Page 29 of Smoky Lake

The next moment, the world changed again. The door of the cabin swung open and a dark figure burst through.

Gil spun her around so she was behind him, unable to see a thing, clinging to his strong form.

13

Gil spread his arms wide to shield Ani from the intruder. He couldn’t make out much about the man, except that he was…actually, now that his eyes adjusted, he was a woman.

That didn’t change anything, because she was still holding a weapon, though it was now pointed at the floor instead of toward them.

“Don’t shoot. We mean you no harm. You can have anything in the place.” His voice sounded a lot more calm than he felt. “Although I doubt you’re trying to rob us.”

“Of course I’m not trying to rob you. I’m trying to rescue you.” Sounding irritated, she switched on a light in her helmet and aimed it at the floor. He saw now that she was a young Black woman with a determined set to her chin, wearing an Army uniform.

“Mind sharing what you’re rescuing us from?” he asked.

“Didn’t you catch all that gunfire? They were keeping the bad guys distracted so I could get through the woods and find you. We have a chopper waiting on the lake. Come on.”

Ani, still clinging to his sweater, peered around him to get a look at the woman. “I’m so sorry, but we’ve been through a lot lately. Could you please identify yourself? Ma’am?” Her exquisite politeness made Gil swallow back a smile.

“I’m Sergeant Chloe Thomson, a member of the United States Army, out of Fort Wainwright. We were requested to step into this situation and extract the civilians who managed to get themselves in the middle of a clusterfuck.”

“Could you possibly give us any more details about this clusterfuck?” Ani kept her tone polite and even. Gil’s respect for her ticked up yet another notch. Even though he could feel the pounding of her heart against his back, it didn’t show in her voice. “Who were you shooting at?”

Sergeant Thomson turned off the light on her helmet and said, “I’m the wrong person to ask. I just execute the mission. My job is to get you out of these woods. So let’s go.”

She beckoned with the weapon. Gil thought it was a silly gesture, since obviously she wasn’t going to shoot them. An army sergeant would have no authorization to fire on innocent U.S. citizens.

Ani stepped next to Gil and slipped her hand into his. “I don’t think we should go anywhere with you until you give us a hint about what’s going on.”

Sergeant Thomson let out a frustrated breath. “Here’s a hint. Those people out there want to kill you, I don’t. But if you test my nerves enough, that might start to change.”

“You’re not going to kill us,” Ani said reasonably. “You can’t just go around killing ordinary people.”

“No, but if we don’t get going, I can’t guarantee anything about the other guys.”

Clearly out of patience, she gestured to the pile of makeshift bedding on the floor. “You got two seconds to grab your things.”

Gil scooped up their clothes into his bag, not worrying about what belonged to who. They could sort it out later. He slung both their bags over his shoulder. Ani didn’t object. Maybe her leg bothered her more at night. He’d noticed her shift a few times while she was asleep, looking for a more comfortable position.

He took her hand again and they followed the sergeant out the door. She kept her head lamp trained on the ground. Light was already glowing on the horizon, but the woods were still dark, everything in shades of black and gray.

Sergeant Thomson muttered something into her helmet comm as she led the way down the trail to the lake. She moved fast but silent. Gil kept up with her just fine, but he could feel Ani struggling.

When she tripped over a root in the trail, he decided this wouldn’t do at all.

He crouched before her. “Get onto my back,” he whispered.

“No. I’m fine.”

“It’s dark, you’re exhausted, I don’t want you to get hurt. Please.”

Farther down the trail, Sergeant Thomson hissed at them, “Get your asses down here.”

Ani nodded and climbed onto his back. Her curves pressed against him and her legs wrapped around his hips. He gritted his teeth. The hardest part of this wouldn’t be carrying her, it would be ignoring the distraction of her warm body.

He blocked it out and stepped down the trail. Ani helped by grabbing branches before they hit him in the face, and silently pointing out obstacles in the path.

When they reached the shore, he saw the dark hulk of an amphibious helicopter floating a few yards off the shore. This situation must be really important to merit the deployment of such a rig.

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