Chapter 25
They'd been standing by the window, his arms around her, and when he'd looked down at her sparkling blue eyes, he'd stopped thinking and started moving. His hand cupped her jaw, leaning in for a kiss as she lifted on her toes, when the satellite phone shattered the moment.
Cole froze, his forehead nearly touching hers, frustration and duty warring in his chest. Janice's breath was warm against his lips, her eyes wide, her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.
The phone buzzed again, insistent and demanding. "I have to—" he started.
"I know." But she didn't let go of his shirt, and he didn't pull away from her face. They stayed suspended in that almost-moment for one more heartbeat.
The third buzz broke the spell. Cole stepped back with a muttered curse, fishing the phone from his pocket. Whatever Logan was calling about had to be important. His boss didn't do anything without good reason.
But damn if the timing didn't make him want to throw the phone into a snowdrift.
"Cole." Logan's voice was tense, clipped. "We've got movement. Sadie's been monitoring the satellite feeds. The miners left the hotel about ten minutes ago. They're heading out of town toward the mining site."
Cole's gut tightened. "And possibly they might make it to the cabin."
"That's the concern."
"What's our timeline?"
"Timothy, Dalton, and Frazier left at five a.m. They should be landing in Fairbanks soon." Logan paused. "But you need to move now, Cole. Get her out of there before those miners decide to pay her a visit."
Cole was already moving, his mind shifting into mission mode. "Understood. I'll need Timothy to fly the evidence samples to Washington State as soon as he lands. Janice's parents have a veterinary clinic with a lab. They're going to run the analysis outside university channels."
"Good thinking. I'll coordinate with Timothy. Just get Janice to safety first."
"Copy that." Cole ended the call and turned to find Janice watching, her eyes wide and alert.
"We need to leave."
"Now. Get dressed, start packing everything personal.
We're taking the snowmobile to my rental SUV.
With it parked near the end of the lane where the snow wasn't as deep, we should be able to get out.
" He was already pulling on his boots, his movements quick and efficient. "I’ll take the evidence while you pack. I’ll be back after I do some digging in front of the vehicle. "
Janice moved with surprising speed, carefully placing the boxes containing the laboratory evidence into a plastic box, then opening the front door to fill the box with more fresh snow, packing it tightly before putting the lid on.
“Strap this on to the snowmobile and then repack more snow when you get to your vehicle.”
He nodded as he grabbed his clothes and shoved them into a duffel bag, his mind running through logistics even as his hands worked automatically.
Cole zipped his bag and moved toward the door. "I'm going to start loading the snowmobile. Keep packing. Grab your research equipment, your laptop, anything with data on it. Leave what’s not important."
Outside, the world was transformed. The storm had passed, leaving behind a landscape buried under pristine white. Snow piled in drifts against the cabin walls and hung heavy on the spruce branches, bending them toward the ground. The sky was blue, creating a blinding glare on the snow.
He jerked his sunglasses on, then strapped the first round of bags onto the snowmobile's cargo rack, then made his way through the knee-deep snow toward the lane.
His SUV sat about a quarter mile away, where the access road met a slightly more traveled route that the county plows would have cleared.
Grateful for the snowmobile, he quickly reached the SUV. Transferring the boxes and his bag into the interior, he surveyed the snow piled against the wheels. It was manageable. He'd dig it out while Janice finished packing, then come back for her and the remaining supplies.
Cole grabbed the collapsible shovel from the SUV's emergency kit and started clearing snow from around the tires. The work was hard but satisfying, and he finished clearing enough snow to allow the SUV to move toward the plowed road.
Back at the cabin, Janice had made impressive progress. Clothes and toiletries were in a few trash bags and a suitcase. Her laptop and hard drives were secured in a padded case. She moved with efficient purpose and showed no hesitation about what to take and what to leave.
"Research notes are backed up to the cloud," she said without looking up.
"But I'm taking the physical notebooks too. And all the memory cards from the wildlife cameras I was able to retrieve, even though they’ve been streamed back to the university.
" She looked up at Cole and understanding passed between them.
“If the university is compromised, who knows if they are still on a server there,” he said. “So, you’re smart." Cole grabbed another armload, including her research equipment and her suitcase. "I'll get this to the SUV and come back for the rest."
The second trip went faster now that he'd broken a trail through the snow. He checked the box containing the samples, and carefully secured it in the SUV's back seat to make sure nothing would shift during transport. Janice's parents were counting on this evidence arriving intact.
When he returned to the cabin, Janice had two more duffels waiting by the door and was doing a final sweep of the small space, checking drawers and cabinets for the important items, leaving behind anything they’d have to get later.
"Almost done," she said. "One more load should do it."
Cole hefted the duffels and headed out again, his breath fogging in the cold air. The physical work felt good, giving him something to focus on besides the clock ticking in his head. Three trips down, one more to go. He checked his watch. We’re going to make it—
His boot hit a patch of ice hidden beneath the snow, and his feet flew out from under him.
Cole twisted instinctively, trying to catch himself, but his momentum was already committed.
His hands shot out to break his fall, and he felt his left thigh slam onto something sharp.
Glancing down, he spied a broken branch buried in the drift. Pain lanced down his leg.
Cole hissed through his teeth, examining the damage. Blood welled from a rip in his jeans.
"Dammit." He pressed his right hand against the wound, applying pressure, but the cut was deeper than he'd thought. Blood seeped through his fingers, staining the white snow crimson.
He couldn't afford this. Not now, not when every minute counted. By the time he started back toward the cabin, his leg throbbed in time with his heartbeat.
Janice looked up when he pushed through the cabin door, her expression shifting from focused to alarmed in an instant.
"Cole! What happened?" She crossed the room in three quick strides, reaching for his arm. "You're bleeding. Shit… a lot. Sit down."
"It's fine. Just a cut." But he let her guide him to the kitchen chair, too tired suddenly to argue. "Slipped on some ice. Caught my leg on a branch."
"Let me see." Her voice shifted into that clinical tone he'd heard during the necropsies, calm and competent. “Take your pants off.”
He hesitated, then realized they didn’t have a lot of time. Unbuckling his pants, he shucked them down to his knees.
"This isn't just a little scratch, Cole. It needs stitches."
"We don't have time—"
"We don't have time for you to end up with an infection.
" Janice was already moving to her supplies, pulling out a medical kit that looked more comprehensive than anything he'd expected.
"I'm a veterinarian, remember? I've sutured wounds in worse conditions than this. Now hold still and let me work."
Cole watched her lay out supplies with efficient movements—sterile gauze, antiseptic solution, suture kit, local anesthetic. Her hands were steady, sure. This was her element, even if the patient were human rather than animal.
"This is going to sting," she warned, then irrigated the wound with antiseptic before he could brace himself.
Cole sucked in a breath but didn't pull away. "You weren't kidding."
"I never kid about wound care." A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she drew up the local anesthetic. "Small pinch now. Then you won't feel the rest."
The needle slid into the skin around the wound, and Cole focused on her face instead of what her hands were doing. Blond hair escaped from her braid, falling across her forehead. The small furrow of concentration between her brows. The way her lips pressed together as she worked.
"How are you doing?" he asked, needing the distraction. "With leaving, I mean. This place has been your home for months."
Janice paused, her eyes meeting his briefly before returning to her work.
"It's hard. I won't lie." She began placing the first suture, her movements precise and controlled.
"I came here to do important work, and now I'm being chased out before I’ve finished it.
That feels like failure even though I know it isn't."
"It's not failure. You accumulated over four months of research on the climate and the wildlife in this area. And you exposed a crime that would have gone unnoticed for years if you hadn't been paying attention."
"I know." She tied off the suture. "And at least the cameras will continue to monitor the wildlife. The data will still be collected, even if I'm not here to analyze it in real time. Someone else can pick up where I left off."
"Will they? Pick up where you left off?"
"I hope so." She sighed, then shook her head. "There," Janice said, tying off the final suture. " Only three stitches. Try not to rip them open before we get somewhere I can properly bandage this, and then I’ll give you an antibiotic.”
She wrapped his leg in clean gauze, her touch gentle despite the urgency pressing down on both of them. When she finished, he pulled up his jeans and buckled his belt again. Janice stood and took his hands in both of hers, looking down at their intertwined fingers.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For everything. For coming here, for protecting me, for... for all of it."
Cole tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "We're not done yet. Save the thank-yous for when we're somewhere safe."
"Deal." She released his hand and stepped back, all business again. "Now let me finish packing while you rest that leg for five minutes. Then we’ll make the last trip to the SUV together."
"Yes, ma'am." Cole couldn't help but grin despite the pain and the danger and the ticking clock in his head. He glanced down at her shirt, noticing blood on it. “Shit, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t worry. I can change when we get to town. I know we need to hurry.” She opened a bottle of antibiotics and handed him a pill after getting a glass of water.
Twenty minutes later, they had the last of everything loaded onto the snowmobile. Janice took one last look around the cabin that had been her home for four months, her expression a complicated mix of grief and determination.
"Ready?" Cole asked.
She squared her shoulders and nodded. "Ready."
They stepped out into the cold together, leaving the cabin behind as they headed toward whatever came next.