“What? No, Kat!”
“I need you here to keep everyone safe. I’ll leave you the sat phone. I’ll call if I need help with the details. You need me to call anyone? Your wife, for instance?”
He smiled. “There are probably hundreds of Mrs. MacCabes around the East Coast, but I’m not legally attached to any of them.”
She cocked her head. “What a strange way of telling me you’re not married, not to mention a clever way of obscuring whether you’re divorced.”
He smiled again. “Merely trying to hide the fact that only my housekeeper and my editor care if I’m dead or alive, and I’m not so sure about my editor. Kat, look, I really think I ought to go with you.”
“Not a chance. I need you here.”
Robert sighed. “Well, you may get me fired. I was supposed to be back at work at the Post yesterday.”
“And you can bet the other side knows that, too. No, I’m not very recognizable. But you are.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about, Kat,” he said softly, triggering an unwanted blush. Kat looked away and put down her cup, fishing out the number of the float-plane service. She punched it into the satellite phone before lifting it to her ear, looking for something logical and casual to do with her hands and eyes to avoid looking at Robert. She had no time to deal with the sudden ripple of warmth that was radiating through her body. We’re not alone in some idyllic mountain hideaway as lovers, for God’s sake, Kat chided herself. We’re running for our lives. Get a grip, woman!
The phone was ringing on the other end, and she began to wonder if the pilot had made it back. She could hear Robert’s breathing, and she could feel his eyes on her, which kindled deeper reactions.
The float-plane service answered at last, and the same pilot agreed to a morning pickup. “Another solo training flight’s a good idea,” he joked. “But it’ll have to be tomorrow morning. I’m booked this afternoon.”
“Look, we need to get out of here now.”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I’ve got a business to run, too.”
“I’ll pay you double.”
“It’s not about the money, okay? I’ve got a personal obligation and my marriage probably depends on it. The answer is no. I can’t do it. Couldn’t you take the afternoon boat back?”
Robert was gently pulling her sleeve and she turned and mouthed the question “What?”
“You need to sleep! Go tomorrow.”
She sighed, thought, and nodded, rolling her eyes. “All right. Tomorrow morning. Another good day to pick up absolutely no one at the dock and get paid for it.”
“I’ll be dockside at eight,” the pilot replied.
She confirmed the deal, thanked him, and punched off the phone, placing it down at her side with exaggerated care before breathing deeply and turning to Robert, determined to put things back on a business footing. They spoke simultaneously.
“I, ah…” he began.
“The pickup will be…”
He nodded too energetically. “Yeah. At eight.”
“Right,” she confirmed.
“I heard.”
“Okay,” she said, her eyes locked on his.
“I just wish that… you know…”
“This was all over?”
“In a way, yes, Kat, but in a way, no.”
“I know,” she said, smiling too broadly. “It’s such a beautiful place. Be nice to be up here when we weren’t, you know, running for our lives.”
He laughed a bit stiffly. “Not to mention trailing a phalanx of others.”
“Right,” she said. “Our entourage.”
“It’d just be nice to be up here… just the two of us.”
She met his gaze again, and felt the spreading warmth as she fought the temptations running through her mind. For a split second, they moved almost imperceptibly toward each other, then stopped, their eyes still locked together.
Kat mustered the willpower to force her eyes away. “Um, I guess we should… you know, find our respective beds and go sleep for eighteen hours,” she said, forcing the words out, but remaining in place.
“If we must,” he agreed, reluctantly, and slowly got to his feet. He leaned over and extended his hand. She took it, holding on long enough to get to her feet, then pulled her hand away, avoiding his eyes.
“So I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.
“Yep,” Kat said, pretending to study the ceiling, the mantle, and the room. “I’ll wake you before going. I need to brief everyone on the care and feeding of the cabin.” She turned toward the bedroom Dallas had labeled the girl’s room.
“Kat?” he said, his voice low and intense, causing her to turn back and look at him, almost transfixed. She cleared her throat. “Yes, Robert?”
He smiled. “Good night.”
She smiled back. “You, too.”
CHAPTER 36
Deep shadows still clothed the eastern side of the fjord as the DeHavilland Beaver flew down the right side of Lake Chelan at 500 feet above the water. Kat sat in the copilot’s seat and watched the beauty of the landscape as it passed, changing from alpine slopes to arid hills toward the south end. Her thoughts reverted to the cabin, and the unexpectedly emotional departure.
She had decided to approach it as a matter-of-fact exercise of logic under fire: They were all targets who should remain hidden, while she went off trying to find the answers that could make them safe.
But as she briefed them in front of the fire at 7 A.M., the grim and apprehensive looks on every face set off a crushing flash of hopelessness, as if she were kidding herself to think she could guarantee their safety.
“Look, a few days of safe haven can make all the difference,” she said.
“Could they track us here, Kat?” Dan asked. “Tell us the truth.”
She sighed and pursed her lips. “It’s unlikely. It would take an incredible amount of digging to even connect me to this place, let alone assume we’re here. I’m going to use a cash machine in Seattle today on the way out, and that will further confuse the speculation on where I’m hiding you.”
“But they could still get a lucky break. That pilot could talk. They could find the van,” Dan continued.
She fought the urge to spout unrealistic assurances. The five people before her had been through too much to be fed anything but the unvarnished truth.
A wisp of fragrant wood smoke from the fire diverted her thoughts for a second as she searched for a way to spare them the realities of the dangers they still faced.
“Yes, they could get lucky and find you, or me. We know they’re murderers with zero remorse or compassion, and we’ve gotten in the way of some plan. But that’s why I want you to stay in the cabin and out of sight. Dallas, I want you to drive me to the dock, and I’m going to leave a note for the caretaker so he won’t come by. I’ve shown you the guns and ammunition here, so you’re not defenseless.”
“What if someone comes claiming to be an FBI agent, Kat?” Steve asked.
She shook her head. “I… can’t give you a guarantee. I mean, you can’t just shoot anyone who shows up, but… first rule is to keep the shades and curtains drawn and do not answer the door under any circumstances. If someone does come poking around, split up. Someone go for the phone down by the dock and call me on the satellite phone. Steve, that’s you. Dallas, you greet them if they come in, and Graham and Robert can cover you from the back rooms with the guns.”
“We’ll work out a plan,” Dallas said, her demeanor subdued.