Chapter 4
4
Of course it was. If he hadn’t been so gobsmacked by her appearance, he would have put two and two together earlier.
She wore several rings on her fingers, but none were wedding rings, he noticed. He didn’t normally pay attention to things like that, but with Ani Devi, everything was different. All norms and rules were out the window. He noticed a delicate gold chain around her neck. It set off the amber glow of her skin and made him want to lick the divot between her collarbones.
“I’m Gil McGowan, but you know that already.”
“Yes. I’m here because…well, do you know a man named Victor Canseco?”
Yes, and he already told me about you. Didn’t bother to warn me how beautiful you were, but that’s another story.
Maybe she could shed some light on what was going on with his friend.
“Yes,” he said cautiously. “I’ve known Victor for a few years. Why do you ask?”
“I mean him no harm,” she said quickly. “Or you, for that matter. I’m just…well, I ran into him at the Blackbear airport and we had quite a wild conversation. He mentioned you. And last night a state trooper flew all the way to Firelight Ridge to question me about Victor…” She trailed off, blinking at him with wide dark eyes.
He realized that he must have automatically shifted to his blank “security officer” expression. That happened sometimes, when he was completely caught up in some kind of thought process.
“What did you tell him?” he asked her.
“Nothing, really. I’d barely even met Victor.”
“What did he tell you? Did he say why he was asking about Victor?”
“No. It was rather surreal, to tell you the truth. I was hoping…well, I guess I was hoping you might know more.”
“Sorry. I don’t.”
Her eyes widened with alarm. “Is he okay? Victor, I mean. He seemed like a really nice man. I felt so bad for him.”
Now that was interesting. “Why did you feel bad for him?”
“Well, he was so sick. I’m a doctor, you see. I told him he should find an urgent care before he got on the plane. But then they called me for my flight, and I don’t know what he did after that.”
Victor had been sick? The last time Gil had seen Victor, he’d been perfectly fine and talking about hiking the backcountry up toward the Korch Glacier. But that was weeks ago. He’d sounded strange on the phone, so who knew?
“Have you heard from him?” she was asking. “Is he okay?”
He shook himself back to attention. “I’m honestly not sure. I spoke to him just now, but he seemed…off.”
They gazed at each other, probably with similar expressions of alarm.
Victor was his friend, a brilliant scientist, someone who did good things in the world. If something was going on with Victor, Gil was going to find out what, and who was responsible for it. Then he’d go from there.
That Irish fighting spirit didn’t surface often, buried as it was under layers of training. But when it did, watch out.
He came to a quick decision. But now there was a complication as well. “I have a problem,” he told Ani. “I’m hoping you can help.”
“How so?”
“I want to find out what trouble Victor’s gotten himself into, but here’s the thing. When I just talked to him on the phone, he asked me to take care of you.”
“Take care of me?” She drew back, hands wrapped around the KRTL mug. “That sounds like a threat.”
“No, no. God, not ‘take care’ of you, like some kind of mob boss.” The very idea made him laugh. “He wanted me to protect you. He mentioned the airport, and said someone might be after you too.”
Ani frowned. “Did he mean the state trooper?”
“He didn’t mention state troopers, but he did mention grasshoppers. So I’m not sure how seriously to take it.”
“ Grasshoppers ?”
“He was a little incoherent. You said he seemed feverish. He might be in a hotel room somewhere, sweating it out. Once he caught typhoid fever in India, and that’s what he did. He took Cipro and locked himself in a hostel until the fever passed.”
“So you’re going to Blackbear to search all the hotel rooms?”
“Maybe at some point. But I want to check something else first. Be right back, I just need to pack a few things.”
He strode into his bedroom and began tossing clothes into a backpack. No need to delay. If he left now, he could get to Smoky Lake by early afternoon.
Ani followed him and leaned against the doorjamb. “What are you checking? Where are you going? What’s the problem you want my help with?”
He stopped in the midst of slinging extra pairs of socks into his pack. Would protecting her mean bringing her with him, or leaving her behind? Which option would be safer for her?
“Listen, this doesn’t have to be your concern. You said you’re a doctor?”
“A pediatrician, yes.”
“And you don’t really know Victor. My advice to you is to walk away and stay out of this. Stay close to your friends or your boyfriend or whoever you feel safe with. That’s how you can help.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “You think I’ll be in the way.”
“I don’t know what’s going on.” He tried not to sound exasperated. Alone, he knew his capabilities. He didn’t know hers. “It could be risky, or dangerous, or a big waste of time. I’m sure you have better things to do than tromp around the wilderness after someone you spoke to only once in an airport.”
His effort to discourage her seemed to fly right over her head. “So you think something fishy is going on?”
“I don’t know. But I intend to find out. Alone. So the best thing you can do is keep yourself safe, so we’re not letting Victor down.”
Yes, this was best, despite her downcast expression. Ani would be a huge distraction. He found it hard to think straight when she was looking at him with those radiant dark eyes.
He zipped up his backpack and flung it over his shoulder. She backed up to allow him to leave the bedroom. “Go back to your regular life, Ani Devi. Whatever is going on, I see no reason for you to be involved.”
But just then, everything changed. Over her shoulder, he caught a glimpse of a vehicle bounding down the road toward the property. Not just any vehicle—a camouflage military jeep.
Don’t trust anyone. Don’t say a word. Promise.
“Okay, change of course. Quick question,” he said to her urgently. “Would you rather come with me or talk to the military?”
“ What ?”
Victor had told him to protect her, but he couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to. If she wanted to talk to whoever was in that Jeep, she could. “An Army vehicle is headed our way and I don’t intend to be here when it arrives. You can come with me, or you can stay and talk to them. I won’t tell you what to choose.”
She looked in the direction he pointed, and swiftly turned back. “You. I choose you.”
Those words had an impact on his solar plexus that he didn’t have time to explore right now.
He nodded and took her hand, pulling her toward the back deck. From there, a trail dipped down into a ravine with such thick growth of pushki and fireweed that they could easily stay out of sight until the military folks had decided to move on.
Nothing against the military, of course, but he needed to find out what the hell was going on—for Victor’s sake.
“Stay low,” he murmured as they slipped through the sliding door to the back deck. “Stay quiet.”
She nodded and did as he asked, moving gracefully and silently in his wake. Using the shelter of the back deck, he slid down the bit of gravel that led to the trail. If you didn’t know there was a trail there, it just looked like scrub grass and construction debris. When he was stable, he turned and offered his hand to Ani.
She was cautiously testing the first step with one foot, and he realized—God, what an idiot—that this might be hard for her, given that limp. But he didn’t have time to ask about it, and his voice would carry if he did, so he simply reached up, lifted her into the air and swung her down as if she was a child.
She landed in his arms, and the blood sang in his ears. He could stand here forever and just breathe in the fragrance of her hair.
The sound of wheels on gravel brought him back to reality. They hurried down the embankment and along an overhang. There, surrounded by towering pushki, they hunkered down and waited.