Logging rights weren’t granted without public consent and it was really up to the people of Redstone to decide where and how much they allowed the logging companies to harvest. To Noble and the pack’s way of thinking, the forests were a national treasure and should never, under any circumstances, be cut down. That’s what he felt in his heart, but it wasn’t a simple matter of black and white. Sure, the forests held a special place in all their hearts, and Ranger Brock had similar feelings of his own for the land. But they were living in the middle of British Columbia where a great many people made their living either by working in the forestry industry, or providing services to the people who did. For that reason, you couldn’t just send logging companies packing every time one of them wanted to cut down some trees. People needed to work and make a living, and there were still plenty of forests to harvest. The real question wasn’t how much or when, but where.

As far as Noble understood the problem, Conservco had the inside track on harvesting the forests north of Puntzi Lake. The trouble was that the company had staked out an area that was more generous than the survey allowed. They did it in order to incorporate the existing road networks, thereby making the harvest more profitable than if they had to build their own inroads. The situation seemed pretty straightforward and would probably resolve itself before long, but Noble had learned his lesson about such things when Tora had been kidnapped. He had trusted then that the government would protect his sister and keep her from being taken out of the forest. But that hadn’t happened and they’d had to rescue her from a madman themselves.

This time, Noble was going to do something before it was too late, and that something involved Willie Greene. Willie was the unofficial town character, and made a living doing odd jobs and taking small acting roles in television and movie productions whenever they were in the area. Willie wasn’t an especially talented actor. One of his more prominent roles had been “Native Number Two” in an episode of The X-Files. He was also a model. Every couple of months a camera crew would roll into town to shoot Willie’s picture for use in ads for one sort of herbal medicine or another.

When he reached town, Noble went straight to the Petro-Canada station on Main Street, knowing that Willie often spent his afternoons there chatting with the day cashier, Arlo Mundt.

“Noble Brock,” Arlo said, when Noble stepped into the office. “What brings you here?” He craned his neck to look at the pumps. “Not a car, I see.”

“I’m looking for Willie Greene.”

“Your father got some work for him?”