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“So they can collapse?”
“At any moment. Climbers know to avoid them.”
“Does the Firelight Ridge Ice Falls have any of those seracs?”
“Sure. I’ve noticed several there.”
“I assume icefalls are generally on public land, right?” Sam said. “Specifically the one in Firelight Ridge?”
Molly remembered Sam’s suggestion that the Chilkoots wanted to expand their territory to include the Ice Falls. Maybe that was what Sam was getting at.
“They’re part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, yes. But that’s the interesting thing about glaciers in general. The meltwaters feed rivers, creeks, and in some parts of the world, irrigation fields. So an icefall might be located on federal land, but also water your crops.”
He pulled out his phone and tapped a few times, then showed them a detailed chart of the Korch Glacier. “The topography of the area is fascinating. This area here is lucky all that water is trapped in a glacier.” He pointed to the map, but Molly didn’t know the terrain well enough to identify the region. “They’d be cut off if anything happened to the Firelight Ridge Ice Falls.”
Dr. Inuviaq got to his feet. Sam and Molly followed suit. He frowned at them. “There aren’t very many icefalls in the world, so if there’s?—”
“We’re just asking questions,” Sam said firmly.
Dr. Inuviaq nodded and they all shook hands, but Molly thought she wouldn’t put money on the odds of him staying away from Firelight Ridge. The man’s passion was glaciers, after all. He’d want to see for himself that the icefall was still standing. Or flowing. Very, very slowly.
They were both quiet as they got into Sam’s truck. Sam sent a text, then set his phone next to him while he started up the truck. An ominous, tense atmosphere hung between them. The scientist hadn’t given them any concrete paths to pursue, but there was something there, Molly knew it. Sam had reacted ever so subtly to the map on Dr. Inuviaq’s phone. He’d figured something out.
So why wasn’t he sharing it with her?
Their conversation from earlier, the one about trust and “job comes first,” ran through her head. She’d gotten the sense that he was trying to put distance between them. And now he was clamming up completely.
“Did anything jump out at you from what he said?” she asked as they drove through Denali park, on roads blasted through mountains, alongside creeks swollen with spring snowmelt.
“Yes,” he said reluctantly.
Well, at least he wasn’t trying to pretend otherwise.
She waited, but he didn’t say anything more. “Am I supposed to guess?”
“No. I know you won’t like this, but you’re supposed to go back to your friends and let me handle it from here.”
“Excuse me? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take you to your friends, like I said. Then I’m going to beat down Agent Bradley’s door and make him listen to me.”
He was steering with one hand, frowning at the road ahead, seemingly oblivious to the magnificent scenery unfurling before them.
“What the hell, Sam?” She could hardly believe it, after all they’d been through.
He glanced over at her, face set in stern lines. “Sorry. But this is where we part ways. You can focus on Elias. You can get ahold of Children’s Services, do whatever you think is best, I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to reach him. You’re resourceful and very creative.”
Molly didn’t want to hear any compliments from the man who was in the middle of shutting her out. “If I’m so resourceful and creative, why wouldn’t you want my help?”
“It’s not that I don’t want?—”
“You’re cutting me out.”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “You were never supposed to be in it, Molly.”
“And yet I am. Because of you.”
“That was a mistake,” he ground out. “And I’m fixing it now. Go back to your friends and get them out of Firelight Ridge.”
