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In an edgy silence, she assisted him in stowing the last of the supplies on the sleds behind their machines and climbed onto her snowmobile, her body tense with irritation as Hawk began to check every aspect of her setup.
“Are your mask and goggles on correctly?” he asked, his voice muffled by his own gear.
Kate gritted her teeth. “Yes.”
But Hawk wasn’t done. “You doubled up on the gloves and tripled up on the socks like I told you, right?”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? I’m an Air Force pilot. Special ops trained. I know how to dress for the cold.”
Hawk held up his hands, his body language defensive. “No problemo,” he said, his tone light and casual. “I was just being nice.” He moved away,straddling his own machine and revving the engine. “Suit yourself.”
He tore out of the building, barely waiting for her to follow before he used the remote to close the door, then he tore offtoward the edge of the property, spraying snow behind him in a glittering arc.
Kate followed reluctantly.
She was having second thoughts about jetting out into the tundra with an unknown quantity in the lead. Second thoughts? Try multiplying that by a thousand.
Hawk stopped at the locked gate, opening it with a quick, practiced motion. He waved her out, then locked the gate behind them, the metal clanging shut with a sense of finality.
Engine revving again, he whipped past her, racing ahead as if his tail was on fire.
Men. Whatever.
She gunned her own ride, the engine roaring as she gave chase. But just as she was about to catch up to Hawk, a shadow crossed her vision. She let off the accelerator, her heart pounding as a figure darted across the narrow intersection between the Frostbite and Saila’s store.
She waved, waiting for the figure to scuttle past, her impatience growing with every second. Finally, the path was clear, and she gunned the engine again, the machine leaping forward with a surge of power.
But Hawk had already beaten her to the hotel. He was waiting outside, his Ski-Doo idling under the bright, yellow light. Next to him was Fenn’s empty snowmobile. The sight of it sent a jolt of unease through her body.
“Fenn said he had to run back to his room for his extra set of gloves,” Hawk said, his voice casual. “Kind of a sissy.”
She bit back a retort, the words tasting bitter on her tongue. The Hawk she used to know would never have said something like that. But she kept her mouth shut, the tension in her body growing with every passing moment.
Something didn’t feel right, but she couldn’t see another way forward. Not yet.
Finally, the door to the hotel opened, and Fenn emerged, bundled up in a suit, face mask, and goggles. He gave Kate a jaunty salute, the gesture so familiar and Fenn-like that it eased some of the tension in her chest.
He straddled his snowmobile, the machine rumbling to life beneath him. Kate watched him, a wry smile tugging at her lips beneath her own mask.
She wondered if he was going to take Hawk’s bait and ride like a lunatic, too. With the two men going through their requisite chest-thumping, this op was going to be far more painful than necessary.
True to form, Hawk blasted off, his Ski-Doo kicking up a spray of snow behind him. Fenn followed suit, his machine roaring as he gave chase.
Kate shook her head, a mix of exasperation and amusement washing over her. Some things never changed, no matter how much time had passed.
She gunned her own engine and followed. The wind had died, but the snow continued to fall, straight down now, blanketing the world in a sea of white. Kate squinted behind her goggles, struggling to stay within eyesight of the men’s bright red taillights.
She didn’t trust Hawk, not like Fenn thought she did. Sure, she was willing to see where this led, but that didn’t mean she was going to blindly follow the man into the unknown.
The cold was seeping into her bones, despite the layers of clothing she wore. Her fingers were starting to go numb, even with the two pairs of gloves beneath her wind-proof mittens. She flexed them on the handlebars, trying to keep the blood flowing.
The snow swirled around her, a never-ending sea of black and white. It was like being in the middle of the ocean, nothing around her but the endless expanse of snow and ice.
Just her and Hawk and Fenn, alone in the wilderness.
It would have been a terrifying thought, if she’d let it. But Kate was trained for this, had faced far worse in her time as a special ops pilot.
She leaned into the self-created wind, her Ski-Doo cutting a path through the snow. The abandoned station was still miles away, but she could feel it getting closer with every passing second.
