Falls Like Lightning (26 page)

44

T
he sound of rotors beating in the air brought Elle’s head up. Silas stirred outside. A storm of ash and dirt swirled about him. A helicopter descended. Black-clad gunmen deployed across the darkened patches of cheatgrass. One came to Silas’s side while others charged into the bunker.

Shouting. Voices. A man knelt by her and unlocked her cuffs. His face looked caring and confident. The name
Anderson
lay stitched in white lettering against a rectangular black patch on his vest. The backs of others read
FBI
in large lettering.

“We’re glad to see you alive, Captain Westmore.”

Elle blinked, fighting the haze in her vision and the pervasive exhaustion throughout her body. “How?”

“You tell me, ma’am.”

She licked her chapped lips. “No, I . . . How did you find us?”

“We had a tip-off about the heist and were en route here to apprehend additional suspects.”

“Additional?”

“Yes. We took two men into custody when they landed with their stolen cargo, and another at a separate rendezvous point.”

“Is Silas . . .”

“He’s battered but awake. We have a medic with him now.”

Outside, several men lifted Silas onto a cot. Elle touched her cheek. She took a deep breath and turned to Anderson. “You’re still looking for Cleese.”

“Yes.” He pulled a notepad from his vest pocket. “And men by the names of Monte and Mansfield.”

“Cleese is dead.”

“Do you know where the body is?”

“About a quarter mile from here. Shot by an old man who lived in a cabin. That man is dead as well.”

He nodded and scribbled on his notepad. “What about the other two?”

Elle shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“That’s all right.”

“Who tipped you guys off?”

“Mr. Parson’s helicopter pilot was of great help to us. He’d been approached by Parson about flying out an undisclosed cargo for an appreciable sum. No questions. All covert. When the pilot learned your aircraft had gone down, he grew suspicious. Said he’d already taken part in a search for one Westmore a couple years back.”

“My father.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay.”

“The pilot needed the money, but he wasn’t willing to be a party to murder. That’s when he contacted us.”

Two men girded in olive green Kevlar walked into the bunker. They examined the extinguished fuse and the dynamite stash.

One shook his head. “Lucky it didn’t get hotter in here.” He faced Anderson. “Lieutenant, we need to clear everyone from this area as soon as possible.”

“C’mon.” Anderson extended his hand. “Let’s get you to safety and medical attention.”

She stood with his assistance.

He led her outside. “We’ll fly you back.”

Four men strode toward the helicopter with Silas on the cot. They slid him inside on the floor. A medic and an agent climbed in.

Anderson guided Elle up to a seat in the helicopter, pointed to the five-point seat belt harness, and handed her a helmet.

She tucked her hair back and slid it on. “Thank you.”

Anderson nodded and slid the door shut.

Lying on the floor in front of her, Silas twitched his eyes and opened them. His muscles tensed, and he tried to sit up. “The fuse—”

She stretched out and patted his arm. “It’s okay. It’s okay. We’re safe.”

He looked at her hands. His voice came out raspy, “Caleb?”

“They caught him. The FBI caught him. The others too.”

She saw the confusion in his soot-streaked and bloodied face, in his red-tinged eyes ringed with purple bruising. He searched her for answers. “I don’t understand.”

Elle smiled and shook her head. “Neither do I.” She squeezed his fingers.

He winced.

“Oh.” She relaxed her grip, noticing the redness with scattered small blisters across his skin. “You’re burned.”

The medic put a hand on Silas’s shoulder. “Sir, you should lie back.”

“I’m all right. It’s all right.” Silas propped himself up and looked at his arms. “It’s not too bad.” He coughed. “Just a sunburn.”

The medic moistened dressings with sterile saline and wrapped them around Silas’s burns.

“Thanks.” Silas held up a wrapped hand. “That’s good. Really.” He fought back another cough. “Thank you.”

The medic eyed him, glanced at Elle, and then relented and returned to his seat.

Silas’s eyes fell to the ring on her forefinger, the chain still curled in her palm.

His mouth seemed to search for words. “I thought—I thought you were . . .”

She shook her head.

His eyebrows angled. “What is it?”

“I found him.” She swallowed. She let the ring dangle on the necklace. “My father.”

He took the ring in hand. He touched his brow with his other and flinched at the contact with the bruised skin. He shook his head. “I have so many questions.”

Moisture brimmed in her eyes. “Me too.”

He brought his unwrapped hand to hers. “I didn’t mean to jump out of the plane.”

Elle broke out in a smile. She laughed. “I know. I know you didn’t.”

“I didn’t want to leave.” He coughed again—this time gripping his side. “I didn’t want to leave you. Not again. I never should have.”

Elle shook her head. “You don’t have to—”

“No. I do.” He looked around the helicopter, at the stone-faced men in place beside them. “How did we . . . ? I don’t know how any of this . . . how Caleb . . . the fuse . . . ?” His eyes returned to her. “My head really hurts.”

She pushed her lips together. A tear flipped off her chin. “Here, lie down. You should lie down.”

“No, I’m good.”

“You’re not good. You’re stubborn.”

“Elle.”

“Yeah?”

“I came for you. From the second I hit the ground, I was coming for you.”

“I know.”

“Being ripped away . . . I thought you were dead.”

A hand pounded the door twice. Men outside strode away from the helicopter.

He swallowed, eyes focused on her from behind puffy, purple skin. “I know now. I realized.”

The engines whined into high idle.

He interlaced his fingers with hers. “I’ve never known a home until now.”

Her insides braided like rope. The rotors chopped through the air. Dust and ash scurried in a rising cloud. The helicopter lifted. They rose above the tree line, through the smoky ceiling, and burst into the open air.

He caressed her ring finger. “Elle?”

He held up her father’s ring.

“Silas? What are—”

“Wait.” He grimaced and took a knee in front of her.

“Silas, no. You—”

His Adam’s apple shifted. “Be my wife.”

She shook her head. “You’ve taken too many blows to your head.”

He filled his chest with air and straightened. The medic and agent looked on with curiosity.

She felt fingers at her chin. He brought it to face him.

She angled her eyebrows. “Silas. You’re battered and dirty and . . .” She shook her head. And . . .
irresistible.
She put a hand on his chest. “You need rest.”

He shook his head and leaned forward.

She drew a breath.

His scratchy chin bristled by her cheek. She closed her eyes, heart fluttering. His lips met hers in a gentle kiss.

He pulled back, his familiar surfer-boy grin beneath swollen lips. “I know I look like I just got beat up. I do. I did. I did just get beat up. I know I can be obstinate and arrogant and—Elle,
this
 . . . having you, is something that I knew I wanted before that engine exploded. Before I thought I would never have the chance to tell you.”

He lifted her father’s ring and slid it on her finger. “Forgive me. If you somehow can for leaving you, then I promise to be yours and to make my home with you and with Maddie.”

Elle covered her mouth. A salty stream met the corner of her lips. She exhaled, smiled, and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Silas . . .” She slid the ring off of her finger. “Silas, everything has been moving really fast lately.”

“I know what I want.”

“It—”

“You have to believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you.” She glanced at the men, who shifted their gazes. She squeezed the ring. “I’ve made the mistake of moving too fast before.”

He looked away.

She found his eyes. “I want to build this the right way, this time.”

He brought a hand over her fist and nodded. “Then I can wait.” His eyes locked with hers. “As long as it takes. I’ll wait for you.”

Warmth spread within her. She clicked off her seat belt harness and leaned close to him. She threaded fingers through his tousled hair, took his bruised cheeks in her hands, and kissed him.

“I believe you.”

CHAPTER

45

A
t the nurses’ counter, Silas signed the last form needed to check out of the Barton Memorial ER in South Lake Tahoe. Madison sat on Elle’s lap in a chair along the wall, unable to escape her mother’s embrace since they returned. The girl kept looking up at him with starry-eyed awe. She didn’t seem to mind his bruises. Elle had told her he earned them while fighting for her.

Elle smiled at her daughter, looked at Silas, and gently bit her lip. “How are you?”

“Bruised not beaten. I see Madison is in good health. Any new leads?”

She brightened. “Yes, actually.”

“From a neurologist at this hospital?”

“That’s the amazing thing. It didn’t come from a doctor. An EEG tech caught an abnormality that had escaped everyone else.”

“That’s incredible. How?”

“Well, he’s been looking at electroencephalograms for years. He has a lot of experience. He told me that when Maddie’s images came on the screen, he didn’t see anything and was going to save the file and move on to the next case, but he felt prompted to study it again. That’s when he saw an abnormality along the central sulcus of the brain.”

“What part is that?”

“It’s a fissure down the middle of the brain. Something didn’t look right about it, so he forwarded his concern to the resident neurologist here. Turns out he had localized the cause of the seizures. The neurologist said it’s called Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. Knowing the cause enabled him to prescribe some specific things that should dramatically limit future seizures. But the best part is, by the time she’s thirteen or so, she’ll have outgrown the condition altogether. It’s completely temporary.”

Silas shook his head and grinned. “Sounds like an answer to your prayers.”

“It really is.”

Weathers strode down the corridor with his wife.

“Chief.”

He presented a hand to Silas. “Thanks for bringing home our best pilot, son.”

The shake pained his sore knuckles. He turned a wince into a smile. “I’m afraid that story is backward, Chief. It’s Captain Westmore here who saved me.”

He winked at her. “Can’t say I’m surprised with that one. How’s little Madison doing?”

Elle glanced from Silas to Maddie and stroked her little girl’s arms. “Very, very good.”

———

Silas cut into the steak Mrs. Weathers grilled for them back at their Tahoe cabin. A couple days had given him the ability to chew without too much pain. With Chief Shivner arrested after Silas related to the FBI incriminating info given to him by Bo, the Feds wanted fresh management put in place and the opportunity to question all those in the original Command staff. Weathers seemed uncomfortable with the time off and no longer being in the fray.

He stared at his plate. “I spoke with Mansfield’s sisters the other day. Breaking the news was difficult, to say the least.”

Silas nodded. “We owe him our lives.”

Madison fidgeted in her seat and squished the mashed potatoes with her fork. Elle set a hand atop Maddie’s and admonished her to eat and not play.

Weathers straightened. “I’ve scheduled a line-of-duty-death memorial for him to be held in two weeks. It will coincide with Pendleton’s.”

“What about Monte?”

“Given the sketchy details surrounding Pendleton’s death, a quiet family service is being held instead. Everything so far points to him being part of the plan to kill the both of you.” His brows furrowed. “Too often Forest Service memorials are for multiple firemen. I’d hoped I had attended my last.”

Silas stared at the bending colors in his water glass.

Weathers stabbed a bite with his fork. “On another note, I received a call today about the gold find.”

Elle replaced Maddie’s napkin across her legs. “What did you learn?”

He glanced at Maddie, who was absorbed in a song she sang quietly as she pushed food around on her plate. “The flame front consumed not only the cabin but most of the old man’s remains. But the FBI ran a search on a few personal record fragments and discovered a relative back east. A distant cousin.

“Come to find out, this relative knew about the gold but not the man. According to him, the gold cache was something of a family legend. He wasn’t aware of its exact location and had never been interested in finding it.”

Silas swallowed. “Millions of dollars of gold, and he wasn’t interested in finding it?”

“To be fair, the man is well-off.” He took a bite.

“But . . .”

“But, you’re right—that’s not the real reason. According to the FBI, two of the man’s ancestors, brothers, lived out west in the 1800s. They staked claim to a large gold find on the 4
^th
of July.”

“The Independence Find.”

“As you know, a number of miners were injured and some killed under the brothers’ watch, and the workers’ families received nothing. After a fatal collapse involving one of the brothers and the surviving brother’s wife, the surviving brother shut down the mine and took the next several months packing out the ore by mule deep into the wilderness, where we now know he stored it inside a secret underground vault.”

Elle nodded. “The bunker we came across.”

“Nobody knows for sure why he hid it. Thought it was cursed? Maybe the guilt associated with it was too much. The sole knowledge of its location almost passed with him on his deathbed. He spent the last years of his life tortured by a growing mental illness and in the midst of a paranoid delusion, he divulged his secret to a family member. It took on the form of a familial legend and was passed on as such through the generations.”