Off The Grid Christmas. Mary Ellen Porter

reached the plane. Even if she weren’t terrified of flying, there was no way she could let Kane bring her home.

      As much as Grayson wanted to help her, until she could prove her innocence, she couldn’t ask him to take her side against the FBI. Law enforcement was his calling and she would not be the one who caused him to lose his job with the FBI. She wasn’t sure what story Marcus Emory had fed the FBI, but his clever move had made her an enemy of the state. She was wanted by the United States government and, by now, possibly a half-dozen other entities.

      She had to finish what she’d come to Maine to do.

      She had to decrypt the files she’d intercepted from GeoArray. The fact that GeoArray was willing to engage the FBI in its search for her meant that Emory was desperate. Any doubt she’d harbored about the importance of those files was gone. Her gut told her the content of the files would expose the criminal activities behind GeoArray.

      She glanced out the back window and saw a vehicle pass the airport access road.

      “You can slow down,” she said. “They’ve passed us.”

      “Not if we want to get to the plane before they realize we’ve turned off.”

      “What’s the plan once we reach it? We can’t just climb aboard and leave.”

      “Sure we can. It’s unlikely other planes are flying out of here tonight. I can be cleared for takeoff in minutes.”

      “If there’s anyone at the tower.” And she hoped there wasn’t.

      “There is. I put in a flight plan for this evening and was given a three-hour window to fly out. We’re within that time frame.”

      “I don’t like it,” she muttered. “How about you come up with a different plan? Because I already told you, I’m not flying out of here.”

      He didn’t respond.

      “Did you hear me?”

      “I heard.”

      “And?”

      “I don’t change plans. Not when they’re good ones.”

      “Often, it’s opinion that determines whether or not something is good,” she pointed out. “Your opinion and mine are very different on this issue.”

      “Are you aiming for an argument, Arden? Because now isn’t the time for it.”

      “There’s no time like the present for me to state irrevocably that I think your plan stinks.” She didn’t care about the argument. She didn’t care about his plan. She needed him to think she did. That would put him off guard when they reached whatever death trap, winged vehicle he thought they were flying out in.

      He didn’t take the bait.

      “Who’s after us?” he asked instead.

      “You asked me that before. I chose not to answer.”

      “I asked who you were running from. Now I want to know who’s behind us.”

      “Sorry, I—”

      “If I’m going to go head-to-head with an enemy, I want to know who the enemy is.”

      “Ever heard of GeoArray?” she asked. She’d let him think she was cooperating. If he believed she was going along with his plan, he’d be a lot less likely to anticipate her escape.

      “GeoArray is after you?” he answered. Obviously he’d heard of the defense contractor.

      “Yes.”

      “Why?”

      “I was...helping a friend and I stumbled on some information that GeoArray would rather I not have.”

      “What kind of information are we talking about?”

      “The kind that could get you killed if you knew about it.”

      “There isn’t a whole lot going on tonight that couldn’t get me killed,” he responded, glancing in the rearview mirror and frowning.

      She looked over her shoulder. “Do you see them?”

      “No, but once they realize they’ve lost us it won’t take long for them to figure out that we turned into the airport access road.” He parked the SUV near a hangar, grabbing her arm before she could jump out.

      She could have pulled away. He wasn’t holding on that tightly, and she knew how to break someone’s grip, but the look in his eyes held her in place.

      “Don’t try it,” he said quietly.

      “What?”

      “Whatever you’ve been planning. We don’t have time to fight each other.”

      “We aren’t fighting. I’m—”

      “You’re going to get us both killed, Arden. Is that what you want? Because, if you run, I’m going after you. That will slow us down and give whoever’s following us plenty of time to catch up.” He released her arm, reached over the back seat and grabbed an army duffel bag, then opened his door.

      She opened hers as well, stepping out of the vehicle and shivering as a few flakes of snow landed on her cheeks. She didn’t fly, and she especially didn’t fly when the weather was bad.

      Her plan had been to run as soon as her feet hit the ground, but she couldn’t ignore Kane’s warning and feel good about it. She glanced at the road running parallel to the airfield, spotting a vehicle creeping along it. It had to be them. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out she and Kane were at the airport.

      But...

      She didn’t fly.

      She’d have to run, and she’d have to hope that Kane was intelligent enough to stick with his escape plan.

      “Don’t worry,” Kane said quietly. “I’ve got your pack.”

      She swung toward him.

      She’d forgotten that she’d slipped out of the pack. That wasn’t like her. Hesitating wasn’t her style, either. She always had a plan. She always followed through on it, and she almost never forgot anything.

      Especially not something as important as that pack.

      “I’ll take it,” she said, rushing around the front of the Tahoe to where he was waiting and grabbing one of the straps.

      “We’re wasting time. I’ve got it. You want what’s in it, you’ll have to come with me.” He walked away, his strides long and purposeful.

      Arden needed that backpack. More precisely, she needed what was inside it. Her laptop. She had, of course, hidden away a second copy of the files for safekeeping, but that laptop contained days of work. In fact, she knew she was close to breaking the encryption wrapped around the files. She couldn’t afford to lose all that work. Starting over was not a scenario she wanted to entertain.

      “Let’s be reasonable about this, Kane,” she said.

      “If by reasonable you mean we work together to solve your problem, I’m all for it,” he responded, stepping into the hangar, his duffel slung over his shoulder, her pack still in his hand.

      She had no choice but to follow him right into the belly of the beast.

      At least, that’s what it felt like when she saw the little tin coffins disguised as airplanes lined up and ready for takeoff.

      She felt sick, the thought of getting on a plane and flying into the snowy night making her light-headed.

      “You’re better than this,” she muttered, annoyed with her own weakness.

      “What’s that?” Kane glanced over his shoulder as he reached the front of the line of planes.

      “Nothing.”

      “You’re sure?”

      “As