“Jason Murphy promised to give us a police escort to the airport.”
“Oh.” Liliana sighed as a Riverton Police Department SUV pulled in behind them. “It all seems overly dramatic.”
Amanda cast a glance toward Liliana. “Five feet.”
She’d been five feet away from dying that day.
Liliana sat silently as Amanda drove to the airport. As they pulled up to the terminal, a small jet landed on the tarmac and taxied to the terminal.
“I think that’s our ride.” Amanda shifted into park and got out.
Liliana joined her in front of the SUV, looking around, half-expecting someone to jump out of the shadows to attack. When no one did, she shook her head. Still, she was glad when Jason Murphy left his SUV and escorted them into the building and out the other side to the waiting plane.
A man lowered the stairs, stepped out of the plane and onto the tarmac.
Amanda grinned. “Carter!” She ran to the man and flung her arms around him.
Liliana’s heart warmed for the first time since the explosion. She and Amanda had been friends since high school. Liliana had never seen her friend happier. Even the tug of envy tightening her chest couldn’t make her less ecstatic that Amanda had found the love of her life.
Liliana had been busy fighting the odds of her birthright to get to where she was so far. So many of her people never left the reservation. Those who stayed faced lives of unemployment, alcoholism and drug abuse. When her father had died in a fatal car crash, driving drunk, Liliana’s mother had scraped out a living by cleaning rooms at the casino during the day and working in a bar at night to provide for Liliana.
Liliana remembered how tired her mother had been and vowed to make something of herself so that she could take care of the mother who’d done so much for her.
And she had made something of herself. She’d gone to college on scholarships and worked part-time jobs to pay for her room and board, refusing to take money from her mother. She’d graduated at the top of her class, applied to law school and had been accepted. She’d worked her way through law school then interned with a firm in Denver and with a congressman from Wyoming in Washington, D.C.
Later, she’d worked for a law firm in Cheyenne, gaining experience and helping the people of her tribe and others navigate the justice system's complexities. These last few years, she’d fought to protect reservation land holdings and Yellowstone National Park from being pushed around by big corporations hungry to get their hands on rights of way and the natural resources within.
Carter Manning kissed Amanda soundly before stepping back to face Liliana. He held out his hand. “You must be the candidate.”
Amanda slipped an arm around his waist and waved a hand toward Liliana. “Carter Manning, this is Liliana Lightfeather, Wyoming’s best candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.” She grinned.
“I don’t know about best, but I like to think I have the best interests of the state at heart.” Liliana gripped Carter’s hand in a firm handshake. “Nice to finally meet the man who saved my friend from the drug cartel and put a smile on her face.”
He nodded. “Amanda has nothing but good things to say about you, Miss Lightfeather.”
“Please, call me Liliana.” She looked past him to the plane. “Are you flying this?”
He laughed. “Not hardly. My skills aren’t in flying the plane. I could jump out of it with a parachute and land without breaking all the bones in my body, but flying?” He shook his head. “I’ll leave that to the pilot. He’s waiting to take us to West Yellowstone.”
Liliana tipped her head. “Why West Yellowstone?”
“Stone Jacobs would have come to meet you here himself,” Carter said, “but we thought it might be a good idea to remove you from the area altogether until we get a security plan in place.” He grinned. “And I asked to fly out. Gives me a little more time with Amanda.”
Amanda leaned into him. “I’m glad you came. This long-distance relationship is getting old. Are you done with your assignment? Please tell me you were successful.”
He nodded. “Got the little girl back from her father, who’d absconded with her to Canada. She’s back with her mother, and Canada is sending him back to face kidnapping charges.”
Amanda sighed. “I’m glad she’s home. I can’t imagine what her mother went through.” She hooked Liliana’s arm and turned her toward the plane. “See? The people Carter works with do good things, saving little kids and protecting people like me from drug cartels, stalkers and murderers. I’m positive they can help see you through the rest of your campaign.”
“That’s the idea,” Carter confirmed behind her. “Stone already has our computer genius scouring the internet for information that could help identify people who might have something against you. He’s researching your opposition and pouring through court records of cases you represented. They’ll have questions for you when you get to the lodge.”
“What if I don’t want to go with your organization? I might not be able to afford your services,” Liliana said. “You could be wasting your time.”
Carter grinned. “That’s the beauty of the Brotherhood Protectors. The man who started it, Hank Patterson, will help whether you can afford it or not. He and his wife, Sadie McClain, set up a foundation to help those who can’t afford to hire a bodyguard.”
Amanda nodded. “I sure as hell couldn’t afford a bodyguard on what they pay me on the reservation. I didn’t have to worry. They assigned Carter, no questions asked, no money required.” She led the way up the stairs into the plane. “I wouldn’t be here today otherwise.”
Liliana climbed the steps and entered the plane, her breath catching at the luxurious interior. “Does this plane belong to the Brotherhood Protectors?”
Carter laughed. “No. Hank has connections. When he asks for help, they come through.”
“It also helps that his wife is a huge star,” Amanda said.
Liliana frowned. “The Sadie McClain? You’re serious?”
Carter nodded. “He knew her back when she was just a girl from Montana. She was his first love and his first case post-military and the reason he started the Brotherhood Protectors. She had a stalker trying to kill her.” He shook his head. “It turned out the stalker was her sister-in-law.”
“I read something about that.” Liliana sank into a buttery-soft, white leather seat.
“Now, they’re happily married with two children, and the Brotherhood Protectors has expanded to include three locations.” Carter pulled the stairs up and locked the door. He passed Liliana on his way to the cockpit, where he gave the pilot a thumbs up.
The engine fired up, and soon, they were taxiing to the end of the runway.
Liliana’s fingers dug into the leather armrests as the plane lifted off the ground.
What had started as just another day on the campaign trail had ended in an explosion and a ride in a plush jet to meet with people who would provide protection she never thought she’d need.
Someone had an issue with her and the platform on which she’d based her campaign. Yes, the explosion had scared her, making her aware of her vulnerability, but it hadn’t beaten her.