CHAPTER 19
Erin fell into an uneasy doze, relaxation coming in spite of her fears. There was nothing to do in the small space, no room to move around, and the tight position she and Tim ended up in grew warm enough that she’d closed her eyes and actually slept. The darkness around them felt like a tangible thing, dimming sounds, blurring her mind. No matter how hard she looked she couldn’t see anything, and the sensation of total blindness was strange.
“Erin. Someone is coming.” Tim pushed her upright gently. “There’s been not a lot of noise for about an hour, but I just heard something from toward the cabin. Sounded like a bit of a scuffle.”
She slipped to her feet and helped him up, the two of them wiggling slightly, moving their feet in an attempt to get the blood flowing again. “How late is it?”
“About ten. Be ready.”
Her ears ached from listening. Was that a footstep? The wind? All the clues seemed muffled.
“You awake?” A deep voice, not Ken.
“We are. What do you want, Red?” Tim asked.
No sound for a moment. “We need to get out of here. If I let you free, will you drop me off somewhere safe? I have a gun, and I will use it if I have to, but—”
“Where are your friends?” Tim snapped. “Why should we trust you?”
“They’re in the cabin. I tied them up with that duct tape we used on you. I’m opening the door, and I have the gun. We need to move now, though.”
“He’s telling the truth.” Matt’s voice.
Shit. “Matt? You okay?”
“Yes, so hurry up.”
Erin raised her voice. “Let us out.”
The door swung open a bare inch. Tim pushed it open all the way, revealing the big man with, as promised, a gun pointed at them. Matt stood a little ways away, his hands still taped in front of him, but a grin on his face shining in the faint line.
They were still in deep shit, but the sight of Tim’s friend eased a small spot of panic. “Good to see you, Matt.”
Red shook the gun. “Talk later, we have to leave.”
“Point that thing some other direction,” Erin snapped. “I’m sick of people sticking guns in my face when they want my help.”
Tim cleared his throat, but she was too pissed to care.
Red motioned with his head to the chopper. “I tied them up, but if they get free, we’re in trouble. The chopper is ready to go, right?”
They were headed toward the chopper, her feet stinging as blood rushed back into them. “It’ll take me five minutes to get off the ground. Where do you want to go?”
“Edge of the nearest small town is good. Just give me a way to get away from them, and I promise not to hurt any of you.”
They were running now, racing for freedom. Erin pulled herself in and started the routine to get the bird off the ground.
Matt was right behind her. “Anything I need to do?” he asked.
“Belt yourself in, put on a headset so you can hear what’s going on. Then shut up.”
He took the closest seat to hers and followed orders. She was too busy to regret snapping at him.
Behind her, Tim moved a little slower, talking to their supposed rescuer, who still held the gun trained on his back. “You’re going to be in trouble with your partners for letting us go.”
“They weren’t my partners. I was hired, like the pilot. There was no need to kill him,” Red said.
“Ahh.” Tim paused. “Figured out you were probably next?”
“Yeah. If they killed him, they have no reason to keep me around, either, not once they get where they’re going.” Red spoke louder as the noise level rose. “Please, don’t use the radio. Don’t turn me in.”
“Right now you’re our best friend, Red.” Erin pulled a headset from the dash and held it in the air. “I won’t call the authorities, but if you put one of these on, it will save all of us our hearing. Tim can show you how it works. Liftoff in two minutes.”
Then she concentrated on making the final preparations.
The normal actions of getting the chopper ready soothed her. Calmed the panic flipping through her veins as the reality of what could have happened flicked like trailer shots through her brain.
The unexpected freedom was nearly giddy-making.
Bullshit on not calling in details, although she’d wait until they were actually off the ground. On this one she agreed with Red—the farther they were from the men with the happy trigger fingers, the better.
The radio flicked in her headset, Tim’s voice coming in. “Push this button to talk. Channel three, okay?”
“Got it.” Red spoke softly. “Hurry.”
Tim settled into the second seat, pulling the seat harness across his chest and slipping on the headset. “Nearly ready.”
Light flashed briefly from the left, and Erin swore. “What’s that?”
“Company. Take off now, Erin,” Tim shouted. “Shit. Shit, shit.”
She pulled them skyward, rotating the chopper as she lifted, attempting to get out of range as quickly as possible.
Curses rang from beside her. “They’re shooting at us. Leave, now.”
Erin throttled forward, sensing the bullet’s contact with the chopper body more than hearing it. The faint light pouring from the cabin door showed two bodies standing in the beam, hands raised, as she headed over the treetops and away from their captors.
She took a deep breath, then eyed the control panel. “Nothing major showing up as hit so far.”
“How long to somewhere to put Red down?” Tim asked. “It’s an emergency.”
Those were the prearranged code words Tim had established before they’d started the rescue—Erin already knew what he had in mind. “Let me check the map.” She clicked channels to number one to speak privately to Tim. “Really put him down?”
Tim answered immediately. “Yes.”
Dammit. She hadn’t expected that response, but she switched back to the open channel immediately before their passenger knew she’d been gone. “Outside a town, right, Red?”
“Anywhere I can get a ride.”
“They’ll be after you,” Tim warned. “We’ll tell the police where Ken and John are, and hopefully they’re caught, but if they get away, will those two know how to track you down?”
“They don’t know much about me. I was hired to transport a bag to them. Then they asked if I wanted to do one more job. I was supposed to be a bodyguard. They didn’t say anything about shooting anyone.”
“Where did you fly out of?” Tim asked. “Will they be able to track you by going back there?”
No answer.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me. Was just curious, but don’t worry about it.” Tim turned and faced forward as Erin mentally suggested he shut up and leave this one alone. “What’s the nearest point you can do a touchdown, Erin?”
She was having a harder time than usual keeping things in a straightforward direction. “There’s a town about fifteen minutes for us, hours by road for Ken and John in case they had a vehicle up at the cabin. Hang on, though, I’m having issues here.”
Tim sat upright. “What kind of issues?”
“They shot something, Tim. I’m not sure what, but I’m losing control of my tail rotor in spurts.”
“That’s not good?” Red asked.
“Not good at all,” Erin confirmed. “I can land, but it might get bumpy before then. Strap yourselves in, guys, I’ll see what I can do.”
* * *
Tim glanced at their passenger. “You know what to do?”
The man was scrambling with the chest harness, twisting it the opposite direction to what needed to happen. “No.”
“Do you want some help?” Tim offered.
Red glanced up, and now instead of just seeing the massive size of the man, Tim spotted how young he was. “Yes.”
Tim was out of his seat when they lost altitude. Just a bump, but enough to drag a shout from all three of them; him, Matt, and Red.
“Sorry, guys. Between whatever the shot busted up out there and the changing temperatures, I don’t know how steady this flight is going to be,” Erin warned.
“You want to take us down the soonest possible?” Tim suggested as he made his way back to Red, clutching seatbacks and tie-downs as he moved in case there was another unexpected jolt.
“I want us down near civilization,” Erin muttered. “I’ve had enough of backcountry landing strips for one day, thanks.”
“Don’t be too picky,” Matt ventured.
Tim pushed Red back into his seat so he could straighten the harness webbing. “I agree with Matt. What if you lose pieces of the chopper altogether?”
“Then we’ll land sooner than anyone expects,” Erin taunted. “Stop fussing, old man, I know how to fly her, even if she’s having a bad day.”
Tim found a thread of amusement in the middle of his stress. He clicked the final straps together on their passenger, glancing up at Red’s face. “Notice she’s talking to the plane like it’s alive? See what I have to deal with all the time?”
The man didn’t smile, but he didn’t frown, either.
Tim gestured to the gun in Red’s hands. “Why don’t you put that away? If the trip does get rough, the last thing any of us needs are holes in vital places. Those kind of concerns make it tough to concentrate.”
Then he stepped away, slipping into one of the side seats and buckling himself in.
The fact that his medical backpack rested in the seat to his left was a big part of his choice of seating.
He strapped himself down. “Erin, did you put out a call yet?”
“No. I was waiting until we drop off Red.”
Shit. He glanced over at the young man. The gun was thankfully no longer out in plain sight. “Your call here, Red. The sooner Erin gets a location to the authorities, the sooner the guys might get caught.”
“But . . .” He frowned. “Yeah, I see that. Can you not tell them about me?”
“No problem,” Erin cut in. “I’m not going to do a ton of talking, only give them the coordinates of the cabin. The police will want to talk to us after we land, but you can be gone by then.”
Nice. Tim nodded reassuringly along with Erin’s words.
Red paused, then gave his approval. “Do it.”
“Thanks, Red. I have to change to a different channel, but we should be down in a few minutes.”
Tim had his backpack turned toward him, the thin hidden zipper along the bottom edge opening easily and allowing him to slip his hand in and make sure what he needed was ready. “Good job, Red. When we touch down, you head wherever you want, and we won’t even watch you go. We’ll take off and hit the closest airfield for the rest. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“And just a suggestion?” Tim made a face. “Check out your prospective customers a little more carefully.”
Red’s answer was lost in the sudden change of volume outside the chopper, and a huge drop in altitude.
Tim instinctively clutched his chest harness. “Erin?”
“Working . . .” Her words died off into an unintelligible mixture of grunts and vicious complaints.
“That sounds more like swearing to me,” he responded. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing good.”
Then she ignored him, the chopper bouncing hard from side to side.
“Hold on tight, Red. This could get bumpy.” Tim followed his own advice, making sure he had his pack strapped in as well. He didn’t need a heavy weight slamming into him unannounced at any time.
Under them lights were appearing more frequently. “We’re into busier airspace, Erin,” he warned.
“Really. I wondered what all those shiny things were. Now shut up, and let me do my job.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Red. “She loves me, really she does.”
“Oh shit, hold on.”
Even her warning wasn’t enough. It was like being back on a cheesy ride at the fair. The ones that spin in a circle, throwing you to the outside of the seat with a sudden jerk before crushing the inside person into the poor sod on the outside edge. Tim was pushed back in his seat, only the left side of his harness webbing preventing him from being shoved any farther. A rapid rotation followed—eerie and hard to handle in the daylight when there were visual cues to help pull his equilibrium back to normal. Now in the mostly dark, it was a Disney ride gone evil. No idea when it would end, or how it would end, or at least that had to be what Red was thinking.
“Make it stop now,” the man begged.
“My God.” The words shook free from Matt, taut and fear-filled. “Erin?”
“Lost the tail rotor,” Erin snapped. “Trying . . . I think . . . Just wait.”
She swore again before cutting off the radio, leaving him, Matt, and Red alone on the line.
“She’s good,” Tim reassured the others, even as he clutched his thighs and concentrated on breathing through the rising nausea that was inevitable with the spin. He’d told Marcus long ago he had a cast-iron stomach, but he still had to work to keep in control.
Also, Erin was brilliant.
The overhead noise cut to a whistle, and the pitch of the chopper changed. Instead of spinning violently, they were moving forward and down, rushing rapidly into the darkness.
Tim’s head was still spinning. Matt was groaning. Red . . .
Their kidnapper was throwing up.
The sounds of his misery faded as Tim clicked to line one. “Erin, we landing soon?”
“Sooner than you’d like. Which tends to happen when you have to turn off your main rotor. We’re on autorotation.”
Shit. “This wasn’t some great ploy of yours?”
“Negative. We have no more tail rotor, and I’m aimed at what I think is a grocery store parking lot. Hope there’s no twenty-four-hour Laundromat or something in the area.”
Tim leaned forward so he could see out the front, but from his angle it was nothing but levers and knobs, and a small windshield that was full of pitch black.
Out the side window the only clue of their forward speed was the flickering lights rushing past, the small balls of light growing larger at an alarming rate. The rush of dizziness had completely left him, a new flood of adrenaline washing through his system and preparing him for anything.
Which hopefully didn’t mean too hard a landing.
He snugged his straps as tight as they would go, then waited, trusting the woman behind the controls to get them through this.
Trust. There it was again, and in this situation there was no one that he’d want to deal with this more than Erin. Once they were out of this hole he’d be happy to spend all the time it took to convince her of that fact.
The lights grew larger still.
Erin came back on the radio. “Brace yourselves, guys. Changing angle in three, two, one . . .”
The aircraft tilted. After moving forward at a nose-down position for however long she’d had them in autorotation—free-fall using the rotors like a parachute, their nose tipped up, slowing their descent and bringing the skids into landing position.
They were in the middle of a parking lot, the tall lights at the corners of the lot creating a fantastic runway as the skids touched down and they basically landed like an aircraft, rolling forward briefly over the snow-slicked concrete. Erin brought them along so smoothly Tim wasted no time. He unsnapped his harness and grabbed his gun, out of his seat the moment the chopper tugged to a stop.
He turned on Red and got the gun into position. “Don’t move.”
The man’s expression of misery barely changed. “What the hell?”
Outside, flashing red-and-blue lights were converging on the chopper. Erin came back online. “Police are here. Sorry, Red, but there are some promises that aren’t meant to be kept. Anything that starts with a gun involved would be one of them. But we’ll tell the authorities exactly how much you helped us, and what we know you did and didn’t do. The rest is up to you, and how much information you have to give them.”
“Shit.”
Erin had shut down everything and stood in the cockpit, a gun in her own hand. “Tim, go talk to the police. Matt and I’ll keep an eye on Red here until they can take him away.”
There was the usual scramble of dealing with the police made much easier because their kidnapper-turned-rescuer wasn’t interested in struggling as he got put into the back of a squad car.
Tim was ready to burst from pride. They still had a ton of details to deal with, but for now? They were back in civilization and they were alive. There was no way this could be considered anything but a win, and Erin had been a major part of it.
Matt leaned on the car hood beside him. “I had no idea glacier tours were so . . . invigorating.”
Tim laughed. “Yeah. Erin knows how to show a guy a good time, doesn’t she?”
Erin slipped into his arms and squeezed him tight. “Maybe we can avoid the being-kidnapped part next time.” She held out a hand to Matt, and he leaned in and caught it. “I’m glad we made it out of that in one piece.”
“With my money still intact,” Matt added with a laugh.
“Hey, you notice your money got you a spot in the cabin instead of the shed. See how handy that was?” Tim teased. Erin leaned harder against him, and he cherished her warmth. The affirmation that she was alive.
That they were all alive.
“No more cabins. No more sheds,” Erin stated firmly. “And you two are responsible for finding us a way home from here. I’m done driving for the day.”