Orlando emerged as flashlight beams bounced off the walls.
Hudson burst out of the tunnel, nearly running.
He stopped in the cavern, stared hard at Jericho. “Seriously. Scared us to death.”
Then he walked up and gave him a hug.
Jericho hugged him back. “Okay, party’s over,” he said. “We need to get out of here, because this isn’t finished. Have you ever heard of a guy named Wilder?”
SOMETHING FELTdifferent about Harley. Jericho couldn’t put his finger on it, but maybe ... maybe the hard edge had just ... vanished? And in its place, a sort of calm.
Although determination still laced her beautiful golden-brown eyes.
He had nothing for the reaction that Harley gave him as he emerged from the cool belly of the mine to the warmth of the lodge.
Harley had stilled at his question in the tunnel, the one about Wilder, then she’d turned to him, her eyes barely illuminated in the darkness, her voice tight. “Yes, actually, I do. Wilder Frost is a key witness in a case against the Sorros family, and he went missing in that plane crash a couple weeks ago.”
And that tidbit of information had Sully launching into a story about Dawson Mulligan finding pop singer Bliss in the woods—a story Sully had recapped before but now went into full detail after they escaped the mine and as Kennedy made them hot cocoa.
Meanwhile, Hudson called Deke Starr and called off the search.
“Conan Sorros called himself Thornwood, got on the plane with Cade Maverick from Maverick Air, and stabbed him mid-flight. Wilder apparently tried to land the plane, and it cartwheeled. At least, according to Bliss,” Sully said.
About then, Deke had shown up to take Jericho’s statement about the mine explosion, and he filled in the gaps. “Wilder disappeared into the woods—hasn’t been seen since. Conan and Mars went after Bliss in Anchorage. Conan was arrested.”
“Which is where we came in,” Jericho said, pointing between himself and Harley. And yes, he meant we. As in Jericho and Harley.
Them. Together.
He still couldn’t believe she’d found him—or that Orlando had somehow trekked to the mine door, as if the dog had known she was there...
Maybe he had.
Maybe in fact, Orlando, like Jericho, couldn’t resist this pull to her, like she might be a star in a dark world.
She now sat on the arm of the chesterfield sofa, sipping a cup of cocoa, glancing at him now and again, wearing that expression that said her brain was churning over facts.
“So Mars is still after Wilder now that his brother is out of the picture,” Hudson said. He’d built a fire in the hearth, and it sparked, glowed.
Jericho so wanted to take Harley’s hand, to pull her down and into his arms. Because for a long time, in the darkness...
Well, he’d let memories find him.
He and Harley, sitting by a fire in the Bowie lodge, playing a game of backgammon.
Or together on his family’s snow machine, flying over the snow.
Just friends. Yeah, um, never.
About time he let that sink in, take hold. No wonder he’d felt torn asunder when he’d walked away. Memories of her threaded the fabric of his life.
Harley set down her cocoa. “Like I said, Wilder witnessed an execution-style murder of a DEA agent by Conan Sorros. Wilder was tasked to testify against them, but he didn’t want to. I wasn’t involved then, but apparently my brother had been undercover and gave testimony against Brand and Jago and put them away. Then, my boss, Lydia, offered a plea deal to Jago in exchange fortestimony against his dad and brothers, which meant Wilder could walk away. They finally tracked down Conan and arrested him a couple years ago, but a few months ago, Jago was killed in prison, right before Conan’s case was docketed to trial. Conan escaped during a prison transfer and ... well, that’s when Lydia reached out to Wilder to ask him to come to Juneau to give video testimony. That’s why he was on that plane.”
“With Conan disguised as Thornwood,” Deke added.
“He didn’t recognize Conan?” This from Malachi. “That’s hard to believe.”
“He was wearing a beard that covered up his scar,” Sully said. “At least, according to Bliss’s description of him.”
