“And has it been a good fit?”
“Yeah. It has.” He paused. She was gratified to see that he was breathing hard, his face flushed from exertion. “Three years ago,I had a chance to be part of the avalanche dog program. I bought Farley from a breeder who specializes in search and rescue dogs and started training him. I’d never get to do something like that if I had a regular desk job.”
She looked at the remaining boxes of explosives. “Tell me about this stuff. What is it? What does it do?”
He tapped one of the boxes. “These contain two-pound cylinders of an explosive called Pentex. It’s a chemical compound that acts like nitroglycerine. It’s used a lot in mining. And for avalanche control. The explosive is very stable under most conditions, and it works even when wet—useful when you’re dealing with snow. To use it, you have to install a detonator—a blasting cap—and a fuse. Light the fuse and throw the cylinder.Boom!Hit the right place, and you can clear a dangerous buildup of snow with one or two charges.” He hefted another box. “We have almost a hundred potential slide paths inbounds here at SkyCrest, so during a big storm, we can go through a lot of these.”
She accepted the box. “But whoever stole this would need the blasting caps and fuses, too.”
“We’ll count those, too,” he said. “I’m betting we find out at least one box is missing.”
In the end, there were four boxes of cast boosters and one box of detonator assemblies that couldn’t be accounted for. “They could do a lot of damage with all of that,” he said. “But I don’t get how blowing up something will stop the resort’s expansion plans.”
“The people we’ve been tracking don’t care about Blaine Mountain or the wilderness,” she said. “They thrive on destruction for destruction’s sake, hiding behind the idea of a just cause. It’s how they get otherwise innocent people to do their dirty work. They’ll think of some way to sell the explosionsas furthering their cause. They’ve had a lot of experience manipulating people.”
“So how are you going to find out what their plans are and stop them?” he asked.
“I’m going to a meeting of the local protesters tonight,” she said. “Want to come?”
He shook his head. “I don’t care to get near those folks. Not to mention I don’t think Doug would be too happy if the head of ski patrol was seen fraternizing with the enemy.”
“You’re entitled to do what you want on your own time. Besides, it would be good for my cover to have you along. I can tell Doug it’s important for my investigation.”
“Guess you’ll have to handle your cover without me for window dressing.”
She winced at the bitterness behind his words. “I didn’t mean it that way,” she said. “We could have a good time, hanging out.”
“Not a good idea.” His eyes met hers, and she felt the heat of his gaze all the way to her toes. “After all, you made it clear you’re not going to be around for long. I’m a man who likes to finish what he’s started.”
Chapter Four
“Stacy isn’t with you this morning?” Nina didn’t even try to disguise her curiosity, questioning Connor as soon as he entered ski patrol headquarters Thursday morning.
“Who’s Stacy?” Brian asked. He dropped into a folding chair, and Daisy sat beside him, her chin resting on his knee.
“Stacy is an ‘old friend’ of Connor’s who was hanging out with him yesterday,” Nina said. “A very pretty old friend.”
“Cool.” Brian patted Daisy’s side. “I noticed the safety fencing at the bottom of Lift Ten is down,” he said. “It’s fallen over into the run. Someone’s going to get tangled up in it if we don’t fix it.”
“You can take care of that first thing,” Connor said. “Do you need some help?”
“Nah. If I have to, I’ll get one of the lifties to give me a hand.”
Connor picked up the clipboard from his desk and scanned the list of notes he had made before leaving yesterday evening. More patrollers and dogs filed in until the room was full, men and women occupying every chair and ranged along the walls, dogs taking up most of the rest of the floor space. Connor glanced at the clock. “Looks like everybody is here, so we’ll get started,” he said.
The door opened again, and Stacy slipped in, a slim figure dressed in all black again, down to her black ski boots and black helmet. Every head in the room swiveled toward her. “Don’t let me interrupt,” she said, staying by the door.
“We’re about to start our morning meeting,” Connor said.
“Go ahead.” She lowered herself to the floor and sat. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
He wanted to tell her to leave, that this was none of her business, but he wouldn’t bet against her arguing with him, attracting even more attention he didn’t want. He consulted his list again. “Lily, I want you and Chase patrolling the Glades this morning. Nina, you and Brian are at Buttermilk Basin. Anders, you and Raz take the runs that dump into Lift Six. Carson and David, you’re at Lift Ten. I’ll take Top of the Mark.”
“Chase isn’t here yet,” Lily said.
The door burst open, letting in a flurry of snow, and patroller Chase Sergeant stumbled in, arms full of gear. “Sorry I’m late,” he muttered and dropped his belongings on a bench in the corner. A sharp-featured young man with spiky black hair, he had a reputation as a dependable, if sometimes anxious patroller. He sat and removed his hiking boots, then reached for his ski pants.
“While Chase finishes dressing, I’ll go over the duty charts,” Connor said. He rattled off a list of tasks to be seen to, like replacing the downed snow fencing and checking the ropes marking out-of-bound areas, as well as a list of special groups expected at the resort that day, from a group of tourists from Mexico to local ski clubs.
