How can you let him keep doing this? some crazy part of her conscience asked.
Of course, she wanted to stop him. But how could she, just one woman from another country? A woman who belonged nowhere. A woman who not only feared for her life if she spoke up, but worse, her mother’s and grandmother’s lives.
As Sergio rambled on, Nora stared out the windshield. It was nearly ten p.m. and the sun was still shining. The door to the tavern flew open, and Nora jumped. She sank low in her seat as five men sprinted from the bar, her heart pounding until she saw that it was only Sam and his family. Sam and another man hopped into a huge Ford pickup, one of those off-road trucks that sat up high with rugged tires and a light bar on the roof. The other three men jumped into a similar vehicle. With barely enough time for the occupants to buckle up, both trucks peeled out, heading north. Some emergency must have come up.
“Nora? Did you hear me?”
She clicked off the Mute button. “Sorry … I’m just so tired,” she said loudly to cover up any sounds of the trucks speeding off. “I haven’t been sleeping well. My mind must have slipped away for a second. Did you know there’s still daylight at midnight here? Of course, you did. Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble. I know how you hate that. What did you say?”
“I asked if you were sure about going ahead with this hike. You know, there are plenty of mountains within driving distance of L.A. I don’t like that you are so far from me.”
Ahh, but that’s one of Alaska’s best features, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t. Even on Mute, she was afraid he might hear her. Knowing Sergio, he might have sent someone to watch her. She probably shouldn’t have carried on the way she had inside the bar. Just being near her could put Sam’s life in danger. But after scanning the clientele, she’d felt confident all the people were locals. That was why she’d chosen a dive bar and not the more popular bar listed on Yelp.
Outside though, one command from Sergio might send some thug out of the shadows. Not that Sergio would ever take responsibility for hurting her; he had never hit her with his own hands. No, he preferred to make his fighters suffer at the hands of others so the authorities couldn’t prove it. Like setting her up with a heavyweight butch, and then paying the woman to cheat. When he’d first brought Nora to the U.S., he’d shown her how he could make life hard or easy for her. And she’d seen him do the same to others. If his fighters didn’t do what he said —
She shook off what she’d witnessed for fear that her voice would shake. She had to keep up their farce love affair for a few more days. It was the one thing that had given her some freedom.
She checked her tone before answering him, remembering to let her English words drip with her Argentina inflection, the way he liked her to speak. Soft and sweet, as though she was helpless without him. “I miss you too, my darling, but I’ve wanted to hike Mount McKinley my entire life. Thank you so much for allowing me to do this on my own.” Actually, she wanted to be in the country of her birth. To hike her own beloved Andes Mountains. But without her passport, Alaska was the farthest she could go to get away from him.
“It’s the least I could do as a wedding gift for my future bride. But I won’t rest until you’re home with me, safe in my arms. Call me with your itinerary before you leave on your hike.”
Safe? She’d never be safe with him. One wrong move and he’d do the same to her as he’d done to one of his other fighters. But she kept a smile on her face so her words would ring with sincerity. “Of course, my darling. I can’t leave until next week, though. A storm is coming, so I have to wait for it to pass before heading out.”
He could easily check out her story with a click of a button on the weather app, but he wouldn’t. Sergio was too confident of his control over her — over all of the fighters that he’d so-called rescued. Too confident that she knew nothing of his illegal activities. By the time he figured out she was lying, she’d be lost in the Alaska wilderness, never to be seen again. She had grown up in the mountains of Argentina, and then she’d survived the streets of Buenos Aires for ten years; she could certainly survive in Alaska.
Sergio would mourn her passing for a minute. Then he’d move on to someone else.
Chapter 3
~ Sam ~
Sam inspected the horizon as his team made their way down the long dirt road to the river. They still had about three hours of light, one of the few pluses of long Alaska days. Extra daylight hours meant more time to safely plan and execute a rescue.
The river, which stretched from the Alaska Range past Anchorage, froze over by November each year. Then the ice would break up between April and May for the summer. Since it was one of Alaska’s premier sport-fishing streams, many people didn’t wait for all the ice to melt, and even fewer had any idea how fast the water moved beneath the ice or how quickly the water could rise … until they were fighting for their lives. In the past, he’d seen the water rise five feet in less than two hours. On one rescue, the river had been raging so fiercely in spots that it had actually been running backward.
Inevitably, on days like today, though, when the sky was clear and the temperature reached into the fifties, Sam could count on a rescue call. According to the Alaska State Trooper SAR coordinator, a boat had capsized, and the two would-be fishermen were stranded in the middle of the swift-moving water. Lucky for the men, there were enough residents on the river that someone had seen the boat capsize and had called it in.
Sam and Alex parked their trucks as close to the river as was safe. Erik and Daire had ridden to the bar with Alex, so they only had two emergency vehicles with them, Sam’s and Alex’s. Each vehicle was stocked with gear for four rescuers, though, as they often traveled together to calls.
Even though Vince knew he couldn’t be involved with the actual rescue, he’d hopped into Sam’s truck. Now the two of them worked together to set up the equipment. Vince plugged in the air compressor and connected the line to the life raft while Sam pulled on his cold-water gear and life vest.
Outfitted, Sam grabbed a safety line and picked up the back of the inflatable raft. “Daire, you’re with me!”
Already clad in a cold-water suit and life vest, Daire charged over, not asking any questions as he picked up the front. Together, the two lifted the raft and headed to the river.
Alex and Erik headed downstream, below the marooned fishermen. They worked together to secure a line across the river as Sam and Daire entered above the beached — or rather, rocked — men.
One of the men was lying spread-eagle on a massive boulder in the middle of the river as arctic water and chunks of ice rushed by him. At least he’d been smart enough not to try to swim to the side. The other man was in the river, hanging onto a grouping of rocks as the surging water sloshed his face. He was holding himself up, but just barely. One wrong move and he could get his foot stuck under a rock, and then the weight of the water would pin him beneath the surface. There simply wasn’t any way to fight it.
The closer Sam and Daire got, the more panic-stricken the man in the water became. “I can’t hold on much longer!” he spluttered, coughing as he took in a mouthful of water.
“Get my friend first!” bellowed the man on the rock.
Sam had planned to rescue the man who was practically drowning first, of course, but he nodded to the man who was stretched out on the rock to let him know they intended to save his friend.
Sam used the jet outboard to position the rescue sled in front of the immersed man. The last thing he wanted was some frantic rescuee pulling Daire into the water. Although Alex and Erik were set up downstream, with the safety line strung across the wide river, there were too many large chunks of ice. Too great a chance of being carried beneath one.
The nearly drowned man was wearing a cold-weather suit but not a life vest. Idiot! When would people ever learn? Nowadays, they made thin, barely-there vests that opened the moment you hit the water. Why anyone would go out on water like this without a life jacket was beyond him.
“It’s okay.
We got you, man,” Daire said in a calm voice. “Let go of the rock with one hand and climb onto the sled.” The kid was a natural. Sam had always known that; he’d just wanted more for him.
“I … can’t! I’ll … slip.” The man took in another mouthful of the rushing water, choking as he talked about what he couldn’t do, instead of doing something to help himself. “If I let go … I’ll … drown.”
“If you don’t climb,” Sam barked, “you will drown. We ain’t jumping in after you.” While his brothers had teased Sam about being grouchy, that wasn’t why he was shouting at the fisherman. He’d discovered water rescues could be the most dangerous. People freaked, then pulled you in. When a calm request didn’t work, he’d learned that being forceful was the only way. He didn’t have time to screw around.
If the guy had worn a damn vest, Daire could have dredged him out of the water by the straps. Thankfully Daire knew better than to offer a drowning person a hand.
“Come on, man,” Daire coaxed. “The raft is right beside you. Just grab it with one hand. I won’t let you fall!”
Sam was proud of Daire; he was doing precisely what he should. Once the man latched onto the sled, Daire would pull him up the rest of the way if need be. Even though he was young, Daire had upper-body strength from all the whitewater kayaking and rock climbing he did.
The man shook his head, gulping in more water. “I … can’t … hold on … anymore.” His hand slipped from the rock. Instead of grabbing the sled, he tried to reach for the rock again. He couldn’t gain purchase as the water rushed around him. Then there was no rock left to grab.
Sam backed away from the rock garden, ready to move downstream. The guys had the line across the river so the fisherman could grab it. Sam noticed Daire had moved to a crouch, ready to jump. “Daire! Don’t you even think about —” Too late. The damn boy launched himself from the boat.
Within a few strokes, Daire grabbed the man from behind, wrapping his left arm around the guy’s neck. Daire hooked a carabiner to the line across the river, and Erik immediately dropped his end of the rope so the water would push Daire to the shoreline. Alex held onto the line as Daire pulled the idiot without a life vest into shallow water. Scratch that. Two idiots were now crawling up on shore.
Sam motored downstream. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he growled, wanting to propel the raft up on land so he could smack the living daylights out of Daire. But he had to help the man stranded on the boulder. Fuming, Sam motored back upstream. “No crap from you, man. You got less than ten seconds to make your way off that rock and onto the sled. You hear me?”
The man nodded and edged his way off the boulder and onto the raft. The moment he was aboard, Sam powered across the river, back to the shore.
The moment Sam was on land, he pulled the raft to the truck, allowing his brothers to tend to the fishermen. He needed to get out of there before he said something he’d regret.
“Sam …” Daire said behind him, his inflection clear that he was going to apologize.
Sam whirled on him, ready to explode, then nearly bit off his tongue as he curbed a string of obscenities. “Not here!”
“I had to go after him, Sam,” Daire shouted above the rushing water. “The man wouldn’t have been able to hold onto the line. He would have slipped under the ice.”
Sam’s face burned. He charged forward, grabbing Daire by the shoulders. “You could have died. You want me to treat you like a man, but that was an immature move.”
Daire lifted his chin. “I saved him.”
“I’m not discussing this any further here. We’ll talk about it at home.”
“I won’t be home tonight. It’s my birthday, remember?” Daire threw up his hands then headed back to Alex’s truck.
Vince patted Sam on the shoulder. “Sam —”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Sam ran his hands through his hair. “Sorry, Vince. I just need to get out of here before I do something I’ll regret. Hell, I need to get away from everything.”
***
Sam slammed into the house and charged up the stairs to the room he’d had his entire life. Yeah, he sometimes felt like a loser because he still lived in the family home, which was the other reason he hadn’t had sex in longer than he could remember. But it wouldn’t have been right to leave his mother to raise his son on her own. Not after his father’s death.
Before that, Sam had carried on with his high-octane, no-worries lifestyle, as though Daire was the baby brother his parents had always claimed he was. After his father’s death, Daire had started acting out. Truly, Daire hadn’t done much more than the rest of his brothers — or Sam for that matter. But it was too much for his widowed mother. Sam hadn’t just taken over the business; he’d also taken over as head of household.
“Sam …” His mother tapped on the door. “You okay?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he wasn’t okay. But he didn’t feel like talking about it. She’d say the same thing: Tell him. But he knew Daire wasn’t ready to hear the truth. Not yet. “I’m fine.”
“Samuel Thomas Belgarde, I happen to know everything about you.”
Since she couldn’t see him, he rolled his eyes. “Go ask your favorite son what’s wrong. Maybe you can talk some sense into that boy. God knows I can’t.”
“I’m asking my favorite son.”
Sam opened the door and leaned against the frame. He sighed, feeling like he might collapse at any second. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy.”
“He’s no longer a boy, Sam.” His mother brushed by him and sat down on the edge of the bed. She motioned her hand toward his chair.
Even though he had the same room he’d had his entire life, he didn’t have the same furniture. He had an office downstairs, but more often than not, he preferred to do most of his work — and brooding — up here where no one would bother him. He liked being on the second floor, where he had a fantastic view of Mount McKinley, or Denali as it was now called.
The mountains were the one place where he felt alive. As close as he lived to them, it was amazing how rarely he got to hike for fun. To get away from the phone and his brothers — even Daire. Somehow, he believed that if Daire had gone off to college — as he’d hoped — he wouldn’t worry about him as much.
Exhausted, Sam collapsed into the black leather chair. “How did he get to twenty-one so quickly?”
“I asked myself that same question with each of you boys.” She offered him a soft smile. “You can’t keep him in the nest forever, Sam. You have to let Daire fly … make his own mistakes. It’s the only way he’ll learn. It’s how you learned. We had to let you boys make your own choices — right and wrong. If you’re there to catch him every time he gets a boo-boo, he won’t know what to do when you’re not there.”
Sam rubbed his hand over his face. “Yeah … Look at how well that worked for me. If I hadn’t screwed up —”
“We wouldn’t have Daire,” his mother finished. “Sometimes our mistakes are our greatest accomplishments. I know I wouldn’t trade that boy for all the correct decisions in the world.”
“Me neither.” Sam shook his head as he thought about all the things Daire had put him through. Most fathers would be honored to have their sons follow in their footsteps. But when that path put Daire in life-and-death situations daily, Sam found it hard to be pleased with his son’s career choice. “Why does he have to be so brave? So stupidly brave?”
His mother just stared at him. “Hmm … I wonder.”
“I can’t lose him, Mom. Especially not before I tell him the truth. I’m just not sure how to tell him. What if he asks about his mother?” He lowered his head into his hands.
“I know, honey, but you can’t make his decisions for him. He’s a man.” She stood and crossed the room, reaching to lift his chin. “You know how I feel about telling him … that you should do it sooner rather than later, but … that’s between you and him. You’ll know when it’s the right time.”
“I’m glad you can be so sure and calm. How can you do that after raising five boys? I’m a basket case over one, and I haven’t really even raised him. You and Dad did all the hard work.”
“Well, when you get to my age, you start to realize how silly you were to worry about the things you worried about when you were younger. The things you couldn’t change. And if you’re smart, you just start living for every day. Not wasting chances. You know, like dancing with that woman …”
Sam peered up at his mother, wondering where this conversation had come from. He was accustomed to his brothers pushing him, not his mother.
A wide smile caused her eyes to crinkle at the edges. “You looked happy, Sam. I haven’t seen you just kick back for a long time. It was nice. You work too hard. Worry too much. You should find that girl … ask her out. Maybe even take some time off, show her our beautiful state.” She kissed his forehead, the same way she’d done when he was a child, and then turned and left him to his thoughts.
Instead of his mind going right to thoughts about Daire, his mother had planted the seed for a ridiculously crazy idea to take root in his head: finding Nora. Tomorrow, he’d drop by the bar around the same time. Maybe he’d take a personal day and have Vince respond to his calls.
A few drinks. A few more rounds of pool. Maybe he’d even convince her to go hiking with him instead of on her own. By the end of the evening, perhaps he wouldn’t be feeling grouchy anymore.
~ Nora ~
Nora contemplated following Sam, but with only one main road, he’d see her.
You don’t need to worry about Sam, she reminded herself. His search-and-rescue team is the best. That’s why you attended his refresher course.
Truly, she should be happy that he’d been called off on some emergency. Otherwise, she would have been tempted to go back into the bar, and he might have pressed her for answers again. Answers she couldn’t give him.
Instead, the moment she hung up with Sergio, she rushed to her cheap motel. She’d only been able to withdraw so much money from an ATM daily, so she’d made a deal with the motel manager to charge her four times the amount of the room if he’d give her half of the extra money.
Sam's Folly (Midnight Sons Book 1) Page 4
