Page 105 of One Last Promise

He started up the plane, and it shook to life, the prop whirring. Then he called to the tower and taxied out of the shed, onto the runway.

Axel had put on his own headset. “You sure about this?”

Moose nodded, surer every moment. He needed to think clearly, and there was only one place to do that.

They took off, the lift sweeping through him, scattering his thoughts, his focus on the instruments, the heading, the feel of the air under the wings.

Flying always set him a little free.

He turned northwest, the ridgeback mountains of the Alaska Range to the north, and took them over the shiny blue water of the Knik Arm, then north up the silvery trail ofAlexander Creek, Denali at his nose, rising tall and white. Here, the rivers turned serpentine below him, and he passed Susitna, then took the eastern branch, following the tributaries northwest.

“You sure you’re ready to head back here?”

He glanced at Axel, nodded.

If there was one place where Rigger couldn’t find them, it would be Pike’s cabin.

The forest closed in around roads and trails, the lakes puddling below, deep blue, the terrain a lethal beauty. He finally descended toward a gravel riverbed, packed down, some fifty feet wide, with plenty of runway.

He touched down, the tundra tires finding purchase, and swung the plane around, ready for takeoff.

Axel took off his headset. “I’ve never been here.”

Moose nodded. “The fishing cabin is up the hill.” He turned and pointed to a not-so-little log cabin with a shiny red roof overlooking the river. “It’s a little hike from here, but not far.”

“What’s a little hike from here?” Tillie asked.

Moose smiled. “A place that Pike Maguire once called paradise.”

Axel had gotten out, now opened the door. Moose shut down the plane, then got out and secured the wheels. He tied the plane down and grabbed his bag—food, his computer, extra clothing. A nearby lodge had absorbed the cabin rental into their fly-in vacation package, but he’d checked his portal on his phone—no vacationers this weekend. And according to the weather forecast, a bit of a cold snap was headed their way.

Tillie wrapped her arms around herself as she turned to stand on the shore. She looked at the water, the blue sky. “I should have gotten Hazel.”

He put his arm around her. “You will.”

She drew in a breath then and leaned in. “She’s a smart girl. Knows how to adapt.”

“Yes,she is. I saw that.”

“And we talked about this . . . the fact that someday she might have to stay with strangers. That’s why she took her stuffed dog everywhere. Pearl gave it to her. It’s sort of a security blanket.”

“We’ll get this sorted,” Moose said and glanced at Flynn and Axel, walking up to the cabin.

He wanted to trust Flynn. Especially after she’d found the Midnight Sun Killer this summer. She was a good detective.

Please.

As Moose walked up the grassy bank to the log cabin, he could almost hear Pike’s voice in the wind.“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

He took Tillie’s hand, and she didn’t pull away.

Adirondack chairs set around a charred fire pit, along with a seasoned grill sitting on a side patio, suggested the rental had been well used this summer. He stepped up to the deck and turned, and of course, mountains enclosed him on all sides, this place nestled in a valley, like a secret.

Solar panels on the southern side of the house generated enough energy to fill the generators—Pike had made sure of that. And he’d installed indoor plumbing and a satellite for internet. Moose had never tried it. But Pike had watched a couple football games back in the year Moose had flown him out here, the place snug after an early snowfall.

Most importantly, Pike had added a cell repeater. In the end, it had saved their lives.

Moose pushed the door open and found Axel and Flynn inside, admiring the vaulted ceiling, the shiny logs, a few hunting trophies on the wall. The place replicated a Montana hunting lodge, complete with leather furniture that Pike had flown in before Moose’s time, a long table, and a chandelier made of antlers that hung from the ceiling.

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