Christmas Blackout

by Maggie K. Black

  His sister sighed. “But are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” He slid all the way down until he was sitting on the floor. “But I had everything in that truck—my bag, my passport, my airline ticket, emergency credit card, traveling money. It’s all gone. Literally all I have now is my driver’s license and twenty bucks.”

  She gasped. “Oh, Benji, I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah, sis. Me, too.” He stared up at the wooden beams crossing above as wind howled outside. The predicted storm had arrived full force, bringing heavy snow once again. The town was still without power, but Dominic had brought over a portable generator and hooked it up to a few essential circuits, including a couple of standing lamps. “A friend of Piper’s has offered to lend me his car, as long as somebody’s able to drive it back down to him after the wedding.”

  “Of course, we have several guests heading back that way. But what about your flight?”

  Benjamin blew out a long breath. “Doesn’t look good. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to get a new passport issued in time, not with everything being shut down for Christmas. And the airline won’t refund my flight. I’m just hoping that once I get home to the island and visit a government office there, they’ll be able to do something. I’m about to hit the road now and I’ll grab food on the way. I should be there around midnight.”

  “The bridge to the island is closing tonight until tomorrow morning,” Meg said gently. “It’s iced up and they’re saying a whole lot of snow is going to keep falling overnight. Stay there, get some sleep and get here as soon as you can in the morning.”

  “But tomorrow’s your wedding!”

  “Yup. Ironic, I know. I’m a wedding planner who spent years panicking about the safety of her baby brother, and now circumstances are conspiring to keep you from making it to my wedding. The old Meg would be hanging from the ceiling by her fingernails.” She chuckled. “Maybe God’s showing me just how far I’ve come in the past year and a half, and just how ready I am to marry Jack tomorrow. Fortunately, all the other guests have now made it here safe and sound. We’ll all pray that you make it here on time.”

  He closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands. “But what if something happens and I don’t make it?”

  “You will. I’ll dance with you at the reception, open presents with you Christmas morning and have Christmas brunch with you and the family before you leave for Australia and we leave for our honeymoon.”

  “Okay.” He closed his eyes. He was exhausted and couldn’t help feeling he was letting his sister down on the most important day of her life. The fact she was being so awesome about it didn’t make him feel any better.

  The gentle murmur of Piper’s voice floated up through the air behind him. Even though he couldn’t make out her words the mere tone of her voice seemed to brush the back of his neck like gentle fingertips, calming him a bit. He was so frustrated right now he was ready to grab Piper’s boxing gloves and start punching at the snow. Meg had tried to warn him about showing up in person to drop off the dog. But he hadn’t listened. Now he was messing up his sister’s wedding plans. And all he’d succeeded in doing with Piper was letting the man who’d attacked her escape, fumbling another goodbye and kissing her.

  If he hadn’t decided to drop Harry off in person, Piper might never have been at the barn so late that Kodiak was able to attack her like that. Yes, Benjamin had stepped in to protect her, twice. But if he hadn’t been here, wouldn’t God have provided someone else? A better guardian? Somebody smarter and wiser than he had been? His sister had been right. He never should have insisted on driving down and dropping the dog off himself. He’d selfishly given in to his own desire to take one last look at Piper. Hadn’t he learned anything from hearing Piper’s stories? Her life had been damaged enough by selfish people—her father, her mother, Charlotte and the evil, cruel brutes who were threatening her now. It didn’t matter that his heart was in the right place. Piper needed stable people to stand by her. Not the kind of man who was going to give her a quick hug—let alone a reckless kiss—before dashing off to chase his own dreams.

  Well, Lord, I’m just going to have to trust that You have Piper’s back and will help surround her with the kind of people she needs.

  “Don’t worry.” His sister’s voice drifted down the line. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  He should be the one standing there, in person, telling her that. “There was something you wanted to talk to me about at the rehearsal—”

  “Don’t worry about that right now.”

  “You told me it was important.”

  “Yes, but not as important as you just getting here safe.” She was using her “I’m trying to protect you” tone of voice. It bothered him just as much as it probably bothered Piper when he did it.

  “Sis? Just tell me.”

  She sighed. “I was going to ask you to walk me down the aisle tomorrow.”

  He felt his breath leave him, as if someone had just sucker punched him in the gut. Certainly he’d known she wasn’t going to ask their father to do it; he’d never been emotionally there for her. But Benjamin had never imagined... “I thought you’d decided to walk in alone.”

  “I wanted to tell you in person.” Sounded as if there were tears in Meg’s voice, too. “Jack and I are having all four of our parents come in together. Then he’s coming in with his best man, Luke. Then you and I walk in. You’re my best friend, bro. After everything we’ve gone through together, it just felt right to have you beside me.”

  “I’ll be there.” Benjamin stood up and looked down over the balcony. Piper was walking the police officer out. He couldn’t see where Dominic had gone. “I promise. Whatever it takes.”

  Otherwise he’d never be able to forgive himself.

  * * *

  Piper looked up. Benjamin was standing alone on the balcony above her. He slipped a cell phone into his pocket and then started down the stairs toward her.

  “Where did everybody go?” he asked.

  “The police finished up their report,” she said. “They already have someone trying to match the description you gave them of Kodiak and they’ll apply for a search warrant to go through his phone. They’re on the lookout for your truck and will also try to have someone drive by The Downs a couple of times in the night, just to make sure everything’s okay and to show anyone who might be prowling around that they’re watching. Dominic’s gone home to grab a few things. Now that the guests have moved out he’s taking a second-floor suite for tonight, so that you and I have another person here for backup.”

  Benjamin dropped down on the couch beside her. “So you guessed that I’m going nowhere tonight.”

  “I had a hunch.” The back of her hand brushed the back of his. Then she folded her hands in her lap. “Are you okay?”

  “Depends how you define okay.” He looked so tired she was amazed he was still standing upright. “I have no passport, no truck, no clothes, there’s another snowstorm outside, the bridge to Manitoulin Island is closing tonight due to ice and my sister is getting married tomorrow.” He shook his head in what she assumed was exasperation. “But you and I are both safe, and it could be a whole lot worse. So, sure, all things considered, I’m okay.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty much the same,” she said. “The barn has collapsed, taking the tree we chopped down and the Christmas decorations with it. I have no idea what I’m going to do about Christmas Eve at The Downs, since we obviously can’t hold it in the barn now. Kodiak, Alpha and the blonde who broke into my room are all still on the loose. According to police, it sounds like no one’s heard from Charlotte since the night she trashed The Downs. It’s like she evaporated into thin air. As far as the police can tell she did a complete disappearing act.”

  Which did not bode well for either finding her or stopping those now after her.

  “Mayb
e she changed her identity,” Benjamin said. “Especially if she was trying to escape Alpha. Do they have any idea why the barn collapsed?”

  “Yup, but you won’t believe it, because I barely believe it myself. Someone walked around on the barn roof and tried to break into the top of the chimney.”

  He blinked. “You’re joking.”

  “No word of a lie.” She ran both hands through her hair and let it fall. “The stupid thing is I thought I saw something up there when we were driving in to drop off the tree. I just never realized it could be a person. But that’s the theory based on the footprints, broken branches and what they could piece together. They actually found a sledgehammer in the rubble. Looks like someone climbed up, took a few swings at the brick. They tried to climb back down, but the branch broke and everything caved in. They fell through but obviously managed to crawl out while we were still buried, and then stole your truck, I’m guessing.”

  “Did you check the brick? I think I heard her say something about bricks to that guy.”

  One of Alpha’s angry texts floated through her mind. But that couldn’t be the “brick” Alpha was talking about. Could it? After all, whoever trashed the barn also took a couple of swipes at the fireplace and stopped when they hit the heavy wall of concrete Uncle Des had poured in.

  Benjamin’s mouth gaped. “You’re telling me that someone was actually climbing around on your barn roof, trying to break into the chimney with a sledgehammer?”

  “Yup.” She nodded. “The police said they’d check The Downs’s roof for footprints, too, but they figure it’s too steep to climb on.”

  “Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds? They could have been killed. We could have been killed. I shouldn’t be finding this funny.”

  Benjamin looked on the cusp of bursting into laughter. But Piper was almost ready to cry.

  “It’s ridiculous. I know!” She threw her hands up in the air. “It’s too absurd for words. Six years ago I try to do the nice thing and let some girl I’m sharing an apartment with come visit The Downs because she’s curious about the rumors of its Prohibition history. Instead, she sneaks out to kiss some handsome young man in the woods, robs my family and our guests, and destroys pretty much every special handmade Christmas ornament we have. And why? I don’t know! Now my aunt is ill, I’m saving every cent I can for renovating this place and suddenly she’s back to wreck my life even more spectacularly than before. Only I haven’t seen her. Not specifically. All I’ve seen is a masked blonde girl, who could be Charlotte. Thanks to the phone you inadvertently picked up after fighting Kodiak, we now have pretty strong confirmation he was sent here by Charlotte’s former boyfriend. But why Alpha is looking for Charlotte here after all this time is still a giant mystery, because as far as I can tell, she’s not here! And there’s nothing I can do!”

  That was probably more of an outburst than Benjamin had ever heard from her before. But, while she might have been born in England and raised by a couple who were strong believers in staying calm and carrying on, with everything that had been mounting the past couple of days it was getting harder and harder not to throw her metaphorical hockey gloves down on the ice and pound something.

  She took a deep breath, afraid she already knew the answer before she asked the question. “What happens to your flight to Australia?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know. Whoever stole my truck now has my passport. I don’t know how fast I’ll be able to get a new one, but it doesn’t look good. Worst-case scenario, I wait days or weeks for the passport to arrive, book a new flight, get over there as soon I can and figure out how I’m going to join the charity sail after it starts.”

  He was sitting so close to her on the couch now she caught his scent—like the forest after a rain, like spices, like comfort. If she moved her body just an inch they would be touching. Shadows from the flickering flames danced along the lines of his jaw. Piper ached to reach up and feel the softness of his beard under her fingertips, to brush her lips along the soft skin where it met his cheek.

  No. She’d kissed him once and that had been a mistake. They couldn’t let it happen again. She leaped up. “I have some mulled cider in the pantry. I’m going to go heat it up over the stove.”

  A question flickered in his eyes, but he didn’t follow her.

  The kitchen was dark. She walked through the narrow room and headed for the pantry.

  Lord, please help Benjamin catch his flight. I never thought I’d say this, but I need him to leave. The next goodbye has to be the final one, no matter what. I can’t keep having my heart yanked up and down like a yo-yo anymore.

  She opened the pantry door and pulled the cord for the light out of habit before remembering the power was still out and they were reliant on a generator. She stepped in and ran her hands along the jars and cans, feeling for the cloth-wrapped cider lid.

  Something moved in the darkness. Then before she could barely make a sound, a gloved hand clamped tightly over her lips and the tip of a knife brushed against her neck.

  “Don’t move!” the man whispered. “Or I’ll have to kill you.”

  THIRTEEN

  A crash came from the kitchen.

  “Hey, everything okay in there? You need a hand?” Benjamin glanced over his shoulder. He thought he heard a muffled sound but couldn’t make out any words. He stood up. “Hang on, I’ll come hold a flashlight—”

  The words froze in his throat as Piper walked, slowly and awkwardly into the living room. A black-gloved hand was clamped over her mouth and the tip of a jagged kitchen knife was pressed into the soft flesh at the base of her throat.

  Oh Lord, help me save her.

  She took another step toward him and it was only then he saw her attacker. The man was about Piper’s height but had an athletic build. He wore a shiny red ski jacket and a striped balaclava that hid his face, but not enough to hide the bruised eye and bloody lip.

  Not Kodiak. Not Blondie.

  Was he face-to-face with Alpha?

  Benjamin focused his gaze directly on Piper. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”

  “Don’t talk to her!” the man snapped. “Just tell me where I can find what I’m looking for or someone’s going to get hurt!

  Piper’s hands rose in front of her. “Okay. We hear you.”

  But her eyes met Benjamin’s, determined, fearless.

  He took a step forward, praying for an opportunity, his limbs tense and ready to strike. “We have no idea where Charlotte is.”

  “What?” The masked man’s head snapped toward Benjamin. “Who’s Charlotte?”

  But the final syllable froze in the masked man’s throat.

  Piper swiftly grabbed his wrist with both hands and pulled it out in front of her face. For a second the blade reflected in her eyes before she twisted his wrist, wrenching the knife from his grasp.

  He screamed in pain, dropping the knife to the floor.

  She tossed him over her shoulder.

  The masked man landed on his back on the floor and lay there, staring up at her with bulging eyes. She still hadn’t let go of his wrist.

  Then Piper tossed her hair and looked at Benjamin, fire flashing in her eyes.

  Benjamin’s mouth went dry.

  He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything stronger, braver or more beautiful in his entire life.

  “Got the knife?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” Benjamin picked it up and held it out firmly, just enough to show the intruder that even though Piper had the situation covered he was more than happy to step in as needed.

  Only then did Piper release her grip just enough to let the man rise to his knees.

  He spat on the floor. “You broke my arm.”

  “Probably just sprained. We’ll call an ambulance when we call the police.” Benjamin reached do
wn and yanked off the ski mask.

  It was Gavin.

  Benjamin almost laughed. The same arrogant jerk who’d stood in this kitchen just this morning insulting him had just threatened Piper at knifepoint, and was now down on his knees, his bruised and bloody face glaring defiantly at them.

  Benjamin hoped the disgust he was feeling showed clearly in his eyes.

  “Who sent you here?” Piper turned on Gavin. “Was it Alpha? Why do they think Charlotte is at The Downs?”

  A snarl passed Gavin’s lips. “I told you, I don’t know anyone named Charlotte and I’ve never heard of Alpha. I don’t know what’s going on here any more than you do!”

  Benjamin snorted. Even though Gavin had spit the words out with so much anger and frustration it was likely he’d convinced himself they were true. But Benjamin wasn’t about to listen to the hotheaded liar and sneak who’d assaulted Piper claim that he was the victim.

  “Well, I hope whatever you’re after is worth losing your legal career for. If you even are a lawyer.” Piper turned to Benjamin. “There’s a phone behind you on the counter. If you call 911, they should hopefully be able to get us through to the right officer for our case.”

  “Agreed.” Benjamin reached for the phone.

  “Wait! Please!” Sweat was pouring down Gavin’s face. “Don’t call the police. Just get someone to take me to the hospital. Or call a taxi and I’ll make my own way there. Okay, okay, so I don’t have my own law firm yet. But I did just pass the bar exam and I’ll agree not to sue you, or press charges for assaulting me or...or for the fact I fell through the roof of your obviously unstable barn. We can all just chalk this up to one big misunderstanding and go on with our lives.”

  Fury built at the back of Benjamin’s neck, tightening his shoulders and pushing through his voice with so much force. “You attacked Piper! You broke into her home. You put a knife to her throat. Not to mention vandalizing the power generator, taking a sledgehammer to the chimney of her barn, and conspiring with some creep with a bear tattoo who choked her at the barn last night—”