After being chased by goons and nearly – kidnapped? Raped? Beaten? Killed? – she didn’t know what, her main emotion for the last two days had been fear. Fear and dread, dread that they’d come after her again. She had nightmares about it, and waking nightmares, too. And yet, after all that, she still thought of Tony. The two images warred in her head as she stood on the ladder and pumped gas into the wing of the Piper Super Cub: Tony’s gentle, self-effacing nature, and the guys who tried to capture and/or kill her. The tank finally full, she collected the money from the pilot and headed back into the airport lounge to get out of the sun. Her parents managed the county’s small airport, and Scarlett had grown up around planes. She loved flying, although she could do without the faint smell of gasoline which always enveloped her at work. She washed her hands for the ninth time that afternoon, getting most of the smell off; but it was never completely gone.
