Rocky Mountain Sabotage

“Bingo. And the layout of my plane allows access to the luggage bay from the bathroom. Just sneak back there, don the chute and out you go. Nice and neat.”

Color receded from her face. “So we have to conclude that the plane was sabotaged. Would Mags have had the know-how to rig whatever caused the explosion?”

“Oh, yeah.” Kent crossed his arms. “She was the bomb expert on our flight crew in Afghanistan.”

“She was in the air force with you? Somebody you trusted? Wow. That’s got to hurt.”

Kent’s skin tightened. She’d said a mouthful. It was hard to explain the camaraderie that developed between soldiers in the military. Such a level of betrayal bit deep, and somehow, this woman got it without explanation.

Lauren laid a hand on his arm. “We still don’t know why she tried to destroy the plane.”

“That, and which one of our passengers was in on the deal.”

“What do you mean?” Her brows knit together.

He grimaced. “This is a tandem chute. Two people dive in it. Somebody was planning to leave with her, but got stuck in the plane with us because Mags was incapacitated.”

Lauren’s jaw dropped, and she leaned in toward him. “Someone walking around in this room tried to kill us? Wow. And they could try again!”

Kent delivered a single, decisive nod. “For now, let’s keep the discovery of this parachute our secret. Her accomplice doesn’t need to be alerted that his existence has been exposed.”

“Allow him to relax, get complacent and maybe slip up somehow?”

“Exactly. And we need to pray that Mags wakes up—at least long enough to tell us his name—or we’re all the proverbial sitting ducks. Anybody with the brains and guts to devise and carry out this sabotage plan will be quick to implement a Plan B that will glean him the same results—us dead and himself home free.”

FOUR

A deep cough rent Lauren’s chest, jerking her awake. A blanket wrapped around her where she lay against a hard floor, head cradled by a leather cushion. Acrid smoke gagged her nostrils and burned the back of her throat. She lunged to a sitting position, as hacking coughs and cries of “Fire!” converged from every direction.

Her mind spun. In front of her eyes, the room was dark as the inside of a barrel. From behind her shoulders, a ruddy heat cast a muted glow. Where was she? Oh, yes. The sabotaged plane. Emergency landing. Shelter in the abandoned mercantile. And now...fire!

Crash-bruised muscles protested her sudden scramble to get to her feet, but the blanket entangled her, and she fell backward hard on her behind. A moan and a cough came from her immediate right. Richard. No sound from her left. Mags remained unconscious...or worse.

“Help!” she cried through a strangled cough. “Help me with the patients.”

Thumping noises, like hurried footsteps, answered her, but the sounds were headed in every direction except her location on the far side of the stove.

“Where’s the door?” a male voice screamed. Cliff.

Yes, where was the door, but also, where was the fire? She glanced over her shoulders, and made out the dark form of the potbellied stove. All normal enough, and yet bitter, pine-tinged smoke swirled everywhere.

She had to get her patients out of here! Lauren yanked herself from the blanket’s grip and stood, staring around. Hazy lights bobbed here and there. As they’d done before the group turned in last night, people were using their cell phone flashlights. Without cell service, the phones weren’t good for much else, and from the volume of smoke in the room, not much good for lighting, either. The glow was more disorienting than illuminating.

“Where are you, Lauren?” Feminine tones rose above the panicked din.

“Mom!” Lauren answered. “Don’t look—” she coughed “—for me! Find a way out!”

“Jade Eyes!”

A burn in the pit of Lauren’s stomach joined the burn in her throat. Kent. She needed his strong arms and back to move Rich and Mags.

“Over here. Help me with the patients.”

“Keep calling ou—” A throaty hack chopped off the last bit of the sentence.

“He...re!” Her lungs cramped against the invading fumes.

“Get low. Stay low, everyone.” His voice was much closer and near her knees.

Lauren dropped down to join him. “Where?”

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