AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter1
Nina
I was close to my destination when the plane caught fire. Smoke streamed from the nose of the Cessna Skyhawk I’d rented in Kalispell. My guess was that one or more bullets had hit the single engine during takeoff and caused a smoldering fire that was gaining traction. I’d been training to fly for a few months, but now the instrument panel was going haywire and the propeller sputtered, hacking as if it suffered from a terminaldisease.
I was going down. No doubt about it. My best hope was to land the two-seater right away. It was a hard call to make. The training program I’d been learning on rebooted automatically after you crashed. What were the chances that would happen in the realworld?
Don’t panic, Nina, keep it together. I ignored my heart’s frantic pounding and clutched the control wheel as if I could keep the plane in the air by the sheer force of my grip. I’d never attempted an emergency landing. Now I wished I’d forked out the dough to do so with an experienced pilot bymyside.
I scanned the terrain below. The peaks of Montana’s Absaroka Range looked pretty jagged, like can openers to the Skyhawk’s flimsy fuselage. I spotted a little meadow ahead, a crooked ribbon of grass. Huge mountains and dense forests hemmed it on both sides and a brook meandered in the middle, a crack in the landscape. Not ideal, but what the hell. I steered the plane in the meadow’s direction and checked my cell’s GPS. As the crow flies, I was less than fifteen miles from my destination. So freakingclose.
The smoke in the cabin choked me as it turned darker and thicker. I coughed, then hacked, forcing myself to think through the fear squeezing my throat. My cell. It was my lifeline. I snatched it from the holder and stuffed it securely in my bra. Next I reached over and grabbed my laptop. I’d be shit out of luck if I lost it. I slung the padded case over my shoulder and tightened it until it was snug against my side. Out of my window, I spotted a red flicker running along the fuselage. Holy hell. If the flames reached the gas tanks, it was doneandover.
I aimed for the clearing, applied another ten degrees of flaps and turned the knob to decrease power. I banked the ailerons to correct for crosswinds and pressed on the foot pedals to align with the clearing. In my business, it paid to go for it. So I wentforit.
The clearing came at me in slow motion, but the ground collided against the landing gear at brain-rattling speed and the plane careened into the woods and wedged into a cluster of pines. I turned in the seat and grabbed for my duffel, but like the plane, it was also on fire. The flames singed my hands, sending pain screeching throughmybody.
Forget the duffel. Get away.I pushed open the door and leapt out, but I was much higher than I expected. I hung in the air for a second too long before I hit the ground. My ankle buckled and a sharp jolt shot up my leg. Crap. I dropped on all fours and crawled as fast as Icould.
The explosion echoed in the little valley. A hot rush of air gusted over me and shoved me face first into the ground. I braced on my arms and kept going, laptop beating against my hip, hands hurting and knees stinging as I tumbled down to the edge of the creek. The second explosion hit just about then, another thunderous boom that reverberated for milesonend.
I may have lost consciousness. When I came to, I was sprawled on my back and a black column of smoke obscured the sky. My vision flickered. I blinked to clear my eyes and sat up with a groan. My hands throbbed. I looked down and winced. My palms and most of my fingers were red, swollen, and blistered. This was going to betricky.
My laptop. I had a moment of panic. Where was it? I groped with my forearms and found it secured against my side. I let out a shaky breath. Okay. I was stillinplay.
Move. Fast. Find Ulysses. My head ached and my ears rang with a ferocity that stunned me.Time. I had none to waste. It was only a matter of hours before Dimayev’s thugs caught up with me. I tried to stand up. My head spun and my ankle hurt so badly that tears sprang from my eyes.Okay, sit for a minute. I eased myself onto a big, flat chunk of granite.Think.
The ringing in my ears became a rumble and then a roar. The earth trembled and, before my brain registered the cause, an ATV climbed over the opposite bank and stopped. A lean, muscular man dressed in cammies and an olive jacket straddled a Polaris. The ATV’s paint job matched the driver’s green woodland fatigues. He focused his mirrored shades on me. My heart shot up to my throat. Had they found mealready?
No, they couldn’t possibly be on the ground so fast. Well…maybe. The back of my trembling hand rubbed reflexively around my neck, where a set of yellowing bruises proved that anything was possible. But I’d disabled the only other aircraft in the hangar and made sure they couldn’t follow me. Who wasthisman?
My pulse pounded in my ears. The cool fall weather filtered through my bewildered senses and became a cold, clammy embrace that iced my bones.Keep it together. This guy wasn’tshooting…yet.
“You okay?” the man asked, face shadowed by a baseball cap. “Youneedhelp?”
Yeah, I needed help. No, he shouldn’t give it. I’d say all that, if my throat decided to work and my body stopped shivering. If I could somehow figure out if he was my enemyornot.
“Ma’am?” He slipped the shades up and perched them on the rim of his hat. A pair of mossy green eyes assessed me from above. No murderous glee in his stare. Calm. So calm. Methodic even. “Was there anyone else in thatplane?”
I shook my head and managed speech. “Me…Onlyme.”
“Stand by.” He grabbed the radio attached to his belt. “I’m gonna call thisonein.”
“No, please!” The words just burst out. “I’m fine. Don’t call thepolice.”
“Sit tight. It’s not the police I’m calling.” He kept his stare on me and clicked on the radio. “Rogue, this is Eagle, doyoucopy?”
“This is Rogue.” A deep bass echoed from the radio. “We copy. What was thatabout?”
“I’ve got a situation at the meadow,” he said. “I might need anassist.”
“Be there in a sec.Rogueout.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” The guy tucked away the radio and gave me a confident smile, a flash of bright white against olive skin that felt oddly soothing to my senses. “You’re gonna have to be patient, so don’t pass out on me. I’m not exactly up to speed, but I’mcomingdown.”
I fought a wave of dizziness, bent over my knees and, rocking back and forth, tried to function through the haze.Find Ulysses. It had to be my priority. Find Ulysses and maybe survive. I looked down at my singed hands and my throbbing ankle. How the hell was I going to dothatnow?
The guy revved up the engine and maneuvered the ATV down the muddy bank, clearing the crumpled boulders and splashing across the stream. He edged the ATV next to me and parked. The olive green fleece stretching over his pecs matched the color of his eyes exactly, playing up the luminous browns that deepened his skin. It was a little odd, but he picked up his left leg and, rotating on the seat, brought it over to therightside.
