by Alice Sharpe
“I feel I’m getting ready for a shoot-out,” she said, as she slipped the gun into the holster.
“Precaution,” he said, arming himself in a similar fashion.
“I thought you were sure—”
He shook his head. “Katie? I’m not sure about a single damn thing anymore.”
He didn’t preface that statement with Thanks to you, but it was there in his voice and in the look he gave her. She shut up.
Katie received a crash course in driving a snowmobile without actually moving one or even turning on its engine as they were inside the garage. She’d driven her father’s motorcycle in the past, so it wasn’t completely new. Still, she was very relieved when Nick tucked Lily into one corner of the sled. It would be bad enough to bash in her own head without taking Lily with her. She pulled on the full-face helmet and approached the smaller machine.
Nick said, “No, you’re driving the big one.”
She had to have heard him wrong. Must be the helmet. She took it off. Surely he wasn’t asking her to be responsible for a wounded man and a tiny little girl? She said, “You’re kidding.”
“I’ll go before you at first, but I may circle. If we run into trouble, I’ll need to maneuver. If I go down, you just keep your nose pointed southeast. There’s a compass on the dash. If someone tries to shoot you, don’t be shy, shoot him back. Okay?”
“But Nick—”
“This is the only way,” he said.
“But if there are a lot of them—”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” he told her, lowering his voice and moving them both away from Lily, who was also wearing a helmet. “My father only mentioned one man. Carson. If this Carson had reinforcements, they would have stormed the house. Why risk letting us get outside? No, it’s just the one man, I’m sure of it. He may be too hurt to take another shot at any of us. Hell, for all we know, he may have ridden off last night and died a hundred yards down the road. We’ll play it safe. Trust me.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust, it’s me,” she said.
“I guarantee you that at about ten degrees Fahrenheit, you won’t come across one single snake.”
She tried to conjure up a grin.
With a sigh, she put the helmet back on, ignoring the way her hands trembled, concentrating on Nick’s swagger and sure movements as he helped Lily lie down and cover herself and her bunny with the thick quilt he tucked around her. He opened the garage and mounted the smaller snowmobile.
His ability would have to fuel her lagging confidence.
And then they were off.
Chapter Eight
The noise the powerful vehicles made as they tore away from the house shattered the post-storm stillness of snow-burdened tree limbs, icicles hanging from power lines and porch roofs, a blanket of pristine white snow that somehow made the dark morning seem lighter.
Katie concentrated on following Nick’s tracks past the guest huts and down what had resembled a driveway the afternoon before. The area blended now with the rest of the field. The fruitlessness of the search they had conducted during the night to make sure Katie’s mom hadn’t been abandoned to the elements revealed itself. There were so many drifts, so many trees and hollows, so much land they hadn’t covered and never could. Nick must have understood this, and yet he had tramped around out here just like she had.
The foreboding morning seemed to press down on their small caravan. Obviously, there would be more snow as the day advanced and Katie felt a sense of urgency born of concerns for the weather, terror for her mother’s unknown plight and Nick’s father’s deteriorating condition. Add the possibility of a gunman, and presto, her nerves were jumping around like downed electrical wires.
They hadn’t gone far when Nick waved her back with one hand as they approached the bridge that joined his property with the unplowed road. She slowed to a stop, assuming he was making sure the bridge was in good condition. It was too noisy to hear anything, but her heart jumped out of her chest as she saw Nick veer away at the last moment, grasp the rifle he’d strapped to his back and fire a few rounds toward the bridge, turning quickly as he did so, holding the rifle aloft and circling with his arm for her to turn around. She was vaguely aware of an explosion near the bridge, but soon it was behind her and she didn’t dare chance a backward glance. Maneuvering the big machine in a wide circle, conscious of her priceless cargo, took all her attention.
Nick slowed to a stop a mile later after bypassing the boathouse. They’d taken a small road leading around the lake and into the wilderness. Tall, snow-covered trees defined the edges of the road though occasional downed branches required caution.
“What happened?” she asked, looking back the way they’d come. There were too many trees in the way to see anything at ground level, but a smudge of black smoke hovered in the distant sky.
“An ambush,” Nick yelled as she came to a stop beside him. “I worried he might wait by the bridge. He popped up at the last moment.”
“Did you hit him?”
“I don’t think so. But I did get his snowmobile, so he’ll be stuck out here for a while.”
“I wonder where he got a snowmobile. I mean, did he rent it in Frostbite? Is there a dealer? We could check.”
“Does a man like that rent a machine?” Nick mused.
Katie, alarmed to find her teeth clattering together though she wasn’t aware of being cold, didn’t answer.
“Let’s get going,” he said quickly. “We can check on things like that from the air. I want to get Lily away from here as fast as possible. Follow me carefully, Katie. This road isn’t used anymore and I don’t know what condition its bridge is in.”
She nodded and once again they resumed their flight, only this time it was slower going. The narrow bridge they finally approached seemed to sag under the weight of the newly fallen snow. Nick insisted on first walking across it, coming back, carrying Lily across while Katie walked beside him, then driving both vehicles, one at a time, to the other side. It took a while but Katie humored him. What did she know about rickety old bridges?
Houses started showing up at last, closer together as they moved forward, most dark, others with huge oil drums fueling lights and warmth. Some activity could be seen—people shoveling paths to woodpiles, for instance—but again, the noise of her vehicle kept her suspended in a kind of bubble of solitude. Nick had fallen behind her, she guessed to better guard Lily, who had stayed quite still during the excitement and subsequent trip.
They finally entered a small neighborhood and Nick took the lead, coming to a stop in front of a red wood house with a steeply pitched roof. Smoke drifted upward from a chimney and a man wearing a blue parka and a furry hat with earflaps shoveled a path from his front door to the garage. None of the streets had been cleared yet, giving the modest neighborhood a unified, muted appearance. Even the various vehicles looked like harmless lumps of snow.
They came to a roaring stop and the man leaned on his shovel. “Hey, Nick. You come for Helen? She’s inside with Joy.”
“Thanks, Lloyd. I need to talk to Helen,” Nick said, getting off his machine and unstrapping his helmet.
Before Lloyd could respond, Helen appeared at the door but didn’t make a move to leave the porch. She’d thrown on a coat and hat and hugged herself as she stared at Nick’s approach. Nick, looking over his shoulder, said, “Katie, keep a lookout for anyone coming from anywhere, okay?”
Katie nodded. She tried waving at Helen, who responded with a small nod of her head. Maybe her continuing aloofness had something to do with the fact that Katie currently wore some of Helen’s warm snow clothing, even her extra pair of boots. She’d be willing to bet that Helen noticed this and didn’t much care for it.
Oh, well. It didn’t seem likely the two women were intended to be best buddies. Katie got off her machine and went to stand by Lily’s shrouded shape. Peeling from the outside while Lily flailed from the inside, the little girl’s face soon appeared.
�
�Bunny is hot,” Lily said as Katie pulled back a last corner and found Lily’s green eyes and the bunny’s glass buttons staring up at her.
“Better make sure he stays that way, honey. Put your blanket back.” She heard Lily softly singing to the bunny from under the covers and she smiled to herself as she scanned the road both ways and listened for a new motor sound.
Then she checked on Nick’s father, who was still out like a light.
Meanwhile, Nick stood on the porch talking to Helen. He hadn’t told Katie they would stop here first, but of course it made perfect sense. He couldn’t risk Helen going out to the house and finding them gone, nor could he risk Helen being approached by the wounded gunman. Who knew what he would tell her and what she would unwittingly divulge?
But she hadn’t expected to see Helen disappear inside the house and reappear a scant five minutes later with a duffel bag in tow; nor had she expected her to wave goodbye to Lloyd and climb aboard the smaller snowmobile.
Nick shuffled through the snow to where Katie stood near Lily. Lily heard her father’s approach and popped out of the blankets. “Bunny is hot,” she said.
Nick patted the bunny’s head. “Tell him a story,” he said. “It’ll take his mind off the temperature.”
“’Bout the birdie in the palm tree?”
“That one is sure to work, Sweet Pea. Put your head under the blanket again, we’ll be leaving very soon.”
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he said.
The child once again covered her head with the blanket. Nick looked back at Katie and said, “Helen’s aunt has a house in a little town south of here. The aunt is away visiting relatives but Helen has a ton of other family there. We’re going to take Helen to her aunt’s house, because it’s not safe for her to stay here. It’s no secret she works for me or who her sister is and it has yet to be explained why my father came to my house or who shot at him. Until we figure this out, she’s better off away from here. A cousin will meet her at the airport.”
Katie said, “You think of everything.”
“I’m trying. You want to ride behind Helen or with me?”
“What do you think?” Katie said, strapping on her helmet again. She got on behind Nick, who started the engine, shattering the peace, kicking up snow as their little procession traveled away from Helen’s sister’s house. This time the trip was slightly more pleasant, at least for Katie. Nick made a dandy wind barrier. His back was warm against her front, and nestling against his solid body calmed her nerves.
They were met at the airport by a man wearing so many layers of clothes he walked like a penguin. His eyes were black, his face was ruddy. “Katie Fields, meet Sam Owens,” Nick said, and Sam, hands stuffed in his pockets, smiled warmly at Katie, his round face chafed from exposure.
“Morning, ma’am,” he said. “Saw you yesterday when you came in with Toby.” Turning his attention to Nick, he added, “If you’re leaving this morning you’d better get out of here while you have a chance. Another storm is fixing to blow through.”
“I know. I’ll need your help towing the Beaver onto the runway.”
“No problem.” As he’d talked, he’d wandered back toward the trailer. “Who’s this?” he asked, staring at Nick’s father.
Lily popped out of her blankets and grinned. “He’s Mr. Snowman!” she squealed.
Sam laughed.
“Actually, he’s a stranger, got caught out in the storm,” Nick said.
“He looks sick. You taking him to the doctor in Anchorage?”
“That’s the plan. Say, did any other planes land in Frostbite yesterday?”
“Just one, right about noon, carrying two men and the pilot. I wasn’t here when they landed. The pilot hitched a ride over to the motel and the two men told the wife they was visiting friends.”
“Is it still here?”
“Right over there,” he said, pointing at a red-and-white airplane whose wings were covered with snow.
“Is this guy one of the passengers?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Sam said.
Once inside Nick’s hangar, Nick went to work removing the last three rows of seats. He explained he did this often during the summer in order to take people aloft to photograph wildlife. Katie tried to imagine winging over a glacier with the doors open and the seats removed, hanging on to a camera.
Once the seats were out, Katie and Nick lifted Nick’s father into the plane, glad for the privacy the hangar provided to do this without Sam Owens watching. It was bad enough suffering Helen’s disapproving stare. Katie had the distinct feeling Helen would have preferred they leave the older man out in the snow for the next storm to take care of. Permanently.
Lily sat in the pilot’s seat with her bunny, pretending to drive while Helen squeezed herself into the co-pilot seat, as far away from Nick’s father as humanly possible given the small cabin. She talked with Lily and laughed, but it was as though the rest of them didn’t exist. It wasn’t long before Sam had towed the plane into position and Nick had performed the preflight check. Katie kept an unofficial lookout for bad guys, Nick’s rifle by her side.
Katie strapped Lily into a seat in the back beside her as Helen flatly refused to be anywhere near Nick’s father. This meant that Lily babbled to Katie as they flew over the white landscape, her little hands dancing through the air as she spoke, her small body resting against Katie’s arm, her giggles downright infectious.
Was it possible she’d only known this enchanting little girl less than a day? No wonder Nick was so determined to keep her safe. No wonder parents died to save their children.
Your mother didn’t.
The thought came like a flash of lightning.
Your mother walked away from you. She and your father didn’t value either you or Tess as individuals. You were just a matched set to be divided like halves of an apple.
“Well, Mom,” Katie whispered to herself, glad for the cabin noise that covered her voice. “Your duplicate daughter is now trying to save your skin. You’d better hope I value you more than you did me.”
Lily tugged on her sleeve. “Why are you crying?” she asked.
Katie took the child’s small hand into her own. “I don’t know, honey,” she said, flipping away the tears.
“You just being silly?” Lily asked, her eyes so wide and innocent that Katie was moved to kissing her small fingers. “Yeah,” Katie agreed. “I’m just being silly.”
She dug a tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose. As she did this, she noticed Nick’s father’s gaze on Lily who was bouncing her bunny up and down on the seat. Katie slipped out of her seat belt and kneeled by the older man, who appeared more pale than ever.
“Are you warm enough?” she asked, tucking the blanket around his torso and hips, trying her best not to jar his shoulder. Despite the padding Nick had laid down on the floor, it was cold. She checked to make sure his knit cap covered his ears.
The effort of nodding caused a grimace to flash across his face.
Did he and Nick look alike? She studied his features for a moment and tried to decide. Add twenty or thirty years to Nick, frost his sandy hair and lessen its thickness, add a past of alcohol abuse and hard living. Take away Nick’s firm jaw, keep the same green eyes. Don’t forget the premature wrinkles that almost always signaled a lifetime spent smoking, and maybe. Maybe.
She opened a bottle of water and helped Bill Thurman—Swope—take a sip. “I have hot soup in a Thermos—”
“Not now,” he whispered, adding, “The little girl. Is that…is she…Lily?”
“Yes,” Katie said.
“Patricia’s baby,” he said, grief filling his eyes.
“Bill? What happened to Caroline?”
His gaze shifted to Katie and back to Lily. “You know Caroline?”
“I’m her daughter. Anything you can tell me—”
“Tess?” he interrupted, his expression baffled. “But your hair—”
“No, no, I�
�m not Tess, I’m Caroline’s other daughter. I’m Katie.”
Frowning, he mumbled, “I don’t understand. There’s…only…the one.”
So, her mother hadn’t told her new husband about abandoning Tess’s twin so many years before. Katie said, “I’ll explain later. Right now, I just need to know where I can find my mother.”
“But I don’t know,” he said haltingly.
As Nick engaged the landing gear, the plane jounced and Bill groaned.
“Careful,” Katie called out.
Nick answered with a terse, “Get back in your seat, Katie. We’re getting ready to land.”
“Just a minute,” she yelled, and looking back at Bill, persisted. “Just tell me what you can remember.”
“Men came,” he said, his breath catching on every word. “Near Seattle. They grabbed Caroline out of our bed.” He paused for several seconds before adding, “They knocked me to the floor, threatened me. I had to leave her, I had to go…”
“Katie! Please. Now,” Nick demanded.
“You left her?” Katie hadn’t intended on saying this. It escaped on its own, and with the uttered words came the fear of the night before when Nick had said his father had a history of leaving women at the first sign of trouble. She caught a sob and demanded, “What did they want from you?”
The interchange had seemed to leach the energy right out of the man. His eyes drifted shut and his lips trembled, but he didn’t speak.
“Bill,” she insisted, because she had to know. She was afraid he would die and then they’d be lost. “What did they want?”
His eyes opened again, his eyes remained fixed—no, transfixed—on Lily.
Katie drew back. Why wouldn’t he answer her question? Shame? Guilt?
Another jounce, another yell from Nick, and Bill’s gaze suddenly flashed from Lily to Katie and stuck. Reaching up with a shaking hand, he grabbed her jacket, pulling her head toward his. “Where are we?” he gasped.
