“Yeah right.” She snorted. “You sobbed for half a day after mom accidentally ran over a squirrel.” Ariel looked at Tempest. “Can you really picture yourself committing murder?” Tempest’s tears spilled. She shook her head so sharply that a droplet flew in a glistening iridescent arc. “I didn’t think so.” If the man hadn’t been following them, Ariel would have stopped and hugged her, but the necessity of trying to appear unconcerned about his presence made that impossible. “Thinking and doing are two different things.”
“I know.” Tempest wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then blinked and squinted at the approaching airfield. “Oh, look, there’s Uncle Link.” She waved to the big blond. He waved back as if he was genuinely happy to see them.
To look at his body language, no one would think he’d been waiting to capture them. Tempest shook off her arm and broke into a run. Helpless, between a possible trap and certain death, Ariel knelt and pretended to tie her shoe. A huge smile broke over Link’s face. Either he was innocent or he was an amazing actor.
Quickly, she offered a quick prayer that her suspicions about Link and Stone were simply paranoia. Ariel picked a wild flower and studied it and risked a quick glance at the fisherman. His pace had slowed. She stood up, then pretending a calm she hadn’t felt in years, she followed her sister.
With a laugh, Link caught Tempest and lifted her high, then swung her around, as if she was light as a feather and young as a toddler. Laughing, he set her back on her feet. If he wasn’t the enemy, then at least Tempest was safe. Link looked intently at Tempest, then bent over to see her face more clearly. When he touched her cheek. Or maybe she wasn’t safe, if he was some sort of pedophile or something. Tempest pointed to the seed heads on a clump of grass and said clear enough for Ariel to hear, “Hay fever, except I don’t think those are hay.” Link hugged her, apparently buying the explanation for her tears, but the easy way he kept touching her sister didn’t make her feel any better than finding Peter in the middle of nowhere.
Ariel hoped her loitering had convinced the fisherman that his presence didn’t upset them. Her fist clenched around the tender stem with the intensity of her need, then she took a deep breath and moved toward Link and Tempest.
Stone approached Link and Tempest from the other side. She tried to casually check out the hangar behind him to see anyone lurking in the shadows. The mechanic who had greeted them had his head in the engine of another aircraft, but no one else was visible.
On one hand, Peter had always liked to have as few witnesses as possible; on the other, he liked to show others he could do what he wanted, when he wanted. So, everything boiled down to where Stone and Link’s loyalty lay. Despite her fears, the scene looked innocent and peaceful.
“-and we saw some brown birds that had the biggest feet.” Tempest aped their clumsy walk. “They weren’t ducks. They were sorta chunky and looked real dumb.” Link laughed.
Stone’s dimples deepened. “You probably saw some ptarmigan.”
Peter stalked past them close enough for her to see the scar near his left eyebrow. Oh, how furious he’d gotten when she’d thrown that lamp at him! Her heart thudded so loud, she was surprised no one looked at her. Though Peter gave the impression that he wasn’t paying any attention to them, Ariel sensed the quick, intense scrutiny he gave each one of them.
“Pit-are-me-guns are pretty,” Tempest said. She sidled next Link, as if his proximity offered protection. Deliberately, she turned her narrow back to her father and focused all her attention on the man she wanted to save her. “How come they didn’t move until we almost stepped on them?”
“That’s just the way they are.” Link placed his hand on her shoulder in an unconsciously casual gesture that could be innocent or not.
Perhaps in another lifetime she’d been a ptarmigan. That would explain how she could willingly walk into what still might be a trap and stand there, surrounded by predators, trying to make them think she didn’t know their game.
“Are you two finished admiring Deadhorse?” Link asked. “Or would you like more time to roam the bustling streets and gaze at the soaring skyscrapers?”
Tempest looked at him as if he’d grown two heads.
“Didn’t you at least go shopping at the mall?” Stone’s eyes twinkled. “I thought all females loved shopping best.”
“We’re done,” Ariel teased back. “Poor Tempest had an allergy attack… It must have been from all the vehicle fumes. We should have spent our time shopping at the local mega-mall.”
“Sh-Mama, we did not. You’re lying.” Tempest turned to Link. “We saw a dock that we couldn’t walk on. Dogs that looked mean. Birds that were dumb and we threw pebbles into the river. Oh, and we saw a couple guys fishing, but I don’t think the water is warm enough for there to really be fish in there.” She put her hands on her hips, tilted her head up and glared at him. “Why didn’t ya tell us there was a mall?”
Link laughed.
“I was joking,” Stone said.
Tempest’s expression hardened. “That’s not nice.”
“It was meant to be funny,” Ariel said. She slanted her head toward Stone. “Adult humor.”
Tempest’s mouth flattened. “I do not like that kind of joke.”
Stone gestured toward the blue and white Cessna, which was tied down near the terminal, within thirty feet of where Peter leaned against the wall casually smoking. “Shall we finish the last leg?”
Ariel looked from Stone’s cheerful expression to the plane. Was the aircraft a vehicle of liberty or an instrument of incarceration?
She swallowed, then since she didn’t see a third option, she took a hesitant step toward the plane. Peter turned, looked her square in the eye, and then smiled. Ariel shivered beneath her a thick gray sweatshirt. Stone edged closer to her. A tendril of smoke coiled upward from the cigarette dangling between Peter’s fingers. Trap or not? Skittish as a wild colt, she moved toward to plane.
“What kind of an idiot smokes that close to fuel pumps?” Stone muttered with irritation.
She glanced back at him. His barely harnessed physical energy shrouded him with righteous indignation and it looked like he had every intention to confront Peter. If he knew Peter, he’d never tell him what to do. Or it could be a ploy to bring them into close contact. Ariel forced a smile to her stiff lips. “Obviously, he only cares about satisfying his nicotine craving.”
Stone’s mouth flattened. “Yeah.” Tempest peeked around Link’s elbow for a quick look, then ducked behind him. “The sooner I move my plane away from the fool, the better.”
Tempest sped up and grabbed Link’s left hand, then tugged on the sleeve of his black denim shirt with her free hand. “Could the plane explode just ‘cause that man is smoking?”
Link leaned down. “Doubtful.”
Tempest sighed with relief. “That’s good.” She wrinkled her nose. “Tobacco doesn’t smell very good, does it?”
Peter blew a series of smoke rings. As if they were some unspoken signal, Link and Stone turned their backs on Peter and hustled them to the plane. Once out of Peter’s direct line of sight, Ariel trembled with relief. They’d apparently passed some sort of test. Stone caught up to her, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her gently to his side. “You’re cold as a glacier.”
Unable to speak, for fear her teeth would chatter, she nodded. He studied her face, his expression concerned. “You look sicker now than when you returned from your walk.” Brow furrowed, he looked from her to his plane. “Does this have something to do with why you leaped out of the plane like you were fleeing incarceration?” She stared at him. Stone’s expression softened. “Do you need some Dramamine?” he asked her. Ariel shook her head. “Aspirin?”
Again, she shook her head. “I’m fine.”
Stone frowned. “For what it’s worth, I don’t make promises I don’t think I can keep and I don’t tell people I’m fine when I feel like tossing my cookies. So, what is wrong?” Stone placed his palm on h
er waist. Though she didn’t return the quasi-hug, she didn’t push his hand away, either.
“Allergies.” She glanced back toward the terminal. “Now that I’ve move away from the smoke, I’ll feel better, soon.”
The mechanic’s greasy hair emerged from his inspection of a nearby plane’s engine. “I topped up the gas and added a half quart of oil.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re gonna need an avionics tech to look at that altimeter.”
Stone nodded in agreement. “Want me to bring you anything special on my next run?”
Chet chewed his lower lip and concentrated. Finally he shook his head. “If I think of something, I’ll drop you an e-note.”
“You have e-mail up here?” Ariel asked in surprise.
Everyone laughed.
“Mom, I think they had e-mail on the space shuttle.” Tempest giggled. “So maybe they should rename the world-wide-web the galactic web or something.”
Link surprised her by settled into the pilot’s seat and starting the checklist. After they each secured their harnesses, Link taxied to the end of the runway and pointed the nose into the wind. As Stone settled into the co-pilot’s seat to enjoy the ride, Peter casually walking toward Chet. Ariel slumped down in her seat and studied him. Was that his current plane or what?
The Cessna circled out over Prudhoe Bay, than Link put them on a heading for the Wildlife Sanctuary. A few minutes, after getting back over land, they were already descending. “Look.” Link pointed toward a herd and of caribou.
Tempest, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since they left Deadhorse, squealed with delight. Link veered to fly over the caribou and began a running commentary about how the Eskimos relied on them, Tempest oooohhed and aaaahed with increasing enthusiasm.
Ariel pressed her forehead against the cold window, a tear quivering at the tip of her lashes and replayed their encounter with Peter, checking for any flaws.
“Uncle Link, where’s the campground?”
“There isn’t one.”
“But I thought you said-“
“We’ll set up camp on a dry spot.”
After a somewhat bumpy landing, Ariel gripped the door handle, waiting for the plane to stop, so she could shove it open and gulp lungs full of cool air.
“My flying wasn’t that bad,” Link said.
“Only in your mind,” Stone teased. “I don’t think Ariel would look so green if she agreed.” Heart slamming against her ribs, she glanced back at him. Was he particularly pleased about something or did they joke around like this all the time?
A slight gust chilled her exposed skin. She turned her attention from the occupants of the plane and studied the frozen, empty land surrounding the plane. Never, even in her worst nightmare, had she imagined anywhere so desolate. Was this part of one of Peter’s plans: give them a sense of escape, when, in fact, he was tightening the noose and getting them to move to an even more isolated area – an area where a cannon could be fired and only those he controlled would hear it.
“You doing okay?” Stone asked.
“I feel fine.”
“Sure you do.” Stone didn’t sound like he believed her, but Ariel didn’t care if he did or not. What worried her was that in a desolate area, like this, a mass murder could be made to look like a plane crash and that was just the sort of thing that Peter Baldwyn would love to stage.
Wryly, she looked up at the pale blue sky, which should contain black clouds to match her mood. Stone opened the plane’s door and scrambled out, a look of concern on his face. Black clouds emitting streaking lightening and booming thunder, would be appropriate if the weather wanted to mirror the tumultuous emotions she felt when she looked at him. Ariel gazed at Stone, remembering the safety she’d felt when he held her. How impossible it seemed that he would use his strength against her. Now, drained from fighting claustrophobia and fear, she waited to see what would happen next.
He held his hand out to her, palm up. When she placed her hand in his, his warmth invigorated her. The concern in his gentle smile restored enough of her hope to find the strength to step away from the plane. Did she really dare to believe that seeing Peter had been a coincidence? Stone held her fingers longer than necessary, while he studied her face. His expression seemed troubled. Regret? Guilt? Remorse? When he finally let go, his fingers caressed her palm. Concern? Worry? Caring? Those emotions seemed to fit his manner better.
Now, the pale blue, breezeless air seemed appropriate.
She followed Stone to the rear luggage hatch and reached for the bright red bag containing their dome tent. Stone grabbed it first. Their stares locked for a brief moment. She read heat in his look; thankfully it was not the heat of hatred. She also read concern in his eyes, too soft an emotion for one of Peter’s men. He blinked. Released from his mesmerizing gaze, she took a step backward. She’d seen the heat of passion change to the heat of rage too many times before and every time Peter had screamed obscenities as he intimidated her mother. For years, she’d wondered why her mother stayed with him. By the time she was a sophomore in college, she realized her mother didn’t believe she could escape from someone fanatical about keeping her subservient. In grad school, she began to understand that Peter controlled her mother in some form of sick power game and began to wonder if her father’s ‘accidental death’ might have been planned. It had still come as a shock to discover that many of her worst suspicions about Peter were true instead of idle speculation.
Ariel took another step away from Stone. As if reading her distrust, he put her tent down a few feet from the Cessna.
Link grabbed several bits of grubby fabric and his folding shovel, then moved toward a shallow depression. Before she had a chance to ask what he needed rags for, he showed Tempest how to hold a filthy cloth bag open, while he filled it with dirt and sand. Weird thing to do, especially first thing after landing. Ariel could only hope that there was a good reason why anyone would prioritize filling bags with soil. Tempest looked trilled to find a way to help Link. Assuming Link and Stone really weren’t Peter’s minions or pedophiles, it was good that she had found a male-role model.
Doubtful if Peter would have waited to kill them if he’d been certain. Probable that he’d have wanted to scare them, first, then have them moved into assumed safety … cats liked to play with prey, too. Of course, it could have been a twist of fate, but what were the odds of that? Ariel’s jaw clenched. The most likely scenario was that Link and Stone had arranged for the supposedly chance encounter to verify their true identities. So the big question was if Peter had recognized them or not.
Ariel let out her breath. It made sense. Stone and Link’s work had something to do with the Pipeline, it didn’t take a big leap to see how they could have met Peter or suspected she and Tempest were the ones with the big bounty hanging over them. After all, they had an advantage, because not only had they seen them, they’d also seen Mozart and how many parrots matched his description?
Conceivably their lack of verifiable panic could have postponed the inevitable.
She had to stop thinking about the possibilities and analyze the here and now. Her life would have been different if her parents had never met Peter and he hadn’t become obsessed with her mother. How different would Tempest’s life have been if someone decent had fathered her? Or would her sister ever have existed? She frowned at that disconcerting thought.
If not for Peter, she wouldn’t wonder about hidden agendas and motives; she’d be able to relish the concern in Stone’s eyes, the warmth of his embrace, the gentleness of his touch, and the sheer manly scent of him. She might even allow herself the luxury of fulfilling the fantasies she’d had ever since he’d kissed her.
But Peter had fathered Tempest and while that factor couldn’t seem to kill the attraction she felt for Stone, it eradicated any possibility of her pursuing a relationship of any tall, dark and handsome man that made her tummy quiver when she looked into his eyes.
Desperate to refocus her thou
ghts, Ariel began assembling her tent poles.
“Mama, Mr. Stone." Tempest cleared her throat as if preparing for an important announcement. "Uncle Link is done with the bags and now he’s taking me on a hike to see how many kinds of birds we can find.” Tempest hunkered down next to her and leaned close to whisper in her ear. “Do you think he wants to shoot them? He’s got the biggest gun… I don’t think I want to go with him if he’s going to see how many kinds he can kill.”
Ariel squinted at the rifle, which appeared to have a bore large enough for an elephant gun. “If Link shoots a bird with that caliber, you’ll be lucky to have feathers left.” It could really damage a human, too. Ariel’s hands shook as she began threading the rods into the tent’s channels.
“So why the gun?” Tempest shivered.
She shuddered to think of the ways a corpse could be made unrecognizable with a well-placed shot. Of course, since they were in bear country, where nature would clean up most of the signs of murder, a corpse probably wouldn’t get an autopsy. Ariel whipped her sweaty palms on her denim-covered thighs, then cleared her throat. “From what I understand, there are bears around. It makes sense to carry a rifle.” And a bullet that size might even stop one before it could exact retribution. Or, a bullet that size could mutilate a person.
“You mean he’d shoot cute little bears?”
It seemed more desirable than considering what Peter would do to them with that gun. But Tempest wasn’t talking about Peter. This was her hero, Link. “The animals around here aren’t the PBS type. They’re wild and food is a survival issue for them.” Though they’d seldom gone hungry since they’d been on the run, she could identify with basic survival issues. “What if a bear tried to eat you for lunch?”
Her lower lip thrust out. “I don’t wanna see a poor little bear die.” And she believed she was a killer, like her father?
“No one wants to see you die, either.”
A large warm hand grasped Ariel’s shoulder. She froze. “Link has never killed anything with that 308.” Stone kept his hand in place as he squatted. His fingers didn’t dig in, like Peter’s had; the touch seemed much different. He spoke softly into her ear. She leaned toward him, drinking in his scent. “It’s stupid not to take along for protection.” Stone released her shoulder so abruptly, her body shifted toward him. He tickled Tempest under her chin. “Normally, we fire into the ground to scare them off.”
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