Page 56 of Thunder Pass

Aunt Magda’s comment flashed through her mind. What did she mean by that? She’d phrased it so oddly. And where were all the kids—besides Miller?

She jumped when Gunnar’s voice interrupted her speculations. “Let’s go,” he said softly as he stepped back into the coop. “I’m ready to get the hell away from this place.”

“Me too.” She dropped a kiss on Maisie’s feathers, and rose to her feet. The hen gave a soft cluck and went back to pecking at the ground.

“You aren’t going to leave her behind, are you?”

“Um…of course? We’re buddies, but she doesn’t belong to me.”

“Pffft.” Gunnar bent down and swept Maisie under his arm in one swift gesture. He tucked her under his jacket and adjusted it so she was completely undetectable.

“Are you serious?”

“Unless she starts pecking my ribs, yup. Want to grab your books, too?”

She cast a longing glance at the hole in the wall where they were stashed. It would take some time to retrieve them, too much time. “It’s okay. I have them practically memorized.”

“Come on, then.”

They quick-strolled out of the chicken coop and across the grassy field toward the clearing. As they walked, voices caught their attention. A man was shouting instructions to someone else, and his words wafted through the air, loud and clear.

“Airstrip first, without that it won’t work.” This man had a strong accent.

“How we gonna do that?” That sounded like Uncle Ted.

The first man’s answer was too jumbled to understand.

“Let’s run it by the big guy. The five-foot-eight big guy.” They both laughed and the conversation shifted to weightlifting, as their voices got louder and louder.

Without a word, both Gunnar and Ruth picked up the pace. Those two men were coming toward them, and Ruth, for one, didn’t want to confront them. These newcomers were very different from the Chilkoots she was used to. Cocky, sure of themselves, laughing at their boss? It unnerved her.

Ruth didn’t take an easy breath until they were back in the shelter of the woods. They walked quickly back to the truck, not saying a word in case their voices carried.

Once they were safely in Gunnar’s truck, he carefully extracted Maisie from under his coat. She settled the hen on her lap and put her own sweater over Maisie’s plump feathered body. Would Maisie be okay away from the Chilkoot chicken coop? Hens were attached to their own flocks, but Maisie had always been an outlier, at times even an outcast.

Maybe Martha’s chickens would accept her the way Firelight Ridge had accepted Ruth.

27

About a mile down the road toward Martha’s farm, a shocking sight brought Gunnar up short. A collection of sawhorses and armed men blocked the road. As they approached, Jared Chilkoot waved at them. Gunnar had never gotten along with Jared, mostly because he was an asshole. But now, with a shotgun in his hands and a power-mad gleam in his eyes, he looked downright menacing.

“Should I stop?” Gunnar murmured. “I can blow through those sawhorses, no problem.”

“They have guns. Yes, you should stop.”

“They’re not going to shoot us. I’m the only mechanic in town.”

She gave a near-hysterical giggle. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that anymore. There could be fifty mechanics at the compound and we wouldn’t even know.”

“Good point.” He slowed to a stop next to Jared and leaned out the driver’s side window. “Hey man, what’s up? We’re just headed back to town.”

In Ruth’s lap, Maisie clucked. Desperate, Ruth made her own squawking sound then cleared her throat, as if a bug had flown into it.

Gunnar worked hard to keep a straight face.

Jared ignored her. “What are you doing out this way?”

“Why is that any business of yours?”

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