Abandoned Treasure
Fort Were

Jade Storm’s POV

Fort Ware, British Colombia

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

The bush transport landed with a thud, the oversize tires bouncing along the graded dirt and rock airport strip. My head banged against the back of the chair, making me curse under my breath. Spider Monkey wasn’t doing any better; she looked like she was going to get sick. Oki Uni was crying in his carrier, not liking the noise and the altitude changes from this flight.

We were the only passengers on the flight to this remote tribal outpost in northern British Colombia. The rest of the plane was full of mail, food, supplies, and other goods for the town of three hundred and fifty. As the plane turned off the runway, I could see the homes and buildings in the green of late summer.

Spidey saw an airport sign. “Fort Ware? Where the hell are we?”

Keeping her safe had been my task. We’d driven, taken ferries, and flown to three different airports before the final flight to this isolated town. “I have a friend here who might offer us sanctuary.”

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t seen or talked to her in over a decade.”

“Great,” she grumbled. “And if she’s not here?”

“I’ll figure it out,” I replied. The pilot shut the engines down and opened the door. I went down the stairs and took Oki as she handed him down. Townspeople were coming with trucks to unload, and the natives looked at us suspiciously as we stood with our luggage. An old man with grey hair tied back in a ponytail spoke to the others in a language I didn’t know. I would later replace out it was Sekani, the local language of the aboriginal tribe my friend was from. He quickly switched to English. “Who are you, and why are you here?”

“I am a friend of Betty Didder. Does she still live here?”

“Perhaps.” He came closer, his nose inhaling our scents. “You are similar, but different.”

“Yes.” He was a shifter, a Werelynx like my friend. Spider Monkey could tell he was feline, and was smart enough not to ask any questions. She focused on calming down an upset Oki in her arms. From the others, I sensed only humans.

“Are you going to be trouble?”

“I hope not. My friend and her child are in danger, so we came here.”

He smiled and held out his hand.“Denny Didder, Betty's father. I’m an Elder in this tribe.” He turned to the others, speaking in Sekani rapidly for a minute. When he finished, he smiled and held his hands wide and palms out. “You will be safe here.”

“Thank you. I’m Jade, and this is Spider and her son Oki. Pleased to meet you.”

“No last names?”

“Better no one knows,” I said evenly.

“I’ll take you to Betty,” he said. The others were busy unloading the plane while the pilot did his preflight checks. We were listed on the flight under false names, and I’d left a substantial bribe to ensure his memory of us remained foggy. He took the handle of Spider Monkey’s suitcase while I took the diaper bag. Spidey carried her son with one hand while carrying the car seat in her other hand.

There couldn't be too far to go. “Where is this village?”

“Northern British Colombia,” Denny replied. “We are in the Rocky Mountain Trench where the Kwadacha and Fox rivers join the Finlay.”

Spider Monkey looked at the snow-capped mountains in three directions. “Is the airport the only way in here?”

“There’s a logging road. Tsey Keh Dene at the top of Williston Lake is eighty kilometers south. It’s a bumpy ride if the road is passable. Everywhere else is mountains and rugged forests.”

She rolled her eyes. “So we’re not at the edge of the world, but we can see it from here?”

I chuckled. “Pretty much. What do you have for services?”

“No cellphone coverage.”

“No worries there. We left them behind.”

“We can get satellite television, and the government gave us phone service via a satellite uplink. If you want to surf the web, good luck. Dial-up internet.”

My jaw dropped. In the modern world, that was downright prehistoric. No one used 300 baud modems anymore! “Wait, you don’t have Starlink or satellite internet?”

“Our people do not need it. It is unbalanced, bringing danger to our children while offering little in return.”

He wasn’t wrong. “What do you do for fun?”

“Fish. Hunt. Dance. Sing. Visit with family and friends.”

We’d reached a small home two blocks from where we started. “I’ll leave you here.”

“Thank you, Elder Didder.”

“Denny. If you won’t use your last name, I won’t either.”

I stepped up to the small deck, then turned to knock on the door when it opened. “JADE!” I was soon engulfed by a four-foot-ten spitfire of a woman. “You smell weird.”

“Good to see you again, Betty.” I gave her one last squeeze, then turned us towards the bottom of the stairs. “My friend Spider Monkey and her son Oki.”

“Please, come in. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

“I was about to start dinner. I’ll get it started while we talk.”

I didn’t smell anyone else inside, so I figured she lived alone. Oki needed a change and a feeding, so Betty sent her to the bedroom. The whole house was the size of a good RV; one bedroom, a small kitchen, bathroom, a table with four chairs, and a living room with a couch and recliner facing a small television. “How is your teaching career?”

“I love it,” she replied. I’d met Betty at a ‘cat convention’ in northern Montana in 2008. I’d become fast friends with the werelynx, as both of us were suited to the deep snows and craggy peaks around the hosts. “I have ten students in grades two through twelve. It’s challenging to juggle all the subjects, but that keeps it fun.”

“And your personal life?”

“You know what it is like,” she replied. “We’re down to eight of us now, and only two are breeding females. Well, if a heat would ever take, I’d be a breeding female. I think our males are nearly sterile from inbreeding, and I can't use my father.” It was a familiar refrain among the werecat species. It was why Mom had to breed with a mountain lion as the closest compatible species. Both our shifter types were facing extinction. “And you?”

“Three girls,” I told her. “Khoi in 2008, and twins Bao and Chao in 2014.”

She dropped the spoon she was using to stir dinner. “WHAT?”

I pulled my shirt aside and showed her the mating scar. “And a mate." She traced her fingers over the shiny bite mark. “To Nathan Storm, a werewolf.”

“I have to sit down,” she said shakily. I pulled out a chair and guided her down. “How?”

“The Moon is trying something new,” I said.

“How could he get you pregnant? Only a cat can trigger ovulation!”

“Unless he’s big enough, apparently,” I replied. I told her how I met him and became his mate.

“Wait, are your children werewolves or clouded leopards?”

“Both,” I said. “They can shift to either form. As babies they would shift to follow the parent with them, but as they got older they could choose on their own.”

Dinner was going to burn if she didn’t get back to stirring, so I joined her at the stove. She asked question after question about my relationship and family. She was fascinated by the mate bond and the mental link, both so foreign a concept to her knowledge of our kind.

Spider Monkey came out with a sleeping baby as we finished preparing the venison dinner. She joined the conversation, giving her perspective as a newly changed werewolf. “That’s something I’ve dreamed of being able to do,” Betty said. “I can’t pursue a relationship because there is no future in it.”

We talked well into the night. Spidey and I were open and honest with her, explaining the dangers she was facing from governments and cartels alike. “Wow,” she finally said. “This has to be the fifth level of hell for a pair of super-hackers.”

“I’m having withdrawals, but we’ve had to step back since Banco Mexico,” Spider Monkey said. “I can’t leave any tracks that could lead back to me.”

“No one will replace you here,” Betty promised. “Jade, when are you going back?”

“I’m not,” I replied. “I can’t risk it. They’ll use my friends and family against me to make me give you up.” I took a drink of the LaBatts. “We’re here until my mate and the Packs eliminate the Tijuana Cartel.”