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She could see the dogsled and the dogs fro down, but Sencha was standing Over the makeshift coat, her blue sled harness stood out froaze drifted to her, Sencha’s tail wagged and she sat, watching

Waiting

Ready

“Peter,” she said He was still punching the snowmobile “Peter!”

“What!” he snarled

“We’ll keep going, okay? We’ll keep going to Timmins” She could look past his stubbornness And it was better to have two people together than two people alone Anyway, she doubted they could break through those shutters

“Hannah, we are not … going … to Timmins”

“Why not? We’re almost there, aren’t we?”

“I don’t know,” he said “Maybe,back”

“Back? We can’t go back Jeb —”

“We’re going back!” he said, pushing hi off the snowmobile

They couldn’t go back It o days out, and they were only one day froo to Timmins, my mom could die!”

“Jeb has bullets!” he shouted back “She’s sick, and she’s alone Do you knohat she could do to herself? She gets so scared, she once thought soun so she could shoot at them! And nobody cares, nobody’s there to help her because my dad is too chickenshit to deal and the Ar back You can use the satellite phone Or not, I don’t care” He groped around for his discarded snowshoes

He sounded so sure As though he had already decided As though it was always going to be this way, even if Jonny Swede had been there to help them She reloves fro to do this, to thwart her plans and do exactly as he wanted

She looked at hio back You lied”