He rounded the bend.
His heart nearly seized.
Nicole stood in front of a beat-up trailer. Her long, dark hair, pulled back in a ponytail, shifted slightly in the breeze. She rested her hands on her hips and lifted her chin, the very picture of a woman who knew she’d already won.
Jonathan stiffened his resolve to wipe that smirk off her face.
Her cohorts flanked her: Roy to her left, with his rifle slung over his shoulder and a tablet in his hands, and Cal to her right, with his rifle at relaxed-ready.
As Nicole had instructed in her call late Sunday night, Jonathan lowered the windows and shut off the engine. With a flick of his wrist, he slid an index card over the speedometer that would catch Kyra’s attention when she climbed inside to leave.
On it, David had blocked in bold letters the following words. Turn around and drive at 15 mph for one minute. Then stop, blow the horn, and get out of the SUV. Hide behind the boulders on your left. That one minute would get her around the bend and safely away from any danger yet keep her away from the land mine. Hiding would ensure that she’d be out of the line of fire.
“Kyra’s good at following directions,” David had said the night before as he’d prepared the card. “She’ll know her life depends on it.”
Jonathan earnestly prayed this was true.
“Ward, get out of the car and put your hands on your head,” Nicole called. “Keep your keys in your hand.”
Slowly, he climbed from the Forester and placed his hands on his head.
“Now shut the door and walk toward us. Slowly.”
He kicked the door shut with his foot. “I want to see Kyra. Where is she?”
“Frisco!” Nicole called over her shoulder.
The door to the battered double-wide creaked open. Two forms made their way down the steps.
Frisco, with colorful bruises peeking from under the white tape over his nose, dragged Kyra out by the arm.
She saw Jonathan.
Frisco marched her to the small group.
“You’re okay?” Jonathan asked.
“Just bound.” Kyra lifted her hands, which were tied together at the wrists with a cable tie. They’d cleaned the cut on her cheek, but it remained an angry red line.
Nicole grabbed her arm. “Ward, you’d better have the jump drive.”
“I do. But I’ll not give it to you until she’s free and driving away. That was our bargain.”
“So it was. Toss your keys onto the ground in front of you.”
He did so.
Nicole brandished her knife and slashed Kyra’s bonds. “Now you leave, Kyra Martin. Leave and don’t look back, ’cause if you do, it won’t be pretty.”
Kyra stared at her as she rubbed her wrists. Then she backed away and approached Jonathan. Her eyes misted. “I—I’m sorry.”
He turned sideways. “I’ll be fine.”
Gaze not leaving the group, she stooped, picked up the keys, and walked to the Forester.
“Hey Ward, look here!.”
Nicole smirked and held up a remote control. “You see this?” She pressed a button, and the green light turned red. “Now there’s a little present waiting for Kyra a quarter mile from here.”
Jonathan’s heart caught. David had been right.
Behind him, the Forester’s engine started. Gravel crunched as Kyra made a U-turn. Its sound began fading.
Slowly.
Kyra must have read the message.
He took a deep breath and fought against the panic suddenly filling him.
Sixty seconds to go.
Lord, let her go 15 miles per hour. Don’t let her hit that land mine.
Now he had to stall Nicole.
Somehow.
“So nice of you to invite me to your place.”
“Shut up. Where’s the drive?”
“In my pocket. Are we going to play Scrabble? Sing songs around the campfire?”
She slapped him.
Jonathan winced. “Ow. You know, if you’d told me, I would have brought stuff for s’mores.”
“Didn’t you hear the lady? Stop your talking.” Roy approached. “Now where’s the drive?”
“I said, on my person. What songs do you want to sing? Kumbaya?”
Roy slammed his fist into Jonathan’s stomach.
Pain exploded in his solar plexus. He folded onto his knees before crumpling in dramatic fashion into the dust. He didn’t have to feign much since he still recovered from his previous stay with them.
Roy roughly patted him down, then yanked the drive from his shirt pocket. “Got it.”
He plugged the drive into the tablet. After a few taps, he nodded. “It’s the genuine article. The Athena file.”
“The password screen is a match?”
“Looks like it.” Roy closed the tablet and crouched in front of Jonathan. “I hear there’s mountain lions here, Ward. Maybe we should cut you up. I think someone wants a rematch. Right, Frisco?”
Frisco nudged him with his foot. “Something like that. You beat me up.”
“I did what I had to do,” Jonathan stated after a pause. He climbed to one knee.
So close to a minute!
“But yeah, I guess if that’s what you want to do, then do it. Sorry I won’t be shark bait, though.”
“Mountain lion bait is so much better. He’s yours, Frisco.” Roy set the tablet on the bumper of the van.
The four humans-turned-hyenas surrounded him. Cal even threw his head back and howled.
A horn blew.
South of Burning Tree, Utah
As the horn’s sound bounced off the mesa walls, Abigail bolted toward the group. Beside her, David had done the same. He flattened Frisco, who’d whirled first.
Abigail angled toward Nicole.
The woman’s hand shot toward the gun holstered at her waist.
Uh-Uh. Abigail refused to die by bullet or any other means. She took a flying leap.
They collided, and Nicole landed hard on her back. The gun flipped away to parts unknown. Before Abigail could tie her hands, Nicole’s fist lashed out and caught her cheek.
She yelped and jerked back.
Nicole rolled away and came to her feet. “You think this is over? It’s not, Abigail Ward. And you will pay. You all will pay!”
“It is over, Nicole.” Abigail bounced upright and circled with her. “It’s been over. You just didn’t know it. The file on that drive? It’s a fake, actually viruses that’ll take down any computer.”
Nicole charged.
They grappled like wrestlers.
Nicole grabbed her braid and pulled.
Abigail spun around to relieve the pressure. One kick behind the knees made her go down.
Nicole pounced onto her back.
Abigail slammed her head backward into Nicole’s nose.
A cry rewarded her as the pressure between her shoulder blades released. She staggered to her feet and whirled.
Blood streaming down her face in a scarlet line, Nicole cussed. She wiped at it with the back of her hand and charged again.
They collided like linebackers. This time, Abigail gripped her ponytail.
Nicole reeled back and slapped her.
Blood oozed onto her cheek, but Abigail refused to let go. She pressed forward, pushing hard until the both slammed into the side of one of the old, rusting cars that littered the lot.
Nicole’s head cracked the window. She sagged.
Abigail let her slide to the ground. She turned her over and secured her wrists with a cable tie. “You’re under arrest, Nicole Chardet. And once Sal gets here, you’ll be in his custody.”
“No!”
“Oh, can it.” Abigail hauled her to her feet and pushed her toward the trailer.
The fight still raged between the men, all except for Frisco, who weakly thrashed on the ground as if still stunned.
David and Roy fought. The Aussie threw a punch that David caught with his hand. The two men fell to the ground. The
air filled with the sounds of grunts and groans and fists hammering skin. Roy kicked out, sending David onto his back.
Roy reached for the knife in his boot. He brandished it, making the blade flash.
“David! No!” Abigail shouted.
Roy hesitated.
The loud report of a rifle echoed across the small canyon. A pink mist exploded from Roy’s head. The knife fell from his fingers. He collapsed onto the ground and lay still.
Abigail stared at the lip of the far mesa. A feminine figure stood there with a sniper rifle in her hand. The wind fanned her dark hair behind her like a raven banner. Nabeelah gazed at them for a long moment, then trotted from sight.
Relief surged through her, and she pushed Nicole ahead of her toward where David had hauled Cal to his feet. Jonathan stepped over to Frisco, who had pushed himself to a sitting position.
She shoved Nicole to her knees. “You stay here.”
Nicole wailed as she stared at Roy’s body.
Jonathan dragged Frisco to his feet and brought him to the small group.
“David?” a soft, feminine voice called. Kyra walked toward them. She broke into a run and charged into her brother’s arms.
“Kyra!” David held onto her. As she wept, he stroked her hair and murmured, “It’s over. It’s finally over.”
Jonathan’s strong arms gripped Abigail, and she hugged him. “Praise God it’s over.”
“Well, I guess we need to call the cavalry.” Jonathan said. “And tell them to bring a de-mining team. We’re not going anywhere until that mine’s disarmed, because the remote bought it when we started fighting.”
“I’ll make the call.” Abigail pulled out her phone and dialed. It began ringing.
Jonathan scanned the rim of the mesa across from the one where Nabeelah had stood. “Gun!”
Shock rooted Abigail to the spot.
“What the—” was all Cal got out. Two spots of red blossomed on his chest. He collapsed.
Jonathan grabbed Frisco and dragged him away. David rolled with Kyra under the skeleton of a car. Abigail ran to get Nicole to safety, but two more shots stopped her. Nicole toppled backward.
“Abigail!” David’s bulk slammed into her, and they scrambled toward the trailer.
She squirmed. “Frisco—”
“Stay put, Abigail.” His grip tightened around her. “Stay put! Jonathan’s got him.”
She forced her breathing to slow.
“Nothing,” Jonathan called from across the clearing. “The guy ran away. The coast is clear.”
“You’re sure?”
“I think he was after Nicole and the gang.”
“Where’s Frisco?” she demanded.
“I let him go.”
“What?” She glared at him.
“I had to. I told him to get out along the creek bed because whoever killed Nicole and Cal would go after him.”
Abigail smacked her head. “He was Nabeelah’s inside man!”
“That’s why I let him go.” Jonathan’s gaze turned toward the creek. “He saved my life. I got to return the favor. And let’s leave it at that.”
40
Burning Tree, Utah
“I could get used to this,” Abigail murmured as she curled up on one of the chairs at the fire pit of the two-bedroom bungalow she and Jonathan had rented for the week. Behind a screen of cottonwood trees, the river murmured as it flowed over some rocks.
Peaceful in her mind.
What they all needed.
Especially after Tuesday. Three days had passed. They’d spent Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday being interrogated by Sal, Marti, and others as they wrapped up their investigation of the stolen file. Their conclusion? Case closed. Abigail got a commendation in her file, which would have made her glow except it didn’t matter much to her now.
“You’re thinking so hard I can see steam coming out of your ears,” Jonathan teased as he eased onto the chair beside her. He handed her a glass of the chardonnay they’d brought from Kyra’s restaurant after celebrating their success.
Abigail’s eyes flicked to where David sat on one of the other chairs almost across from her. Little Bit, his niece, sprawled on his lap with a book in her hands. She read him a story about zoo animals. She slowed as she came to a difficult word. “Hipp…pot…tooo…”
“Try again,” David urged as he held the flashlight shining on the pages.
“Hippo…pet…too…I can’t do it, Uncle David.”
“Oh, I think you can.” He gripped the book. “Give it another shot.”
“Hippo…pat…am…us. Hippopotamus?”
“That’s it. Good job.”
“I did it!” Little Bit grinned, revealing a gap where she’d lost a front tooth that afternoon.
The commendation didn’t matter anymore because she knew without a doubt where her heart lay.
With David.
“Oh, wow,” she muttered out loud before she realized it.
“Huh?” Jonathan grinned.
Her cheeks began heating, and it had nothing to do with the flames. The warmth increased, especially when David caught her in his dark gaze.
“Oh, wow, I just realized something,” she hastily added. “I’m, um, well, I’m totally relaxed now.”
Jonathan chuckled. “That’s an alien feeling for you?”
“Has been lately.” She cast another glance at her boyfriend.
David’s smile turned intimate.
Oh, dear. Any hotter, and she’d be able to fry eggs on her face. The image made her giggle.
Gravel crunched along the river on the path that ran from the back of Kyra’s restaurant to the secluded bungalow on the hotel’s property. A man with sandy brown hair strolled into the golden glow of the fire. “Sorry to barge in on your party. I saw you guys in the restaurant, but you were gone before I got the chance to get up.”
“Patterson.” David set Little Bit down. “Sit over there, sweetie.” He rose and shook the man’s hand as he gave him a light bump on the shoulder with his left hand. “Good to see you. Oh, you remember Abigail, right?”
“I do. Nice to meet you again, Abigail.”
She nodded.
“And this is her brother, Jonathan.”
“Mitch Patterson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Mitch shook his hand. “Molly and I were up having our first date night since Vespa finished her chemo. I’d heard around town about what went down, so I convinced her to come all this way to Kyra’s restaurant. Glad to hear she’s safe.”
“Thanks. And I’m very happy to hear about Vespa. Kyra had been asking about her.”
Mitch shoved his hands into the pockets of his khakis and kicked at the pebbles surrounding the fire pit. “Well, let me head on out. It’s getting late, and we need to get home to relieve the babysitter of two boys and one girl.”
“Thanks for stopping by. You want to go mountain biking next weekend?”
Something like a sick smile crossed the man’s face.
“Uh, sure. Let’s talk next week. See ya.”
He practically bolted toward the restaurant.
“Who’s Mitch Patterson?” Jonathan asked.
Abigail sipped her wine and wondered why Mitch had fled so quickly without visiting any longer. Then she shrugged. Maybe Utahans were like that. To the point and no more.
“He lives down in Cedar City and works as a delivery driver. We try to get together occasionally to ride.” David settled onto his chair again and gestured for his niece to join him.
She eagerly scrambled onto his lap and opened her book. “Uncle David, can we go to the zoo?”
“Maybe.” He smoothed her dark curls.
A shadow caught Abigail’s attention. She swiveled to her left just as David glanced in that direction.
“Oh, my…” The wine glass almost slipped from Abigail’s fingers. She tightened her grip to make sure it didn’t crash onto the granite.
“N—Nabeelah?” Jonathan finally put into words what everyone
was thinking.
“What…is…?” David set Little Bit onto her feet.
The petite woman dressed in jeans, boots, and a leather jacket stepped from the shadows. Her hair flowed down her back in raven waves, and now, kohl lined her eyes. A man followed closely behind her.
“Frisco.” A smile broke across Jonathan’s face. “You made it out.”
His former foe grinned. “Thanks to you.”
“Little Sister!” The cry erupted from the depths of David’s heart. He bolted forward and engulfed Nabeelah in a bear hug, then pulled back. “Even though I glimpsed you alive and well a few days ago, I was worried.”
“I needed to see you. Both of you,” Nabeelah shifted her gaze to Jonathan. “I couldn’t stay away, though Frisco wanted—”
“Don’t blame me for this.” Frisco smiled. “Seriously, I know we probably owe you some answers.”
“But we didn’t want to approach you. Not when Lieutenant Colonel Torres was here,” Nabeelah added. “May we?”
She gestured to the couch that formed the rest of the conversation group around the fire.
“Please.” Abigail nodded.
“We’re DIA. Well, you knew that, Abigail. But we both are. Frisco had been deep undercover with Nicole’s group as we investigated the gunrunning ring.”
“El Lobo?” Abigail asked.
Frisco nodded. “Right. We knew Nicole worked for someone, but we weren’t getting any closer to finding out who was her boss. All we knew was that he traded guns and drugs with Shamal Khan.”
David’s gaze darkened. “The Shamal Khan who killed ten of my closest friends.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, with Nicole’s death, we’re no closer to knowing.” Nabeelah raised her hand to her face. “I feared you had died that day. And if it had not been for Sergeant Jonathan, I would not have lived.”
“What happened to you?” Jonathan asked. “I know Abigail interviewed you, but when I went to find you the next morning, you were gone. No one would tell either of us what happened to you.”
“The DIA recruited me.” She glanced at Abigail. “How do you say it? They made an offer I couldn’t refuse? Join them, or be sent back to the village.”
“Or what was left of it,” Abigail muttered.
“They fed me. Taught me more English and everything else needed to know to work for them.”
The Athena File Page 31
