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Avalanche

By Gayla K. Hiss

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Fireworks exploded across the dark sky, but Jenny Snowfeather hardly noticed. The news about the cabin break-in had cast a shadow over her brother’s Fourth of July barbecue. She’d suspected a bear at first, until she learned two hunting rifles and ammo had been stolen, along with food and blankets.
A bright flash startled her.
“Watch out!” a man cried as the stray spark zoomed toward her like a small meteor.
She spun around to escape, slamming right into the man and his plate of barbecued chicken.
He grabbed her, stumbled, and pulled her with him to the ground.
A second later, the blazing miniature rocket whizzed over their heads and crashed into the lawn only a few feet away.
She squeezed her eyes shut at the near miss. When she opened them, Jenny found herself face-to-face with the handsome stranger.
His large, brown eyes stared back in surprise.
Her gaze traveled to his arm, sheltering her body.
Quickly, he withdrew it and rolled over, raising himself to his elbows. “That was a close one. Are you okay?”
She sat up and lightly brushed the grass from her blue sweater and faded jeans. “Other than a few grass stains, I’m fine.” Glancing back at him, she noticed the food plastered to his chest and smiled. “But you’re not.”
When she leaned over to flick the remnant of baked beans from his white cotton shirt, her eyes zeroed in on the holstered Glock beneath his jacket.
She drew back. “Look, I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but nobody comes to my brother’s Fourth of July party packing a gun.”
He glanced at the exposed weapon on his belt and pulled his jacket over it. “I can explain.”
She scrambled to her feet. “Save it for Deputy Patterson. I’ll go get him.”
As she turned away, he jumped up. “Wait, Jenny, let me explain.” His voice was low and insistent.
How does he know my name?
“Are you okay, Jenny?” Billy Norton stood nearby with his grunge-style stringy hair, Nirvana T-Shirt and baggy jeans. Concern shrouded his freckled face.
The tall stranger wrapped his arm around her before she could respond. “She’s fine. Aren’t you, Jen?” He smiled at her as if they were sharing a private joke.
His bold move stunned her. And what was up with the familiar way he addressed her? No one called her Jen except her father and brother.
His disarming smile diffused her temper long enough to notice he was not much older than she, probably in his late twenties. Black, wavy hair framed his tanned, chiseled face. Like dark mirrors, his eyes flashed, pleading for her not to give him away.
She paused, then shifted her gaze to her old friend. “It’s okay, Billy.”
The crimson stain on the man’s shirt captured Billy’s attention. “What happened to you?”
The stranger glanced at his chest and returned a wry grin. “A head-on collision with a plate of barbecued chicken.”
Billy looked at Jenny. “Are you sure you’re okay with this guy?”
The man met her scrutinizing stare with an affectionate squeeze and a wink. She flinched, but the boyish gleam in his eye and his playful smile sparked her curiosity and overruled her better judgment. “Yes, I’m fine, Billy. Go on back to the party now. Don’t worry about me.”
As soon as Billy left, she turned and confronted the mystery man. “Okay. The show’s over. Now get your hands off me or you’ll wish you were packing more than that Glock.”
He complied, removing his arm from her shoulder. “Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.” Despite his tough masculinity, he looked like a boy caught stealing a piece of candy.
She put her hands on her hips. “All right. Out with it. Who are you, and why did you bring a gun to my brother’s barbecue?”
“I’m Chase Matthews, a friend of your brother, Joel.” He extended his hand, which she ignored.
“Funny, I didn’t know my brother had any friends. Did you come here to shoot him?” She narrowed her eyes. “And how do you know who I am?”
“Joel has pictures of you around the house. I recognized your face.”
She glared at him, unconvinced.
He smiled. “Ah. You’re still wondering about the gun. Let’s start over. I’m Deputy U.S. Marshal Chase Matthews.” He took out his ID and handed it to her.
The encircled, five-point star emblem appeared authentic enough. She scrutinized his face, comparing it with the one in the photo. A perfect match. Satisfied, she returned his badge to him. “So why all the secrecy?”
“I’m trying to keep a low profile.”
“How come? Is something going on here in Eagle Valley?”
He looked away. “I can’t discuss it.”
“Oh.” Her gaze drifted to the stain. “Well, you won’t keep much of a low profile wearing that. I’m afraid I’ve ruined your shirt.”
He shrugged it off. “It’s okay. I’m staying here at the house. I’ll go in and change.”
Jenny paused. “You’re staying where?”
“Right here. Joel invited me to stay with him.”
The ear-splitting blast of the next round of fireworks caused Jenny to jump. Ears still ringing, she peered at the marshal.
The look on his face frightened her more than the noise. Horror and shock contorted his features as he stared at the red stain bleeding through his shirt as if the explosion had triggered a war, and he was its victim.
“Chase?”
No response.
She touched his arm. “Chase!”
He blinked a couple of times and put his hand to his head as he recovered from whatever nightmare he’d been living. “I . . . I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“Are you all right?”
He managed a crooked smile and pointed to his ear. “It’s the noise. I think I’m deaf now, thanks to your brother.”
“It is loud.”
He stared at her for a moment as if he wanted to say more. “I better go in.”
Jenny watched him walk away. A tug at her pant leg caused her to glance down.
Her three-year-old nephew, Adam, peered up at her. “I liked the blue one the bestest.”
She hoisted him in her arms. “That was my favorite too.”
Carrying the boy, she strolled across her brother’s back lawn where friends and family had gathered in clusters for the fireworks show. The tempting aroma of burgers grilling on the open barbecue pit and the fresh scent of flowers and cut grass proclaimed that summer had finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest. After the unusually long, harsh winter, Jenny welcomed the change in seasons.
Another firecracker blasted her eardrums.
Adam leapt in her arms and covered his ears, nuzzling against her. “I don’t like that kind.”
“Neither do I.” She suspected Chase would agree with them.
After the noise stopped, an impish grin appeared on Adam’s face, and his brown eyes shone with mischief. “I’ve got a secret.”
She tried to keep from laughing as she played along with his game. “What kind of secret?”
“It’s about you.”
“Me? Well, if it’s about me, I’m not interested. I already know all my secrets.”
He giggled. “Not this one. Daddy told his friend he wants him to meet you.”
Before Jenny could respond, her brother Joel appeared.
He reached to take his son from her. “I wondered where he ran off to.”
Like her own, Joel and Adam’s features were dark and striking, a poignant reminder of their late father and his Native American roots.
She eyed her brother with a shrewd look. “Adam was letting me in on a little secret.”
The boy smiled, very pleased with himself. Joel looked him in the eye. “Won’t you even tell your own dad?”
Adam shook his head.
Jenny studied her brother, wondering what he was up to now. “I met your house guest tonight.”
A curious expression crossed Joel’s face. “Chase?”
“Since when do you have strangers staying at your house, and why didn’t you tell me?”
Joel shifted Adam to his right arm and faced Jenny. “First of all, Chase isn’t a stranger. He’s an old Army buddy. Second, I didn’t know myself until he called yesterday and said he was in the area and could he come by for a visit? So I invited him to stay with us. But since you’re so interested in him, why don’t you go hiking with us tomorrow?”
Jenny arched a brow. So Adam was right. Joel did want to fix her up with Chase. “I have to work.”
“You could take the day off.”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“Then come over for dinner Saturday night.” Joel didn’t give up easily.
“Would you give it a rest? He’s not even my type.”
“How do you know? And what is your type anyway, someone with fur or feathers?”
She glared back at him. “Tell Lori goodnight for me.” She kissed Adam goodbye and tussled his hair. “’Bye, buddy.”
Joel followed her with Adam. “Come on, Jen, don’t leave yet.”
She stopped when he caught up to her.
He took a more conciliatory tone. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said back there, but I don’t think you should be alone right now.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Joel, what’s it going to take to convince you that I’m fine?”
“If you were, that would be enough, but I know you’re not. Since Dad passed away, you’ve changed. You’ve withdrawn from us.”
“That’s not true. I came to your barbecue today, didn’t I?”
“I practically had to beg you to come, and you haven’t been to church in weeks. With both our parents gone now, we need to stick together.”
She saw the concern on his face. He looked so much like their father her heart ached. She clutched the small silver cross dangling from the chain around her neck, the cross her father had given her when she turned sixteen. “Don’t worry about me, Joel. I’ll be okay. Just give me some time and space.”
“Okay, but promise me you won’t shut us out.”
“Goodnight, Joel.”

#

Jenny arrived at the rangers’ station in the North Cascades National Park half an hour late on Monday morning. She groaned when her supervisor, Clint Newman, met her at the door.
Impeccably dressed in his crisp ranger shirt and shorts, Clint had always been fastidious about his uniform. Unfortunately, his nerdy-looking white, hairy legs did nothing for his professional image.
The balding man in his early 60s moved to let her pass. “So you made it to work after all. I was beginning to get worried. What happened to you anyway? You look like something the marmot dug up.”
She tucked in her shirt and pulled her ranger ball cap over her head and ponytail, tucking a stray lock of her straight, black hair under it. “I was at Joel’s Fourth of July party last night.”
Clint followed her to the front desk. “Must have been quite a party.”
“I left early, but the fireworks at Joel’s place kept going well past midnight, so I didn’t get much sleep.” She moved behind the desk and turned her attention to the bulletin board on the back wall. “Any news on that cabin break-in near the park?”
“Nope. I spoke to Deputy Patterson about it this morning, but he doesn’t have any leads yet. Whoever it was came in through a broken window. Probably kids up to no good.” Clint paused and scratched his ear. “I hope it’s not a new trend.”
Gus Patterson, the deputy sheriff, was a good friend of Clint’s. “I’m sure Gus will get to the bottom of it. Has he notified the owner?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah, he spoke to Frank Baker about it yesterday. Slim Baker, Frank’s cousin, has been keeping an eye on the place since Frank’s father died and left it to him. Slim’s the one who reported the break-in.” Clint released a heavy sigh. “He’s got heart trouble . . .”
“Who, Frank?”
“No, Slim. Says he’s moving to Bellingham to live with his daughter and her family.”
Jenny faced Clint. “That’s too bad. What’s Frank going to do with the cabin?”
“He told Gus he wants to rent it out as-is. Says he can’t get away from Seattle long enough to come here and clean the place out himself. You don’t know anyone who’d be interested, do you?”
“I might be, if I can afford it.”
Clint chuckled. “Tired of living next door to Joel, huh?”
She grinned. “I need more space.”
“More space? You already live on an acre of land, half a mile down the road from him.”
“Sometimes I think I could live in Africa, and it still wouldn’t be far enough away from that brother of mine.”
She pointed to the weather report posted on the board. “The forecast looks good today.” Her cell rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw Joel’s number.
Clint grimaced at the noise when it rang for the second time. “Well, either answer it or turn that noisemaker off.”
“Okay, okay. You know, Clint, one of these days you’re going to have to accept the fact that you live in the twenty-first century.”
He grunted. “First it was the computer, now it’s the smart phone. Next thing you know I’ll be working for a robot.”
She went outside and answered the call. “What’s up, Joel?”
“Something’s wrong with Chase. I think he was stung by something. I need your help.” She listened carefully as he gave her directions.
After the call, she rushed back in the office to grab the emergency first aid backpack. “I’ve got to run, Clint. Got a bee sting emergency near Cascade Pass.”

#

Sprinting up the trail, Jenny met Joel halfway to the top. He quickly helped her shed her pack. “He’s over there.”
Her gaze traveled to Chase who was sitting on the ground with his back against a rock and his legs outstretched in front of him.
“So we meet again,” he said with a labored breath.
She strode to him and gently touched his shoulder. “No fireworks this time.”
A faint spark lit his eyes. “Who says?”
She glanced over her shoulder at Joel. “He’s delusional.”
“I heard that,” Chase replied.
She knelt beside him and pressed her finger to his neck. His weak pulse sent hers racing. “Chase, listen to me. You’re having an allergic reaction. I need to give you a shot of adrenaline.”
He frowned like a petulant child. “No shots. I hate shots.”
“Hmm. Let me see if I have any pills.” She turned away from him and searched through her first aid supplies until she found an EpiPen. She glanced up at her brother who stood beside her. After she jerked her head a couple of times in Chase’s direction, Joel caught her hint to distract him somehow.
“Wow, look at that!” Joel pointed his finger away from Jenny.
When Chase turned his head to see, she spun around and jabbed the epinephrine needle deep into his thigh.
He howled in pain and shot Jenny a piercing glare. “What’s the matter with you? I said no shots. Are you trying to kill me?”
Shifting to Joel, Chase’s eyes narrowed. “And you. I thought you were my friend.”
Jenny downplayed his drama. “Don’t be such a baby. It was going to hurt one way or the other. I thought it might be easier if Joel distracted you. That’s what we do with Adam when he gets stung.”
Chase stared back at her. “I’m glad you’re not my dentist.”
She gave him a cheerful pat on the head, tempted to tousle his hair the way she did her nephew’s. “Did you see what stung you?”
“A wasp or bee with yellow stripes.”
“A yellow jacket. Have you ever been stung by one before?”
“When I was little. I think I was five. My whole arm swelled up, but nothing this bad.”
“You should see a doctor and start carrying an EpiPen with you all the time.”
Chase stared at his trembling hands. “What was in that shot anyway? My heart’s racing like I’ve had twenty cups of coffee.”
“It’s okay. It’s the adrenaline taking effect.”
While they waited for Chase to recover, Joel motioned to her. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She followed him a short distance away from Chase. The earnest expression on Joel’s face surprised her. “What’s going on?”
“Thanks for coming when I called.”
She shrugged. “It’s my job, but you know how to treat bee stings as well as I do, Joel.”
“I didn’t have an EpiPen on me.”
“That’s not like you. Are you sure you didn’t plant that wasp on Chase to get me out here today?”
He snorted back. “Don’t flatter yourself. I wouldn’t do that to an old Army buddy.”
“You know,” Chase said, silencing them, “where I come from, it’s rude to talk about someone behind their back.”
Jenny blushed and exchanged a guilty look with Joel.
Joel strode back to Chase. “Jenny was telling me that she’s coming over for dinner Saturday night.”
Her mouth fell open, and she stormed up behind her brother, ready to set him straight.
“As long as she knows I’ve got dibs on Lori’s apple pie,” Chase said with a brilliant smile that stopped Jenny in her tracks.
When Chase moved to get up, she forgot about her tiff with Joel and rushed to his side. “Wait. Not so fast.” She turned to her brother. “Give me a hand.”
Joel moved to Chase’s opposite side.
Jenny stooped down. “Chase, put your arm around my shoulder.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
She rolled her eyes and peered past him to Joel. “I think your friend is having a relapse. I should give him another injection.”
Chase raised his hand in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll be good.”
She sent him a stern look. “Promise?”
“You like this power you have over me, don’t you?”
She tossed him a smug grin. “Yes, I do, actually.”
Joel interrupted them. “Whenever you two are finished, I’d like to get on with this.”
“I’m the one who should be complaining,” Jenny replied, “I need to get back to work.” Pressing her shoulders against Chase’s powerful body, she strained to push up. Her knees nearly buckled from the unexpected mass.
Joel hefted Chase from the other side. “You okay, Jen?”
She shrugged it off. “Yeah. Guess I wasn’t prepared for Mr. Iron-Marshal here.”
Chase sighed impatiently. “This is ridiculous. I can stand on my own. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll beat you both down the mountain.”
Jenny ignored his protest. “Joel, I’ve got him now. Let’s try again.”
After she and her brother helped Chase to his feet, they paused to give him a moment to regain his balance.
Chase stared at her with a strange, mystified expression. “You saved my life.”
Jenny found herself gazing into his eyes as the scent of his sweat and aftershave hung in the air. She looked away and stiffened under his weight. “It’s my job. Don’t get all choked up over it.”
She caught her brother’s attention. “You got him, Joel?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s all yours.” She carefully slipped out from under Chase’s arm.
Chase straightened. “Wait a minute. Don’t I get a vote?”
“You look well enough to me. Joel will help you down the mountain if you need it.” She waited while her brother released Chase to stand on his own.
Chase’s gaze settled on her park ranger uniform. “Nice outfit.” His eyes shifted from her shorts to the SIG Sauer 9mm semi-automatic handgun holstered on her belt. His brow arched. “And SIG. I didn’t realize park rangers carried guns.”
“It’s for protection.”
“Protection from what, wild animals?”
“People, mostly.”
Chase shot Joel a doubtful look. “Tell me she’s not serious.”
Joel grinned back at him. “You don’t know my sister. Don’t mess with her—Jenny was the state skeet shooting champion a few years back.”
Chase noticed the special badge on her uniform. “So you’re a law enforcement ranger.”
She stepped up to him and planted her hands on her hips. “That’s right. So unless you’re a criminal, you don’t have anything to worry about.” She scanned his belt. “Speaking of guns, where’s yours?”
Joel eyed her with the big-brother look he used whenever he thought she was wrong and needed to be corrected. “Chase is on vacation, Jen. He’s not carrying a gun.”
“Really.”
Like sharp arrows, her eyes darted back to Chase. He glanced away, confirming her suspicions.
He was still keeping secrets.



Jenny spent the afternoon checking camping permits, chatting and sharing information with the campers, and assessing bear activity in the campgrounds. As she descended the forested trail to the road where her ranger car was parked, the rustling of bushes from behind drew her attention.
She turned around, expecting to see a hiker or animal, but no one was there.
Resuming her hike to the road, footsteps echoed hers.
When she peered over her shoulder, the sound stopped. She paused, looked around, and confirmed no one else was on the trail. Her ranger instincts kicked in, and she reached for her gun. Cautiously, she turned and backtracked the trail. “Who’s there?”
Silence.
“Come out so I can see you.”
Nothing but the whisper of leaves.
Then rustling came from her left.
A chill crept up her spine, but she shook it off as her training kicked in. She followed the noise and headed off-trail through a salmonberry thicket.
Movement in the overgrown brush caught her eye. She glimpsed something white. Was that a T-shirt? Whatever it was, something big crashed through the dense canopy of leaves beyond her vision.
“Stop!” She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to corner a bear, but the memory of what might have been a T-shirt spurred her forward. She bushwhacked through the thorny berry branches but couldn’t keep up. Whatever it was, it didn’t want to be discovered. At least, not by her.
After waiting a few minutes and hearing no suspicious sounds, Jenny pivoted. Holstering her weapon, she glanced down and noticed something in the mud on the forest floor. Footprints of a man’s athletic shoes. And it looked like he’d been standing—waiting—for a long time.

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