Bear Bait (9781101611548) Read Online Free PDF

college days. Chase looked at her, tried to keep astraight face but failed, and they burst into laughter simultaneously. She pressed her fingers over her lips to quell the resulting pain, then bent her aching head and struggled to pin her park service ID onto the khaki shirt.
    “Uh-oh,” he groaned, coming over to help. “You’re still on duty? I assumed that after fighting fires all night, you’d get the rest of the day off.”
    “That’s because you feebs are pansy-asses. We outdoor adventure types don’t need rest breaks.” She couldn’t stop a wistful sigh at the thought of lounging around with Chase. A strand of inky hair slipped onto his forehead as he fastened her pin. She had the urge to caress it back into place, but was afraid of starting something she didn’t have the energy to finish. “I have to go back; the usual fire lookout’s off on emergency leave. There’s nobody else to fill in. Besides arson, there are other hinky things going on.”
    “Kinky things?” He raised an eyebrow. “Then I better come for sure.”
    “Hinky things. Strange, weird things.”
    “Well, kinky or hinky, sounds like you could use a trained special agent at that fire lookout.” When she didn’t protest, he grinned. “It’ll be like old times—getting in trouble together in the wilderness.”
    SHE fired up the truck.
    “Four U.S. troops were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near Kabul,” the radio informed them. Sam quickly turned off the NPR news station she normally listened to, not wanting the latest grim details from the Middle East to intrude on her time with Chase. She didn’t like to think about the billions of dollars that had drained into that sinkhole instead of flowing into wildlife conservation or education or health care or anything worthwhile. She hoped those four soldiers had not died in vain.
    As she drove from Forks to the new section of the park, Chase questioned her about the fire and the discovery of Lisa Glass.
    “No chance of identifying the vehicles, I suppose?” he asked.
    “I was five miles away; it was night.” Her mouth seemed to be working fine, but now that the lidocaine was wearing off, she could feel the ragged bite marks on her tongue and the insides of her cheeks. “At least six vehicles have driven up and down that road since the firebugs took off, so there’s virtually no chance of identifying tire tracks.”
    She stole a quick glance sideways. He’d changed into jeans, boots, and flannel shirt. The informal clothes made him look less intimidating, less hard-edged. Was his gun in the pack he’d brought or in the pocket of his jacket in the backseat?
    “How did the fire first get your attention?”
    She slapped a hand against the steering wheel. “I completely forgot about the explosion!”
    He perked up. “Explosion?”
    “A big bang.”
    “The creation of the universe?”
    She groaned at his humor. “It seemed earth-shaking at the time. And then came the fire.”
    He considered for a second. “Could it have been a Molotov cocktail?”
    She wasn’t even sure what a Molotov cocktail was. “They explode?”
    He shrugged. “Frequently.”
    “Then it might have been that. Or maybe a firecracker. It sounded powerful.” A suspicion flashed through her thoughts. How could she have forgotten? “Raider!” She gripped the wheel with both hands and applied her foot more forcefully to the gas pedal.
    Chase braced a hand against the dashboard. “What?”
    She hit a chuckhole head on. They bounced hard, but she didn’t slow down. “It could have been a high-powered rifle. The bastards might have been after my bear.”

4
    IN daylight, the burned area seemed small and pathetic, totally lacking the menacing majesty of a blaze under a full moon. The tops of many blackened trees were still green, but their scorched trunks were sad skeletons. Birds flitted among the naked branches, exploring the new spaciousness of their forest. Sam watched a red-shafted flicker