by Ginny Baird
After a quick consultation with his surgeon, he was being admitted to the hospital and prepped for emergency surgery. Another open-heart operation was risky, coming so close on the heels of his previous one. But at the moment, it was the only option they had. Lisa rushed home to gather Ben’s things and place a few calls. She wondered if she’d been right in alerting Sam on such a treacherous night, though she sensed that her daughter never would have forgiven her if she hadn’t.
Lisa stared out the window at the icy rain, knowing Sam was doing everything in her power to get home. Lisa had tried to dissuade her from traveling tonight, begging her to wait until tomorrow, when the roads would be clearer. But Sam wouldn’t hear of it. She was her daddy’s girl.
“Put your coat on and come with me, Sam.”
Six-year-old Sam looked up at her dad, twin pigtails skimming each shoulder. She had honey-colored hair like her mom’s, but her sky-blue eyes were her dad’s. “Where are we going, Papa?” Her mom looked up from her knitting on the sofa, her raised brow asking the same question.
“To see some magic.” He winked at his wife and Lisa laughed, apparently remembering something they’d shared earlier.
Sam eagerly slipped on her coat, sensing another adventure. Her dad was full of them. She especially loved adventuring with him at night. He worked for a big telescope lab and sometimes took trips to exotic-sounding places. Mostly, though, he worked remotely from the regional office nearby, which allowed him to do what he enjoyed most: spending time with his family. When Jimmy was younger, he liked these adventures too. Now that Jimmy was in high school and into sports and girls, things had changed. So it was often just Sam who accompanied Papa on his missions.
“Don’t keep her out too late!” her mom cautioned as they slipped out the door. “School tomorrow!”
“One can’t always predict the stars, my love.”
“I beg to differ.” Lisa smiled softly. “I seem to know a gentleman who can.”
Ben gave a low chuckle, then tugged the door shut behind them, leading Sam toward the truck. “We’re going to Barrett’s Field?” she asked, excited by the possibilities. Only the most spectacular things happened there. Like when Sam witnessed her first meteor shower. Her dad had roused her at four in the morning for that one. Her mom really was a good sport. Even though she never wanted to come along, she seemed content to let Sam have fun.
An hour later, Sam shivered beneath the truck blanket as she sat on the edge of a haystack.
Her dad quit fiddling with his field telescope. “Too cold for you?” he asked with concern.
“Uh-uh,” Sam lied, little puffs of breath hovering above her lips. She stared up at a bright object glittering like a diamond. “What’s that one, Papa?”
“Polaris. The North Star.” He smiled warmly. “If you ever get lost, it can help lead you home.”
“How?”
“It’s true north. Always has been, always will be.”
Ben checked his watch, then adjusted the telescope, sharpening the focus of the lens. “Aha!”
Sam sucked in a breath, unable to bear the suspense. He hadn’t told her what they’d come for, but it was bound to be big. Her father motioned her closer and she took her position before the scope. A grainy globe danced across her field of vision, in very slow motion as if it were swimming underwater. Only it was dragging something long behind it, shimmering and wonderful, like the train on her Aunt Beth’s wedding dress. Sam had served as a flower girl just last year.
She pulled back from the eyepiece to catch her father wearing a broad grin. “You can even see it with the naked eye. Beautiful, isn’t she?”
Sam stared into the rich, sparkly night sky studded with stars, and one gloriously dancing bride. “She looks just like Aunt Beth.”
Ben chuckled aloud, getting it immediately. “A bride? Hmm.” He thoughtfully stroked his chin. “I like that name for a comet, but this one already belongs to someone.”
“What do you mean?”
“The astronomer who found her first got to name her.”
“Wow.”
She shot him a hopeful look. “Will you name something after me?”
He smiled and thumbed her nose. “Someday? Most certainly.”
Moisture gathered in Sam’s eyes as she recalled her dad’s high-school graduation gift. Not only was he funding her attendance at a prestigious state university; he’d also presented her with something far more personal. He’d studied twin planets somewhere in a faraway galaxy. One had a previously undiscovered moon. Due to its fixed orbit, it stayed brightly illuminated at all times. He’d named it Sam’s Bride. Her dad had joked that some day in the future, folks might speculate about a space explorer named Sam and admire his marital tribute, never knowing the true origin of the name.
Sam’s back wheels slipped suddenly and she clutched the steering wheel as the anti-skid control mechanism kicked in. Heaving a breath, Sam decided she needed to pay more attention to her driving and less to her memories, but they were hard to put aside. An ache rose in her chest so fierce that it burned. Sam couldn’t lose her dad now, she just couldn’t. More tears pooled, blurring her vision for a fraction of a second too long. No! She quickly righted her path, steering her car back into the center of her lane. There was barely any shoulder here, and the terrain was getting steeper. Just a few more miles, and she’d be over this ridge.
Chapter Two
Jake Marlow normally wouldn’t be driving this road tonight. However, a last-minute business emergency demanded it. His boss had asked him to go the extra mile as a personal favor. The friendship between him and this client was decades old. Under usual circumstances, Jake’s boss would have made the trip himself, but his daughter was getting married this weekend at a destination wedding half the world away. Jake ran a hand through his short dark hair, studying the snarl of traffic on the highway before him. Vehicles had skidded off the road, while others had collided with each other trying to navigate the slick overpass ahead.
The scene was a mess; he’d been sitting here for nearly an hour. If he waited too much longer, he’d burn through the gas he’d bought for the journey, and there wasn’t much promise of too many filling stations being open tonight. Jake knew this road from a long time back. He used to take it with his law school buddies when they broke away from the books and drove up into the mountains for fly-fishing. There was this way, which was faster, and then… Jake snapped his fingers at the recollection. Of course! Instead of going straight over the mountains using the highway, while trying to combat this interstate insanity, he could wind his way around them by taking lesser-known back roads.
Jake punched data into his phone’s GPS, hoping he remembered correctly. When the destination bubble bloomed bright red on the screen, Jake sighed with relief. It looked simple enough on the little map, he thought, wheeling his SUV onto the shoulder. By the time this pileup was cleared, he’d be halfway to River Falls. Jake was grateful for his four-wheel drive as he skirted around the others, his right tires skimming a narrow ditch. There was a piercing scrape against the undercarriage, screeching like dragging metal. Jake gritted his teeth and surged ahead, something clanking against the shoulder behind him. In his rearview mirror he spied the twisted remnants of a length of rebar. Probably construction reinforcements that had fallen off the back of a truck. Jake’s eyes scanned the dashboard, but all the indicator lights remained steady. He was lucky he hadn’t lost a tire—or worse.
Frozen rain was coming down harder now, crusting up on his windshield. Soon it would morph into full-fledged sleet. Jake hoped a blizzard wasn’t in store, but found that unlikely at this time of year. Late-season ice storms were more typical. Like the one he was experiencing now. The sooner Jake got where he was going, the sooner he could get off the road—and out of the elements. There! Just ahead, an exit sign glistened. The next thing he knew, Jake was climbing the off-ramp and headed away from highway lights.
The darkness before her seemed impenetrable. Sam coul
dn’t recall the mountains ever looking this black. The streaking sleet didn’t help. It pummeled her windshield, punctuating the rhythm of the wiper blades sweeping back and forth across the icy glass. She rounded a curve and her wheels slipped, causing Sam to brake unexpectedly. Tires squealed as the back end of her car fishtailed wildly, swaying first to the left and then to the right. The traction control warning lights flashed on and Sam’s pulse kicked into overdrive. She tried to correct her trajectory, but the weight of the car fought back. She was skidding in the wrong direction, helplessly thrown toward a low guardrail. Sam didn’t trust it to withstand the force of a collision.
The sky beyond loomed darker still: an inky pit, shrouded in billowing fog. She furiously tugged at the steering wheel, trying something—anything—to make her vehicle change its course. Time slowed as her car rocketed toward the precipice. Sam held her breath and mustered every ounce of strength her body could render. One final tug on the wheel and—yank!—the car flipped around, spinning like a top. The band of the guardrail whipped by, once, twice… Wham! The trunk of her car slammed the guardrail and airbags exploded outward as her car shot back across the road, straight toward a rocky wall. Sam punched the brake pedal to the floor and the car lurched then screeched to a halt. Sam gasped, her heart pounding. That’s when she looked out the window and saw her car teetered at the mouth of a ravine, a dark cavernous hole lurking just beyond the shoulder.
Jake shone his flashlight down the road, once again finding nothing. Before he’d rounded this turn, he thought he’d seen a flicker of light, maybe two. Moisture beaded his slicker that was stiffening up in the cold. He must have torn his tires on that rebar after all. Both right tires had blown at exactly the same time, two miles down the road. He’d been able to steer his SUV onto the shoulder and to safety. Luckily for him, his blowout hadn’t happened up here, where the incline was steeper and the shoulder virtually nonexistent. He’d considered waiting with his vehicle until morning, but had decided that getting to a working phone was a better plan. His cell couldn’t pick up any service here. He hoped that if he kept walking, he might come within range of a tower. Failing that, he might come across a service station, or even a farmhouse. Right. Who was he kidding? You couldn’t find any place more remote than this part of Virginia.
Jake shook the streaming water from his hood and trudged ahead, thinking that all roads led somewhere. Before he’d lost the GPS signal, it had appeared he was roughly thirty miles from the nearest town. That was a big distance to travel on foot, but if he kept moving, he’d get there eventually. If the fates were with him, he’d find help long before that. Jake brought himself up short, thinking he smelled something odd. Burning rubber? The beam of his flashlight panned the road. What appeared to be an oil slick glimmered, coating the asphalt. But it wasn’t oil. It was ice. Black ice. And fifteen feet beyond that, he spied skid marks. Jake swallowed hard, searching the boundaries of the road. Nothing to the right but the side of a craggy mountain, spiking toward dark clouds. But to the left…?
Jake cautiously stepped around the black ice and approached the dented guardrail. Something had slammed against it pretty hard, but thankfully hadn’t busted through. He scoured the valley below with his light, finding ridge after jagged ridge, dangerously rising like daggers and pointing skyward into the icy night. But no wreckage lay among them. Which had to mean the driver had managed to avert disaster and stay on the road. Jake mopped his brow, once again considering his close call. If he’d blown his tires on this curve, he wouldn’t have had a chance of survival.
Just to be sure he wasn’t missing anything, Jake scoured the area with his flashlight one last time. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, besides that plume of fog rising from the ravine lining the inner lane. Wait. That’s not fog. Jake’s senses heightened, taking in the familiar scent. Not fog…exhaust! And, oh no, not that… Right when it registered with certainty that Jake also smelled smoke, he heard a woman’s screams.
Chapter Three
“Help! Please help me!” The voice was decidedly female. Definitely panicked.
Jake scurried toward the right shoulder, the hood of his slicker flipping back as his boots slid on ice. He didn’t feel the frozen pings against his brow and lashes. He was too caught up in the horror ahead. There was a small patch of grass coated in white, beyond it only dark shadows emitting smoke and fire.
Jake halted at the top of the gaping ravine, calculating a ten-foot drop. At its bottom sat a banged-up economy sedan, wedged sideways. Now, Jake smelled something worse than exhaust and smoke. Gasoline. Flames leapt from the engine, reaching out from beneath the crumpled hood. And the fire was spreading, sending noxious fumes rising in waves. “Down here!”
Jake glanced around quickly. If he was going to descend the steep slope, he’d need a way to get back up. There was the trunk of a skinny tree nearby. He grasped it firmly near its base and pulled with all his might. It bent and sagged forward under the strain, but didn’t break. It was all he had, so he’d take it. The trouble was he’d never reach it from deep inside that gulley. What he needed was a rope. “Just sit tight!” he called for reassurance. “I’m coming!” Jake raked a hand through his hair, thinking fast. Of course! His belt. He unhitched it quickly and yanked it from the loops of his jeans. Fire sizzled as electrical wires popped. More black smoke rushed toward him. He’d have to hurry. “Can you hear me?” he called, his breath ragged.
Sam squinted up through the broken passenger window at the dark figure holding a flashlight and yelled an affirmative. The airbags had deflated, leaving her wedged against her driver’s door in the tight constraint of her shoulder harness. Light flickered across the starburst pattern that had erupted on the windshield upon impact.
“How many of you are down there?”
“Just me! One!”
Sam felt light-headed and feverish. It occurred to her for the first time that this Good Samaritan might not be so altruistic. What if he was a madman? Somebody dangerous, with bad intentions? She hadn’t seen flashing lights, or heard ambulance or police sirens. His face peered in at her, framed by shards of glass and followed by a bright beam of light. Sam blinked and instinctively withdrew against the door.
“You’re hurt.”
“No, I—”
He scanned the interior of the car, then settled on her face. “Your forehead, it’s bleeding.”
She touched a hand to her hairline and her fingers came away sticky. All at once Sam was aware of the gash on her head, which must have hit something when she was thrown forward. Or maybe she’d hit the steering wheel when the car tumbled over. Sam’s stomach roiled and she feared she might get sick.
“Can you move your legs?” he asked, smoke coiling around him.
“Wh…what?”
“Kick your feet! Can you get them free?”
She did as he instructed, but everything ached. Her calves felt bruised, her ankles twisted. But she could move them, yes. “They don’t feel pinned by anything.”
“Good.” He angled his flashlight to study the exterior of the car and set his lips in a determined line. The shadows revealed a rugged face with a sturdy jaw and solid cheekbones. “What’s your name?”
“S…S…Sam,” she stammered, her lips quivering. Tremors took hold of her torso, shaking it violently. “What’s happening to me?”
Despite the direness of the situation, his voice remained steady. “I’m going to get you out of there, Sam. But you’ve got to trust me. Okay?”
A kaboom rocked the engine, sending flames spewing as the air clogged with suffocating smoke. Sam yelped. But the crackling only got louder, snapping and popping like a lit fuse racing toward a stack of dynamite. The windshield above her heaved and sagged, melting in the flames.
He tugged at the passenger side door, but couldn’t get it open.
“Turn away!” the man instructed.
“What?” Sam had already wiggled out of her seatbelt and was preparing to flee.
“Now, Sam!
Turn! Shield your face!”
She complied and he knocked in the window, sending shards flying onto the passenger seat. Using his heavy flashlight as a tool, Jake dislodged the remaining pieces of glass, then stretched an arm toward her. The smoke was growing thicker, clouding the inside of the car. Jake had to get her out before she inhaled it. Already, his lungs strained against the heavy fumes. Fortunately, Sam was upwind of their torrid assault, but she wouldn’t be for long. At any second, the gas tank could blow, consuming them both in a massive explosion.
Sam cowered against the driver’s door, shaking violently. But there wasn’t much time. One more kaboom and they were both history. “Sam,” Jake cried hoarsely, reaching for her.
Her head came around, honey-blond hair cascading past her shoulders. Tears streamed from her eyes that appeared oceans deep. He’d give anything to calm the sea storm within them. The best way he knew of was getting her out alive. “Take my hand!”
She shook her head, seemingly incoherent. Another loud boom sent a cloud of smoke curling in on a wave of heat. Jake shielded his mouth with a forearm and tried again. “Come on, you’ve got to work with me.”
She was choking on the smoke now, her eyes clearly stinging. She dropped her head forward, resting it in her palms. Jake was losing her, but without Sam’s cooperation they’d never make it. Metal wrenched and the car slid inches deeper into the ravine. He’d thought it had settled at the bottom, but he’d been wrong. If Jake didn’t get them out now, the length of his belt wouldn’t be enough to help them navigate the muddy slope before the burning car became a fireball. Crackle…hiss…whine…
