Connie Shelton [Charlie Parke Legends Can Be Murder (epub) id

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.A few last checklist items and Drake pulled pitch and we rose above the airstrip, the other helicopters and planes growing smaller as we gained altitude.I watched as he made course adjustments, tracking the headings shown on the GPS.He flipped an intercom switch so that only I would hear his voice.“We’re only about ten minutes from the cabin if we fly a straight line but we’re supposed to give a little bit of a tour too.The extra waypoints I programmed will take us over a glacier and a long waterfall, and after we’ve circled those we’ll come around.”I couldn’t complain—there must not be one ugly thing in this whole state, I decided as we spent thirty minutes flying what amounted to a large circle, with snowy peaks lined up in ranks as far into the distance as we could see.I had the sectional map on my lap, following along, and I spotted the trail where Mina and her friends were even now hiking to their lunch-spot destination.Soon, with Mount Clifford as a landmark, Drake sighted the cabin and began making a descent into a tiny green valley.Amazing how fast you can cover territory by air; reaching this cabin by trails from town probably would have taken hours.Brilliant green grass showed in contrast to the mountains that rose all around us.A narrow stream ran out of the hills, flowing toward the larger river we’d flown over, joining with it to eventually reach the sea behind us.A man in dark pants and red plaid jacket stepped into sight and began waving.His thick beard and the fur-lined trapper hat gave him a real mountain-man appearance.He pointed toward some orange cones set up on the ground, our landing zone, and Drake positioned the JetRanger into the wind and set her gently down precisely in the middle of the demarcated area.The red-coated man approached as Drake let the rotor blades spool down, introducing himself as Barney, the Gold Trail Adventures event coordinator.“I’ll be about twenty, thirty minutes giving the orientation,” he told Drake through the pilot-side open door.“You and your wife can get out and walk around with us, if you want, or just wait here.Kerby did tell you I’ll be flying back with you?”He asked the question as if the idea of staying behind with the Mikowskis was scarier than dealing with a grizzly.Drake nodded and we climbed out.It took a few minutes to get everyone out of their seatbelts and to unload their gear.“The cabin is fully stocked with food, fuel and plenty of warm bedding,” Barney was saying to the husband and wife.Young Chandler had immediately zipped away to the stream and was on his knees, dipping an arm into water that had to be only a degree or two warmer than an ice cube.Barney picked up two of the duffle bags and I grabbed the third, curious to see what the ‘adventure’ living conditions would be like.The cabin looked surprisingly comfortable.A main room held a modern woodstove with a handy stack of split logs nearby.The chairs and couch looked like the nice, soft kind you’d want to sink into and a full bookcase solidified the idea that I could be one happy camper here.A small kitchen filled one end of the room, and Barney was giving Mrs.Mikowski a quick primer on the use of the propane stove and refrigerator.He waved in the direction of the two bedrooms, then led everyone to a sort of service porch-slash-storage room.“Put your garbage in this sealed metal bin,” he said with a firm look on his face, “and never, never leave any food outside around the cabin.Not a cooler, not a half-eaten sandwich, not a candy bar.Once the bears smell anything edible, you’ll have ’em prowling around and they can take that front screen door off with one paw.”I might have imagined that both Mikowskis went a little pale.The missus glanced out toward the stream to be sure Chandler was still in sight.“Now here’s your satellite phone,” Barney was saying.“We fully charged it at the office but you got no way to recharge it out here.It’s for emergencies only.The numbers are right here on this label on the back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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