Page 17 of Aviator
Dean and I trudge through the snow, our breath forming small clouds in front of us. The surrounding mountains are cloaked in a blanket of white, their majestic peaks obscured by swirling flurries. The landscape is both serene and treacherous, its beauty masking the dangers hidden beneath the surface. If we stay lucky, this storm won’t intensify too much more before we leave.
Finally, we arrive at the cabin, its wooden walls barely visible under the thick layer of snow. Dean pushes open the creaking door, and we step into a chilling silence. The air inside is stale and frigid, tinged by an affronting scent underneath the lingering scent of smoke I can’t easily decipher but that makes me wrinkle my nose. The only light filtering through the dirty windows cast long, ghostly shadows on the frost-covered floor.
My gaze sweeps the room, searching for any trace of Kady. Any sign of life or hint that she may have been here. But instead, my eyes are met with a charred and ransacked cabin. It’s as if a storm of destruction has swept through, leaving only ruins in its wake.
I take a few more steps, my heart sinking at the full extent of the damage. Every wall is scorched and blackened, and the furniture is overturned and broken. Everywhere I look, there’s evidence of upheaval and chaos. Some spots still smolder, with curls of smoke disappearing into the breeze coming in from outside.
I fear the worst as I search the room and call out her name, but there’s no response. It’s as if the room itself is holding its breath, waiting to see what will happen next.
I wander around the cabin in a daze, my mind awhirl with questions and possibilities. Where is Kady? What happened here? Is she safe?
“Isn’t this charming?” I murmur under my breath. “Is this what men consider romantic? What’s basically a shack in the middle of nowhere? Why the hell would Jamie bring my sister to a place like this?”
Dean palms the pistol at his hip. Is this maneverwithout a gun? I mean, for real. When did he even get that thing? “This is Jamie’s bug-out place. He’d only come here if he were running from something. It’s not meant to be a five-star resort, princess. ”
Speaking of bugging out, my eyes nearly pop out of my head. “You didn’t think to mention that earlier?” If the frustration could literally drip from my lips, it would have frozen.
He peers into a room at the back that turns out to be a bathroom. I can already tell it’s empty because the door’s been split in two like a linebacker took offense to privacy. Good Lord, what did Kady get herself into? What didJamieget her into?
“You didn’t ask,” is Dean’s insufferable reply.
You’d think I’d be well-versed in all the ways a person can be irritated, considering how many sisters I have, but you’d be wrong.No oneis as irritating as Dean “Pain in the Ass” Tyler.
“Whydoes Jamie have a bug-out place? Why would he bring Kady here? What the hell happened? You better answer me now, Dean, or I swear to God, I’ll shoot you with your own gun.” It’s not an empty threat. Riley likes to drag me to her taekwondo classes sometimes, and I’ve picked up some moves. I’m pretty certain with the edge of surprise and a little luck, I could wrestle that gun away from him.
Dean lifts his left brow, and I’m not pissed enough to ignore the slashing scar through it I didn’t notice before. “Jamie’s always been a little paranoid. He keeps this place in case he ever needs to disappear. I don’t know why he’d bring her here. Like I told you before, I haven’t talked to him in a while.”
“Disappear?” I repeat incredulously. “What does that even mean?”
He nonchalantly lifts a shoulder as he rifles through dusty cabinets. “He’s been paranoid since our last deployment. He’d come out here when he needed to get away, decompress. Disappear for a few days. We used to joke he was one can of sardines away from being a doomsday prepper.”
“So you’re saying he was a psycho. Great. That makes me feeltonsbetter.” Damn Kady and her penchant for always believing the best in people. Damn Kady for being another person I have to rescue. Damn her even more for making me worry. But most of all, damn me for always dropping everything when anyone needs me. I wish I were the kind of person who could just not care. But that’s not me. I will do anything for the people I care about, often to my own detriment.
My mind races, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, but it’s like several of them are missing. “I’m going to kill her,” I mutter.
Then I realize Dean has gone quiet. Fear spears into me, and I swirl around to find him picking through a table he’s uncovered that’s strewn with empty plastic bags, glass vials, and torn packaging. And that’s only what I recognize. None of it bodes well, though. The signs of some sort of drug operation are unmistakable, and the realization sends a shiver down my spine. This isn’t just about Kady and Jamie’s troubled relationship.
It’s something far more dangerous.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say between gritted teeth. “That’s not Jamie’s, is it? It can’t be.”
Dean’s brow furrows as he scans the room with heightened awareness. “Of course not,” he says quietly. “He may have been a little paranoid, but he was as straight edge as they come. He never even drank, for fuck’s sake. This is something else.”
The weight of his words settles upon me, mingling with the cold despair creeping into my bones. “I don’t understand.”
Dean’s eyes flash. “What part don’t you understand, princess? Your sister isn’t here. They probably saw this shit hole and went somewhere else. Now let’s get the fuck out of here before whoever stashed this shit comes back for it and finds us instead.”
I narrow my eyes at him, feeling my normal good humor crystalize into anger. “I’m not leaving without my sister.”
He steps toward me, his jaw set and his eyes like flint. “You’ll leave when I say you leave, do you understand me?”
Frustrated tears fill my eyes, and I hate myself for it. I wipe them away furiously, shame flooding my cheeks for showing one iota of vulnerability. Heaving steadying breaths, I meet his hard gaze and swallow back my pride. “Please. We can’t just leave without answers.”
A big hand waves at our surroundings. “You’ve got your answers. You wanted to see the cabin. We’re here. They’re not. You’ve got five minutes, and then we’re gone whether or not your ass is in that seat.”
I give him a pained stare, but I know it’s hopeless. He hasn’t given a damn about me or my sister since I met him. I don’t know why his emotionless response fills me with despair, but it does. “You’re a real jerk, you know that, right?”
He grunts in answer. I’ve never wanted to punch someone so much in my life. Spinning, I push my hands through my hair, pulling at the roots and hoping it’ll give me some clarity. Dean’s given up investigating the interior, and I don’t really blame him. There’s little to nothing inside, and what isn’t rotting or covered in dust and smoke is charred from the fire that’s still in embers along the back wall. I’m drawn back to the bathroom, remembering the phone call where I thought I heard something breaking. Had Kenna been in the bathroom when she called me?
