Chapter 10 Inga #2
“Capture you and do what?” She hadn’t really looked at the helicopter before, but now that she was looking, it was definitely a military one of some kind. She knew she shouldn’t have let the microchip thing go so easily. “Are you on the run?”
“Damn it. Yes. I have a reason, I swear.” He glanced sideways toward the helicopter. It was fully settled on the ground now, and someone was opening a door. “Damn it. Inga, I don’t want you anywhere near these people—”
That decided her, somehow. “I’ll go talk to them.”
“Inga, don’t!”
“Well, they’re clearly not going away!”
Luke tried to put a hand on her arm. She pushed it off, turned her back, and marched toward the person who had just gotten out of the helicopter.
He was military, but in an oddly generic way. There was no insignia that she could see on his fatigues. His buzz-cut hair had a few strands of gray; she would guess that he was maybe in his late 40s.
Inga tried to channel every time she’d had to yell at someone who had parked their boat in the Nilssons’ slip, gutted their fish on the family dock, or otherwise needed a good yelling-at.
“What in the world are you doing?” she snapped, storming toward the helicopter and the man who had started walking toward her.
“Are you doing some kind of maneuvers out here? Do you have a license for this? You scared my dog, now we’re going to have to catch him, and my husband—” It just popped out, almost without her conscious direction.
“—is having to collect our camping gear that you blew all over creation. What in the hell are you doing scaring people with that—” She waved her hands at the helicopter.
It was still running, the rotors whining in a rapid circle. “—thing?”
The military guy seemed taken aback. “Ma’am, I was wondering if you’ve seen a—”
“Wait, wait. Hey, Pete!” she yelled in Luke’s general direction. Luke still had his head down and the hood over his face, making a show of gathering things up. “I think I saw the other cooler blow over the edge! Go grab it before it floats away—honey!”
“Ma’am—wait—sir, I need to talk to you—”
Luke, moving fast, was already over the edge and down the trail, vanishing from view.
The military guy started to step after him, but Inga blocked his path.
One of the advantages of the height she had inherited was that it made dealing with belligerent men easier.
She was actually a little bit taller than this guy, though he had a bulldog toughness and was built like a brick wall.
“You can talk to me,” Inga snapped. “If you want our names, we’re Inga—” Damn, she shouldn’t have given him her real name; she managed to veer off just before she gave him her last name too.
“—and Pete ... Peterson. We have a fishing cabin up the coast. What’s that, Pete?
” she yelled over her shoulder. “It blew left, I think!”
“We’re looking for a fugitive, ma’am.” Military Guy finally managed to get a word in edgewise. “Have you seen anyone around lately? Someone suspicious? Might’ve stolen some clothes or other items?”
“Nobody else but us,” Inga said, waving the question off as if it didn’t matter, her heart racing. “Just us. Unfortunately. Pete, you flipping moron, your other left!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Mister, are you married?”
“Uh, no,” Military Guy began.
“Lucky you! My idiot husband couldn’t find his butt cheeks with both hands if he had a map!” She sent a silent apology to Luke, but it had occurred to her that there was one thing absolutely nobody wanted.
And that thing was getting in the middle of was someone else’s domestic dispute.
“Can you believe I just found out I’m pregnant six weeks ago?” Inga yelled. “And we came out here thinking we could fix things—Pete, where’s the damn dog? I swear, the dog’s as bad as he is. I didn’t even want a dog!”
Military Guy was backing up with increasing speed. He nearly bumped into another soldier who had gotten out of the helicopter. Inga saw, with an unpleasant lurch in her chest, that this one was carrying a gun.
“Sir, do you want us to search the area?”
“No, I don’t think the target is here,” Military Guy said. “Thank you for your help, ma’am.”
“Men!” Inga yelled at the sky.
She turned, “in character,” and stormed to the top of the trail leading down steeply to the water, yelling random insults picked up from domestic spats she had overheard from neighbors or on TV.
She couldn’t see Luke or the dog anywhere.
Hearing the helicopter rotors change pitch, she turned and looked back.
As it rose off the ground, she counted four people inside.
Military Guy was next to the pilot, and there were two more in the back.
The helicopter skimmed over them and headed off down the coast. Inga held her breath, waiting until the noise had faded in the distance. Then she hurried down the path.
“Luke, Luke, are you there? Are you all right?”
She didn’t even see him until he reappeared, accompanied by the dog, and she realized he had more or less stuffed himself into a crack in the rocks. Unfolding to his full height, Luke caught her arm. “They’re gone? Did they leave anyone behind?”
“No, they all got back in the helicopter. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—well—I took a lot of liberties with—”
“Inga, you were magnificent.” Luke grabbed her by the shoulders. “Amazing. Stunning. They didn’t know what hit them.” And before Inga had time to prepare herself or even realize it was going to happen, he kissed her hard on the lips.
Inga clutched at Luke’s arms to hold herself upright. The ground seemed to shift sideways under her feet. And then he was pulling back quickly, and her eyes snapped open; she hadn’t even noticed she had closed them in the all-consuming sensation of his lips on hers.
“That was—unplanned,” Luke said, staring at her. “I, uh. Thank you for helping me, Inga.”
“You’re welcome,” Inga breathed out. She took a shaking breath and steadied herself. She had just lied for this man, she reminded herself. She had possibly lied to the military for this man. “And I think you owe me a few answers.” She wiped her hands on her jeans. “Also, that coat is filthy.”
“You’re right.” Luke looked down at what he was wearing and wrinkled his nose, seeming to become aware of the smell for the first time.
“On both counts. Let’s get back to your cabin.
” He glanced over his shoulder, out to sea, and reached down to touch Rogue’s furry back as if for reassurance, then began to unbutton the ragged coat.
“They might come back. I’ll feel safer with a roof over my head.
And then I’ll tell you what you deserve to know. ”