Better to rest by Dana Stabenow Read Free Book Online

shift to ease the strain on his vertebrae. The plane hit an air pocket and bounced. He stiffened back into immobility, like that would help smooth out the flight. Wys braid dangled over the back of the seat in front of him. It swayed gently with the motion of the Cub. He tried not to look directly at it.
    They flew on for a few minutes more, until they took a sudden, hard right bank and nosed down. Liam sucked in a breath. “There, Wy said.
    It seemed to Liams fevered gaze that she was intent on their doing chin-ups on the peaks of the Wood River Mountains. “Right there, do you see it? Wy said, and aimed 78 Zulu at a strip of snow that might have had a patch of gravel beneath it the size of a babys diaper. The strip got bigger the nearer they got to it but not much. Wy circled once, taking a look at the surface and coming much too close to the sides of the encircling mountains, and brought them in on an approach that feathered the tops of the stand of slender birches surrounding the strip. She pulled so far back on the throttle that they were practically hanging stationary in the air when they touched down. They didnt use up much of the strip, eithera good thing, Liam thought when a bull moose wandered out of the trees at the other end of the runway. He stopped and regarded them with an expression of mild surprise for a moment, before wandering back into the woods, evidently unworried by the thought that they might be after his rack.
    They set off, finding and following the track through the brush and snow left by Johns and Teddys four-wheelers without difficulty. It was late October and they were lucky. It had snowed twice already that year, but so far only enough to stick, and the good news was it wasnt over their boots.
    “Did they get anything? Wy said when, after twenty minutes, the silence got too oppressive to bear.
    “What?
    “Teddy and John. Did they get anything?
    “Oh. Yeah. A moose. Big bull. It was skinned out and hanging in the shop.
    “Good.
    “Yeah. Isabella and Rosell be happy.
    She stood it for ten minutes more. “Liam
    “Look, he said. “Were here.
    They had emerged from the woods into an area of glacial moraine, pile after pile of gray gravel so uniform in size it looked graded.
    “Theres no snow on the gravel, Liam said, confused.
    “Thats why, Wy said, pointing.
    In back of the moraine loomed the glacier, and even at that distance they could hear the sound of running water. “Its not cold enough yet to stop the meltoff. Wont be long, though. Teddy and John hit it just right. Another snow and they wouldnt have found a thing. How close did they say they were to the face when they found the arm?
    He pointed at the four-wheeler tracks, which continued straight to the mouth of the glacier. “I figure we follow those, we find what Teddy and John found.
    Wy took another look at the glacier, which looked far too unstable for her tastes. “Right.
    They followed the tracks, which ended short of the wall of ice. The bottom half of the face was rotten and riddled with holes that created gaping caves, too dark to see inside.
    “You dont think its inside one of those? Liam said.
    “Even John and Teddy arent that dumb, Wy said. She felt a prickle at the base of her neck. It was nippy out this cold, clear morning. She should have exchanged her jacket for a parka.
    They cast back and forth along the wall of ice, careful not to stray too close, the detritus from recent calving fresh on the ground in front of them. Theyd almost given up when they found the blood and guts of the moose John and Teddy had shot. Wy unshouldered the.30-06 she had brought from the plane.
    “You hear a bear?
    She shook her head, eyes watching the edge of the trees. “Not yet, she said, which didnt reassure him.
    “I thought they were all asleep by now.
    “Nope.
    There were ravens gathered at the corpse, shredding intestine with strong, bloodied beaks. They were unalarmed by the arrival of the humans, and continued to