Chapter6
The cocking of a pistol stopped Christian as he slipped halfway into his brother’s cabin.He grinned.“You heard me?”
“No.Felt a disturbance,” Ace mumbled.
Christian moved all the way inside to see his brother sprawled on the threadbare sofa, gun in hand.A fire roared in the wood stove behind him, warming the entire cabin.“You’re slurring a bit too much to be holding a gun on me.”
Ace snorted and placed the weapon on the crumbling sofa table next to him.A nearly empty bottle of Jack, no glass, also took residence there.“I figured you’d be by one of these days.”His light green eyes were bloodshot and his brown hair stood on end.But he’d shaved, and his newest scar showed from his jawline down to his collarbone.A scar he had yet to explain.
Chances were it came from crashing that military jet a year or so ago, but who the hell knew?“I thought you quit drinking.”
Ace snorted and stretched his legs onto the dusty coffee table, knocking over several empty beer cans.“I only stop when the bottle goes dry, brother.”
“All right,” Christian said amiably.
Ace’s gaze narrowed.“All right?”
“Yep.If you’re going to be a total dumbass, I guess it’s time to drag your ass to Smitty.”The guy was the closest thing they had to a shrink in Knife’s Edge, considering he’d worked as a bartender for sixty years.“Let’s go.”He flexed his hands, ready to start throwing punches.
Anticipation quirked Ace’s full lips.“Much as I’d like to go a couple of rounds, Smitty went to visit a friend in Anchorage.He left earlier this morning.”
Christian stilled.“Two questions.How do you know that, and who’s flying the plane?”
“Smitty dropped by on the way to town to bring me a pie, and I guess the Thombley brothers are flying the routes around here.”
Ah.Smitty baked great pies.“Did he shrink your head?”
“Tried to, but he was swearing up a storm when he left, so I think he failed.”Ace slowly grinned when Christian looked toward the messy kitchen.When had he cleaned this place last?Hank would hate the mess.“I already ate the pie.”
Asshole.“You know the Thombley brothers are jackasses who don’t take enough safety precautions.Come on, Ace.We need you back up in the air.”Would it make sense to just force his brother into a plane?Christian could do it, although he might need Brock’s help.Would Brock go along with that idea?
“No.”Ace reached for the bottle.
Christian kicked out, nailing the glass.It flew behind the sofa and crashed.Glass splintered loudly across the wooden floor.“No more,” he growled.
Ace dropped his bare feet to the floor.“That just wasn’t nice, C.”He crossed his arms.“You gonna break all of my bottles?”
“If I have to.”The heat from the fire roared through the room, burning Christian’s ears.The walls started to close in.He wished he could be outside with Tika running through the trees.
Ace groaned.“Go concentrate on Damian and not me.We all know he’s probably in trouble working at EVE, and frankly, he hasn’t dated anybody since he got divorced.You should figure that out.”
The Electromagnetic Vibrational Experiment, or EVE, was a facility through the pass that included many satellite dishes, a massive antenna field, and grids of transmitters sprawling over fifty acres.Supposedly they studied the ionosphere there, but nobody really knew.Damian had recently become the head of security for the place, which did not make sense.
Christian lifted his chin.“Damian got married for a job, probably during some spook spying shit, and then ended it.That’s not real.”
Ace shrugged.“I don’t know.He bunked with me last time he came home, before he went to work at EVE, and yelled out the name Stella.His ex-wife.”
That was news.“Fine.We’ll figure out Damian next.For now, I’m here to give you a heads-up.Somebody set fire via an explosive device to the storage building between Sam’s and Friday’s, and Amka was inside.She’s okay, but I wouldn’t mind a few of us keeping an eye on the tavern for a while.”
Ace stared at him.
Christian stared back, confident his face betrayed nothing.
“Why?”Ace asked.
“If we have somebody in town trying to burn it down, we should find out who.Don’t you think?”
Ace leaned his head back.“Fine.I’ll come to town more often.”
