He smiled briefly. “The bigger it is, the more quickly the helicopter will spot it.”

“What about Cliff?”

“I’ll start down again as soon as I’m sure they’ve picked you up. I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but would it be too presumptuous to suggest that when they arrive, you might tell them you escaped from me and don’t know exactly where I am?”

She nodded, blinking at the sudden burning behind her eyelids.

“You could tell them you hit me over the head with a club.”

Nicole laughed and brushed at the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yes, I guess I could say that.”

“Good.” He started to turn away, then swung back. “You wouldn’t need to tell them that you did it twice.”

“Twice?”

“Yes, once with a length of spruce—once with some very blunt words.”

CHAPTER 26

Nicole checked the time on her wrist computer, trying to ignore the quick flash of irritation. She had barely left the helicopter and been ushered into Central Control before the Major had slapped a new wrist computer on her arm. It was all done very cordially, but the Major’s underlying nervousness at her bare arm was evident.

They had not finished at Central Control until nearly 6:00 A.M. Then Travis had brought her home, and she had collapsed into an exhausted sleep for five hours. Now the dread of what was coming lay heavy on her mind.

Frowning, she limped to her closet, reached in, and had her dress uniform half off the hanger when she stopped. For a long moment she stood there indecisively; then, with a quick shake of her head, she put it back and took out a tailored, navy-blue blazer and gray skirt and dressed quickly. As she buttoned the last button and peered at herself in the mirror, the doorbell chimed.

“Come in,” she called loudly.

“Hi, honey,” Travis called through the shattered door to her bedroom. “Are you ready?”

“Almost. I just need to put on my shoes.”

“Would you like me to help you?”

The memory of Eric standing before her with her tennis shoes flashed into her mind. “No,” she called out quickly. Then more slowly, “No, I’m all right. I’ll be just a moment.”

Travis, in full dress uniform, looked trim and fresh, as though he had not been up half the night rescuing girls from mountain campsites. He stood up and started toward her as she came into the living room. “You look lovely, Nicole…” His eyes dropped to note her clothes, and his voice trailed off.

“But?” she supplied for him.

“But the Major said we were to wear our uniforms. He said so this morning, just before we left. Don’t you remember?”

“Yes, I remember.” Her eyes met his calmly.