Chapter 13
13
Gil spread his arms wide to shield Ani from the intruder. He couldn’t make out much about the man, except that he was…actually, now that his eyes adjusted, he was a woman.
That didn’t change anything, because she was still holding a weapon, though it was now pointed at the floor instead of toward them.
“Don’t shoot. We mean you no harm. You can have anything in the place.” His voice sounded a lot more calm than he felt. “Although I doubt you’re trying to rob us.”
“Of course I’m not trying to rob you. I’m trying to rescue you.” Sounding irritated, she switched on a light in her helmet and aimed it at the floor. He saw now that she was a young Black woman with a determined set to her chin, wearing an Army uniform.
“Mind sharing what you’re rescuing us from?” he asked.
“Didn’t you catch all that gunfire? They were keeping the bad guys distracted so I could get through the woods and find you. We have a chopper waiting on the lake. Come on.”
Ani, still clinging to his sweater, peered around him to get a look at the woman. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve been through a lot lately. Could you please identify yourself? Ma’am?” Her exquisite politeness made Gil swallow back a smile.
“I’m Sergeant Chloe Thomson, a member of the United States Army, out of Fort Wainwright. We were requested to step into this situation and extract the civilians who managed to get themselves in the middle of a clusterfuck.”
“Could you possibly give us any more details about this clusterfuck?” Ani kept her tone polite and even. Gil’s respect for her ticked up yet another notch. Even though he could feel the pounding of her heart against his back, it didn’t show in her voice. “Who were you shooting at?”
Sergeant Thomson turned off the light on her helmet and said, “I’m the wrong person to ask. I just execute the mission. My job is to get you out of these woods. So let’s go.”
She beckoned with the weapon. Gil thought it was a silly gesture, since obviously she wasn’t going to shoot them. An army sergeant would have no authorization to fire on innocent U.S. citizens.
Ani stepped next to Gil and slipped her hand into his. “I don’t think we should go anywhere with you until you give us a hint about what’s going on.”
Sergeant Thomson let out a frustrated breath. “Here’s a hint. Those people out there want to kill you, I don’t. But if you test my nerves enough, that might start to change.”
“You’re not going to kill us,” Ani said reasonably. “You can’t just go around killing ordinary people.”
“No, but if we don’t get going, I can’t guarantee anything about the other guys.”
Clearly out of patience, she gestured to the pile of makeshift bedding on the floor. “You got two seconds to grab your things.”
Gil scooped up their clothes into his bag, not worrying about what belonged to who. They could sort it out later. He slung both their bags over his shoulder. Ani didn’t object. Maybe her leg bothered her more at night. He’d noticed her shift a few times while she was asleep, looking for a more comfortable position.
He took her hand again and they followed the sergeant out the door. She kept her head lamp trained on the ground. Light was already glowing on the horizon, but the woods were still dark, everything in shades of black and gray.
Sergeant Thomson muttered something into her helmet comm as she led the way down the trail to the lake. She moved fast but silent. Gil kept up with her just fine, but he could feel Ani struggling.
When she tripped over a root in the trail, he decided this wouldn’t do at all.
He crouched before her. “Get onto my back,” he whispered.
“No. I’m fine.”
“It’s dark, you’re exhausted, I don’t want you to get hurt. Please.”
Farther down the trail, Sergeant Thomson hissed at them, “Get your asses down here.”
Ani nodded and climbed onto his back. Her curves pressed against him and her legs wrapped around his hips. He gritted his teeth. The hardest part of this wouldn’t be carrying her, it would be ignoring the distraction of her warm body.
He blocked it out and stepped down the trail. Ani helped by grabbing branches before they hit him in the face, and silently pointing out obstacles in the path.
When they reached the shore, he saw the dark hulk of an amphibious helicopter floating a few yards off the shore. This situation must be really important to merit the deployment of such a rig.
Their theory, which they’d been so delighted about a few hours ago, now struck Gil as unlikely. Would the discovery of a hallucinogenic plant attract this much attention from the military?
Sergeant Thomson beckoned them toward an inflatable Zodiac beached along the shore.
Gil crouched to allow Ani to slide off his body. Right away, he missed her soft warmth as the cold dawn air chilled his back.
“Thanks,” she whispered as he stretched out the kinks in his shoulders from carrying her. “I owe you a back rub.”
Something to look forward to, in the midst of all this mess.
“Come on.” Sergeant Thomson beckoned toward the Zodiac. “It’s getting light. We need to book.”
Efficiently, she rowed them to the helicopter and helped load them in. Another sergeant strapped them in, while Thomson swung into the copilot seat. Moments later, they were skimming across the still surface of the lake. Ani grabbed his hand as they went airborne with a lurch.
“What if they fire at us?” Ani asked him in a low voice.
Despite the drone of the engine, the sergeant overheard and answered. “We’re keeping them busy. We know exactly where they are and we’re headed the other direction.”
Hmmm, a member of the military with a chatty streak. Gil jumped at the opportunity. “Where are we going?”
“Fort Wainwright,” he said. “Fairbanks.”
What the hell? Gil was starting to wonder if this was a kidnapping rather than a rescue. “You can’t just take us to Fairbanks. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“It’s for your own protection.”
“From what?” he demanded. “We need some answers. You can’t just grab us and take us somewhere without telling us why. Not sure if you know this, but I work for the Diplomatic Security Service, which is basically Secret Service. I know what our rights are.”
The pilot looked over at Sergeant Thomson, but she was busy scanning the lake below.
“I’d like to call my lawyer,” Ani said firmly. “I know I have that right.”
“We’re clear.” Sergeant Thomson sat back in her seat. “And you’re not being arrested. You’re not in any trouble, I promise you.”
“Good to know. Then is it a kidnapping? My lawyer is really going to love that. She’s right in Firelight Ridge, by the way. Molly Evans. She’s a member of the New York and the Alaska Bar, and believe me, you don’t want to get on her bad side.”
That sounded like bravado to Gil, but nonetheless, it worked. Sergeant Thomson spoke into her helmet mic, too low for them to understand. Then she turned to look at them. “It’s a simple interview. We’re being directed to the Blackbear airport instead. Does that meet with your approval?”
Gil couldn’t miss the sarcasm, but that certainly sounded better to him than being whisked all the way to Fairbanks. And maybe this “simple interview” would actually give them some answers. Their next move was going to be to track down the soldiers who’d been looking for them in Firelight Ridge anyway.
He exchanged a glance with Ani, and caught her quick nod of agreement. “That will be fine, thank you,” he told the sergeant.
More inaudible speaking into the comm, then the helicopter changed direction.
Gil relaxed into the jump seat and watched the glory of the sun rising over the peaks of the Wrangells. The cumulus clouds turned gold and pink and lilac. The forests below took on a rich hue, an undertone of gold layered into the deep green. It seemed absurd that this vast magnificent expanse of wilderness had just played host to a missile attack and a gun battle.
That was humans for you. Maybe all those years guarding diplomats had made him jaded and hardened his heart.
He stole a glance at Ani.
There was a lot to be said for certain human beings. Kind, compassionate, surprising ones.
Ani caught him looking and gave him a small smile. At some point in the midst of all this, they’d learned to interpret each other’s expressions without words being spoken. He knew she was thinking, at least we’re in this together.
He took her hand, which he’d dropped after the helicopter had leveled out. There, that was better. He didn’t care if any of the military folks in this helo noticed. He didn’t care about anything except making sure Ani was okay.
He had no idea where this intensity had come from, but he was pretty sure he couldn’t do anything about it now. Ani had done something to his heart that could never be undone.
The flight to Blackbear took about half an hour. When they landed, they were shepherded into a small side office where several army personnel stood guard.
There, they had to wait, sitting across a small table from Sergeant Thomson, who drummed her fingers on the table and jiggled her leg, clearly unaccustomed to sitting still.
“This wouldn’t take so long if we coulda gone to Fairbanks,” she grumbled.
Ani and Gil shared a glance, and he knew that neither of them had any doubt that they’d made the right call.
His gaze roamed across the scenic photographs of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park mounted on the wall. One shot showed a dramatic overhead view of Ice Falls, a long tumble of crystal blue and white ice. It looked like a frozen waterfall, but it was really simply the glacier meeting different terrain, moving downhill. In another overhead photo, the northern edge of Smoky Lake hid behind drifting layers of clouds and fog, with the glacier looming beyond.
The gunfire had come from that direction, from where the glacier met the lake. What would anyone be doing up there?
“Would it be okay if I used the bathroom?” Ani asked Sergeant Thomson. The sergeant looked tired, with a scratch across one cheek. She’d worked hard to get them out of Smoky Lake, and he appreciated that.
He’d just like to know why.
“You’re not prisoners,” said Thomson. “Of course it’s okay. I’ll come with you?—”
“For my own protection? No, thank you. I think I’ll be okay in the Blackbear Airport with all these soldiers standing around.”
“They’re not standing around, they’re standing guard,” Thomson corrected.
“Well, there you go. I’ll be perfectly safe.” Ani rose to her feet and reached for her bag, which Gil had set on the table. “I wouldn’t mind changing my clothes, too.”
“I’d prefer it if you leave the bag here.” The steel in Sergeant Thomson’s voice had Ani snatching her hand away.
Gil planted his hands on the table and leaned toward her. “You said we weren’t prisoners, and Ani needs to change her clothes. How about she takes what she needs with her and you stop acting like we’re suspects?”
Sergeant Thomson sat straight up, ready for a fight. As they glared at each other, Gil decided that, all in all, he was quite glad people like her were defending the country—though he certainly would like to know more about her current mission.
“Fine,” she finally said. “Take some clothes with you, leave the bag. Don’t take too long, they’re twenty minutes out.”
“Thanks,” Ani said politely. “I certainly wouldn’t want to be late for this very mysterious blind date.”
Sergeant Thomson allowed herself a brief smirk, then went back to her previous blank military expression.
As Ani left the room, a change of clothing in her arms, she shot a reassuring glance at Gil. If he had his way, she’d stay right next to him where he could ensure her safety. But she was right. A trip to the bathroom shouldn’t be a risk.
He forced himself to relax back in his uncomfortable chair, though he knew he’d count the minutes until she was back.