Chapter 9
9
Before they left, Gil went back to the garden and checked out the plant he’d noticed earlier. Sure enough, its soil had been disturbed, and when he cut to the chase and yanked it out, he found a thick leather binder buried underneath it.
He didn’t take the time to search through it. If Ani hadn’t shown up so unexpectedly, he would have already moved on from here.
But he was glad she had. True, her presence made it hard to focus on things like cryptic poems and Victor’s research. On the other hand, her husky voice and warm smiles outweighed all those drawbacks. He wanted her around, it was that simple.
Back inside the Institute, Ani was taking one last photo of the view from the living room. “Your phone isn’t connected, is it?”
“It’s in airplane mode.” She drew in a breath. “You think someone could track my phone?”
“I’m sure someone could. I don’t know if anyone wants to. I’m just being cautious.”
“Good. Be all the cautious you want. Caution saves lives. I’m all about caution. In fact, there’s a big part of me that doesn’t understand what I’m doing here. It’s busy scolding the rest of me.”
He smiled at that. “I appreciate both parts. I’m glad you’re here. But I’m also glad that you’re careful.”
She flushed, her skin turning a dusky rose-brown, and tucked her phone into her jacket pocket. “Lead the way to that castle in the sky.”
This time, he let her carry her tote bag while he grabbed his gear and the little cooler she’d brought.
She helped him load their bags into the boat. He held the boat steady so she could climb in. Would she mind if he gave her a little boost, say, a hand on her hip? Or her round ass, which was encased in tight black jeans tucked into mud boots?
He restrained himself, though the urge to touch her was strong. Fixing his gaze on the toes of his own mud boots sinking into the sediment, he waited with gritted teeth until she was entirely onboard. When was she going to stop having this effect on him? He’d never experienced anything quite like it, and it annoyed him.
When she was settled, he untied the boat and climbed onboard. He left the outboard disengaged for now. “I’m going to paddle along the shoreline. We’ll be less visible that way,” he told her.
“I can help,” she said instantly. “My upper body strength would shock you.”
“Fine,” he said, more gruffly than he’d intended. He handed her the second oar. She shifted to the opposite side of the boat, while he handled the close-to-shore navigation. After a few strokes, they were able to coordinate well enough, although a kayak or a canoe would have been easier to handle.
“Should we take a canoe instead?” she asked, obviously thinking along the same lines.
“I want the option of speed.”
“Fair enough. Can you imagine if we got involved in a high-speed boat chase, like in a James Bond movie?”
A rustling in the woods caught his attention. He put a finger to his lips, and back-paddled to stop the boat. About fifteen yards away from them, a bear ambled out of the shelter of the trees. A black bear, which, if you were going to run into a bear, was preferable to a brown bear. Most black bears were on the shy side, but out here in the wild, many had never encountered a human before. This one seemed more curious than anything else. He lifted his head, tracking them with ancient brown eyes as they glided across the water.
“Is this where that speed option comes in?” Ani whispered.
He glanced her way, checking to see if the sight of a bear would make her panic. But she appeared awestruck instead. Her lips were parted, her dark eyes trained on the wild creature crouched by the water.
“We’re safe out here on the water,” he murmured. “Black bears aren’t generally aggressive, and they have plenty of food on shore without coming after us.”
“We’re not food?”
“No. They like fish and blueberries. They’ll defend their young, but they aren’t out here looking for a fight.”
“He’s so beautiful.” The wonder in her voice did something to his heart. He’d seen more bears than he could count, and maybe he’d gotten a little jaded. But watching Ani’s reaction made him look at the bear with new eyes.
They all gazed at each other, two humans and a bear, separated by only a few yards of lake water. Even though they were no longer paddling, the boat drifted slowly in the bear’s direction. No one moved. It felt as if they were all bound together by a spell. Man. Woman. Bear.
He realized that Ani was holding his hand. Magic.
It felt like one of those wilderness moments when time loses all its force, and the boundaries between species dissolve in an almost mystical way.
Then an unfamiliar noise snapped all of them out of their trance. A whistling hiss sounded overhead. Gil looked up to see something streaking through the sky. His first thought was that it was a bird about to dive-bomb them. But no bird could fly that fast, and it wasn’t headed toward them. It was headed past them.
Toward the Institute.
The explosion hit with a force that sent a tremor through the air, the boat, his body. He threw himself over Ani, his first thought being to protect her from anything, whatever it might be. He caught a glimpse of the bear fleeing into the woods at a fast lope. His ears rang with the echo of the detonation. Was it still going on? He wasn’t even sure what was happening anymore. Dizzy. Disoriented.
After some unknown amount of time, Ani squirmed out from under him and kneeled to face him. Her dark eyes scanned him in a medical professional way. “Can you hear me?”
He nodded, even though her voice sounded far away. She moved a finger back and forth. He tracked it as she watched. Why was he more affected than she was?
Oh right. He’d shielded her with his body. He’d also messed up her hair, leaving it in lush disarray. When he reached out to straighten her hair, she gripped his wrist.
“Gil. You have to focus. The Institute building is on fire. Should we do something?”
That snapped him back to attention. He scrambled onto his knees and gazed back at the blazing remains of the Smoky Lake Research Institute. A column of smoke rose into the air. There would be no firefighters to the rescue out here. Even if the fire triggered a forest fire, there weren’t enough homes at risk to justify sending a helicopter. Most wildfires in Alaska simply burned themselves out, or were put out by rain. Only in the most serious situations, when communities were threatened, did wildfire crews take action.
And judging by the damage, there wasn’t much he could do at this point for the building.
“They’re good about keeping the brush cleared away.” His voice sounded like sandpaper. “It’s unlikely to spread. The fog. Moisture in the air. It’ll stay confined to the,” his voice broke, “the structure.”
Good God. He was actually getting emotional. He’d spent many happy times in that building. His brother loved it. So did Victor. It was a place of science. Of knowledge. Of peaceful exploration. Of all the good things he tried to protect.
And someone had deliberately destroyed it.
Gentle arms came around him. Ani . Ani was embracing him. Part of him wanted to lose himself in the comfort of her touch. Revel in her scent. But hot anger tightened his throat, threatened to tear out of him. He couldn’t have that. They needed to find a safe place. They needed to find out what the ever-loving fuck was going on here.
He shook her off.
“Let’s go,” he said curtly, and dug his paddle into the water.