Page 48 of Snowed In with her Mountain Men
I found my usual seat and sat down. His answer had left me completely perplexed. That the answer had come from him, was even more unexpected.
“We really don’t know what we’re looking for,” Jaxon went on, “other than diamonds. Very expensive, very valuable, uncut stones. They could be in a bag, or a container, or a box. Or they could be loose,” he smiled wearily, “and we could be looking for a handful of tiny, crystal clear jewels in a whole ocean of ice and snow.”
Diamonds. Holy shit. Of all the things he could’ve said.
“Who buried them?” I asked.
Again the boys fell silent. But the answer wasn’t far off.
“It was Sarge, wasn’t it?”
Jaxon’s beard twitched. Eventually, he nodded.
“How do you know they were buried at the base of a tree?”
“That’s a long story,” Ryder spoke up. He tilted his beer back and looked at me pointedly. “Maybe for another time.”
I stared back at him for a moment, then nodded. There were times to pry, times to press. But there were also times to take your winnings and leave.
“Alright then,” I nodded, reaching for my own drink. Leaning back, I kicked my feet up on the chair directly across from me.
“Which one of you is going to get me a shovel?”
~ 28 ~
JAXON
“And I’m telling you, you bite into a Georgia peach, you’ll be hooked for life! You’ll sell your soul for the next one. And we’ve got peaches in all varieties. Blonde, brunette, and redhead.”
Powers elbowed me again, hard enough to rock me in my adjoining seat. His laughter was always the same; over the top, self-induced, even a little infectious. It blended in with the constant hum of the Chinook’s dual rotors, making it seem like the whole chopper was laughing at us.
“You want a girl, you stay in Jersey,” Powers went on. “But if you want awoman?” The resulting smile nearly broke his face. “Come on down, brother. I’ll set a whole bushel of peaches in front of you. All you gotta do is reach out and take the one you want.”
The Chinook shifted, diving left as we rolled through a turn. The rotor hum grew abruptly louder. The pitch, higher.
“Or you could take two,” Powers elbowed me, cackling at himself. “You could take three or four, or as many as you—”
The rest of his sentence was lost — either because I wasn’t listening, or because the hum of the rotors had grown to a high-pitched whine. The whine turned into a screech. The screech turned into an ear-splitting roar.
“Women arewomendown there,” Powers shouted over the noise. “They cook. They clean. They treat you like—”
He stopped mid-sentence. And Powersneverstopped talking.
The explosion came from above. Or at least, it sounded like an explosion. The distinct tearing of metal came next, followed by the roar of heat and wind as the cabin was instantly exposed to the elements. Sunlight — so bright it was blinding — exploded through the enormous cabin, followed by screams as the entire right side of the chopper, and all the men strapped to it, was ripped violently away.
The ground was rushing up to meet us. I could see that clearly now. For some reason it didn’t terrify me as much as it should’ve. It was too strange-looking. Too interesting…
My eyes were glued shut as a torrent of something warm and thick sprayed across my face and lips. It was bitter and metallic to the taste. But also, slightly sweet.
Blood.
Somehow I got my eyes open; and looked over at Powers. He was covered in it too. What I thought to be blood turned out to be hydraulic fluid. Hydraulic fluid mixed with oil, mixed with fuel, mixed with—
The crash was eerily soundless, for some reason. One second I was looking at Powers, his face drawn with innocence and confusion, the next I was hurtling through the air, my body pinwheeling like an old rag doll, flung by a child. I felt the heat of the explosion more than actually saw it. The hissing roar of the ensuing fireball engulfed everything, turning the sky from yellow, to orange, and eventually, to charcoal black.
I landed flat on my back, then somehow leapt to my feet. Everything was fire. Everywhere, flames. Smoke billowed outward and upward, angrily soiling the flawless blue sky, as waves of insufferable heat radiated invisibly outward from the broken shell of the Chinook’s cabin.
No!
