Chapter 4
Nicole was happy to let Jared Montgomery take a spot at the front of the group where he clearly thought he belonged. They’d only been on the trail for a few hours, but he seemed to think that he was in charge, giving everyone orders until Sam had put him in his place. He’d been silent after that, clearly fuming at the treatment he was getting. His behavior had done nothing to change her mind about the man who was clearly nothing more than a spoiled little rich boy, accustomed to getting his way and throwing a fit when he didn’t.
By the time they stopped for lunch and a rest before the final leg of their journey, he’d annoyed everyone to the point that he was forced to sit alone and eat his lunch. For a brief second, she felt sorry for him, but then she remembered how he’d treated everyone and the feeling disappeared. It was going to be a long trip for Jared, and she had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t going to have much time for mischief, but she had every intention of keeping a close eye on the man.
Her instinct still told her that he wasn’t a good person, that he was a user and an abuser, one of those people who took what he wanted no matter who it hurt. When they finally stopped for the night in the little Yup’ik village, he had the grace not to offend the villagers who had opened their homes for them, their affection for Sam and Julie as strong as ever. Nicole was happy to see her friends and soon forgot about Jared who followed Sam to the men’s lodge and disappeared for the rest of the night.
They left the village early the next morning, Sam was determined to make it to base camp that day and begin setting up. Summer in Alaska was a short season and they had a lot of work to do before the first snow fall in September. The team Julie and Sam had gathered was well equipped for the job they needed to do and within a few hours they’d set up a large base camp, a central location that they all could use for the next two weeks.
They were arguing about who would take the first turn to cook dinner when Jared came wandering up. “When is my tent going to be put up?” He asked the group.
They all looked at each other, then burst into laughter, then stifled it as quickly as they could when they saw the look on Jared’s face. “Everyone is responsible for their own tents and beds, I thought I made that clear before we left. There’s no one here to take care of you Jared.” Sam explained patiently, clearly already as tired of Jared as everyone else.
Jared looked at Sam as if he didn’t understand and then sat his pile of gear. “But I don’t know how to set up a tent.” He said as if that excused him from having to do it.
“Then you better find someone willing to help you.” Sam said without the least bit of sympathy then turned and walked away.
Before Nicole could stop herself, she said, “I’ll help you.” Then shut her mouth with a snap wondering what had possessed her to offer to help the vile man.
Jared sighed with relief, he’d been envisioning sleeping out in the open that night. He pointed to his pile of gear on the ground a few feet from camp, “The tent is in there somewhere.” He said then sat down in the camp chair he’d set up earlier when everyone had been working.
“Well when you find it come get me.” Nicole said, already sorry that she’d offered to help. Clearly, Jared didn’t understand the meaning of the word help.
Jared watched her walk away wondering what had happened, she’d offered to help him set up his tent then walked away. Then he realized what he’d just done, instead of getting the tent himself, he’d ordered her to do it, but in his world, that was the way things were done. Sighing, he got up out of the chair and began to sort through the gear, he had a lot to learn if he was going to make his plan work, and he had to make it work, had to find something to bring Seth and his wild scheme to a halt.
By the time Nicole crawled into her tent that night, she was so tired it was all she could do to change into her pajamas. Jared had been a less than willing student, so used to having things done for him, it took them nearly an hour to set up his little tent and bedding. Then he’d demanded that she bring him his dinner, remarking that he was just too tired to get it for himself. She’d almost thought that it was a joke until she looked at his face, then she’d walked off without a word, too frustrated and disgusted by the man to even set him straight.
She’d ignored him over dinner, relieved when another group member showed him how to light his stove and cook his meal, then went straight to bed disgusted with the man’s incompetence. After a good night’s sleep, she woke early ready to start her first day of field work with Sam and Julie, the only thing putting a damper on her excitement was the fact that Jared would be their shadow.
He’d be following them to some of the worst places in the area, the places where the tailings from the mine had made the soil inhospitable to anything green, the places where the trees had been cut down leaving the land barren and scarred. These were the places that Sam and Julie would be concentrating on, the places that Seth wanted his brother to see. It would be their only task this summer to catalogue and tag as many animals as they could, eventually melding their results with the rest of the researchers to see just how badly the ecosystem was damaged.
Over the winter they’d come up with a plan to reintroduce species that had been wiped out while strengthening the species that had managed to survive. Of course, Jared had no understanding of what they were trying to accomplish, he was a businessman and a politician of the kind who cared little about the damage man had done in pursuit of money. She had little faith that he would see any benefit in what they were doing, in fact had already been openly hostile to the entire venture.
Nicole was carrying a cup of coffee to her tent when Jared came crawling out of his tent a huge scowl on his face. He took one look at her and barked, “Get me a cup of coffee.”
She stopped in her tracks and looked at him, her mouth hanging open. It had been a long time since anyone had talked to her like that and there was no way that she was going to let Jared Montgomery get away with it. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she walked a few steps over to where he was sitting in his camp chair.
“Were you talking to me?” She asked calmly.
“Do you see anyone else around?” He snarled at her.
Nicole took another deep breath, “No and there’s a reason for that Mr. Montgomery. We all have work to do and not one of us has taking care of you on their list. If you want a cup of coffee I suggest that you get up and go to the kitchen, if you’re lucky you might find some there. Let me make something very clear to you, I’m not here to take care of you. I helped you set up your tent last night because I felt sorry for you.”
She’d turned to leave but Jared was on his feet and following her. “Do you have any idea who I am? I’ll have you fired for talking to me that way, you little…” Thankfully his last word was cut off by Sam interrupting.
“Is there a problem, Jared?” He asked, ice in his voice.
“Your little research assistant needs to learn who her betters are.” Jared said, then took a deep breath to continue, but Sam held up his hand.
“Since we can’t seem to come to an understanding I guess I need to make your position with this expedition quite clear. You are here as a favor to Seth, and only as a favor to Seth. I don’t really want you here, frankly I don’t trust you. As far as status, it may come as a surprise to you, but your name and money mean nothing out here, in fact Nicole is more valuable to this team than you could ever be. Maybe you should be getting her coffee.”
Nicole had never seen Sam that mad and she was glad that his anger wasn’t aimed at her, even Jared seemed to understand that he’d crossed the line. He looked from one to the other, clearly thinking about saying something else, but instead stomped off in the direction of the kitchen mumbling curses under his breath, Seth’s name thrown in every once and a while.
Sam and Nicole watched him leave, then turned to go to their tents both hoping that they’d had their last tangle with Seth’s brother who had turned out to be a royal pain in the butt.
“I’m sorry about that Nicole. Money has a way of making people into assholes.”
“Not everyone Sam.” She replied, glad that he’d come to her rescue before she’d done or said something she’d later regret. “You and Seth aren’t like that.”
“Well that’s because we’re perfect.” Sam said, puffing up.
Nicole laughed glad to let her anger go. “Very funny, somehow I think Julie might disagree with that. Shall we go ask her?”
“Umm, no I don’t think so.” Sam said, then laughed. “Come on let’s go break camp and get on the trail.”
After a long day on the trail, they finally reached their first survey area, a piece of land that had been poisoned from the first gold mine the Montgomery’s had opened almost a hundred years ago. In this case water from the spring runoff had filtered down though the tailings from the mine and contaminated not only the ground water but the streams that ran down the mountain to the ocean. The trees were stunted and there was little ground cover, and what there was looked sickly and brown.
By the time camp was set up everyone was too exhausted to do more than eat and crawl into their tents. Jared managed to get his tent up with little help, which was a good thing because Nicole was clearly still upset with him, and the truth was that he was still smarting from the dressing down Sam had given him that morning. He was becoming more and more sorry that he’d come on this trip, Sam had made it quite clear that he didn’t trust him, Nicole was openly hostile, and although he hadn’t had any kind of a confrontation with Julie, she clearly didn’t care for him either.
It was probably a waste of his time to hang around with them, but it was all that he had. Plus, there was also the little matter of his pride, he wasn’t about to let them think that he couldn’t cope out here. It was becoming clear to him that Seth had sent him out here to fail, that he probably thought that it would be too hard for Jared, who’d spent little time outdoors in his life. So, he was stuck, if for no other reason than to show his brother that he wasn’t the only one who was tough.
The next morning, when he stumbled out of his tent trying to get his sore, stiff muscles to loosen up, he discovered that he’d been left behind in camp. He made his way slowly to the kitchen hoping that there was enough coffee left for at least on cup, then relieved to find just enough, was liberal with the sugar. The morning fire had turned to nothing more than ash, but there was just enough heat to entice him to sit down. He’d have to make himself some breakfast and maybe some more coffee, but right then it was all he could do to drink that first cup.
Jared made a point of staying in good physical condition, not because he liked to workout, but simply because it was important to him to look good. After his father’s death last year, it had become even more important to him because of the health benefits, he had no plans to come to the same end as his father. But the last two days had shown him just how soft he was, and if he planned to keep up this summer he’d have to get himself in better shape.
As soon as he finished, sore muscles or not, he set out on a hike. Seth had warned him to stay out of their way, but since they’d left before he got up that morning, he had no idea where they were. So, he picked a trail and headed out of camp, thinking he’d hike out a few miles then go back to camp. He hadn’t gone far when he saw Nicole on the trail ahead of him, wanting to watch her without being noticed, he ducked under the branches of a tree.
She was staring intently at something on the ground and hadn’t noticed him, so he had all the time he wanted to watch her. Dressed in her usual jeans and tee-shirt, he wondered what it was about her that attracted him so much, she really was nothing like the women that he dated. It wasn’t just that she was curvy, or the fact that she was African American, it was something else, something that went deeper than the way she looked.
Thinking back on the few encounters they’d had over the last few days, he realized that what had him fascinated about Nicole was her feisty personality. Although it had shocked him when she’d stood up to him, watching her now, he realized it had thrilled him a bit as well. No woman had ever dared to stand up to him, had even voiced her opinion, but Nicole wasn’t like that and it was a shock to realize that he liked that.
Unable to help himself, he came out of his hiding spot and started down the trail towards her. She must have heard him coming because when he got a few hundred yards from her, she held up her hand. “Stay right there.” She barked at him. “I’ve found what I believe is a fox hole, but I need to find evidence, feces, hair, or something like that.”
“Is that what you do all day — play with poop?” He asked, his first instinct to belittle her, although he wasn’t sure why, she just seemed to bring out the worst in him.
Nicole didn’t have time for Jared’s bad attitude. “In case you hadn’t noticed I’m trying to work here.”
“Sorry, I just wanted to see what you were doing.” Jared said, drawing the word sorry out so that it sounded sarcastic instead of sincere.
“Well, now that you have maybe you should go back the way you came. I can’t have you tromping around here contaminating my site.”
“You sound like an investigator at a crime scene.” Jared said, looking her up and down, then adding “And you kind of look like one.”
Nicole was wearing her favorite vest, bright orange with pockets all over the front, it allowed her to carry all the supplies she needed to take samples in the field without lugging around a heavy bag. She knew it looked slightly ridiculous, but it was functional, and she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about the way it looked, even if everyone made fun of it.
Looking around her, she saw an opportunity to give Jared a little bit of an education. “Funny you should say that because what you’re seeing is a crime scene, just not the kind you’re thinking of.”
Jared looked around him, seeing only the forest, the same forest he’d been looking at for days now. “It just looks like a forest to me.”
Nicole snorted, “It would.”
When it was clear that she wasn’t going to say more, he said, “Okay you’ve got my attention. How is this like a crime scene?”
Nicole sighed, “If you look carefully that way.” She said, pointing to a white spot on the side of a nearby mountain, “You’ll see the location of your family’s first mine.”
“So?”
“The tailings from that mine have polluted the watershed in this area and the land is slowly dying. Look around you again and you’ll see that the trees are stunted and there isn’t any undergrowth. It’s a crime that your family was allowed to destroy this beautiful country.”
Jared looked around him again and saw what she was talking about, but he still couldn’t admit that his family had done any of this. “It’s natural for the forest to go through changes.” He said, although even to his ears the argument sounded false.
“Believe what you want, but the proof is in the science if you’d just take the time to look at the facts.” Nicole knew Jared’s type all too well. He was so determined to believe what he wanted to that nothing she could say would change his mind, and knowing a lost cause when she saw one, she decided it was time to move Jared on his way.
“Look, I’ve got a lot of work to do and I don’t need you in the middle of it. Go back to camp and find something to do. Sam said that there’s a waterfall a few miles from camp, maybe you can find it.” Then she turned back to what she was doing, clearly dismissing him.
“How exactly am I supposed to do that? The trails aren’t exactly marked around here.” Jared said, back on the defensive.
“You could use your GPS.” Nicole shot back.
“My what?”
Nicole had come to the end of her patience. We’re all supposed to have a GPS unit in case we get lost. It should have been on your list of supplies.”
Jared began to dig around in his backpack finally producing a GPS unit still in its box. “I guess this is it.”
Nicole couldn’t believe that Jared had come out here so unprepared, but she should have known, he was the kind of man who never had to think about the realities of life. “I don’t suppose you know how to use it?”
Jared looked at the box, then back at Nicole feeling very stupid. “I’m sure I can figure it out.” He said, stuffing it back in his backpack. “I’ll leave you to your poop now.”
Nicole watched Jared walk away thinking that as infuriating as he was, he was a good-looking man, then pushed that thought from her mind and went back to work. Over the last few days she’d spent more time than she liked thinking about Jared, had even been dreaming about him, and it had to stop. If she was lucky, he’d go looking for the waterfall and get lost, then she could enjoy her summer without him hanging around confusing her.
Jared was thinking about Nicole as well as he stomped back to camp, again he’d let her get to him, let her make him feel like an idiot and he was tired of it. It was time that he took control of the situation, gave himself a crash course on surviving in the back country, then the next time she asked him one of those sarcastic questions, he could put her in her place. The first thing on his list was the GPS. It really couldn’t be that hard to figure out; after all he used a smart phone, so it couldn’t be that much harder.
As it turned out it was much harder than he thought, but by mid-afternoon, he’d gotten the hang of it. He flopped down in his chair by the now cold fire and wished that someone was there to start a new one, but the camp was deserted, Sam, Julie, and Nicole probably miles away. That was when he realized that it was the perfect time to do a little snooping, it would be hours before anyone returned, and he might just find something he could use to hurt Seth and the renewable energy project.
When Nicole got back to camp late that afternoon Jared was nowhere in sight, and for a moment she hoped that he’d gotten lost. But then she saw his backpack leaning against his tent and heard him coming out of the trees. His arms were full of firewood and he had leaves in his hair. He smiled at her, the first genuine smile she’d seen, then dropped the wood by the fire pit. A wave of desire stronger than any she’d felt before washed over her and she had to step back from him, afraid that he’d read her body language.
“I thought I’d get us some firewood, it’s something I can actually do.” Jared said, the smile still on his face.
Nicole wished he’d stop smiling, it did something strange to her insides. “Do you need help starting the fire?” She asked, then wondered why she’d offered.
“Well, I could use a few tips. This isn’t exactly something I do every day.” Jared admitted, not caring that he looked weak. He’d had a good afternoon, was sure that he’d found something that would help him bring Seth to his knees.
Nicole wasn’t sure what to think about the sudden change in Jared, when he’d left her that morning, he’d been the usual self-centered jerk. Now he was intently listening to her explain how to start and maintain the fire, even humming as he broke branches into smaller pieces to use for kindling. The change should have been a relief, but instead it made her even more suspicious of him, he’d clearly done something that made him happy this afternoon, but what she couldn’t imagine.
She knew that she’d have to tell Sam about Jared’s sudden change in attitude, should probably try to find out what exactly he’d done that afternoon, but it was so nice not to be fighting with him for a change that she let it go. When the fire was going well, Jared surprised her again by offering to help her with dinner.
When Sam and Julie got back to camp a little while later, they were surprised to see the pile of firewood and the roaring fire. Sam sent Nicole a questioning look, but she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, hoping that Sam would understand that they needed to talk later. Once Jared had finally gone to bed, the three of them walked a little way from camp to talk.
“What’s the deal with Jared? He’s suddenly Mr. Personable. What was he doing when you got back this afternoon?” Sam got right to the point, feeling like Nicole, that Jared had been up to something that afternoon.
“I ran into him or he followed me this morning, I’m not sure which. But I sent him back to camp and that was the last I saw of him until I got back an hour ago. He’d been out getting firewood.” Nicole said, thinking that maybe she shouldn’t have sent him away. “Sorry, I didn’t think about what he might do left on his own.”
“It’s not your fault and other than Seth’s notebook with the master plan in it, there’s nothing he could have found that should have put him in such a good mood. I should have left the notebook back in the village I guess.”
“Do you think he snooped in out tent?” Julie asked, a frown on her face.
“I think there’s a good possibility that he did.” Sam said, then looked at Nicole. “We’re going to have to make sure that he’s not alone in camp again.”
“Oh, no. No way am I going to babysit that spoiled jerk.” She said, shaking her head.