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Bree watched the pilot approach with a mounting sense of dread. She knew that white cloud of a dog with the blaze orange collar. “I think that’s Happy. Oh, God. ThatisHappy! That’s Dr. Will’s dog.”
The pilot slipped and nearly dropped Happy. Nate burst from the door and steadied him, then used his considerable bulk to muscle the dog from the man’s grasp.
“I got him.” Tears glistened in his blue eyes. “She’s right. It’s Hap. He’s bleeding.”
Damian nodded to a nearby table and rolled up his sleeves. “Lay him down over there. Let me take a look.”
“It’s okay, Hap,” Nate murmured into the dog’s blood-spattered white fur. “We got you, buddy.”
Happy barely had the strength to raise his head, but his floofy tail still beat twice against the table. He was aptly named. Always such a happy boy, even when he was in pain.
Bree held her breath as Damian did an exam. It seemed to take forever. When he stepped back and shook his head, her heart dropped into her stomach. “What? Is he okay?”
Damian swore. “Someone shot him. The bullet is still in his shoulder and there are all kinds of debris in the wound. It’s infected. I need an x-ray, at least, to find the bullet. He’ll need surgery, strong antibiotics, probably a blood transfusion.”
“Then let’s get him back to Anchorage.” Ellis motioned to their waiting ride. The cargo plane had taxied out to the runway and Harold Cooper was walking toward them, waving impatiently at them to get moving.
“No,” Damian said. “He’s not stable enough. It’ll take too long.”
“Well, what then? We can’t let him die.”
“Surgery has to be done here.” Damian looked at each of his brothers, his expression unreadable. “I know it’s been a long time since either of you worked on a living patient, but I could use some help.”
Coop made it to the doorway and his irritation faded. He took in the scene with a quick, assessing gaze and said, “The volunteer vets that come up once a month use the back room at the clinic.”
“Then that’s Happy’s only chance.” Even before Damian finished speaking, Nate was already scooping Happy back into his arms and Ellis ran ahead to open the hatch door of Damian’s SUV.
Nate and Damian crawled into the back of the vehicle with Happy while Ellis got behind the wheel. He hesitated only briefly when he saw her still standing in the hangar. She waved him on, and then the three of them were gone, off to save the life of one of the sweetest dogs she knew.
The brothers worked well together when they wanted to. They wouldn’t want to hear it, but Dr. Will would be so proud.
Dr. Will.
If Happy was here, he couldn’t be far. He never went anywhere without his dog.
She spun on the Otter pilot. He was a thin man, all wiry muscle, with a wild head of blond hair and a sparse beard that reminded her of the scrub brush that grew above the Arctic Circle. He still stood there in the middle of the hangar with blood on his hands and a stunned expression on his face.
“Where did you find him?”
“W-what?” The pilot blinked and looked at her. He blinked again and stared at her scars for a second before he caught himself. She pretended not to notice even though, dammit, it still hurt like hell. Just once she’d like to meet a stranger who didn’t do a double-take.
“Happy,” she said. “Where did you find him?”
“Uh…” The pilot shook himself like a dog coming out of a bath. “Sorry. Just been flying a long time and nothing like this has ever happened before. I was all the way out near Mount Farewell, just east of Sugar Falls. I dropped off a hunter and saw the dog come out from behind a boulder as I was turning the plane around. Thought he was a wolf at first, but he was too friendly. It was like he was asking for help, you know? How’d he even get out there? I couldn’t leave him.”
“We’re glad you didn’t. You said Mount Farewell?” That was close to where she and Ellis had emerged from the mountains after their plane crash. Same area where they had been attacked by the trigger-happy snowmobiler. That couldn’t be a coincidence. “Can you take me out there? Show me exactly where.”
The pilot’s eyes slid away. “Well, uh, I don’t know. Don’t wanna go back if someone’s out there—”
“C’mon, Jim,” Harold Cooper cut in, his voice booming and no-nonsense. “Show the girl where you found the dog. She’s looking for Will Hunter.”
The pilot— Jim— took off his hat and scrubbed a hand through his unwashed hair. “Shit. He’s missing?”
Bree nodded. “And that was his dog you brought in. I’ll pay you for your time,” she added. “And the extra fuel.”
Still, he hesitated. “It’ll take some time to get the plane ready. Gotta refuel and I haven’t eaten yet today. Could really use a hot meal.”
“I’ll pay for that, too, as a thank you for helping Happy.” She found a twenty-dollar bill in her pocket and handed it to him.
