As she was flying up the mountain, Emily felt like the plan was working. The goons were away from Noah and Amie, which was the most important thing. She risked a peek over her shoulder and was relieved to see the one snowmobile still hot on her tail. Hopefully Gideon was successful in luring the other two men away. As soon as she thought she was far enough away from the cabin and the tree house, she would start making her next move. She had to lose her pursuers and double back so they could make a clean escape, but they were making it easy for her. Whoever was driving knew what they were doing. Even so, she still has the advantage. She knew this mountain and it quirks like the back at her hand, the men didn't.
The whine of a bullet ricocheting off the back of the snowmobile made Emily scrunch down in an attempt to make herself less of a target. She put on a burst of speed and widened the space between them. The additional distance was all she needed. Emily took a hard turn into a heavily wooded area. Hidden from view, she swung the snowmobile around, snow flying up into the air and waited for her pursuers to appear. As soon as she saw the glint of sun on metal, she gunned it and roared forward, initiating a game of chicken.
"Let's see who blinks first," she said through clenched teeth.
Like a bull drawn to the red cape, they charged at each other, neither refusing to back down. When it seemed like the collision was inevitable, Aumont blinked. He jerked the snowmobile hard to the right as Emily whizzed by almost clipping them. He over corrected, causing the machine to roll and sending the men tumbling. They immediately scrambled back to it and struggled to right the snowmobile, Aumont yelling that they couldn't let her escape. He was pissed that the American, let alone a woman, was getting the best of him. With a dull thud, the runners hit the snow and they jumped back on. He didn't care what Renaud wanted, the woman was going to die and any secrets could go to grave with her.
By then Emily was a good hundred and fifty yards down the mountain. It was time for plan B that she literally came up with on the fly when she realized she couldn't shake them. She would have to disable their snowmobile and leave them stranded. A few bullets to the engine would do the trick. Emily brought her machine to a stop, jumped off and rested the rifle across the seat. She took off her goggles to peer through the scope, waiting for her pursuers to come into range.
She was just about to wrap her finger around the trigger when a roar from the mountain sent a shiver through her spine. There was a low rumble and a shaking, like the beginnings of an earthquake. If she was scared before, she was now as she quickly looked up, just in time to see the snow start to catapult down. Avalanche! They must have driven over some unstable snow.
"Merde!" she swore and wasted no time jumping back on the snowmobile and taking off. She knew it was suicide to try to outrun an avalanche so she headed for the side, hoping to get out of its path. As Emily fled for her life, she tried to remember what her grandfather had taught her.
It had started when she was very young when she was starting to explore her surroundings. They went to their favorite place and the first thing he told her was that the mountain and nature were unforgiving. They didn't care about people so you must be careful, especially during the winter when avalanches occurred. He stressed that the first few seconds were the most important. If it starts beneath your feet, try jumping up slope. If you can't, try to move to one side of the avalanche where it was slower and had less snow. From there he proceeded to tell her what to do if you couldn't get out of its path.
Being so young, she had found it fascinating, but it quickly got old. Every time she visited Grandpa would give her the same speech almost word for word and it started annoying her because she thought it wasn't very likely she would need to know it. Now that there was snow cascading down, threatening to swallow her whole, Emily was happy she knew what to do all because of his endless lectures.
The helicopter skimmed the top of the trees, all available eyes, squinting against the sun glare, scanning the ground looking for any signs that a snowmobile or two had passed this way.
"There!" Gideon shouted over the thumping of the rotor blades, pointing to a trail of disturbed snow that had been made by a machine and not an animal.
The pilot gave a thumbs up indicating he saw it and in no time did they catch sight of the two snowmobiles, but it was what they also saw that chilled them to the bone.
"Oh my god!" someone breathed as a wall of snow hurtled down the mountain, snapping trees in its wake.
The two snowmobiles and their riders were in a desperate race to save their lives. The higher one of the two appeared to be trying to outrun the avalanche while the lower one was running perpendicular to the advancing snow trying to get out of its path. They watched in horror as the snow caught up and engulfed the first snowmobile, the two men on board disappearing from sight. Gideon and Clyde didn't mourn their passing. Those men had tried to kill them and they got what they deserved. Karma could be a bitch at times. Everyone's worried attention turned to the lone snowmobile and the woman who drove it.
Gideon turned to Easter. "We've got to do something. Emily put her life on the line to protect my nephew and me. I can't let her die out here and like that."
Easter's eyes were glued on Emily. "We'll think of something."
"Well do it quickly. She doesn't have much time left."
Every second that ticked by was one second closer to death. Emily didn't dare risk a glance to see where the wall of snow was, fearing the sight of it towering over her would freeze her where she was and all hope would be lost. She knew it was getting closer, it's rumbling was starting to drown out the engine noise. Deep down Emily knew she wasn't going to make it, she could only hope she get as close to the edge of the avalanche where it was slower and upped her chances of survival. She always thought she would die in the line of duty probably cut down from a bullet, not done in by snow on the side of a mountain she always thought as her second home. But then, she did technically die once so it appeared fate wasn't going to let that happen twice in one lifetime.
Suddenly a rope ladder materialized out of nowhere, scaring the crap of her and almost causing her to lose control of the snowmobile. Emily didn't hesitate to take advantage of the miraculous lifeline that seemingly dropped from the heavens. She pushed off, jumping as high as she could from the moving machine. Her gloved hands latched on to one of the rungs and she quickly tangled her legs in the ladder to prevent gravity from taking hold of her and dragging her back to earth. She shot up in the air just in the nick of time as a wave of snow washed over the snowmobile and whisked it away.
With Emily clinging to the ladder like a stubborn barnacle, the helicopter headed for the nearest clearing. With the gentlest of touch, the pilot lowered her down and she gratefully jumped off, struggling to remain upright as the downdraft of the rotor blades beat down on her. She liked flying, but not that way, dangling like a worm on a hook high in the air. As the copter peeled off to set down a short distance away, Emily resisted the urge to drop to her knees in the snow and kiss the ground in thanks. That was too close for her liking and made her wonder how many of her nine lives did she have left.
Now that she was safe, Emily's concern turned to Gideon, praying that he also survived this fiasco. She soon had her answer when a familiar figure gestured to her from the open door. Crouching down to avoid the still rotating blades she hurried over, the rifle bumping against her back, squinting against the snow they were stirring up, having lost her goggles somewhere along the way. Two pairs of hands pulled her in and she collapsed into Gideon's arms.
"Thank god you're okay," Emily said in relief, giving him a quick hug.
"That I am," he agreed, grunting slightly in pain.
She heard it and leaned back, seeing the temporary bandage wrapped around his upper arm. "No you're not."
"It's no big deal. It's just a graze. It's a hell of a lot better than being buried alive under a ton of snow."
Emily let out a chuckle. 'Very true." It was then that she noticed the other person who had helped her into the helicopter. "Clyde, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Good to see you too, Love," he greeted her with a smirk.
The pilot powering up the helicopter and taking off drowned any further conversation out. They would have to finish it when they got back to the cabin to pick up Noah and Amie.
The pilot paused long enough to drop the three of them off at the cabin before flying off to retrieve the prisoners and promising to have one of the crew return Gideon's snowmobile. Even though Emily was dying to know how Clyde had gotten wind of this, she sure as hell didn't call him, they had to let Noah and Amie know that it was safe to come out. Wanting to keep the exact location of the tree house to herself as much as possible, she suggested Gideon tend to his wound and that Clyde could help him. Before either man could protest, she was already making her way toward the back of the cabin. As she turned the corner, she heard Clyde mutter bloody stubborn and she smiled. Yes I'm stubborn and I'm proud of it.
Emily's path from the cabin to the tree house was a straight line while Noah's meandered a bit since he wasn't familiar with the area. The closer she got, the wider her smile grew as fond memories surfaced of her retreating there for some alone time that was spent either reading or playing with her toys. Knowing he was armed and highly nervous, Emily stopped at the bottom of the ladder to avoid being accidentally shot.
She placed one foot on the lowest rung and call out, "Noah, it's Emily. I'm alone and I'm coming up." She took a deep breath and started climbing.
Before she was even halfway up, Noah's head peeked carefully over the railing. "Is it over?"
"It is."
The second she reached the top; he pulled her into a hug. She didn't resist, fearing he might break her ribs by squeezing too hard if she did. "Uncle Jase? Is he okay?"
"He's fine. Just a graze to his arm."
"He was shot?" Noah exclaimed, eyes wide in shock.
"Uh…honestly I'm not sure. It could have been a bullet or a tree branch that hit him while on the snowmobile." It had slipped her mind to ask how it happened, but she has a legitimate excuse. An avalanche had almost devoured her whole. Still she tried to calm his fear for his uncle. "Trust me when I say those are minor injuries. They may hurt like hell at first, but they're easy to patch up."
Meanwhile Amie sidled out and stood with her back against the wall. "We heard a helicopter. Does that mean we can go home?"
Emily's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. There was something different about the young couple, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was nor did she really have the time to figure it out. The copter was returning soon and she wanted to get both of them on it.
"Yes. We have to leave now so we can be waiting at the cabin when it returns."
The two nodded in agreement and followed her down the ladder. At the bottom Noah returned the gun to her. "Here. I'm so glad I didn't have to use it. I'm not sure I could have taken a human life."
"It's never easy, Noah," Emily said as she unzipped her jacket long enough to settle the Glock on her hip where it belonged.
In a single file line, they silently trooped back to the cabin. Soon Noah was in the arms of his uncle, the two exchanging soft words of relief and affection as they soaked in the sight of each other. Amie retreated to the fireplace to warm up and Emily, feeling like a third wheel, went back outside to await the arrival of the helicopter. Clyde joined her a few minutes later where they stood side by side gazing at nothing in particular.
He hugged his coat tighter to his body. He was never fond of the cold. "Emily, I'm glad to see you're doing well."
"Clyde," she responded somewhat coolly, finally looking at him. "What are doing here?"
"I was asked to help, Darling, and that was what I did."
Her eyes narrowed. "Who asked you to help?"
"Well, certainly not you. And why is that?"
"You know why, Clyde."
"Explain it to me anyway."
She sighed and kicked at a ball of snow. "This isn't back in the day. I don't answer to you anymore."
"I'm not ordering you to do anything. I'm simply asking why you didn't think to ask for help from someone who was not only on the same continent as you, but has the credentials to actually do something here." He didn't get it. He knew there was some tension between them, but if she couldn't even come to him in a dire situation, things were far worse than he imagined.
"I didn't think I could."
"Why not? You can always come to me."
"Can I?" she shot back.
"What does that mean?" He was genuinely confused, but couldn't quite keep his annoyance from showing.
"It means that…it means that I'm not sure I can trust you or rather how much I can." After the whole situation with Doyle, his secrets and his refusal to let her bring in the team, she doubted she could ever trust him again. Because of the duplicity she had read in him, she got Tsia killed. Her blood would always remain on her hands.
"Because?"
"We're been through a lot together, Clyde. Most of it wasn't good."
"But we survived it."
"At a cost." Emily shifted from one foot to the other. "After it all, after all the half truths and omissions and just simply because what we've been though, I'm not sure I know how to trust you."
Before he could respond, the loud thumping announced the arrival of the helicopter and they watched it descend, hover about the snow covered ground before gently setting down without a bump. Clyde and Emily had to turn their faces away to avoid being blinded by all the flying snowing stirred up by the blades.
"We'll finish this later," Clyde said once he could be heard over the sound of the copter.
"No we won't," Emily said to much his frustration and went inside to round everyone up.
It was determined they would be dropped off at the winery where their car was parked before the copter and its crew and prisoners flew back to its home base. With so many people crammed on, Emily decided to wait for the man returning with the snowmobile and ride back with him. It would give her some time to close up the cabin and to think. Once they were gone with a wave, she went back inside to tidy up. She put the rifles back in the gun safe, cleaned up the kitchen and doused the fires in the wood stove and fireplace. Satisfied that everything was in its proper place, she went to sit on the couch to wait. The man should be along any minute.
That's when the shaking began. It wasn't because she was cold, but because she had come within an inch of losing her life…again. Emily wrapped her arms around her trembling body, squeezing her eyes shut so she wouldn't cry and tried to control her breathing so that she would start hyperventilating. How many more times could she walk that fine line between life and death before she finally makes the fatal mistake? This past year she has had two close calls with Doyle and now this one. Will the next one be the one that pushes her over the edge to the point of no return?
The only way to avoid that outcome was to quit her job, but she didn't want to do that. She was finally back, finally getting back into the swing of things and she loved it. She loved her job and she loved working with her friends. But what happened here actually had nothing to do with her work. It was then that Emily realized it wasn't so much her job, but her actions and desires to protect those who couldn't protect themselves or those who are close to her that brought on these dangerous situations. Perhaps she was too reckless and stubborn for her own good. Those behaviors weren't set in stone so they could be changed. It would be hard, but she could do it and, in the end, it would make her a better person and agent.
Just thinking that helped Emily get a hold of herself so by the time the guy showed up with the snowmobile, she was her normal cool, calm and collected self. She was raring to go. She made him move back to the passenger seat so that she could drive. He didn't put up much of a fight since he didn't know the best and quickest way off the mountain. Emily did and she could use that time to terrify her passenger and to formulate a plan to change her ways for the better.