Christmas Protection Detail

by Terri Reed

Harrison frowned with clear distaste. “Are you sick?”

  Grateful there wasn’t any static noise from the radio, she cleared her now dry throat. “No. Just thirsty. Being in an airplane with a gunman can do that to a person.”

  “There are water bottles in the storage compartment,” Nick called back. “There’s a small hatch between the back seats.”

  Harrison waved the gun. “Go ahead, Deputy. We’d all like some water.”

  Hoping the channel on the radio was transmitting, she removed her hand from inside her jacket and undid her seat belt. She found the hatch and lifted the lid. Inside was a cold storage cavity with several bottles of sparkling and still water. She glanced at Harrison, estimating the distance between them to be less than a foot. Could she disarm him without alerting Frank?

  Crouched on the floor, she asked, “Are you Rosie’s father?”

  “No. She did try to pass the baby off as mine, though.” He let out a short laugh. “I can’t have children, so that was a nonstarter. But I would have still taken care of Lexi and her child. I would have set them up nicely. But I would’ve never married Lexi. I think that’s what sent her running to the FBI.”

  “If you’re not Rosie’s father, then who is?” Nick glanced over his shoulder to ask.

  Harrison waved a dismissive hand. “Unfortunately, the information may have died with Lexi.”

  “We know about the tainted drugs,” Kaitlyn said, rocking back on her heels. “Holtsen’s going down and you with it.”

  Harrison shrugged. “Holtsen fired me. Whatever they do now is on them.”

  “Without the pharmaceutical company backing you, how can you afford to pay your men and disappear?” Nick asked.

  “Oh, I’ve been siphoning money off the company for years,” he said.

  Nausea rolled in her tummy. He was telling them incriminating information that he would never have shared if he planned to let them live. Tension constricted her chest. She pulled in a breath and met Nick’s grim gaze. He, too, must have realized Harrison’s intent to get rid of them when their usefulness was over.

  “Kaitlyn, I’ll take a sparkling water,” Nick said.

  “Me, too,” said Frank. He twisted to face them.

  They needed to do something sooner rather than later. She didn’t have her sidearm, but Nick had a Taser hidden beneath his coat. If he took out Frank, then Kaitlyn could disarm Harrison. Keeping her gaze locked on Nick, she said, “Remember what I gave you earlier? It would be really useful about now, right?”

  For a moment, a puzzled expression drew Nick’s brows together. Then the frown cleared and his eyes lit up as her meaning dawned on him. “I do. Thank you for reminding me.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Harrison demanded.

  “Nothing,” Kaitlyn muttered and grabbed two bottles of water.

  “When we land in Canada, then what?” Nick asked as he swiveled the chair to fully face them.

  “Hey.” Harrison gestured to Nick. “Turn back around and fly this plane.”

  “It’s on autopilot,” Nick replied. “Answer my question.”

  Kaitlyn was grateful for the distraction as she moved closer to Harrison.

  “I have another plane waiting,” Harrison answered.

  Even closer now, Kaitlyn stated, “You’ll be a wanted man.”

  “Not your concern, Deputy. Back in your seat.”

  Half turning toward the front of the plane, she met Frank’s narrow-eyed gaze. “Catch.” She flung the bottle of water at him. He fumbled to grab it.

  “Now!” she yelled and spun to face Harrison, praying Nick understood what she needed from him. She wrapped her hands around Harrison’s gun hand and slid her finger behind the trigger.

  She heard the clicking of electricity as Nick deployed the Taser she’d handed him before they rode up the mountain. A loud string of curses emerged from Frank.Then there was a thump as Frank went down.

  Kaitlyn wrested the gun from Harrison’s hand. She turned to see Nick sitting on Frank’s back and tying Frank’s hands together with a cord.

  She crouched down to look for her sidearm, but it was nowhere in sight. Dread gripped her. She jerked upright just as Harrison pressed the hard barrel of her gun against the side of her head.

  “That’s enough,” Harrison said. He looked at Nick. “What are you doing? Get back at the controls.”

  Nick raised his hands. Panic darkened his eyes. “Okay, okay.”

  Kaitlyn had one last opportunity to disarm Harrison. Still in a crouch, she pounced on him, her left arm knocking the hand holding the gun away, and then she struck with her right hand, hitting him in the nose.

  He fired a wild shot.

  Heart seizing with horror, she turned. “Nick!”

  He’d dropped to the floor.

  The bullet had lodged itself in the instrument panel. Sparks flew. The engine sputtered and the plane jolted.

  Using Harrison’s surprise, Kaitlyn grabbed his gun hand and twisted until he let go. Then she shoved him into his seat. She always kept zip ties in the inside pocket of her jacket, and she quickly fished one out. She tied his hands together, then pulled the flash drive out of his pocket.

  Trying not to let fear overwhelm her, she stepped over Frank and moved behind Nick to help him to his feet. “Please, tell me you can get this plane on the ground in one piece.”

  He sat back in the pilot’s seat and put on the headphones. “Taking over manual control,” he said. “The instrument panel’s out and so is the communication system. We’re going to drop out of these clouds. We need to pray we don’t go nose first into a mountain.”

  Her heart leaped into her throat. “Barring that, you can land without the control panel, right?”

  “I’ve done it in the simulator,” he said.

  Kaitlyn’s heart sank. “That’s not quite the same, Nick.”

  “I understand that, Kait. You hovering is not helping.”

  “What can I do?”

  “Get everyone strapped in,” he said. “I’m going to deploy the CAPS.”

  “The what?”

  “The Cirrus Airframe Parachute System.” He pointed to a lever with a red handle in the roof over his head. “We’re dropping fast. Hurry!”

  Panic revved through her veins. She hustled Frank to the back seat next to Harrison. “Strap up,” she said. “Let’s pray we make it through this alive.”

  Harrison’s lips twisted. “I don’t pray.”

  “I do,” Frank said. He bowed his head and clasped his hands.

  Kaitlyn stared at him in surprise. Okay. She would not judge. That was for the Lord.

  She moved to sit in the copilot’s chair and put the seat belt on. “Now what?”

  “Everyone sit upright and brace yourself for impact.” Nick reached overhead and pulled the red lever recessed into the ceiling of the cockpit.

  A loud explosion rocked through the plane. The world went topsy-turvy, and Kaitlyn held on for dear life as the plane went down.

  THIRTEEN

  Kaitlyn moaned. The sound reverberated painfully all the way through her body. Or maybe it was just the jarring aftereffects of the crash. Her head hurt and her stomach rolled. Taking stock, she was still belted into her seat in the cockpit of Nick’s aircraft. After the explosion that had been set off when Nick pulled the lever over his head, there had been a cacophony of noise and the whole plane had jerked and shuddered. Then it began to drop in a swinging pendulum motion. She closed her eyes tight and prayed for all she was worth, prayed that they survived the fall.

  It couldn’t have been more than a minute or two before the air was rent with the sound of snapping metal and breaking trees. The plane stopped moving in a shuddering impact with the ground beneath them. At least, she hoped it was the ground and that they weren’t hanging in a tree, about to drop again. She ven
tured to open her eyes. There was a tree right outside the crumpled nose of the plane. An evergreen branch protruded a foot through the window into the space between her and Nick, allowing cold air to blow across her face.

  Nick!

  Slowly, she turned her head. The movement hurt, her muscles protested and her brain throbbed. She pushed through the pain to look at Nick. His body was upright, his eyes closed.

  Please, Lord, please don’t let him be dead.

  Every cell in her body braced. She didn’t know what she would do if he had died in this crash. She’d put him in danger. It was her job to keep him safe. She’d failed. He had to be alive.

  A little voice inside her head whispered, Why is it so important to you, Kaitlyn?

  She pushed the voice aside, unwilling to search her heart for the answer.

  His mouth was moving with silent words. Relief, swift and powerful, cascaded through her. He was alive. Whether he was injured or not, she couldn’t tell yet. But at least he was alive.

  Slowly, she twisted to gaze at the men strapped to the seats in the back, her body protesting as she tried to assess how Harrison and Frank had fared.

  Frank was slumped forward, his head between his knees.

  Harrison, on the other hand, stared straight ahead, his eyes wide, his pupils dilated. He had a death grip on the arms of the seat and all the color had been leached from his skin, so it matched the color of the salt in his hair. Shock, no doubt.

  They all had just suffered a dramatic and horrible experience. But they’d lived through it by the grace of God.

  She turned her gaze back to Nick. “Nick.” Her voice come out raspy. With a deeper breath, she tried again, stronger this time. “Nick!”

  He opened his eyes and looked at her with concern etched on his handsome face. “Are you okay?”

  She couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips. That was so like him, to be asking about her first, before anything else. He was such a giving and caring man. Why had she never seen the sincere depths of his nature until recently?

  “I’m okay,” she said. “At least, I think so. We’ll know when I try to stand. What about you?”

  He wiggled in his seat, rounded his shoulders, flexed his feet. “No worse for the wear, I think.” He hitched his chin over his shoulder. “What about them?”

  “In shock,” she said. “Frank might’ve passed out.”

  “No,” Frank said. “Just nauseous. Trying not to throw up.”

  She looked back at Frank. He had straightened and covered his mouth with his hand. Then he bent forward again, putting his head between his knees. Harrison hadn’t moved a muscle.

  She hoped the shock and adrenaline hadn’t given the man a heart attack.

  “Can you tell if we’re on solid ground or hung up in a tree?” Kaitlyn stretched her neck to look out the window, but the seat belt kept her in place.

  “Gauging by the thickness of the tree trunk in front of us, I’m going to say we’re near the base of the tree,” Nick said. “But there’s only one way to know for sure.” He undid his seat belt.

  “Be careful,” she warned, bracing herself in case the plane took another dive.

  He half stood to peer out the side window. “I see the ground.”

  A measure of tension eased from her. “We need to call for help.”

  “Doubtful there’s cell reception in the woods of northern Montana,” Nick said. “The emergency system on the plane sent out a distress signal the second it deployed the parachute and has a locator beacon. We’ll be found. Eventually.”

  “How do you know we’re in Montana?” she asked. “Where were we when the plane went down?”

  “I’d engaged the autopilot because I was busy subduing the copilot.” His gaze shot to Frank, who sat shivering beside Harrison. Nick shook his head and continued. “At that point we were flying over Montana, heading for the Calgary airport.”

  “Unlikely anyone will find us before we freeze in this forest,” she said with a sense of doom sinking through her and landing with a hard thud.

  Nick’s lips pressed together for a second. “What about your radio?”

  She nodded. “I may be able to get a signal. But I don’t know. I may have to try to find higher elevation, away from the trees.”

  With hands that shook, she undid her buckle. The seat belt retracted and she was able to take a full breath. Slowly, she moved her feet, her legs and torso to the side. “It’s a marvel that we’re alive.”

  Nick shifted in his seat to face her. Their knees touched. He grasped her hands over the branch separating them. “Yes,” he said. “Praise God for the airframe parachute system. If we hadn’t had that—” He shuddered.

  She squeezed his hands. “We did survive. You knew what to do.”

  “I’ve taken the training. Twice,” he said.

  “Twice?” Was he an overachiever, as well?

  “The extra time for good measure. As it turns out, though, the training was mostly to mentally and emotionally prepare the pilot to pull the lever. We can’t control the plane when there’s no way to control it.”

  She nodded in understanding. “We can always trust that God is in control.”

  He smiled. “Yes. With God, all things are possible. Even love.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “I am right,” Nick said. “Kaitlyn, I have feelings for you. I’m falling—”

  Stunned by his words, she withdrew her hands, cutting him off. “Don’t say that. Not now. You can’t... I can’t.”

  Her heart stuttered and her emotions flailed. She wasn’t sure what she felt for Nick. Was it love? She couldn’t process anything right at the moment. Certainly not something so important, so monumental, so life changing as love.

  “Don’t worry, Kaitlyn. I would never ask more of you than you’re willing to give.”

  Needing to regain her emotional control, she redirected their focus back to their circumstances. Safer that way. She couldn’t deal with his declaration. Nor did she believe he really loved her. It was the trauma of being kidnapped and then crashing. It couldn’t be real. “You kept your cool in a hairy situation. The training worked.”

  The corners of his lips lifted, but the smile didn’t reach his sad eyes. “Yes, it did. Let’s work on getting rescued. We have a mission to complete so we can get back home.”

  He scooted out of his seat and opened the plane’s door. Then he let down the little flight of stairs and left the plane. A cold push of icy air swirled through the plane, making Kaitlyn shiver. She didn’t like hurting him. That wasn’t her intention. She remained where she was, trying to calm the quaking inside of her. The idea of loving Nick seemed to echo through her heart and her mind.

  Giving herself a mental shake to clear her head and center her attention on doing her job, she hustled to Harrison’s side. She checked his pulse. It beat rapidly beneath her fingers. She shook him gently. “Harrison,” she said. “Can you hear me?”

  His eyes focused on her face and he blinked. “What happened?”

  “We crashed through the trees,” she said. “But we’re all alive.”

  He reached forward and clutched the lapels of her jacket with his zip-tied hands. “Where are we?”

  “I don’t know.” She gripped his wrists and pried his fingers off of her. “And you’re still under arrest.”

  She turned to Frank, who was staring at her warily. He held up his bound hands. “I know, I know. I’m under arrest. You’ll get no quarrel from me. God saved my life. All of our lives. I’m turning over a new leaf.”

  Kaitlyn almost snorted her disbelief. But who was she to quarrel with him?

  Kaitlyn hesitated for a moment. Yes, he was a criminal. He’d done bad things. Whether his declaration of redemption was true or not, she needed to make a decision. Should she trust this man?

&n
bsp; Her natural inclination was not to, but at the moment, she needed his help getting Harrison out of the plane.

  “If you promise me that you won’t try to escape or do anything to harm us, I’ll allow you to keep your hands free for now.” She tapped on the butt of her holstered sidearm. “But don’t forget I have a gun.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Frank said.

  She cut his ties, releasing his hands. She’d be wise to stay alert and be cautious around Frank. “Help me with your boss.”

  They each took a side of Harrison, raising him from his seat. He still seemed to be in shock, his body rubbery, as they maneuvered him to the door of the jet.

  Her gaze scanned the snow-covered terrain. The plane had landed in the middle of a forest at the base of a large mountain that looked prime for an avalanche. Nick was standing a few feet away.

  “Nick,” she called to him. “A little help, please.”

  He jogged over and stayed her with a raised hand. “Hold up a second.” He gave Frank an assessing look. “Shouldn’t he be restrained?”

  “I needed his help,” she told him. “Let’s get Harrison over to that fallen tree.”

  With a frown, Nick nodded. “Fine.” Though his tone said it was anything but, and she understood. With the three of them, they were able to get Harrison onto the ground and seated on a nearby downed tree trunk.

  She stamped her feet, so grateful to be on solid earth, even if it was covered in icy snow. The chilled air seeped beneath the hem of her jacket. “How much damage has the plane sustained?” She didn’t want to be near it if there was a fuel leak.

  “There’s the tree in the flight deck, some crumpling of the body, but otherwise, it’s in pretty good shape, considering we crash-landed through the trees.” Nick climbed back into the plane and reappeared a moment later with the black bag Frank had stuffed their cell phones into. He dropped it on the ground and unzipped it to grab his phone.

  “No bars,” he said.

  She turned to Frank. “Keep an eye on him. He’s in shock still. Holler if he passes out.” She patted her sidearm as a reminder for him not to try anything before she walked over to Nick. “Is there an emergency kit in the plane? Blankets?”