Chapter 26

One thing that Grif knew about Alaska's salmon, unless the population was in dire straits, the fishing was universally phenomenal. That went for the other species too. The difference was in the people who host the guests, and the accuracy of actually providing what they said they would. That is what set the Aurora View Lodges and the Arctic Fox apart. If they couldn't provide a service or amenity to everyone, it would not be mentioned or implied on the website or brochure that they did.

The only thing that kept a pilot from returning for the guests when they were supposed to was the weather. The guides and other personnel were trustworthy and dependable. Even Will and Sonya were never caught falsifying the cabin or boat rentals to pocket the money. That would be hard to do with Mitch Dunning, the pilot covering the old Bettles office flying them in and out. Rudy had sold the Beaver and the office to Mitch in October and had an agreement with him to handle all of the Gates of the Arctic traffic.

The Edwards' cooperation with Grif and Tara on the Walker Lake cabin and boat rental was jeopardized when Will killed a bear inside the park boundaries. Having nothing more to go on than a description of the bear that the Rangers had not accounted for, Will encountered the bear as it was keeping fishermen off shore. When it would not leave for almost two hours, and then swam into the lake to pursue them, Will concluded that it was the man killer.

Will had Sonya guide the outboard equipped Ranger's boat until he had a clear safe shot and then killed the Grizzly in the water. Afterwards he lassoed it and towed it ashore. In spite of an hour's worth of video shot of the bear chasing the fishermen in the rowboats, Will was terminated and arrested for killing the bear within park boundaries.

Other than the fact that it couldn't have been Mama Bear, it was the same size and coloration. The problem was it had no collar, and was a male. Will told his supervisor that the collar had been turned in early in June by a hiker. Sonya too was arrested as an accomplice, but later released. The Ranger's reasoning was that Will wasn't the one threatened by the bear, and he could have used the boat to drive the bear ashore somewhere else.

The Alaska DF&G wardens were willing to accept the video of the bear in pursuit, but the US FWS Federal wardens confiscated the tape and caused it to vanish. Fortunately for Will, when he appeared before the Federal Judge in Fairbanks, the two state wardens confirmed the existence of the tape as did the eyewitnesses being chased in the rowboats.

Will and Sonya were no longer volunteers for the park service. When they showed up the week after the incident at the Arctic Fox, Grif hired them to be nature guides at the lodge. They would apply for Will to be a fishing guide, but his license would not be processed before August. In late July the six horses arrived from Canada, and the couple were hired to blaze trails and lead tours up into the hills. Grif made arrangements to board his horses at the Wilderness Lodge over the winter.

For the first time in two years, Will and Sonya could actually say they were employed in a real paying job in Alaska. Will still had to pay a fine before they released his plane, and he borrowed the money from an uncle that would not let him forget how much he still owed. Will paid it off in two months, and was done with his arrogant uncle. He received a tremendous amount of satisfaction from telling his uncle that he couldn't get him a free fishing trip because he both smoked and drank.

The uncle threatened to sue for discrimination, but the liquor was Corporation Law, rather than just policy like the no smoking policy. Smokers were being barred all over so that argument was going nowhere. The man was just obnoxious anyway. Will and his wife could also admit to being married, instead of Sonya claiming to be a lesbian. The last cabins at Walker Lake were sold to Mitch and that chapter was finally closed.

In July, Theresa and Sam came up, and Grif made certain they both liked Alaskan fishing better than the saltwater trips they had gone on. When they arrived, it was in a Cessna 210 Centurion, similar to the Cessna 206 only with retractable gear. The Piaggio had been sold, because Brian finally put the brakes on Shelly's spending. Now they shared the 210. The trip took longer, but they enjoyed it more and saw more of the scenery that they flew high and fast above before. Theresa had even earned her pilot's license. She was still restricted to VFR conditions and single-engine aircraft.

On the return trip, Sam and Theresa would go down through Alberta, Canada, and visit Calgary. They had finally decided to slow down and truly enjoy what life offered. Grif made arrangements to fly down for Thanksgiving to do some goose hunting with them. When the Samuels finally left, Grif got back to his duties of running the lodge.

(August 9, Norton Sound, over US Territorial waters)

Rudy was flying two guests out over Norton Sound when he spotted six large fishing trawlers. When he approached the ships, for that is what they were, ten miles offshore, two of them uncovered machine guns hidden on the deck and began firing at him. At the sound of three loud "bangs" hitting the aluminum of the Cessna 185, Rudy kicked the plane over and dropped to just above the waves heading back to Shaktoolik.

All the while he was on his radio, trying to raise the Coast Guard, State Troopers, or anyone, even Grif. The ships had his transmissions jammed and he could raise nobody. It was then that he noticed that one of his passengers had been hit. The man's wife had fainted when he dropped suddenly. He also noticed fuel streaming from his right wing, and switched his cross-feed to the left tank, so that he wouldn't lose fuel from it too. Still unable to raise anyone, and with at least one passenger likely to be dead soon if not already, Rudy sped on towards the Arctic Fox, all the while trying to raise someone on the radio.

Finally he did raise Grif, who had a former Navy medic in camp. They prepared the jet to go to Anchorage but by the time Rudy arrived, the man was dead. His wife was hysterical and babbling on about it being Rudy's fault for taking them over Russia and getting shot at by the Russians!

Mike and Mary came to investigate first, and Mary explained that in the Cessna, Russia was two hours away, and showed her on the map where they had been. Mike looked with dread at Grif, knowing this would most likely never be investigated. The ships were probably Chinese in origin, doing their seasonal raping of the salmon population, and knowing that the US would not escalate it into an incident.

With Taiwan on their minds and North Korea threatening over nuclear weapons, confronting China over trespassing fishing trawlers was not going to happen, and the Red Chinese knew it! Within two hours a Coast Guard C-130 was shadowing the fishing fleet, and was also electronically jammed. By then the ships had returned to International waters, outside the twelve-mile limit.

As the nets were pulled in and hundreds of thousands of Silver Salmon dumped into the hold, the C-130 came around again to photograph the over-harvest. No sooner had the cameras focused, than the armed ships raised two SAM batteries and fired four missiles, knocking the Hercules from the sky. Two of the airmen bailed out while the plane crashed into one of the trawlers. As it began to burn and sink, the C-130's survivors were then executed while still in the water.

Now the burning ship was visible on the horizon, and after extracting its crew, the other five ships made their escape, separating and each taking a different route. Like so many other Cold War incidents, this would be hushed up and people outside of Alaska and the Pentagon would never know anything about it.

Rudy's Cessna 185 was confiscated, and he, the man's widow, and everyone at the Arctic Fox that knew of the incident were threatened if they ever spoke of the incident to anyone. Mike and Mary were powerless to do anything.

Grif grumbled, "Thirty-five years ago, we could fill the skies with planes, and nobody would mess with us. Now we are less than ten percent of that militarily. I don't like what our country is becoming."

Mike agreed, "It will take them going after the pipeline before they come to the defense of Alaska. I wonder after today, just how far in the future that will happen?"

Wally, who had been keeping up with a move by the Hawaiians for independence, said, "Maybe if Hawaii gets its independence back, then Alaska can follow. Then we have to protect ourselves."

"With the whole population of Alaska less than that of one good-sized US city," Mike suggested, "even if everyone joined its armed forces, it would still be small, and not able to defend against the Chinese if they were to invade."

"That is why alliances are formed," Grif replied, "not that Canada would be much help. I am thinking more like the Japanese, and maybe the Russians. If we go independent, then the US is likely to turn on us too. After all, they would suddenly lose 20% of the west coast's oil supply."

"Independence is a long ways off," opined Rudy. "I think that would be an invitation to be invaded. Maybe the UN could help."

Grif shook his head, and suggested, "You might as well ask the Pope for help! In fact, you would be better off asking the Pope."

Rudy laughed, "We'd be like the terrorists saying that God is on our side and we will win."

"I would put more faith in God than in the UN," Grif admitted. "Show me one war they have prevented. The UN is anything but united. Its day has come and gone."

"I don't know," Wally admitted. "I think the whole key to our survival as an independent nation would depend on our becoming God's people. Think about it. If we were to become God's chosen people by kicking out everyone that tried to ban prayer, the Ten Commandments and so forth, and allowed only Christians and Jews, hence a Judeo-Christian foundation, like the country started with in the first place, maybe we could. I mean look at the storms that come up in the Bering Sea. No Navy's surface ships could withstand those. There are storms that nobody without adequate shelter can survive. There is weather that hardly anything can fly through, and more."

"Right," scoffed Rudy. "If we depended entirely on that we would be slaughtered, but hey, then we could all go to Heaven, right? I just want my plane back. That just wasn't right."