Читать книгу From Out Of The Blue - Nadia Nichols - Страница 11

MITCH REALIZED that they were standing toe-to-toe like dueling partners, which wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he planned this barbecue. The way things were going, she wouldn’t be spending the night up in his loft, and he kind of had his heart set on that scenario. He turned away from her and gave his attention to the food cooking on the grill, fuming inwardly. Damn, but she was hard to read. What was she trying to tell him that was so vital? Was she going to accuse him of putting some kind of date rape drug in her drinks? As he turned the meat, the pager on his belt sounded. He silenced it with a muttered curse.

“Sorry. That’s the boss,” he explained. “Bad timing. I better call Wally and find out what’s up.”

Kate moved to the porch railing to watch the water rush past while he went into the kitchen to retrieve the satellite phone. He carried it back out and dialed, then, while he waited for the call to go through, he poked the steak with the tongs, taking out his frustration on the expensive piece of meat until someone picked up on the other end.

“Hey, boss, what’s up?” He glanced across the creek toward the mountain range while he listened to Wally explain. Four climbers, one injured badly, winds so high on the mountain that nobody else was flying. Mitch’s initial reaction to this was disappointment, then he glanced at Kate. She was standing with her back to him, and her shoulders were set in a militant line. Whatever it was she was working herself up to tell him, it wasn’t going to be pretty. In retrospect, maybe now would be a good time for him to bail.

“We still have a couple hours of good daylight and the Stationair’s ready to rock and roll, right? That’ll be good money, especially if they want a lift into Fairbanks. We have a bank payment due on the plane and another one to buy. Radio them to hang tight, boss, I’m on my way.”

He ended the call and gave Kate what he hoped was an apologetic look. “Four climbers requesting a flight out of base camp, one needs immediate medical attention. Increasing winds are predicted on the mountain through tomorrow, so it’s now or never. A high-risk rescue means great money. It also means we can’t share supper. Sorry about that.”