Page 29 of Protecting the Flame

Chapter 8

What?

Her heart crammed into the back of her throat. The hackles bristled along the nape of her neck and up and down her arms. Had that been a scream? A real shout from a person? She listened hard, trying to hear above the continual dull patter of snow hitting snow. The sound had been very high, almost womanish, but coming from where? Which direction? It had been so unexpected, she couldn’t really tell.

She opened her mouth to call out—

And stopped herself.

Did she want an answer? Anyone looking for them wouldn’t scream. They would call. They would shout. More likely, they’d use a bullhorn or blast something down from a loudspeaker mounted on a chopper. But other than snow, the air was still.

If she called and someone did respond, what then? She’d have to go look. She’d have to tell Will and he’d insist on slogging out into this storm and then anything might happen and if something happened to Will…

Wasn’t it better to say nothing?

My God, no, what was wrong with her? It might be Mattie’s grandfather or Scott. It could Hunter or Burke. The cockpit might be very close by, although, no, that cry, that solitary scream, had sounded far away.

She turned in a slow circle. If it comes again,I’ll go check it out. Otherwise, it was nothing. It was my imagination. It could’ve been an animal, for all she knew. Rabbits screamed; their screams were actually quite bad, almost human, like the scream of a little kid. She knew because once she’d been at her bubbe’s house when a red fox had made her den under a shed in back. She liked to watch the baby kits chase one another and play, although Bubbe Sarah’s cat, Thomas, had to stay inside because he was too curious and would end up in a fox’s stomach. One afternoon, she’d been startled to hear a series of blood-curdling screams. She’d nearly jumped out of her skin, but Sarah had said only, Oh, sounds like rabbit’s on the menu. Sure enough, a short time later, she watched as the kits took the rabbit their mother had brought and spent more time playing with it, tossing it up and down, than actually eating.

If it comes again, I’ll tell Will.She listened now, nerves fizzing. If not…well…

No harm, no foul.