Christmas Under Fire. Michelle Karl

see the smiling female airport attendant taking tentative steps her way. “Yes?”

      The woman clasped her hands together. “I’m so sorry, but the airport closes at four o’clock today, in five minutes. I see that your luggage has been brought inside, but do you have someone coming to pick you up? Or do you need help to arrange transportation?”

      It closed at four? That wasn’t something she’d accounted for—evidently she’d missed that on the airport website. But shouldn’t her supposed escort have already arrived, in that case? “I...someone is apparently on their way. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

      As the woman walked away, it dawned on Cally that she should probably freshen up before the drive to Fort Mason. The journey from Amar to northern BC had taken all day, and her teeth felt fuzzy. Five minutes was plenty of time to get the job done.

      Cally rolled her suitcase from the back doors to a small alcove by the front entrance, then slipped into the ladies’ washroom and headed for the wheelchair stall to hang up her winter gear before landing at the sink. She brushed her teeth, ran a brush through her knotted hair and swiped a coat of gloss on her dry lips. Feeling cleaner and more put-together than she had in hours, she ducked back into the washroom stall to bundle up again. A few minutes later, she was re-dressed and ready to go.

      She stepped out of the washroom into a darkened airport.

      “Hello? Anyone here?” Her stomach squeezed with confusion. Had everyone left and closed up for the day? How had they forgotten about her when her luggage was still out in the open—

      She groaned. Because it wasn’t in the open. She’d moved it off into the alcove where it wouldn’t be in anyone’s way. She’d done too good a job at being unobtrusive. The attendant she’d spoken to probably saw the empty space where her suitcase had been and assumed she’d left. Cally hadn’t heard anyone come into the washroom, either, but then again, she’d left the stall door open while taking off her winter gear and putting it back on—so if anyone had glanced quickly inside, they’d have seen a full row of open stalls and surmised the room was empty.

      The world outside the bay windows was dark, the sun’s rays having almost fully disappeared below the horizon. She checked the front doors and discovered she wasn’t locked in. The doors swung open when she pressed on the crash bar, but the world outside was nothing but parking lot and empty green space surrounded by heavy forest. If she left the building, the doors might very well lock behind her, and then she’d be out in the cold with no shelter. But what if her ride was still on his way? If he drove into the parking lot and saw a darkened building, he might simply turn around and leave.

      Cally looked around for something to brace the door open a crack, to indicate somebody was still inside. Using her cell phone flashlight, she illuminated the space near the doors and saw a triangular doorstop. She shoved it under one of the doors, cracking it open by about ten centimeters.

      Her stomach growled as she turned off her cell phone’s flashlight to conserve battery. She took note of the reception icon, which indicated that she didn’t have any service. She supposed that shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering her remote location. There had to be a courtesy phone around that she could use to call a taxi or emergency services to let somebody know she’d been left behind.

      She glanced across the terminal concourse, searching for a phone in the dim light. A vending machine gave off a faint glow from the inside, illuminating the potato chips and chocolate bars within—but more important, the soft light reached far enough to reveal a wall-mounted phone next to it.

      Perfect. I can call for a ride and grab a snack for the drive, something to tide me over until dinner. She took a step toward the phone.

      The shadows to her right shifted.

      She gasped and flinched, but sensed no further movement. Had she imagined it? She swung her gaze from one side to the other, but the room’s interior remained still and motionless.

      And then the back of her neck felt prickly, as if she was being watched. She whirled around, but saw only darkness and the faint red glow of the emergency exit.

      Maybe my original ride is finally here, she thought. Maybe he’s looking through the window wondering where I am. He could be in the parking lot right now, so I should probably check to make sure he doesn’t miss seeing the propped-open door and leave.

      She took a step toward the front entrance, but glanced back at the phone and vending machine as a strange sense of wrongness washed over her.

      Another shadow moved. Her insides twisted.

      “Hello?” She whirled around, backing up to the entrance. “Who’s there? I have a law enforcement escort and a killer left hook, so you’d better not—”

      A rough swath of fabric plunged over her head, covering her face and blocking the dim light. She screamed as she felt a tug at her arms.

       Someone is trying to kidnap me!

      “Leave me alone!” she screamed and lashed out with her fists. The attacker grabbed hold of her wrists, apparently trying to control her flailing limbs, so she drove her knee upward instead—but her opposite foot slipped on the slick tile floor and her kneecap smacked into a bench. Her leg buckled beneath her, and her wrists were wrenched from her captor’s grasp as she fell through the air.

      Then she heard a bang. Something hard slammed into the back of her head, and the world went silent.

      RCMP officer Aaron Thrace lunged through the airport’s main entrance and caught the woman as she fell, centimeters before she landed on the hard tile. Had something or someone hit her as he’d rushed inside? A shadowy figure took off across the moonlit terminal and, before Aaron could even draw his weapon, slammed into the crash bar of a door underneath an exit sign on the other side of the concourse and plunged into the frigid night air. Aaron wanted to follow after the perp and serve immediate justice for whatever had transpired in the seconds before his arrival, but the safety of the person in front of him came first.

      The woman groaned as she came to, her eyes hazy and unfocused. He sat her down on one of the plastic chairs by the door, keeping watch on both her and their dark surroundings. Why on earth had she been inside the shuttered airport all alone? He’d called ahead and told the attendant at the front desk that he would be several minutes behind schedule due to traffic on the highway from Fort Mason, and the attendant had agreed to stick around until he arrived. Had someone duped the attendant into leaving? He had to assume that the woman in front of him was Ms. Roslin, the dignitary from Amar whom he’d been assigned to escort and assist for the duration of her visit. What had happened here?

      “Ms. Roslin?” He pulled the swath of fabric, which had been knocked askew, from her face, and her eyes suddenly opened wide. She inhaled sharply and leaped up from the chair, backing away with a fierce growl. He held his hands up in a show of nonaggression. “Aaron Thrace, RCMP. I’m not going to harm you, but someone just tried to. Are you injured?”

      The snarl slipped away as her features relaxed. “Oh. Oh! I don’t...no, I don’t think so. I was accidentally left behind in the airport and then someone came out of nowhere—”

      Her gentle, lilting accent endeared her to him immediately, but intellectually he knew that was simply a cognitive reaction to hearing certain types of accents. Still, it was heartbreaking to hear a lovely voice like hers recounting such an agonizing ordeal. “If you’re uninjured, will you be all right waiting here while I search the perimeter?” She nodded but didn’t look confident about it. “Are you sure? I won’t be a minute. I’m going to check outside of these doors and then confirm it’s safe to bring you to the car. Did you notice if your attacker had a weapon?”

      She shook her head this time, with greater resolution. “I didn’t see one, but it was dark. The person grabbed me with both hands. It felt like they were trying to get me under control—like they were going to pick me up and take me somewhere? I’m not sure, sorry. They did shove something over my head first...oh, maybe it was that scarf on the floor?”

      Welcome