Cherry Adair - T-flac 06 (10 page)

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"Let's go, kids." The dogs took off as if spring-loaded. Lily laughed as the chill wind slapped her face and snow sprayed out in a rooster tail behind the sled as they headed back into the wilderness.

It was a perfect travel night. Crisply cold, bright with moonlight, the snow packed and fast. If she could catch a few hours' sleep while mushing behind the sled she'd have it made.

Full of beef stew, he lay against the wall of the lodge wrapped in his damp sleeping bag trying to defrost his extremities. He hadn't been that late, and it pissed him off that all the choice spots near the fire had already been taken. Losers.

The floor was hard. He rolled over to find a more comfortable spot. There wasn't one. He wanted his own bed with an intense longing. Hell, he wanted his own bed, a fifth of scotch and a soft broad. Not necessarily in that order.

But here he was. In the middle of fucking Nowheresville.

She'd looked exhausted. Well, fuck! Who wasn't?

He closed gritty eyes. Opened them again. She'd have to stop to sleep. Even as driven as she was, she'd have to fucking stop, at least to rest the dogs.

He tossed the sleeping bag aside, glanced around the firelit room. Lumps under sleeping bags as far as the eye could see. Everyone was catching
z'
s. No chatting, no socializing, no watching the nonexistent fucking TV. When these assholes stopped it was necessity, not a vacation.

It had only been one day. But what a fucking day. He was sick and tired of the noise of all these freaking damn dogs yipping and barking. He was sick of all the goddamned
snow
. The landscape was nothing but white and green, white and green, white and green, as far as the eye could see.

And goddamn it, he was fucking
sick
of being cold all the freaking time.

He hefted himself out of the bag and sighed. Honest to God. This cat-and-mouse game was supposed to at least afford him a little fun. But this was purgatory. He wanted to be done with it. He wasn't interested in a good time anymore. All he wanted now was the bitch dead and his ass on a nice warm plane home.

"I hope you appreciate that I'm now going to make this quick, Lily," he said under his breath, pulling on his still-wet boots with a grimace.

Nobody stirred as he tiptoed around the snoring, snorting, farting lumps scattered around the room.

"Losers," he muttered under his breath as he opened the door to blackness and cold. Cold so fucking icy it felt like tiny ice picks attacking his eyeballs and freezing the snot in his nose. "Fuck Alaska."

Five

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Derek slipped the handheld screen of the GPS out of his pocket. He'd had a small side bet with himself that Lily wouldn't stay at the last checkpoint for one second longer than it took to check in, get the dogs inspected and be on her way again. He'd been right on the money.

"
Get up
!" he yelled out to encourage the dogs to pull harder and pick up speed. He needed to head two degrees southwest to intercept Lily. He'd detoured from the trail because of the rough terrain caused by the Ice Dog snow-machine race, which had occurred several weeks before. Lily, being Lily, would take the direct route, even though she'd have to travel over the heavy-duty tracks left by the big machines.

Just as he'd heard her greet her stepbrother for the check-in, he'd had to turn her off to take a call from his sister. Marnie had questions about their father's upcoming nuptials. Her call had then been interrupted by a call from his T-FLAC control.

He'd been only too pleased to talk business instead of wedding. As much as he loved his sister, there was only so much a man needed to know about canapes and coral-colored napkins. Still, there was a lot to be said for all the new technology that made talking on a phone, at least
this
phone, possible no matter where he might be. As much as he'd rather talk business, Derek scowled. He could've done without this second call from HQ.

T-FLAC, or Terrorist Force Logistical Assault Command, the anti-terrorist black ops organization he worked for, had been alerted to a possible act of terrorism in the northern section of Alaska. He was closest.
Closest
being relative in such a large state. There was nothing T-FLAC was aware of that would make the Iditarod, or any of its participants, a target for any known terrorist group. But they were looking into possible scenarios, and he should keep his eyes and ears open.

Yeah, he'd do that. But right now an encounter with Lily was a hell of a lot more appealing than dealing with some nebulous tango threat. Not that he wouldn't keep an eye out for anything untoward, and he sure as hell would keep his sat phone on for further updates. But unless his other life intruded, and he hoped to hell it didn't right now, he had a serious op of his own. Something a lot more personal.

Derek readjusted the ear bud and clicked over to the other channel so he could hear Lily breathing.

Then he set a steady pace to a point where she would have to stumble over him to go any farther.

The problem with keeping his two lives separate was that Lily only saw him through Sean's skewed point of view. And while the playboy persona was part image, and he'd fostered that image intentionally, now it no longer suited his purposes.

Lily knew she'd traveled an hour past sensible.

Time to stop.

She'd taken the route over the huge moguls, big ruts and bare hills left in the wake of hundreds of snowmobiles and four-wheelers after their big race. No problem if you were in a vehicle. But the Iditarod teams tackling these man-made obstacles had a much tougher time of it.

She could've gone around the tracks and bare spots. But it would've added several hours to her time.

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Instead, she put up with the less than fabulous conditions and considered a bitten tongue and a headache well worth the miles she'd made up on the miserable, aggravating route.

She'd been traveling by moonlight, admiring the monochromatic, black-and-white landscape through gritty eyes. Time to stop and rest the dogs and herself. A few hours were all she needed to revitalize.

She had to force herself to keep her eyes open, and even then, the world looked blurry. Suddenly seeing an orange sparkle through the blackness of the trees up ahead was almost surreal.

She blinked. Still there. For a moment or two she thought the orange-red glow of a fire might be a hallucination. The dogs didn't. Seeing what she did, and probably smelling wood smoke long before she could, they suddenly got a renewed burst of energy and raced toward the glow like kids on the last day of school. Lily let them have their heads; knowing the sport as she did, they'd be welcome at the other team's fire. The closer she got, the stronger the fragrance of wood smoke and hot coffee became, and something else: a smell savory enough to make saliva pool in her mouth.

"
Whoa
! Hello, the fire," Lily caroled, pulling on the brake to slow down the team as they approached the campsite with noisy enthusiasm. Her arms and legs quivered from the continuous motion of the sled and the strength required to guide it.

Sleepy dogs lifted their heads from beneath their tails and yipped hello as Lily's team pulled into the shelter of the trees. A large figure, backlit by the fire, rose to greet her.

"You made good time."

Crap.
Derek
.

Anticipation snuffed out in a heartbeat. She was too tired for this. Lily yanked off the brake and pedaled like mad, keeping one foot on the runner and pushing with the other. "
Mush! Haw
! On by. Coming through."

So much for a hot cup of coffee and a few hours' rest. She felt a spurt of guilt that she'd told the dogs to stop and then immediately instructed the poor, tired animals to do exactly the opposite. But she wasn't staying. Not here. Half an hour away would be much more comfortable for everyone.

"Whoa!" Derek told her team, snagging Arrow's neckline as they tried to pass him. "Whoa!" he repeated, with no room for negotiation. The well-trained dogs stopped on a dime.

Derek walked purposefully toward her. "Nice try, Doc." One-handed, he effortlessly hefted the heavy straw bale out of the cargo bed and tossed it on the ground near his own dogs. "I've got some of Annie's beef Burgundy heating up, and hot coffee. Chow for the dogs is ready, too."

Lily smelled the rich, heavenly fragrance of food and coffee and her mouth watered. Her body still felt as though she were in motion even though she was no longer moving. Like a sailor too long at sea, feeling the ocean beneath his feet even while on land. "Let go," she said tightly.

"No." His bulky coat and black fur hat made him seem as big as a mountain and just as immovable. He gave her a penetrating look. "Don't be an idiot, Lily.
You
let go," he told her roughly, grabbing her arm before she could do—what? Hit him? Run? "
Now
." His tone was implacable.

Screw you, she thought belligerently but without much heat as she tried to shake him off. It would be a
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nice trick if she
could
let go.

Deliberately, he let his gaze roam over her face. Lily gave him a stony look in return. "What are you trying to do?" he demanded. He frowned, apparently not liking what he saw. "Kill yourself?"

"Did you ask that ridiculous question of any
other
musher as they came through?" Lily snapped, trying without success to release the handlebar so she could step off the runners and move out of his range. Her stiff, cold fingers were locked in place. She couldn't even use one hand to pry off the other. Much longer in this position and she'd be petrified. They'd have to bury her standing up on her sled.

Only Derek Wright would have specialty meals prepared and waiting for him at each stop. The rich, savory fragrance of Burgundy and the image of succulent, tender chunks of beef drenched in thick, dark gravy seduced her. Her stomach growled so loudly and for so long that several of the dogs turned around to look for the source of the noise. Derek swore under his breath. They were nose to nose. Far too close for Lily's comfort. His face was almost completely in shadow, yet she could clearly see the devilish sparkle in his midnight blue eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as he reached out—

For her hand. He pried her gloved fingers loose until she could release the handle. She sighed with pleasure. Liberated, and feeling strangely as though she'd escaped some unseen peril, Lily flexed stiff fingers and stumbled off the back of the sled. Derek or no Derek, it felt good to move.

"Go eat. I'll take ca—"

She mustered up a glare. "And have me disqualified? I don't think so."

"Fine. Take care of your dogs. But at least save time and use the food I heated up. There's plenty."

Stupid to refuse. And frankly, she wasn't sure she could wait long enough to heat anything up for herself.

She might just start gnawing on whatever first came to hand. "Fine. I'll feed the kids and be right there."

She started removing the dogs' food and a large pot.

Derek took both items out of her hands. Lily didn't put up a fight. Just watched him through glassy eyes as he stashed the food and pot back under the sled bag in the cargo bed.

"I'll trade you," he said quietly, his features hard to read. "There's food ready for them. Just feed the dogs so you can feed yourself."

"But—"

"Do it before you collapse face-first in the damn snow, for God's sake."

"Thanks." Numb with fatigue as she was, Lily went down the line and fed and watered the dogs, feeling the heat of Derek's gaze on her back as she performed the tasks by rote.

Done, she examined the animals' legs and feet for injury, then bedded down the dogs on the straw Derek had spread.

By which time she could barely put one foot in front of the other. The first day on the trail always seemed to last forever. Once she got a momentum going it wouldn't be quite so bad. Or so she assured herself at this point every year.

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"Why do I always forget how bad the first day is?"

He laughed shortly. "Probably a lot like childbirth. My sister insisted the only reason she had more than one child was because she'd forgotten how hard the delivery was. After five my mother probably felt the same way."

Lily glanced at him. He looked a little less ferocious now that he'd gotten his own way. "Difficult to imagine you as a child. Or having a mother."

His mouth quirked. "What? You figure I dropped full-grown out of the sky?"

She gave him a half smile. "I was thinking more like slithering out from under a rock."

"Not up to your usual pithy standards, Doc. You usually do better than that in cutting me down to size."

"It's the best I can do when I'm this tired. Tomorrow is another day."

He laughed, his teeth white against the darkness of his face. "Poor baby. Get some sleep and a better perspective."

His low, deep
seductor's
voice sent shivers up and down her spine. Annoyed with herself, she wandered over to the fire to warm her hands. Derek sat off to one side drinking a steaming cup of coffee as he watched her. Minutes ticked past. The teasing done, quiet reigned. His silence unnerved her. A world of words hung almost visibly between them in the darkness. Each razor-sharp accusation suspended in the frigid darkness like laundry on a line. As merciless and cruel as the icicles bowing the branches around them.

She wanted to trust him. She really did. But she'd been so badly burned by Sean and his lies that it was hard for her to give a man so similar the benefit of the doubt. And while it might be unfair to tar Derek with Sean's brush, she didn't know how to change it.

There was no reason for her to presume that Derek wasn't the head honcho in the illegal sperm sales.