Chapter 3

Just then he saw the sign and jammed on the brakes to make the sharp turn onto a narrow unpaved road that plunged off the pavement to follow one of those streams. Although the sign was dim, paint faded and the wood splintering along one edge, he could still read it. “The Mule Man—adventures on mule-back into the wilderness created by Aldo Leopold.”

That name sounded vaguely familiar, probably from a couple of courses in environmental stuff Jase had taken while he was floundering through college trying to decide what to be. He’d never planned a career in financial advising, but that was where he’d landed. Now it was a bit like having your foot in a steel jawed trap. The only escape was to chew off your foot. He was not so desperate yet—he thought. Maybe avoiding that mode of escape was the reason he was here, come to think of it.