he reached the sled, he clambered to the other side. There on the cold, hard surface of the river lay Paul, as still as death.
“THANKS FOR PICKING us up, Vic,” Kat Sikes said quietly as the truck ate the miles between Anchorage International Airport and the house nestled in the breathtaking mountains surrounding the city. The ragged peaks were outlined against the starlit night sky, calling to her, welcoming her home.
“I wouldn’t have missed you for the world. We don’t get to see you very often.” He reached across and squeezed her hand. Vic Hughes had been as happy as a little kid to see her step through the security gate. He’d practically crushed every bone in her body hugging her.
Her friend, Nicole “Tazer” Steele had been treated to the same bone-crunching hug as Kat. Unlike Kat’s curly mop flying every which way, Tazer’s shoulder-length, straight blond hair fell back in place leaving her looking like a model poised to step onto the runway. Beneath the blond beauty’s feminine looks was a core of steel. Unarmed, she could drop a two-hundred-fifty-pound man to his knees in seconds. Kat had seen it happen. Thus Nicole had earned her team nickname of Tazer. No one called her Nicole.
Tazer insisted on sitting quietly in the backseat of the SUV. Kat sat up front with Vic. She loved Vic like the father she and Paul lost when they were still in their teens. Vic was the only family they had left in Alaska, a distant cousin, but family nonetheless. Kat struggled to suppress the quick rise of tears. She’d missed Vic and Paul, the dogs and…well, everything about home. Taking a deep breath, she asked, “How are the preparations for the race?”
“Paul and Sam are out exercising the dogs. You should ask them. Paul’s really excited about his team this year. He thinks he might have a chance to win. And Sam won’t do so badly, either. His team’s looking really strong.”
“Is Sam the boarder Paul took in?”
“Sure is.” Vic shot a grin her way. “Nice guy. You’re gonna love him.”
Kat still wasn’t sure whether or not she liked the idea of someone besides family living in their home. Not that she’d been there in over a year. After her husband, Marty, died, she’d felt a distinct tug of jealousy and homesickness that Paul had a friend to keep him company in their family home and all she had was her lonely apartment in D.C.
It had been a year since Marty was killed on an assignment at the embassy in the small African nation of Dindi. A year of loneliness and drifting from one operation to the next, barely able to focus on the mission at hand. Her boss finally insisted she get away and “pull herself together.”
At first she’d resented his inference that she was falling apart. Forced into taking leave, she headed to the only place she knew Marty had never been. It still struck her as ironic that Marty had never seen her home. Paul had always come out to visit them and, with their jobs being so demanding and dangerous, they never got around to doing anything other than brief trips into the North Carolina mountains to bike or backpack. They’d both been dedicated to their jobs and loved the thrill of being Stealth Operations Specialists—ultra-secret agents. But after Marty’s death…
“Is that your house?” Tazer leaned over the back of the seat, staring ahead.
The two-story log cabin perched on the side of a hill, the roof banked in a foot of snow, warm yellow light streaming through every window. Kat’s heart lodged in her throat and tears burned behind her eyelids. She would not cry. Having been raised in a malecentric household, tears were considered worse than the plague. On top of her upbringing, she’d spent time in the army as a criminal investigator and in Washington, D.C., on the Capitol police force before she was recruited to be an S.O.S. agent. Everywhere she’d been tears were taboo.
Kat wasn’t a woman prone to waterworks. At first she’d been glad Tazer had asked to go along with her to Alaska, but now she wished her friend was back in D.C. The homecoming would be twice as hard if she had to wear a game face all the time.
Vic pulled up in the driveway and all three climbed out of the SUV. “I’ll take your luggage in. Loki is around back. He’ll be glad to see you.”
“Loki?” Tazer pulled her collar up around her neck, hunching her shoulders against the frigid breeze.
Kat’s tears pushed closer to the surface as she managed to choke out, “My lead dog.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go in and climb into a cup of really hot coffee.” Tazer stamped her feet in the snow.
“No, please. Vic will show you to your room. I’ll join you for coffee in a few.” Kat took off around the side of the house, knowing if she didn’t, she’d break down in front of Tazer.
As she approached the rows of doghouses, a light sensor triggered the outside flood lamp and a familiar, furry face lifted from his paws. As soon as Loki saw her, he leaped to his feet and barked, his body twisting and shaking in his excitement.
Kat dropped to her knees before the Alaskan husky launched himself into her arms, licking her face and whining at the same time.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Kat couldn’t hold back any longer. She wrapped her arms around Loki’s neck, buried her face in his thick black-and-white fur and let the past year wash over her in a tsunami of emotions.
Visions of Marty laughing among the group at the S.O.S. office in D.C., Marty on their wedding day when they’d flown to Atlantic City to get married, and the last time she’d seen him alive as he boarded the plane to Dindi. He’d kissed her goodbye and tapped her beneath the chin. “See ya in a few.”
The only time he’d ever mentioned the L-word had been when he’d promised to love, honor and cherish her until death do us part. And death had parted them only a year after their whirlwind courtship and marriage. Sometimes Kat wondered if they really had been married. A year in the life of an S.O.S. agent was short. With the dangerous work they did, flying all over the world, they’d barely seen each other.
She’d loved him hard, as if each day would be the last. And she felt the pain of his loss no less than if they’d been married fifty years. But she’d learned one thing. Love hurt too much to invest in a second time. “Oh, Loki, it’s so good to be home.”
“Hey!” A voice called out from somewhere down the hill at the rear of the house. “Hey! Help!”
Kat’s head jerked up and she scrubbed the tears from her eyes before she could see a team of dogs and a sled in the moonlight coming across the clearing behind the house. The team was twice as long as the usual team. The sled had a large lump sprawled across it, and a man with a voice she didn’t recognize behind it.
From across the clearing, the man yelled, “Call an ambulance! Paul’s hurt!”
Chapter Two
Sam leaned against the wall of the crisp, clean hospital room, awaiting his chance to speak to Paul alone.
Kat leaned over her brother and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Her dark hair slid across his chest in a cloud of ebony waves. “I’m going to get some coffee.” Kat tucked the blanket up around Paul’s shoulders.
“About time,” he grumbled. “You’d think I was dying or something with everyone hanging around like vultures ready to pick my bones clean.”
“Come on, Tazer. Let’s get that coffee
