Project Hannibal Kathryn Hoff (best free e book reader TXT) 📖

domesticated, you know. Even elephants used for work in Asia aren’t really domesticated—they’re just wild elephants, caught young and tamed, sometimes brutally, to obey certain commands.”

“Your mammoths seem to listen to you.”

“Only because I act like a member of the herd. They’ve known me all their lives—as far as they’re concerned, I am a member of the herd. But if I were to act outside what the herd expects of its members, they could very well turn on me.” Luis twisted so he could face Kanut. “Listen: if you see a mammoth flap its ears and stamp its feet, it means you need to back off. Never stand your ground when a mammoth gets aggressive. That’s a fight you’ll always lose.”

After a couple of hours of pushing through the brushland, Ruby slowed. Luis kept her moving southeast, but let her amble slowly enough for the herd to snatch tender twigs as they traveled. The low rumble of contact calls changed in tone to grumbles. The mammoths were tired, they wanted to rest.

Luis was tired, too, and while the trooper had kept his mouth shut, he had to be hurting from the unaccustomed exercise of riding. A fine rain of ash sifted sporadically from the gray sky, prompting the men to cover their mouths and noses with kerchiefs like bandits.

When they came to a meadow near a stream, Luis called a halt. It was six in the evening, and according to the tablet, they were twenty-one miles from where they’d begun. Ahead of them rose the forbidding peaks of the Philip Smith Mountains—tomorrow, they’d be climbing. And somewhere halfway up one of those mountains was the wrecked plane and its survivors.

Kanut managed to scramble off Topaz and rescue his pack and rifle before she flopped on her side and rolled in the knee-high grass. Ruby and Emerald grunted impatiently for Luis to unload their harnesses before indulging in a roll fest.

Kanut pitched the tent, flattening the grass with the ground cover while Luis set up the portable wind turbine and plugged in the tablet to recharge.

A check of the news confirmed that Mount Taktuq was still billowing gas and ash into the atmosphere.

“Mind if I recharge my satphone?” Kanut asked.

“Later. The tablet gets recharged first—we need it for navigating.” He wondered who Kanut would choose to call before his satphone died, wife or job?

Kanut punched in numbers. “Hey, honey . . .”

Luis smiled to himself. The alpha wolf, taking care of his pack. Or maybe just a henpecked husband.

Luis turned to check on his family, the mammoths.

They greeted him with puffs and touches. He caressed their rough fur, muttering a soothing brum-rum, brum-rum.

The troika were back together, gossipy old friends who never tired of one another’s company. Matriarch Ruby calmly plucked mini sheaves of grass, giving each bunch a shake before shoving it into her maw. Clever girl. She’d learned a new skill, how to get the ash off the grass. The others would learn from watching her.

Little Jet played, practice-charging at Turq. At four years old, Turq was still young enough to tolerate the youngster—that would change soon, as Turq reached full maturity. In the distance, the great bulk of Diamond kept watch, sniffing the air every so often, keeping his eyes on Pearl.

Opal approached Luis, rumbling querulously.

“How are you doing, Opal? You did well today, keeping up with the herd.” Still no sign that the calf was imminent. He blew into her face to reassure her. “Just stick with Ruby. She’ll see you right.”

Luis hoped he’d be there when Opal’s calf was born. From his experience in Asia he knew that elephant mothers usually did all right on their own, but he felt like a proud grandpa, eager to see the next generation. Ginger had already picked out a name for the new herd member: Jade.

A wolf’s distant howl broke the evening calm. The mournful cry echoed Luis’s mood. For Luis, being solitary had never meant being lonely, but out here, so far from humanity, knowing that he would soon be leaving his mammoth friends, he felt very alone.

The howl sounded again and was joined by another. And another and another. Wolves, reinforcing their family ties, warning rivals to stay away. So gregarious among their own kind, so violent toward outsiders. Not unlike humans.

Opal stirred restively.

“Don’t worry, girl. Even a pack of wolves isn’t likely to take on a full-grown mammoth.”

But they wouldn’t hesitate to attack a newborn if they could separate it from the herd.

Luis stroked her trunk. “Hang in there, Opal. Keep that baby safe inside for another few days, please.”

At the tent, Kanut had already put water on to boil. “What’s your slop-du-jour?” he asked, holding up packets of freeze-dried dinners.

“I’ll have the curry.” Luis reached into his meager store of clothes and drew out two pairs of socks. He threw one to Kanut and sat on the ground to unlace his boots. “Here. Change your socks and I’ll wash them with mine.”

The trooper’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”

“Come on. A man can live in the same clothes for days at a time, but changing your socks every day or two is a must.”

Kanut didn’t question further but pulled off his boots, his face lighting up with relief when he put on the clean socks.

By the time Luis had rinsed out the socks and hung them on the guy ropes to dry, supper was ready.

“Hmm. The chicken and mac isn’t bad,” Kanut said, spooning it up. “Any idea when we’ll get to the crash site? Headquarters says the doctor isn’t answering her phone, probably out of power. Alaska Eagle Med is badgering them every hour.”

“We’re still twenty miles away, as the crow flies, and we’ve got a lot of rough terrain to cross. No chance of getting someone else to her sooner?”

“Not with the latest eruption.”