Tundra Threat (4 page)

Another shot fired.

No. Everything could wait.

He climbed in and did as she said, taking off more roughly than he had since he’d first started flying.

But they were up and in minutes would be out of range.

For now.

Will focused on the instrument panel, clenching and unclenching his fists on the wheel to try to calm his nerves. When he was sure they were safe, he turned to McKenna. “What were you thinking? You should have gotten down!”

“I knew what I was doing.”

“You almost got us killed. You’re new at this, McKenna.” He let the frustration of the past however many hours loose in his tone.

“I’m new to the area not to the job. I’ve been doing this for years, and I really do know what I’m doing. It’s my job, Will. Not yours.”

“I have experience, life experience you don’t have.”

“Five years more, Will. That’s it. I’m not a kid.”

“I still wish you’d listened to me.”

“This is my
job,
Will. I have to make split-second judgments and not look back. But I am trained to do it. And if we’re going to be working together, you’re going to have to trust me to know the right course instead of second-guessing me.”

Will took a deep breath, powering down emotions that had gone wild at the thought of her being hurt or killed. Yeah, this was her job. Theoretically she had the necessary training for it. But that stupid running-to-the-plane stunt while they were taking fire...

“Okay.” He could think of nothing else to say.

“Couldn’t you hear that the shots were fired from closer range the second time?”

He hadn’t noticed that. “You’re sure?”

She nodded, face more serious than he’d ever seen it. “I’m sure.”

So the shooter had been creeping closer the whole time they’d been waiting him out, hoping he’d leave. That made sense since his first couple shots hadn’t hit his mark.

“I guess I owe you an apology then.”

“No need. You saved my life the first time by taking me down with you.”

He nodded, knowing she was right. But she’d saved his life, too, by insisting that they run for the plane. This time, their shared skills and experience had been enough to keep them safe. But the shooter wasn’t someone to underestimate, and he’d almost certainly strike again. Will just hoped his own abilities and McKenna’s would be enough to protect them through the next skirmish, too.

* * *

Will hadn’t said another word until they’d reached Barrow, landed the plane and were unloading.

“Be careful, McKenna,” he finally said. His eyes met hers and the intensity in them made it impossible for her to look away.

“I will be. I can take care—”

“Of yourself. You’ve made that clear.”

She couldn’t read what emotion was in his eyes. Couldn’t come close to naming it. But whatever it was stirred something inside of her, and maybe it was that, or the stress of the day, but she couldn’t picture going home with no human company. Not yet.

“Want to come over for coffee?”

He glanced at his watch. “It’s five-thirty and you’re more worried about coffee than dinner?”

McKenna shrugged, feeling herself blush. She hadn’t even thought about what time it was, had just come up with any reason she could to spend a little more time with Will.

“How about I fix dinner for us and then we’ll have coffee, maybe watch a movie,” he offered.

She searched his face for any indication that he was doing this out of pity for her, or that he knew she was scared, but saw none.

He must have misinterpreted her silence, because he hurried to clarify. “Not as a date or anything. Just two old friends, hanging out, if that’s what you’re worried about.” His easy smile, meant to reassure her, made a blush creep to the edges of her cheeks.

For a split second, she squeezed her eyes shut. Imagined what it would be like to actually be on a
date
with Will Harrison. Then just as quickly she shoved the thought back where it had come from. The last thing she needed was to get caught thinking such embarrassing things about someone who was only her friend.

“I thought you couldn’t cook?” she said as soon as she remembered.

The corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. “By fix dinner I meant bring pizza.”

“Is there a pizza place in this town?” She didn’t remember seeing one. But she hadn’t been everywhere yet.

“Bear’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria is as good or better than anything you’ll find in the city. They have a deluxe pizza that’s unbelievably good. I’ll swing by your house as soon as I pick it up. Sound good?”

“Works for me. But don’t pile up the pizza under loads of stuff. I want to be able to taste the cheese.”

“Trust me, will you? I promise you’ll like it.”

His words still rang in her ears as she climbed into her car and drove toward her house. She did trust him. With her life. She just knew better than to ever again trust him with her heart.

She parked her car on the gravel pad beside her house and climbed the stairs to the front door with caution, looking around to make sure nothing had been disturbed while she was gone. She eased the door open and Mollie came barreling toward her, tongue hanging out of her mouth.

“I’m guessing you missed me?” McKenna laughed as she petted the dog and pulled the door shut behind her. “I would have brought you if I hadn’t been afraid you’d attract wild animals I would rather not run into.”

The dog just wagged her tail and continued to dance around excitedly.

“Will’s coming over tonight,” she found herself telling the dog. “To hang out with me.” In case that part needed clarification. It was strange to her to think that after all these years they’d picked up their friendship practically where they’d left off, ignoring the awkwardness that had started between them just before Will left for college when she’d come close to fully admitting the childish crush she had on him.

Of course, a lot had changed since then. When Will had left Seward, McKenna had wanted to become a marine biologist and work at the Sealife Center in Seward. Now look what she was doing. Will hadn’t been sure what he’d wanted to do when he headed off to college, but he’d gotten married and started on his adult life.

Now, seven years later, here they were.

McKenna shoved her reminiscences aside. It would be better to use the time she had to go over the case.

As she walked by the kitchen table, she glanced at the spot where she’d first spotted the threatening note. It was still there. She kept walking and then stopped in her tracks, walking backward as she blinked quickly, in case her eyes had deceived her. Hadn’t she moved it?

No, a paper was there. But it wasn’t the note that she’d found in the early hours of the morning. This one was new.

He’d been in her house. Again.

You chose not to listen. Suit yourself. I may have missed this time, but next time will be a different story.

FOUR

T
he text he’d gotten from McKenna had said
come quick.
Which was why Will was barreling down the narrow dirt road to her house. He couldn’t think of any good reason she’d text him that, but plenty of bad ones came to mind.

He pressed the gas a little harder and swung the truck into her pitiful excuse for a driveway. What she’d been thinking when she rented this place, he’d never understand. He knew troopers weren’t rich, but they were paid enough to afford better than this.

“McKenna?” he yelled as he took the steps two at a time and tried the doorknob. It was locked. He pounded on the door, not caring what the neighbors might be thinking. “McKenna!”

When she finally opened the door, Will’s eyebrows rose. She’d kept her cool throughout the scene earlier in the day when they’d been shot at by a sniper, but now her eyes were wide and her face had paled several shades lighter than normal. Her dog stood next to her, looking tense.

“He was here,” McKenna whispered.

“Where?”

She gulped. “In my house.” Hands quivering, she held out a piece of paper that Will took and read. He wanted to ball it up in his fist—what kind of person threatened another like that?—but he knew it was evidence. Valuable evidence. “Is this all you found?”

“Yes.”

“Did you check the rest of the house? To make sure nothing’s out of place?”

“Of course.” She flashed him a look of annoyance. “I cleared all of the rooms and then sat down on the couch with Mollie.”

“You’re not staying here anymore.”

He watched her features harden and her eyes begin to flash. “I don’t know why you think you have the right to make my choices for me, but it’s my decision.” She lifted her chin, challenging him to respond.

Will did what he’d learned was best to do when McKenna’s Irish temper flared and her safety was at stake. He ignored it. “This place is a dump. You shouldn’t have been living here in the first place.”

“The price was good.”

“Are you saying this is all you can afford? Is it legal for the state to pay troopers that little?”

She moved toward him and reopened the front door. “Thanks for coming. I changed my mind. I’ll figure this out on my own.”

“Look.” Will pushed the door closed. “We’re friends, McKenna. You’re like a sister to me and I’m just trying to help you. Now, seriously, do you have the money for a better place? I can help you out with that if you need it.” He knew she wouldn’t take the offer but figured he’d put it out there for what it was worth. He’d meant what he said, her family had given him a second home during high school, years he hadn’t wanted to be at his house. Taking care of her now was the least he could do.

“I make plenty,” she insisted, collapsing back into her seat on the sofa. “But...” She shrugged. “I’m hoping this job won’t last long, so I’m saving my pay to get a nice place when I move again.”

Will had expected as much—she’d all but said she didn’t want to be in a town like Barrow when he’d talked her into taking him on as her pilot, but it still hurt to hear her admit that this town wasn’t worth it to her.

“Maybe if you solve this case they’ll be so impressed they’ll promote you again.”

McKenna laughed. “Yeah, straight to somewhere like Dutch Harbor,” she joked, naming a town about the size of Barrow that sat almost at the end of the Aleutian Island chain. “Not exactly the step up I’d be hoping for, but with my luck...”

“How about you solve it anyway, just to put my mind at ease, okay?”

Her face sobered. “I’m sorry again about today, Will. I never guessed all of that would happen. I hate that I put you in that situation.”

“I’m glad I was there with you, even if I wasn’t really much help.”

A few heartbeats of silence passed. McKenna’s piercing gaze never left his. He shifted in his seat, still not comfortable that all was clear. Or maybe that was just discomfort over how close they’d ended up sitting. “Let’s check the rest of the house one more time. In more detail,” Will said at last, finally breaking their eye contact. If they sat there too long, it felt as if she’d be able to see straight to the center of his heart. And he wasn’t ready to let
anyone
that close. Not again.

To his surprise, she didn’t fight him. Just nodded and stood.

* * *

Together they searched the bathroom and McKenna’s bedroom. Everything was clear. Will’s mind was telling him to relax, but his body wouldn’t obey. Something still had his shoulders tense.

“It’s clear,” she insisted again. “Nothing but that note on the table.”

“Remind me what that said again?” Will requested as he checked the hall closet for a third time. He couldn’t shake the feeling they were overlooking something.

“Something about how he might have missed that time, but he wouldn’t the next time,” she recounted again, her face twisting in distaste at the words.

He couldn’t blame her. The guy, whoever was behind this, had certainly made his intentions clear.

Maybe that was why Will felt as if he couldn’t let his guard back down. Maybe there was nothing in the house right now that could pose a threat, just the general threat that the man was still out there.

“Where’s Mollie?” He’d only just noticed she wasn’t with them. She’d followed them from the living room at the start of their search and had been faithfully nosing around behind them. Will had watched her lift her snout to sniff the air a few times, as if she thought she could help that way, but even her best attempts hadn’t uncovered anything. She’d seemed extra needy for attention as they’d continued searching, but then had disappeared.

McKenna looked around. “She was just here, wasn’t she?” Alarm crept into her tone.

They retraced their steps around the small house until they found Mollie stretched out on the floor in McKenna’s room. “You okay, girl?” McKenna knelt down next to the dog, who sleepily raised her head to meet her owner’s gaze, then flopped back onto the floor.

The eyes McKenna turned on Will were full of panic. “You don’t think...”

He watched the dog for a minute, seeing what McKenna saw even after the limited exposure he’d had to Mollie. The dog wasn’t herself.

“You don’t think they poisoned her?” McKenna finally asked, the words trailing to a whisper at the end of her question, as if she’d had to force herself to ask.

Poisoning the dog after sneaking into the house undetected didn’t make sense. If someone were going to hurt Mollie, they would have done it already. But that didn’t explain her strange behavior. Will watched her again, thought back on her behavior since he’d arrived. She’d seemed fine initially, then sniffed around as if she was helping them search....

He pictured her with her nose in the air sniffing. What if she hadn’t been searching for an intruder’s scent, as he’d initially thought? What if she’d smelled something wrong? Was that why she’d tried to get their attention?

Will sniffed the air himself, finally catching hints of an odor like rotten eggs that triggered alarm bells in his mind.

He scooped the dog in his arms. “Gas leak!” he called back to McKenna as he hurried out into the hallway. “Get out. Follow me!”

He glanced behind him once to make sure McKenna had listened.

“I’m here! Keep going, get her out!” she yelled.

They burst through the front door, leaving it standing open. For a few seconds they just stood there, staring at the house. Then Will dialed the fire department’s emergency number.

The North Slope Bureau Fire Department truck pulled in front of the house within ten minutes. “You said it’s a gas leak?” a firefighter confirmed as he stepped out of the truck.

“Yes.” Will cast a glance at the dog, who seemed to be recovering from the effects of inhaling the gas. He stole a look at McKenna’s face, too. Her eyes looked haunted.

“Gotcha.” The man went back to what he was doing. “These things can be dangerous. Lucky no one was hurt.”

Will didn’t know if he should warn the man that they suspected the gas line had been cut on purpose, but decided after a few seconds that it wouldn’t change how he handled the scene. And anyway, Will wasn’t sure who they could trust. He turned to McKenna, hoping she was ready to be reasonable about her living situation.

“I have a friend at the hunting service where I work. His sister-in-law mentioned she was thinking of looking for a roommate. Her name’s Anna Richmond and I think we should call her.”

McKenna nodded, eyes darting to Mollie even as she reached to stroke her fur. “I agree. I’m not going to risk her getting hurt again.”

What about you?
he wanted to ask her. But he didn’t see any reason to remind her of the number of near-death experiences she’d had during the course of twenty-four hours.

Unfortunately, today had taught them both a lesson. Whoever was behind this was serious. He wouldn’t stop until he was sure McKenna was out of his way.

* * *

“You had a gas leak for sure.” The firefighter had reported, face grim. “I’ve got the gas shut off, but the gas line needs to be repaired as soon as possible. You should be thankful the whole house didn’t—” He looked at McKenna and cleared his throat, like the rest of the words were stuck there.

“Go kaboom?” she finished for him. She turned to Will. “I guess this means we’ll have to take a rain check on watching a movie” was all McKenna could find to say.

“Looks like. But we can eat pizza in the car on the way to Anna’s house.” He’d stepped aside to call Anna, and returned with assurances that the other woman was looking forward to her arrival. They climbed into Will’s truck, McKenna second-guessing her decision to stay with a stranger a little more with every passing moment.

This whole plan made McKenna uncomfortable. “Are you sure she won’t mind a total stranger living with her?”

“I’m sure.”

He sounded confident, as if he knew Anna well. McKenna’s stomach clenched. Were he and Anna a couple? She’d assumed this whole time that Will was single, as he had been since his wife had died so young. Not that it mattered...or
should
matter. Because it shouldn’t.

She let a few minutes of silence pass, hoping her curiosity would fizzle naturally.

It didn’t.

“You sound like you know her well,” McKenna began. “Are you...”

Will looked away from the road long enough to raise his eyebrows and shake his head. “Dating? No.”

She wanted to ask why, her curiosity kindled even more by his abrupt reply. Although she suspected she already know the answer—Rachael, his late wife, had been a vibrant, beautiful woman. It would be hard for anyone to measure up to the invisible standard Will must be carrying around.

She didn’t want to think about why that thought fell over her like clouds covering the sun. McKenna focused on her dog, who was curled up on the floorboards at her feet. She reached down to pet her.

“So we’re going to try to move all my stuff tonight?” she asked to try to distract herself from the unpleasant might-have-beens that kept threatening to overwhelm her imagination.

“I think that’s wise. I don’t want you going back there. What if he’d been waiting outside when you opened the door tonight?”

She’d thought of that already. McKenna suppressed a shiver.

“Or worse,” he continued, “what if, instead of cutting the gas line, he’d decided to hide in a closet or something to wait until you were inside with the door locked to attack you?”

“He probably couldn’t have done that without Mollie giving him away.” She reasoned.

He frowned in her direction. “I don’t like this at all, McKenna. Why is he pursuing you so seriously?”

“Because I found his crime scene?”

He nodded. “Yeah...but what does he gain by attacking you? The troopers would just send in someone else to investigate. It’s almost like it’s getting personal with him.”

“What do you mean?”

Will shrugged. “Call it a feeling more than anything. You can’t think of anyone you know who might be behind this, can you?”

“Not unless they followed me from Anchorage. I’m new here, remember? Maybe the pilot the troopers were using before...but I don’t have any evidence against him. It’s just a feeling.” Nothing more was said, since they pulled up in front of a house that McKenna assumed must be Anna’s.

“This is it.” Will motioned in front of them with his hand. “It’s nothing fancy, but it’s nicer than your old place. Better part of town, too. And—” he pointed to another house within sight range “—my friend Matt and his wife, Lexi, live right there.”

Uneasiness swirled in McKenna’s stomach. Being reminded that these were people Will knew and cared about made her hesitant to move in. What if her presence put them in danger?

“You’re not worried about your friends being close to me when I’m obviously a target?”

“You’re my friend.”

“I know that. But what about the others?”

“I’d do anything to keep you safe, McKenna. Don’t you get that? Matt, Lexi and Anna all know what they’re getting into, anyway. And they’re used to danger. There was quite a bit of that involved in Matt and Lexi’s lives right when they met and started dating, from what they’ve told me.”

She nodded slowly. “If you’re really sure—and if they are, too.”

“Everybody’s sure.”

“I guess this is it, then.” McKenna reached for the door handle. “And you did tell her I have a dog?”

Mollie’s head lifted, as though she knew she was being talked about. Will reached down to pet her. “Like I’d forget you, girl. Yes, McKenna. And she doesn’t care, she has one, too. Everything has been taken care of and is going to be fine.”

He seemed confident. She could hear it in his tone. She could only hope he was right and that he had enough faith for both of them.

McKenna knocked on the front door, making an effort to stand straight, which was more difficult than usual since she could feel the stress of the past forty-eight hours weighing on her.

The door opened and a petite blonde smiled before stepping forward and wrapping McKenna in a hug. “You must be McKenna! I’m so glad to have you here. I’m Anna Richmond.”

“Nice to meet you, Anna.” McKenna managed to remember the manners her mom had taught her, despite her surprise at getting such a warm reception. “I appreciate your letting me live here.”