High Seduction

by Vivian Arend

  “Ken, I need to put on my headset. I need to listen to my instrument panel . . . some of the signals I use to fly are auditory. And I need to know where you want to go, so I can calculate if I have enough fuel.”

  He pulled out a paper. “That’s what we gave the other pilot. It’s a private airstrip, so you don’t need to contact anyone to land. And no, you can’t wear your headset.”

  Dammit. Options were fading fast. The rotors were at nearly full speed now, and the volume loud enough to deafen everyone. She checked the coordinates she’d been given and punched the data into her navigator. Then she ignored the fact that she had three unwanted guests and took off without any further warning.

  If they got bumped around, so be it.

  And then the damn gun came back to mind, and she stifled her instinct to send them into a wild tailspin. She might be okay with the resulting loss of balance, and Tim would be okay, especially since he was locked down. Matt would probably get sick, but that would be fine if it meant they were safe.

  But that gun changed things. She headed south, leaving behind the remains of the plane and a man who was dead or dying. Their proven willingness to use violence was far too strong an incentive to follow her captors’ orders.

  * * *

  Tim had given up trying to guess what came next. Locked in position, he could do nothing but hope his next breath wasn’t his last. As far as he could tell from his position in the center of the hold, Erin did nothing but take them in a straight line to the private field.

  There’d been a second when he wondered if she was going to try something, but a glance over her shoulder had her stopping as soon as she spotted the gun John held pointed in his direction.

  He wasn’t even sure what he would tell her to try.

  The glimpses he had out the window showed they were passing out of the Rockies and into the lowlands, closing in on the U.S.-Canada border, the thin thread of a river widening into a long stretch of lake that Erin followed for a good fifteen minutes.

  Sure enough, the no-touching zone appeared ahead, the swatch of trees cut in a nearly straight line the entire length of the forty-ninth parallel. They were almost out of Canada. There were no major roads visible. No communities.

  Little chance they would be spotted and reported to curious border authorities.

  Ten minutes past the border, a small clearing in the trees appeared. They were high in the mountains again, this time the less rugged and more rounded Columbia ranges that were common along the BC-Washington or Idaho line. Erin let them down, the pressure and noise in her ears dying away, but a low ringing remaining.

  Erin was escorted to the door, where she jerked off Ken’s grasp on her. “I’m not going anywhere without the guys.”

  “They’re coming with us. Insurance for your continued good behavior.”

  “You have no reason to hurt any of us—” Erin started.

  “Shut up. We’ll put you somewhere safe.”

  The duct tape was cut away, freeing Tim’s wrists from the chair. Before he could even think about making a move, a new set was applied, locking his hands in front of him and leaving him a lot more helpless than he wished. On the opposite side of the plane he caught glimpses of Matt being given the same treatment.

  Then Matt disappeared, led away by Red. John held Tim in place at the side of the field as Erin worked alone to refuel. “It would go faster if I helped her,” he offered.

  The man at his side shook his head, crossing his arms as he looked around the ranch area. “No rush. We’re not leaving anytime soon.”

  And then he closed his mouth and didn’t say anything else.

  Frustration, fear—Tim had it all. They’d killed a man already. What reason could they have for keeping any of them alive once they were no longer useful? Matt’s insistence at being offered up as a hostage had been a necessary evil, but even that didn’t provide insurance for either Erin or himself.

  Red emerged from the cabin where he’d disappeared, wood smoke curling from the chimney. He was alone, and Tim’s stomach flipped with worry.

  “Where’s Matt?”

  “He’s safe. If he is who he says he is, we’ll treat him well.”

  It was the longest time before Ken escorted Erin across the field. An icy chill was settling into Tim’s limbs from the lack of movement and the tight tape around his wrists.

  Erin met his eyes. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  Ken pushed Erin toward the small metal shed beside the cabin. “In you go.”

  “Tim—”

  “Is going with you.”

  The short glimpse of light while the door was open showed that there was nothing much in the place but a couple of barrels. Tim shuffled forward awkwardly, uncertainty rising again, but the fact that they were together was good.

  Good yet still terrifying. Matt wasn’t with them, and they only had the word of killers that his friend would stay safe.

  If he could have turned back the clock and never offered the suggestion of the getaway, he would in a second.

  The door closing them into the small shed didn’t help.

  After the past hours of high-volume noise, his ears rang with imagined sound. Still, both he and Erin stood silently for a moment, straining to hear footsteps moving away. Listening for some sign they were really alone.

  The cabin door slammed—which was no assurance, but was probably the best they could expect. Tim turned toward where Erin stood, thin lines of daylight sneaking in through cracks near the ceiling.

  “Oh, God.” Erin shook violently, then reached for him. “Let me take the tape off you.”

  “There’s a pocketknife inside my coat. Right inside breast pocket.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Seriously?”

  “They weren’t concerned about frisking me, just in getting here.”

  She bit the tip of her glove and pulled it off, unzipping his coat and slipping her hand inside to find the blade. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything to do that wasn’t going to put you guys in danger.”

  “There was nothing you could do. We need to get out of here, though, because once we’re not needed . . .”

  He didn’t want to bring back images of the pilot. Deadweight, Ken had said.

  At what point did he and Erin become deadweight?

  “You did good,” he assured her. “And they had you refuel the chopper—so maybe they still need you to fly them somewhere.”

  Erin lowered her voice. “I was considering a spinout. I thought about stalling. I thought about taking us straight to a manned airport—and I didn’t do any of them because I was afraid—”

  “For good reason.” He pulled the last of the tape from his wrists and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. “Oh God, Erin, I did the same mental wrangling, and there was no solution. If you’d done any of those things we might all be dead right now.”

  Erin slipped her hands up to his chest and pushed him back slightly. “Do up your coat. How are your hands? It’s cold, and if we’re going to have a chance to get away, we need to be as warm as possible before we go out there again.”

  Both of them were deliberately ignoring the impossibility of getting Matt out from right under the kidnappers’ noses.

  “Look around in here, see if there’s anything that can help us.” Tim tucked things back into place, slipping his knife into his main right pocket.

  She had her coat open and was placing the strips of duct tape she’d cut off him onto her clothes. “Just in case we need them later,” she explained. “And I know it’s no use right here, but there’s a gun in the chopper.”

  Well, now. “You knew about that, did you?”

  Erin closed her jacket while she answered. “Of course I knew. Marcus and I had a bit of a fight over it initially, but in the end he agreed it was a good idea.”

  For the first time in a while Tim actually felt like smiling. “I wasn’t talking about you having a gun. I was talking about the one I have hidde
n in my medical supplies.”

  “You’re shitting me.”

  “Nope.”

  She snuck under his arm briefly, putting their heads close together. “I knew I liked you. You’re devious.”

  “So are you. We fit well together.”

  Their smiles faded, though, as the reality of their situation grew clearer again. “Look around, right?” she asked.

  There wasn’t much there. A couple of smaller old barrels. A bunch of rags. Tim tried the door, but for a run-down old shed, the thing barely budged, even when he slammed his shoulder into it. There was nothing that could get them out. “Great. Well, we can burn the place down around our heads if we want to.”

  “Let’s save that one for tomorrow,” Erin suggested.

  He tipped the empty canisters over and created a seat of a kind. The rags became a layer of cushioning that he sat on, then he tapped his lap. “Come, conserve body heat.”

  She slipped in next to him and curled up tight. They tucked their hands between their bodies and tilted their heads down, a small bundle of humanity keeping as much of their body heat in as possible.

  “So. Any plans?” she asked.

  “They need you to fly them somewhere else. That’s the only reason I can think of for the refueling.” Tim made sure they were speaking softly enough to not be overheard even if someone stood right outside the shed. “Sounds as if they’re treating Matt a little better—looking for the extra cash.”

  “I hope he’s okay.” There was real fear in her voice.

  “I hope so, too, but he’s a smart guy, and he does have the money if it comes to that. But mostly we’re trying to buy time for someone to help us.”

  “Which is not going to happen very quickly, Tim.” She sighed. “I never got out a distress call—I was too scared to try anything. That means the chopper not showing up is our only warning to anyone. Which means no one will even be out looking until tomorrow.”

  “Which is why I think your idea of the nearest airport is a good one. Doesn’t matter if Matt and I are lashed to chairs. Go in low, out of air traffic range but high enough to get on radar. You set down on the edge of a runway, and our kidnappers will have nowhere to go but through the security that will show up.”

  “There’s a ton wrong with that, though. Even with security blocking them, they could hole up in the chopper. They could shoot you. They could shoot Matt. What the hell are they running from, anyway?”

  “I thought smugglers first, but they said they were out of Anchorage and headed to Seattle. There were no drugs on the plane, and they barely took anything with them when we left.”

  “Bullshit on them being out of Anchorage.” Erin’s breath brushed his neck, a steamy stroke that warmed him deeply. “The pilot had to have registered the flight, but there was no way they would have been passing over the mountain they were when they went down. Anchorage to Seattle is an all-coastal route, and we were inland far too much, even changing direction to head toward the new coordinates once they were in the air.”

  “Interesting.” Tim pulled his arms free to rub her back slowly. “Possible starting points?”

  “Major airports? Offhand, only Whitehorse comes to mind. Yellowknife, maybe—the route would make sense if the pilot was trying to avoid cutting over any main air traffic routes, staying off the radar. Private airstrips could be anything between those two points.” Erin sighed. “I wonder if he had the heart attack because of being hijacked.”

  He soothed her the best he could. “Don’t. We can’t change it, and we’re not going to focus on that now. Now we’re all about getting out of here in one piece.”

  “Okay. Landing at a major airport—safer for civilians than a shopping mall or main highway.”

  “They can’t take off and hide as easily, either,” Tim pointed out. “But if a highway is all you get, take it.”

  “They can still shoot you. I don’t think they have much respect for life at this point.”

  He agreed, but that wasn’t what she needed to hear. He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. “I wish this hadn’t happened. I wish to God we were back home and safe. But we will get through this. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open, and the next chance we get, we’re going to do what we can to get out of here.”

  She slipped her hand from her glove and cupped his face, her palm warm against his cheek. “We’ll do what we can.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Erin fell into an uneasy doze, relaxation coming in spite of her fears. There was nothing to do in the small space, no room to move around, and the tight position she and Tim ended up in grew warm enough that she’d closed her eyes and actually slept. The darkness around them felt like a tangible thing, dimming sounds, blurring her mind. No matter how hard she looked she couldn’t see anything, and the sensation of total blindness was strange.

  “Erin. Someone is coming.” Tim pushed her upright gently. “There’s been not a lot of noise for about an hour, but I just heard something from toward the cabin. Sounded like a bit of a scuffle.”

  She slipped to her feet and helped him up, the two of them wiggling slightly, moving their feet in an attempt to get the blood flowing again. “How late is it?”

  “About ten. Be ready.”

  Her ears ached from listening. Was that a footstep? The wind? All the clues seemed muffled.

  “You awake?” A deep voice, not Ken.

  “We are. What do you want, Red?” Tim asked.

  No sound for a moment. “We need to get out of here. If I let you free, will you drop me off somewhere safe? I have a gun, and I will use it if I have to, but—”

  “Where are your friends?” Tim snapped. “Why should we trust you?”

  “They’re in the cabin. I tied them up with that duct tape we used on you. I’m opening the door, and I have the gun. We need to move now, though.”

  “He’s telling the truth.” Matt’s voice.

  Shit. “Matt? You okay?”

  “Yes, so hurry up.”

  Erin raised her voice. “Let us out.”

  The door swung open a bare inch. Tim pushed it open all the way, revealing the big man with, as promised, a gun pointed at them. Matt stood a little ways away, his hands still taped in front of him, but a grin on his face shining in the faint line.

  They were still in deep shit, but the sight of Tim’s friend eased a small spot of panic. “Good to see you, Matt.”

  Red shook the gun. “Talk later, we have to leave.”

  “Point that thing some other direction,” Erin snapped. “I’m sick of people sticking guns in my face when they want my help.”

  Tim cleared his throat, but she was too pissed to care.

  Red motioned with his head to the chopper. “I tied them up, but if they get free, we’re in trouble. The chopper is ready to go, right?”

  They were headed toward the chopper, her feet stinging as blood rushed back into them. “It’ll take me five minutes to get off the ground. Where do you want to go?”

  “Edge of the nearest small town is good. Just give me a way to get away from them, and I promise not to hurt any of you.”

  They were running now, racing for freedom. Erin pulled herself in and started the routine to get the bird off the ground.

  Matt was right behind her. “Anything I need to do?” he asked.

  “Belt yourself in, put on a headset so you can hear what’s going on. Then shut up.”

  He took the closest seat to hers and followed orders. She was too busy to regret snapping at him.

  Behind her, Tim moved a little slower, talking to their supposed rescuer, who still held the gun trained on his back. “You’re going to be in trouble with your partners for letting us go.”

  “They weren’t my partners. I was hired, like the pilot. There was no need to kill him,” Red said.

  “Ahh.” Tim paused. “Figured out you were probably next?”

  “Yeah. If they killed him, they have no reason to keep me around, either, not once they get where they’
re going.” Red spoke louder as the noise level rose. “Please, don’t use the radio. Don’t turn me in.”

  “Right now you’re our best friend, Red.” Erin pulled a headset from the dash and held it in the air. “I won’t call the authorities, but if you put one of these on, it will save all of us our hearing. Tim can show you how it works. Liftoff in two minutes.”

  Then she concentrated on making the final preparations.

  The normal actions of getting the chopper ready soothed her. Calmed the panic flipping through her veins as the reality of what could have happened flicked like trailer shots through her brain.

  The unexpected freedom was nearly giddy-making.

  Bullshit on not calling in details, although she’d wait until they were actually off the ground. On this one she agreed with Red—the farther they were from the men with the happy trigger fingers, the better.

  The radio flicked in her headset, Tim’s voice coming in. “Push this button to talk. Channel three, okay?”

  “Got it.” Red spoke softly. “Hurry.”

  Tim settled into the second seat, pulling the seat harness across his chest and slipping on the headset. “Nearly ready.”

  Light flashed briefly from the left, and Erin swore. “What’s that?”

  “Company. Take off now, Erin,” Tim shouted. “Shit. Shit, shit.”

  She pulled them skyward, rotating the chopper as she lifted, attempting to get out of range as quickly as possible.

  Curses rang from beside her. “They’re shooting at us. Leave, now.”

  Erin throttled forward, sensing the bullet’s contact with the chopper body more than hearing it. The faint light pouring from the cabin door showed two bodies standing in the beam, hands raised, as she headed over the treetops and away from their captors.

  She took a deep breath, then eyed the control panel. “Nothing major showing up as hit so far.”

  “How long to somewhere to put Red down?” Tim asked. “It’s an emergency.”

  Those were the prearranged code words Tim had established before they’d started the rescue—Erin already knew what he had in mind. “Let me check the map.” She clicked channels to number one to speak privately to Tim. “Really put him down?”