ONE

      Kara Park slammed her car door with more force than necessary, but she couldn’t help feeling annoyed. She wasn’t scheduled to come north for another week, but her study of the previous dig season’s archaeological finds had wrapped at the University of British Columbia earlier than she’d expected—early April instead of late in the month—and she’d thought it would be wise to get a head start on the next contract. When she’d called Gaida Industries and told them she’d landed at Northern Rockies Regional Airport, and that she planned to drive over to their proposed pipeline site outside of Fort Mason before heading into town, the foreman had tried to talk her out of it, claiming impending weather, possible bad road conditions and other nonsense. Yes, there was a typhoon on the way, but it was projected to make landfall in the southern half of the province. Fort Mason and the surrounding area were fairly deep inland and quite far north.

      At least the foreman had finally agreed to come out and show her where the site was—not that she’d given him a choice. She had the coordinates and a battery-operated GPS unit.

      She nodded at the stout, balding foreman as he parked his car next to hers and hurried over, frowning. His skin had the leathery look of long days spent doing hard labor outdoors. “Ms. Park, I must continue to insist that you come into the offices first. There’s paperwork to fill out, and you can rest from your trip up here.”

      Kara patted the camera bag she’d slung over her shoulder. “Mike Helfer, is it?” The man nodded. “I’ve got all the relevant paperwork here plus copies of the dig permits for the pipeline’s proposed location. And I promise I’m fine. It wasn’t a long trip, and I’m used to work-related travel for archaeology jobs. I just want to take a few photos of the site so I can start thinking about how best to square off the area and divide up my team. It’ll cut down a lot of waiting-around time if I can get all or most of the prep done before the others arrive. The sooner my team completes the required archaeological work on the land, the sooner Gaida Industries can install the pipeline.”

      Mike’s frown deepened, but he must have sensed her resolve because he waved her forward with a grunt. “Fine. But don’t blame me when we get rained on.”

      She pointed toward the sky. “There’s not a single cloud in sight. Well, maybe one or two, but I highly doubt we’ll have anything to worry about save maybe a little shower overnight. Please, lead the way. I have the coordinates, but it’ll be easier if I focus on where we’re going so I can mark our trail.”

      As the foreman led them into the forest, she staked small orange flags into the ground to help orient herself, and so that she’d be able to find her way in and out if she decided to come out to the site alone during the week. The wilderness of northern British Columbia was largely undeveloped and uninhabited, so cell phone service even a few clicks outside town was nonexistent. It wouldn’t do to get herself lost on her way to work the first time she headed out by herself. She’d have to make sure to charge the battery on her satellite phone tonight.

      As she followed the foreman, Kara admired the unruly wilderness that would become her office for the next few weeks—or possibly longer—while she and her team conducted an archaeological survey of the protected land where the proposed pipeline would cut through. The Canadian government required intensive surveys done on any land where there was a possibility of archaeological remains, and since the vast region of northern British Columbia had been the traditional territory of First Nations people for the past ten thousand years, it would be a surprise not to find evidence of inhabitants at least someplace along the pipeline’s planned location—especially through this particular area outside Fort Mason.

      She planted another little orange flag and stood to see Foreman Mike disappear around a tree. She hurried to catch up. The bright yellow reflective stripes on his orange coat ensured that he stood out among the foliage, though to Kara’s advantage, the forest wasn’t as densely packed as it would be once spring got fully under way. A project like the pipeline site needed as long of a dig season as possible, though, so as soon as the temperature stayed consistently above freezing—instead of this up and down the province had been experiencing in the weather lately—they could start working without risking the health and safety of her team.

      She drew alongside the foreman as he stilled his footsteps at the edge of a moderately sized clearing—a patch of dirt and