Chapter Forty-Six

Getting back outside took longer than Suede expected. After a short nap, a shower, and toast with coffee, the sun made a weak appearance. Buttoned up in the same snowsuit and gear she’d worn when she climbed Old Man Mountain with Chance, Suede closed the cabin’s front door behind her and faced her brand new day. The fresh scent of pine filled the air as Gallo bounded down the steps and through the snow.

She stood there drinking in the cold, fresh air, pulling its pine-fresh scent deep into her lungs. Delicious, that was what it was. Utterly delicious. If this day were a cake, she’d take a slice of it now to save for later.

The light snow that had fallen earlier left the evergreen forest at her right dusted, turning the pines festive despite their missing branches and the raw bark on some of their trunks. Wasn’t Chance clever to have pre-planned for an attack like he had? It was awesomely scary, but Suede understood. They both seemed to have some pretty lethal enemies.

“Arff!” Gallo barked at her from the shade of a stately pine, his nose in the snow and his bright eyes on her.

“Work first,” she told him. “This won’t take long.”

Energized after her nap, Suede looked the porch over. The snow shovel stood in the far corner at her left, just as buried in fluffy white as everything else. By the time Chance returned, she’d have the porch and steps cleared, maybe a path into the woods as well. He’d warned her to stay close to the cabin. That didn’t mean she couldn’t get a little exercise.

Funny dog. With each shovel of the white stuff, Gallo attacked, grabbed a jaw full, slapping his paws when it settled to the pile accumulating beside the porch, just generally being a kid at heart. Suede tossed a shovel of snow over him, tickled when he lifted to his haunches and batted it. “You’re such a goofy guy,” she told him. Setting the shovel aside, she ducked down for a big handful and cancelled the project. Time to play ball.

“Catch!” she squealed, tossing the snowball in an arc over Gallo’s head. He pushed off like a deer. His powerful hind feet dug into the frozen ground and up, up, up he went, twisting in the air like a snake to catch that prize. And he did! A laugh burst out of Suede when his powerful jaws snapped his plaything into nothing. Gallo hit the ground perplexed, rooting through the snow for the ball that had disappeared. So funny!

While he pawed the snow, Suede packed another, mentally adding dog toys to the next drone order. She hadn’t had this much fun in forever. Every snowball Gallo crunched earned a giggle she couldn’t suppress. He looked so cute!

Suede spread her arms and dropped backward onto the snow, sweating, but content with the way her life had turned out. Snow angel baby, here I come!

Swooshing her hands over her head, she stretched her legs wide and flapped all fours, smiling at the delightful picture of clouds and evergreen branches overhead. But she should’ve known Gallo would be up for this fun new game. As quick as a jackrabbit, he pounced on her. Hugging his neck, Suede rolled to her side, giggling. This wasn’t Montana. This was heaven.

“You’re as crazy as I am,” she told him sincerely as a cold, wet nose slid along her cheek. “But no kisses.”

By then, the snow angel baby was officially an unrecognizable mess. Excited by who knew what, Gallo tucked his tail under his haunches and launched into a wide lap that took him around the nearest trees, to the opposite edge of the cabin and back to Suede.

“Go, Gallo, go,” she chanted, urging him as he gathered speed, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. Wasn’t that cool, a dog smiling just because of snow?

Out of breath, Suede eased to her butt on the still un-shoveled steps. The marvel of being alive on this fresh and beautiful new day hit her hard. She owed everything to this happy-go-lucky dog. She didn’t know what had possessed him that night, but he’d come for her, and because his owner loved him, Chance had rescued her. Talk about Karma.

The miracle of it brought tears to her eyes. “Thank you, God,” she said sincerely, from the bottom of a heart that had once been sullied and cynical, full of despair. Suede wiped the back of her gloved hand over her cheek. Nobody got second chances in this life, but here she was, living a perfect day in the most beautiful place on Earth.

“It’s time to go in,” she called to Gallo before she turned melancholy. Too much introspection encouraged depression. She needed to bake something. Anything! Soon. Lifting to her feet, she slapped her knees and called again, “Gallo! Let’s go!”

What she got was body-slammed by a gangly German Shepherd. Suede came up laughing. “You want to play rough?” Smacking his rump playfully, she bucked to dislodge him from her lap. “Get off. You weigh a ton.”

But Gallo didn’t budge. His feet were spread and his head had lowered. His hackles were up, and a deep growl rumbled from his throat.

“What’s wrong, boy?” she asked, jockeying onto her elbows to see around his fuzzy body to the forest. God, please don’t let a bear or wolf be after us. For sure not a mountain lion.

Suede ran a hand over her face, now dripping with melted snow. “Oh crap,” hissed out of her. There he was. Standing in the shadows as if he thought she couldn’t see him. A man in black leathers. York’s right-hand man. Domingo Zapata.

She fisted Gallo’s mane to keep him from charging. Zapata would kill man or dog without compunction. “Time to go inside.”

Gallo didn’t move, but Zapata did.

*****

A red and silver helicopter banked to the left far ahead of Woody’s chopper. Could be anyone. A news channel. A private pilot. Julio Juarez. Domingo Zapata.

Hyper-vigilance sat heavy on Chance’s shoulder like a demon from hell. Every man-made thing in the sky was a tango and they were all going after Suede. The aftermath of past choices, two in particular, nagged at him that this could all go so, so wrong.

Once aboard the chopper, he’d doctored Pagan’s rump with a shot of Quik Clot and an antiseptic pressure bandage. The bullet still had to come out, but helicopters weren’t known to be optimum surgical sites. Baby Brother might be uncomfortable, but he’d live.

With every mile still to go, Chance’s blood pressure ramped higher. If Suede stayed indoors, she’d be fine. But the woman had cabin fever, and who could blame her if she stepped outside? With the house quiet and only Gallo for company, yeah. Chance blocked the thoughts of her taking his brainless dog for a walk. Into the forest. Alone.

“Can’t this son-of-a-bitch go any faster?” hissed out of him.

Woody nodded once, but his five-seater was no Eurocopter X3, the fastest helo on the market, and he’d already pushed the turbine-powered engine to its limit of one-forty miles-per-hour. Still not fast enough, but those were the breaks. A man made his choices and there Chance was, stuck with the knowledge that his split decision to save his brother might cost Suede her life.

“Stay inside,” he commanded her across the distance. God, please, stay inside where you’re safe.

Chance swallowed hard, his gloves forsaken and his fingernails digging into his palms as they passed over Western Washington and the northern leg of the Columbia River. From liftoff, Woody had set a straight flight. Spokane lay ahead to the northeast. Beyond that the Idaho panhandle and the northwestern most corner of Montana. Chance cursed the day. His parcel of land would be worthless without Suede Tennyson to share it with. Hell, the whole world would fit that category if anything happened to her. She was his heart, his soul, and every last one of his reasons to live.

Pagan’s heavy hand clamped Chance’s shoulder. “She’s smart. She’ll know what to do,” he called out over the engine noise.

“Yeah, but…” Chance let his fears go unspoken. Gallo. It all depended on a hardheaded dog that had yet to act like the watchdog he should be. The kicker was that Gallo would already be a decent guard dog if Chance had taken the time to train him, to build him into one of the finely-honed EOD dogs he’d worked with, flown with, and served with. But he hadn’t.

Grief over losing his mom and his men had weighed heavily on him then. Hell, he’d been buried in it. Stuck. His own injuries had played a role in his melancholy, but they hadn’t compared to losing so many of the people he loved. Despite all he’d done to get his head back in the game, there’d been days it was damned hard getting out of bed in the morning. Until Suede dropped into his life, then BOOM. He was alive again. He was himself.

“But shit, I’ve been sloppy,” he murmured, not caring who heard or who judged.

“I’m only going to say this once, Big Brother, because Mom’s listening, I know she is,” Pagan growled in Chance’s ear. “You ain’t been sloppy. You’ve been sad, so shut the fuck up about that shit. It’s hammer time. You’re going in hot and you’re getting your woman.”

Chance cast Pagan a spiked brow. “We’ve both been cussing a lot lately.”

Pagan’s eyes popped. “Shit, I’m sorry man, but I cuss when I’m hurt. Mom would too if she’d been shot in the ass.” He lifted his eyes heavenward. “Sorry, Mom, but I know you would.”

As usual, Pagan was right on the money. Chance let the past roll off his shoulders and focused on the job at hand. This wasn’t about ghosts and it wasn’t about losing. He didn’t intend to be late this time. Zapata, if he were smart enough, had better stay the hell away from Suede Tennyson.