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“What you’ve done is impressive, and I don’t even know the half of it. But the younger generation, they’re taking it too far, aren’t they? They killed Daniel O’Connor. You didn’t want that, did you?”
Luke stared down at the table, but Sam caught the slightest shake of his head. “Was that Soraya’s doing? Was she afraid of what he’d witnessed out there? The explosive device?”
After a long pause, Luke muttered, “He was too dumb to see it. I wasn’t worried about him.”
“Not as dumb as all that. He was taking notes and figuring shit out.”
Luke ignored that. “Ruth wanted to go with that idiot hippie. He refused to join us. Said his mission was to spread joy and smoothies. Couldn’t have her leaving, she’s a blood Chilkoot. Everyone has to sacrifice.”
Sacrifice. That word. It gave Sam the chills every time.
“Ruth wrote him a note, but it was a ruse, wasn’t it? Someone else met him out there, and forced alcohol down his throat. Then you set a charge to bury the whole crime scene in snow and test out your plan.”
“Leave Ruth out of it.”
Of course—Soraya had written the note. And one of her cohorts had done the dirty deed in the truck.
“Soraya knew you wouldn’t turn on them no matter what they did, that’s why Jimmy Marsh said it was you. She’s a blood Chilkoot too. But Elias isn’t your blood. Your lot kidnapped him, or trafficked him, or something along those lines. Why couldn’t you just let him go when he ran away?”
He froze as another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
Elias never called Luke and Naomi “mom and dad.” None of them did. Because they weren’t taken in order to be family.
“Holy shit. You need people who aren’t related. Because you want to shut out the world, and you only trust your own kind, but you need some genetic diversity. You need Elias, and you need him right away because …”
He bolted to his feet as more pieces fell into place. This was happening soon. Maybe now, even though they were still missing Luke. This was Luke’s sacrifice—to sit in jail while the others executed their insane plan.
“Thank you, Luke,” he said, already on his way toward the door. He nodded to the guards. “I got what I need.”
“I didn’t tell you shit,” Luke called after him, but he felt no need to respond.
Back at the ATF office, he cornered Agent Bradley, who was in a terrible mood because their raid of the Chilkoot compound had turned up nothing.
“We’re on the wrong fucking track. You need to call in reinforcements. And I need a plane.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Will you give me a plane?” He didn’t trust them to find Molly; they’d have enough on their hands.
“I can’t give you a plane,” growled Bradley.
“You mother?—”
“But I can get you a Marine chopper.”
Finally, the man seemed to understand that they were on the same side. “Good. Good. I’ll take it. Where is it?”
“Twenty minutes out. Which gives you enough time to tell me what you’re talking about.”
Sam strode to the satellite map of the area mounted on the office wall. The map was a composite of several satellite photos. The Chilkoot property was marked in red, and just as in all the other photos, nothing could be seen but trees and a large greenhouse, the new barn, and a clearing with outbuildings scattered around it.
In other words, nothing helpful.
But this time, he looked beyond the property into the wilderness, and on to the Ice Falls.
He peered closer at a thin line that seemed to meander through the forest toward Korch Glacier. It could be just a trick of the eye, or more likely a moose trail. It didn’t go straight, the way a human-constructed road would. Unless it was built to mimic a moose trail and avoid detection.
He followed the path of the line and saw that it skirted the southwest edge of Korch Glacier. He lost the thread there, because mist from the glacier had obscured the camera on the day the photo was taken. But if it continued, it would wind up…he traced it with his finger.
