Read Online Expect the Sunrise by Susan May Warren - Free Book Online Page A

his goals, his duty—and the man he might be if he gave it all up.
    Nobody. Just another dazed passenger emphasized by the way Emma talked to him. He was a guy with a future hauling in salmon or crab fishing on the open sea. Although he respected his sisters’ husbands for their choices and hard work, something inside him had wanted more. To save the world evidently.
    In the end, those hopes had only gotten his brother killed. He didn’t know how he expected to face that grief. Or recover and go on doing his job.
    Maybe if he finally faced Andy MacLeod and demanded some answers from the pilot, he might begin healing. Maybe he’d quit the bureau, find a wife, start a family. It seemed like a goal Brody might smile at from the heavens above.
    His new life could start right now, right here. Learning to live in the shadow. Learning to take orders. Learning to survive, not conquer. Learning to dodge the pain and settle into the cold, dead landscape that was his heart.
    Most of all, learning how to exorcise from his life this burden that hovered—more than worry or regret over his choices—the weight of responsibility . The fear that if he didn’t get it right … then who would?
    Not him . Not anymore. He should keep that thought paramount, especially now.
    Emma pushed herself to her feet. “Everyone, listen to me. We need to get to shelter before the storm breaks. Then we’ll figure out where we are and what to do next. Did anyone bring a tent?”
    Silence.
    Emma winced. “All right, then we need to find shelter.”
    “What about the plane?” Ishbane asked. He still held his nose although it had stopped bleeding. Mac noticed him shaking slightly.
    Emma must have seen it also, for she grabbed one of her emergency blankets and draped it over his shoulders. “We can’t go back into the plane until we know it’s safe. With all the leaking fuel … well, I don’t feel comfortable. Besides, if it starts to snow, we could get snowed under, store up carbon monoxide, and suffocate. Not only that, but it’s liable to get cold tonight—really cold. And the plane won’t keep us warm enough—”
    “What if we build a fire inside?”
    Emma closed her eyes, as if drawing patience from some deep well.
    Mac shook his head. Apparently no one besides him had taken basic chemistry. Spark plus fuel equals big bang. Maybe someone should say that aloud a few times.
    Emma sighed. “It would be better to find a cave or construct a shelter.”
    Standing there, her hands balled in her pockets, she looked every inch the Scottish lass, her face into the brutal wind as she gazed out onto the Highlands.
    What a dunderhead! He was starting to think like his father, who still had pieces of his heart back in the old country. Mac and his siblings had grown up on tales of famous Scottish heroes like Robert the Bruce and Mary, Queen of Scots. This pilot reminded him of Flora MacDonald, a heroine of the eighteenth century. Resourceful and feisty, she dressed an English prince as her maid and helped him escape the clutches of his family’s rule.
    Just like this lady might help them escape the clutches of hypothermia.
    As if reading his mind, Emma turned and caught his attention. “See what you can find from the debris. Anything. A tarp, a sleeping bag, clothing, rope. Even books. We can use them to start a signal fire.”
    The wind picked at the litter, sending papers scattering. Mac walked out into the debris field, found the cover to the belly pod and another sleeping bag. He noticed books fluttering and wondered who among them was the reader. He picked up one that lay open, its torn pages fluttering. Last of the Breed by Louis L’Amour. Yes, they might need that one for reference if they hoped to find their way out of here. Despite what Emma had said about the ELT working, he saw a long hike in their immediate future.
    More papers blew at his feet, and he stomped on them to keep them in place. They crinkled under his feet, and a torn corner