She’d given Mick her satellite phone number. He’d promised to call later and fill her in on the problems back home and, most importantly, Asia’s situation. Her mind whirled with too much conjecture. Why hadn’t Asia flown out with Mick? Was she looking into something further? Had it been too dangerous for them to be seen together?
As revelers and snow sculptors began to arrive in droves, Jackie had sought the solitude of her favorite spot. The bluff was so perfect, so pristine that it had always been a place that quieted her nerves. At the moment, her nerves were in serious need of quieting. The hissed message on her answering machine kept playing in her mind.
Your father will pay.
She’d thought Alaska would be the perfect place to disappear, but Asia had found her and so had Mick…and whoever the angry voice on her machine belonged to, and potentially Byron Lloyd. Maybe she should have stayed in San Francisco, gone to the police. The details pinwheeled and overwhelmed her.
She didn’t even realize where she was headed as her feet took her farther away from the cabin. She stayed to the rocky margins of a twisted path, intending to turn around if the snow became too soft and thick to traverse.
A strange noise in the distance made her stop. Heart in her throat, she froze. Was it a bear? A moose? The crunch of snow continued in a steady rhythm that sounded decidedly unbearlike. Whatever or whoever approached was big.
In her panic she considered running, but making any kind of speed in snow would be impossible. Calling for help would be her best option. If she could get someone to answer at the lodge…at least tell them where she was. Berating herself for wandering off alone, she tried to dial with shaking fingers.
The figure emerged into view. Relief flooded through her when she recognized Roman’s broad shoulders and sweep of dark hair. She saw him open his mouth to call to her, his hand half raised in greeting, and then a shot exploded in her ears.
She thought she must be dreaming. The sound made her ears ring. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and then Roman burst to life, hurtling into her and knocking her to the ground. Snow closed around her in an icy shroud and Roman’s heavy body rendered her immobile.
“Stay down,” he whispered, his voice low and urgent. “Someone’s shooting.”
Shooting? The word didn’t make sense to her shocked mind. Who would be shooting?
After a moment, Roman rolled off her, picked her up and sprinted to the shelter of the rocky bluff. He put her carefully against a shelf of snow and knelt, peering into her face.
“Are you hurt, Jackie?”
The tender worry on his face took her breath away and she could not answer. She felt his hands on her arms, gently checking for injury. He stopped when he got to her right shoulder. The look on his face became grave. When he pulled his hand away from her jacket, she could see his fingers stained with blood. Her blood.
“Somebody shot me?” Her voice was no louder than a whisper.
He gripped her arms. “It’s going to be all right. You’re going to be okay. Stay awake for me.”
His voice wrapped her in a silky caress. For a moment she let herself slide into the comfort of his touch. Her body began to shiver, to convulse into shudders that vibrated her whole body. From some distant place came the roar of snowmobiles, then the sound of feet moving rapidly across the snow. Anxious voices drifted through the cold air. She did not hear any more as she sank into unconsciousness.
Some distant part of Roman’s mind registered the crowd of visitors running toward them, ringing the area with shocked faces. Skip pushed through and gaped.
“What happened? I thought I heard a shot.”
“You did. Jackie’s been hit,” Roman snapped. “We’ve got to get her to the plane, fly her to Mercy.” His nerves felt like they were on fire. All he could think of was getting her to safety.
Lloyd arrived, pink-cheeked and panting. “A shot? Could it have been someone after bears?”
Fallon picked her way to Roman and handed him a pair of snowshoes.
Someone offered Roman a scarf and he wrapped Jackie’s shoulder as tightly as he could. He strapped on the snowshoes and Skip and Lloyd helped him lift Jackie onto a collapsible stretcher someone had fetched from the lodge. If the bullet had been a few inches to the left…He shut down the thought.
In a moment, he’d taken one end of the stretcher, and someone he didn’t know took the other. He dared only one glance back at Jackie. Her face was pale as milk, eyes closed. They half marched, half jogged through the snow to the plane. Nighttime wasn’t the best for flying, but at least the blizzard was holding off.
He started the engines, and Skip climbed in the back next to Jackie. Fallon hopped in the front and strapped in. Roman barely felt the sweat on his brow from carrying Jackie to the plane at full speed. He was only aware of an enormous urgency pushing him along, like a skier running in front of an avalanche.
Save her.
He wasn’t sure if the plea was meant for himself or for God, but the thought ran again and again through his mind.
Save her, please.
He fought against the frustration of not being able to hold her hand, to comfort her. She wouldn’t want you to, he reminded himself.
Fallon cast an uneasy glance toward the backseat. “There’s not too much blood.”
He knew from the amount of blood, and the location of the shot, that it was not a life-threatening wound but he also knew that shock could kill a person as effectively as any bullet.
“Keep her warm,” he called to Skip.
“She’s bundled up to the chin.”
He radioed their position, and the hospital confirmed they’d have an ambulance waiting at the landing strip.
True to their word, he saw the red lights as the wheels touched down on the newly cleared runway. In a blur of activity, paramedics loaded Jackie into the ambulance and whisked her away, leaving Roman, Skip and Fallon to follow in a hospital-provided van.
It was a surreal dream—a nightmare, in fact. The walls of the hospital loomed over them, and the night of the accident that had killed Danny was all brought back in horrible detail.
Was he about to experience the nightmare anew? Was it Jackie, this time, who would be cut away from his life? His gut twisted. Anything but that. Anything.
Save her, please. This time, though he knew he did not deserve any favors, the plea was meant for God.
Skip and Roman sat in hard, green chairs in a waiting room that smelled of burnt coffee. Fifteen minutes into their stay, and Roman was up and pacing. He walked as far as the cold tile hallway would allow before he made his way back in the other direction. He couldn’t escape the black cloud of fear. On his fourth time around, Fallon fell into place next to him.
“Feel bad?”
He nodded.
She hugged herself. “I hate this place. Reminds me of the accident.”
He clamped his mouth together, not trusting himself to answer.
She went on. “That night, Mom brought me down as soon as we got the call. I couldn’t believe it. Cops said you were driving the truck and swerved off the road.”
“So I’ve heard.” His voice was bitter.
“You told everyone that there was another car or truck or something stopped in the road that caused the accident.”
Closing his eyes, he could see it, a gleam of metal appearing suddenly around a sharp corner. He heard himself slamming on the brakes and the sudden spill of snow that swept them along in a relentless tide. The twist of metal, the breaking of glass and then silence. Was it real? Or was it his mind fashioning a way to ease his guilt? They’d told him the concussion he’d sustained had interfered with his memory. Someday his brain might be able to reconstruct the accident, or he might live his whole life and never unscramble the images of that night.
Fallon gripped his arm suddenly, fingers rigid. “I believe you, Roman, about what happened.”
He tried to decipher the intense expression on her face. “Sometimes I’m not sure whether I believe it or not. It’s all so foggy.”
Her hand dropped and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s not your fault he’s dead.”
“I appreciate that, Fallon, but…”
Her words came out in a whisper. “It’s mine.”
For a moment all he could do was gape at her. “What do you mean? You weren’t anywhere near that accident.” In spite of the curiosity her words had awakened in him, he wanted to ease the discomfort on her face. She was still a child, as much as she pretended not to be.
They grew silent as Skip approached. He eyed Fallon carefully as he spoke. “The doc has news for us.”
They hustled to the waiting area and met the green-clad physician. She smiled reassuringly. “Ms. Swann is going to be fine. The wound was superficial, only a few stitches. We’re going to give her fluids and keep her overnight for observation, but I expect tomorrow she’ll be good to go.”
Roman’s relief almost choked him. “Can I see her?”
“Sure. But only one of you at a time and only for a few minutes. She’s groggy from the painkillers.”
Roman looked at Skip.
“Go on. You go check on her. I’ve got to call June and fill her in.”
Roman made his way into the dim hospital room. Jackie looked very small under the thick blanket. She stirred when he touched her arm.
“Hey, there. You scared us good this time.”
She opened her eyes and smiled faintly. “I’m fine.”
He laughed. “That’s what I figured you’d say. I’m glad to hear the doctor confirm your diagnosis anyway. You had us all worried for a while there.”
She closed her eyes and Roman thought she might fall asleep. There was one thing he had to know.
“Jackie?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Her eyes fluttered open and she nodded. “There was a shot.”
“Yeah. Rifle shot. Knicked you on the shoulder. Lloyd thought it might be a bear hunter, but we know better than that.”
Her expression grew wary. “Probably an accident.”
“Maybe,” he said. Unlikely, his gut added. “You were all alone out there, at the bluff. What for?”
She shrugged. “Needed solitude.”
“When I saw you, you had a satellite phone in your hand.”
He saw the stubborn set to her face, the shadow of fear behind her eyes that he knew would keep her from telling him the truth. But he had to know. He had to make sure she was safe.
“Jackie, this is getting serious. Whatever you’re hiding almost got you killed. Now, who were you expecting a call from?”
The voice surprised them both.
“From me,” Mick said, as he stepped into the room.