Head over Heels for the Holidays

by Jennifer Bernard

  It was about her. She’d screwed up and she couldn’t live with being bad at her job. She’d let Kelsey down. She’d let herself down. Nothing would feel right unless she fixed this.

  Focus on your job. She had to find that evidence and save her fricking self-respect.

  Rune’s last words came filtering back to her. She said she was a magpie. That was a weirdly self-deprecating thing to say in a moment of crisis like that. Maybe she’d been referring to Maggie. That made more sense.

  Or maybe the “magpie” was a clue.

  Slowly she rose to her feet and scanned stacks of boxes. They were all labelled by year. Maybe the year of Maggie’s birth was where she’d put the file?

  Four boxes fell into that year. She took them down and sorted through them one by one. Receipts, bookings, all the normal workings of the lodge. Nothing more.

  When there was only one box left to search, her phone dinged and she answered it. Ethan was on the line. “An air ambulance just landed. They said there’s some weather coming in, so they want to go ahead and take Kelsey now, quickly. Do you want to come out?”

  “Be right there.”

  She hurried out to the great room, where she spotted a man in a thick blue canvas flight suit. Dan Stone, one of the most experienced medevac pilots who served the Misty Bay Hospital. Kelsey was already on a gurney, and had woken up enough to whisper something to Rune, who was covering her with a blanket. Maggie hovered nearby, looking anxious, while Cara stayed close to her for support.

  Dan straightened up to greet Maya.

  “Hi Dan. Is it just you tonight?” she asked the pilot.

  “No, there’s two of us. Tom’s getting things ready inside the bird. We knew Rune was here to help out.”

  “Good, I wouldn’t want anyone handling a night flight alone. Did you land out front?”

  “Yes, we got the word about that.”

  “Any trouble?”

  “All quiet, except for the wind picking up.” He turned to Rune. “I got it from here, man. Tom’ll help me load her in. You all stay cozy inside. Temperature’s dropping with that cold front.”

  “Fly safe,” Maya told him. “Make sure you let us know when you’ve landed at the hospital.”

  “Ten-four. Merry Christmas to you all.”

  Everyone chorused well wishes back to him as he trundled toward the front door with the gurney.

  Maya glanced over at Rune, but he didn’t look her way. Awkward. Uncomfortable. Crap. Some Merry Christmas this was going to be.

  Maya decided to go back to her file search. Knowing that Kelsey was on her way to the hospital took a load off her mind. She settled back into the office to look through the last box that was marked with Maggie’s year of birth.

  Nothing.

  Damn it. She sat back on the floor, so frustrated she could scream. Maybe the magpie reference had nothing to do with the files. Maybe it was just Kelsey rambling about her long-lost daughter.

  A sudden bird call made her startle, until she realized it came from one of those wall clocks with a different bird for each hour.

  “Shh,” she told it, irritated. “I’ve got enough on my mind without any damn bird tweets. Like the fact that I probably ruined my relationship.” As she scowled at the clock, she noticed that one of the birds, at three o’clock, was a magpie. Magpies had kind of a screech call, so hopefully she’d be done by three.

  Wait.

  Slowly she stood and walked over to the wall clock. She reached up and eased it away from its mount. And there, taped to the back of the clock, was a small thumb drive.

  Chills swept through her. This had to be it.

  Just to confirm, she crossed to Kelsey’s computer and turned it on, but discovered that the drive required a password. Magpie? Could it be that easy?

  Sure enough, the thumb drive opened. It held a single folder. She clicked on it and a series of files populated the screen. She opened the first one. It contained a list of names and dates. Some of the names were Russian, some were American. She recognized one of them—he was the CEO of a well-known bank.

  Holy shit. It was a visitor log of people Kelsey must have deemed suspicious.

  Her stomach in knots—she could barely believe this was real—she tucked the drive into her pocket. All these years, Maggie’s mother had been a magpie herself, collecting and gathering bits of evidence against a dangerous criminal ring that was personally threatening her. The woman’s courage was incredible.

  Carefully, she put all the boxes back where they’d been.

  Closing the door behind her, she went back to the living room, where Rune was tending to the fire in the woodstove. Maggie and Cara were crouched by a shelf of games, arguing about which one they should play. Alastair and Ethan were nowhere to be seen.

  “They both went to bed,” Rune explained before she could ask. She checked her phone with a frown. Still no word from the medevac. Maybe the weather had slowed them down.

  Cara and Maggie jumped to their feet. She blinked at the two teenagers in their matching Lost Harbor High hoodies. How could they still have so much energy after a day like today?

  “Can we make hot fudge sundaes?” Cara asked eagerly. “We waited to ask you, because Rune says you might need a treat.”

  “Sure, why not? I won’t sleep until we hear from the air ambulance anyway.”

  The two girls skipped off toward the kitchen.

  Rune met her gaze, no trace of their argument on his face. “Did you find anything?”

  “I did.” She showed him the USB file and grinned.

  “Nice going.” He beamed back at her, pride radiating from him, withholding nothing even though she’d pushed him away.

  “It was all Kelsey,” she corrected. “I just followed her clues.”

  “Clues are one thing. Figuring out what they mean is another. That’s all you, babe.” A wide smile spread to his eyes. She loved that smile. Basking in its sunshiny warmth, she felt alive and adored. That smile was everything.

  And she’d pushed him away. Why had she done that?

  “Rune,” she began, “about before—”

  “It’s all right.” He raised his hand to stop her. “I know how important your job is to you. I appreciate that. I admire you for it. You’re Maya Badass Badger and I’m proud of you.”

  “Maya Badass Badger?” She wrinkled her forehead.

  “Doesn’t anyone call you that? They should. I’m going to see about that when we get back.”

  “You’re so silly.” A smile quivered on her lips. She hadn’t ruined things between them. He was still Rune. He was still here for her, just like he’d said. He wasn’t going to be scared away by her walls going up.

  And she hadn’t even told him that he wasn’t all alone on that “I love you” ledge.

  Maybe it was time she joined him there. “You were right about me shutting you out. I was doing that, but I don’t want to. Rune, the thing is—“

  But before she could get another word out, Maggie came racing back into the great room. “He took Cara! She’s gone!”

  Chapter 33

  “Who did? Who?” Rune was already running toward the kitchen. He heard Maya and Maggie keeping pace behind him.

  “I don’t know. He looked like the other man. From the helicopter.”

  “Dan Stone?”

  “No, it wasn’t him.”

  As they all burst into the kitchen, Maya was already pulling out her phone. Rune ran to the mudroom and saw the taillights of a snow machine disappearing into the dark shadows of the road that led to the airstrip.

  He grabbed his parka from the coat pegs. Boots. He needed his boots. “We have to go after them,” he said tightly. “It’s got to be the stalker.”

  The bastard had snuck up on them here at the end of nowhere. Had he hijacked the helicopter? How the hell…?

  Maya ended her call. “The medevac hasn’t made it back to the hospital yet. The only thing I can think is that they put down at the landing strip after they lef
t the lodge, then the other guy—Tom, isn’t that what Dan said? He came back for Cara. We have to go after them.”

  From the mudroom, he tossed Maya’s coat to her, and grabbed Maggie’s as well.

  As Maya pulled on her parka, she asked Maggie, “What exactly happened? Moment by moment.”

  “A man knocked on the door of the kitchen. I saw he had on a flight suit just like the pilot so I let him in. I thought maybe he forgot something and had to come back. Then he just grabbed Cara and dragged her out of the kitchen. I didn’t have my knife with me. I think it’s in my coat.” She searched through the pockets of the coat Rune had just thrown to her.

  “It’s not your fault, Maggie,” Maya told her. “Where the hell is Dan Stone?”

  “Don’t know, but I have a bad feeling. Let’s go.” Rune slammed his feet into his boots and ran into the biting cold.

  Wind whipped him in the face. The storm was still coming on strong. The stalker couldn’t be allowed to take off with Cara. Even beyond everything else, it was too dangerous to fly. He spotted a snow machine parked a few yards away and ran toward it.

  Beyond the snow machine, in the direction of the front entrance, he spotted a dark lump in the snow. His heart sank. The pilot? He ran over to the figure and sure enough, it was Dan Stone, unconscious and bleeding from the head. Stalker Chad must have knocked him out and stolen the helicopter. Damn it, he should have insisted on helping Stone load the gurney.

  “Maya,” he shouted. “It’s the pilot. Looks bad.”

  Maya took one look and yanked out her phone again. “Ethan, we need your help right away. Get Alastair too. The medevac pilot’s out here in the snow near the front entrance. Cara’s been kidnapped and we’re heading to the airstrip.”

  Maya jerked her head at him and they all dashed to the snow machine. She jumped on and kicked it into gear. Rune swung in next to her. “I should have checked the other guy out,” she said tightly.

  “I should have fucking checked him out. She’s my sister.” This was his fault. He hadn’t given a second thought to the other man in the helicopter because he’d been too preoccupied with Maya’s rejection. He’d been busy wrestling his emotions back in line. Lecturing himself for falling so hard for a woman who didn’t feel the same.

  Face it, he’d let down his guard—and now Cara was in the hands of a madman.

  Maggie was barely onboard before Maya opened the throttle and surged forward.

  “I already alerted the tower at the Lost Harbor airport,” Maya told him over the roar of the machine. “They’ll get the word out. I don’t think he’ll get far.”

  Rune held on tight as they rattled onto the road that led to the airstrip. At this speed, the headlong trip felt like a fast ride down an icy luge. The wind chill went right through to the bone. The headlights lit up only a hazy slice of the space in front of them. Everything else—the forests, the road, the sky—was dark and ominous.

  The stalker must have hiked back to the lodge from the airstrip after he’d landed the helicopter—putting all that rugged military training to use. Then he must have waited until he saw an opportunity to grab Cara.

  Up ahead, the little red lights of the snow machine shone like demon eyes. A cold rage filled Rune. His life had been completely disrupted by that demented man. And now he had Cara in his grasp, and Rune had no fucks left to give. He’d tear the man’s head off if he got the chance.

  Maya must have sensed his state of mind, because she put a hand on his thigh. “Let me handle this, all right?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Trust me. Promise me you won’t do something reckless. Don’t make me arrest you. I have a ban on dating people I might have to arrest.”

  He cast her a sideways glance, because right now, he couldn’t guarantee anything. She caught his eye and held it for a moment, even though they were hurtling down the road as fast as the machine would go. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the stern police chief expression he saw on her face. Nor was it the hands-off look he’d seen in Kelsey’s office.

  It was something deeper and more intimate. Rich with secret meaning.

  But he couldn’t think about that right now. All that mattered was Cara.

  “Eyes on the road,” he told her gruffly.

  As soon as they sped onto the airstrip, he caught sight of the medevac helicopter perched on the runway. Thank God. It was still here. Cara was still here. They still had time. Barely. Maybe.

  Yes, there she is.

  He spotted a man in a flight suit dragging Cara across the runway from the snow machine he’d ditched.

  “Take the wheel,” Maya muttered. He leaned across her to grab it, while she pulled out her gun.

  “Police!” she shouted as they careened toward the chopper. “Let her go!”

  “I have a gun too,” he yelled. “Stay back. Stop where you are.”

  Maya took her foot off the pedal and they slowed to a stop. He and Maya both jumped off the machine. “Stay here, Maggie,” Maya told her in a low voice. “Crouch down, don’t give him a target.”

  Still aiming her gun at the stalker, she took a step forward. She’d positioned the snow machine so its headlights illuminated the scene before them; man in coveralls, shivering blonde Cara without a coat, helicopter poised for departure.

  So this was the stalker. This thirty-something guy with the bleached buzz cut and the manic air about him. Even if Rune had seen him back at the lodge, he wouldn’t have recognized him from the single blurry photo he had. Cara had described him as having long brown hair, not a blond buzz cut.

  “This won’t work,” she called to him. “We’ve already alerted authorities all through Alaska. You won’t get far. Let her go.”

  “Fuck you all. We’re meant to be together. It’s God’s will.”

  “If it’s God’s will, why is she fighting so much?” Rune demanded. “She doesn’t want this.”

  “Let me go!” Cara cried. “I don’t want to go with you.”

  “Shut up.” He crushed his arm around her windpipe to stop her from talking. “The man decides. The woman does what the man says.”

  “I’m not even a grown woman! I’m just a teenager.”

  “That’s the right age.”

  Rune would have been revolted if he wasn’t so scared.

  Maya switched the direction of her gun hand so she was pointing it at the helicopter’s engine. “I can’t let you leave with her. I’ll put a hole in your tank first.”

  “Yeah, and risk blowing up your friend on the gurney inside?” He dragged Cara another step forward, even though she was executing her best rag-doll, dig-in-her-heels resistance.

  Fuck. Kelsey. What was he going to do with her once he’d taken off? Use her as leverage? As a hostage? Dump her overboard? If he was going to dump her, he already would have. She was more useful as a hostage.

  An idea formed in his head. If he could just get onto that helicopter…

  “You better take me too,” he told the stalker. “You’re going to need a better hostage. Kelsey’s critically injured, and everyone knows you won’t hurt my sister.”

  “Bullshit. It’s a through and through.”

  “I treated her. She has an underlying medical condition that could complicate things. You weren’t there for the transfer, but she woke up and told us about it. Me and Dan Stone. But you knocked him out before he could tell you, didn’t he?”

  “You’re lying.”

  “I’m not. She has a platelet disorder.”

  Maya was staring at him in astonishment. He hadn’t told her about the conversation either; there hadn’t been a chance. Kelsey had woken up just briefly and whispered more confessions to him.

  He took another step forward, his hands raised in a surrender gesture. “Take me too, man. She’s going to need medical help.”

  “No fucking way.”

  “If she dies it’ll be on you. You’re already in deep shit with this kidnapping. You’re going to have to offload your hostage at some point. Y
ou can leave me with her.”

  He didn’t know if his arguments were working, but at least the bastard wasn’t choking Cara quite so hard.

  After a long pause, the stalker swung his gun and aimed it right at Rune’s heart. “I’ll fucking shoot you if you do one thing I didn’t tell you to.”

  “I won’t,” Rune promised. “You’re the boss.”

  Cara gave a sob of fear through the chokehold on her throat. The stalker gestured with his gun for Rune to step forward.

  But as he started to comply, Maya stepped into his path, blocking his way. She planted herself in front of him.

  “No,” she said firmly, in full badass police chief mode. “No one is getting on that helicopter. Especially not Rune. I need him here.”

  “Maya,” he hissed. “Just let me—“

  She lifted her hand to cut him off. “If you want him, you’re going to have to shoot the Lost Harbor police chief.”

  “You?” He spat on the ground. “Why shouldn’t I just shoot you?”

  “You’re ex-military, right? Do you really want to put shooting a law enforcement officer on your record?”

  “Females shouldn’t be cops.”

  “You’re entitled to your opinion. But you’re not entitled to shoot me without paying for it. And believe me, you’ll pay. I have my phone recording right now. Everything we say is being fed back to the station. They probably have it on blast. The best thing you can do right now is put down your gun and let Cara go. That’s your only way out of this.”

  Her voice was so authoritative, so naturally commanding and full of moral righteousness and good sense, that Rune couldn’t imagine anyone not paying attention. Even this demented misogynistic creep was listening.

  He gestured at Rune with his weapon. “What do you need him for? Is he your sex toy?” He leered, clearly trying to rattle Maya.

  “No. As a matter of fact, he’s the man I love,” she said simply. “Rune is my best friend and the only man I can imagine spending my life with. I love him. And here’s the thing about females. We fight for the ones we love.”