Looking like a winter princess in a cream-colored wool coat and forest-green scarf, Carolyn clapped her hands in delight. "I love it! It's so Christmassy. And that sign is amazing. Who designed it?"
In the sign, a knight in shining armor rode a small plane bareback, like a horse. He held a banner that unfurled behind him with the words Knight and Day Flight Tours. "I don't know. Suzanne found it for us. It's perfect, right?"
"Completely. Whoever painted it is a genius. I'll have to pry the name out of Suzanne."
"Believe me, we tried. She said she's sworn to secrecy."
"Hm." She eyed him skeptically, but moved on to looking at the photos they'd mounted on the walls. "These must come from Evie at the Sky View."
Tobias pulled out the ledger where they entered all the information for each trip. "That's right. The tourists love them. I'll just be a minute here." He did a quick weather check, and saw no problems to worry about. Clear skies all the way up the coast, wind at five knots, slight inversion layer farther up the coast.
After the paperwork came the preflight routine. "Want to come with me for the safety check? You can stay in here if you like. It takes about fifteen minutes."
"I'll come with you. I like seeing you do your thing. It's sexy." Even though her tone wasn't as flirty as usual, it was closer to their usual hot banter.
"I got to watch you teach a class, so it's only fair."
"Teaching a class isn't nearly as sexy as flying a plane."
"When you're teaching it?" He snorted and ushered her outside to the hangar where the two planes lived when they weren't in constant use. It gave him and Ben and a hopefully soon-to-be-hired mechanic a chance to maintain them in a protected space.
He quickly ran through the steps of the preflight check. Carolyn watched closely, asking questions now and then. It figured that she'd want to know everything about the process. In that way, she reminded him of Merry. No wonder they were friends. They both had such quick minds.
"Have you ever been up in a small plane?" he asked when he was done, and they were wheeling the plane out of the hangar.
"No, I haven't, and I can't say that I ever planned to. Merry didn't exactly give glowing reviews of her first trip. I had drinks with her afterwards, and she needed practically the entire pitcher of margaritas to recover."
"You can feel free to hold my hand." He grinned at her. "As long as I'm not doing anything important with the joystick at the moment."
"Gotcha."
They stationed the plane at the end of the tarmac. The windsock was barely lifting in the breeze, and the sun glinted off the sleek wings of the Cessna. The plane was a beauty and a workhorse, and Tobias had nicknamed it Lancelot. He brought over the step stool that helped shorter people board the plane, only to find that Carolyn had managed to climb in by herself.
She settled into the seat, found the seat belt and strapped herself in.
He closed the door and walked around the plane to the pilot's side. As he went, he stroked the Cessna's smooth metal curves and whispered his usual prayer for an uneventful flight. So far, Knight and Day had a perfect record, marred only by two cases of airsickness. He'd take a little stray vomit over wind shear any day.
Inside the plane, he switched on the radar, the onboard flight system, the gauges. He found a set of headphones for Carolyn and plugged the jack into the comms system.
"So this airstrip is remote enough that we aren't required to hook into an air traffic control system. The nearest tower is at the regional airport almost an hour away. But never fear, safety is absolutely our very first concern. So even though it might feel crazy rattling down this runway with no air traffic control tower, you don't have to worry. I got this."
"Tobias." Her voice sounded tinny through the headphones. "I'm not worried. I trust you completely. I let you lick chocolate off my nipples. If that's not trust, what is?"
His hand slipped slightly on the joystick. "Warning you right now, lady. That kind of thing is not going to fly up here."
"So to speak."
"So to speak," he agreed with a smile. "But seriously. I can't have you distracting me with talk of chocolate. You know how I am about sweets."
She laughed, then went quiet as he steered the plane to the far end of the tarmac. "Here we go," he told her. He increased the speed, feeling the powerful Continental O-520 engine respond like a beautiful thoroughbred. The Cessna sprinted down the tarmac, gaining speed, until it hit that perfect point when he could pull back on the yoke and feel the air current lift them off the ground.
It was always an incredible feeling, but especially in a small plane, when you could practically feel the air rushing past your face. He loved the illusion of having his own wings, of being one with the current, as if the plane itself was just a prop.
They rose over the little airstrip and its tarmac, which stretched for five thousand feet parallel to a length of coastline covered with beach grass and wild roses. To the west, the immense Pacific Ocean stretched like a hazy blue blanket and to the east rose the foothills, the higher ridges of the Sierra Nevadas revealed with each increase in altitude.
When they'd reached a cruising altitude of eleven thousand feet, he glanced over at Carolyn. Her lips were parted, her eyes shining with awe as she took in the incredible beauty below them, the pristine mountain peaks and endless stretches of cliffs.
"Wow," she said. "I know a few Renaissance masters who would have loved this."
"Didn't Leonardo da Vinci come up with an airplane design?"
"Yes." She smiled at him, looking pleased. "The ornithopter. We'd be lying face down cranking with our hand and feet in his version. It might have worked once it was in the air, but he never figured out how to get airborne without an internal combustion engine."
He liked the fact that she was the one doing the commentary on this flight, not him. It made for a nice break. "I do love my engines. You're riding on three hundred horses right now. It'll take us about an hour to get to the compound, so sit back and enjoy the ride."
She beamed at him, and settled back to watch the gorgeous West Coast shoreline slide past beneath them. The familiar sounds and sensations of flying took over. The engine droned, the plane quivered from the buffeting of the air currents.
He took a wide path out over the ocean so she could watch a pod of dolphins through the binoculars he'd brought. Then he did the same thing over the mountains. They spotted a white dot that slowly formed into a mountain goat, and a brown dot that may or may not have been a bear. They even noted a column of smoke from someone's campfire.
"In the spring we'll probably take the hotshots for some surveys of the snowpack, that sort of thing." He raised his voice to be heard over the engine noise. "Part of our mission is to help the local fire and rescue people. So far they haven't needed us, which is good because we didn't really have our act together. Plus, it's just good in general not to have any disasters. But we're ready if they need us."
"Once a hero, always a hero," she shouted back.
He gave her a thumb's up. If she wanted to think of him as a hero, he wasn't about to stop her.
The time flew by, and soon they were closing in on the compound. "How close can we get?" he asked her.
She was already getting tense, staring down at the ground, shoulders hunched, as if bracing for a blow. "We can fly right over. It's happened before, no one would be surprised. They won't shoot us down or anything. How low can you fly?"
"I can drop down a bit." He tilted the nose of the craft downwards, making sure to do it far enough ahead for a gradual descent. The forests became more differentiated, individual trees more identifiable. He watched the radar as they closed in on the Light Keepers' coordinates.
"I see it," she said suddenly. "I see the water tower. And the grain silo. And the chapel. They call it the Chapel of the Rays and there's a pattern cut into the wall so the light comes flowing in at dawn."
He peered down at the spread, taking note of distances and the relative loc
ation of buildings. He was taking a logistical approach, but for her it must be an emotional experience, seeing the place she'd left behind at the age of eighteen. The place where her father still lived, where she might have a sister.
He checked on her. She huddled against the window of the plane, her light hair flowing in waves across the creamy wool of her coat, her headphones knocking against the hard clear Plexiglas. Every line of her body screamed alertness.
"I see the fence," she said. "The front gate. Everything looks pretty much the same so far."
"See any kids?"
"I can't tell. I don't see any people. But that doesn't really mean anything. They might be inside for a meal or a prayer service. I don't know. It's been ten years." Her voice was filled with worry, but when she turned back to face him, it was with clear eyes. "Let's head back, I don't think we're going to learn anything more like this. It's too far below, you know?"
He nodded. The property was already behind them anyway, and he didn't want to veer back and make any eyes on the ground suspicious. So he continued in a straight line north until the compound was out of sight. Then he made a wide turn toward the ocean.
"You okay?" he asked, taking her hand. She held on to it tightly.
"Yeah. Thanks for bringing me up here. It's really helpful. You know how you blow things up in your mind when you're away from them? I've been doing that for the past ten years. Now that I've seen the place again, I know I can handle this."
"I never doubted you could handle it, not for a second." And it was true. If he'd learned one thing about Carolyn Moore, it was that she was a warrior at heart.
As a warrior himself, he respected that. Along with all the other things he felt for her.
None of which would ever lead to marriage.
They spent the evening working out details of their plan with Will and Ben. This was a reconnaissance mission, they agreed. Their hope was to be in and out within a day, or maybe a night at the most. Their goal was to locate Sarah and ascertain her condition, then leave. But once they were inside, anything could happen. Ben would have the chopper standing by in case an air rescue was needed, whereas Will would drive up and hunker down in the nearest motel. If they hadn’t heard anything within two days, they’d call the FBI.
After Will and Ben left, Carolyn filled Tobias in on as many logistical details as she remembered. He quizzed her on the leader of the group, its structure, its psychology. A clear picture formed in his mind of the image he'd have to present. An authoritarian, a swaggerer, a man who saw women as lesser, not equals.
That night they didn't make love. They were both too exhausted, physically and emotionally. Or maybe they would never make love again. Had they broken up? He wasn't completely sure. Carolyn snuggled her head into the notch between his shoulder and his chest and he stroked her feather-light hair as she drifted off to sleep.
And he realized something in that moment suspended between night and day. There was a chance he’d lose Caro for good tomorrow. Because in order to convince the Light Keepers that they were a couple, he'd have to bring to life her worst fear—losing her free will. What if she never looked at him the same after that?
26
Carolyn's stomach was in knots as they drove up to the gate of the Light Keepers compound around mid-afternoon the next day. Tobias drove, of course. Anything else would look suspicious. They drove in Tobias’s Land Rover, because it was guaranteed that the guards would check his license plate as soon as the surveillance camera took a picture of it. They would instantly know about Tobias—his military service, his father's murder, his recent departure from the Army.
Maybe they would see Tobias, with that background, as a good fit for the Light Keepers Brigade. That would make Carolyn and her would-be husband even more appealing to the group; at least that was their working theory.
He'd even put a few temporary tattoos on his arms and shoulders. Flames, a cross, a skull, a chain link. The sort of tattoos someone casting around for an identity might choose.
Every time she looked at him, she had to remind herself that Tobias wasn't really like the men of the Light Keepers.
He was strong, of course, the "alpha male" in appearance. But he didn't need to exert power over other people. He was confident in himself and he respected her. Don't forget that.
Besides, this was all an act. None of it was real. That was her mantra.
At the gate, the camera scanned their faces, then a voice came over the intercom. "This is a private organization. No entrance allowed."
Tobias gave Carolyn a glance, and she nodded. Go time. He addressed the intercom. "We're here to see Levi Moore. My name is Tobias Knight, and I'm here with Carolyn, Levi's daughter. We're here to request his blessing for our marriage. If you could let him know that, we'll wait."
Carolyn felt slightly nauseous at the word "marriage." This was real. Or at least pretend real. She kept her eyes down and her hands folded in her lap, the way women were supposed to at the compound. It felt so strange, after her time as an independent person in the outside world. And yet it came back to her so easily. Terrifyingly so.
After a long wait, another voice came over the intercom. Carolyn squeezed Tobias hand in the prearranged signal indicating this was the leader, known simply as Ray.
"Carolyn Moore is a pariah here. That means her father Levi has cast her out. She's no longer one of us."
Despite everything, that hurt. Carolyn dug her fingernails into the heels of her hands.
"I understand that. Since I've met her, we've spoken about it at length. Carolyn feels deep regret for the way she behaved back when she was a mere teenager. Now that we're together, she sees that she went down a wrong path. She's not expecting to be allowed back into the Light Keepers. All she's asking for is her father's blessing."
Another pause while the guards and Ray talked among themselves. Carolyn peered under her eyelashes at the high fence. Here at the entrance, the fence was fortified with barbed wire curling around the top edge. But at some points, she knew the perimeter of the property was less protected. "Carolyn Moore brought shame to her family and herself."
Carolyn tightened her hands into fists. Shame. She hated that word.
"Yeah, I get it. She's not after forgiveness. We know it's not going to happen. Just a blessing from her father, that's it. She says she won't marry me without it. It's part of why I fell for her, that old-fashioned quality. It's like a throwback to the way things ought to be. The man's the head of the household, and that's the way it should be."
Still Ray and the guards hesitated. Tobias had done his job—he'd sounded just as arrogant and "alpha" as the Light Keepers Brigade guys. Their request made sense. But would they bite?
She needed to do something to make it seem even more realistic. She needed to…
Swallowing down the taste of bile and defeat, she turned to Tobias and bowed to him, touching her hand to her forehead in the familiar Light Keeper gesture of female submission. It came back to her so easily, forehead lowered, the heel of her hand between her eyes, symbolizing the willingness of the woman to empty herself of all but what the man graced her.
She'd forgotten about that gesture until just now—probably blocked it out—which meant she hadn't taught it to Tobias. He flinched in surprise. "Put your hand over mind," she hissed in a whisper. "As if you're blessing me."
"Are you serious?" he muttered.
"Do it." It would look so suspicious if he didn't. "You promised to do what I say, remember?"
He placed his big palm on top of hers, all the while muttering something about how fucked up the whole thing was. She tried not to laugh at his reaction. But she found it incredibly reassuring. If he thought this was batshit crazy, she could probably trust him.
She did trust him. But damn, this was mortifying.
She completed the gesture by bringing her hands to her heart, whispering a quick prayer—"keep the light"—and placing her hands back in her lap.
There. That ought to do it.
Now they'd see that she hadn't forgotten the old ways that had been drilled into her for eight years.
"You may enter," the guard finally said. "Leave your cell phones in your vehicle. No electronics allowed. Keep the light."
"Keep the light," Tobias muttered.
The gate slid open on its tracks, Tobias put his Land Rover in gear, and they drove into Light Keepers territory.
It felt surreal to Carolyn. She kept her eyes down in case anyone was watching them. But she had lots of practice in surveying her surroundings through lowered lashes. The heart of the compound was a former Grange Hall that had served the surrounding farmers. The Light Keepers had bought it nearly forty years ago and added many more buildings—the chapel, a longhouse, guest cabins, a barn, a solar power station, a grain silo. Each building sported the Light Keeper logo with its rays of sun. Fields of last season's wheat and corn extended as far as the eye could see, along with herds of alpaca and goats.
She was all too familiar with those alpaca. The women were responsible for shearing them and spinning their wool. The women did most things together, and even though she had chafed at the work, that sense of togetherness, of being part of a tribe, that was probably the one thing she truly missed.
"Ready for the next phase?" Tobias asked under his breath.
"Ready." Ready or not, they were approaching the meeting house, which was the old Grange Hall, the only building where visitors were allowed. This was where her father would meet with them. If they had any hope of seeing other parts of the compound, it would be through the grace of Levi Moore.
They were shown into the "atrium," which was where all contacts with the outside world happened. The computers and phones were located here, which meant no one under eighteen was permitted to enter. Carolyn glanced around curiously, since she'd never set foot inside this room before. On the whitewashed wall, big flowing letters read, "Keep the Light."
Coming In Hot (Jupiter Point Book 6) Page 19
