Knight Before Dawn

by Kristi Cramer

  “Nick?” she asked softly.

  * * *

  “Hmmm?” Nick awoke slowly, his eyes opening at last. Cassie lay still beside him in the dark, quiet cabin. He wondered what had brought him awake until her hand caressed his arm and she spoke again.

  “Tell me about your childhood, Nick. Help me understand your father.”

  He closed his eyes and searched for the words to describe what growing up was like for him. His hand stroked her hair absently. “I don’t remember much from before my mother died, except being happy. I do remember games, fun French lessons, lots of love and joy.

  “Pop was always there to play with me too, but after Mother’s death everything flipped upside down. I was eight years old when Pop sent me away to Montréal, Quebec, to live with my Great Uncle Charles.”

  “How did she die?” Cassie asked, her voice gentle.

  “They said it was a car accident, that the brakes went out.” Nick frowned at the memory. Out of the blue he remembered his uncle on the phone, telling someone that Pop had meant to use the car that day, and that the gardener had found brake fluid on a knife in the bushes by the house.

  Then Uncle Charles had seen Nick watching him and had hung up the phone, telling Nick he was talking about a movie. Nick hadn’t given a second thought to the incident since then, but now his great uncle’s words came to him with an uncanny clarity. Maybe the only accident was his mother’s death instead of his father’s.

  He shook those confusing thoughts from his head and continued his story.

  “When Pop finally asked me to come home from Montréal, I found him obsessed with his work. We never spoke more than a few words to each other. Uncle Charles, who had come to live with us too, told me to give Pop time to get over his grief, and I should let him develop a closer relationship with me in his own time. I didn’t understand, but I left Pop to his grief.”

  “When Uncle Charles died shortly after my sixteenth birthday, Pop was still keeping his distance. On my eighteenth birthday, I asked for a cruise trip to Hawaii. Pop gave me the money without a second thought. I stayed in the islands for six months without writing or calling home. I just came back when I ran out of money. Pop only asked if I’d had fun.

  “I was convinced my father didn’t care about me, so I left the state, hitchhiking through Canada and the Lower 48, down into Mexico. I spent two years in Mexico City working in an orphanage as a night janitor. Then that stupid bar fight I told you about brought me to the attention of the authorities. With only my passport and an expired visa, I spent two weeks in a dirty Mexican jail before they deported me, kicking me out of a rickety bus into Laredo.”

  Cassie made a sympathetic sound and squeezed his hand.

  “Somehow Pop got word of my whereabouts after that. I was walking along the highway, hitching a ride to Austin to look for work, when a brown van pulled up beside me. The driver offered me a ride to the international airport in Houston. He handed me a plane ticket for a private flight and gave me a short message: come home, my father missed me.”

  Nick paused as he remembered. “I almost didn’t go, but I looked around at the desert landscape and felt the oppressive heat, and I got homesick. In no time at all, I found myself booking the charter plane out to Juneau.”

  Cassie stirred, nestling against his shoulder with a sigh. “Is my story putting you to sleep?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, her voice nonetheless sounding suspiciously sleepy. “Go on.”

  “It wasn’t my first time on a plane,” he continued, “but it was my first time in a small plane. The pilot let me sit up front, and because of that trip I fell in love with flying, though it was another two years before I got my license.

  “When I got off the plane in Juneau, Pop stood waiting for me. He had no words, just an awkward yet heartfelt embrace. A hot shower and anything I could possibly hope to eat welcomed me, and my bed was the softest I had slept on in over two years.

  “Pop never asked me about my two-year disappearing act, and I never told him. He just put up the money for me to start college.” Nick wondered if maybe that was why he had never pressed about things Pop didn’t tell him. “I realized that the money was his way of saying he loved me.

  “I went to college for a year before dropping out, getting a job instead so I could go to flight school. This did not please Pop, and he let me know it, but at this point we had started the long road back to being friends.”

  When Nick had started Fly by Knight, he had thought he and his father had truly become close for the first time. But as Nick lay in the darkness, breathing in the scent of Cassie’s clean hair, he realized he didn’t really know his father. Not like most kids get to know their parents. Nick knew a business man who had as many defenses around his personal life as the Pentagon, a man who had never truly let Nick get close. For once, Nick wondered why. He had resented that distance many times, but he had never asked why.

  Nick sighed, realizing Cassie had indeed fallen asleep, and he finally drifted back into sleep himself.

  * * *

  “Knight to Blue Sky! Nick, are you there?” The voice crackling over the radio made both Nick and Cassie sit straight up in bed.

  “Jeez!” Nick threw back the covers, flying down the stairs to the radio cabinet. He picked up the handset, pausing for a moment. “Blue Sky here. Denise, why on earth are you calling so early on Sunday?”

  “It’s ten o’clock, Nick. Listen, you gotta come in to town today. Okay?” It seemed to Cassie that Denise’s tight voice betrayed an edgy fear.

  “Why?”

  “I can’t say right now.”

  “Denise, what the hell?” Nick’s tone suggested he had little tolerance for messing around this morning.

  “Crap, Nick. Do I sound like I’m playing games? Never mind. When can you get here?”

  Nick considered a moment before answering. “Gimme three hours.”

  “Okay, meet me at the Active Pass at one. Please, don’t be late. I gotta go. Knight out.”

  “Denise?” Nick looked up and met Cassie’s gaze where she stood at the edge of the loft. “Blue Sky out,” he said, his voice flat.

  “Nick?” Cassie’s voice quavered. She swallowed, hoping to steady it. “What do you think she wants?”

  Nick climbed the stairs to the loft, picked up his jeans and slipped them on, though he didn’t button them. “Who knows. With Denise it could be anything.”

  “She’s done something like this before?” Cassie desperately wanted this to be some kind of ritual joke Denise pulled on a regular basis, but somehow she doubted it.

  Nick raked his hands through his hair. “No.”

  “She sounded scared.” So was Cassie.

  “I know.” He scowled, then turned abruptly and headed for the shower. “Get your bag ready. I don’t know how long we’ll be staying in town.”

  * * *

  The streets of Juneau bustled with tourists from the giant cruise ships at the dock, along with some residents taking advantage of the fine weather. Cassie walked beside Nick, her eyes scanning the people relentlessly. She was far more nervous than she’d expected to be. Someone could have watched Nick’s plane touch down. Someone could be watching them right now.

  She had put her hair inside her coat and drawn up the hood, hoping she would not be recognized.

  But Nick dressed as usual, in black jeans and flight jacket, his hair free to the wind. He was tall enough to stand out in the crowd too. Cassie had wanted him to wear a hat, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to seem like he was hiding. Anyone who knew him—and a lot of people did—would look twice to see him wearing a hat on a day like today. And, he had told her, on the second look they might notice the pretty woman walking beside him.

  Nick wove his way through the streams of people so swiftly Cassie almost had to run to keep up with him. At last they turned a corner and she could see their destination.

  A brilliant sign declared the Active Pass Pub, inviting passersby to come on in and d
ance to the latest music. At this time of day, the bartender didn’t have many customers to serve.

  With Cassie trailing behind him, Nick walked straight upstairs to the loft and stopped. He scanned the tables, then went to a back booth and slid into the seat. He took Cassie’s hand when she hesitated, pulling her to sit next to him.

  The young woman sitting across from them stared at Cassie.

  “Well?” Nick said with a trace of impatience.

  The woman tore her gaze away from Cassie’s face to look at Nick. “Nick. I think you’re in a lot of trouble.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Nick glanced at Cassie, then turned to look back at the troubled expression in his secretary’s hazel eyes. Her usual sassy disposition was hidden by anxiety. “What?”

  The woman gave a nervous laugh, tossing her brown curls. “Don’t look at me like that, Nick. I’m on your side. He told me that if I said anything to you, I could figure on taking a big vacation. I didn’t ask what he meant.”

  “Denise, what are you talking about?” Nick reached across the table and grabbed the childlike hands that were currently tearing a napkin into shreds.

  Denise looked up quickly as a waitress came up. Nick saw Cassie look too, the young woman’s vigilance making her even more nervous.

  “Can I get you folks anything?” the well-built waitress asked sweetly, giving Nick a salacious smile. He tried to ignore it, but he could swear the woman thrust her chest forward a little, as if her uniform of tight t-shirt and cut-off shorts wasn’t revealing enough.

  “Coffee,” he said curtly. “Black.” He looked at Cassie and saw her about to jump out of her skin. “Make it two.” Denise already had a glass of cola in front of her.

  “Okay, hon. Be right back.”

  “Denise?” Nick whispered as the waitress left. “Who?”

  Denise shook her head. “He knew about her,” she said, pointing at Cassie. “He asked me if you had a woman out there at Blue Sky, and that’s why you weren’t still in town. I told him how should I know; I talked to you on the radio, not some video phone.”

  “Dammit, Denise, who?” Nick’s grip on her hand tightened, but he loosened it quickly when she winced.

  “Look, I didn’t tell you any of this, okay?”

  “Who!?”

  “Alex.” The name, little more than a whisper, almost didn’t carry across the table.

  Nick sat silently for a moment, absorbing this news. The waitress arrived with their drinks and then left. “Is there more?”

  Denise nodded. “Last week, when he asked to take his plane for a couple vacation days, he really took it to work another job. It’s not the first time he’s done it, either. He made me swear not to tell you, but he’s had at least twenty phone calls like that since he started last year in May.”

  “How did you find this out?” Cassie asked, leaning close and speaking softly.

  “I’m a secretary.” She shrugged her plump shoulders, as if it should be obvious. “All phone calls and requests come through me. All radio relays come through me. That, and Alex is sweet on me. He likes to brag, and he hints that he’s in on some big secret, but he won’t tell me what it is.”

  “How come you never told me about this before?” Nick demanded.

  Denise blushed. “All the guys do extra jobs for spending dough.”

  Nick scowled, more than a little upset to find out his employees were taking advantage of his generous policy of letting his pilots use the planes for vacations or other personal trips. He was going to have to start checking flight logs against GPS trackers or something.

  “As for Alex’s big secret, I thought it was all talk. You know how he is. But last Monday Alex strolls in and flashes a wad of fifties at me, says he’s going on a job. It’s a secret, though, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, especially not you.”

  “Monday!” Cassie exclaimed. “That’s when....” Nick put his hand on her leg to remind her not to say any more.

  “And then...?” Nick prompted.

  “Then on Tuesday night when he got back, he comes up to me and asks if I want to go for a ride on his new bike. I say sure—I figured he’d gotten a used Honda or a Kawasaki. We go outside and here’s a brand spankin’ new Ducati Streetfighter 848. I mean, holy Moses! It’s a beautiful beast, and totally ridiculous for riding in Alaska. I about dropped dead.” Denise looked at both Nick and Cassie, who glanced at each other.

  “So?” Cassie said, failing to see the point.

  “So! He said he got it from the job he did Monday. I mean, you pay us good, Nick, but come on. That bike costs 13k in the lower 48. I never figured Alex could save that much money to save his life. He’s always out blowing it on toys.”

  “Okay,” said Nick. “So he’s got extra cash and he’s working for someone else. Why are you so afraid?”

  “Friday night, when you called and asked me to call Mr. Knight and cancel your dinner plans? Well, I did it.” As Denise took a drink of her cola, Nick saw her hands shaking. “Then, just as I was closing up, Alex came into the office. I’d been working late, getting my desk in order and making next week’s schedule up. Anyway, he wanted to know where you were, and when I told him, that’s when he asked about her.” Denise gestured to Cassie.

  “What did he say?” Nick and Cassie both asked at the same time.

  “He asked if you had a black-haired woman stashed away in that little cabin of yours. When I said I didn’t know, he laughed and said that’s ’cause she was supposed to be back in Seattle. Of course I was curious. I asked him what the hell he was talking about, but then he decided he’d said too much. He told me to forget it and he left.”

  Denise paused, glancing at Cassie again, then away. When she started speaking again in a quiet voice, her words tumbled faster and faster.

  “Yesterday Alex came over to my house, drunk, and asked if you had spoken to me. I told him no, that you were taking a few days off. He said he’d been out to Blue Sky and spoken to you and that you were lying about something. He wanted to know if you had confided in me at all. He was all in my face, like he thought I was the one lying to him. I got mad at him then, and told him he was really spun and he ought to go dry out for a couple of days. He yelled something about protecting you not being in my best interest. I told him if he liked his other boss so much, maybe he ought to quit working for you and go work for this other guy full time. He said I didn’t know what I was talking about, and if I knew what was good for me I would just shut up and answer his questions. I told him to kiss off, and he pulled a knife on me.”

  She paused for breath and Nick broke in. “It’s all right now, Denise. Slow down, take it easy.”

  Taking another deep breath, Denise let it out slowly. “I’ve never been so scared in my life, Nick. He’d really lost it. That’s when he said that about the big vacation. Like I said, I didn’t ask what he meant. He’s into some serious shit, Nick, and it has to do with her.” Again she glanced at Cassie, who had blanched at the mention of knives.

  “I don’t know any more than that, Nick. But he stayed at my place all last night, waiting to see if you’d call. I split for the office as soon as he left, and radioed you. I didn’t know what else to do, Nick, but I knew you’d want to know about Alex, at least.”

  Nick brooded into his cup of coffee. “This has gotten out of hand,” he said at last. “It was bad enough to begin with, but Alex has gone too far. Denise, do you think he’ll threaten you if you go back to work tomorrow? I want things to be as normal as possible.”

  “I’ll go back to work,” Denise said. “But I’ll have my uncle sit in with me. He does that sometimes anyway, so it won’t be too far out of the ordinary.”

  “Good. But if he threatens you again, or if you even get a bad feeling, you go stay with your folks in Anchorage.” Nick reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet. “What’s the going air fare these days? Never mind, take this.” He handed her two hundred dollars in twenties. “If you don’t have to use it, that’s gre
at. Call it a bonus. If you do and it’s not enough, I’ll cover anything extra. But don’t come back until I call you up there, okay?”

  Denise nodded, folding the money into her jeans pocket. “Nick, what’s going on?” She looked directly at Cassie. “Who are you?”

  Nick saw Cassie’s jaw clamp tight, and he held her hand under the table. “When it’s over, Denise. I promise I’ll tell you everything when it’s over.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, Nick.” Denise stood up and leaned over the table. “Take care of yourself. I don’t want to be out of a job.” Her voice cracked roughly, and her eyes welled wet with emotion as she squeezed his hand and then quickly left the pub.

  * * *

  Cassie tipped her mug to find it empty, but she didn’t remember drinking the hot coffee. She could taste the bitterness of it in her mouth, and the stinging told her she’d burned her tongue.

  Cassie didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her, and the young woman’s story disturbed her. “Maybe I ought to go back to Seattle,” she said, more to herself than to Nick.

  He looked at her sharply. “Is that what you want to do?”

  “I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

  Nick shook his head. “We’re all in it, Cassie. Even if you left right now, Alex knows you were out at Blue Sky. Trouble’s going to come whether you’re here or not.”

  “How did Alex know it was me out there? I mean, it’s not like I have my name embroidered on my clothes, or a monogrammed toothbrush. How did he know?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he saw us together at the hotel, or maybe at the plane when we left for Blue Sky. If he knows what you look like from your trip up here, it would have been easy for him to watch you without either of us thinking about it.”

  “You think he was the pilot who brought me here, too?”

  “It sure sounds like it.”

  “I wonder if your father knows how big a mouth the boy has on him,” Cassie voiced her thought aloud.

  “What?” Nick turned suddenly angry eyes on her.