But really, what good was holding on going to do her while they fell out of the sky in a tiny metal box with wings from twenty thousand feet?
As the plane fell, she had a surprising amount of time to think, more than she would have guessed. She thought about her relationship with God, how maybe there could have been more there than she’d allowed there to be. She thought about her family, about Luke and her parents and how much she’d miss them even when they got on her nerves. She thought about her job, briefly wrestled with the knowledge that she’d never have the chance to keep moving up as she’d dreamed of doing.
And then she thought about Will. How she loved him and had always been too afraid to say so.
She wasn’t afraid now. Not now that they were both about to die. But the words wouldn’t come. Her mouth was sealed shut as much as her eyes were being held open, forced to watch the brown and green of the ground approach faster than it ever should from an airplane.
McKenna braced herself for the impact, wondering if it would hurt, if she’d be in pain for long before the end came.
The only thing she didn’t wonder about was if she was going to die. Because that was what happened to people whose planes crashed, right? As far as she knew, crashing meant certain death. From any altitude.
The plane shattered as it hit the ground. McKenna felt the impact. And then nothing.
TWELVE
“McKenna?” As soon as he’d blinked enough times to clear his head, Will turned his head to where McKenna had sat in the passenger seat. It was empty. He’d landed the plane the best he could, softening the impact, but his skills hadn’t been enough to overcome whatever had gone wrong.
And McKenna may have paid for his inadequacies.
Panic grabbed him as he took in the broken glass all over the seat and realized she must have been tossed from the plane. He fumbled with his seat belt, wondering if hers had broken in the crash. “McKenna!” He pushed at the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Wincing, he bent his arm and used his elbow to slam against the door.
It opened and he climbed out, running to her side of the plane, scanning the ground as he did so and praying that he’d find her relatively unhurt.
Was that too much to ask for with how bad the crash had been? It was amazing enough that he was unhurt except for a small scratch on his forearm.
He scanned the scene, hoping he was looking for someone with minor injuries and not for a body. “McKenna?” he called again. He stepped over a piece of metal that had come from somewhere on his plane, hardly flinching at the damage that had been inflicted on his most prized possession. The plane didn’t matter as much as McKenna did.
Short of his relationship with God, nothing did.
Will’s breath caught in his throat and he tried to slow his heart rate as the realization he was in love with her, probably always had been somewhere in his heart, washed over him with the certainty of a tsunami.
She had to be okay.
“McKenna!” he yelled again.
A weak voice somewhere to his right grabbed his attention. “McKenna, is that you?” he asked. Of course it was her, who else would it be? He hurried toward the sound and found her lying there, pinned beneath some of the cargo he kept in his plane for emergencies.
“I see you found my first-aid kit,” he teased once he looked her over and saw that she was relatively unharmed. Relief flooded through him and his heart returned to a normal pace.
“You’re okay,” she said, and he saw the expression on her face begin to mirror the overwhelming relief he was certain was on his own. He had no reason to believe her feelings went as far as his own, but she clearly cared for him deeply. It was a start.
“I’m fine. How are you, really?”
“I’m good. I can’t believe it, but I’m okay. Except that I’m stuck.”
After looking more closely at where the large box pinned her leg down, making sure nothing had punctured her leg anywhere—he knew it would be foolish to remove anything that had because he’d be putting her in danger of losing too much blood—Will wrestled the large container out of the way.
McKenna looked down at her leg and flexed her foot a few times. “I think I’m okay now.”
“Good.” He reached down a hand to help her up. She took it willingly and stood, though she faltered after the first step she tried to take. “Easy, easy,” he coached, and she nodded her agreement as she stood still for a minute, letting her body recover from the accident and from being stuck in one place for so long.
“So what happened?” she finally asked. Will followed her gaze back to the remains of the plane, his heart now free to mourn its loss since McKenna was okay. His knowledge of mechanics was just basic enough to fix common problems on the airplane if it needed it, but not detailed enough to know for sure if what he feared was true or not. But he worried the plane was beyond repair.
“I’m not sure,” he said slowly, his mind having worked on that question since the moment he’d lost control and they’d started falling out of the sky like a child’s toy airplane.
“But you checked everything.” She met his eyes, hers tinged with fear. “I watched you.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“So that could only mean...”
“Sabotage.” The word tasted bad in his mouth as he said it out loud. It was the only explanation he’d been able to come up with. He’d tried others. In some ways he even wished carelessness on his part had caused the crash. If that was the case, he’d feel terrible for endangering McKenna, but it would mean she was safer, that someone didn’t want her dead badly enough to go to the trouble of disabling his plane and trying to kill them both.
As it was, he had no choice but to admit that whoever was after her was not going to stop. Not as long as she was still alive.
His heart thudded hard and he swallowed, willing himself not to give away any of his feelings. She was scared enough already.
“Of all the...”
Will heard a loud clank and looked down in time to see a piece of metal skid across the ground as McKenna withdrew her foot.
“Did you kick that?”
She looked up at him through narrowed eyes. “Yes.” Her expression practically dared him to do something about it.
“It’s a crime scene now, McKenna,” he reminded her gently.
Her eyes widened and the fight in them disappeared as tears began to pool.
In all their years of knowing each other, he’d rarely seen her cry. This was twice in one week. The only other time he remembered seeing her cry was the time she’d broken her leg when she was five.
“Why can’t I do this right?” Her lip quivered as she sank to the ground, hugging her knees to her as tears spilled over.
He knelt beside her. “It’s okay. Really.” He watched her shoulders shake, not sure what he should do, not sure what she wanted him to do. When he could take it no more, he moved closer to her, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “It’s going to be okay.”
He held her as she cried until her muffled sobs seemed to slow.
“I just...” She sniffed and brushed a tear from her cheek as though she was irritated by its presence. And knowing her, she probably was. “I just don’t know what I should be doing differently. I don’t think like a cop the same way Luke does, Will. I graduated from the trooper academy just like any other trooper, but all my experience is with wildlife. I know wildlife.” She threw up her hands. “And if all of this is related to the polar bear poaching, I think I can solve it eventually, but how many people will be killed by then?” Her expression sobered further. “You could have died today. Because of me.”
“No. Not because of you. I got myself into this on purpose.”
“Because of me.”
Seeing he wasn’t going to be able to change her mind on thi
s, Will fell silent.
“Do you have a SAT phone or anything we could use to call for help?” she asked a minute later.
He nodded. “I’ve got one...” He let his voice trail off.
“But?”
“I’d rather not use it just yet. Let’s give it until tomorrow, see if anyone comes looking for us. We’ll use it if we need it, but I’d rather not broadcast our location in case whoever’s after you finds it out and comes to finish the job.”
He could tell by the uncertain expression on her face that neither option sat well with her. He understood. It was hard to know which one was best—he’d been debating it himself. This option, though, waiting it out for the rest of the day, seemed like the best one.
“I really need to let Captain Wilkins know what’s going on.” She gestured to the mess around them.
Will understood. He really did. But he still believed keeping the SAT phone off was best, at least for now.
“We’ll call as soon as we can.”
McKenna nodded.
“For now, let’s set up camp. It’ll keep us safer out here.” It would also give them something to do, maybe keep shock from setting in. Will worried about the look in McKenna’s eyes. She was a fighter, but this wasn’t the kind of fight she was used to. He could already see the stress of the case, the violence of it, taking its toll on her.
How much longer could she hold out? Would it be long enough to keep her alive?
* * *
“One of us should try to get some sleep,” Will said, nudging her arm. “You can have a turn first.”
She shook her head, the idea of being alone not appealing to her at all. “I’m fine. I’d rather sit up, if that’s okay.”
Will leaned forward and built the fire up a little more, then sat back. “We’ll sit and talk, then. Pretend we’re on some kind of date.” He laughed as he said the words.
That laughter reminded McKenna why she could never admit what she felt for him. She couldn’t take the thought of him laughing at her feelings, and if he had any idea, she was sure he would. After all, she was Luke’s little sister. And she was the opposite of him in almost every way. He loved being out here, in the middle of nowhere. She enjoyed the outdoors, but would rather make her permanent home somewhere within easy driving distance of gourmet coffee and a large grocery store.
Not that either of those things was that big of a deal. No, one of the biggest obstacles was the fact that she liked her life neat and controlled. Will was too laid-back for that. The two of them together would never work out. And then what would happen to their friendship?
She was afraid she knew. And since she couldn’t guarantee what would happen, it was definitely better to keep things the way they were.
“Like that would ever happen, though, right?” She knew she shouldn’t even joke about it, shouldn’t open a door to that conversation. But part of her wanted to know what Will’s reaction would be. She chanced a look at his face and saw an expression she wasn’t sure how to define.
Butterflies twirled in her stomach. McKenna cleared her throat, feeling closer to him than she had in years and desperately needing to do something, anything, to bring herself back to earth. The weird feelings she was having were because her emotions were crazy in the post-crash stress. Those, mixed with an old crush that she never could quite extinguish, could create a dangerous combination. “So...we really are in the middle of nowhere, aren’t we?”
Will nodded, his smile widening with every breath of the fresh, uncivilized air. McKenna exhaled. Change of subject complete.
“You have to admit, being out in God’s creation like this, it’s not so bad.”
“It is pretty out here,” McKenna admitted. “It would be easier to enjoy if we hadn’t crashed an airplane to get here, though.”
Will studied her face for a minute. “That’s something you’ve always struggled with, isn’t it?”
“What?” She felt herself tensing. The change of subject was supposed to have gotten them on to a less serious conversation. It felt in some ways as if they were headed into deeper waters than they’d been in earlier when she’d panicked.
“Not appreciating things you didn’t plan.”
“I don’t do that.”
“No?” He shook his head, a gentle smile easing the blow of his next words, but only slightly. “You just said yourself that it’s pretty here. If we’d come here on purpose and built a fire, just to enjoy being outside, being together, wouldn’t you be happy?”
She said nothing. But she didn’t need to. Will knew her better than that, knew he was right.
“It’s because you didn’t plan it that it bothers you. The plane crash was out of your control. Being stuck here is out of your control. And that makes you uncomfortable.”
There were times when, though it was opposite from her personality, Will’s laid-back take on life was enjoyable to McKenna. Refreshing, even. But right now it was just making the frustration that had been building since the moment they started to fall out of the sky build to its exploding point.
Yet another difference between them that made anything more than friendship a bad idea.
“I can’t be uncomfortable about a plane crash caused by someone trying to kill me? You know what? Maybe I’m not the only one with a struggle. Nothing is a big deal to you, Will. You just take life as it comes and roll with it. Just because some of us have a greater sense of responsibility for what happens to us and to those around us doesn’t make it wrong.”
“Plenty of things are a big deal to me.” His voice was low and calm. “I never said you were the only one who had a hard time dealing with situations outside of human control.”
“You’re talking about Rachael,” McKenna realized aloud. “Like I told you the other day—”
“I know.” He nodded. “You were right. In my head, I know that her death wasn’t my fault. God is the one in control. I still struggle to accept that in my heart, but I’m working on it. All I’m saying is that maybe you need to start working on it, too.”
McKenna shifted closer to the warmth of the fire. “I don’t disagree with you about God being in control.”
“Not with your words.”
She glared at him. “I’m the one whose shoulders this case rests on.”
“Not God’s?”
McKenna threw up her hands. “I know God’s in control, Will! But He doesn’t seem to be doing anything about this case, which means it’s really up to me.”
“I think you know better than that.”
“Yeah, well...” McKenna poked at the fire with a piece of metal from the airplane, since sticks weren’t overly abundant in the middle of the grassy tundra. “Speaking of the case...” She hoped he wouldn’t call her out on yet another change of subject. “Any ideas about who did this?” She motioned to the remains of Will’s plane.
He grimaced. “Probably the same person who wants you dead.”
“But how did he know I was going to call you today and ask for you to fly me somewhere?” She shook her head. “How many people even know how to sabotage airplanes? If it was me, I wouldn’t know where to start—especially if it had to be sabotage that wouldn’t show up on a standard check by the pilot. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I don’t know. Lots of people around here have a pilot’s license and experience, but I don’t have a clue who would do this. In all the years I’ve been in Barrow, nothing like this has happened. Most of the crime is alcohol related, usually domestic violence. What about you? Any suspicions?”
She took a deep breath and searched her mind, feeling as if she was grasping for puzzle pieces that weren’t there. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure who I can eliminate from the suspect pool.”
“Besides Matt.”
McKenna shrugged. “He’s off the list now.
So I guess we’re back to George and Chris as my main suspects. Though I have to say, I’m not sure I was completely wrong to suspect Matt.”
“I thought you said—”
“I misspoke. That’s not what I meant.” There he went, getting defensive again. What would it be like to be someone he cared enough about to defend like that?
“What I meant,” McKenna went on, “is that I suspected him partially because his job makes him a prime candidate, especially now that we know the polar bear poaching ties in. Which is why I’m wondering about Rick now.”
“So you’re basing suspects on the fact that they hunt?”
“No, not just that. But he owns his own hunting company. He’s familiar with planes, which we now know is part of the profile. He would have had opportunity, and potentially motive.”
“Motive?”
“Illegal hunts pay well.”
“Rick’s never done anything illegal that I know of.” He didn’t sound convinced by her logic.
She shrugged. “It still makes sense. Are you saying you trust Rick, that you’d vouch for him like you did Matt?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” He paused. “But I wouldn’t say I’d easily believe he’s a criminal, either. He’s not always the best boss, but I’ve never known him to be deliberately dishonest.”
“Which is more than we can say for George.”
“Has he lied to you?”
“Yes and no.” She made a face. “There’s more to the story of what happened to that guy on the beach that he wasn’t telling. I don’t know if he’s lying to protect himself because he’s guilty, or because he doesn’t want to cooperate with an organization he’s opposed to.”
“I see.”
“I just wish it made sense. I wish I could be sure about something and wrap this up. This is my job. I’m supposed to be good at it.”
“You’re doing the best you can.”
“That’s not enough. People are getting seriously hurt and dying.”
“But like I said, God is still in control. Trust Him.”
Tundra Threat Page 13
