Mary Ellen Porter - Off The Grid Christmas

He glanced over his shoulder, his arm still tight around Arden’s waist.

Bright lights illuminated the path they’d left, what looked like an ATV zipping along the narrow passage.

“They’re coming. Looks like they have a vehicle that can make it,” he warned.

“Hold on,” she shouted, hitting the throttle and propelling them over the top of the bluff. The way down was as steep as the trip up, but the bike managed to cling to the rocky, ice-coated ground as Arden wove her way through sparse pine growth.

There weren’t enough trees to provide adequate cover, and the hair on his neck stood on end. He may as well have had a bull’s-eye on his back. One well-trained sniper, and he’d be down.

He glanced back. The ATV had crested the hill and seemed to be idling there. It was a good vantage point, and the shot would be easy enough to take.

Arden must have sensed the danger.

“Hang on!” she shouted. Hitting the throttle once more, she increased their speed and veered sharply to the right, steering the motorcycle toward what looked like a shallow ditch. Beyond that, the road curved across the landscape.

The first shot rang out as the motorcycle jumped the ditch. Bits of bark flew into Kane’s face as the tires hit the snowy pavement. The motorcycle wobbled dangerously, yet somehow remained upright.

“Left!” he shouted, calculating their distance from his Tahoe, the likelihood of the next bullet hitting its target, the chance that Arden would make it out of this situation alive if something happened to him.

He’d promised Jace he’d get her home in one piece.

He’d do it.

A second shot rang out, and the pavement behind them exploded. A high-caliber rifle, but the gunman couldn’t seem to hit his mark.

There are always blessings in the trials.

His grandmother had reminded him of that dozens of times when he was a kid. Maybe she’d been right.

He could see the patch of trees where he’d parked the Tahoe, and the dull gleam of the street sign he’d used as a marker just ahead.

A bullet hit it, bouncing off the metal with a loud crack.

“Just past the sign. Behind those trees,” he barked, and Arden veered in the direction he’d indicated, the motorcycle slowing as she bounced off the road and into knee-high grass.

She cut the motor as they reached the Tahoe.

The night had gone silent except for the wind that howled through the trees. No engines roaring, people shouting, bullets flying.

“I don’t like this,” Arden whispered as she clambered off the bike.

“Get in!” he urged, opening the driver’s side door. “They’re probably coming from the parking area.” Before the words were out of his mouth, she was scrambling across the bench seat; he rushed in after her, pulling the door shut behind him.

Shoving the keys in the ignition, Kane cranked the engine and hit the gas. The SUV lurched out from behind the trees and screeched onto the road.

“Keep down!” Kane ordered as he floored it.

He didn’t know how many vehicles were coming from the parking area, but he could already see a set of lights in his rearview mirror. He might be able to outrun them.

Might.

He’d flown into a small airfield three miles away, just outside of Lubec. Bringing the Cessna had been faster and easier than driving or booking a commercial flight.

With the weather getting bad and the enemy on his tail, he wasn’t sure it had been the right decision. The airfield shared space with Tommy’s Truck and SUV Rentals, the town’s only car rental business; the pickings had been slim—mostly older model pickup trucks—and he’d thought he’d been fortunate enough to rent the Tahoe. Now he wished there’d been a faster vehicle to choose.

Arden shifted, and before he realized what she was doing, she was on her knees, peering out the back window.

“They’re gaining on us,” she commented.

There didn’t seem to be any panic in her voice. So far, she’d been unflappable. That was good. Panic only ever caused people to make mistakes that could get them killed.

“Get out of your pack and get your seat belt on.” He issued the order and ignored her comment.

“Are you expecting to crash?” But Arden shrugged out of her backpack and fastened the seat belt around her waist, carefully positioning the shoulder strap behind her so it wouldn’t bother her cat.

“I’m expecting that they won’t give up easily,” he responded.

“Logic agrees.”

“Does it?” he said drily as he sped around a curve in the road. The light disappeared from the rearview mirror. Gone for now, but not for long. If they hadn’t been on a two-lane highway that overlooked a twenty-foot drop to the ocean, he’d have looked for a place to pull off and hide until their pursuers passed.

“Of course,” Arden replied. “Now that they’ve used their weapons and shown their hand, they can’t let us escape. They’ll need to kill you to keep you from contacting the police once they’ve gotten their hands on me, so any way you cut it, they’re not going to give up easily.”

“Kill me, huh?”

“Does that surprise you?”

“No, but I’m curious.”

“About?”

“Their reasons for wanting to take you alive.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Yeah?” He glanced at the speedometer, its needle hovering around eighty-five. Any faster and the vehicle would start shaking like it was in need of a front-end alignment.

“Very.” She answered absently, giving no further explanation.

“Care to tell me exactly who wants to keep you alive?”

“In actuality, there are several entities who might be responsible for this. I am on the FBI’s most wanted list.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“No. I’m just avoiding giving you an answer.”

“Why?”

“My reasons are not your concern.”

She obviously didn’t trust him. He’d drop it. For now.

Arden twisted once more in her seat, looking out the back window. “Can this thing go any faster? I’m pretty sure I see headlights behind us again.”

He could see them, too, but he’d already accelerated as much as the Tahoe could. “We’ve still got some distance between us.”

“Not enough. Lubec’s less than a mile away. If you avoid Main Street, we might be able to give them the slip.”

“It’s a small town, and there aren’t many places to hide. I won’t feel safe until we get you out of Lubec, and Maine altogether for that matter.”

“That’s unrealistic. If we can’t beat them on this curved and twisting road, we can’t beat them in a race on the open highway.”

“You’re assuming I’m planning to drive us out of here.”

“Is there another option?” Her voice was sharp.

“I left my Cessna at the Coastal Airstrip just outside of town.”

“Cessna?” she said a little too loudly, her voice tight. “That’s your plan?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t fly,” Arden stated firmly.

“You’re about to.” He took a sharp curve in the road. The turn into the airport access road was up ahead, and the headlights behind them had disappeared again. If he was fast enough, he could turn onto the road, cut the lights and wait for their pursuers to pass.

As the SUV approached the turn, he cut the headlights and swung into the access road, tires squealing as they tried to gain traction.

“This is the airport,” Arden said.

“I told you. We’re flying out.”

“I told you, I’m not.”

She was.

Even if he had to throw her kicking and screaming onto the Cessna. He’d committed to getting Arden back to her family. He was going to do it. No matter who was after her. No matter what kind of trouble she’d gotten herself into.