Knight Before Dawn

by Kristi Cramer

  Nick’s answer to her question about Felicity Santiago disturbed her. She hadn’t meant to drop the name like a bomb, but once she had, she’d hoped he would know the name. She got more than she had bargained for, though. How could Cassie have been mistaken for an exotic dancer? It might make sense if it were someone a little less conspicuous. But a stripper? Any number of people could want to track down a stripper.

  Cassie rode the elevator to the third floor, brooding about the mistaken identity. After talking with the desk clerk, she knew she had only three days—two, now—to find some kind of clue. Nick knew Felicity; that was a start. She would have to stick with him to see if she could find out more.

  As she opened her room door, Cassie noticed an envelope had been tucked under the door. She stooped to pick it up off the floor, kicking the door closed behind her. Plain white, the envelope offered no clue to its origin on the outside. Inside, ten crisp fifties accompanied a computer-printed note.

  FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. WAIT HERE.

  AIR FARE WILL FOLLOW.

  “Inconvenience!” Cassie threw the envelope and carnation on the bureau, torn between hysterical laughter and outrage.

  She didn’t want money. She wanted to know who these people were. She wanted to know what made them think she was just going to take this passively and go home like a whipped dog with her tail between her legs.

  Cassie was lucky to be alive; she knew that. She had to assume that the mysterious abductors were aware that she hadn’t already called the police, which suggested they had someone in the police department keeping tabs on the situation. Or maybe they didn’t realize she was already awake. They would depend on the money to keep her quiet, and assume that she wouldn’t be willing to risk her life to find out more about the situation.

  But another woman remained out there who looked a lot like Cassie and who would suffer the same indignities she had suffered, although she probably wouldn’t get dropped in a nice hotel room with cash and air fare home. Cassie’s imagination skipped wildly from one idea to the next, speculating about what might happen to Felicity Santiago.

  “Who are they?” she asked the empty room. She paced over to the window, throwing back the curtains to the Alaskan night beyond. The lights of the city greeted her as she let the curtain fall behind her, shutting out the incandescent glow of the room’s lamp.

  So this is Juneau, Cassie thought, looking at the urban nightscape. City lights and illuminated clouds reflected on a body of water, creating a pretty view, but Cassie couldn’t appreciate it. Somewhere out there, someone held answers to the question of why she had been kidnapped and brought to this particular city. Somewhere out there, clues waited to be found.

  Cassie frowned as she considered the skyline, which sat low compared to Seattle. Even at this late hour janitors would be cleaning, but she couldn’t see any buildings with lit windows higher than maybe eight floors.

  With an undeniably huge yawn, she turned away from the view and walked into the bathroom.

  Looking in the mirror at her disheveled hair and rumpled suit, she groaned. She had been talking to Nick, even flirting with him, looking like this? She shook her head. He hadn’t seemed to notice, and that made her wonder again if he was trying to keep her from asking questions until she was safely on a plane.

  Frowning into the mirror, she determined to discover the whole truth about him once and for all tomorrow.

  She took off the suit jacket and skirt, hanging them neatly on padded wooden hangers in the closet, glad that the wool would not wrinkle. Her blouse was another story. The tear in the collar had not gaped open when she tucked it under her jacket’s lapel, but the impromptu repair would not hold up under any rigorous activity. Her nylons were ruined. If she was going to stay in Juneau long enough to get to the bottom of this mystery, the first order of business for tomorrow would be shopping.

  Working her fingers through her hair as best she could, she scowled, making a mental list of the things she would need. She didn’t even have a toothbrush!

  Five hundred dollars was not enough to buy her off, but damned if she wasn’t going to spend it.

  Chapter Four

  Cassie’s alarm roused her at nine thirty. She hauled herself out of bed and into the shower, and then pulled her clothes on with a grimace of distaste. Whatever drug they had used to keep her asleep had not kept her body from having a rough day. Her clothes certainly did not smell fresh.

  Downstairs in the lobby, with the envelope tucked into one pocket and the room key card in the other, she asked for directions to the nearest department store.

  Three hours later she had purchased a pair of jeans, a sweater, a zip-up hoodie, tennis shoes, socks, and new underwear, as well as a brush and other bathroom necessities. A case wallet tucked safely in a messenger bag, her last purchases, held the remaining $150.

  Cassie returned to her hotel room by one-thirty with half an hour to relax before Nick called. She slipped into her new clothes and collapsed into the armchair, slowly running the brush through her hair, letting the bristles massage her scalp.

  She thought about calling her office to see if she still had a job, but then decided she didn’t really want to know. Those responsible for her abduction weren’t going to step up and introduce themselves, which meant she wouldn’t be able to tell her boss when she was coming back. They would want to know why she didn’t just go to the police so she could get back to work.

  If Dad were alive, she thought with a tight ache in her throat, he would know what to do. Hadn’t he always been the one to pull her out of her scrapes and teach her how not to fall back into them? Hadn’t he taught her everything she knew about surviving on her own in the city? All the tricks a cop turned bounty hunter had learned over decades on the job....

  Not that any of those tricks had been of any use when she was attacked from behind in her own office building, where she had no reason to feel anything but safe.

  But her dad was dead, and she hadn’t spoken to her mom in years. On her last visit, they’d ended up in a stupid fight about her mom’s new boyfriend, and Cassie stubbornly would not admit she’d been wrong. A part of her now wanted to be comforted by connecting with her only remaining family, but calling from Juneau to explain that she had been kidnapped was probably not the best way to look for a reconciliation.

  She really didn’t have anyone else, she thought, stroking the brush through her hair and realizing just how pathetic her social life was. Seth, her neighbor, would be concerned when she didn’t come home, but Cassie decided against calling him too. Worried that the kidnappers had tapped her phone, she couldn’t tell him anything definite, even if she had something specific to say. And she didn’t want Seth to try to talk her into coming home.

  Ten minutes after two o’clock Cassie decided Nick wasn’t going to call. She glared at the phone, determined not to wait around for him. The last thing she needed was to get jerked around by a man she didn’t even know, especially now, when she should be trying to find out just who had already jerked her around and why.

  She had an idea of where to start looking for the men who had abducted her, but she didn’t know how to go about it safely. Just walking into six-story buildings without a plan, she might run into one of those gorillas, or the old man.

  Deeply engrossed in planning, Cassie jumped when the phone rang, sudden apprehension keeping her from answering until the second ring.

  * * *

  Nick listened as the phone rang in his ear again.

  “Hello?” Cassie’s voice sounded cautious.

  Nick smiled, asking how she was. As she told him she was okay, her voice didn’t sound all that sure, and he felt sorry for her. She must still be terribly confused.

  “I need to get out of this room,” she told him, and Nick wondered at the caged tone in her voice.

  “Do you want to do something, like take a walk on the waterfront maybe?” He tried to keep the delight out of his voice, carefully modulating polite thoughtfulness
into his tone.

  “That sounds nice.”

  “Meet you in the lobby?”

  “I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Nick told her he would be waiting, then slipped his phone into his breast pocket. He sat down in one of the chairs across from the elevator to wait. Anxious to see her, he wondered if her mystery would captivate him as it had the night before. If the beauty he perceived in the low lights of evening held up in bright daylight. If her touch could still trigger heat waves under his skin.

  The elevator emptied two loads of passengers before Cassie appeared. With a smile Nick stood up to greet her.

  “You look ready for adventure,” he commented, though he raised an eyebrow at her casual outfit. He hadn’t seen any luggage when she checked in, and last night she hadn’t had any money. He supposed the airline might have lost her bags and delivered them during the night or this morning.

  “Thanks,” she said, smiling back at him. “So do you.”

  He glanced down at his black jeans, navy blue business shirt with its black tie, and his black flight jacket that hung unzipped. “I try,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

  Cassie chuckled. “Where to?”

  “Have you eaten lunch?” he asked, delicately probing her financial status.

  “No. Do you know a good place to eat? It’ll be my treat this time.”

  Nick frowned, and she guessed his reason. “I didn’t have any money last night,” she said, touching his arm earnestly. “Then I got back to my room and I found some.”

  “Found?” he echoed, curious at her choice of words and beginning to wonder if Cassie was playing some kind of game.

  “Yeah, found.” She smiled at him, obviously trying to retreat to safer ground. “I’ll tell you about it some time.”

  “No, that’s all right. I’m sure it’s none of my business.”

  “Nick, you are hardly nosy. It’s just...well, I had a hell of a trip up here and there are a few things I’m trying to work out right now. Give me a little time, okay?”

  “Sure.” Nick forced his curiosity aside, wanting to spend time with this woman whose touch seared his arm through his jacket. In the sunlight reflecting through the lobby’s windows she looked even more beautiful, yet just as mysterious. He really wanted to learn her secrets. Then he wondered if he would still be interested in her after putting the mystery to rest.

  “I know a great restaurant out by the docks. They have the best Crab Bisque in town.” As they turned to walk out the door, Cassie slid her hand through the arm Nick held out to her.

  The weather had warmed to a perfect 75 degrees, making the walk to Tracy’s King Crab Shack very pleasant. It was well after the lunch rush, so they didn’t have to wait too long for the bread bowls filled with creamy bisque. Rather than sit at the Shack’s outdoor bar, they took their meal to a table out on the wharf, overlooking the cruise ships docks.

  Nick watched Cassie looking around with wide-eyed wonder, and he looked too, trying to see his hometown through her eyes. The buildings with their bright colors caught the eye first, then the mountains that seemed to spring up almost from the water of the channel. Fall colors painted the lower flanks of the mountains, while the upper reaches remained clothed in evergreens. In his mind, the only blots on an otherwise idyllic scene were the giant cruise ships moored close by. Of course, he couldn’t curse their presence too much, since they literally brought most of his business to him.

  Halfway through their lunch Cassie surprised Nick with a sudden question, completely off topic from anything they had been speaking about.

  “How did it happen?”

  Nick blinked at her, his spoon arrested halfway to his mouth. He set it back down. “How did what happen?”

  She finished a spoonful of soup before speaking again. “Your nose. How did it get broken?”

  He sat back in his chair, resisting the urge to touch his nose where he knew its line was crooked.

  “That, friend, is a long story. The short version of it includes a bar in Mexico, a drunk harassing his girlfriend to the point of abuse, and an attempt to teach me not to butt into other people’s business.”

  “Wow,” she said, and though he was listening for it, he didn’t hear any sarcasm in her tone. “What did the other guy look like?”

  He hoped his smile wasn’t too much of a grimace as he remembered the ultimate outcome of that brawl. “I wasn’t exactly sober, either, but by the time they stopped the fight, only one of us could stand.” He pointed a finger at his own chest.

  “And do you do that often? Get into bar fights over women?”

  He realized what she was after now, and it took him a moment to decide how to answer. His policy of truthfulness sometimes meant declining to answer, but honesty always came first for Nick. “That was a first and only.” He paused. “So far. Under similar circumstances, I’d do it again. Though I hope I’d try harder for a non-violent outcome.”

  She nodded, openly pleased with his answer. “Good for you.”

  After lunch they strolled along the waterfront, stopping occasionally to lean over the wall to examine the giant cruise ships and admire the seagulls soaring and diving on the fickle sea breezes.

  Clouds began moving in from the west, cooling the air, and Cassie shivered, rubbing her arms with her hands.

  “You’re cold,” Nick said, slipping his jacket off his arm, where he had hung it while the weather was so fine. “May I?” He held the jacket out for her while she smiled and pulled it on. He closed his hands on her shoulders, liking the supple feel of her.

  She turned to him, her eyes searching his briefly before she thrust a small hand out of his jacket sleeve, pointing toward downtown. “What building is that?”

  “Huh?” Once again the complete change of topic took Nick by surprise. It took him a moment to follow her pointing finger and register her question. “Oh, that’s a bank.”

  “How many floors?”

  “I don’t know. About seven, I’d guess.”

  “And that one?” She pointed to another of Juneau’s few tall buildings.

  “That’s the Capitol Building, six floors, I think.” Nick pointed out a third building just up the hill from them. “That really tall one there is a hotel. I think it’s like twelve floors.” Then he pointed across the channel. “And that one is Far North Tower. Pop has his real estate offices there. Also six floors. You like the tall buildings, eh?”

  “It’s strange not to see any real high-rises.” Cassie scanned the city for more six-story buildings. “Seattle has so many.”

  “Yeah.” Nick focused on her. “Juneau must seem like a podunk town to you.”

  “It’s nice. I like it.”

  He saw a small frown crease her brow, telling him she wasn’t finding the entire town to her liking. He put his arm across her shoulders as he steered her away from the wall to continue walking. She didn’t protest, so he left his arm there, enjoying the intimacy.

  “Can I show you my plane?” he asked, then threw back his head and laughed. “Wow, that sounded almost as bad as ‘Wanna check out my X-Box?’ I just mean....”

  Cassie laughed too. “No, I would love to see it. Is it far?”

  “Just down by the Seaplane Base, a few blocks. Come on, it’s this way.”

  Down on the floating dock, Nick gave Cassie the grand tour of his Grumman G-44 Widgeon. The potbellied seaplane listed slightly to the side, with one wing pontoon resting on the dock. The off-white body sported a funky butter yellow and turquoise stripe, with matching colors on the engine housings, giving it the color scheme of a nineteen fifties kitchen. Suddenly it mattered to him what it looked like. “It’s old, I know, but the guy Pop bought it from took great care of it.”

  “She’s beautiful,” Cassie said, reaching up to run her hand along the front of the wing.

  “I’m blessed to have her. They stopped making these in the fifties, and there aren’t too many left that still work for a living. She’s had an overhaul or two o
ver the years, but she is as steady and sound as they come.”

  Nick didn’t know what about the plane might interest her, so he let her look around and ask questions.

  Cassie’s train of thought surprised him. “So, what kinds of people hire you to fly, and where do they ask you to go?”

  “Oh, I usually deliver folks to remote sites for fishing or hunting, or wildlife viewing, the more high-end trips. Occasionally I get hired to fly search and rescue when someone goes missing. I have the other two planes take the tourists out for aerial sightseeing trips, which last from 15 minutes to an hour. I do a couple tourist runs a week, but I prefer dealing with sportsmen. Wanna see the inside?”

  “Sure.”

  He unlocked the door and offered his hand to steady her as she stepped across the water gap to climb into the cabin. Following her in, he watched as she looked around the spare enclosure. Two seats faced forward, and one jump seat faced the back. The rest of the cabin was clear for gear stowage, with a few practical items like motor oil on basket-style shelves.

  “It’s very clean,” she said.

  Nick chuckled. “It takes some doing to keep it that way. Stuff a couple hunters and a guide in here after a week in the bush, and you can imagine the mess when they climb back out.”

  Cassie gave him a small smile, running her hand along the cream-colored vinyl seats. She sat down in one of them, tipped her head back, and closed her eyes.

  A little bewildered by her actions, he almost asked if she was ready to go, but she opened her eyes and sat up to look into the cockpit. “So many dials! How did you learn what all of them do?”

  “It took a while, but once you know what an instrument is for, it all starts to make sense.”

  She climbed into the pilot’s seat and put her hands on the controls. “Well? Do I look like a pilot?”

  He raised an eyebrow. Cassie looked adorable with her big expectant smile. “I like it” was all he allowed himself to say.

  There wasn’t really much to see on the plane, and before long they were ready to go.