5
“Moonlit plum tree-
wait,
spring will come.”
― Matsuo Bashō
Wolf River General Store
Audrey Anderson finished filling the cooler with beer, most of it was the Fairbanks brewed Borealis brand shipped up on the train. She always kept some imported Nippon Star on hand for the occasional Japanese or even more rare Chinese or Indian who might wander in with money and thirst in equal proportions. Her morning had been slow as expected.
When the temperature dropped below -40°F most people stayed home in front of their own stoves.
With a blast of cold air a figure came through the front door and shut it quickly, stomping feet, and unzipping their parka.
“How’s my favorite storekeeper?” a voice boomed out of the heavily frosted hood.
“Glen Bassett! Good to see you. You have any meat you can sell me?”
“Don’t I always fill your needs before I go near the Nips?”
“Only the ones that involve wild game,” she said with a laugh.
“Okay, I won’t push that any further.” He pulled off his parka and went over to the huge, glowing woodstove to slowly rotate in front of it while slapping ice crystals out of his heavy beard.
“Damn but it’s cold out there.”
“What are you bringing in this trip?
I have two moose, a few lynx, mess of rabbits, and four caribou. How much do you want?”
“Two moose hindquarters and six to eight rabbits, depending on size. I still wish you’d lay off the lynx; I’ll never buy them. You going back out soon?”
“In a couple of days. I need a good drunk. How much beer do you have?”
“As much as you want until you start breaking furniture.”
“You say the nicest things to me. Anything of interest happening?”
“Suzuki’s dead.”
Glen’s smile faded beneath the now-dripping moustache on his bearded face as he stared at her.
“What? How?”
“He stumbled through the door at the Livengood office, fell down, and died.”
“Heart attack?”
“Don’t know. They’re doing an autopsy. But the word is he was shot or stabbed.”
He glanced around the room. “We are alone in here, right?”
“Glen,” she shook her head, “I would have let you know as soon as you walked in if we weren’t.”
“Sorry, Audrey. Sometimes my paranoia gets the best of me.”
She made a fleeting, tired smile. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t following you.”
He lost his grin. “Thanks for the reminder.” He shook his head to shake the moisture off his beard and moustache.
“You’re welcome.”
“So is Gunther the Director of Personnel now?”
“Nope. They pulled in someone from the Livengood section. Levi Fischer. Ever heard of him?”
“What the hell! Gunther was next in line, dammit.”
“Well, I’m sure if you explain that to the Japanese they will make everything the way you think it should be.”
“Has he been vetted?”
“Partially, security will let us know the full story.”
Glen frowned at her but she knew he was tossing the situation around in his mind. She felt that he said too many things out loud that he shouldn’t, but after spending so much time in the bush alone the idea that someone might be listening rarely occurred to him.
“Have you met this Fischer guy?”
“No. He just got here yesterday.”
Glen opened his mouth and she knew he was going to ask something she wouldn’t answer. He must have come to the same conclusion because he shut it again. He edged closer to the stove and regarded her.
“Is this going to change our command structure?”
“Not to my knowledge. Keep in mind how recent his addition to the project is and that he hasn’t been completely vetted yet.”
Glen nodded. “How about a Borealis?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”