Arden wanted to be home. Decorating for Christmas. Calling her mom to ask for cookie recipes. She wanted to be shopping for Christmas presents for her brothers, parents and friends, and for the new nephews that she’d have next month. She wanted to be anywhere but there—shivering with cold, the rotors of the helicopter sending twigs and debris flying.
Kane pressed close to her side, totally in her space, but he was blocking the chopper wind and some of the snow, and she couldn’t bring herself to move away.
Finally, the helicopter moved on, zipping above the tree line, its light slashing across the gray-white forest.
“We need to move,” Kane said, pulling her to her feet.
“We can’t outrun a helicopter,” she responded. Sebastian wiggled in the carrier, probably as anxious to be freed as she was to put this nightmare behind her.
“No, but we need a better position. Someplace that will offer more protection. They may have been getting something on thermal and that’s why they were hovering for so long.”
“Even covered in snow, we’re warm bodies in a very cold landscape,” she pointed out. “Of course there are an estimated five hundred species of vertebrate animals in New Hampshire, so there are certainly other mammals out here with us. It stands to reason that we could conceal our heat signatures enough to pass as deer. Or moose. There are also bobcats. Foxes. Coyotes.” She started listing all the native mammals, the words spilling out like they always did when she was anxious.
“Good point,” he agreed, pulling back a heavy pine bough and holding it so that she could walk past. “Hunkering down bought us a little time, but eventually, they’ll have troops on the ground as well as the helicopter in the air. It might not be long before they’ll send their ground crew to investigate.”
He had a point.
She refrained from explaining how good of one it was. She had a bad habit of talking too much about too many things. Or so her ex had said. Then again, Randy had been quick to point out all of her quirks. He’d also been good at telling her the reasons why she needed to change.
In hindsight, she should have kicked him to the curb long before they’d ever become a couple. But she’d wanted what Juniper had had, what her parents cherished. She’d wanted to be part of something more than just herself. She’d wanted to be in love, and she’d convinced herself that she was.
Her fault. Not Randy’s.
She was too smart to have fallen for him, but she’d let herself fall anyway. Not that he hadn’t helped her along. He’d been so charming when they’d met, so filled with admiration and compliments. He’d bought her flowers and books on string theory.
They’d met at the University Christmas Gala. She’d been uncomfortable in a black cocktail dress and heels that Juniper had insisted she wear. She would have been more comfortable wearing a casual skirt with one of her infamous ugly Christmas sweaters. But Juniper had put her foot down. As a compromise, Arden accessorized with earrings shaped like Christmas bulbs. They did not improve her comfort or confidence level.
When Randy had introduced himself, he’d complimented her on those earrings; she thought that he’d noticed her because of them.
Turned out, he’d noticed her long before that.
She’d been new to the research program but already nipping at the heels of his accomplishments. He’d wanted her in his corner, part of his achievement. He’d wanted her help, her insight, her brain.
He’d wanted her encryption algorithm.
And he’d taken it as his own, using it as a base to create his own encryption application and key. It was the encryption wrapped around the files she’d appropriated from GeoArray. She was confident whatever was on those files had gotten Dale killed.
And Randy was up to his neck in it. He was dirty and she knew it. She intended to prove it. She just needed a little more time.
She tripped over a thick tree root, and Kane grabbed her elbow, holding her steady.
“You okay?” he asked.
Had Randy ever asked her that?
All she could remember was him asking her about work, about projects, about her ideas and programs.
“Fine.”
Except that she felt like a fool. A fool who was now running for her life because of something her ex-boyfriend had done.
The sound of the helicopter had faded; the forest was still again. Fat flakes of snow drifted through the canopy, layering Kane’s coat with white. He didn’t seem to be hurrying. If anything, they were moving slower than they had been before the helicopter arrived on the scene.
“Shouldn’t we speed up?” she asked.
“You said yourself that we can’t outrun a helicopter. It’s going to swing back around. When it does, I want to be well hidden.”
“We’re two ninety-eight-point-six-degree pillars moving through a twenty-eight-degree forest. Without a structure to cover us, hiding completely from thermal imaging is a near impossibility.”
“Nothing is impossible. I’m looking for anything that can give us enough cover and keep them from pinpointing our location.” He pushed through a thicket, holding back thorny branches as she moved through.
A true gentleman. One that held tree branches even when there was no one around to see him or to praise his impeccable manners. Randy had only ever been a gentleman when other people could witness it.
“I really was an idiot,” she muttered, stepping over a fallen log, her feet heavy and cold. She was cold all over. Even with Sebastian pressed up against her chest, she could feel the chill of the winter air.
“You are far from an idiot, Arden,” Kane said, pulling her to a stop. They stood there for several seconds. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but she was listening to the sound of the returning helicopter and to something else. A subtle buzz that seemed familiar. A motor of some sort, maybe.
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“A snowmobile, I think.” There was no hint of emotion in Kane’s voice, no change in his expression. He scanned the area around them.
“It doesn’t sound close.”
“They’ll be here soon enough. The helicopter probably spotted the plane and sent people to check it out.” He was moving with a renewed sense of urgency, his hand around her wrist, tugging her through the foliage. They were sprinting now, pushing deeper and deeper into the forest as the distant sound of snowmobiles grew louder.
* * *
They were moving fast, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Kane knew that, but he wanted to put as much distance between them and the snowmobiles as possible. It was bad enough having the helicopter to contend with. The possibility of being shot by a sniper aiming from somewhere above was a real one, but being apprehended by men on snowmobiles seemed more likely.
If the people tracking them were from GeoArray, they may want to keep Arden alive—at least until they were sure they had their files back. If they were from the FBI, they’d only shoot after they announced themselves.
Arden had gotten herself into some seriously deep trouble. He had to get her out of it. First, though, he had to get them out of this—the forest, the wilderness, the cold.
The sound of the snowmobile was still muted and distant, but the helicopter was heading their way again, the rhythmic thud of propeller blades announcing its return.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the searchlight illuminating the trees about two hundred meters behind them. Up ahead, there was nothing but thick tree growth. A large elm had fallen across their path, and he clambered over it, pulling Arden with him.
The root system had left a deep hollow in the ground. Covered by leaves and snow and dead roots, it was a perfect place to hide until the chopper passed.
“Quick, Arden, this way.” He jumped into the hole. Reached up to help her down. “Press your back up against the roots of the tree and cover your legs with some snow,” he instructed, as he brushed snow over his own legs.
“Cover your face and mouth,” she reminded him. She pulled her coat up over her nose and mouth and covered the rest of her face with her gloved hands, leaving just enough space between her fingers to peer out. He did the same.
Within moments, the searchlight from the helicopter was almost on them. “Be still,” he cautioned.
He knew from experience that the pilots would be looking for motion, reflective clothing, bright colors—something that was out of place. From their vantage point in the sky, and with the tree cover and snow falling as it was, the pilot’s visibility would be limited.
Dressed in dark clothing, with snow covering their legs and boots, Kane and Arden pressed into the shadowy web of roots and waited for the searchlight to reach them.