Thor's Child ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 20

Tor and his dad were almost at the truck when Tor's Aunt Hanna called them, so they paused to talk to her.

"Ollie, I know you're in a hurry to get home, but I can see that Tor isn't really comfortable about this real-estate trade, so I'd really like to talk to you, both of you.  Are you sure you have to rush off home right now?" Aunt Hanna asked.  "Harold Burns is going to meet us for lunch at Nil's favourite café to explain more about the trade from his standpoint and I think it might be best for you to be there, at least Tor, if not you, Ollie."

"Well, I really need to get home, but I suppose it might best for you to stay and listen to whatever Harold has to say, Tor." Tor's dad frowned and went on to explain to Hanna about the damage from the storm, then he rested a hand on Tor's shoulder.  "Hanna could give you a ride home afterward."

Tor could tell they both felt quite strongly that he should stay and although he didn't want to stick around town right then, he thought they probably knew best.  Right at the moment he couldn't understand his feeling of reluctance toward being involved, but he felt he was being pressured and he didn't care for that either.  Still, if talking with 'Hollywood Harold' would get people off his case and perhaps ease the pressure he felt he was under, it just might be worthwhile.

"Okay, Dad." Tor agreed quietly.

On the way to the café Aunt Hanna asked him why he seemed to be upset, so Tor tried to explain his feelings and he did his best to do it without whimpering and whining.

"Well, I really don't want to complain, because I know this is a great opportunity for me, but I don't feel ready to handle the job.  You know that raising horses and training them has always been a long term ambition for me, but now is simply too soon.  I have so many other things I wanted to do first.

"This is a huge change for me, but this year has been one change piled on top of another and I'm feeling swamped!" he snorted.  "First off my sensei had me faze out my jiujitsu training and start learning tae kwon do.  Then Dad made a trade to get me a car, but I need to build it up from parts, almost like a giant jig-saw puzzle.  Tackling that job brought me into contact with Dori and almost overnight she became my girlfriend.  Then my hockey team lost both our regular goalie and our backup, so I volunteered to play the position, because I know I have the reflexes to do a good job.  On top of that next month I'm going into grade eleven at school.  I'm not about to cut any of them out either, so I don't see how I'm going to have time to become much of a rancher."

"Well, from what I've heard, there is a very good foreman and excellent workers on the ranch already," she said quietly.  "I really don't think 'Mr. Hollywood' knew a darn thing about ranching, but the place is still in the black, so I don't think owning the ranch is going to be that much work."

"Well, that's not the only reason that I'm a bit upset, but my other reason might be considered to be somewhat selfish, I guess," Tor sighed.  "You see unless you count the two weeks last year when I helped you and Uncle Nils to work on your cabin, or the year before when I had a busted ankle, I haven't had a holiday since we moved out here.  All the rest of my friends always seem to manage to take a week or two of holidays every summer, but I haven't.  I was looking forward to taking one week of the next month just to explore that lease we traded away.  I know it might sound like sour grapes to you, but I feel almost as if I swapped my holiday for a full-time job.  Which is not at all what I was looking forward to having happen this summer."

"Well, I think I mentioned that the homestead wasn't much of a holiday outing for Nils and me either," Aunt Hanna laughed softly.  "I'll tell you what, I'll make you a private deal.  Nils and I want to bring some horses down there to keep on the acreage, but we aren't going to want to truck them back here every winter.  If you'll board three or four horses on the ranch over the winter for us, we'll help you with advice and maybe even a bit of work on the ranch.  We'll even throw in free board and room whenever we're there and you can take over the servant's wing, which is separate from the main house."

"The servant's wing?" Tor frowned.

"Well, it's really a separate two bedroom cabin with its own kitchen and living room, and is only connected to the main house by a covered walkway, so it has its own entrance.  Mr. Hollywood used to bring along a cook and a caretaker when he was staying there for any length of time, but we don't need that sort of help, so you might as well use it.  That'll give you some privacy when you want it," she finished speaking just as they parked in front of the café.

Tor never had a chance to comment since as they got out of the car, she was immediately accosted by a woman who was talking a mile a minute about the Co-op store.  Before she was free, Uncle Nils came up and motioned for him to come along, so he and Tor went inside and that's when Tor met Harold Burns, otherwise known as 'Hollywood Harold.'

When Tor saw him, he almost laughed - not only was Harold very short and very thin, but he was dressed like a comic book cowboy, from the ten-gallon hat to the high-heeled riding boots. Okay, so the ten-gallon hat was made to fit a smaller man, perhaps only a two-gallon hat.  Still, Harold Burns was the only man Tor had ever seen who wore an embroidered western style shirt loaded with sequins along with a tight fitting pair of blue-jeans.  The only thing missing in the man's cowboy getup was a forty-five-calibre revolver tucked into a tied down holster and hung on his hip. 

Tor really wanted to grin, but he managed to keep a straight face as he reached to meet Harold's outstretched hand and shook it.  It was a good thing he was holding himself under such tight control, because as they touched Tor 'caught' the uppermost thoughts on Harold's mind.

"Shit, the fuckin' son-of-a-bitch is a gawdam kid and not just any fuckin' kid, but the one Major Armstrong thought might be an Alpha.  I thought sure I was dealing with a pair of country oafs who were fronting for a friggin' genius, but he turns out to be a kid - a bloody big kid, but still just a damn kid.  Shit, I've just gotta look and . . . oh damn,  a completely open mind, almost blank, but no signs of ESP.  Aw fuck, what do I tell the Major?  He was so sure that the Eklund kid was another Alpha, but he ain't.  Not only that but the Major said to try to keep that scummy ranch as a secondary refuge, but I couldn't take the chance of losing that new place.  I just had to get control of that hidden valley, and we need all of it.  It's total wilderness for cripes sake and a perfect fuckin' hideaway in case the Alpha Project ever falls under government review and we need to abandon Quantico.  Hell, the new valley is even better than that fuckin' desert hideout near Barstow, so I didn't strike out completely."

Harold seemed to have decided that the way to greet Tor was to pump his hand as if he was thirsty and trying to get water from a hand pump.  All that time he was squeezing harder, and harder, and harder, until finally Tor decided to squeeze back, but he dropped Harold's hand when he flinched.  Tor didn't know why he'd been able to 'receive' Harold thoughts so clearly, yet not be 'heard,' but he decided not to gamble and did his best to stick to mundane thoughts and recollections.  Meanwhile Harold became a motormouth - bragging about all his triumphs and accomplishments in Hollywood, but Tor kept his comments to grunts and monosyllables. The next hour was the slowest sixty minutes Tor could remember spending in a long, long time since he was bored, but he did learn a little bit about his talents.  Somehow he knew Harold was trying to 'read' his mind, but was only able to reach his surface thoughts.  That meant he had a barrier protecting his deeper thoughts and Tor was positive that it was another aspect of his shield - an automatic aspect, because he hadn't triggered it.

When Harold finally wound down and asked Tor what he enjoyed doing, he just shrugged his shoulders, then rolled his eyes for a second.

"I dunno.  I like bein' 'round horses.  School's okay an' sometimes bein' on the farm's purdy nice," Tor mumbled around a mouthful of hamburger, then swallowed and grinned.  "Besides eatin' an sleepin,' I like playin' hockey most though!  This year I'm gonna try bein goalie 'cause I'm bigger'n most guys on my team an' I've got fast hands.  Best part o' that is a goalie is on the ice alla time, but I won't hafta skate around so much or work so hard."

Tor managed to turn his head so he could wink at his aunt and uncle without Harold noticing him do it.

"What a lazy prick!  Spoiled fuckin' brat."  Tor 'heard' Harold grumble as he glanced out the window toward the parking lot.

"Oh gosh, there's my car and look at the time.  I'm going to have to run on you folks if I'm going to get to Seattle in time to meet my next appointment," Harold rattled off hurriedly as he got to his feet.

"But you said you had some papers, reports and drawings for us, didn't you?" Aunt Hanna asked.

"Oh yes.  They're out in the car, in fact that's what my driver went to get after he dropped me off.  I'll get them for you," Harold almost leaped to his feet, but Aunt Hanna was just as quick and walked out to the shiny new Jeep Cherokee with him.

"I wouldn't trust that guy as far as I could throw him, even if both my arms were broken." Tor snarled.  "You do realize that he stiffed us for his bill, don't you?"

"Yah, ay guess he didt, dint he?" Uncle Nils laughed.

One of the men at a nearby table chose that time to ask who the dude was and while Uncle Nils was explaining, Tor 'reached out' to see what Harold was thinking now.

". . . so the tube contains a large scale map of the ranch and surrounding property which I had the surveyor drew up for me.  In the folder is the report from the vulcanologist, a listing of the people who worked on the log house, a record of the income and expenses of the ranch and a copy of the tax bill, which is paid up until the end of the month.  Now, I really have to go."

Aunt Hanna must have said something, but Tor didn't hear even an echo of what it was, then Harold slid into the Jeep and slammed the door.

"Lieutenant Myers, get us out of here." Harold growled.  "Oh, and you can report to Major Armstrong that the kid he thought might be an Alpha is about as intelligent as a box of rocks, a complete zero for ESP.  I actually sat with the kid for the last hour and ate at the same table with him.  During that time the big ox said about twenty words and most of them were shortened, slurred or decidedly unintelligent.  He likes horses, eating, sleeping and playing hockey, so that gives you an idea of his intelligence level.  The only one I met that seemed to show any intelligence was the woman that came out to the car to get the final papers and the map, but it turns out she's not his mother, she's his aunt.  There is no genetic link there at all, instead the kid is a descendant of the uncle's family and he's just another big, dumb farmer."

There was a short, but frustrating break and Tor decided the driver of the car must have been saying something, then he could 'hear' Harold again.

"No, I tell you, the kid didn't show any signs of ESP and you know how good I am at spotting an Alpha, like that kid I spotted at the fair last year. She was so open it was a pleasant chore, but this kid was really tough to read, maybe because he was older, but I think it's because he was dumber.  Actually I dug so damn deep in this kid's skull that I was down to bedrock, but all I found was garbage.  Dumb stuff, like memories of eating in that greasy spoon before, names of people who were sitting in there, remembering being startled by a lightning storm last night, junk like that.  Hell, I even sat through his recollection of how he milked a cow this morning and how he decided that she was giving less milk because she'd been upset by the storm.  That kid is nothing but another dull clod, one of the semiliterate bumpkins who make up the majority of the population.  Oh, I did find out why he's so good at hockey, if that makes you happy.  It seems he's been playing with his big brothers and their friends since he was five years old, so his evident skill is probably from muscle memory."

There was another very short break, then; "Look, that was a tough job in there!  Digging through that bumpkin's boring memories has given me a fuckin' horrible headache, so just drive, huh?  We have to get across the border and down to Seattle by tonight, but I need a nap right now.  You can debrief me fully later, because what I saw and felt isn't going to change."

There were no really clear thoughts from Harold after that, just complaints about his headache and it wasn't long before even those faded away into the distance so they became unreadable.  Tor was finally able to relax.  Aunt Hanna was coming back inside again, carrying a file folder in her hand and she sat down beside Tor.

"That man has problems!" she said emphatically.

"You think?" Tor grinned.

Both of them chuckled a bit and she opened the folder, then frowned and slapped it closed quickly.

"I think we need to look at this in a slightly more private setting.  Do you want to head home or do you want to stay in town for a while longer?"

"Home, please, especially if there are any obvious problems in that file," Tor answered.

"Oh, it's not a problem.  I just don't like to take the risk of displaying our financial issues in public and the first file in this folder is about the income and expenses of your ranch."

"Yeah, then going home is a very good idea, because I want Mom and Dad in on checking that out."

Aunt Hanna just nodded and interrupted Uncle Nil conversation for a moment to let him know where they were headed, then she and Tor headed for her car.  Once they were on the way, Tor asked her to describe the cabin she'd mentioned he would be living in.

"Well, it's not as fancy as the house, but it's still quite nice.  It has hardwood floors and varnished log walls, except in the little kitchen and the bathroom, they have lino on the floor and tile on the walls.  All the rooms are furnished and Harold said he'd be leaving everything else too, pots and pans, dishes, cutlery, even the blankets, towels and linens would be left there.  All his people removed were personal items, so the cabin is move-in ready.  The realtor gave us the keys once the papers were signed and Nils is already talking about going there tomorrow.  He'll want you to go along, if at all possible."

"Well, since I was expecting to leave for the island later this week, I don't see why not," Tor shrugged.  "Only come to think of it, if he's planning to stay there for long, then I might need to make a few preparations and pack a few things."

"Well, I'm planning to be back and forth a time or two in the next week, so if you do go there and then find you've forgotten something I could always bring it for you.  All it would take would be a phone call.  Besides, I think your folks might decide to visit as well."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Tor snorted.  "You don't suppose they might be interested in what you've gotten me involved with now, do you?"

"Well, I'm glad to see that your mood has improved."

"I'm not sure it has, but I'm trying." Tor sighed.  "I'll be honest.  Part of it is the feeling I got after that dork in the cowboy hat left us was sheer relief.  I don't think I could have stood to be around him for much longer."

"I noticed!" Aunt Hanna chuckled.  "I was astonished when you talked to him with your mouth full like that.  I was quite certain that you didn't like him much, but then when you were trying to sound like an uneducated hick, I knew for certain."

"Well, he really annoyed me.  I don't feel so much that we cheated him now, not since I found out that he's a pretentious ass and an egomaniac." Tor grunted. 

"Why in the world would you think we cheated him?"

"Because of the limitations on the lease of course.  You can't build anything permanent there, no houses, no barns, in fact no buildings of any sort.  You can't build dams on the streams or interfere with their natural flow in any way.  You aren't allowed to dig a mine or harvest any timber.  You aren't allowed to put in roads or clear back trees to make trails.  The only legal trail through the lease is the one going to the homestead and that's only legal because it's been there for so long.  You can't even tell people they're on private property, not as long as they stay within fifty metres of the high water mark of the streams or lakes.  The only thing you really can do is hunt or fish, but then only in season."  Tor rattled off quickly.

"Are you sure of that?"

Yep, remember last year when I was dreaming about bringing up some horses and running a trail ride on the lease?  Well, when I got back home I dug out the lease and read it through closely to see if the idea was feasible, but I soon found that it isn't.  Besides hunting and fishing the only thing that lease allows is trapping of fur bearing animals and even that has limits.  I'm fairly certain that lease was set up for the Metis family who lived there and I don't think we should have ever have taken it on."

"Oh my!  I guess we did take advantage of Mr. Burns' gullibility, didn't we?"  she laughed softly, but not very sympathetically.

"Yep, and after meeting him, I don't feel so bad about it at all.  It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Tor smiled and then pointed to one of the poles beside the road near the gateway to the farm.  "It looks like the Hydro guys have finished out here, at least we have a new transformer on that power pole.  I hope they've done the repairs to the pole by the equipment shed so we have power in the house."

"Well, we'll see in a minute." Aunt Hanna smiled as they drove up the driveway.

When they parked near the house, Dori came rushing out to meet them, hugging Tor and saying 'Hi' to Aunt Hanna.  After that she began to tell them everything that had happened while they were away, starting with the fact that the BC Hydro crew had come, done their work and had already left.  She said the crew had arrived in a large truck with a huge drill mounted on the rear deck and had sunk a hole in the ground in mere minutes, then had set up a new distribution pole.  The new pole had been installed almost a hundred feet away from the equipment shed and now had an improved grounding system as well as a new meter and cutoff switch.  Once the crew had the new pole in place, they'd stripped the damaged equipment from the original pole, then cut it down, loaded it on their truck and rushed off to repair storm damage on other farms.

The men from Barker Electric had arrived shortly before the hydro crew left and had worked very quickly to reconnect the house, the pump house and most of the buildings, even the barns. They hadn't reconnected the power line to the equipment shed yet since the old line to that building since they needed new cable and a new mast for that job.  Besides, they needed to repair damage done inside the building as well, which meant they needed a new breaker panel, several fittings and some wiring.  Since the crew hadn't anticipated quite that much damage, they'd gone back to town for supplies, but planned to be back that afternoon to complete the repairs.

Dori hadn't stopped talking until they went inside, then Tor's mom took over by asking questions about the real-estate deal, so Hanna handed her one of the two file folders she was carrying.

"I haven't had a chance to go through either folder, but the top one is from the realtor, and the deed to the ranch should be the first file you come to," Aunt Hanna smiled.  "This second folder has detailed information  about both the acreage and the main ranch, so we'll have to split the files, one folder about the ranch for Tor and one for us about the acreage and the new house. As well as that, the tube Tor is carrying holds a drawing done by the surveyor who did the survey when Hollywood Harold split off the acreage and the roadway from the main ranch.  It seems he had a new road surveyed in that won't be a steep as the present one, but Harold wanted to own the roadway for some reason.  He had already arranged for the work to be done and has paid part of the cost"

"Tor and the people on the ranch will be able to use the improved road won't they?" Tor's mom asked.

"Yeah, from the sounds of it the roadway leads to the main gate to the ranch and the acreage is on some sort of side road.  Harold was a privacy nut, so I imagine the whole thing is an effort to steer people away from his hideout.  The guy is weird."

"Yeah, Mom, he was really weird.  Remember when I was about eight years old and I showed you that ad on the back of one of Björn's comic books that was selling a fancy cowboy suit?  Well, Mr. Burns was wearing a slightly bigger version of that getup, complete with embroidery and sequins.  On top of that he was wearing fancy snake-skin riding boots, the high heeled kind, along with a miniature ten-gallon hat, almost like the one Hoss wore on 'Bonanza' - just a lot smaller."  Tor smirked.  "And he bragged steadily from the time we met him until he rushed off, and did it so fast that he managed to stiff Uncle Nils and me for lunch."

"You're right, he did talk almost steadily, didn't he.  The only time he hesitated was when Rita Martin came in with her two kids to meet her husband, then he stared at Rita like a thirsty cow heading for a water trough."

"Oh, he wasn't staring at Mrs. Martin, Aunt Hanna." Tor disagreed.  "He was looking at her little girl, what's her name, Evelyn, or something like that.  I'd forgotten about that, but now that I think back about it, he looked like he was completely mesmerized by the kid."

"Are you sure?  Little Eva is only about eight or nine years old."

"Oh, yeah.  He even made a funny face and winked at her, but she acted shy and hid behind her Mom's skirts."

"Aunt Hanna, that new ranch is south of Kamloops, but not really all that far away from town, isn't it?" Alva asked.

"Yes, it is."

"And the ranch is pretty isolated right?"

"Yeah, it is.  In fact the new log house is even isolated from the ranch buildings, why?"

"Well, last fall a ten-year-old girl from Kamloops disappeared and her six-year-old brother was the last person to see her.  He said she was talking to a short man dressed up as a fancy cowboy, but he turned away for a minute and when he turned back they were both gone."

"Oh shit!  Not little Eva!  Tor, call your buddy, the cop!"  Hanna shouted, then dropped everything, ran outside, got into her car and raced off.

"She should have just phoned the police." Alva said quietly.

"She asked me to do that.  Aunt Hanna probably has something else in mind." Tor growled, heading for his dad's office

In only a minute or so he was talking to Officer McDonald and explaining what he had seen and what Alva had mentioned.  He made sure to describe the new Jeep and the fact Burns and his friend were heading for the border.  He was surprised to hear Officer McDonald try to downplay his fears, but at least he said he'd talk to the Martins and see if they had noticed anything suspicious about Harold Burns' actions.

Tor wasn't happy when he hung up, but part of that was because he had 'overheard' several hints that he couldn't mention.  Besides that he wasn't happy about the idea that he and his family had sold Burns an even more isolated property.  Unfortunately he had an idea of why the creep wanted privacy and it had nothing to do with Hollywood publicity.  The bastard was hunting telepathic kids for the Yankees, probably the military.

"Well?  What did the cop say?  Did he take you seriously?" Alva asked bluntly, when Tor didn't say anything.

"Well, he's going to talk to the Martins and other people around town to see if they noticed Burns do anything suspicious." Tor sighed.  "I realize that he can't jump into something like this half-cocked, but darn it, it's frustrating.  What's worse is that I never even thought about how the twit was acting until it was too late, so the guy's driving away already and the cops can't even stop him to ask him questions.  As Officer McDonald said, he needs something quite solid to go on in order to do anything.  Our suspicions and observations aren't exactly solid evidence that he can use as a reason to pull the guy over and question him, let alone make an arrest."

"Assholes!" Alva said sharply, then stomped out of the room.

Tor didn't have a chance to do or say anything though, instead his mom looked in and just raised her hand palm forward. 

"Leave Alva be.  I imagine she's heading out to see her dad to try to get him wound up and involved, but I'll talk to her and try to calm her down a little.  You and Dori had better stay here and answer the phone if anyone calls," Tor's mom said with a sigh.

"Hey, explain to her that I didn't know any girl's had gone missing, would you?  I mean I can see what the cops are thinking, you can't arrest a guy for the look on his face, so I had no way of knowing that I should be worried."

"We know that, Tor," his mom nodded, then rushed off.

"From the look on your face, there's more to this, isn't there?" Dori sent silently as she approached him.

"Yeah.  I felt him try to check me out the instant that we shook hands.  He can use telepathy, or at least he can hunt for it and if I hadn't felt the way you reach out to me, I wouldn't have known.  He could read my surface thoughts, but I don't think he can send or dig deep, so I was able to concentrate on mundane things and I must have bored him half to death.  I know I gave him a helluva headache just for good measure.  What's worse, he already had the idea that I might be able to use telepathy, and he was sent here by some Yankee Major.  He was talking about 'the Alpha Project' which is based at Quantico and Barstow.  Aren't those bases for the Marines?"

"Yes, Quantico is the main marine base in all of America.  It's on the east coast, in Virginia. Barstow is a marine supply base, I think, and I know it's in the Mojave desert in southern California.  So was he a marine?" Donna asked.

"No, I don't think so.  I doubt if he was tall enough to qualify and he was so skinny that a stiff wind would blow him away.  Not only that but he was dressed up like a dime-store cowboy. He was just plain weird from word one," Tor sighed softly.  "He was trying to 'listen to' my thoughts as soon as he reached out to shake my hand, but I knew how that felt, and somehow I blocked him, then I just stood there looking at him blankly.  I think my empty stare threw him off, but not for long, so I started looking around the restaurant, feeding him surface thoughts about the food they served and the people who were there.  Even while he was boring us half to death by bragging about himself he was still poking and prodding, so I fed him memories of chores I do on the farm, choosing the most boring jobs I could think of.

"Meanwhile I was checking him out, but I didn't get the idea that he's a paedophile. Instead I got the idea that he's a control freak who likes to meet with mature women that aren't too bright, then he can totally dominate them.  It wasn't until he was in the Jeep and talking to his driver that I caught the hint that he'd found a kid with ESP sometime last year, but I didn't get any signals that he might have kidnapped anyone.  Then he changed the subject, calling me a stupid clod, a total waste of his time and that the Major had sent him on a wild goose chase. After that he said that I had given him a headache trying to get through my thick skull and that he needed a rest.  As they drove away what little I heard was bitching and complaining about how he was so badly treated, then even that faded into the distance."

"So do you think he was dressed up like a dude in order to draw attention?"

"Yeah, and I think it was meant to gain the attention of kids too.  Perhaps that makes it easier for him to reach out and listen to their thoughts."

"I think you're right, but if you don't think he's a paedophile, what do you suppose is the reason he does whatever it is that he does?"

"I think he's a Judas, or if you prefer, a bounty hunter, and I think he's out searching for anyone with ESP.  Since he was referring to a Major in the marines, I think they're looking for telepathic people, especially kids, young talents that they can brainwash and train to become spies."

"Do you really think they would do that?"

"In a minute!" Tor snapped.  "And what bothers me is that my family has just given them access to a fabulous hideaway that could be much more isolated or much better suited to that sort of enterprise.  They now have thousands of acres of land that they control, hidden away in an extremely isolated area surrounded by a wilderness of mountains and nearly impenetrable forests.  In other words, just about a perfect spot for a brainwashing facility."

"Perhaps, but your family knows about it."

"Which just means my family is in danger." Tor sighed.  "If I'd have known more about Burns before Uncle Nils and Aunt Hanna had made the deal I'd never have signed off on it."

Then the phone rang, making both Tor and Dori start in surprise, but Tor picked up before the second ring.

"Hello, Tor here."

"Hello, Tor.  Hanna here, I talked to Rita Martin and you weren't the only one who noticed how Burns stared at little Eva.  Rita's going to go talk to the police about it too, but I thought I should call and tell you that both off them are okay for now.  Did you call them?"

"Yeah, I talked to Officer McDonald, but as he said, they can't arrest the guy for leering at someone, even if it is a kid, so I don't know what he can do."

"Yeah, I suspected that," she sighed.  "I think I want to talk to your cop buddy though, then I'm going to come back out there.  I left all of the papers there and Nils will want to put them away, probably in the safety deposit box at the bank."

"Well, they're safe here for now, but I think I'll have to rent a safety deposit box from the bank myself."

"Okay, I'll see you later," and with that she hung up.

"So much for that.  It sounds like Aunt Hanna didn't really accomplish anything in her mad rush to town, but I guess it made her feel better.  The little gal is safe and her mom noticed the same thing I did, so I don't know what's going to happen.  Nothing much, but at least folk will be warned about the little weasel." Tor snorted as he put down the phone.  "Anyway, it's almost time for afternoon coffee.  Let's go make a fresh pot."

The pot had just started to perk as Tor's family came inside with Tor's dad trying to explain the deal about the ranch.

"Just to satisfy your curiosity, Nils and Hanna now own a log cabin and the acreage it sits on, but they set up the deal so Tor owns the rest of that old ranch.  Of course according to Hanna, that's only fair since he was the major investor in the lease on that valley on Vancouver Island."

  "But that lease wasn't a big expense." Tor's mom frowned as everyone came inside.  "I remember co-signing the cheques that Tor wrote on his savings account.  I don't think the total of those cheques was more than two or three thousand dollars.  How could such a small investment become worth so much?  It simply doesn't make sense."

"Exactly!" Tor said vehemently, breaking into the conversation.  "That's part of what's gotten me so confused.  In the first place I don't recall agreeing to buy into that lease, but Uncle Nils and Aunt Hanna said that they visited me in the hospital when I got my leg hurt.  I know I was loaded with painkillers then, so I suppose that's why I don't remember agreeing to anything like that.  Last summer I remember giving Uncle Nils a cheque that had to do with the lease, but at the time I thought that was a loan.  Instead Aunt Hanna claims I bought out Arne and Kai's share of the lease with that money."

"Well, I don't know much about the lease, but Nils wanted to spread the investment through the family and the only person who was interested was Tor." Tor's dad laughed softly. "Previously the Metis family had owned the lease and they were willing to let it lapse, but Nils wasn't, so he managed to get Tor to pay for two-thirds of the legal costs of taking over the lease. Then just last week, Hanna and Nils sold their cabin and the homestead land to that Yankee guy and they got a cash settlement for that.  It wasn't until after that deal on the homestead was complete that they just happened to mention the lease and that Tor had talked about running a trail ride operation for tourists on that.  Of course, since the guy is a privacy nut he decided he had to stop that and to do it he had to own the lease.  So they ended up trading the lease of several thousand acres of raw land for a much smaller ranch, an acreage and a log cabin, so the final trade was simply a matter of supply and demand."

"So, Tor is in a partnership with Hanna and Nils in this ranch then?"

"Nope, not at all.  The movie guy had already split an acreage off the ranch property when he first started to build the fancy cabin, so legally, they traded the lease for two separate pieces of property.  One section is the ranch and the other is the log cabin along with a few acres of land and the access road.  Tor's investment in the lease was twice as much as Nils and Hanna had invested and  Hanna literally demanded that Tor should have his full share of that investment in the new place.  Since the log cabin and acreage is worth almost half as much as the ranch, Tor ended up with the ranch and they took over the cabin, the acreage and the road, but while Nils and Hanna own that road, Tor has an easement to use it.  Then she laid down the law to Nils about his health, insisting that he start taking things easier.  I'd say she was letting Nils know that he could give advice about the ranch, but only when Tor asked for it and that he isn't to interfere with what Tor wants to do."

"Are you saying that because Tor was batty enough to buy into a lease on a hunk of complete wilderness last year, he is now the sole owner of a ranch?" Alva asked.

"Yep!  And, to completely change the subject, while we were in town I ordered a full set of goalie equipment for Tor for this winter and at the same time I ordered a new set of skates for myself.  As seriously as this town takes its hockey teams, I intend to do as well as I can at the job."

"Well then, Dad, you'll be happy to know that I've been offered a full time job in the Eagles Bluff hospital, but it won't be that hard to handle." Alva grinned then.  "I'm being given a chance to see exactly what other training I want to take by actually observing and assisting the work done in various aspects of nursing.  Best of all, none of my shifts are in the afternoon, so I'll be able to help you with the afternoon chores this winter.  The only trouble I might have will be sleeping during the day when I'm on any midnight shifts."

"Well, since we're talking about education, Dagny dropped by this morning while you were in town and he's been in contact with Guelph." Tor's mom said quietly.  "He and Peter Albright, the new veterinarian, have worked out a plan for Dagny to do most of his practical training here and he'll be able to defer his last year at Guelph for most of this year.  He will need to attend classes in Guelph for several short intervals over the next two years, but in the long-run Dagny will be taking over the local veterinary business."

"I thought Dag had problems buying the business, Mom, or did he just take over the lease on the office?" Tor frowned.

"Oh, Dagny purchased the whole business from the Ordonez family, but the sale was complicated because the cops had sealed the office as a possible crime scene.  Eventually they searched the place from top to bottom and didn't find any banned drugs, but he had to replace any drugs that they'd confiscated as questionable," his mom shrugged.  "From what Dagny said I think there might be several different trainees working with Peter, taking his place whenever he heads off to Guelph to attend any courses.  So it sounds like the university is being extremely cooperative about the whole thing."

"I think those students will be doing their practicum here with Peter while Dag is studying in Guelph, Mom," Alva mentioned.  "It's almost the same as the hospital is doing with me.  The trainees understand the basic theory, but this gives them a chance to put the final finish on their education and by working in the field they can make up their mind on a specialty."

"Excuse me!  What do you mean by a specialty?" Dori asked quietly.

"Well, I doubt if all of them will want to work on farm animals, some of them will want to work with pets, or perhaps exotic animals - snakes, birds, things like that," Alva grinned at her. "Zoos and people in the cities need veterinarians too."

"I never even thought about that," Dori smiled.  "Just to change the subject again, Mom called just a while ago.  Daddy wants to talk to you about the work that needs to be done on your car, Tor, and he wants to talk to you too, Mr. Eklund, so he was wondering if you were going to be home this evening.  My aunt, my uncle and my cousins are going to be visiting us and maybe even moving here, so Daddy would like to talk to both of you about that."

"Well, I don't plan on going anywhere this evening.  Do you have plans to visit anyone, Dad?" Tor asked.

"Actually, I expect that Nils and Hanna will be dropping by later this afternoon, but I don't imagine they'll be here for long.  I don't see any reason why your folks shouldn't drop around this evening though, Dori," Tor's dad looked thoughtful.  "Was there some special reason your dad wanted to see me?"

"I think so, but I don't know what it was.  I know he wanted to talk to Tor about his car and I'm sure he wanted to show it to my uncle, since he's another car nut.  Actually, my Uncle Abe is considering the idea of moving here, so they may want to talk to you about starting a business in this area, but I'm not sure about that."

"Well, I don't know what help I can be with that, but I'm willing to listen and I might be able to offer an opinion," Tor's dad shrugged.  "To be honest though, I'm really not the person to talk to about establishing a business."

"Well, I think they may be approaching you about that property that old man Schneider was leasing, since Daddy said your family were the people who ended up buying it."

"Oh, we have stocks in the company that bought the place, but that property is owned by Eagles Bluff Development now and I think it's for sale, not for lease."  Tor's mom smiled. "Hanna would know about that though, so we can ask her about it when she comes over this afternoon."

"Well, before Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils get here, I want to look through those file folders she left here, since they concern the new ranch," Tor said, draining the last sip of his coffee, then standing and reaching for the folder that he'd set on top of the fridge.

"Wait a second, I think everyone is interested in your new ranch," his dad said quickly. "Why not clean off the kitchen table, then we can all see whatever is in there.  I think she mentioned that there was a drawing of the layout of the ranch which is what I'd like to see."

"Okay, but there's a big drawing done by a surveyor in that tube over there." Tor pointed. "First though I'd like the papers about the place, but anyone else is welcome to look them over at the same time, if you want."

That comment seemed to be magic because the women in the household were on their feet and clearing the table before Tor had moved back to his place at the table.  He never even got to pick up his own coffee cup before it was whisked away and stacked in the kitchen sink.  Then Alva was wiping the table before he was able to sit in his chair.  He opened the folder and found a copy of the deed to the ranch, a copy of the old lease on the 'wild horse valley' and a small sketch of the ranch layout

"I think first of all I'd like to check out this lease." Tor flipped that open, then gaped at it in surprise. 

Not only was he the prime signatory on the lease, but he recognised his own signature, as well as his aunt and uncles.  The date confirmed that he'd signed the document while he was in the hospital with the broken ankle though, so he knew that he must have been high on pain killers.

"Oh, hold on, doesn't this say I invested twenty-five grand for my share of that lease?" he frowned.

"No, not actually it says you invested a thousand dollars, and services rendered, for a total value of twenty-five-thousand dollars," his dad chortled.  "In other words, Nils and Hanna must have done a favour for the woman selling the lease and passed part of that value on in your name. I know they helped the woman who was selling the homestead to recover her brother's body from the shack where he'd been living.  Then they bought her a house trailer in exchange for the homestead.  I'd say that they fiddled this whole thing to save her from paying too much in taxes, but still left things look like you were the one who was being unselfish.  You hadn't even seen the valley at that time, had you?"

"Nope, I didn't see it until last year."

"In other words, you're looking at another example of Nils' generosity.  You must have done something that he liked quite a bit, so he was doing his best to show you that he appreciated whatever it was.  He's good at that, and there isn't really much you can do about repaying him - just ask me, I've tried.  He considers you to be a worthy member of the family, so he shares whatever he has with you."

"Oh, I'll find a way." Tor shrugged, then flipped the file on the lease closed, handed it on and reached for the next sheet in the file.  That was a balance sheet, accounting for the income and outlay of all funds associated with the ranch for the last two years.  It seemed to show that the ranch had turned a small profit, without any outside investments of any kind, so he felt it was a darn efficient and well-managed setup, but he thought he saw a problem. 

" Dad, would you please look at this, then tell me what you think about it?" Tor handed the sheet to his dad.

"Hmm, whoever is managing the ranch seems to know what they're doing, but I don't see anything listed for improvements or repair work," his dad frowned.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I noticed.  Maybe there was a reason the movie guy was holding off on maintenance, but I'll bet that's why Uncle Nils thought the ranch looked run down."

"You're right, he did mention that, didn't he?  This looks as if Hollywood Harold ignored the ranch and spent all of his time and money on building a fancy hideout instead.  Of course we don't have any accounting of investments in the new house, so  there might have been a few improvements to the whole place that don't show up here," Tor's dad didn't look happy.  "What else have you got in that file?  Maybe there's an explanation hidden away somewhere, because if you don't do any repairs, it doesn't take long for deterioration to ruin a ranch."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Tor nodded and set the balance sheet aside, then opened an envelope filled with Polaroid photos.

The first few shots were pictures of old log buildings with sheet metal roofs as well as views of several stock pens and corrals.  The buildings all looked old and the whole place looked dated, but as far as Tor could see everything looked as if it had been cared for quite well - at least nothing looked ready to fall down.

"Hmph, the buildings need some work, but they don't look as bad as I expected," his dad commented.  "You're going to have to replace that corrugated metal roofing fairly soon though, some of it looks quite badly rusted."

Tor just grunted as he handed his dad a couple more pictures of some of the stock on the farm. "Look at this, Dad!  There must be a dozen small pastures and a different breed of cattle in more than half of those.  At least the way they've been set up is handy with all of them opening on an access road, but the pastures aren't big enough for very many animals to graze in any one. You'd either have to feed the cattle most of the year or move the animals to a different pasture every few weeks."

"I'll bet that's a left over from the breeding program the genetics professor was running on the ranch," his mom offered.  "Didn't Hanna say something about a slightly weird breeding program that professor was trying out?  Since he was the fellow who owned the place before, I'll bet Burns just left it running and didn't care what the men working there did."

"Maybe?" Tor flipped over the next picture.  " Oh, here's a picture of a small herd of horses, half a dozen Appaloosas - oh, and a few Quarter Horses too.  At least I think they're Quarter Horses, at least looking at their conformation, but who knows for sure by just looking.  I rather doubt if they're purebreds though."

"Hanna mentioned seeing several books of breeding records that had been kept since the time that old professor bought the place.  There's supposedly a man who has worked there for thirty years who was handling the breeding program and I think she said he was Scottish," Tor's mom said as she leaned over Tor's shoulder, then pointed to a figure near the pen.  "There, that must be the guy, standing by the fence."

"If it is the guy, I'll soon be meeting him, I guess," Tor shrugged and moved on to the next picture, which was of the new log house.

In fact that log house was the subject of all the rest of the pictures and didn't really interest Tor all that much, so he quickly skimmed through them, then handed the whole lot to his mom. 

The last sheet in the file appeared to be a map or drawing of the ranch and the area around it. Both he and his dad looked at it for a few seconds, then turned to look at each other.

"What scale is this?" Tor's dad frowned.

"I don't know except that it's too darn small, but if that little orange square is Uncle Nils' ten acres, then the green part has to be the outline of the twelve-hundred acres.  Since that outline seems to be as crooked as a dog's hind leg, I think it follows along a topographical line or a grade of some sort.  There's almost half again as much land inside that outer area outlined in red, but at least it has ninety degree corners, which is what I'd expect for government survey lines."

"Hmm, lets check that deed again, before we jump to conclusions," his dad growled.  "The more I look at this thing, the screwier it seems to be."

It took some time to work out the details, but Tor's mom got interested and joined them to help in interpreting the legalese on the deed.  Between them they came to the conclusion that the deed was for a nineteen-hundred acre block of land, but only twelve-hundred acres were usable for ranching.  So, when anyone had spoken about the ranch that extra seven-hundred acres had been ignored, almost as if the area didn't exist.  Of course since that additional acreage was mostly steep slopes, rock faces or mountain streams it wasn't really useful except that the access road to the ranch zig-zagged through much of that steep acreage.  There was mention in the deed that the access road was used by both the ranch and the acreage, so perhaps that's why the area had been ignored.  The present road ran beside a streambed for most of its length, even fording the stream at times and was very steep because the ranch sat on a plateau almost three-hundred feet higher than the municipal road.

Unfortunately a legal notification attached to the deed indicated that the access road required some improvement.  At the present time it was in contravention of government regulations concerning pollution of a stream which fed into a river used by spawning salmon.

Tor and his parents were still working their way through a comparison of the deed and the small map when there was a knock on the back door, then Tor's Aunt Hanna came inside.  She saw what they were looking at, then picked up the cardboard tube and another file folder.

"Hello, everyone, I'm back." Hanna smiled, handing Tor the tube and file folder.  "Tor, forget that sketch, this is what you want to see.  Harold Burns, the former owner, had a surveyor check out the property and make a large scale drawing of the ranch and it's surroundings when he put it up for sale.  While I was in town, the real-estate agent found a series of black and white photos of the ranch which she passed on to us.  It's obvious that she took them through the window of a helicopter, so they're somewhat distorted and slightly fuzzy, but they'll give you an idea of the condition of the ranch."

The much larger scale drawing helped them visualize the layout of the ranch and so did the fact that Tor's Aunt Hanna could describe details that weren't obvious on the drawing.  One of those things was the configuration of the land surrounding the ranch, not to mention the fact that it sat at the base of an extinct volcano.

"The first thing you need to know is that the volcano which overshadows the ranch is responsible for the contours of the whole region, but it's been extinct for thousands of years.  The ranch itself is on a plateau formed by an early lava flow from the volcano and later lava flows built up the cliffs that overlook the upper end and  two sides of the ranch," Hanna explained, pointing to various features on the drawing.  "As you can see the useable portion of the property looks something like a triangle with the top chopped off, and the bulging bottom of the triangle is really a cliff overlooking the river."

"It's certainly a strange shape." Tor frowned.  "I can't really understand how that would have happened, I mean both the shape of the plateau and the fact that it even exists."

"I agree." Aunt Hanna chuckled.  "Hollywood Harold wondered about it too, so he contacted UBC and they sent out a volcanologist who studied the place, then explained it to him.  There's a write-up about it in that second file folder, but you can study that later for yourself.  For now all you need to know is that the whole ranch and the cliffs around it were formed by lava from that volcano

"The plateau is part of the original flow that poured out of the mountain and formed a sheet that covered the whole area under the ranch to a depth of almost three hundred feet.  Then the lava changed to a thicker, slower moving form, which included lumps and chunks that built up the cliff section at the top end of the ranch.  Next the lava changed to a flowing liquid again and formed the ridges that run past both sides of ranch.  The final stage of the volcano was what the vulcanologist called an ash dump, which deposited several feet of ash over the whole area, then over thousands of years that ash decomposed into the actual soil on the ranch."

"Weird," Tor snorted.  "I don't suppose that vulcanologist explained why there's a stream running down each side of the ranch, did he?"

"Actually he did, part of that stream was caused by glacial action and part of it by erosion, but the major water flow was brought about by the collapse of something he called a lava tube. He said that sometimes the lava cools to a hard crust on the surface, but hotter lava continues to flow under that crust.  If the lava flow suddenly stops the hot lava inside the tube flows away, leaving an empty space behind, then at some time in the past, erosion from melt water off the glaciers cut into that lava tube.  The result was an underground stream, which fed into a small lake and the outlet divided, allowing water to run down either one side of the plateau or the other, depending on erosion of the stream bed.  During the last century the various people who have lived on the ranch have had a hand in changing the flow of those two streams as well. 

"If you go up the hill now, you'll find that there are two control dams that regulate the flow of water from the lake into each stream.  A large portion of the flowing water is diverted through a turbine that runs a hydroelectric generator now though.  The previous owner, Professor Wilson, was responsible for installing both of those dams and that generator.  While he was at it, he had a reliable water supply run to the ranch houses, barns and pastures, then had an irrigation system installed to serve some of the fields.  The men working on the ranch use the irrigated fields to grow alfalfa and clover, alternating that with oats and barley, so their yearly feed bill for the animals is negligible.  They do buy seed grain and they buy some vitamin and mineral supplements for the animal feed, but for the most part the feed and bedding supplies for the stock are grown right on the ranch."

"It sounds like that professor was pretty darn smart," Tor's dad commented.

"Actually I'd say he was brilliant," Hanna snorted.  "For instance there's a hot spring up above the level of our log cabin and the water comes out of the ground nearly boiling, so he had a heat exchanger built and submerged in the runoff of the hot spring.  He installed a pump and fed a mixture of antifreeze and water through the heat exchanger.  After that he ran pipes to carry the heated water under the floor in a derelict rock-walled building which had sat empty for years, but he was planning to fix it up and use it for something.  That underfloor heating was such a good idea that Harold adapted the professor's setup to heat the new log cabin he had built."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that there's another cabin up there?" Tor asked instantly.

"Well, it isn't a cabin, it's a big building that looks like an old abandoned church or monastery of some sort, but it was never more than a shell, nowhere near finished.  From the looks of it no one has cared for it in years.  Instead it just sat there deteriorating, so it'd take an awful lot of work to make it useable.  Recently the rafters on one end have given way, so part of the roof has fallen in, which damaged some of the walls.  Personally, I think it's an eyesore that should be bulldozed."

Tor frowned slightly as he looked at the map and noted that the building she'd mentioned was on his portion of the ranch, then saw there was a notation about that building.  A glance at that note showed that the surveyor had disagreed with his Aunt Hanna, since he'd been impressed by the building.  Right then Tor made up his mind that he was going to look that building over quite carefully before doing anything drastic, just because he thought the survey had been done well.

"During coffee this morning you were mentioning that some men worked on the ranch full time, did you meet them by any chance?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, yes, but only for a short time.  There's a Scotchman and a Norwegian working there. They're married to two native women and both families have kids who help out on the ranch when they're needed.  I don't think any of them work all that hard, except maybe at haying or harvest time, but they sure take good care of the animals. We didn't have much time to talk to them, just a few minutes, but they seemed to be quite happy about the fact that Harold might be selling the ranch to people who understood how to farm.  I don't think Hollywood Harold impressed them much."

"Well, why should they be impressed by someone who was only interested in using the ranch as a place to hide away from people?" Tor asked.  "From what I can see of the profit and loss records, he never invested a penny in the working ranch, instead he ignored it and spent money to build a fancy house for himself.  I'll bet he added to the work load of the people who care for the ranch, but ignored any problems they might have that didn't affect his personal life."

"Why would you say that?" his mom asked.

"Oh, it's just a guess, brought on by the fact that he didn't want to purchase the lease until Uncle Nils made it seem that I might be planning to do something that might disturb his privacy. I think Burns has a major problem with people and from what I've seen of him, he's a self-centered, egotistical braggart.  It seems to me that he acts like a spoiled brat and demands that everything has to go his way.  I think I understand him, because sometimes I feel that most people are a pain in the butt, but at least I try to treat everyone decently."  Tor got to his feet then.  "Now, if everyone would excuse me, I've drunk too much coffee today and I've been concentrating on these papers so much that I need to take a break."

Tor went to the bathroom, then went out on the back porch to get away from everyone for a few minutes so he could wrap his mind around what he was learning.  He was only there for a few minutes before he was disturbed though.

"Tor, I know you don't like 'listening in' on other's conversations, but your dad just asked your aunt why they had worked the deal so you'd end up owning the ranch," Dori sent softly.

Tor frowned, but opened his mind to the thoughts of his family, concentrating on his Aunt Hanna.

"Actually we owe him, since we're sure that he saved Nils' life.  When Tor first came out here, he and Nils were pulling stumps up on the new pasture land near the Carruthers' place. They'd hooked up the tractor to a stump with a heavy log chain and started to pull it out of the ground when the chain snapped.  One end of it whipped back toward the tractor and would have killed them both, but Tor managed to shove both himself and Nils out of the way.  As small as he was then, we don't know how he did it, but he managed somehow, so Nils only got a few bruises instead of having his head taken off.  We've asked him about it, but Tor doesn't remember what happened and he passed out right away, so we're sure he doesn't know what he did,"  Hanna was talking quietly so Tor wouldn't have heard her unless he'd 'listened' in.  "It wasn't until afterward that we found that one link of the chain had been cut part way through with a hacksaw and the cut had been disguised with grease and mud.  Nils is certain it was the Carruthers who cut that chain, but we can't prove it.  What we do know is that if Tor hadn't been there, Nils would have been killed.  We're sure that's why those two Carruthers boys started in on Tor afterwards too.  Of course he not only handled their crap, but with his help we got rid of that whole damn clan.  As far as we can see, if it hadn't been for Tor and what he did, we'd still be putting up with that bunch of criminals, so getting him involved in our Wild Horse Valley was a partial payback for what he'd done."

"But why did you make him the owner of the new ranch?  Why not part owner, the same as he was on that lease?" Tor's mom asked.

"Partly because I want Nils to slow down, not get heavily involved in another long term job. Nils has enough of those on his plate now, but mostly because I want to have a place where we can relax and take a break.  The other part of the deal is just the way things worked out.  You see we started off by listening to an offer from a real estate agent on the old homestead that sounded almost too good to be true.  Then we met Hollywood Harold and he made us a cash offer that we'd have been stupid to turn down.  It was only after we'd been handed the cheque for the place that Nils told Harold that Tor had the majority share in the lease of the land next to the homestead, sort of a full disclosure thing.  He was just warning Harold that Tor had mentioned running a dude ranch operation in the valley, but Harold went bananas over the idea of having tourists coming anywhere near his new hideaway," Aunt Hanna paused and sighed heavily.  "Just the way that yahoo spoke annoyed me, since we'd told him about the lease and about Tor being involved in the first place, so that yappy Yankee's ranting irritated me.  I waved the cheque in his face and told him that he could back out on the deal if he wanted to, but that if he did, I'd make sure everyone knew what a four flushing, welshing bastard he was.  Now the real-estate agent had worked her butt off to set up the deal and I suppose she could see the whole thing going up in flames.  So she brought up the fact that he had a ranch for sale and suggested that we might work some sort of trade."

Hanna paused then and chuckled. "I snapped back at her, telling her that Tor was the major shareholder in the lease and that there was no way I was going to try to talk him into a deal that was going to cost him money.  Then Hollywood Harold surprised me by offering to trade straight across - his ranch and a fancy log cabin on a separate acreage in exchange for the lease and the old Metis homestead.  I just waved the cheque he'd given us under his nose and called him a welsher, so he changed his offer and wanted to trade the acreage with the log cabin in exchange for the lease.  That's when I asked him what Tor got out of the deal and the real-estate agent mentioned that the lease is about twice as big as the ranch.  Finally he offered to trade both the ranch and the acreage for the lease and I said we'd consider it, but I wanted to see both of them first."

"And?" Tor's mom prodded for more information.

"Well, he flew us there in a helicopter, but as soon as I saw the place I knew I didn't want Nils to get heavily involved with the ranch, because it's going to be a long term project.  That asshole Harold hasn't put any money into that ranch in the last few years and it shows.  Now it's not badly run down, but it isn't in good shape either. Of course it would be a lot worse if it wasn't for the two guys that are working there. They've got their heads screwed on right and they're doing the best they can to keep it up just using what the ranch produces.  It only needs an investment of some time, some thought  and a few dollars to turn it into a profitable place," Aunt Hanna sighed.  "Really though, I wasn't thrilled with the ranch, then I saw that log house and the fenced acreage around it.  That house is really nice - in fact it's great and the acreage is big enough that we can fence off part of it, so we could keep a couple of horses there.  That's when I got the idea of Tor having the ranch, but Nils and me having the acreage - that way we'd all be gaining on the deal.  In trade for wintering the horses we keep there, we're going to offer to let Tor take over one wing of the house, which I think was originally set up for servants. It has two decent sized bedrooms, a small living room, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom, but it's completely separated from the rest of the house.  That way Tor could be independent even though we'd like him to eat with us when we were there.  You could call it a board and room sort of thing if you want, but really he'll have his own space, that way he can be more or less self sufficient if he wants to be.  Now I don't want Nils working on that darn ranch every time we're go up there, so I warned him that it will be Tor's ranch, but that he can give Tor advice if Tor asks.  Now when it comes to improvements on the ranch, Tor has money coming from the work he did on the Metis homestead and cabin, as well as more for the horses he's trained for Nils, so he has some funds to invest in the ranch."

"What about taxes and fees for this trade?" Tor's dad asked.

"Oh, by the time that came up Harold wanted the deal so badly that he covered all the taxes and transfer fees for the acreage as well as for the ranch.  Nils and I paid the taxes on the lease and the Metis homestead out of the money we got for the homestead.  As a result Tor has no worries about taxes for the next year and even then the taxes will only be on the ranch, which is classed as marginal farmland.  Let's face it, the place is isolated, so no one lives within fifteen or twenty miles, but the road below the ranch leads to a park, so it gets plowed in the winter. There is telephone service and great radio reception, so the place isn't completely cut off from civilization.  It is quite isolated though, which is why Harold owned it in the first place."

"Well, from the looks of that access road, it's no highway, so that needs to be improved," Tor's dad commented.

"You're right, Ollie, it does, but since Mr. Hollywood had planned on selling the place he'd already had it surveyed and included as part of the acreage.  In fact he'd even arranged for a road building firm to do the job and had given them a large down payment, with the provision that they have to be finished the road by early this fall.  Now, since I want to be able to drive to our new acreage easily, Nils and I will pick up whatever extra cost there will be to finish the job.  I saw that road from the helicopter and it's nowhere near finished, so I told Nils last night that he'd better get it fixed, and darn soon too.  Tor won't have any expenses on that job."

"It looks to me like you're setting our son up to gain a lot from very little investment. Aren't you worried that your two sons will be resentful?" Tor's mom asked then.

"Not in this world!" Aunt Hanna laughed.  "I don't think they're upset at all, but they might kick themselves for not investing along with him.  After all, we did offer both of them the option of investing in the lease.  They both turned it down and even laughed at the idea, but as Nils told them last night; 'Ya snooze, ya lose!'  Nils made sure they know they screwed up, so they might be a touch jealous, but neither one will be annoyed over it.  In fact they might just listen to Tor a little more carefully than they have before, which wouldn't be a bad thing.  Tor seems to take the time to think and plan what to do before he jumps into things.  Both of our boys could take a lesson from him, because both of them have a tendency to leap into problems headfirst, so they're unprepared for pitfalls."

"Dang, talking about pitfalls, I'd better go talk to the electricians, just in case they've run into anything unexpected," Tor's dad said.

"Tor, just in case you're still on the back porch, your dad is heading your way," Dori sent quickly.

"Thanks, Dori, I heard that," he sent back.

Tor was standing at the edge of the porch, his hands resting on the railing when his dad came outside.

"Are you okay with everything that's gone on today, Tor?" he asked.

"I guess," Tor shrugged, then grinned weakly.  "I was just thinking that a kid shouldn't mention his daydreams to Uncle Nils though, because that man is liable to find a way to make those childish wishes happen."

His dad stared at him for a few seconds, then he started to grin and finally broke into a soft laugh as he lay a hand on Tor's shoulder.  "So, now that you know dreams can come true, what do you think?"

"I think I'm going to be asking a lot of people for a lot of advice." Tor sighed.  "I may be asking for some help too, but I'm stubborn enough that I'll try to do most of the work on my own or with the help of the people who work on the ranch already.  The only thing is - I don't want to screw up, because I think that ranch could be a little goldmine if it was set up right.  Considering the figures we saw on that balance sheet, the place is making enough to support the guys working there even now, so I don't think it would take much to make things even more profitable.  Add in some investment and slightly different management and it might change a lot, because I think the present set up was focussed toward making that professor's breeding experiments easier.  He wouldn't really have been expecting to make any money on it, or if he did, I'll bet he wasn't expecting a lot of profit."

"Well, I agree that the professor wouldn't have worried too much about profit, but he would probably have wanted the ranch to sustain itself.  If it's doing all right now, you'll want to be certain that it continues to make some profit, so don't waste your investments on unnecessary frills, and don't be afraid to ask for help."

"Oh, I don't plan on changing anything right away, Dad.  I want to go there and spend some time to get a feel of the place before I make any changes of any kind.  I definitely want to work with the men who are already working there to see what they think they need most.  I'd like to know what they do every day, how they get along with each other, things of that sort.  I don't want to stir things up until I know something needs to be changed, so I'd be happy as heck if all they need is a little boost, not a kick in the butt.  You've trained me pretty darn well and I guess now I'll get to see if I remember everything you've taught me." Tor paused, then frowned.  "I don't know how much time or money I can afford to spend on it, but there is one thing I think I'd like to improve fairly soon.  From the pictures I saw of it, the access road needs a bunch of work."

"Well, Hanna just mentioned that road and improving it isn't going to cost you a cent, Mr. Yankee Movie Man has already paid to have that done." Tor's dad chuckled.  "I guess he figured he'd never sell the place if the road wasn't improved and besides that, Hanna was saying that she and Nils plan to pick up any over-runs on the job.  Since Hanna seems rather hostile on the subject of that road, I'd say that you best keep your nose out of that mess.  Now to change the subject, I think you and I should go out and check with the electricians, since I see they're back on the job.  For one thing, I think it might be worthwhile to install a few lightning rods on some of our taller buildings, so I want to ask if they could do the job or if they know of someone who will."

They had just walked past the corner of the house in time to meet Nils as he drove up in a used Land Rover, pulling a trailer.

"Tomorrow vee go see yer new ranch, yah?" Nils grinned as he stepped out and clapped Tor on the shoulder.  "Iss Hanna in da house?  Ay vant to show her da buggy Ay bought yust fer gettin up da hill to da new place."

"Yep, she's still talking about her new house to Olga and the girls."  Tor's dad answered. "Say, while you're here, just what shape is that ranch in anyway?  Tor and I were looking at the balance sheet for the place and we couldn't see if much money had been spent on maintenance."

"Not since da perfesser feller vas dere 'bout four er fife yars ago, der veren't.  Dat Hollvood Yankee guy vere a dumb turd vit no common sense uf any kind.  Stuupidt, vanker, din't know his headt from hiss asshoel undt let da place go ta pot.  Tank goodtness da two men vhat vurk dere are goodt vurkers er da place voodt haf gone downhill vurse dan it hass done.  Der is goodt stock der fer Tor to vurk vit dhough, andt da bildings is solidt, but dey vill needt vurk soon." Uncle Nils threw his hands in the air, then grinned.  "Vee didt get a good deal andt vit sum vurk Tor vill haf a darn goodt ranch andt besides, vit his share from da homesteadt he vill haff some money to vurk vit."

"Uncle Nils, you're acting funny, and I don't mean funny - hilarious, I mean funny - strange. I've already had enough of that today from Aunt Hanna, and I'm too confused to think straight anyway, so can you explain what happened with that real-estate deal?  In other words how did you and Aunt Hanna manage to bamboozle a wealthy Yank into giving up a working ranch in trade for a lease on a patch of scrub brush and weed trees?"  Tor frowned.  " Besides, Aunt Hanna told me I owned two-thirds of the original lease, but darn if I can remember signing anything to do with that lease.  As far as I'm concerned the whole thing is unbelievable and totally unexpected."

"Vell, it is really qvite straight forvard.  You vere in da hospital und vee vere buyin' da land up abuff da vild horse valley andt our poys vere not intrested in bein' infolfedt, so . . ."  Uncle Nils began as he leaned back against the fender of his Land Rover.

The story was a repeat of what Tor had been told before, and even though Tor didn't remember things happening the way it was explained, it made sense - in a strange way.  It wasn't until Uncle Nils got to the point of talking about the sale of the cabin that there was any real difference from what Tor had heard before.  It did confirm what Aunt Hanna had been talking about when he'd been 'eavesdropping' though.

"Vhen vee sold da cabin andt da oldt Metis homesteadt, I tought dat you vould be keepin' da lease. Becuz uf dat, I tought I shouldt varn dat Hollyvood Yankee fella dat you hadt said sometin ayboudt runnin a dude ranch an haffin trail rides down on da lease.  Vell, he almosdt vent crayzee den and he vas demandin dat he neededt to buy dat too. Vee arguedt an dickeredt back andt fort, den dat real-estate vomun uf his saidt mebee vee shouldt trade da lease fer da ranch vhat he hadt.

"Well, since he was trying to buy a hideout, I can see why he'd be upset over the idea of a tourist business starting up nearby," Tor nodded with a wry grin.  "The last thing he'd want would be something that would bring people near his new place and I can imagine you teased him with the idea, just to get him wound up."

"Yep, so can I," his dad grinned.

Uncle Nils just winked and grinned at that, as if he wasn't willing to comment at all.

"Well, Uncle Nils, I'd like you to know I do appreciate what you've done, but I'm really having a hard time accepting the fact that I'm a land owner.  I can't help feeling a bit out of my depth and on top of that I'm worried that Arne and Kai might be jealous that I'm horning in on a land deal that should have been theirs," Tor said softly.

"Oh, not dhose two.  Dey know dey had dere chanct an' turndt it down and really, dey are not intrested in farmin' or ranchin,' but dhey bodt tink dis iss a great ting fer you.  Besides dat you're darndt goodt at training horses, andt now you got a ranch uf your own to do dat er vhateffer else you vant to do vit it."

"Well, I do like training horses, because when they improve it feels like I've accomplished something that others seem to have a hard time doing.  I get the same sort of thrilling when I'm coaching the guys who are playing hockey.  I can't explain why I enjoy it so much.  I just do."

"You don't have to explain," Tor's dad chuckled.  "Feeling pride in the accomplishments of a student is common, every parent feels the same way at those times."

For some reason Tor felt a lot better about the situation concerning 'his' ranch at that point, perhaps the fact that his uncle Nils had been surprised by the offer of the trade made a difference. At any rate he mentioned that he hadn't checked to see if lightning had done any damage to the old garage where his car was kept and excused himself to go look.  Meanwhile his dad went off to see what had been done at the equipment shed while his uncle headed into the house.  Tor had just opened the doors to the old garage when Dori came running up behind him.

"Hey, are you feeling more sociable now, because I want to talk to you?" she asked as she caught his hand in hers.  "Besides, I haven't had a good morning kiss yet, and the day is more than half gone."

"Sorry about that, but I've been under a bit of pressure today, and I'm still trying to catch up with all these new 'essential' duties that come along with having a girlfriend," Tor grinned at her as he wrapped her in his arms to give her a hug and a kiss.

"Umm, that's better." Dori giggled after a moment or two.  "By the way, your mom thinks you're being moody.  Are you?"

"Somewhat, I guess."  Tor sighed.  "I take a while to get used to changes and my life has been changing a bunch in the last little while."

"Well, I guess your life is changing!" she giggled.  "There aren't many guys your age who get a car, a girlfriend and a ranch all thrown into their lap inside a couple of weeks."

"Well, the car and the ranch anyway, I'm not too sure if you got thrown at me though," he hugged her tightly.

"Oh, yeah, you did.  In fact I threw myself at you," she giggled.

"Darn, here I thought I'd finally figured out how to seduce some innocent kid into being my gal."

"Huh, your problem is that you've seduced half the gals in the county, but you keep running away from most of them, at least - well, ever since you broke up with Sunny.  I'm just glad that I'm the one who finally tripped you," she giggled, then sobered quickly and began to speak aloud.  "Your Aunt Hanna just threw me a curve."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she says you and your Uncle Nils are going to the new ranch tomorrow, then she's going there on Friday and she invited me along."

"And?"

"Well, the thing is  . . .  I've got family visiting and  . . .  well, I should visit with them, but I really want to see your new ranch and spend time with you."

Tor looked at her quite seriously, then sighed softly.  "I think you're going to have to make up your own mind on that one, but I want you to remember that originally I was going to leave on Thursday and be gone for a month.  Your mom and dad probably don't know about the fact that my life has changed and that I'll be staying a lot closer to home now.  I think they'll expect you to be here for that time and will probably have told your cousin about that.  Besides, aren't you supposed to be working at the hospital again soon?"

"Well, the hospital called Mom and let her know that they are having to cut back on the number of hours that Candy Stripers will be working.  I think Mom must have been in one of her weird moods and she thought I should be spending time with my cousins rather than helping out at the hospital, so she told them they could cut me from the roster.  She's probably told my cousins about it too, but I don't think she'd mind if I came to your ranch to visit," Dori snorted then.  "Actually, since you own a ranch now, Mom is probably trying her best to set me up to trap you into being involved with me even more than we already are."

"Oh, crap!  I forgot about that." Tor snorted.  "I think my Mom is just as bad as your mom though.  I had a discussion with Mom this morning about you and me sleeping in the same bed, but not having sex.  According to her I'm not acting like a normal teenager."

"Well, then neither am I," Dori giggled.  "Actually as close as I feel when we 'talk like this,' I'm not sure I'm ready to handle the emotions of sex on top of it.  I think I might go into total overload or something."

"Yeah, but our moms don't know about this," Tor grinned and hugged her.  "I think you should talk to your family about what you want to do this weekend.  You know darn well I'd like you to visit, but in my opinion family comes first."

"Huh, you haven't met my Uncle Abe and Aunt Matty or my cousins, Tyeshia and Marty.  I can only take them for a short time before I want to be by myself just to save my sanity.  Uncle Abe spent most of his life working as a supervisor in a big store, so he's a high pressure guy, sort of pushy.  Aunt Matty was a real-estate saleswoman and although she doesn't come across as quite as pushy as Uncle Abe, she can be quite intense.  Tyeshia is brilliant, but just plain boy crazy, while Martin is nuts about sports - baseball, basketball, football, tennis, anything that's competitive."

"Hmm, I wonder if Mom ever got around to mentioning your aunt and uncle to Aunt Hanna, because it sounds to me like she has the perfect job for both of them."

"Oh, I forgot about that.  Let's go find out."

"Why don't you go do it, which would definitely get you on Aunt Hanna's good side?  I'll finish checking the wiring in here and then spend some time with Dad and Uncle Nils.  That way you can do a good sales job on Aunt Hanna without me influencing things in any way."

So Dori gave him a quick hug and kiss, then rushed back to the house.  A few minutes later Tor was standing with his dad and his uncle when his aunt Hanna and Dori rushed out of the house, hopped into Hanna's car, then drove off hurriedly.

"Ay vunder vhat dhat is all aboudt?"  Uncle Nils frowned.

"Oh, I'll bet Dori told Aunt Hanna that her aunt and uncle were in town.  She mentioned to me that her uncle used to be the supervisor at a big store in California and her aunt worked in a real-estate office.  Mom said something about a supervisor's job coming open at the Co-op and another job of some sort at the Development Company, so maybe Aunt Hanna thought she should talk to them."

"Oh, dhat iss a goodt idear andt you haf foundt yerself a dang goodt vomun to tink uf bodt families like dat.  Vee need somevun at bodt places andt if dhey are moofin' here dhen dhey needt to vurk somevhere.  Only Hanna couldt haf stoppedt andt lookedt at da new car first so I couldt talk to her ayboudt tomorrow's trip,"  Uncle Nils then headed toward his new four-wheel drive unit.  "Now aye vill haf to go to town and findt her."

His dad grinned at Tor, then nodded his head toward the equipment shed.  "Let's go see the electricians."

Andy Barker was working in the equipment shed, installing a new breaker panel and had planned to install any replacement wiring or fittings that might be needed.  His son, Billy, was running a quick visual check on each circuit and was using masking tape to mark anything that looked like it might be questionable.

"Hey there, Sure Shot.  What's this I hear about you wanting extra ice time so badly that you're planning to wear extra padding and act as a target in goal this year?" Billy teased as soon as he saw Tor.

"Yeah, with one goalie leaving town and the other one ending up in hospital, someone had to step into the job.  The new coach decided it should be me, since I'm the biggest guy on the team and fill most of the goal just by standing in front of it." Tor grinned.  "I can't argue with the coach much either, since Dad took on that job."

"Yeah, well I heard rumours that if the other team doesn't have their players wearing bikinis we should be okay with you in goal, but darn it - we're going to miss you on our number one line."

"Not only that, but one way or another, the team will be losing Kevin too.  He'll either be staying in Alberta, or else he'll be moving up to the next level - if he does come back out here."

"Yeah I heard about that too.  At least Schneider's old team will have a decent coach now."

"Yeah, our coach from last year." Tor grinned.  "Anyway, I was going to ask if you guys are going to be working late in order to get done here quickly, because I know you must have more rush jobs after that darn storm?  If you do plan on working late, we could set up a meal for you."

"You folks don't have to do that, Tor," Billy's father, Andy responded instantly.  "We aren't going to starve if we're here for a couple extra hours."

"Nonsense!" Tor's dad argued.  "Olga can pull something out of the freezer and have it ready to eat by six.  Are there just the two of you here?"

"No there are two more men checking your barn and the other outbuildings, but you really don't have to feed us."

"Oh for goodness sakes, Andy.  You know as well as I do that your men will need a break by six and they'll be more attentive when they come back to work if they aren't tired and hungry. Tor, head to the house and let your mom know that she'll have four extra mouths to feed for supper, then you and I will get out of these fellows hair so we don't slow them down," Tor's dad followed him out the door.  "Oh, Tor, while you're in the house you might as well finish packing for the morning too.  Nils will be here early tomorrow and we've got visitors coming later, so you won't have a chance to do much packing tonight.  Your mom will know what you need to take for bedding."

"Bedding?  Can't I just use my sleeping bag?"  Tor frowned.

"Well, it seems that the new house Hanna and Nils bought has a separate wing that was set up for that Yankee's cook and caretaker to use, so Hanna thought you could use it.  I think she wants to rent it to you, as well as providing your meals whenever they're there, but in exchange they'll want you to board a couple of horses during the winter.  You know those two, they'll want to keep a few horses around their acreage, probably three horses, a gelding for Nils and those first two mares you trained for Hanna to use.  She likes the way they act so much that she won't let Nils sell them.  I imagine you'll be taking your yearling colt down there too, but since she can't be ridden yet, do you want to borrow that bay gelding you like, so you'll have a horse to ride too?"

"Not yet, Dad.  I think I want to see what's on the ranch, before I start adding any stock."

"That's probably a good idea," his dad nodded.  "Anyway, off you go, and don't forget to warn your mom about having guests for supper.  Don't worry about chores tonight.  I'll start on them early."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," his dad chuckled. "But, if you find you need to keep Alva out of your hair while you're packing, send her out to help me."

Tor just laughed at that idea as he walked off.  Once he went into the house and had talked to his mom, she had a better idea - she set Alva to work making up an 'emergency' grub package, just in case Tor had to make a few meals for himself. 

"I doubt it's going to happen, at least not for a while, but Hanna did say there was a full kitchen in that smaller place, so you might as well be ready if you do need to cook for yourself," his mom smiled.  "I know darn well you can take care of yourself, so what Alva is packing up is a 'just in case' package.  As far as bedding is concerned, Hanna seems to think there is already enough there, but just to be sure I've set aside a couple of used sheets and enough blankets to make up a bed.  However from now on you're going to have to buy any more bedding or supplies that you want to have over there."

"You didn't even have to do this, Mom.  I was going to just take a sleeping bag and a few clothes for now.  I thought I'd find out what I need to have when I get to the ranch, then buy it later."

"Well, you'll need to buy new school clothes next month anyway, so be sure you budget for that.  Now do you need any help packing things?"

"Naw, I'll be fine." Tor grinned and gave her a quick hug before hurrying upstairs to pack.

Since he'd already been preparing to head for the homestead on Vancouver Island, he really didn't have a lot of packing to do so it was only a short while before he was packed and ready. That was probably a good thing because it wasn't long before his mom was calling him back downstairs.

"Do you have much more packing to do, Tor?  If not, could you go light the coals in the barbeque, not only do we have four extra mouths working here, but Hanna called and she's bringing out about eight others.  At least she's stopping at the Co-op for the meat and salads, so all we'll have to do is cook her burgers and steaks.  It looks like we're going to have a small party of sorts tonight," his mom smiled as he came downstairs.

"Oh, is she bringing out Dori's folks and their relatives from California?" he asked.

"Yeah, she is. Do you know much about them?"

"Not much, just that Dori's aunt and uncle are visiting, along with two cousins.  The uncle was some sort of bigwig who ran a supermarket or something, but just lost his job and the aunt used to sell real-estate.  I think the cousins are about the same age as Dori and me, but I'm not even sure about that."

"Oh, you're a great help." Alva laughed.

"Yeah well, I've had a few other things on my mind." Tor shrugged.

"You're right, you have and the rest of us have too," his mom frowned at Alva.  "Alva, why don't you go help your dad with the chores and let him know that we're having visitors, so we'll be eating a bit late tonight."

Tor glanced at Alva and his mom, wondering what was going on, but he knew better than to choose sides when they were upset with each other.  In this case he didn't have any idea what was wrong, so he went outside to light the barbeque rather than snooping.  He saw Alva head out for the barns as he was loading the charcoal into the barbeque lighter, then went inside once it was lit, planning to go over the drawing of the new ranch, but he didn't get a chance. His mom waved him over as she was talking on the telephone.

"Here, Tor.  It's Officer McDonald and he wants to talk to you," she held out the receiver.

"Hello, Officer, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I haven't been able to get hold of your uncle or aunt, but I understand the three of you were involved in the purchase of a ranch in the Cascades from Harold Burns, is that right?"

"Yes sir, we did.  We traded him for some land and a lease on Vancouver Island.  Is there some sort of problem?"

"I see.  Well, have you been there to see the property?"

"No, not personally, but Uncle Nils and Aunt Hanna have.  Uncle Nils and I are planning to go there tomorrow though and I think both of them are going to be here for a while this evening. Only I have to ask, is there a problem of some sort?"

"I'm sorry, but that's a question I can't answer right now, at least not over the telephone," Officer McDonald sounded somewhat hesitant and perhaps even a touch officiously.  "If your aunt and uncle are going to be at your home this evening, do you suppose it would be possible for me to speak to the three of you in private for a few moments?"

"I don't see why not," Tor shrugged his shoulders, then looked over at his mom.  "I'll tell you what, we're having a barbeque this evening, so why don't you plan to eat here?  I'm fairly certain we can find you a steak or at least a burger or two.  After we've all eaten, you can tell us about whatever your problem might be."

"Actually I'd prefer to speak to the three of you in private, if I may?" Officer McDonald sighed softly.  "Unfortunately this will be a semi-official visit on my part and while I appreciate the invitation to your barbeque, I have to refuse because of the situation.  You see I'm going to ask your permission to inspect your new property to see if there are any signs of suspicious activity there in the recent past."

"Holy smokes!" Tor said in surprise.  "Umm,  as far as I'm concerned there's no problem for you to look over the ranch, but you'll have to ask my aunt and uncle about anything to do with their acreage.  You do know that there are three sections of land there, don't you?  That's about twenty-five-hundred acres, but about half of that area is rock, and rough as the dickens."

"Oh, we're aware of the terrain, but actually we're more interested in the residence and the area near it for now.  Anyway, I'd like you to keep our discussion to yourself, if you would.  You can mention my coming visit to your parents so it won't come as a surprise, but other than that I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this conversation private, okay?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

"Now, could I speak to your mother again?  Since you aren't yet eighteen, I'll need her permission to speak to you privately and about any other legalities of the situation."

"Umm, sure.  Mom, he wants to talk to you again." Tor said as he handed his mom the phone.

Right then Tor didn't know what to make of the situation, but his mind was running in circles over the possibilities.  The RCMP had to have discovered something about Burns that had made them suspicious and somehow they had tied those suspicions to either his ranch or Uncle Nils and Aunt Hanna's acreage.  Yet, he had 'heard' Burns referring to a Major in the US Marines, so why didn't the RCMP know about that connection.  Was Burns involved in a clandestine operation and abducting Canadian children without the knowledge of Canadian authorities?  Was Burns really involved with the US Marines, or was he acting for someone else?

Just what the blazes was going on and how the hell had he become involved in this mess?

Chapter 21