“Giving Thomas a hand.”

“Thomas?” She sat up. Light from several headlamps filled the plane. There were more bodies in the plane than there should have been. She rubbed at her eyes.

“Brynn? Are you all right?” It was a new voice. One that shouldn’t be here.

Jesus Christ. Liam? “Liam?” Alex stepped back as a familiar figure kneeled beside her in the cargo area and took her head in his hands as he scanned her from hood to boots. Liam’s face was white, but the tip of his nose was bright red. His eyes looked like he’d been in a smoky bar for two nights.

“What…where?”

He pulled her close and buried his icy face in her neck. “Thank God. Brynn. I’d about given up. I was certain I’d seen you for the last time.” He pressed his lips in a cold kiss against her neck and worked his way to her mouth like a starving man. She kissed him back for few shocked seconds and then pulled away to meet his eyes.

“We’re OK, Liam. We would’ve hiked out just fine when the weather cleared.”

“Not you, Brynn. Tyrone and I crashed his chopper the day before yesterday.”

“What? You flew in this? Are you crazy?” She pulled back and ran her hands over his chest. “Are you hurt?” Her hands trembled as they touched his snowy coat. Only Tyrone would dare to fly in this weather. Although Liam probably would have tried if he’d had his own helicopter. The brothers were fearless. Sometimes in a bad way.

“I’m fine. Just a little banged up, but Tyrone…” Liam swallowed hard. “He hit his head pretty bad.”

She shoved Liam aside and moved toward the door. “Let me look at him.” She abruptly stopped as she met Alex’s gaze. His face was blank. He’d been directly behind Liam as she kissed him. Guilt stole her breath.

Then anger gave it back.

She didn’t belong to Alex or to Liam. She glared at Alex, furious at herself for allowing the guilt. She’d kissed Alex. So what?

She’d told Alex that she and Liam were finished.

Then she was kissing Liam a few hours later.

Christ. She couldn’t deal with this now.

Thomas dipped his head through the cargo door, holding a limp Tyrone in his arms.

“Lay him down.” Alex and Liam immediately forgotten, Brynn scooted back to make room as Thomas gently set the injured man on the floor. Tyrone stirred and opened his eyes.

“Hey, handsome. What were you thinking flying in weather like this?” Brynn teased him as she took his pulse. She pulled off Thomas’s headlamp and checked Tyrone’s pupils with flashes of the lights.

“He had to get to you. No stopping him,” Tyrone muttered. “Head hurts.”

She nodded, her stomach sinking as she pressed a palm on Tyrone’s forehead.

Damn you, Liam.

Alex picked a seat that faced away from the cargo bay. He couldn’t watch any longer. For two people who were no longer a couple, Liam hadn’t let go of Brynn since they came in. Now they sat on the floor next to Tyrone, heads bent together, talking in hushed voices, looking like a couple having a serious discussion about the state of their mortgage. Brynn had caught Alex’s eye several times and minutely shaken her head at him.

Did she mean “Don’t tell him about us” or “I made a mistake with you”?

He didn’t want to know. He rubbed at his knee. The exertion yesterday had made it hurt worse than it had in years. He could simply grab some pain meds, but he didn’t want to. Right now he wanted the pain. Wanted something to distract him from the woman in the plane. Ryan plopped in the seat across the aisle from him, his eyes glassy. The kid had overdone it again.

“Fever under control?”

Ryan grimaced. “Mom back there won’t let me miss a dose of ibuprofen. It’s like she’s got an alarm that goes off when it’s time for more.”

“You look like shit.”

A genuine grin cracked his face. “Thanks. Right back at ya. But I don’t think a fever is causing the black shadows under your eyes.”

The kid was too observant. “It’s three in the morning. And I died yesterday.”

“Almost died. But now you look ready to do a little of your own killing.”

Alex ignored him, looking at Thomas and Jim deep in conversation in the seats in front of him. Alex had related the news of the phone call with Besand to the two men, and Jim had smacked himself on the forehead. “Why didn’t I think of trying to call him?”

But the current stress on Jim’s face was new, and he was shaking his head at Thomas.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked sharply.

Both men turned toward him. Jim’s gaze went past him to take stock of the cargo area then returned. “How much walking around outside did you do after we left?”

Alex’s lungs grew numb. “We’ve all been using the trio of little trees to the right as a head. About fifteen feet out. Then a rotation to brush the snow away from the door. Haven’t done that since the sun went down though. That’s all we’ve done outside.” He questioned Ryan with the cock of a brow. Ryan nodded.

Jim and Thomas exchanged a glance.

“There are faint footprints along the edge of the tree line. And one set that comes up to the rear of the plane then heads back to the trees.”

Alex closed his eyes. Besand had been right outside the plane. Probably had his ear up against the metal, trying to listen inside. How far away had he been when Alex called? Thomas coughed, and Alex looked at him sharply. “What else?”