Chapter 1

The Mountain Pass Café

“Ow!” Merlin flinched her arm away from Rachel’s examination. “Don’t poke at it!”

“That is a bad wound – ” Rachel began, her voice bolstered by a framed certificate on the wall of her office.

“It’s a scratch,” Merlin countered, her voice ringing with the confidence of having seen and survived worse.

“C’mon, babe, let her take a look,” Nick cut in, his voice soft as he played the unaccustomed role of mediator.

“That thing was big,” Alex added, her voice amazed that anyone could have walked away from it.

“What thing?” asked Bert, sounding confused as he wandered into the kitchen.

Four faces turned to him in the deepening twilight.

“Nail,” Merlin said. “It was a big nail, sticking out of the doorframe. You know me, Bert, clumsy as hell. Didn’t see where I was going, turned my ankle, fell against the door, ripped this .. scratch right down my arm. But,” she went on, defiantly flashing a glare at Rachel who was angling round again, “I’ve seen bigger. And rustier.”

“Will you hold still?” Rachel demanded.

“Will you leave me alone?” Merlin muttered, nursing her left arm and keeping it away from the doctor. “I can fix this, okay?” she breathed.

“Alex, why don’t you start packing up the equipment?” Derek suggested as he returned from making an inspection of the house. “Buck, could you help her?”

“Sure,” Bert nodded.

“As I thought, this shoulder is dislocated,” Rachel announced.

“From falling against a rusty nail?” Bert queried, glancing back with a puzzled frown.

“Buck, the equipment ..?” Derek persisted, helping the young man on his way after Alex by clasping a firm hand around his arm and walking him from the kitchen and toward the sitting room.

Once he was safely out of earshot, Merlin repeated, “I can fix this. Will you, please, stop fussing over me?”

Derek came back in. “It was big,” he pointed out.

“And I have seen bigger. It was just a little faster than I anticipated.” She twitched her shoulder hard and the joint re-set. “It was close.”

“Yeah, it hurt you,” Nick remarked.

“I meant Bert. He was on his way down. I thought you were keeping him busy up here.”

“Well, forgive me, but my concentration was elsewhere,” Nick retorted. “Like down there, with everyone else. I don’t play nursemaid so good, y’know.”

“Ow!” Merlin twisted away from Rachel again who’d taken advantage of being ignored for a second.

“Rachel, do you have any antibiotics?” Derek inquired.

“Well, yeah, but – ”

“Peri, let Rachel give you a shot – it can only help. Rachel, let Peri heal herself.”

“It needs to be cleaned and sutured. It’s practically shoulder to elbow.”

“Anyone else, I would agree. Peri is not anyone else,” Derek declared. “Nick, we’re all done here. Let’s get ready to go.”

“Will you at least let me clean the wound?” Rachel begged as the two men headed out into the passage which led to the front door.

“Only if you let me take a swing at you after,” Merlin replied. “Give me the damn shot an’ have done with it.”

Pausing at the front door, Derek watched Bert loading a steel case into the back of the 4x4, and he sniffed at the air. “This doesn’t look promising.”

Nick, who had halted beside him, glanced quickly round. “You mean Peri?”

“I mean the weather,” Derek replied.

“Well, it is cold enough to freeze the ba …” Nick fell silent for a moment. “It’s very cold. But it’s January, we’re fairly high up, and I told you this place is isolated. We expected cold.”

“No, it’s warmer than it was,” Derek corrected. “Only a few degrees, but noticeable. And you know what that means.”

“Snow.”

“We’ve got at least a three hour drive ahead of us, over the mountains. We’d best try to stay on the main roads. They should be clear.”

Alex was on her way back toward them, Bert hurrying along just behind. Her expression was one of stoic, long-suffering patience. His was one of terminal confusion. He was asking questions .. but then Bert always did. He suffered from the greatest three afflictions ever to curse mankind – curiosity, persistence, and a towering, concrete thick ignorance.

Nick considered the sky. “Easy to say but we’re in the back of beyond. There are no main roads. In fact .. there’s only one way in an’ one way out.”

“Only one pass?” Derek queried uneasily.

“We came thru it earlier. We’re gonna hit bad weather, no matter what time we leave.”

“But, Alex, I definitely heard something! Does that mean I’m .. psychic somehow?” Bert asked.

“Well, I don’t know, Buck. When we get back, how about I check you out for latent psi ability?”

“You do that too? Wow, that’s amazing! Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks! How do you do it?”

She closed her eyes briefly, picked up the next case and turned for the walk back. Bert picked up the last piece of equipment and trotted after her.

“Do you test a lot of people, Alex?”

“If we’re going to hit snow no matter what, the sooner we leave, the better, yes?” Derek remarked.

“For sure,” Nick agreed.

“Driving in poor conditions takes it out of you … Earlier, it made sense to bring two vehicles. Now, it means we cannot share the driving. And we are a man down.”

“She’ll be fine,” Nick said with a quick shrug. “Just needs to catch up on her sleep.”

“Really ..? She’s seen bigger?” Derek asked in a thoughtful voice.

“Yeah. I’ve seen her go up against ’em.”

“Must have been difficult for you, to stand by and do nothing but watch.”

Nick grinned. “I did more than that, Derek. I cheered her on.”

Derek laughed quietly. “It feels like the start of World War Three is about to break out in there. I’ll take Rachel and Bert with me. I think Alex has had her fill of him for now so she can ride with you and Peri.”

“Okay with me.”

Derek nodded briskly. “I’ll see what’s keeping them. You get the heaters going.”

“Aye, skipper.” Nick caught the keys and loped toward the vehicles where Alex was fast running out of patience, stoic or otherwise, by the exasperated look on her face.

Derek went inside the abandoned, half-ruined house. “Ready?”

“No,” Rachel said promptly. Merlin’s lips were a flat line and her expression promised that an imminent renewal of hostilities was about to break out. “This has to be cleaned. You saw that thing, Derek! It’s .. hands, for want of a better word, were filthy. God only knows what germs are in this gash.”

“Have you given Peri the shot?” he asked calmly.

“Yes – ”

“Then pack up your gear and let’s go.”

Merlin pulled away and carefully slid her arm into the sleeve of her jacket. “I’m ready.”

“If that becomes infected – ” Rachel warned hotly.

“I won’t sue you, Rachel,” Merlin cut in. “I can fix this. I can sleep in the car on the way home. By the time we get back to San Francisco, I’ll be as good as new. Now quit bitching, for God’s sake!” She saw Rachel flush and, instantly, her anger fled. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. It’s sore, yes, and I am in pain but .. I have had a lot worse in my time. Honest, I appreciate your help and your concern.”

Rachel recognized the olive branch and remembered too the Enforcer’s healing abilities. They worked miracles on others so why wouldn’t they work on the healer?

“Okay,” she yielded. “Apology accepted.”

Alex looked around the door. “We’re loaded up and ready to leave. Smells like snow.”

“That’s why we have to leave, now,” Derek agreed, hurrying Rachel along across the yard toward the Range Rover. “We’re bound to get some snow. The longer we leave it, the more we’re going to get. Alex, you’ll ride with Nick. Rachel, you’re with me.”

He left them to get settled and warmed up and returned to assist the wounded Enforcer.

“Are you all right?” Derek asked.

Merlin gave a wry smile. “Thanks for getting Rachel off my case.”

“Thank you for getting rid of the demon in the cellar. I’m sorry it hurt you.”

“Part of the job, Derek. Don’t worry about it.”

“We weren’t expecting to have to deal with something like that. If we had, I would’ve left Bert behind.”

“He’s just a complication. Tomorrow, he’ll be outta the way.” She halted just outside the front door to look back into the shadowy interior.

“We are all done here?” Derek queried. “No loose ends to tie up?”

Merlin slowly shook her head. “We’re done,” she confirmed, putting a hand on the doorframe and patting it.

They left the house and Derek stood by to help her into the back of the 4x4 but she managed okay without him.

“Nick, keep your cell phone switched on. We’ll go as quickly as we can for as long as we can. Once we’re thru the pass, it’ll get a lot easier.”

Nick nodded. “Sure.”

“Stay close, but not too close,” Derek cautioned and, with a final glance at Merlin, hurried forward to the Range Rover where Rachel was sitting in back because Bert had already claimed the front.

Alex twisted round from her place beside Nick. “You okay?”

Merlin had settled her arm so it wouldn’t get jostled by the rough road. “Yeah. Hey, driver!”

Nick met her eyes in the back view mirror.

“I want a smooth ride home, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he winked. “I’ll wake you when we get there.”

She closed her eyes, and within a handful of seconds, had sunk into a healing sleep.

“Everyone set?” Derek asked in the Range Rover.

“Fine back here,” Rachel replied.

“Then let’s go,” Bert ordered.

Soon the yard was empty and the house shivered and gently collapsed.

*****

The snow began to fall barely ten minutes later. A few, small flakes, drifting down lazily and melting. Bert leaned forward to stare with wondering eyes.

“Hey, look! It’s actually snowing!”

At the lack of reply, he twisted round to see Derek’s rather grim expression.

“What is with you guys? It’s snowing. Isn’t that fabulous?”

“It depends on how you define fabulous,” Derek responded.

“You don’t see much snow, do you?” Rachel asked.

“Not in LA,” Bert replied. “I don’t see much of nature at all. I mean, I’m a city an’ beach person. Trees an’ nature .. unless they’re in a park,” he shrugged, “I don’t get to experience them. An’ weather ..? That happens to other people. Anything under seventy is cold to me. Like the coming of the next Ice Age.”

“That’s southern California,” Rachel pointed out. “This is the Central Coast and, here, it’s northern California. Believe me, we have weather.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen the fog. And rain. And now it’s snowing too. Does the sun ever shine?”

“September and October. Other than that, odd days during the year,” Derek replied.

“Wow .. how do you survive?” Bert wondered.

Rachel squashed a smile. “Easily. You’re used to the weather, or lack of it, in LA. And we’re used to .. surviving life in an’ around San Francisco.”

“The reason we are not overjoyed at the sight of snow,” Derek went on, “is because we are nearly three thousand feet above sea level and snow up here tends to be bad enough to block roads.”

“These little itty-bitty flakes ..?” Bert remarked.

“They’re not so little now,” Rachel pointed out. “And there’s a lot more of them.”

“Whoa, you’re right,” Bert breathed, sounding almost childlike.

“And the problem with it blocking roads,” Derek concluded, “is that there is only one road we can take. Only one pass thru the mountains.”

Bert nodded, watching the, by now, fatter, thicker flakes not so much drifting lazily from the sky as falling with a purpose and not instantly melting.

“Still, this is America,” he commented. “We can get thru, right?”

Derek sighed. The man had no idea.

*****

The sun hadn’t so much set in the west, it was more that, under the canopy of yellowish snow cloud, the light had bled away. It had been growing darker when they left the house and night came quickly in January. As the two vehicles climbed the steep, sinuous road which was little more than a wide trail between the trees, the snow fell faster and thicker. Nick concentrated on steering the 4x4, the twin beams lighting a vista rapidly filling with white. Ahead of him, like a guiding star, danced the red taillights of the Range Rover and Nick hunched his shoulders, peering into the thickly flecked darkness.

“Will we make it?” Alex murmured.

“Not sure. If it’s been snowing up here for hours, the pass could already be blocked.”

“Can’t we turn round, go back to the house? Wait it out there?”

“I wouldn’t want to. The place was falling down an’ that battle only weakened it more. Staying warm in there .. it won’t happen.”

“Well, what about another route?” Alex suggested.

“Whichever route we try, we have to cross the mountains,” Nick replied with a taut shrug.

A similar conversation was taking place in the lead vehicle.

“Okay, well, the other option is we go back, keep going an’ find the nearest town,” Rachel ventured. “If we have to, we’ll stay the night there.”

Derek grunted, glowering at the road. “A last resort. We’ll keep going for now. Turning around on this track will be difficult.”

“C’mon, you guys!” Bert exclaimed. “Where’s your frontier spirit?”

“I think I left mine at home,” Rachel responded. “Sitting in front of a big fire.”

“And if we get trapped at the pass?” Derek responded, wanting to look at him but not taking his eyes from the track.

“Well, excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but didn’t we drive by a diner?” Bert said. “Or were you too eager to get to that house an’ investigate the noises that you didn’t see it?”

“We were in a hurry,” Rachel agreed, “but I think you’re right. I’m sure I noticed a place set back from the road. About at the top of the mountain.”

“Yes!” Derek nodded. “Well, if the road is blocked, we’ll stop there until it’s cleared. Rachel, will you call Nick and tell him our plans.”

“Sure,” she said, digging in her purse for her phone.

In the following vehicle, Merlin stirred slightly at the insistent beeping of the phone.

“Can you get that?” Nick asked Alex. “I don’t want her to wake up just yet.”

“Maybe this is a change of plans,” Alex muttered. “Hello?”

“Alex, we’re pressing on. If the pass is blocked, there’s a diner at the top of the mountain. We’re gonna stop there an’ wait it out.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember. Good call. I’ll tell Nick.” Alex ended the call.

“We turning back?” Nick asked.

“No, we’re going on. Do you remember the drive here?”

“I’m trying to shut it out. We had Bert with us,” Nick replied, his mouth turning down sourly.

“Oh, you poor soul,” Alex remarked with a rich chuckle. “Well, at the top of the mountain, do you remember seeing a diner?”

Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Vaguely.”

“If the pass is blocked, we’re going to stop there.”

“Good call. Inside, warm, hot coffee, maybe hot food, chance to get some sleep.”

“A very thin chance,” Alex remarked, “with the motormouth with us.”

“He won’t be a problem,” Nick declared quietly. “I’ve been wanting my chance to go one on one with him ever since he turned up.”

“For once,” Alex sighed, “you have my full support.”

“What is his problem anyway?” Nick demanded. “I don’t object to people talking but he just never stops with the questions. And, if you do manage to interrupt to ask him a question .. he doesn’t seem to have any opinions of his own. He just quotes others, or he goes into technical details which I understand as much as I do Martian.”

“I know what you mean,” Alex agreed. “Rachel says .. Bert just has a different set of references to us. A different vocabulary. Derek has tried to find a common operating platform and, to be fair, I think Bert’s getting there. It’s just those final few inches.”

Nick grunted. “If he can’t or isn’t willing to make the journey on his own, I’ll drag him there.”

“How much longer till we get to the pass?” Alex asked.

“Around an hour, taking into consideration the track and the snow,” he answered. “And I’ll put money on it that we’ll be stopping.”

*****

“You got any music?” Bert asked, fidgeting. “I’m getting kinda bored. Long journeys in silence … ” He shook his head.

“I’ve got some Mozart,” Derek replied.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Quite a long time ago, yes,” Derek agreed, his voice dry.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Bert fidgeted some more and Rachel felt her nails start to dig into the palms of her hands.

“What do you like to listen to?” she asked.

“Rock. Peri likes rock too. I wanted to listen to her CDs on the way here but Nick wouldn’t let me. I get this feeling he doesn’t like me very much,” Bert admitted.

“Well, to be honest with you, Buck, you haven’t done very much to meet Nick even halfway, have you?” Rachel commented. “And, I will warn you now, you do not want to get into any kind of contest with Nick. He’d wipe the floor with you.”

“His military background, huh?”

“Partly. He’s kept in shape, he’s strong, and he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.”

“Is that how he sees me? A fool?” Bert frowned.

Rachel hesitated, wondering whether to be blunt for their sake or tactful for his.

“It’s okay,” Bert went on before she could speak. “I’ve done judo. I can take care of myself, Rachel.”

There was a quiet noise from Derek which might just have been a suppressed snort of laughter.

“Living in LA, you need to be streetwise,” Bert continued, ignoring Derek. “I thought about getting a firearm, y’know.”

“Really. And did you?” Rachel inquired.

“No, but I took lessons. I’m pretty good with a gun. Maybe, when I get back, I’ll see about getting one. Nick Boyle doesn’t scare me. I bet I could throw him, easy.”

“Excuse me,” Derek murmured. “My stomach seems to be rumbling quite a lot.”

“What I don’t get is why he’s with you,” Bert announced. “He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with any information, not like the rest of you.”

“As I recall, you didn’t ask him,” Derek commented.

“I didn’t like the way he was looking at me.”

“But Nick doesn’t scare you,” Rachel pressed, grinning broadly in the darkness.

“The other thing I don’t get is why Peri married him. Holy shit, I mean, c’mon! How did it happen? The guy barely says anything. How the hell did they date? Did she make all the conversation? Did he reply in grunts or something?” Bert shook his head, trying to answer his own questions and failing.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Rachel asked.

“I have friends who are girls but no one special. Not yet.”

“How did you develop this interest in the paranormal?” Rachel went on.

Bert went to answer but laughed and waggled an index finger. “I get what this is! You’re analyzing me. Rachel, please, there’s no need. I’ve been in therapy for four years.”

“And, is it working?”

“Is what working?” he frowned.

“People see a therapist because they have a particular problem. Relationship difficulties. Work problems. Stress. Some aspect of their behavior isn’t as good as it could be and they want to change. Four years .. is a long time to be seeing a therapist.”

“It’s LA,” Bert said as if that explained everything, from the nature of God to the creation of the universe. “People are in therapy. It’s something we do. Like eat.”

“Oh.”

“You should move down there,” he advised. “Someone like you, you’d make a fortune.”

“I do all right here, thank you. I don’t want to move.”

“Is it gonna be much longer?” Bert complained. “I need the restroom.”

“If we stop, we may not get going again,” Derek replied. “And this is not a place to get stranded.”

They drove on, mostly in silence. Derek was having to concentrate hard on the track because the road and both sides were now blanketed in white and the view ahead was vague. It seemed like he was driving down a tunnel of spinning, churning white. An oncoming vehicle, if one was actually out on a night like this, wouldn’t be seen until it was right on top of them. Nevertheless, despite the risk, Derek kept to the middle of the open space between the trees. Somehow, he doubted anything would hit them head-on. That would mean the pass was still open, and he didn’t think it would be, not now.

“Y’know, I definitely heard something back at that house,” Bert announced.

“What did you hear?” Rachel asked, leaning forward to watch the road as well.

“Well .. it sounded like a wild animal,” Bert answered. “A lion.”

“A lion,” Rachel echoed. “They’re not common in northern California.”

“I’m not stupid, Rachel. I know that. It sounded like a lion. Something big an’ hairy, trapped down in the cellar. You have mountain lions, don’t you?” he asked, amazed at his brilliant deduction. “It could have been one of them. That house didn’t exactly come up to code, y’know. It could’ve gotten in an’ fallen. Maybe hurt itself. I know I’d shout if I fell into a cellar an’ broke a leg or something. And a mountain lion .. that would explain that gash on Peri’s arm. Big claws, slashing out in the dark. We should’ve called in a veterinarian.”

Derek let him ramble on. He filtered it until it was merely a background drone of noise. The road was still climbing, turning back on itself and leveling off, then turning and climbing again. Behind him, the lights of the 4x4 showed that Nick was close but not too close. The clock on the dash indicated it was six thirty and they’d left the house at just on four. Their average speed was around twelve miles an hour. At this rate, even if the pass was as clear as a glass of water, they wouldn’t get home till near dawn.

He glanced in the back view mirror for a glimpse of Rachel’s face. She wore the same mask of stoic, long-suffering patience which Alex had worn earlier and he realized Rachel was carrying the full load which was Bert Burko.

When I next see Paul Emery, Derek decided, I will be sure to have words with him.

“So .. why did she say she fell against a nail?” Bert wondered. “Y’know .. I think she lied to me.”

Yes, Derek mused, definitely words. And lots of them.

*****

“How she doing?” Nick asked.

Alex faced front again. “Out for the count,” she answered with a quick smile. “How does she do that? Do you know?”

“Not in detail. It’s like .. she switches off an’ Aquila works from the inside. Plus she has amazing support.”

“Which is ..?”

Nick shrugged awkwardly. “You gotta see it this way, Alex. She’s one of a very elite group of people in the world an’ there isn’t that many of them. They can’t afford to be outta action for long so .. the bosses upstairs make sure they’re not.”

“Oh … ” Alex breathed.

“They have the most incredible recuperative an’ regenerative abilities. When we get home, that wound will be either gone or just a red line which’ll fade. And it won’t leave a scar. I mean .. she never gets sick, have you noticed? Not a cold or a cough, never has any aches or pains. From the second she opens her eyes, she’s ready to go.” He laughed softly and shook his head. “An’ that keeps me on my toes.”

“I bet it does,” Alex grinned.

Nick paused while he concentrated on the next bend in the track, then he glanced quickly sideways. “Y’know what I’d really love to have happen sometime? You remember that settlement which only appeared for three days every fifty years?”

She nodded. “It was Rachel’s first case with us. You both got trapped there.”

“Right. The guy in charge – the Reverend Abraham Hawking – he was a real Bible thumping zealot. When I tried to get back to the truck to call you an’ I couldn’t get past the barrier, he didn’t just slam me in the jail, I was in chains. Around my neck, my arms. All night. I was scared for Rachel an’ I couldn’t do anything. She spent the night tied to a wooden stake on a bonfire, ready to be burned.”

“I remember,” Alex murmured.

“Well, what I’d really love to have happen is, the next time I run headlong into some guy like that bastard, is to have Peri with me. He was talking – ranting – about how he’d bring down the wrath of the living God on us.”

Alex grinned. “He was just spouting hot air. She can actually do it.”

“Right. I would love to see someone go one on one with her in a pissing contest. It’d make my day. It’d make the rest of my life,” Nick grinned. “I just know how she’d react. She’d quote chapter an’ verse right back at him till he was beet red in the face with rage, then she’d just relax, smile, an’ say ‘hey, bring it on’.”

“It would be something to see,” Alex agreed. “And, the chances are, you will get to see it one day. Though, hopefully, not in the next few days. Let’s get Bert outta the way first.”

“Call them,” Nick requested, nodding at the Range Rover. “We must be getting close by now. I need to know if we’re stopping or not.”

In the lead vehicle, Rachel was grateful for the interruption. “Alex,” she greeted.

“Why didn’t we put chains on the tires?” Bert was asking. “Isn’t that something you do when it snows?”

“We wanted to get away quickly to beat the weather,” Derek answered.

“Well .. d’uh. It beat us anyway.”

Derek fought the wheel for a few seconds as the tires slid and spun. Even with the four wheel drive engaged, the Range Rover was finding it tough going.

“Decision time,” Rachel called. “Nick wants to know if we’re stopping.”

“It was just up ahead,” Bert commented, his voice just faintly pleading. “I know it was.”

Derek glanced back at Rachel. “Well?”

“You’re the driver but it will be inside something substantial, with hot coffee.”

Bert whimpered, squirming.

“And restrooms,” Rachel added.

“When you put it like that … ” Derek studied the storm. It wasn’t just snowing now, it was a white-out. He could see the thick trunks of trees as ghostly shadows, mere suggestions in the rest of the whiteness. “We’ll stop. Just till the snow lets up for a while.”

Rachel relayed the decision to the 4x4 and Derek began looking for a smear of neon sign.

There wasn’t one. There was darkness and blizzard, and a disappearance of trees off to one side of the track .. but no garish, incongruous neon sign. No warmly welcoming light from misted windows and definitely no hint of a coffee flavored respite from the storm.

Nick saw the Range Rover go bouncing and sliding across the road and he jockeyed the wheel of the 4x4 around to half-slide, half-drive into the same area of open space indistinguishable from the track he’d just left.

“Are we there?” Alex asked.

“The pass is just ahead. There’s no diner.”

“Oh, wait,” she murmured. “I think I saw something.”

Nick switched on the hi-beams and squinted thru the windshield.

“Yeah! There!” Alex pointed.

“Great,” he groaned. “It’s closed.”

Derek had left the Range Rover to slither round to Nick’s window. “It looks closed but I’ll go check anyway,” he said. He braced himself because it was freezing and the wind was ferocious. “Keep the lights up, Nick, so I can find you again.”

“Sure thing.”

Derek turned, blinking snowflakes from his eyes so he could fix the position of the diner, then he set off across the parking lot. Eventually, he skidded to an ungainly halt to view darkened windows. There was a paper bag taped to the inside of the glass of the window nearest the door. The ink had run from the condensation but he could make out the words.

The Mountain Pass Café – closed due to the weather.

Derek tried the door anyway. It was locked.

He closed his eyes and thought about their situation and their options. It had taken them over three hours to travel just under twenty eight miles. It would be over three hours, maybe a lot more, to negotiate their way back down the same track. They were a man down. He was tired. So was Nick. It was freezing. Bert needed the restroom. Everyone could use something hot to eat and drink.

Nick materialized out of the storm beside him. “Shut?”

Derek gestured at the sign. “Due to the weather.”

Nick was shivering briskly, wringing his hands together to keep them warm while he waited for Derek to choose a course of action.

“Do you have cash with you?” Derek asked.

“Yeah, some,” Nick replied.

“We all must,” Derek mused thoughtfully.

“Why?”

“To pay for what we use.”

Nick blinked. “You want me to pop the lock?”

“Would you rather sit in the car or in there?” Derek asked in reply. “We pay for what we use and we leave as soon as we can. It’s hardly breaking and entering if we leave money. And, even if it does break the letter of the law .. these are exceptional circumstances.”

Nick grinned. “I’m not gonna fight you on this one, boss. It’s a good call.” He took a few steps back to scan the front of the diner. “Can’t see any alarms .. and, even if there are, who’d come out in this?”

“If they do, they’ll be stuck here with us. Do it,” Derek instructed.

Nick took out his penknife and got to work while Derek went back to the vehicles. “We’re going in. Rachel, can you see if you can drive a little closer?”

“Sure.”

“I can do it!” Bert said.

“You’re not insured to drive this vehicle,” Derek said quickly.

“It looks closed,” Bert pointed out.

“It is,” Derek replied.

“Are you breaking in?” Bert asked, his eyes on stalks. “Last I heard, that was against the law!”

The diner’s interior lights came on.

“Do you want the restroom or not?” Derek inquired and went to ride with Alex. As he settled behind the wheel of the 4x4, his fingers closed into white knuckled fists and his eyes stared at the cheerful neon splash glimpsed thru the blizzard and the darkness. Beside him, the Range Rover inched forward, seeking the warmth and maybe even the aroma of coffee. Alex waited, her eyes watching him and knowing in her heart the reason for the delay. Derek just needed a few minutes of total silence, of tranquility. In back, Merlin muttered softly and Derek blinked.

“He’ll be gone soon,” Alex soothed, squeezing his forearm. “C’mon, let’s get inside.”

As Derek carefully put his foot on the gas and the 4x4 crept toward the Mountain Pass Café, he thought back to the day Bert Burko had descended upon them and, in such a short interval, had turned their lives into a miserable, living, breathing hell on earth …

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