Page 72 of Thunder Pass

“You don’t,” Bear said bluntly. “They’re blocking that road.”

“So we’ll hike.” Ruth glanced around at the worried faces. “No one else has to go. She’s my responsibility.”

“I’m going where you’re going,” Gunnar growled. “But I was just in the general store and Kathy warned me to stay away from Thunder Pass. You know her, it must be really serious for her to speak up.”

“Then it’s serious for Sarah, too. I can’t just leave her out there. We’ll do the same as we did at the compound. We’ll lay low, keep out of sight. We’re trying to find Sarah, that’s all.”

“No chickens this time.”

That made her smile. “No chickens. And if we get caught, we always have our plan B cover story.”

He nodded, his blue eyes holding hers, and she felt a sense of calm descend over her. She had no idea if they’d find Sarah, but if she could trust anyone, it was Gunnar. But they were going to need some backup. Someone would have to watch the kids—and it would probably take several someones.

She turned to the others, who were talking quietly amongst themselves at the bar, and held up her right hand, the one with Gunnar’s mother’s engagement ring. “We have an announcement to make. Gunnar and I are going to Thunder Pass. If we get caught, the story is we want to ask Luke’s permission to marry.”

Her words set off a small uproar.

“You can’t go out there by yourselves,” cried Maura. “But congratulations,” she added quickly.

“We’ll draw less attention if it’s just us,” Ruth said firmly. “And we have our cover story all set.”

“Absolutely not,” Bear growled. Then he softened. “But we’re more than happy to cater the wedding.”

“No, no, it’s a cover?—”

But no one heard Ruth through the din of voices. Martha slid off her stool and hugged Gunnar with one arm and Ruth with the other. “A perfect match. I know ’em when I see ’em. But you should stay the hell away from the pass.”

Lachlan got to his feet with a frown. “I’m with everyone else. You shouldn’t be anywhere near that place.” Then a smile took over his face. “But I’m glad you two finally saw what was obvious to the rest of us.”

Ruth gave up on correcting the record. There were more important things to worry about, namely, finding Sarah.

After everyone had spoken except for Lila, Ruth turned to her. If going to Thunder Pass really was the wrong thing to do, maybe Lila would sense something. At this point, that was the only warning that would stop Ruth from doing what she felt had to be done.

But Lila was nothing but smiles as she blinked a tear from her eye. “We’ll take care of the kids while you’re gone. Don’t worry about a thing, between all of us, we’ve got this. I do love a fairy tale romance. The two of you together look like you stepped off the cover of a paperback. Viking hero, redheaded heroine, I promise you I’d devour that story.”

Gunnar and Ruth’s eyes met, and despite her fear and all the swirling uncertainty of mysterious forces at work around them, they both burst into laughter. Even though the others begged to know what was so funny, they didn’t explain. Some things were meant to stay a secret just between the two of them.

34

Before they headed for the compound, Gunnar went behind The Fang to download the app that Bridget had sent him. At first he got no cell service, then it flickered on, one bar, then two. He held his breath as the app downloaded, hoping the signal would hold up.

Once he was on, he logged in with the password Bridget had sent him, and found a message waiting for him.

This is wild. There’s no record of an Anthony Amundsen in the Special Forces, but there is a Sergeant Anthony Grant, who joined the Army the exact same time that Dad said he joined. He left the same time Dad did too. Same birth date, same everything. It’s looking like Dad’s real name is Anthony Grant.

Wow. So Dad had changed his name and moved to a tiny remote dot on the map in Alaska. Why?

Anything else? Did he research Anthony Grant at all?

But Bridget wasn’t currently online; he’d have to wait for an answer to those questions.

He took a quick second to Google the name Anthony Grant, but it was such a common name that he got too many results, and none of them useful.

Except for one.

A photo from 1995 in Afghanistan accompanied an article headlined, US and Norwegian troops in joint NATO exercise in desert. About ten soldiers were pictured, some in American uniforms, others in what must be Norwegian. And right there, in black and white, was a man who could have been Gunnar himself—big, blond, strong jaw.

But his father hadn’t been blond. He’d had brown hair, until it turned gray… Jesus, had his father been dying his hair that whole time?

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