Endless Night

Making her way to her cabin, Jackie wondered if her abrupt arrival had inconvenienced Skip and June. Perhaps she should turn around and leave. But it was not the time to make such decisions so late in the day, not in Alaska, not this time of year when there was only a scant four hours of sunlight each day. She resolved to at least help June in the kitchen and ease any burdens she might have caused by showing up on short notice.

As she turned around to pick up her duffel, she saw Lloyd looking out his small cabin window, his dark eyes fixed on her. The curtain quickly fell into place as he stepped back out of sight.

With a surge of fear, she closed her cabin door.

Roman flew the plane past trees thoroughly crusted with ice, against the backdrop of rigid mountains. He was relieved to take off, glad to be alone with his thoughts.

The shock of seeing Jackie still tingled in every nerve. She looked different than the last time he’d seen her, the grief not as fresh in her face. An anger had taken its place and rooted itself deeply in her eyes.

The guilt swirled up like wind-whipped snow. Jackie still despised him, and he despised himself for what had happened those two years ago.

He tried to concentrate on the feeling of the plane as it banked smoothly. He had to remind himself that the beautiful de Havilland did not belong to him and never would, unless business picked up. He’d been saving every dime he made, but he was still fifty thousand dollars short. Fifty thousand roadblocks separated him and his dream, the only dream he had left.

He was admiring the spectacular dazzle of snow on the gray mountains, highlighted by the sun on its way to setting, when the radio crackled.

“Roman, June needs your help. Fallon’s gone. June’s half-frantic,” Wayne said.

Roman sighed. “Where’d she head this time?”

“Her mom isn’t sure. Went out to do some cross-country skiing.”

“By herself?” Roman checked his watch. Almost one-thirty. The sun would set in a little under an hour.

“She told her mom she was meeting friends, but all of them are home safe and sound where they belong. Skip is out right now on the snowmobile looking for her.”

“Give me her last location and I’ll check it out.”

Wayne filled him in. “Don’t stay out too long. There’s a low pressure building over the Gulf. We’re gonna get some snow.”

With a sense of rising urgency, he banked and turned the plane. It wasn’t a game this far north. If you got lost in the great white expanse you might survive, in the daytime. If you got lost in the dark, when temperatures plunged deep into the minus range, that was a whole other can of worms. Wayne had taught him early on to carry a survival kit. No exceptions. Picturing the stubborn, careless sixteen-year-old Fallon, he knew she hadn’t taken any such precautions.

Fallon was hard to like, harder to trust, and he should be mad about having to go bail her out. Instead he only felt the same lancing pain when he thought of the younger Fallon, barely a teen with a puppy-love crush on Danny, who loved her as if she were his own sister. He blinked away the image of Jackie that rose again in his thoughts, the strange mixture of pleasure and pain that her presence awakened in him. What was she doing at this very moment? Asleep in her cabin? Knowing her, she was probably out helping to look for Fallon.

He peered closer at the darkening ground. The sun was low on the horizon, painting the snow in silver and gray. Fallon would have worn the old green jacket she practically lived in, so he strained his eyes to see any flash of the color.

The temperature continued to drop steadily. A paltry three degrees Fahrenheit began to slide into the negative numbers. Wind vibrated the wings of the plane and rose along with Roman’s anxiety.

Darkness spread. Soon it would be difficult to land safely.

Wayne radioed him again. “Come back in now.”

“A few more minutes.”

“Now, Roman. Plenty of rescuers die trying to be the hero. Don’t be one of them.”

He got a glimpse of the unfinished cabin on the bluff and fought a shudder. “I know. I’ll be careful.”

“That’s not good enough.” Wayne’s voice became commanding.

Roman thought of Danny, foggy images of that dark, frigid night swirling up again, the frightening sounds of the car sliding over the embankment clear in his ears. No one else would die in this wintry abyss if he could help it, especially no one whom Danny had loved. “Sorry, Wayne.” Roman turned the radio down to mute Wayne’s anxious retort. “There’s no way I can turn my back now.”

He fought against the wind that buffeted the plane in the near darkness. At this latitude, night did not come gently. It arrived like a heavy fist-fall in a matter of minutes. Soon there would be no chance of finding her.

“Come on, Fallon. Where are you?”

As if on cue he caught sight of a green flash under the massive trunk of a pine. He immediately scanned the surface for the best place to land. There was no time to go through the tedious safety checks he’d done before. He had to put the plane down quickly. Praying he would not land in an overflow that would plunge him into water or freeze the skis so completely they would stay riveted there until the spring thaw, he took it down.

Engines still running, he jumped out, the snow against his legs taking his breath away. He hurried over to find Fallon, back against the tree, arms folded.

“Are you okay?”

She turned her long, thin face in his direction. “Yeah.”

“Yeah? That’s it? Your dad has been searching for you. What are you doing out here?”

She huffed. “Don’t give me a lecture. I wanted to cross-country, but one of my skis broke, so I quit. I figured someone would come along and here you are.”

He bit back the frustration and found his satellite phone. Skip Delucchi picked up on the first ring.

“Did you find her?”

“Yes, she’s fine.” Roman gave him the location.

“Can you fly her out?”

Roman looked at the sky. “No. I’m grounded for the night.”

Skip let out a long sigh. “Jackie and I are about a mile from there on the snowmobile. We’re having a little trouble with one of the vehicles, but we’ll be there soon.”

Jackie. He caught himself before he said the name aloud. He’d been right about her joining in the search. Roman clicked off the phone and turned to Fallon. “Why don’t you get in the plane and warm up?”

Fallon’s face still wore a sullen cast, but she climbed aboard. Roman joined her and they sat in silence watching the sun disappear behind the horizon.

Fallon’s voice startled him. “Why is she here?”

“Who?” he asked, though he knew exactly whom she referred to.

“You know. I heard Dad talking to her on the phone.”

He felt her staring at him in the gloom. He wanted to deny it, to steer the conversation elsewhere, but he couldn’t lie to the girl. “I’m not sure.”

Fallon folded her arms across her chest. “I didn’t think she’d ever come back. I wouldn’t, if I got out of here.”

He felt the rise of pain again, but didn’t answer.

“So she hates you.”

He nodded. “Pretty much.”