Blind Trust

by Jody Klaire

  “Bill and Kay knew back in Oppidum,” I argued, not willing to let this drop. Lives were on the line. “You told them yourself.”

  “Yes,” Renee said in a long breath. “And that was for national security reasons.”

  “You were saving my butt,” I said. “How is that anything to do with it?”

  Renee bit her bottom lip. Again there was that barrier between her wanting to come clean with me and be truthful and her protocols. The CIG made me dizzy with them.

  “Let me guess,” I muttered, starting to walk toward the shop. “You can’t tell me, it’s none of my business . . . blah, blah, blah.”

  I didn’t give her a chance to come up with an excuse and headed into the shop with my temper simmering like a hot pot. I was meant to be part of the team, only the last six months had been filled with me being told that the military side could keep me in the dark whenever they felt like it. I, on the other hand, had to share everything whether I wanted to or not. I was getting pretty damn tired of it.

  “Okay, fit me up,” I said to the girl behind the counter. “Act like I don’t know nothin’ and just get me what I’ll need.” I turned to the rest of the group. “Evan, where’s your buddy?”

  Evan smiled. “Benny just went to get him.”

  “Mark, where are the ATVs?”

  Mark thumbed to the back of the shop as Renee slipped through the doorway. “Out back. Brian is checking them over to make sure they are ready.”

  “Doctor Llys,” I said, acting like I didn’t want to yell at her. “I want you to organize the folks into teams.” I walked toward the back to fend off any objections. “I’m gonna get myself ready.”

  Ten minutes later I was looking and feeling like I was ready to trek to the polar ice caps. Renee had somehow gotten suited up while I was fighting my way into my outfit. I guess that short people had it kinda easy.

  I led the team out onto the street and took a look at the ATVs ready and waiting for us. I hadn’t answered her question as to why I chose them over snowmobiles. The answer was simple. Snowmobiles didn’t back up and, to me, they were way too dangerous. There was a reason why there was a higher percentage of deaths on those things than in automobile accidents. I frowned at my own thought process. Where the heck had I learned that? I could see Renee casting a wary glance my way and got my answer. Ursula Freaking-Franken-Frei that’s where.

  “Doc Llys,” I said, ignoring the look. “You drive Evan, Duke, and me down.”

  I didn’t wait for confirmation as I figured it would look better if I acted confident. I felt anything but, me and anything electrical are as compatible as ice and fire. Only difference with me is that things tend to explode.

  Renee took charge without so much as a glare and soon the caterpillar tracks were making light work of the snow. Duke and Evan who sat in the trailer behind us looked like they were off on an excursion. I guessed that snow-based drama was pretty average for the locals.

  “We need to make sure that they think Duke is tracking the deputy,” Renee called over her shoulder to me. I held on to her skinny waist and I tried not to fall as we rode over a hump of snow.

  “You got to distract Evan long enough for me to talk to Duke,” I told her.

  “Talk to the dog?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, ignoring her shaking her head at me. “It’s the easiest way to get him onside.”

  “Freaky, that’s what you are . . . Freaky,” I heard her mumble. It wasn’t the first time she’d said it and I doubted it’d be the last.

  “Either way,” I said. “Dazzle the kid until I can chat up furry.”

  Her laughter rumbled all the way through me like a blast of warmth. I don’t think I’d heard her let out such a roar of happiness since she’d picked me up.

  “So you are still in there,” I said. “Good to know.”

  I got a mouthful of snow a second later as we rounded a corner. “Bet you did that on purpose.”

  Her silence was all the response I needed.

  Chapter 9

  AT THE BOTTOM of the hill was a mess to make anyone cry. The avalanche had taken most of the road that snaked around the mountain with it through the barriers. I could see a couple of cars that had ended up in the crumpled trees and my heart thudded heavily. No way anyone in those vehicles had made it.

  Renee pulled the ATV to a stop and got off. I lurched forward and gripped onto the empty seat. The hollow ring of devastation echoed through every inch of my skin.

  CRASH. Smashing, wall of white, Crash, crash, crash. Obliterating everything. Roaring, roaring, ploughing toward the road. Boom. Solid icy wall. Wind screamed. A shock wave. Smash. Blast onto the road. No, No, NO! Crumple the windshield. Heavy. NO. NO!

  “Aeron?” I felt the warmth of a hand on my arm.

  Black, darkness, hopelessness. No escape, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Heavy breath-stealing damp, crushing, burying—

  “Aeron!”

  Renee’s yelling in my ear brought me back to the cold, bright afternoon. I had somehow ended up on the ground. I blinked a couple of times, expecting to see Renee peering at me, instead I met the soppiest pair of brown pools that I ever saw.

  “Hey, Duke,” I mumbled, trying not to breathe in his doggy breath. “I guess this was one way of getting you on your own.”

  Duke sat and cocked his head, a hot steaming tongue flopping out of the side. Nice. Drool.

  “I need to find Charlie,” I told him. “He’s a deputy but I need everybody to think it’s you doing the tracking.”

  Duke snorted as if to say. “It will be me. That’s my job, baldy.”

  I frowned at him. “Less of the name-calling, fluff ball.”

  That earned me a pair of alert ears. Well, as best as a mound of fur could manage. Duke wasn’t used to humans getting him, that much I could tell.

  “I can find him and you can do the whole rescue thing,” I said. “But you gotta follow my lead.”

  He looked kind of skeptical and sat there panting at me. I didn’t blame him. I was sitting on my butt having had some kind of fit so I knew he was figuring me for crazy or an ill person.

  He nudged forward with a paw to confirm his thoughts. I took off my glove and shoved my hand out for inspection. Most folks don’t seem to realize that a dog’s nose is that good that they can tell just how well you really are.

  He had a good old sniff and a lick to make sure I wasn’t tricking him somehow and then sat back down to contemplate the information. I used his decision time to focus on Charlie and where he could be.

  Now, I ain’t been trained in how to use my burdens and the only time I had been able to track where somebody might be was by touching jewelry of theirs. I had nothing of Charlie’s to help me and so hoped that Supernan would come to my rescue.

  I closed my eyes, trying to focus on calling to her. “Nan, you there?”

  Nothing. Not even a breeze. Must have been one heck of a card game.

  I opened my eyes to see Duke wiggling his eyebrows at me. He didn’t look convinced of my sanity and behind him, Evan seemed to be itching to search.

  I took a deep breath and tried again. I tried to think of Joyce, hoping that she would somehow connect me to him.

  This time I figured I could maybe do it alone, mentally at least. I pictured the scene, the flash I’d had.

  Nothing.

  I got to my feet, Renee looking half as though she wanted to shove me back on the ATV and half like she wanted to throttle me. Her aura rolled about like waves in a storm but I closed my eyes, one last time, as the roar of the other parties met my ears.

  “Charlie, where are you?” I asked, putting every ounce of mental energy I had into it. I must have looked like I was in agony with my face scrunched up so much. I felt a wet nose on my palm.

  “Charlie,” I whispered. “You got to help me out.”

  Blood, cold, ice, got to hold on, got to pull myself up. They won’t hear me . . . please . . . grip the wood, hands so cold . . . I can’t hold on—


  “There!” I snapped my eyes open. I sprinted through the snow. It gave way underneath me as I tried to scramble over it. Renee called to me but Charlie had no time for me to stick on some snowshoes.

  I could hear heavy panting as Duke kept up with me.

  “Over the ridge,” I called to him. “Stay back when we get to the edge. He’s sliding down.”

  Duke barked in response and I looked around me for something to help.

  “Need a rope!” I called back toward Renee who was firing up the ATV.

  “Watch the edge!” she called back. “It’ll give way.”

  I stopped just short, Duke huffed and panted in my ear.

  “He’s cold and injured, right?” I said to him.

  Duke snorted, his paws testing the snow in front. His eyes met mine as if to warn me that it was loose.

  “Any ideas?”

  If a dog could roll his eyes, Duke would have.

  “Look I know I ain’t an expert,” I told him, “but Charlie needs our help.”

  Duke looked over his shoulder at Renee. She slowly moved the vehicle over the snow, trying not to send a new run down on top of Charlie. I guessed that meant wait for the person who was actually trained.

  “Charlie!” I called out over the edge, my heart thudded and Duke whimpered as the snow shifted beneath my feet. “Charlie . . . can you hear me?”

  “Down here!” came the panicked reply.

  To stop myself saying something stupid like “hold on” I looked back at Renee. She was off the ATV on snowshoes and had attached a rope to the front end. “Aeron, you move another inch and I’ll throw you over myself!”

  Duke lifted his ears at the threat.

  “Oh, that’s nothin’,” I muttered. “Should see her when there’s no chocolate.”

  Renee got to us and fed the rope over the edge. “Can you see the rope?” she called out.

  I fought the urge to move any closer to take a look.

  “A little lower,” came the reply.

  Renee fed more over and after a long silence, a voice called up. “Got it!”

  I wanted to cheer but Renee was not smiling. “Can you hold on enough for us to pull you up?”

  “Think so.”

  Renee looked back to Evan and signaled to him. He started to back up the ATV. The other members of our rescue crew in the distance were digging around a car on its side. The snow underneath us shifted and I got a warning flash.

  “Stop!”

  Evan did as he was told and Renee lifted her eyebrows in question.

  “I’ll have to pull him from here, the whole thing is shifting.”

  Renee didn’t argue but took Duke and moved him back. “Aeron, can you pull him up?”

  I nodded.

  “Then I’ll bring a rope out to you too,” she said.

  “There’s no time,” I answered. My heart thudded, my skin clammy against the cold-weather gear. I shivered and Renee frowned.

  “Aeron, you don’t look too great . . . maybe—”

  “I can do this. Trust me. Just get everyone back.” I turned to the edge. “Charlie, I’m gonna pull you up.”

  “Hurry.”

  Renee met my eyes, all manner of thoughts flashed across her face.

  “Hey,” I said. “I’ll be okay. What’s a little snow, right?”

  She hesitated.

  “Nan didn’t get you saving my butt back in Oppidum to see me hurtle over a snowy edge,” I said. “Trust me.”

  Grey eyes bored into mine. “I do.”

  It was such a strong statement that I took a few seconds to clear my thoughts. Renee had always been kinda intense but that was like a two-by-four across the head. I guessed that was what happened when you lived the life she did. You needed conviction. There were times, like now, when I wondered how much of a toll it took on her.

  Charlie grunted and I tore my eyes away from her.

  “Good. Back up and let the snow expert do her thing,” I said, my throat feeling like it had a snowball wedged in it. Not the greatest time to get mushy.

  Renee did as I asked, although I knew that no way did she want to. I turned back to face the edge. My flash had warned me that I stood on the top of a huge slab of snow which was going to give way . . . soon.

  All I had to do was haul up a fully grown man with a tow rope and not get me or him hurt.

  No problem, I thought as I gripped hold of the rope. No problem at all.

  RENEE WATCHED AERON ready herself, digging her feet into the snow, and winced. What had Ursula been teaching her? How had Aeron passed the cold weather training when so far all Renee had witnessed was how little Aeron knew about any of it?

  Renee sighed.

  It was simple why Aeron had passed, she had to. There was no way that CIG could operate without her and no way that they could find anyone else.

  How many times had Renee wished that Aeron would lose all her gifts? That the sweet-natured woman could live her life quietly beside the river and never have to worry about anything. Aeron deserved that much, she had been through enough.

  Renee watched Aeron slide as she started to pull on the rope and walked over to the ATV. She’d sent the men back up the hillside but no way would she leave. She gripped the throttle—the second anything started moving, she was hitting reverse. There was no way she wanted to leave a man to nature but Aeron was too important to risk. Too important to the mission, and to her.

  A breeze tickled her arms and she smiled. No doubt it was a reassurance from Nan. God, how she had missed the odd and surreal world that was Aeron Lorelei.

  She swallowed the well of agony in her heart and watched Aeron haul the rope upward. She tensed. Aeron was going too fast but shouting would do no good.

  “It’d probably make it slide faster,” she muttered.

  The sound of Duke barking drew her attention. He was bouncing around, Evan trying to calm him. A breeze tickled Renee’s arm. She heard Aeron swear. She hit the throttle. The ATV screamed backward. The snow cracked. The ground under Aeron gave way. Renee fought the sliding snow. The ATV wailed in protest. The tread caught on a hard piece of packed snow and a cloud of white plumed into the air as the run gave way.

  No! Renee clung to the throttle. “Aeron!”

  Renee looked through the powdery mist. Her stomach clenched as she roared the ATV backward.

  Please, please . . . please be okay.

  She hit a bank of snow and the ATV crunched to a halt. She grunted as it kicked up at her but her eyes remained on the fallen run.

  “Aeron!”

  “I’m okay!” came a yelp-like cry. “Got him!”

  Renee scrambled off the ATV and used the rope to slide downward. The road was almost cleared by the snow collapsing. “Aeron, where are you?”

  Please be okay, please be okay.

  Aeron clung to the rope. Her legs dangled over the edge. She had one long arm under the man’s shoulders and another clinging to the rope. Renee’s breath caught when she saw that the man was holding onto a small boy.

  “I’m coming!” She could hear barking as the rescue team closed in on them and reached out to pull the young boy upward.

  “Charlie’s got a gashed leg,” Aeron told her as Renee checked over the boy.

  “I can’t see anything,” Renee answered.

  “He’s not Charlie,” the man grunted as he hauled himself upward, the bloodstain dark on his trouser leg. “He was banging a log against the car he’d climbed out of, made one heck of a noise. I went to get him. Brave little man.”

  The boy shivered and wrapped his arms around Renee’s waist. She pulled him in close, hoping that her body heat would help him for now.

  “Aeron?”

  “I’m just great,” Aeron mumbled as she pulled herself up and collapsed in a heap on top of the ledge. “Walk in the Arctic.” She grinned up at Renee. “Told you not to worry.”

  Renee tried not to show any emotion, not to look at her, not to give anything away. Her heart pounded with
what she wanted to say, with what she felt. It was too dangerous now, Aeron was too essential to the mission.

  “Let’s get you somewhere warm,” Renee said to the boy, knowing better than to ask too many questions here.

  The rescue team set to work transporting Charlie. Evan and Duke took the boy with them, the dog huddling close. Renee didn’t dare look at Aeron for too long. In her heart she wanted to praise her, to tell her that she was a hero, and hug her senseless. To tell her the truth, to hold Aeron close, and beg Aeron to keep her safe from the cold and the past. Renee tried to keep the tears from forming. Tried not to break down. There was no place for that now. Aeron had to stand strong alone. Getting too close would risk everything that the CIG worked so hard for.

  The cause was more important. Aeron was more important.

  Renee could feel Aeron watching her as they rode back up the mountain. No doubt she could tell something was wrong. Even without gifts, Aeron knew her well enough to read her moods.

  Too well.

  “Well done,” Renee whispered, hoping that Aeron would think that she was merely acting cold for the audience.

  Aeron grunted in response and Renee’s heart sank. The last thing she wanted was to hurt her but the alternative was unbearable. No, it was better this way. Instead of explaining and letting Aeron in, instead of having the comfort and release that talking to her would bring, Renee stayed quiet. Duty first.

  She looked over the barren snow-filled landscape and felt colder than she should have. Stupidly, when she had met Aeron, she had begun to believe that her past would not define her future. Aeron’s laughter, her joy at the simplicity of life had covered over the dark spaces, the loneliness, but now Renee would have to face reality once more.