Ice

by Stephanie Rowe

  Kaylie grabbed Cort’s arm as he went to stand up and go after Tom. “Cort,” she said quietly. “Let it go. Look at his eyes.”

  She felt Cort hesitate, then saw him look at Tom’s face. The pain in his eyes was obvious. Centuries of loneliness. Old Tom felt something. What it was, she didn’t know, but he felt something. Regret that he’d loved her mother and lost her? Or something deeper and more sinister?

  Cort eased down, but his hold on Kaylie was relentless. “The truth, Tom. Tell us what the hell’s going on. Now.”

  Tom’s voice was expressionless. “I dropped her party off on a glacier. Came back two days later, like we agreed, and they were gone. Found their base camp, but no sign of anyone. I flew searchers for twenty hours a day for the next three days, and we found nothing. Yeah, it pissed me off. It always pisses me off when I lose a client, and it’s worse when it’s personal—and Alice was personal.” He pulled his shoulders back. “But you know as well as I do that you have to shake it off and forget it.” His gaze went to Kaylie. “It’s the only way to survive out here. People die. You shake it off. It’s the way it works.” His face softened. “Let them go, missy. They’re gone.”

  “It’s too late for that,” Kaylie said. On so many levels. “I can’t. Please, tell me everything you know. Was there anyone else there? Anyone from before who seemed interested in her return?”

  Tom picked up an old cigar and began to chew on the end. “Yeah, yeah, there was actually.” He studied them. “Billy Mann. That son of a bitch is always trying to fuck with me.”

  Cort paused. “Trooper Mann? The Statie?”

  “Sure thing. Billy was the reason I had only a couple nights with the little lady thirty years ago. None of the rest of us had a chance with Alice once Billy showed up. She was interested in no one but him.” He grinned. “Busted up our friendship, she did. Billy never forgave me for having her first. Every time he tries to arrest me for something, I get a kick out of the fact that it still pisses him off.”

  Kaylie looked at Cort, her heart racing. “It would explain a lot.”

  “Bill’s place isn’t too far from here,” Cort said. “Let’s do a flyby. See if he’s really in Anchorage, like Rich said he was.” He stood, held out his hand. “Thanks so much, Tom.”

  Old Tom clasped Cort’s hand in a bear grip. “Always like a visit from friends. Place gets too damn lonely out here. Don’t fly safe. Too boring.”

  “Will do.” Cort nodded to him, then took Kaylie’s hand and guided her out.

  She looked over her shoulder as Old Tom came out to stand on the porch and watch them go. Cort looked tense. Did he think Old Tom was sending them off on a wild goose chase?

  Cort herded her toward the plane. “Get in.”

  Old Tom watched her climb aboard. Cort was on board a split second after she was, and he had the plane taxiing in less than a minute. He was silent, and a muscle was ticking in his cheek.

  “Cort? Do you think Tom’s lying?”

  “I think we’re being toyed with. I’m just not sure by who. If it’s Bill, I don’t know how much I can trust Richie. And if it’s Old Tom…“He shook his head.

  “If it’s Old Tom, what?”

  He glanced over at her as the plane lifted off. “If it’s Old Tom, we’ve got a problem.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s the only reason I’m not in jail for murder.”

  The footsteps outside made Mason jerk back to full consciousness.

  He fisted the stake he’d found in the corner of the shed, hiding it beneath his hip as he waited.

  His mouth was parched. He was too cold, and every joint in his body ached. Fever had hit, and that was bad.

  Really bad.

  He had to get the hell out, and fast.

  The door opened, and Mason had to duck his head against the sudden light, the brightness from the outdoors blinding after such darkness.

  Fingers closed around his hair and jerked his head back. He fisted the stake and swung hard, hitting flesh with a thud that made victory sing through his veins.

  His assailant went down, and Mason lunged to his knees, adrenaline overriding all pain and physical limitations as it had so many times in the past. He slammed the weapon down toward his assailant, who rolled out of the way faster than Mason’s depleted body could react.

  His assailant lunged for the shackle, jerking it hard as he dove out of the way. The metal band dug into Mason’s infected leg. He screamed and swung for his opponent’s hands.

  Then a kick landed in Mason’s broken rib and he was down.

  “Nice try.” His captor climbed to his feet, holding his side as he walked over to Mason and stood over him. “I like spirit. You take after your mother.”

  Mason stared at him, gasping for breath, each breath sending spirals of agony through his body, trying to follow the conversation. “My mother? What the hell does she have to do with anything?”

  The beard was gone, his eyes haunted, angry. Shit. Not just angry. Enraged.

  His captor picked up the mallet. “Tell me, is your sister as much of a slut as your mother?”

  Mason closed his eyes for a split second. Kaylie. She must have come.

  “Don’t close your eyes when I’m talking to you!”

  Mason jerked his eyes open just in time to see the implement slam toward his busted shoulder. No time to brace himself, he doubled over from the agony, biting his tongue to keep from making a noise of protest.

  The second time he wasn’t able to suppress a grunt.

  The third hit, on his leg, made him vomit from the pain.

  When his captor finally pulled out a camera and began to take pictures, Mason was too gone to even care.

  Or wonder what the son of a bitch was going to use them for.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “You have to tell me what happened with your wife and son,” Kaylie said on their way to Bill’s property.

  The muscle on the right side of Cort’s neck twitched, and he felt it knotting up at Kaylie’s urgent tone. The sun was already beginning to rise, but it was still too dark to see anything from the air. But Cort didn’t care, and he was flying straight toward the land he knew was owned by Bill. Cort had never been there, and he had no idea where to land. But Bill had owned a few planes over the years, and Cort figured there had to be somewhere to set his plane down.

  The wind had been picking up for the last half hour, and Cort’s little plane was hopping, demanding most of his concentration. His gut was telling him the weather was bad, heading straight for hellish, but he hadn’t checked in. Why bother? It wasn’t as if he was going to turn around.

  Had to find out what was going on. Who was fucking with him? Bill? Old Tom?

  “Cort!” Kaylie interrupted his thoughts. “If Old Tom is the one after us and it relates to what happened with your wife, you need to tell me—”

  “I know.” Cort cut Kaylie off. Knew he had no choice but to spill. The stakes were too high right now for him not to tell her the full story. “I met Valerie in Anchorage.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “She was there on some corporate retreat. I was taking her group on sightseeing tours.”

  Kaylie raised her brows. “Sightseeing tours? That doesn’t sound like you.”

  “I was short on cash. It was before Luke came on board.” The plane lurched again, and Cort had to focus for a moment before resuming. “Valerie was the daughter of some rich guy who’d bought her a job at the company. I was a dangerous hothead, and she wanted to rebel. Love at first sight.”

  “You loved her?”

  Cort shot a glance at Kaylie. Her face was deceptively serene. The only thing revealing her tension was her tight grip on her seat belt. The weather, or the topic of discussion?

  “Valerie reeled me in like a fish that couldn’t resist the lure of fresh bait.” He checked the gauges, made a couple adjustments, and then continued. “She was rich, she was beautiful, and she lit my fire. She was so far beyond what a guy
like me ever thought he’d get. I took her back to my place and didn’t ask questions about why she’d slummed with me. Didn’t want to hear the answers, I guess.” Cort thought back to that moment when he’d brought Valerie home to stay. She’d been the first person who’d lived with him since his parents had died nearly a decade before.

  It had been such a rush, having someone a part of his life again. Cort had been desperate for her, spent more hours in bed than anywhere else for those first few months. Even cut down on his flying for a while.

  “And then what?”

  He cleared his throat. “Valerie’s dad told her he was coming here to bring her home. So we got hitched.” He ground his jaw. “I thought it was because she was too hooked on me to leave. I was too stupid to think it was because she wanted to thumb her nose at Daddy.”

  Kaylie was silent, but he could feel her watching him.

  “So yeah, he came, he saw, and he cut her off.” Cort gave a bitter smile, catching the plane as it suddenly dropped a couple hundred feet.

  Kaylie caught her breath, and he looked over at her. “It’s okay. I’m in control.”

  She nodded once. “I’m fine.” But her voice was tense. “Keep talking. It’s a good distraction from the fact the plane sounds like it’s going to come apart any second.”

  At her words, Cort became aware of the sound of the wind whipping across the metal, of the creaks of the airplane—things he didn’t even notice. But they could be disturbing as hell to a groundie. “She’s just warming up,” he said. “It’s all good.”

  “I just…” Kaylie glanced out the window. “You wouldn’t fly us into a dangerous situation, would you? Not with me on board.”

  Cort heard her undertone of fear, and it gnawed at him. He knew it was because of the comments others had made, that he was treading to close to the edge, and it bugged him that Kaylie wouldn’t trust him at what he did best. “What do you think?”

  She glanced at him, chewing on her lower lip, and didn’t answer. Which made him even more annoyed. But what did he expect? It wasn’t as if he’d done anything to make her trust his flying judgment, other than to get annoyed when she questioned it.

  “So, what happened after you got married?” Kaylie’s voice was tight, her hands fisting her harness. “Please, keep talking. It’s distracting.”

  “Yeah, okay.” He adjusted his altitude, trying to find quieter air to relieve her stress. “After Valerie got cut off and realized she was stuck with me, the glow faded fast. She didn’t like the fact I was always in the air, and she hated all my friends. Hated Alaska. Hated it all.”

  Kaylie nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”

  His mood got blacker at her comment. Don’t let her leave Alaska, Old Tom had said. She’ll never come back.

  “When we first got together, Valerie used to fly with me, a lot. But then she quit, saying she hated flying and had done it just to make me happy. That I’d forced her into that. I thought that if I could get her to fly again, she’d realize she loved it, too.” Cort took a hard breath. “My parents flew together all the time, and that’s what I wanted. I knew I couldn’t be happy with a groundie, and I wanted her to be like my mom.” His voice flattened. “Then Valerie got pregnant.”

  Kaylie turned sharply to look at him. “Your son?”

  “Yeah.” The old anger began to rise. “Valerie told me she was leaving me. She told me she would never allow her child to suffer the nightmare of having a bush pilot for a dad.”

  “Because…?”

  Cort shot a look at her. “Because I’m a big kid who will never grow up. Because all I do is run around looking for my next high. I’m going to die young and leave my wife and kid broke and alone to pick up the pieces.”

  Kaylie’s cheeks turned red. “That’s what she said?”

  “Oh, yeah. And more.” He scowled. “I wouldn’t let Valerie leave. Couldn’t let go of the dream. Wife, a kid.” Just like his parents. “We fought for months. It was…brutal.” Yeah, brutal pretty much described it.

  “And then what happened?”

  The plane began to twist harder, and Cort realized the wind had really picked up. He thought he should check in with Max, see what was going on.

  “What about the baby?”

  Kaylie’s quiet question jerked him back to the present. “Contractions came early. Weather was bad. Something was wrong.” He thought back to that night, the sleet and snow pounding his cabin, the roads cut off. Valerie screaming with pain. “She wanted me to drive her into town, but I knew it would take too long. Knew we didn’t have that kind of time. Told her I’d fly her instead.”

  “Did you? Fly her?”

  “Yeah.” God, how Valerie had cursed him when he’d carried her out to the plane. The wind had been blowing so hard he could barely make it to the hangar. It had been weather he had no right in God’s name taking off in, but he’d done it anyway. No choice. “I had to. I called in to see if the roads were clear, and it was bad all the way to the nearest hospital. Couldn’t have made it if I’d driven her. She was bleeding, and—”

  Kaylie leaned toward him, and he felt her hand on his leg.

  He fought back the fury, struggled to regain control. “Yeah, the weather was hell. Fucking hell. Valerie was screaming. Blood everywhere.” He wiped the sweat off his head, barely aware of the way the plane was fighting him, the roar of the wind. “I couldn’t make it. Couldn’t fucking make it to the hospital. Had to bring the plane down near Tom’s place, and he came out.” Cort shook his head, trying to clear his vision. “Bad landing. Plane flipped. Valerie busted her head open.”

  Kaylie’s fingers dug into his thigh.

  “Tom helped me transfer her to his plane. He had a heavier one. He flew while I sat in back with Valerie.” Cort’s hands were shaking now. “The baby…He came early…on the plane…not breathing…couldn’t save him…My hands…He was so small, and he wasn’t breathing. I did CPR, was certified for it as part of the tour-guide thing. Tried, couldn’t…”

  Kaylie’s hand was in his hair now, her touch soft. “I’m so sorry, Cort.”

  “We landed ten minutes later. Too late. Valerie…So much fucking blood…” The plane lurched, and his hands slipped on the controls. He grabbed for them, wiped his palms on his jeans.

  “Did she die?” Kaylie’s fingers were tangling in his hair, slow circles, comforting.

  “No. No, she survived. But…” He had to stop, fight down the emotion. “She and her dad convinced the state to bring charges against me for the murder of my son and attempted murder of her.”

  Kaylie’s fingers froze in his hair. “What? Why?”

  “For flying. The crash…It was rough. Banged her up. Said that it caused the premature birth. Said that if I’d driven her, we would have made it. That the rough flight banged her around and…Yeah, she said that I kept her from getting medical care to spite her for wanting to leave. That I tried to withhold hospital care in the air to coerce her into giving me custody of the boy.” He swallowed the anger, the betrayal. “So, yeah, Tom testified on my behalf. Said how I tried to save my family in that plane. How fucking hard I tried. How I used my rifle to force him to fly us. He explained that I couldn’t have made it to his place as fast as I did in that weather if I hadn’t been hauling ass for the hospital as fast as I could.”

  “Did you? Threaten Tom with your gun?”

  “Yeah. I would’ve shot the bastard, too, if he hadn’t agreed to help me.” Cort felt that same anger, that same betrayal, as he’d sat in that courtroom and listened to one person after another testify that he pushed the edge in the air too much. People had claimed in court that the roads had been passable that night and he should have driven. “It was Tom’s testimony that saved me. That he’d been in that air, that the weather hadn’t been that bad. That I made the only choice a bush pilot could have made. He told them I was good enough to have a chance to make it through that storm, that it hadn’t been irresponsible or murderous. It was his thirty years of experi
ence and his flawless reputation that saved me. His word over an outsider’s.” But when Cort had walked out of that courtroom, people had never looked at him the same.

  And his son was dead.

  His fist bunched, and he wanted to punch the dash. Slam his hands into it until they bled. “Valerie sat in that courtroom and looked right at me. I saw in her eyes that she knew the truth, that I’d done everything I could have, and she didn’t give a fuck. She was hanging me out to dry so she could get back to the world she belonged in with her reputation intact.”

  “Cort.”

  He didn’t look at Kaylie. Couldn’t. He was angry all over again, his heart bleeding for that child, that tiny boy who’d died in the belly of a plane. The bitch who’d made his son’s death into a spectacle and a lie. “She took my son’s body back with her. I don’t even know where he’s buried.”

  Kaylie touched his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

  He caught a softness in her voice, and he jerked his gaze over at her. Kaylie didn’t look away, and her face was sympathetic, not condemning. “Valerie wronged you.”

  Cort narrowed his eyes. Her words were honest, her concern genuine. But there was something else. “You get her, don’t you?”

  She frowned. “What?”

  “You get why she had to leave. You get why she didn’t want her child raised by me, don’t you?”

  Kaylie’s cheeks flushed. “She was horrible to you! You don’t deserve that! I know you did everything you could to save them!”

  “But you know why she had to leave, don’t you? You get her.” He was beyond pissed now. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “Fine, yes!” Tears were in her eyes, but Cort didn’t care. “I understand her initial fears. Of course I do. But that doesn’t mean I think what she did was right on any level at all! She betrayed you so horribly, and—”

  The plane lurched, plummeting a hundred feet before he regained control. Shit. The weather was from hell, the rain and sleet pounding at his windshield, the wind railing at them. He’d been so caught up in the damn story, he’d lost track of the weather. Goddamn, how did he still give Valerie, and women like her, the power to mess with him?