Safe Passage

by Loreth Anne White

  But he caught the skids.

  The chopper lurched.

  Malik swayed below, attached by one hand.

  Skye struggled to steady the craft.

  Scott found the knife at his ankle, hooked his good foot in the bottom of the seat, leaned out the door, slicing wildly at La Sombra.

  The skin split over his knuckles. In a scream of pain he fell, spinning, wheeling wildly down to the waiting sea, the wind sucking a terrible sound from him.

  Scott clawed his way up into the passenger seat. He slumped back. Limp.

  “Scott. Oh, my God, Scott—”

  “Fly, girl.” His voice was like sandpaper. “Keep flying. Thank God you can fly.”

  He’d lost too much moisture, blood. He wasn’t going to make it. The wind tore at them. Rain lashed at their craft. She had to get him to medical attention. But she tensed suddenly as another chopper loomed large out of the gray, closed in on them. “There’s someone on our tail.”

  He struggled to look up. “Bellona.”

  “Bellona?”

  “Yeah.” Scott eased the helmet off, let his head flop back in the seat. His face was gray, damp with pain. His brown hair was matted with sweat. A muscle pulsed wildly in his neck. “Bellona and CSIS, RCMP, FBI…the whole freaking world. They’re after me, too, now.”

  She stared, blank.

  “For not handing you over.” He coughed, wheezed, clutched his chest. “I’m…on their Wanted list. Wouldn’t stand down when ordered. I took that helicopter in the forest, came after you.” He struggled for another wheezing breath. “I’m done for, baby. It’s you and me. In it together for the long haul.” He gasped when he tried to move his knee. It was at an awful angle. He tried to pull his leg back into alignment.

  Oh, God. He’d compromised his job—his life—for her. She was overwhelmed with emotion. Tears pricked hot, spilled down her face in cathartic release. She wiped them away, realized she was still bleeding.

  “Can you land this thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Take her in. They can have us now. The beetles are in back. Sealed jars.”

  She stared at him. A sob jerked though her body. She wanted to fly forever. She didn’t want to go back to reality. To risk losing him. She wanted to fly them into the storm where they would never be separated.

  He reached out, held her hand over the controls. It was ice cold. “Take her back, Skye,” he said softly. “I’ll be there…for you. Always. I promised you that.”

  She swallowed the aching balled lump in her throat.

  “Why? Why, Scott?” she whispered.

  “Because I love you, Skye—I love you.”

  Tears blurred her vision.

  “Fly this damn thing, will you? Focus.” He slumped back, slid into unconsciousness, overcome by his injuries, his fight.

  And with new courage and fierce determination, she turned for the shore, rode the wind, flew the beast in.

  To face her future. With him.

  Chapter 17

  Skye paused, took a deep breath, clutched the bouquet close to her chest and pushed open the door to the hospital ward.

  “Hey, beautiful.” Scott’s eyes twinkled deep green. His voice was rich, welcoming. It rolled right through her, infused her with warmth.

  She smiled at the rugged man in the white hospital bed. Not even hospital sheets could tame the wild look of him.

  But inside, her heart ached.

  This was going to be one of the toughest things she’d ever done in her messed-up life.

  “Is that my cue to say, ‘Hello, handsome’?” She set the flowers on the table at the bottom of his hospital bed.

  A large grin slashed his face. “Daisies. I like daisies.”

  “I do, too.” She fussed with the blooms, not looking at him. “They’re happy flowers.”

  “Skye.”

  Her eyes flicked up.

  “What is it, Skye?” Concern creased his brow.

  She forced another smile. “Nothing.” She came around to his side, took his hand. It was big and rough in her own. “I’ve just been to see Charly and she’s doing great. They caught the virus in time. She’s going to be fine. How’s the leg?”

  He pulled a face. “It’ll do. I’ll be in a cast for a couple of months. But they figure if I listen to the doctors this time around, I could eventually come close to being as good as new.”

  She reached out, laid the palm of her hand on his cheek, felt the rough male stubble against her skin. “I want to thank you, Scott. For everything. You were true to your word. You were there for me. I don’t know how you did it, but you came through. You’re one hell of a man.”

  His brow dropped low. “You winding up for something?”

  “I couldn’t fight him without you. I lost it…when I saw him. I simply lost my strength. I needed you there, your spirit. You risked everything to be there for me. I want to thank you for that.” She swallowed. She was choking on the words. But she had to get it all out. She wouldn’t have another chance.

  He struggled into a sitting position, his eyes glinted fierce. He grabbed her wrist, powerful fingers encircling like a metal cuff.

  “Skye, what are you telling me here?”

  “I’m leaving. I came to say goodbye.”

  His features slackened with shock. He pulled himself sharply back. His grip tightened. “Why?”

  “I must.”

  He lurched up, snagged his hand behind her head, tugged her face down inches from his. His eyes bored into hers. Hot. Furious. “Don’t you dare! I love you, Skye. You’re not going anywhere.”

  She tried to pull back, couldn’t breathe. Lurking below the glint of his eye, she saw raw pain. It ripped through her heart. “Scott, you don’t know me. Everything about me was a lie. You still call me Skye. You think I’m someone I’m not. I’m facing criminal charges…I don’t even belong in this country. I’m an illegal alien. I’ll be deported before you walk again.”

  She had to give him this out.

  As much as it rent her apart. She had to show him a back door. But, Lord, she prayed he wouldn’t take it, step right out of her life. Because she had nothing else in this world. Nothing she wanted more than him.

  “That’s bull and you know it,” he snapped. “I know you better than anyone else on this planet. To me you are Skye. Always will be. I didn’t fall in love with Zeva the Greek fighter. I didn’t fall in love with Van Rijn the bug doctor. I fell in love with you, dammit. The person underneath it all. The dear, gentle, strong woman who reached deep inside my heart and stole my very soul.” Sparks of wet, livid life shot from his green eyes. “Stay with me,” he pleaded, his voice rough. “Stay with me always.”

  Her heart lurched, swooped. It was as though the bottom of her world had fallen out from under her. And she was light. Flying free, silvery bonds of love linking her to a voluminous chute. This man. She blinked back the tears stinging behind her eyes.

  She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe with relief.

  “You will always be Skye. It’s the name that gave you freedom to come to this country. The one Jalil found for you. And it’s the name that will give you the freedom to stay.”

  “W-what do you mean?”

  “That’s what your new papers will say. Skye. You belong in this country. You performed a heroic act for this land, and you brought La Sombra’s empire down. Canada is honored to make you a citizen.”

  She felt her jaw drop.

  “Yeah.” A wicked slash of a grin cut his face. Small lines fanned sharply out from the brilliant green of his eyes. “Bellona organized it with Immigration. You’re legal. But…there are two catches.”

  “Catches?”

  “Conditions. Number one—you marry me.” His eyes bored hot into hers as he said the words, stared her down. Waited.

  That odd ache in her chest cracked, exploded. She choked on the sensation. Her hand flew to her mouth. Hot warmth swelled, radiated, through her body. It spilled out in tears. Sweet,
hot tears that slid down her cheeks. She had no voice.

  He watched her intently. Then he dropped his voice to a rough gravel whisper. “The citizenship papers, they’ll read Skye Armstrong. Agent Skye Armstrong.”

  She opened her mouth. Still no words came out.

  “Can’t have Van Rijn on those papers. That name belonged to someone else. So you’re just gonna have to marry me and get legit. I want your hand. I want us to marry in that little Haven chapel. And I want you in the dress of a Greek goddess.”

  He pulled her slowly to him, whispered in her ear, “Will you marry me, Skye? Can you forgive me?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, God, yes. If you can ever forgive me.”

  He pulled her mouth down onto his.

  And she melted into him. Breathed in the male scent of him, tasted the wild strength of him. Tasted life.

  He wrapped his arms around her. Tight.

  And she felt whole. Loved. Wanted. Needed. As never before.

  She’d found a home. A country. A name. A place she’d always be welcome. A place she belonged. A man she loved more than anything in this universe.

  She pulled back slightly as his words registered. “Did you say Agent Skye Armstrong?

  “Ah, yeah. That’s condition number two.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Condition number two is you go to work for the Bellona Channel.”

  “Me?”

  “We don’t usually recruit from the ranks of trained terrorists, but you come ideally equipped with the science background and the ability to do undercover detective work for Bellona when needed. Rex wants you to help me head up our new island lab facility. Bellona has been wanting to get that lab operational for a while now. It’ll serve as a highly specialized division focused on developing antidotes and vaccines for pathogens with a potential to be weaponized. We’ll do fieldwork as needed.”

  Skye felt dizzy. She could not have dreamed this up in her wildest fantasy. “Scott…I—I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say yes.”

  “We’ll be a team?”

  Moisture filled his green eyes. “Yes, a real team.”

  Skye choked back the tears in her throat, strained for some focus. “Before I accept, Agent, I need to ask you something. I need you to tell me about your wife and child. I need to know what really happened.”

  He didn’t hesitate. “Leni and Kaitlin were killed in a suspicious car accident after I was warned to stay away from a man we called the Plague Doctor. My boss, Rex Logan, and I were on his case some years ago. Rex heeded the warning, walked away to save the woman he loved and their son. And they live to this day. They’re a family.” His voice cracked slightly.

  “And you, Scott, you couldn’t walk from your wife, your baby. And they were killed?”

  “I—I’ve never been able to come to terms with it. With my guilt.”

  She smoothed his cheek. “And you’ve been running ever since. Like me.”

  He stroked her arm. “But you helped me come back, Skye. You showed me how to get home.”

  “And you can be with me? You aren’t afraid anymore?”

  He shook his head. “No. We’re a team. We’re in this thing together. We both understand the game…don’t we?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “We do. And I accept. Both conditions.”

  Scott steered the SUV onto the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Bright shafts of sun cut through cloud. It made the cruise ships and tiny fishing boats below seem like bright shining toys on the glittering waters of the Burrard Inlet.

  Ahead mountains loomed green and imposing clear through to Alaska. They held rivers, adventure, a potential lifetime of discovery.

  His home.

  It had never looked more beautiful, more promising. And it seemed like ages ago, another life, that he had flown in here, fighting every step of the way, only to be handed a dossier on Skye Van Rijn, a yellow dog and a key to the future.

  He glanced at the woman sitting beside him holding the black bundle of fur. He smiled—couldn’t help himself—couldn’t contain the raw, elemental joy that emanated from his very core. She returned his smile. And he felt ridiculously whole.

  It had been one hell of a passage. But he’d finally made it. He finally felt he could say goodbye to Leni and Kaitlin. Lay them properly and honourably to rest in his mind. Stop beating himself up over it all.

  Skye had helped him face it. Deal with it. She’d taken his hand and shown him the road through the wilderness. And like two crazy pilgrims in a hellish landscape, they had traveled it together, faced the demons, faced each other along the way. And found their treasure. Found trust…and love.

  He reached over, squeezed her hand.

  “How much longer to the ferry?” she asked. “I think Merlin has to pee.”

  Scott chuckled. Ah, the glories of owning a dog. “We’ll stop on the other side of the bridge.”

  At the sound of their voices, Merlin lifted glistening black puppy eyes, wiggled her plump little body. Scott reached over, ruffled her silky fur. He was looking forward to training her. Working with her. It had been hell giving Honey back. It had been Skye’s idea to get a puppy of their own. And once the seed had been sown, nothing but a black lab would do. And she was named Merlin in honor of his childhood canine friend. The one who’d accompanied him and his dad on their fishing trips.

  He’d asked his father and mother to help pick out the puppy. They’d been delighted. And they had welcomed Skye warmly into their home.

  Skye was watching his face. He was sure she could see straight into him at times.

  “I love your mom and dad, Scott. I feel like I’m finally getting the parents I never had in my life.”

  “You read my mind? I was just thinking about them.”

  She chuckled.

  “They like you, too, Skye. They figure you brought their prodigal son back to life.”

  She reached over, laid a hand on his knee, stared out over the glittering water. “Maybe one day I’ll try to find out what happened to my own birth mother.”

  “Well, you better wait. Mom wouldn’t want to share you or the wedding planning with anyone else on this earth right now.”

  The sun was sinking in a fiery orange ball over the island mountains as Scott drove the three of them onto the ferry for the last leg of their trip to Haven.

  With their vehicle parked in the ship’s bowels, they made their way up to the top deck, stepped out into the bracing sea air, and worked their way to the back of the boat. The water below churned white and green as the ferry vibrated with the rumble of engines firing up.

  Scott had Merlin tucked into his jacket. Skye poked his bulging belly. “You’re not supposed to bring dogs to the upper deck,” she whispered.

  He winked. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  She grinned. “You’re incorrigible, Armstrong. Don’t you ever play by the rules?”

  He slipped his arm around her, pulled her in close. She smelled like citrus and sunshine. “Nope,” he said. “But I have a feeling rules are not your thing, either.”

  She snuggled into him. “I just have one rule. No more secrets.”

  “No more secrets,” he whispered into her hair.

  Skye stared out over the expanse of ocean and couldn’t help but wonder what secrets lurked in its depths. “They never found his body,” she said.

  He leaned in close to her. “He’s gone, Skye. Even if he made it out of that fall alive, even if he didn’t drown, everything he built has been crushed. It would take decades for him to ever amass that kind of power again.”

  She nodded. “Thank God you got to those beetles in time.” She turned to him. “The test results came back. They weren’t sterile. They would’ve reproduced. He would have released a deadly scourge like nothing seen before.”

  He stroked her cheek. “Not now.”

  “You’re right.” She smiled, hooked her arm into his. “Enough of the past. Now we look to the future.”


  And they watched gold sovereigns of sunshine shimmer on the evening water as the wake of the ferry grew in a wide and frothing vee behind them. They watched the shining towers of Vancouver grow small in the distance.

  But ahead there was hope. Promise. Because the three of them were going home.

  Together.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7362-1

  SAFE PASSAGE

  Copyright © 2004 by Loreth Beswetherick

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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