He laughed, throwing his head back and baring all of his beautiful orthodonture. He had a kind of animal magnetism that Kate recognized and mistrusted in the same moment. Louis Deem, the nearest thing the Park had ever produced to a Ted Bundy, had had a similar quality.

Meantime, McKenzie reined in his guffaw to a genial chuckle that Kate heard as produced. Gaea is an environmental activist nonprofit group. Like the Wilderness Society, or the Sierra Club. There was a twinkle in his eyes, albeit one devoid of patronage, as if he was aware of his organization‘s low profile and unconcerned and even amused at it. It argued a less self-involved personality than she had first thought. Only newer.

And I would guess with a much smaller membership and virtually no public profile, Kate said, because I‘d never heard of you before this summer.

The twinkle persisted. For now, yes. Anyway, I took the liberty of introducing myself because we‘ve taken an interest in the Suulutaq Mine.

You and Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, oh my, Kate said.

And because you are the chair of the board of the Niniltna Native Association, and because the NNA is the closest thing to a governing body the Park has, I thought we should at the very least be acquainted. He produced a business card. She looked at it. There was a tiny logo in one corner, a dark-haired woman in flowing draperies cradling a ball. It was the same logo she had seen on the flyer in Gammons‘s room a month before. This is the address of our local office. I‘d be happy to show you around the next time you‘re in Anchorage.

You have a local office? Kate said.

Sure do. He turned his smile on Truax, who scowled. We even plan to open an office in Niniltna. He took a moment to bask in the reaction to his last statement before turning and climbing into the plane. An unnerved Bud wasted no time in getting airborne. McKenzie tossed them a jaunty wave as they lifted off the end of the airstrip.

Well, this just gets better and better, Kate said. When PETA tried to change fish into kittens she‘d pretty much tuned out of the environmental movement for the foreseeable future. You invite him out here?

A bark of angry laughter. Hell, no! Fucker sneaked in on one of the crew-change flights. Somebody didn‘t show up, there was an empty seat, and he just climbed on board and rode in and started snooping around.

That took a certain amount of gall. It was something Kate might have done herself. What did he want?

Vern exploded. What do those bastards ever want? Evidence that we‘re poisoning the land with toxic waste and slaughtering all the animals and for all I know causing the earth to rotate in reverse. Jesus! He fixed her with a furious eye. There are legally required environmental standards and we adhere to all of them, Kate. Okay, she said.