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Great Epidemic.”
    Rhythm swung her head around in surprise at Brett’s words. This guy knew about bear shifters, and about the pandas being wiped out by a virus? She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again promptly. She wasn’t even quite sure what she wanted to ask at the moment. Her head was swimming in confusion.
    “Shit,” came the pilot’s voice again. “If it is a virus like that, this guy’s not gonna make it.”
    “Shit is right,” Lance said, as he finished taking off Evan’s survival suit. “Guys, we have a problem. We can’t take this guy back to the air base.”
    Brett’s eyes widened as Lance held up the giant grizzly paws that made up Evan’s feet. Then Brett turned to look at Rhythm, who merely shrugged. What else was she supposed to do? She had warned them he was different.
    Lance rubbed his forehead, and then looked over at Brett and Rhythm. “What do you know about this guy?” Lance asked, directing the question at Rhythm. “We’ve got to find a way to get him home to his clan. If we take him back to the air base, we’re all in trouble.”
    Rhythm paused and looked around. She wasn’t sure how much she should trust these guys, but she wasn’t sure how much of a choice she really had anymore. They seemed to somehow be aware of bear shifters. After all, they hadn’t reacted in total shock to the sight of Evan’s grizzly paw feet.
    Brett grabbed her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. “Come on, sweetheart. We don’t have a lot of time. Start talking.”
    Rhythm took a deep breath, and then launched into her story.

Chapter Four
     
    Ben glanced over at Ace, his eyes wide. Brett had just finished relaying to them Rhythm’s story, and the entire rescue crew was floored.
    “We can’t take him back to the air station,” Ben said into his headset, watching Ace’s reaction carefully. “This whole situation is way too messy. And the guy wants to die in peace. If we show up with a human man whose feet are stuck as bear paws, he’s definitely not going to be able to die in peace. He’s going to die in the middle of a huge, fucking uproar. And after he’s had to deal with the scientists, he deserves to at least go out in the comfort of his own home.”
    “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do?” Ace asked. “We can’t deviate too far from our flight path, or the Coast Guard is going to throw a fit. Besides, even if we wanted to deviate, we don’t have a lot of fuel. We can’t take any huge joyrides on the side.”
    Ben sighed. “Brett?” he asked into his headset. “Does Rhythm have any idea where Evan’s clan lives? Or can Evan talk enough to tell you?”
    “Hang on,” Brett’s voice chirped back. “I’ll ask him.
    A long pause followed, and Ben eyed the helicopter’s instruments warily. Ace was right. They didn’t have enough fuel for very much of a detour. And, even if they did detour, they’d have to come up with a good excuse for it. They were a veteran rescue crew, and the guys back at the air station would probably give them some leniency if they said they needed to land for an emergency of some sort. But it would have to be a short stop, and it couldn’t be a great distance out of their way.
    “Guys?” Brett’s voice came back on the headset, snapping Ben back to attention. “I think we might have a solution. Some of the grizzlies in Evan’s clan run tourist air tours out of Frost Peak. It’s a city not outrageously far from here. Evan thinks if we can get in contact with his clan, that they’ll send one of their pilots to pick him up. We can land at one of the many tiny airstrips outside of Kodiak, hand him off, and then be on our way. We’ll just tell the air station we had to land for some sort of minor maintenance issue. They won’t question us.”
    “Okay,” Ace said. “Sounds like it’ll work. “But how do we get in contact with them?”
    “Try to call Frost Peak Tours. It’s the name of their tour company.”
    Ace