by Amy Ruttan
Isn’t that the other way around?
“Lexie.” There was hesitation in his voice.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t…” He scrubbed a hand over his face. His blue eyes were still intense and he pursed his lips together, as if trying to keep back what he really wanted to say. “Don’t do anything to risk your life.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze. “What’re you talking about?”
He knew.
He knew what she had to do, because there was no way she’d be able to control her powers. Her death was the only way to stop General Knight’s Army, and she was at peace with that.
“Lexie,” he said quietly, and knelt in front of her. “I know you.”
Her heart ached. Yeah, he did know her, but she couldn’t let him know that. She couldn’t let him get closer, she had to keep him at a distance.
“You don’t know me, Bryant. We haven’t seen each other in five years. I’ve changed. You’ve changed.” She turned away from him. “The north changes people and sometimes not for the better.”
“Lexie, I won’t leave without you. I’ve been up here looking for you. Now that I’ve found you, do you honestly think I would let you go?”
Tears stung her eyes.
“Bryant, if it comes down to me or destroying whatever the GKA is after, I’m expendable.”
“To me you’re not!” he shouted.
She was going to say something further. Tell him that she felt the same about him, that she’d always felt that way about him, but Bryant’s phone chimed. He pulled it out and looked down at the screen, frowning.
“What is it?” Though she knew.
“GPS coordinates and instructions. Apparently we’re flying into Resolute. They have Mason there.”
“I thought Mike said Isachsen?” she asked.
“He did, but more instructions are apparently waiting in Resolute at these coordinates.” He dialed a number. “Yeah, Mike I got word and they want us to fly to Resolute. Okay. Thanks.”
Bryant ended the call.
“What did Mike say?” she asked.
“He’s getting his team ready to strike Resolute if needed, but Resolute has a community of people there. They won’t strike with the same force as they would if it was Isachsen, which isn’t inhabited.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, let’s go then.”
Bryant nodded, but he was quiet again. It killed her, but it was for the best. They’d had one more night together and she’d cherish that forever. Bryant had to survive this. He had to walk away from the GKA and this whole mess.
He had to leave her behind.
That’s the only way this could work because she was sure, deep down, if it came to the world or Bryant’s life, she wasn’t sure her heart could handle sacrificing him.
***
She’s going to kill herself.
That was the thought on repeat in his mind as they flew over the vast tundra to the remote outpost of Resolute, Nunavut.
Yet, it wasn’t exactly killing herself.
She was going to sacrifice herself though. He knew that she was thinking; that there was no way she was walking out of this situation alive.
For some reason Lexie didn’t believe she had full control over her powers, but when they’d made love, she had more control than the first time.
The fire in her hands didn’t burn him when her skin brushed his. Maybe it was because she felt safe and restricted by those chains and she relaxed, he didn’t know, but she had control. And she could control her powers to destroy the GKA and walk away unscathed.
He just had to convince her of that, because he didn’t want to lose her.
Bryant wouldn’t let her go through with her plan.
He wasn’t going to let her destroy herself for the good of all.
Not without him.
He hadn’t come this far to lose her. He didn’t come to the north for any other reason but her.
First he had to make sure Mason was okay. Then, once Mason was safe, he could focus on protecting Lexie. If Mason hadn’t been involved and held captive by the GKA he would’ve just taken Lexie into the wilds of Wood Buffalo like he’d planned to, but he couldn’t let Mason get harmed.
Mason had saved his butt countless times.
Mason gave him the chance to fly again after the Air Force. A chance no one else would, because everyone else thought the nerve damage on his medical records would impede his reflexes, but they hadn’t. And wouldn’t.
“Cessna six seven five you are clear to land on the main runway.”
Bryant frowned and glanced over at Lexie, who was frowning too, rubbing her head in that pensive way she did when she was worried. Or maybe the sounds were bothering her again, which further confirmed his bad feeling about this.
“Roger, Resolute,” Bryant answered. The voice from the tower had sent a chill down his spine. “That was strange,” he said, after clicking off the mike.
“Why was it strange?” Lexie asked.
“The accent. That’s not the regular tower guy. I know George, who mans the tower, and that’s not him.”
“They have the town don’t they?” Lexie asked sadly.
“Yeah.” Bryant cursed under his breath as he lined his Cessna up to land on the main runway of Resolute Bay airport. He just hoped George wasn’t dead.
What was the GKA after? What was buried under the permafrost? And he was looking forward to learning more about this enemy, this General Knight’s Army, which seemed to come out of nowhere. Once he knew more about General Knight, the leader, he’d know how to deal with him.
Bryant landed his plane and saw armed figures waiting for them. There were at least ten fully armed men waiting on the side lines of the runway. Obviously the general wasn’t taking any chances after losing three men to him and Lexie in the Northwest Territories.
Lexie closed her eyes and he could hear her breathing deeply, counting as the plane landed with a slight bump. She was nervous and trying to keep control.
He brought the plane to the end of the runway and then parked it off the main drag, just in case someone else needed to land.
Once his plane was safe and off he turned to her.
“We got this,” he said. “Just do what they say for now.”
Lexie nodded.
“Your head again?”
“What?” she asked, distracted.
“You’ve been rubbing it for a while.”
“Nerves.”
“It’ll be okay.”
Her gaze was full of sorrow. “No it won’t.”
Her door opened first. A barrel of a semi-automatic weapon was pointed at her.
“Out. Now!”
His door opened, and he was greeted in a similar fashion.
“I’m just powering down my plane.”
“Leave it,” the assailant shouted.
Bryant rolled his eyes and climbed down out of the cockpit. He was nudged away from the plane and made to stand next to Lexie out on the runway. The ten armed members turned into at least twenty men then. Guns were pointed at them, but not a word was said.
Resolute, which was usually a bustling village of about two hundred people, was eerily quiet. Bryant had flown here once before and usually in the late summer, around this time, right before the first blast of snow, the subsistence hunters were busy down in the harbor prepping for hunting and fishing.
Now there was nothing.
No boats on the bay. No people. Just their group on the runway.
They were standing in the shadows of ice covered peaks, on gravel that had been scoured away by the endless winter, just the wind howling and his pulse thundering between his ears for sound. It made him feel like they were really alone.
The crunch of footsteps made the armed guard circling them shift to the side to allow a man, flanked by two guards, to step forward. Bryant could only assume this was General Knight. He had silver hair, a strong build and dark, cold, cal
culating eyes.
Ruthless was the first word that came to mind.
“So glad you finally agree to join us, Ms. Nevue.” General Knight’s voice was charming, like honey dripping over the hard edge of a knife, because there was no warmth behind his words.
“Not really an acceptance of an invitation when you’re threatening a friend and apparently a whole community of innocent people,” Lexie snarled.
General Knight laughed, and it took every ounce of strength for Bryant not to beat his ass. The man needed to be brought down a peg or two and Bryant was quite willing to do it.
“I have not harmed anyone here. They are being held until you comply.”
“And what about Mason LaCroix?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you were familiar with our guest, Lexie.” General Knight looked over his shoulder, as Mason was dragged forward and tossed to the ground.
Dammit.
Mason was broken, bloodied. He’d obviously been tortured.
“You asshole!” Bryant growled as he knelt down next to his friend.
Mason was barely conscious, but gave him a pained expression of gratitude when Bryant cradled his head in his lap.
“Jesus, Mason,” Bryant whispered.
I’m sorry.
“Some way to treat a guest!” Lexie snapped.
General Knight took a step toward her. “Every member of the Phoenix Agency is an acquaintance of mine. Every single one of them, and my friend Mason here, owner of 62 Degrees North Bush Planes is no exception. He’s a member of the Phoenix Agency, but I gather, from your surprised reaction Mr. Quill, that you had no idea.”
Phoenix Agency? Mason was working for the Phoenix Agency as well?
Mason nodded.
Well, that explained how Mike had found him and why Mason had passed on the letter.
“I know all about the Phoenix Agency and I know they know what I’m after, but I also know that they won’t make a move on me while I hold Resolute captive.” General Knight turned and looked at Lexie. “Of course you can help change that.”
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.
“You cooperate and I let Mason and this community go.”
“But you said the Phoenix Agency is lying in wait to make a move. If you release them, then they’ll come for you.”
“By the time they get here, by the time they get word that Resolute is released, I will have in my possession the alien artifact I seek, but you freely have to board the boat over there and come with me to Isachsen. No funny business.”
“Can’t you find someone else to retrieve it? If you have all this power to hold a community captive then dig down through the permafrost and get it yourself!” she snapped.
“It’s not just retrieving it, Lexie. Is that what you thought?” General Knight laughed and Bryant finally understood what he really needed Lexie for.
“Lexie, he needs you to harness the artifact. To operate it,” Bryant said.
“Very good, Capital Quill. I thought being out of the Air Force for all this time and existing as just a mere bush pilot would’ve addled your brains. Subsistence living doesn’t leave much time for book smarts.”
Bryant clenched his fist and gently moved Mason as he stood up.
Lexie’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re crazy to think I’ll operate it for you!”
General Knight turned his gaze on Bryant. It was cold, calculating. It was meant to intimidate, but Bryant wasn’t scared. He was pissed off.
“Which is why Captain Quill is here. It’s why I was so pleased to snare two birds with one net.” General Knight grinned. “You will operate the device for me, Lexie, or I will kill Bryant Quill.”
And before Bryant knew what was happening he could feel something tightening around his throat. An invisible hand, choking him.
“No!” Lexie screamed. “No, don’t.”
“Do we have a deal, Ms. Nevue? My patience is wearing thin!”
Don’t.
Only he couldn’t get those words out, his trachea was being closed off and he clawed the air, futilely trying to drag it into his lungs.
“Do we have a deal?” General Knight growled.
“Yes.”
Air rushed into his lungs, as Bryant fell to the ground next to Mason. He looked up at Lexie, whose hands were flaming. He wanted to reassure her, to tell it was okay to sacrifice him, but, somehow, he didn’t think that would stop General Knight.
He’d kill more people.
He had them in a check mate situation.
There was no escape.
Chapter Seven
Her heart was racing still. Even though Bryant was alive, she just couldn’t calm her pulse. It was one thing risking her own life, but seeing the life almost stolen from Bryant was too much for her to handle.
And she had no idea that General Knight had the power of telekinesis.
That had been a shock.
Then why does he need me?
The sound distortion revved up.
“Save us!"
And then it hit her. The device would probably kill her. Her telekinetic energy would be absorbed into the alien device and she would die. He would be able to operate it, but he needed a sacrificial lamb. Another thought was that he wasn’t strong enough to handle the device. He couldn’t raise it from the permafrost, so therefore he wasn’t strong enough to operate it.
You’ll just have to wait and find out.
She was led down into the hold of the fishing vessel that would take them to Isachsen and a hidden glacier north of the old research station.
Isachsen was an abandoned research facility, but the GKA had taken up residence. And now Lexie knew General Knight had the power of telekinesis she had an inkling he was controlling whoever was in charge of renting out the facility so as to gain access.
This went deeper than she thought.
It would be a few hours navigating the broken hunks of ice from Resolute to Isachsen via the Northwest Passage and islands that made up the top of the world.
Bryant was tied up next to her.
“I had no idea he was a telekinetic,” Lexie whispered in the darkness, above the sound of the boat’s motor.
“He kept it well hidden,” Bryant said. “I don’t think Mike knows or he would’ve told us.”
“A good magician never reveals his tricks,” she muttered.
“That wasn’t a pleasant way to find out,” Bryant remarked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She squirmed a bit. “I’m annoyed to be trussed up like this.”
“It’s rope, you can burn it away.”
“Yeah and burn the whole bloody ship too.”
“Hey, you were planning on operating a suicide mission,” he snapped, bitterness in his words, and she couldn’t blame him. She’d hurt him badly.
“When it was just me!” she snapped back. “Mason is above deck if you recall. He’s still insurance. At least he let the community go.”
“Don’t be fooled. He didn’t. There are still a few armed guards there, but I’m sure Mike can handle that. Those guards General Knight left behind are just a diversion for the Phoenix Agency.”
“Yeah,” she sighed.
“You know you can control your power,” he said gently, which caught her off guard.
“No, I can’t.”
“You can. You touched me you know.”
“What?”
“When we were together. Your hands may have been bound, but I still felt the kiss of the flame as I touched you. I was inside you.”
A flush of flame spread through her. She could’ve hurt him. She’d been so selfish wanting him.
“Oh God,” she moaned.
“No, Lexie. I’m fine. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t burn me. Don’t you understand? You have control.”
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the panic rising in her. The static noise in her head screeched. As much as she wanted to believe him, there was that part of her that couldn’t. The screaming
of her mother as they stood outside the ruins of her childhood home after it had been burnt to the ground, by her.
She’d never been able to control it.
“That’s the way,” Bryant whispered, shaking her from her thoughts.
Startled, she saw the ropes burn away from her wrists, but nothing else was endangered. Nothing else was burned and then the flames were gone without her having to douse her hands in water.
Oh my God.
Maybe she could control it. She quickly undid his bonds and he got up and peeked through the crack in the door.
“Guards are outside the hold. Even if I could take them on, we have nowhere to go in the middle of the Northwest Passage and I really don’t feel like becoming polar bear food.”
She tried to muster a smile, but couldn’t. “Come sit next to me.”
Bryant sat down next to her, his arm around her. In his arms she felt so calm, so secure. In his arms she felt like she could conquer almost anything. Except her powers.
She hated her powers. Hated what they had done to her life. She hated that they caused her to be in this moment, endangering the lives of Bryant and Mason. And the sound track in her head over the sound distortion was her mother’s voice taunting her over and over.
“You’re evil, Lexie. Evil. You’re nothing but a curse.”
“I…I don’t know if I can control it. Once I’m out there…if something happened to you.” She closed her eyes and didn’t want to think about it.
“Nothing will happen to me,” Bryant whispered.
“Something almost did.” And all she could see was General Knight using his telekinesis on Bryant, draining the life from him.
And then there was the damage she did. The burns on his arm, which had caused him nerve damage. How could she control this power of hers?
The only way she knew how to get out of this mess was to destroy it all. To turn the device against General Knight and kill herself in the process.
A tear slid down her cheek. “Bryant, I don’t know what this thing is.”
“No one does, but that’s the point. General Knight can’t manipulate it and he can’t retrieve it. He needs you, Lexie. You have the power here, and you don’t have to destroy yourself to stop him. You have to promise me not to sacrifice yourself. I can’t live without you, Lexie. I’ve lived five years without you and that’s all I can handle. You said the north changes you, but it changed me for the better. The north is what made you and it’s you that I love. Please, promise me you’ll try and fight back against him.”