Desire in the Arctic (7 page)

Chapter 10

Ana stood on a rocky bank in Gates of the Arctic National Park blinking at the bright sun. It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and a cool fifty degrees, but one would never know the time from looking at the glowing, sunny sky. Daylight was pouring down with such impunity it was as if darkness itself was being mocked. “No wonder they call this place the land of the midnight sun,” she wondered aloud.

She’d been talking to herself for a while. Redd was far away, tinkering with something. He looked as if he were lost in thought. He wasn’t the only one. But instead of wondering like him about the particulars as to what they needed to do, she was preoccupied as to whether any of their efforts was going to make a difference. Could they—could anyone—survive in a place like this? Despite her doubts she remained cautiously optimistic as to their chances. Redd very clearly knew what he was doing. Observing him in action had the amazing effect of both calming her down and getting her hopes up.

“Need a hand?” she called out to him for the umpteenth time.

“No,” he responded tightly. Again.

From the tone of his voice, she was hesitant to keep asking. Yet standing around useless didn’t seem to be doing either of them any good. She walked a few feet to plunk herself down on a mossy area, her butt sinking into the spongy ground.

He’d have to let her help at some point. They were truly on their own and there was no way one person should, or could, do everything. The crew had left them with more supplies than she thought but a whole lot less than what they’d need. Even if she had wanted to beg them for more, they were no longer around. The single-engine plane that dropped them off had left as soon as the crew set up one of the two cameras on a foldable tripod.

For the rest of their journey she and Redd would have to use this camera or the lighter weight one if they traveled. But if they did, they’d have to make their way back to this spot on the twelfth day in order to be picked up by the plane.

The very thought of hiking endlessly in the Yukon was exhausting. But given the barren appearance of their immediate surroundings, they would inevitably have to travel to find food and shelter. The only abundance at this location was rocks, moss, and some ugly low-lying plants. A few wild flowers dotted the landscape, but not enough to look inviting. Even the snowcapped mountains in the distance looked ominous.

When the plane had left, Redd had taken off, too. He had gathered whatever it was he wanted, and had returned just minutes ago. Not that his presence was helping conversationally. The only thing he uttered was a repetition of the word “no” every time she asked to help.

Ana garnered her courage and went over to him. She had never been the sort to take no for an answer and had zero interest in starting now. Still, approaching Redd made her apprehensive enough to feel a rock in the pit of her stomach. Ruffling her partner’s feathers wasn’t going to make their time together any easier. For both safety and filming reasons they would have to stay together. Twelve days would pass by a lot faster if they got along. Bonus prize if they could actually enjoy each other’s company.

In any other place and time, Ana would have a great time with such a gorgeous, rugged, enigmatic man. Especially one who could sing like Elvis. But Redd was clearly disappointed to be stuck with her. His apprehension about it seemed darker since their plane took off.

Disheartened, she walked over the boggy ground, her legs feeling springy from the weird, spongy terrain. Her footwear was lightweight leather boots with no tread so she didn’t damage the tundra’s fragile terrain. She hoped her feet wouldn’t be cold in these less-hearty boots, though the ability to walk noiselessly was a solid perk. She had read it was less easy to attract grizzlies if they didn’t hear you.

Redd’s back was to her as he continued to work on something. About to put her hand on his shoulder, she heard him let out a sharp curse. Her hand froze in midair.
Maybe now is not the best time to approach him.
Slowly she took several steps back. She’d give him another minute. Or ten. His mood was ominous, as dark as the night sky, which would not be setting in.

She turned her head and saw rays of light glinting off the snow covered peaks of the Brooks Mountain Range. The white gleam of snow was a stark contrast to the gray, olive, and brown boggy tundra they stood on. Very few trees could be seen. The ones that could were in a tree line high up the mountainside.

Redd cursed again, louder this time.

“Are you sure I can’t help?” she asked timidly.

Upon seeing his expression, she was sorry the words had flown out of her mouth. 

Redd closed his eyes in an attempt to control his annoyance with his novice. “Look,” he said in as patient a tone as he could muster. “I know you want to help, but help right now would mean you being quiet.”

“I thought we were supposed to be partners,” she said. “We can’t spend the whole time having you do everything and me just sitting here like a lump on a log.”

“It’d be great if you could.”

“Hey—”

“No disrespect intended. I simply meant I could use a log.” He held up the broken lighter he’d been trying to fix. “Because even if I can get this lighter to start there isn’t much loose wood around, as you can see.”

“I can pull out some of those low-lying, curvy-looking branches from the ground over there,” she said, gesturing off to the side. “There’s a bunch of those ugly plants.”

“Wouldn’t work,” he answered, his focus back to fixing the lighter.

“Why not?”

“For one, those branches are too green to burn. For another, we’re not allowed to tinker with the environment like that.”

“Geez. They’re just some ugly branches.” They looked like sprouted, flat ginger roots.

“They could be a hundred years old. Don’t touch them.”

“Really?” she said, wonder apparent in her voice. “These little things?”

“Yeah. Here in the Arctic, the combination of a short growing season and a harsh, windy winter makes for low-lying plants that take a very long time to grow.”

“No kidding? Well, we can use any dead wood I find though, right?”

“Sure, if you can find some. Which I seriously doubt.” He put down the lighter. “I’m not sure I can come up with a game plan for tonight. We may need to set up camp as best as we can and hope the night is warm.”

“It’ll be warm. It’s June.”

He shot her a look. “Ana, you do understand exactly what we’re in store for out here, don’t you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “You know June is unpredictable in the Arctic. The weather can drop off in a heartbeat. We really need to be prepared for the worst.” He saw her eyes widen and then noticed her back stiffen.

“Sure I know that,” she said. “I always prepare for the worst. But I hope for the best. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She turned away from him and headed off.

“Ana,” he called out. “Don’t go far. You don’t have any weapons and you never know what animals are around.” Seeing her walk away made his back tense up. If he couldn’t instill a sense of safety in her, both for them and the environment, they’d be in for a heap of problems.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” she called back. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

You’d better.

If anything happened to Ana he’d be racked with guilt. He still felt horribly guilty he hadn’t been able to persuade his father to cough up the money needed for Hailey’s care. No matter what Redd said, his father had remained convinced that Hailey wasn’t sick at all, but a mere shake-down attempt by his ex-wife. Redd hadn’t even be able to talk his father into traveling to Texas to see for himself how ill Hailey really was. He had never felt more useless in his life.

How ironic. Working for the Marines he’d undoubtedly protected thousands. Millions, even. But those were people he never knew. Protecting a single individual was much harder. You knew exactly who you’d be letting down if your mission failed. You’d have the image of her eyes staring back at you, pleading, for all eternity.

That was how it’d been with Hailey. If he had been able to persuade his father to cough up the necessary money to save her, maybe she’d be alive today. Or if he himself could have raised the funds to save her. Now all he could do was raise funds for other people in her memory. To try to ease the guilt. The pain. And for the knowledge that at least he could help some folks. Assuming, of course, he won this ridiculous show.

Redd grit his teeth and steeled himself.
I’ll make sure Ana gets through this. And that I get the prize money.
He’d be damned if he couldn’t help as many people as possible.

Of course, if he couldn’t get a fire started, he’d be well on his way to failure. Uttering another curse, he scraped the metal end of the lighter against a shale-like rock. When a burst of sparks ignited into a flame, he let out a satisfied grin. 

Ana waved away Redd’s cautionary words as she wandered off to find firewood. If she could spot a weirdo in a subway station two train cars down, she could certainly spot a grizzly bear from across the barren tundra. Besides, she wasn’t going too far.

Down a slope, out of sight from their makeshift base camp, she made her way along a narrow stretch of river. There was more gravel than water in the riverbed, although she could hear the faint rush of water somewhere down the way.
Must be low tide.

Bits of wood debris had been left behind when the water receded. It gave an unexpected bounty, Christmas in June. Manna from heaven. A lifeline. Though most of the scattered wood pieces looked petrified she found quite a few that looked like they could burn. Quickly, she gathered up as many as she could and braced herself for the short, yet cumbersome, walk back to camp.

When Redd came into view he seemed to be having some luck himself, if the fire springing forth from the lighter was any indication.

“Redd,” she called out, not wanting to startle him with a flame in his hands.

He spun around. From her distance she could see the glint of a smile on his face. He gave her a slow, single nod. Then he shut the lighter and put it down. He walked over to her to take her load.

“Impressive,” he remarked. “How the heck did you find this? And so quickly?”

“I guess we’re both having luck. I found an almost dry riverbed down there and all this was scattered about. Now that you’ve got the lighter to work we should be okay.”

“For tonight,” he added.

It was the hard tone of his last two words that drew a shiver through her. “Not too optimistic a guy, are you?” she quipped, doing her best to blow off the ominous tone of his voice.

“Plenty optimistic. If you follow exactly what I say, we’ll be able to get out of here and get the money no problem.”

“Good.” Ana smiled. “Audiences love optimism, and so do I.” She glanced at their basecamp’s camera but didn’t see the red button lit up. “Hmmm.” She walked up to it and held the camera in her hands. “Teleworld says they won’t pay any money even if we do survive if we can’t successfully record this show.” After fiddling a few minutes the video light popped back on and then quickly blinked out again. “What the heck is wrong with this thing?”

“Is the other camera working?”

She looked at the other one. “This light comes on, so I guess so. I hope both of them function okay because it’s not like we can contact anyone to get the plane back.”

Redd laughed. “Right. The only way to get the plane back is to shoot the ‘we give up’ flare, and I’m not doing that.”

“I agree. Since we have at least one camera working, maybe both, let’s take inventory of what we’ve got for the audience, okay?” Not waiting for an answer she gathered up their two backpacks and starting pulling out the contents. “I think you’ll need to explain some of these doohickeys. I’ve got no idea what most of this stuff is.” She plopped herself down on the ground, grateful to have her butt land on the soft springy soil.

She heard Redd let out a short laugh behind her. “Start with what you know. People will no doubt be curious how far you get. Heck,
I’m
curious how far you get.”

“Fine.” She looked up at the camera and smiled as confidently as she could. “We’ll start by opening my bookbag. Oh, there’s some fabric inside. I bet it’s clothing. Probably ugly. Clothing that wouldn’t fit in too well with my crowd in New York City,” she joked.

“You’re a true New Yorker. You called your backpack a
bookbag.
” He laughed. “You obviously don’t shop in camping stores. Unless New York’s Fifth Avenue department stores have a camping section?”

Ana scrunched up her face and did her best to ignore him. “I don’t shop in any upscale stores. I look for creative, inexpensive stores. The kind you find in Greenwich Village. I’m a boho who shops in SoHo.”

“A what?” Redd interrupted.

“You heard me,” she answered firmly but felt her face redden. “A bohemian who shops South of Houston Street.” Mark would make her edit out everything if she kept talking stupid like this. Redd gave her an odd look.

“Anyway,” she continued, “even with my non-designer fashion sense, I know clothes.” She pulled out a tightly balled up lump of brown fabric. Tugging on the string that held it, the item unrolled. “A parka,” she exclaimed, holding it up for the camera. “Not my best color, but I’m sure very useful if the weather turns.”

“It’ll turn.”

“Pessimist.” She reached in to drag out a bunch of wool garments. Some looked very big for her size. “How fat does Mark think I am?” she mused, frowning.

“You’re holding the backpack with all the clothes. The larger garments are mine.”

“Oh. What are you carrying in your backpack then?”

“All the equipment we’re allowed. Not much, mind you, but enough to make twelve days out here possible if the weather turns. I told them I wouldn’t do the show without the basics.”