​     He ran for Tana. ​He reached her just as everyone started firing again. Adam kept his attention focused on the two associates that held her captive.

​     Two karate chops to two throats. 

​     Which inevitably led to two associates writhing on the floor and gasping for breath. Tana had an expression on her face like she'd just seen a dead relative. "Adam! I..."

     "Sit down!" Adam barked. 

     The plateau quickly filled with associates. They hadn't started firing yet because they were still accessing the situation. It was like they all waited for someone else to give the order to kill Adam. 

​     Stupid. 

     Adam grabbed a pistol and a sub-machine gun from the two now dead associates at his feet. 

​     He fired while Tana dropped into the ski sled. 

     A lot of screaming and spurting blood came after that.

     As well as a lot of panic. The associates behind the associates who'd just about reached Adam when the firing began turned to run like startled rabbits only to smack into the associates behind them. 

​     Giving Adam time to turn the ski sled around and reposition it so that it aimed down the side of Pete's Peak itself. He blew off another volley of bullets, then dropped the weapons. He gave the ski sled a push, then ran to jump into the front of it, which is to say he dropped right into Tana's lap. Then, 

​     ZOOM!

​     Down the side of the mountain the ski sled flew. 

     Adam got the hang of the steering quickly. It was an extremely nice ski sled. It had an excellent windshield that all but covered the front half of the sled. He had no problem at all talking to Tana as they zipped down the side of Pete's Peak.

     "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked around behind himself. Her legs were wrapped around his waist.

​     "You tell me. The second I finished talking to you up there in the Skymaster, two men grabbed me. I've been their prisoner ever since. They brought me here and..."

     "Hey." Adam felt something at his feet. He reached down and grabbed it while he steered. "Look at this." 

​     It was a bottle of champagne.

     And where there's champagne, Adam thought, there must be champagne glasses.

​     He reached towards his feet once again, and sure enough...

CONTINUE