Head over Heels for the Holidays

by Jennifer Bernard

  Chapter 31

  Ethan pulled up as close as possible to the service door of the lodge. He leaped out and came around to help Rune lift the unconscious Kelsey out of the machine. Together, they carried her into the vast kitchen. A long butcher block worktable filled the center of the room, the kind of counter used for kneading bread and cutting vegetables. Right now, it would be a triage station.

  “On the table,” he ordered Ethan. The two of them hauled her across the space and settled her onto the table. “Get some towels and put them under her legs. Let’s try to minimize the blood stains.”

  “Already on it.” Ethan was opening cabinet doors and drawers in his search for towels.

  Rune took off his parka and folded it up as a pillow under Kelsey’s neck. She moaned as her head lolled back and forth.

  A minute later, Maya and the girls raced into the kitchen. He took a brief moment to look them all over. “Everyone okay?”

  “We’re good. What do you need? Where’s your medical bag?” Maya asked.

  “With my other stuff. Cara, can you grab it?“

  Cara ran over to the corner where they’d all left their bags.

  As she was bringing it to him, Alastair came hurrying into the kitchen. “I saw the snow machines racing back. What’s wrong?” He caught sight of the unconscious Kelsey. “What happened?”

  “Gunshot.”

  Ethan popped up with an armload of towels. “You want these under her leg?”

  “Gently,” Rune instructed. Everyone except the girls crowded close so they could help pad the table with towels.

  “Cara and Maggie, we need some hot water,” he directed.

  “Is she going to be alright?” Maggie asked in a small voice. Rune looked up to catch her gaze. The poor girl’s face was completely pale under her knitted hat. She’d just watched her newly discovered mother get shot. He couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling right now.

  “I’ll make sure of it,” he assured her. “Now just focus on getting some water boiled.”

  Maya was hovering over the table. “What do you need from me? I need to call Ben and tell him it’s not safe to fly back yet.”

  “Go.”

  That’s right…they were going to be trapped here until they could make sure they weren’t going to get shot trying to get on the plane.

  He shoved that thought aside. One thing at a time. He had to stabilize Kelsey and get that bullet out of her leg.

  Cara had put his bag on the table above her head. He pulled out some scissors and cut through her snow pants, then her fleece layer, then her long underwear to expose the wound.

  It was located on the fleshy part of her calf. Blood streamed from the wound, but not at a pace that would indicate that an artery had been hit. He turned her leg to see the other side and saw what he had hoped to see.

  “It’s a through and through,” he announced with a huge sense of relief. He wouldn’t have to pull out the bullet, he could just treat the wound. “That’s much easier to deal with.”

  His bag contained a field tourniquet, which he quickly unwrapped and applied to her leg above the wound.

  “How’s that water coming?”

  “It’s ready.” Cara and Maggie carried over a tea kettle and a bowl.

  “Pour some out while I wash my hands.”

  They followed his instructions while he stepped over to the sink. He vigorously soaped his hands under the hot running water, then came back to Kelsey’s side, his hands dripping. He dipped a towel into the hot water the girls had poured out and gently cleaned away the blood from the entry and exit wounds. With the tourniquet applied, the bleeding had slowed enough for him to be able to sop up the blood.

  “There’s some antiseptic in the bag, Ethan.”

  Ethan found the small bottle of antiseptic and handed it to Rune. He squirted it over the wound. Since he didn’t know when she’d be able to see a doctor, it was especially important to fend off infection.

  The blood was already clotting. He applied a compression bandage and wrapped it tightly around the wound. That would help bring the bleeding to a complete stop.

  He felt Kelsey’s forehead. Sweat, but no sign of a fever. If anything, she was still chilled. “We need to keep her warm so she doesn’t go into shock.”

  Alastair spoke up. “I’ve been roaming around this place since you all have been gone. There’s a nook in the great room close to the woodstove. It’s very cozy and she can stretch out on a sofa. There are blankets and throws everywhere you look. We should have no trouble keeping her warm in there.”

  Rune nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Mind getting it ready?”

  “I’ll help you.” Maggie skipped to Alastair’s side. “I want to make it as comfortable as possible for my mother.”

  “Let’s go,” he told her. Cara joined them too—apparently she and Maggie were joined at the hip now—and they all hurried off.

  Rune glanced over at Maya, who was just ending her call to the pilot. A frown wrinkled her forehead; she looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. “Unless she spikes a fever, I think she’ll be okay here. But if she does we’ll need to get her to the hospital. Can they send a medevac?”

  “They can,” she told him. “I called the hospital to alert them to the situation. But I hate to put anyone else at risk until we find that shooter. We’ll monitor her and make that call if we have to.”

  “You think they’d shoot at an air ambulance?”

  “I don’t know what they’d do. I’m not going to assume they wouldn’t. I got ahold of Ben. He’s going to stay ready in case we call on him later. Jessica, Kate and Darius are standing by too. But for now, we’re on our own.”

  “Understood.”

  Maya turned to Ethan and gave him a tired smile. “Sorry you’re separated from Jessica for the time being, but I have to say I’m glad you’re here. You really came through on that snow machine.”

  “I’m glad I was here too. But Rune’s the one who really saved the day.”

  The secret, burning glance Maya shot him would keep him going for days.

  “She’s right, man,” he told Ethan. “I couldn’t have gotten Kelsey here without you. And Maya, the way you protected the girls, I’m never going to forget that.”

  “Just doing my job,” she said briskly, as if throwing herself in front of a potential bullet was just another day in the life. “By the way, like I told Jess, I’m especially sorry she’s not here because that means the rest of us are on cooking duty. She had all the meals planned out.”

  “Damn.” Rune shook his head. A moment of silence followed that sad bit of information.

  “We’re screwed,” said Ethan. “My best dish is microwaved potpie.”

  “I’m not a bad cook,” Rune volunteered. “People have said nice things about my fish tacos.”

  Maya pursed her lips. “Cooking definitely isn’t my strong point. But that pantry has enough spaghetti to last a few months. We’ll survive.”

  Maggie and Cara skipped back into the kitchen, followed more slowly by Alastair. “We made a cozy warm nest for her and it’s all ready,” Maggie announced.

  “Wait,” said Alastair, scanning their faces. “Is something else wrong? You all look more somber than when we left. Is Kelsey okay?”

  “She’s doing fine. We’re ready to move her into the great room.” Rune gestured to Ethan to give him a hand.

  “Then why the long faces?”

  “We just figured out that our best cook won’t be joining us,” Rune informed him as he and Ethan got into position next to Kelsey. “We’re grieving our lost Christmas dinner.”

  Alastair planted his hands on his hips. “Well, if that’s all it is, you’ll probably be happy to learn that I’m a chef back in New York.”

  “Really?” They all gazed at him in astonishment.

  “Why so surprised? What did you think I did for a living?”

  None of them had an answer for that. Rune, for one, had never met the dude
before. But he recognized that Scottish brogue. “Please tell me your specialty isn’t haggis.”

  Ethan snorted, then nodded to Rune that he was ready. The two of them lifted Kelsey gently off the table. The others hovered alongside, ready to lend a hand, as Alastair launched into a rant.

  “No, my specialty isn’t haggis, but as a matter of fact it’s a very maligned dish that everyone should try at some point in their—“

  A chorus of “no thanks” drowned him out, making him shake his head and mutter something about close-minded Americans.

  Highly amused, Rune caught Maya’s eyes, and they shared a long glance that said so much, without saying a word out loud. We made it. Thank God you’re okay. We’ll get through this. I’m glad you’re here.

  And, on his end: I love you.

  Whether she was thinking that too, he couldn’t say for sure. But he chose to believe so.

  Chapter 32

  Maya was sure she’d done the right thing, inviting Alastair, when he used the motley selection of ingredients they’d brought to whip up a feast of the best pasta she’d ever eaten. If they had to survive on all that spaghetti in the pantry, they’d be just fine.

  They all sat around the great room with plates on their laps. Maggie didn’t want to leave Kelsey alone, and Cara didn’t want to leave Maggie alone, and so they just all stayed together, eating quietly in the warmth of the magnificent cast-iron woodstove. Night had fallen early, as it did this time of year, so close to the winter solstice.

  It already smelled like Christmas in the lodge. Spruce boughs tied with red velvet bows were draped over doorways, and a pot of spiced apple cider simmered on the woodstove. Kelsey had done a wonderful job decorating for the holidays, but the beauty was lost on Maya.

  All she could think about was the fact that Agent Clement had been right. She should have stayed out of this. Instead she’d dragged this group of friends into the wilderness and put them all in danger. It was her fault that Kelsey was unconscious from a gunshot wound. Her fault that they were all trapped here in this lodge.

  Not that it was a bad place to be trapped. The place was like a fortress. She and Ethan had checked every door and window and found extra security measures and even bulletproof glass.

  What the hell was going on out here?

  She took a bite of curry, barely tasting the spicy cumin and ginger. When she’d called the hospital about Kelsey, she’d warned them in advance to land on the lodge’s front yard instead of the airstrip. That way the bulk of the building would shield the helicopter from the thickest part of the forest, where the gunshots had come from.

  But was that enough? The shooter could change locations. There could be more than one shooter. What were they after? Was Kelsey their target? Was that why the gunfire had stopped after they’d whisked her away from the airstrip? All the unknowns made her extremely tense.

  As did the phone call she kept putting off.

  Finally she put down her food and slipped away from the others to call Agent Clement.

  “Let me make sure I’m getting this. You’re having a Christmas party out there, but it’s not really a party, it’s really an opportunity to investigate something that isn’t even your jurisdiction and now someone’s been shot?”

  She clenched her jaw to keep back the angry words that wanted to come out. Based on his scornful tone, if they did, it wouldn’t go well for her. “With another shooting, don’t you think there’s enough to open the case back up?”

  “Oh, that’s rich. You’re trying to turn your mistake into a reason for us to come back down there?”

  “But—”

  “Take the L, Badger. You’re in over your head.”

  “That’s the whole point,” she gritted. “This is over my head.”

  “Then why’d you go out there on your own? First you looked like a fool, now you look like a reckless hothead.”

  Damn it.

  A hand settled on her shoulder. Rune. She punched the call to end it and nearly hurled the phone against the wall. Instead she slipped it back into her pocket.

  “You okay?” Rune scanned her with concern.

  No, she wasn’t okay. She was vibrating with frustration. Angry at the agent, angry at herself. Worried about their situation. “I’ll be fine. What’s up?”

  “There’s something I need to talk to you about. Privately.”

  Maya looked around the corridor and noticed a half-open door at the end. Kelsey’s office. “Let’s go in there.”

  He followed her down the hall into her office. A window looked out on the forest behind the lodge, but its blinds were closed and she’d already checked that it was locked. A large birchwood desk with a computer perched on it filled the center of the room. The walls were lined with filing cabinets and bankers’ boxes.

  She closed the door and turned to face Rune. Part of her wanted to just snuggle in his arms and forget all the disasters taking place. But she didn’t have time for that, so she just folded her arms across her chest and stood strong.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again.

  “I said I’m fine,” she snapped. If she actually admitted how the stress was weighing on her, she might collapse. She needed to keep her focus. “Sorry. What do you need?”

  Rune gave a brisk nod, as if accepting her all-business approach. “Before she lost consciousness, Kelsey told me to tell you something. I wasn’t sure if she wanted the others to hear it.”

  “What is it?”

  “Summarizing, it’s this: Maggie’s father is the Russian head of security of a transnational crime ring. I repeated it back to her to make sure I got it right.”

  She blinked once. Then again.

  Agent Clement was right. She was out of her league here. She was just a small-town police chief. Not only that, but she’d just alienated the FBI. She was on her own. In over her head.

  “Tell me what she said, exactly. Word for word.”

  He repeated each one of Kelsey’s fragmented sentences, ending with, Evidence…in office…tell her…Magpie.

  “There’s evidence here in her office?”

  “That was my interpretation.”

  Maya glanced around at all the boxes and filing cabinets. For the first time since that gunshot, a tiny bit of hope glimmered. If there was evidence in here somewhere, maybe things weren’t hopeless. If she actually found something solid, things would be very different. She wouldn’t look like a fool, she’d look like a genius.

  “Thanks for passing that along, Rune. I’ll take it from here. You go check on Kelsey.”

  He didn’t budge. “Kelsey’s stable. I can stay and help you search the office.”

  “No need. I got this.” She heard the edge in her voice and knew it came from stress and fatigue. Agent Clement had gotten to her, and now her pride was at stake. She always did her job to the very best of her ability. That was what Maya Badger was all about—no matter what that smug FBI agent believed.

  She could still hear that dismissive sneer in his voice, like a taunt. You’re in over your head.

  Rune frowned, his eyes darkening to a smoky green. “What’s going on, Maya?”

  “Nothing.“ Why not tell Rune how the agent had talked to her? How he’d shaken her confidence? Pointed out her mistake? Rune would be sympathetic and supportive, like always.

  But she couldn’t. She was too used to handling all the slings and arrows of her job on her own.

  “This is my job,” she said stubbornly. “It’s my responsibility. I just can’t take a chance with this. We’re potentially talking about transnational criminals. Their lawyers will jump on any little mistake.”

  “You won’t make a mistake.”

  “I already did. I shouldn’t have brought you all out here. Now Kelsey’s injured.”

  She turned away from him to hide how terrible it felt to say that out loud. She had made a mistake, and the only way to make up for it was to move the investigation forward.

  “Kelsey also got to meet h
er daughter. I don’t think she’s complaining.”

  Maya stood on her tiptoes to reach a box at the top of one of the stacks, then plopped it on the floor. “Listen, I need to get to work. Keep an eye on Kelsey. Let me know if her condition changes.”

  He was quiet for so long that she glanced over her shoulder at him. From the expression on his face, he saw right through her. He knew exactly what was going on.

  “You’re shutting me out.”

  “I’m just trying to do my job.”

  “So you’re shutting me out and not admitting it.”

  She felt her temper rise. “I’m the police chief and I have responsibilities. Just because we slept together doesn’t change that. Don’t get it all twisted, Rune.”

  Almost invisibly, he flinched. She hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, but those old walls were sliding up and locking into place. Click.

  “Got it.” His voice tight, his shoulders hunched, he stepped toward the door. “Do you want this open or closed?”

  “Closed.”

  “Of course.”

  She detected a hint of irony in his voice, but ignored it. She had a room full of files to search through.

  At the door, Rune stopped. “You’ve already proven yourself, Maya. To the town, to everyone who knows you. Was there something in that phone call—”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Rune. I’m busy.”

  She kept her gaze focused on the box, which she’d just opened. File upon file, with color-coded labels, stared back at her.

  Tension sang in the air between them. “I guess there’s nothing you need, then.” He gave one more glance around the office with its piles of boxes. “Good luck with your search. Like Kelsey said, she’s quite a magpie.”

  And then he was gone.

  For a while she sorted through the files almost blindly.

  Once again, her holiday curse had struck. Not only had this whole trip gone disastrously wrong, but now she’d pushed Rune away. She hadn’t meant to.

  Or had she?

  Her walls had gone up so fast, she hadn’t even noticed. But why?

  Rune hadn’t done anything wrong. Hell, he was a hero. He’d used his own body as a cushion and a shield for Kelsey. Then he’d treated her wound. This wasn’t about Rune.