Zimmer when I’m down below be ready to post my bail. If he touches me again, I’ll use the sharp end of an axe on his balls.”

Though the views this time of year were spectacular Donald, whose jaw was still aching, didn’t see autumn’s glorious color as stiff leaves fell gracefully to the ground. He was too busy gloating at the panic he’d caused.

After Hunter had punched him, a sucker punch in his opinion, he’d stood back and watched with great interest as the Mayor grabbed the whole town council and herded them to the local diner. While they’d had their “emergency” meeting, he’d had one of his own. One that would ensure his plan to close down Hunter would go off without a hitch. Then he’d hung around the Founders Day celebrations waiting to see what would happen next.

He’d heard the buzz in the crowd about his plan to close down Hunter Logging. Heard people conversing about what they would do or where they would go if jobs left Trails End. He knew he should have felt some sort of remorse for the people who lived here, but for the life of him, he just didn’t care. They should have thought more about the impact their logging had on the surrounding wildlife. Since they didn’t and the bears couldn’t defend themselves, he would.

By the time the impromptu meeting adjourned and he’d watched Hunter’s mother and others try to calm everyones fears, he had to admit, he felt a bit like a God holding their futures in his hand. He could crush these people and their butchering of the land with fifty thousand signatures, and the crowning achievement in all of this, watching that smug bastard Max Hunter brought to his knees.

Five years he’s watched Hunter pillage the forest, scaring his bears. He didn’t care if he planted fast growing trees to replace the ones he and his forefathers had stolen, their presence in the forest was upsetting the natural balance of the area—upsetting his bears.

Hunter was already coming unraveled, Donald thought. The way he’d charged him and manhandled him like some barbarian was all an added bonus to help him shut that bastard down. Now he had witnesses, in the form of Lucy Daniels and Frank Jessup, to the unreasonable behavior of the town’s golden boy, the King of Hunter Logging. All these years he’d watched that man (who was nothing but a criminal against nature in his eyes) treated like some sort of Prince. He pillaged the land, stripped trees off the mountain and they worship him for it. He couldn’t wait to bring Hunter to his knees, if not for the bears and the trees, then for touching Mia.

When he’d seen Hunter carry Mia into her room, it was all he could do to keep from breaking down the door. Mia was his, Donald thought. She just needed time to see that. But, Hunter, with his good looks and bulging biceps could put a snag in his plans to convince her to take another chance. He’d tricked Mia into coming on this trip so he could spend time with her. He needed her in an environment he could control so she couldn’t avoid him at every turn. Sleeping in close quarters, with the moon setting the mood each night, he figured by the end of the trip she’d change her tune and give him a second chance. However, with Hunter in the picture, and his overreaction to Donald detaining Mia suggested that he was, he’d have to work fast.