The Replacement. Anne Duquette Marie

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СКАЧАТЬ to use the dog and equipment of a dead woman? Ms. Nelson, excuse my frankness, but we can’t pack them out, and you can’t pack your own stuff in. I hope you don’t have a problem with this. We’re talking about a child’s life. We need to find her, and we need you to handle the dog. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

      “Oh, I think you would, Mr. Hunter,” Lindsey said, deliberately not using his first name. “I also imagine you don’t make too many friends in your position—railroading rangers—if you are indeed legit.”

      “Call it whatever you want. And I’m legit.”

      Lindsey took in a deep breath. “Before we settle on anything, let me explain something. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I left Yosemite because I couldn’t work with Eric Kincaide.” The man I loved. The man I was supposed to marry. The man who said he loved me. “I understand he’s still there. Believe me, I’m the last person he’d want to see. And I never got along with his sister, or she with me. In the interests of teamwork and harmony, especially under these circumstances, I’d suggest—”

      “Ms. Nelson, we need you,” Jack Hunter interrupted. “Up in Yosemite, we’ve broken the record for the most snow in the Sierra Nevada since the Donner Party tragedy. This is a national park. During the winter it’s open to anyone who can trek in and out. We just lost a ranger—one of our own—to the snow, it’s so bad. What do you think is going to happen to the kidnapper and his hostage? Someone has to find them. He won’t turn himself into the police—he faces kidnapping charges, since his wife has sole custody, and he still has time to serve on domestic violence charges. The odds of finding them without a dog drop significantly—and we can’t use the dog without a handler. You used to work Yosemite in the winter. You know the area, the routine. And you know dogs. Believe me, I checked you out very carefully. Your father taught you canine search-and-rescue work. Your two sisters work with dogs. Your parents own a kennel, and breed and train law-enforcement canines. I understand you’re part of the family business.”

      “Yes, but still…” Lindsey bit her lip and thought. The park maintained strict visitor quotas in the summer, but in the winter the conditions were too primitive for all but a skeleton staff of the most expert winter survivalists-skiers. Even the park horses and mules were trucked out before the snow hit. The bears hibernated, the antlered animals headed for lower country, and the birds flew south toward San Diego and Mexico. Very few species of animal life could survive the High Sierra in winter. Only a few had the skill to live in a land so frigid and snowbound that snowmobiles and helicopters were as useless as frozen water pipes.

      “Ms. Nelson, there aren’t many rangers with your qualifications. Subtract those who are married or have children and can’t leave their families on such short notice, and you’re all I have left. And in these circumstances, the fact that your ex-boyfriend’s in charge is pretty irrelevant.”

      “How did you…?” Obviously the gloves were off. Lindsey decided to follow suit. “Eric wasn’t just an old boyfriend.” Eric was more than that. We wanted to start a family. I could’ve had a son or daughter by now. Maybe both… “We were engaged to be married. His sister had a hand in our breakup—a very messy breakup. I haven’t spoken to either of them in the past four years.”

      “I’ve been on the radio with Mr. Kincaide. He vouches for your competence. Says your arrival won’t be a problem for him if it isn’t a problem for you. His sister says the same.”

      “You talked to Eric and Naomi?”

      “Mostly Eric. Reading between the lines, I gather he’s willing to overlook any, uh, romantic grudges. He says he’d bet his life on your skills.”

      Lindsey’s cheeks burned and her heart ached with a pain four years hadn’t dispelled. Too bad he didn’t bet on a future with me in it.

      “Ms. Nelson, we need you. There’s no one else to ask. As I’ve said, our head ranger is willing to set aside his personal emotions to try to find the missing child. Rest assured, the two other rangers already stationed there are much too upset over the death of their co-worker to intrude on your past love life or present feelings about it. We have a child taken away from her mother by a madman of a father. He’s vowed to kill anyone who comes between him and his daughter.”

      “Of course I’m worried about the child!”

      “Good. Because right now, I badly need a replacement ranger who can handle a search-and-rescue animal in Yosemite. Are you willing to be that replacement?”

      Lindsey closed her eyes. Four years, and she hadn’t been able to feel anything for another man even close to what she felt for Eric. Four years, and she still hadn’t made peace with the past. Wade was a good man and any woman would be happy to fall in love with him—with all the physical and emotional sensations that entailed—but she couldn’t. Wade wanted a wife, a family, a commitment, and he wanted Lindsey permanently in his bed. He’d hinted that he intended to ask her to marry him. Wade expected her to be ready with an answer, but Lindsey felt herself getting older, sadder, lonelier and more confused as the weeks and months went on.

      It’s time to get over the past. I need to find out what went wrong with me and Eric—and to see if we can fix it. If we can’t…then it’s time to move on.

      “I’m in,” she agreed. “Just let me touch base with my boss and family while you make the flight arrangements. Will someone be meeting me at the local airport?”

      “It’s in Lee Vining, and yes, I will. Your connection will be in Fresno.”

      “I can be ready sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

      “Tonight would be better. There’s a red-eye leaving San Diego at nine forty-five.”

      “Sorry, that’s impossible. I need tonight.”

      She heard Jack slowly exhale. “Fine. Tomorrow morning, then. No later. I’ll call you back with the final arrangements, and you can pick up your prepaid ticket at Lindbergh Field. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good evening, Ms. Nelson.”

      “Same to—” The line was already dead. “You.”

      Lindsey replaced the receiver just as a knock sounded on her door. Wade must have given up waiting. Her stomach now churned from nervousness, not hunger, and she hurried to let him in. She quickly explained why she’d been held up on the phone.

      “You have to stay home and pack? For Yosemite?” His normally patient voice rose. “Why you?”

      “Because there’s no one else. Because it’s my job. Because I couldn’t refuse when the pushiest supervisor I’ve ever met forced me into it.”

      “Forget it! I don’t want you going back to Yosemite and that guy who dumped you at the altar!” Wade protested.

      “We never made it to the— Wait a minute! How do you know about Eric?”

      “Your parents told me. Your sisters told me. Your friends told me. Said he broke your heart. That you’re overly cautious now. That I need to be patient. I have been, Lindsey, but this is too much!”

      “What do you want me to do?”

      “Say no!”

      “I can’t, not when there’s a child involved. It’s like an E.R. doctor refusing to come in for work when there’s СКАЧАТЬ