Page 22

TWENTY-TWO

Sharp pain pierced Merritt’s head. Her ears rang so loud it muted everything else. The acrid smell of burnt oil coated her nose and throat. Frigid wind and sleet pelted her as she tried to lower her arms from above her head.

The fuselage shifted, and her body jolted to the side, snapping her eyes open. Dirty snow piled in front of her beyond the space where the windshield should be. Suspended upside down not only disoriented her, but the harness dug into her shoulder.

She blinked and shook her head to clear her vision, causing a spike of pain to drill through her skull and down her spine. She couldn’t stop the cry that ripped from her throat.

“Merritt?” Tiikaan groaned beside her.

“I’m okay.” She turned her head, tears blurring her vision even more at the blood running down the side of Tiikaan’s face into his beard.

Wide, worried eyes scanned her. His hand reached up to her cheek and pushed into her hair to wrap strong fingers along her scalp. The touch steadied her, and she leaned into it.

“I’m okay,” she repeated, though she really couldn’t tell beyond the agonizing ache building in her head. “You’re bleeding.”

She reached out to touch his forehead. He captured her hand and kissed her fingers.

“It’s fine.” He pressed his lips to her palm, closing his eyes, pressing his nose against her wrist and inhaling. He kissed her wrist, then speared her with a determined look. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I’m good with that plan.” She forced a chuckle but cut it off with a groan.

Tiikaan braced one hand on the ceiling and released his harness. He collapsed to the ceiling with a groan, but quickly wiggled the rest of his body so he was on his knees. Merritt reached for her buckle, but he held his hand out for her to wait.

“Nolan?” Tiikaan asked, peering into the back seat as he maneuvered his body under Merritt’s.

The only response was a groan. Merritt prayed her uncle was okay. She didn’t think she could handle losing him as well.

“He’s breathing.” Tiikaan knelt on the plane’s ceiling below her. “Let’s get you out, then we’ll get your uncle.”

Tiikaan’s eyes locked with Merritt’s. Without warning, he surged upward, his lips capturing hers in an urgent, upside-down kiss. The world tilted on its axis as his mouth moved against hers, desperate and demanding.

Merritt’s heart thundered in her chest, matching the frantic pace of Tiikaan’s. She tasted the metallic tang of blood on his lips, felt the tremor in his touch as his fingers tangled in her hair. The kiss was a lifeline, an anchor in the chaos surrounding them.

She clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she returned his fervor with equal intensity. Their breaths mingled, hot and ragged, momentarily disappearing in the biting cold seeping into the wreckage.

When they finally broke apart, gasping, Tiikaan sat back on his heels and rested his forehead against hers.

“I thought I’d lost you.” His voice, usually so steady, now trembled raw and broken with barely contained emotion.

Merritt swallowed hard, her own guilt and worry threatening to choke her.

“I’m right here,” she breathed, her fingers tracing the line of his jaw. “We’re both here.”

“I’m sorr?—”

“No. Nolan and I shouldn’t have pushed so hard to get back to Barrow.”

Tiikaan shook his head. “But I shouldn’t have even taken off.”

“So, since all of us were idiots, no one is taking the blame.”

He huffed, his skin bunching around his eyes. “Let’s get you out of here.”

She slid her fingers through his beard, threaded them in his hair, and pulled him in for another searing kiss. When he pulled away, both their chests heaved. She smiled at him .

“I always wanted my own Spiderman hanging kiss.” She winked at Tiikaan.

“Oh, really?” He stifled a smile as he positioned himself under her and reached for her buckle.

“Didn’t think I’d be the one hanging, but my hero is definitely sexier than Tobey Maguire.”

Tiikaan scoffed as he wrapped her arm over his shoulders. “Be prepared to hold on to me.”

“Oh, I don’t plan on ever letting you go.”

He froze, his gaze capturing hers. Her eyes didn’t waver from his, willing him to see the truth of her words. He was embedded in her soul, so he’d better get used to the idea of them together.

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Good.”

With his one-word answer, giddiness swamped her. She hung from a wrecked fuselage, sleet pelted her face, and pain radiated through her body, but she couldn’t stop her ridiculous smile from pushing her cheeks up. He rolled his eyes, his pressed lips tipping at the corners.

“Ready?”

“Cut me loose, Spidey.” She squeezed her arm across his shoulders, but her hands tingled. Would her muscles even hold her with the loss of circulation?

“Nope. You’re not landing that nickname on me.” He reached for her buckle.

“Why not?” The pressure on her shoulders released, and she gasped as she fell.

Her downward motion jolted to a halt as Tiikaan deftly caught her, cradling her in his arms. She tightened her arm around him, pressing her face into his neck as a wave of lightheadedness crashed over her. Her body trembled with residual fear and adrenaline.

He squeezed her against his chest, then pushed back, gently setting her beside him. “Well, I’m not flexible at all. I can’t scale walls or shoot webs.”

“But you’re strong.” She wrapped her hand around his bicep and wagged her eyebrows when it flexed. “The way you flew us through that storm, missing mountains we couldn’t see clearly proves you have spidey sense.”

He shook his head and pushed on the door to get out. “Instruments did the work there.”

The door held, so he slammed his shoulder into it, his back muscles rippling beneath his t-shirt. It gave way with a crunch, but only opened an inch.

“And you’re more flexible than you think.” She crawled into the other side of the cockpit to give him more room, peeking back at Nolan who grumbled from his upside-down position about banging and his headache, and relief rushed through her that he was waking up. “You practically pretzeled when you let yourself loose from the buckle.”

Tiikaan’s laugh was abrupt, and the smile that stretched across his face was exactly what she hoped to pull out.

“Could we focus here and get me out?” Nolan’s annoyance rumbled like the thunder still filling the sky.

Tiikaan shoved his shoulder into the door again. “Working on it.”

With the next hit, the door swung open. Tiikaan barely caught himself from tumbling out. He eased out, then went to work on the passenger door .

Merritt crawled along the ceiling—or was it considered the floor? She shook off the unnecessary question and squeezed her way to the back where Nolan hung like a trapped bandit.

“You okay?” She ran her hands over his head and shoulders.

“Yeah. Just banged up.” He mumbled, his face red from being suspended. “You?”

“You know us Harlands.” She pressed a quick kiss to her uncle’s cheek. “We’re hard to knock down.”

He exhaled a humorless laugh. “That’s the truth.”

The screeching of metal as Tiikaan opened the passenger door made her cringe. Tiikaan climbed in beside her, focusing on getting Nolan loose.

As he helped Nolan out, his muscles bulging from his neck as he kept her uncle from crashing, her hero image of Tiikaan solidified. Her uncle wasn’t a small man.

Nolan slumped against the seat, his hand shaking as he pushed it through his disheveled graying hair. “What now?”

Tiikaan took a deep breath and pushed it out with a huff. “We gather what we can and head for the ice cave at the bottom of the glacier. We’ll have more room there and be out of the weather.”

“Then what?” Merritt leaned on the back of the pilot seat.

“Then we wait for the storm to pass, come back to the plane, and wait some more for the rescue.”

He shrugged. “The plane has an emergency beacon that’s signaling our location, and we’ll call out with the radio before we leave to let the cavalry know where we are holing up and that we need to be rescued.”

“When will they come to get us?”

“The storm should blow out by morning.”

“Okay.” That didn’t sound so bad. “What do you need me to do?”

“Grab anything up front that you need. I’ll get the survival packs from the back.” Tiikaan climbed out the door.

She crawled back to the front. Relief rushed the air from her lungs when she found her satchel wedged under the pedals.

If she’d lost her computer, all the research she’d done into her father’s death and the inconsistency of the mine reports would be lost. The bag ripped at the seam as she yanked it from the cramped space, leaving a collection of pens and receipts behind.

Tiikaan set a pack beside her, then one next to Nolan. “Here are your go-bags. They have a change of clothes, food, and some survival gear.”

“You packed one for each of us?” She fingered the strap of hers.

“Of course.” He swung his off his shoulder and set it on the snow.

“Of course,” she whispered, once again impressed by the unassuming man.

Tiikaan waved her toward him. “Why don’t you climb on out? I’ll make sure the emergency beacon is firing, get that call in that we need to be picked up once the storm passes, then we’ll head to the cave.”

His warm hand enveloped hers as he helped her out. She leaned into his side. She wanted to hold on tightly, but they had more important things to do.

Like surviving.

As he climbed into the plane, she quickly opened the pack and shoved her torn satchel in before pulling the pack on. She didn’t want to take any chance of something important falling out and getting lost. Nolan grunted as he climbed out and stood next to her.

“Quite the prepared man you’ve got yourself.” Nolan’s eyebrows bunched together. “Though he shouldn’t have put us in this position to begin with.”

“No. Stop.” She slashed her hand through the air and leaned in so only Nolan could hear her. “You are not placing this on him, not with how bullish you were about getting to Barrow.”

Nolan narrowed his eyes at her. She raised one warning eyebrow at him. With a humph, he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Here. Hold this.” Tiikaan shoved something toward her, drawing her attention away from her uncle.

She took the harness swinging toward her. When she realized a pistol hung in it, her eyes widened. Was he worried they’d run into bears?

Bears liked caves, didn’t they?

Panic galloped in her chest, and her hands trembled.

“Let me take that, pumpkin.” Nolan eased the harness from her fingers, patted her on the back, then put the shoulder harness on.

Did he even know how to use the gun? Of course, he did. He’d been in the CIA, and he and her dad went shooting at the range every week .

She pushed the heel of her hand against her forehead to try and slow the feeling like she might faint. Spiraling into a panic attack now would not only be ridiculous but would be dangerous.

“There aren’t bears in the cave, are there?” She hated how weak her voice sounded.

“No. The opening is too large. Bears like dark, hidden holes.” Tiikaan pushed a small case into her hand and crawled from the plane. “Besides, with it being summer, it’ll be cold and damp from the glacier melting. Nothing would want to be there on purpose.”

“Sounds cozy.” She mumbled into his chest as he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Five stars, all the way.” He forced a smile, then dug into his pack.

He pulled out a headlamp and put it on. Next, he grabbed a coil of rope from the cockpit and draped it over his shoulder so it rested across his body. Every movement was sure and strong.

She bit her bottom lip, her cheeks heating despite the cold wind. Alaskan tough was sexy as all get out.

Swinging his pack on with a grunt, he grabbed her hand. “Stay close behind me. I want us in a tight, single file line so we know that our steps are safe.”

“Safe?” Nolan asked.

“The ground might break away.” He pointed off to the side where a section of snow had caved in a large hole. “There’s a river of runoff flowing from the glacier under us. There’s no telling how far ice covers the river. We want to avoid falling in. ”

That possibility doused any heat she had. She squeezed his hand, worry for him crashing over her.

“If the ground is unstable, how are you going to keep safe?” She hated the tremble in her voice.

Maybe they should just stay at the plane. It seemed stable enough.

Tiikaan let her hand go and yanked on a busted wing support. It broke the rest of the way free with a pop. He grinned at her, lifting his makeshift staff in hand.

“I’ll test the ground before I step.”

Right. Okay. He had everything under control. All she had to do was follow.

The entire way to the cave, she stuck as close to his back as possible without stepping on his feet. The wind snapped around them, driving the sharp snow into her face. Tears streamed from her eyes. Her fingers burned with cold.

Her leather jacket protected her torso from getting wet, but it did nothing to keep her warm. Between the weight of her pack, the shifting snow beneath her feet, and the shivers convulsing her muscles, exhaustion quickly zapped her body.

Wasn’t that a sign of hypothermia? How fast did that set in? She clearly needed to do more research into cold weather survival because she came up empty. She just prayed the cave was warmer, and they could find a dry place to wait for a rescue.

After what seemed like hours and her feet going numb in her hikers, the cave appeared through the sideways snow. The huge opening spanned a good twenty-five feet across and fifteen feet high .

She followed Tiikaan in and had an eerie feeling of Luke Skywalker on planet Hoth when the white snow beast tried to eat him. Tiikaan popped a flare, lifted it high, and when the end of the cave couldn’t be seen, dropped it ten feet inside the entrance.

He shrugged off his pack and turned to them. “Your packs have water in the right side of the big pocket and a headlamp in the front. Let’s hydrate before we go any farther, but don’t drink too much. We need our water to last.”

“Is it safe?” Nolan asked with a groan as he stripped off his pack.

Tiikaan shrugged, not giving Merritt the boost of confidence she was hoping for. “If we can, I’d like to get out of the wind. Sometimes, there are places where the ground below has been exposed through the ice. Hopefully, we find some and can set up camp.”

He took two gulps, put the cap on, and stowed the canteen in his pack. He wasn’t joking about conserving water.

She did the same, then found the headlamp. When she attempted to turn it on, she blinded herself. So much for acting like she knew what she was doing. She scanned the cave with the light. Ice sparkled against the dark shadows, but it did nothing to lessen the overall creepy atmosphere.

A gust of wind blew a wave of snow over them. She jerked the headlamp on with trembling hands and swung the pack on. At least it offered some protection against the wind.

“Let’s go.” Tiikaan tipped his head toward the back of the cave.

She caught up to him. With the cave as big as it was, they could walk side by side. Heck, they could park the plane in here, if it wasn’t flipped on its roof.

She cringed.

She hadn’t even considered that Tiikaan had lost his livelihood. Did he have another plane? She’d buy him one and make sure it was in Alaska as fast as possible. The cave groaned, jerking her off her rabbit trail.

“So… what’s your thoughts on Sasquatch?” Her voice wavered. “I’m getting a whole Luke hanging from the ceiling as the yeti space monster prepares the fire kind of vibe here.”

Tiikaan’s laugh echoed off the walls. Nolan muttered something behind them too low to hear. Tiikaan scanned the area, the light shining off ice stalactites and stalagmites before them.

“If there are such a thing, they could easily hide behind any one of these columns.” His smile widened as he shifted his gaze over to her. “You better stay close.”

“Noted.” One step the ground was crunchy ice, the next slick as snot. Her feet slipped out from under her. “Whoop!”

Tiikaan grabbed her arm.

“Whoa.” He pulled her close to his side. “Let me help you.”

“How much farther?” Nolan grumbled from behind them.

“Let’s get past this set of pillars.” Tiikaan pointed to a jagged row of tall ice teeth in front of them. “They’ll help block the wind.”

“It’s perfect.” She led the way, determined to be the positive opposite of what her uncle was being.

She made her way between two of the columns. Once through, the light from her headlamp still disappeared into the dark belly of the cave. Just how far did it reach?

As she walked, she scanned the walls and ceiling. The temperature felt warmer back there. Definitely not warm, but not frigid, either.

Her next step met air. She pinwheeled her arms as she fell forward toward rushing water.

“Whoa!” Tiikaan jerked her to a halt by the backpack and swung her backward into his arms.

“Holy cow.” She trembled as she burrowed into his chest. “Where the heck did that water come from?”

“It’s the snowmelt.” Tiikaan rubbed her back before holding her in a tight squeeze against him. “Basically, every summer there’s probably an underground river from the heat. Another month and we might not even be able to walk in here.”

“That’s scary.”

“Yeah. Fall in and who knows how long it will take before you come out from under the ice.”

She shivered, and he held her tighter.

“I guess your perfect was the right word after all,” Nolan said.

Merritt turned to him, confused by his tone. She froze when the light from her headlamp glinted off the pistol pointed at her.

“Nolan?” Her voice trembled at her uncle’s sneering face.

His twisted smile made her knees weak. “I couldn’t ask for a more perfect place to get rid of you.”