Scent of Danger

by Judith Rochelle

  “Well,” Dan said. “I’d say the shit’s really hit the fan.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Damn it all to hell, anyway.

  Greg Jordan climbed stealthily down from the tree where he’dbeen perched for three hours. He’d watched carefully while men in phony utilityuniforms scoured the neighborhood and been edgy when he saw another team hadbeen in place. But more luck fell his way. Or so he thought. Everyone waspulled to a wide perimeter, leaving the area around Latrobe’s house wide open.

  Stupid. I thought these people were smarter than this.

  Then he chuckled to himself. They didn’t expect someone assmart as he was to show up. Their mistake.

  Knowing the people next door to Latrobe didn’t come homefrom work until late, he’d climbed up as soon as the area was clear. Hisopportunity would come as soon as the back door opened to let that infernal dogout.

  It didn’t matter to him who opened it. If it was the woman,he’d shoot her, then get Latrobe when he came to help her. If it was Latrobe,one shot and he’d be done.

  But that damned dog had ruined everything. He couldn’tafford to stay around to take another shot. Latrobe would be calling in thetroops. Besides, the alarm would be reset by now and he didn’t want to hit oneof the sensors.

  Time for him to get lost.

  He harbored no illusions that the man who’d put this alltogether would take the news kindly. But it was time to cut his losses and letsomeone else chase Latrobe. This hadn’t been part of the deal anyway. He neededout and right away.

  Just to protect himself, he’d transferred the money he’dbeen paid three times and it now sat waiting for him in a safe place. All heneeded was to get out of the country and live long enough to spend it.

  Disassembling the rifle, he zipped it into its canvas bagand tucked it under his windbreaker. Forcing himself to walk slowly, he madehis way to his car at the end of the street. He knew Latrobe’s men would behitting the area any minute. Looking carefully to make sure no one was payingattention to him, he cranked the engine and pulled away from the curb.

  He didn’t draw a full breath until he was out of theneighborhood and headed toward the interstate.

  * * * * *

  Dan Romeo still had his cell phone clapped to his ear whenhe and Mike entered Rick’s house. He didn’t appear any too happy about the callhe was on.

  “No, Charlie,” he was saying, “I’m not trying to blow youoff. I realize how serious this is. Someone just tried to kill Rick for thethird time, so you can believe I’m taking this seriously.” He paused. “You canforget that. No way am I making him available to the alphabet guys. He’ll be asitting target. Uh-huh.” Another pause. “I said I’ll handle it, damn it. Go takeyour medication and lie down.”

  He snapped the phone shut and walked over to where Rick andKelly were scrambling up from the floor, Xena standing protectively in front ofthem.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s have it.”

  While Rick talked, Mike was busy digging the bullets out ofthe laundry room wall.

  “It’s a .50 caliber slug,” he told them, walking into thekitchen with it in the palm of his hand. “That could fit a lot of rifles.”

  “That’s a lot of firepower for close range,” Rick said. “Hedidn’t just want to kill us. He wanted to pulverize us.”

  “Whoever he is,” Dan added, “he wasn’t taking any chancesthis time.” He punched more numbers into his cell. When he hung up, he said,“People will be searching the neighborhood in less than ten. We had one team ina meeting nearby.”

  “They won’t find anything,” Rick argued.

  “You never know what these guys can find.”

  Kelly had made fresh coffee and filled a mug for everyone.Now she sat at the kitchen table, Xena pressed against her leg, trying to keepfrom shaking. The last thing she wanted was for these men to think she was awimp. Rick needed her. Her and Xena. She didn’t want to be left out becausethey didn’t think she could cut it.

  Rick slanted his eyes at her, reached over and covered herhand with his.

  “You okay, Red?” he asked in a soft voice.

  She nodded. “I’m fine.” When he quirked an eyebrow at hershe said, “Really. Totally okay.” She forced a smile. “Xena was right on again,you know.”

  He put his mouth close to her ear. “I might have to marryyou just to get Xena.”

  Kelly started. “M-Marry?” She stumbled over the word. “Didyou just say what I thought you did?”

  Rick pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I’ll say it again,just in case you misunderstood. I want to marry you. I know this is fast buttime is precious. The best decisions I’ve ever made are the split second ones.You never know when you’ll lose it and I’m not about to waste it. I want you inmy life, Red.”

  “Ohmigod.”

  “Don’t answer me now because you might say no. But when thisis all over, that’s first on my agenda.”

  A warm feeling flooded her and for a moment she couldn’tbreathe. He wanted to marry her! Ohmigod! She knew she was blushing and loweredher eyes but not before she saw Rick wink at her and turn back to Mark.

  Dan brought his coffee and sat down opposite her. He studiedher face for what seemed to her an interminable moment.

  “Kelly, we have to make some decisions here and you’re goingto have to be part of them.”

  “That’s not a problem.” She took a healthy sip of the hotliquid. “Xena and I will go wherever Rick does.”

  “She comes with a handgun and rifle too.” Rick gave them asmall grin, trying to lighten a very heavy situation. “And if it hadn’t beenfor Xena, neither of us would be alive right now.”

  “Okay,” Dan told them. “Here’s the deal. Rick, you know Isaid earlier we need to keep you away from the feds because you were the pointman for the Iraq shipment that disappeared. We wanted to have more time to diginto this before you had to answer any question. That’s why we’re moving youout of here.”

  Rick nodded slowly. “And I agreed, although I’m not happyabout it.”

  “I don’t know any other way to say this except straight-out.The feds think you’re the one who stole the shipment and sold it to some rebelgroup in Iraq. The one operating in the northern corner of the country. Andthey’re yanking Charlie Grainger’s chain to put pressure on us to produce you.”

  “What?” Rick rose from his chair, his face red with anger,fists clenched.

  “Sit down,” Dan ordered in a quiet voice. “That’s justsomeone making noise. No one who knows you really thinks you did this. Least ofall us. But it’s all over the press and the story just keeps feeding onitself.”

  Rick slowly lowered himself into the chair again, consciousof Kelly’s soft hand on his arm. “I want to meet with these assholes. And setthem straight.”

  “Absolutely not. We want you as far away from them aspossible.”

  “But Dan, this reflects on the agency too. This could meantrouble for everyone.”

  “You let me worry about that. Meanwhile we’ll go ahead withthe plans we made earlier today. Mike’s got the chopper stashed away from ourairfield, just in case someone is still watching there. He’ll fly all of you upto the cabin.”

  Rick smacked his hand on the table, jarring his mug. “Nowthat you tell me the real skinny, I’m not so sure I want to leave. I refuse torun away from this.”

  “Rick.” Kelly’s voice was low but firm. “Listen to Dan. Thisis the best thing for us. It gets you away from the shooters, the federalagents and the media. And gives your partners time to get to the bottom ofthis.” She looked at Dan. “Rick wasn’t too forthcoming this afternoon. Where isthis cabin we’re going to?”

  Dan forced a grin. “A little known fact in your life.There’s a road about half a mile past your farm that goes up to the top of thecliff.”

  “I know that road,” she interrupted. “It goes nowhere. Ithink it’s used as a takeoff and landing spot for Search and Rescue.”

  The men all exchanged a look.

 
“If that’s what you think, then we’re doing a damn goodjob,” Rick told her. “We own a cabin at the top of that cliff that we use forplanning missions and hiding out when we need to.”

  Kelly gave him a startled look. “You’re kidding. I’ve livedthere all my life. I think I would have known if something was going on upthere.”

  “Like Rick said,” Dan put in. “We’re obviously doing a goodjob at camouflage. We’ve been using it for years.”

  “That’s where we brought Mark when we pulled him out of theterrorist camp in Peru,” Rick went on. “And where Mia and Dan went after…theirlittle episode.”

  Rick looked at Kelly, then at Dan. “She stays with me,right? Her and Xena?”

  “Absolutely. That’s the plan.”

  “I’d be able to check on the farm too,” Kelly pointed out.“Even though all the dogs are gone I want to make sure everything’s okay.”

  “Actually,” Dan looked at Rick and back at her, “that’s agood thing because you’ll need to make whatever arrangements you can to closethe kennel temporarily. There’s a possibility whoever this is may haveidentified you. If so, the first place they’ll look when they can’t find Rickis the farm.”

  Kelly felt the blood drain from her face. “Are you serious?But that means the cabin might not be safe, either.”

  “You said yourself, you live practically in our front yardand you didn’t even know it existed, so that’s not a problem.”

  She had planned to make some sandwiches since they hadn’tgotten around to dinner but suddenly Kelly lost her appetite. She pushed herchair back from the table.

  “Can you have someone just check to make sure everything’slocked up and the alarms are set? I don’t want to ask either of the people whowork for me to do it and possibly put them in danger.”

  Dan nodded. “Just give us the codes and we’ll take care ofit.”

  * * * * *

  “I need to speak to your father.”

  The disembodied voice at the other end of the call madeZarife’s stomach cramp. “About what? He’s unavailable at the moment.”

  “Because I had you tell him to be. But something else hascome up.”

  Zarife clutched his phone tighter. He wondered if he wishedhimself on another planet it would happen. “What else could possibly happennow?”

  “Rick Latrobe is still alive, a situation that has to berectified immediately.”

  “And what exactly do you expect my father to do about it?”Zarife asked, a terrible feeling of disaster sweeping over him.

  “I expect your father to reach out to his contacts in thiscountry and get the job done. Before Latrobe remembers what we want him toforget and before the government gets hold of him.”

  “Surely you have people who do that sort of thing,” Zarifesaid.

  “I can’t reach out to any more people on this. There are toomany involved as it is. But I may have something that will help you.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Jordan emailed me a photo of a woman and a dog. Theyarrived at Latrobe’s house with him and apparently were with him wherever hewas taken after Baghdad. I’m tracing her now. When she’s identified, she maylead you to Latrobe. Then she will need to be eliminated also.”

  “But I can’t—”

  “I don’t want to hear it. Anyway, I thought killing wassecond nature to all you people.”

  At the words all you people anger replaced fear inZarife’s body. If it had been within his power, he would have found this manand— No. He needed to keep focused.

  “I have men here who can handle all of this,” Zarife began.

  “I know all about your men here,” the man interrupted. “Wehad this discussion before Latrobe went back to Iraq. They didn’t get the jobdone either. You get hold of your father and give him this number. It will onlybe good once so don’t screw around with it. Do it now.”

  Zarife began to protest again but he realized he was talkingto empty air. The man had hung up.

  * * * * *

  “Getting you out of here is going to be the tricky part,”Dan said. “We don’t know how many pairs of eyes are watching, so we can’t justwalk you out the front door.”

  “Especially with Xena and me,” Kelly pointed out. “We aren’texactly hard to miss.”

  “Exactly. So we need a plan to get you to where Mike has thehelicopter. Then he’ll fly you up to Maine.”

  She nodded. “I know you don’t want me near the farm but if I’mgoing to be away for any length of time I do need to get some personal things.I didn’t expect to be here even this long.”

  “All right,” Dan agreed. “Let me think how we’ll do this.”

  Kelly looked at the grim expression on Rick’s face and theworry in Dan’s eyes and held up her hands. “Never mind. Except for dog food I’mgood.” She smiled at Rick, trying to soften the look in his eyes.

  “We’ll take care of it,” Dan assured her and opened his cellphone.

  “I don’t suppose anyone’s located Greg Jordan, have they?”Rick asked.

  “No but we’re hoping you can do it from the cabin,” Miketold him. “All you need is a secure phone, your computer and your list ofcontacts.”

  “That bastard thinks he can disappear off the face of theearth but he’s wrong.” A muscle twitched in Rick’s cheek. “I’ll run him toground wherever he is. You can take that to the bank.”

  “All right, then. We’d better figure out how we’re going todo this.”

  * * * * *

  “I have my own problems,” al-Dulami told his son. “I can’tbe involved in what’s happening over there.”

  “But you are involved,” Zarife said. “They will findout who took the weapons, they will find out about me and we will all be introuble.”

  “Not if you don’t lose your nerve.”

  “It isn’t a matter of nerve,” Zarife insisted. “We must getrid of this man. When he figures out the link he will take us all down.”

  “My sources tell me Jordan has disappeared. Is that true?”

  “Yes. As the Americans say, he has bailed on us.”

  Al-Dulami cursed softly. “When this is finished, there won’tbe a place in the world he can hide from us. I promise you.”

  “Latrobe has a woman with him,” Zarife said. “And a giantdog. Not like anything I’ve ever seen before. Before he disappeared, Jordantook her picture and did a search on her.”

  “And?”

  Zarife sighed. “Another problem. Let me tell you about thiswoman and her dog.”

  * * * * *

  The man who had put this all in motion sat in his den withthe afternoon sunlight filtering weakly through his window. He’d left hisoffice early, telling his secretary he had some personal business to take careof.

  Personal business. It certainly was that.

  Fortunately his wife was at a spa for two days. Both oftheir children were away at college so there was no chance of them disturbinghim or asking what he was doing home at this unusual hour.

  In front of him on the desk was a Baccarat crystal tumblerfilled with ice cubes and Jack Daniel’s Black, his favorite Kentucky agedwhiskey. He wasn’t normally a man to whom alcohol was attractive, allowinghimself the occasional social drink, or a shot of Jack Black in honor of somespecial occasion. But today he didn’t think the entire bottle would be enoughto blot out his troubles.

  It had all seemed so simple in the beginning. He’d takenmonths to study the scene in the Middle East, checking out each and everypossible buyer, looking for the right connection where the buyer would requireas much secrecy as he did. And have the extensive cash available to pay him.Very quietly he’d done his research and zeroed in on the al-Dulami family. Ithelped, of course, that he’d stumbled across Zarife al-Dulami, a seeminglyharmless engineer who was doing his own subrosa work searchingout resources for his family, which was looking to regain its former glory.

  Greg Jordan had been the frosting on the cake. Through himhe’d managed the whole thing without
ever having to reveal his identity.Collect the money. Deliver the goods. And he was home free.

  But then Jordan had made a mistake, which apparently wasgoing to collapse the whole thing. He’d thought the man performed better thanthat. Helping him disappear had been the smartest thing to do, because idiotthat he was, Jordan had still hidden an insurance policy—evidence that wouldpoint directly to him. Otherwise he would have disposed of Jordan when hescrewed up the Latrobe killing.

  Well, there’ll be plenty of time for that later on. After hefigured out how to retrieve the incriminating papers.

  Why had he chased money he didn’t even need? He was securein the life he’d bought for himself. Why had he let that devil greed goad himinto this? At first it had just been the renewed thrill of planning, the dangerinherent in the project. Then the greed had taken over. No matter how much hehad, he always wanted more. He should have used his head but it apparently wason vacation.

  He looked at the computer printout on his desk. Kelly Monroeand her wonder dog. He’d heard about Caucasian Ovcharkas. One-owner dogs. Braveand fearless. He knew that unless they were properly socialized and trained,they were ferocious animals, sometimes unmanageable. They considered every partof the owner’s family to be their family and would fight viciously to protectall of them. The dog’s presence could seriously complicate things. Especiallywith their rumored psychic link to their owner.

  And apparently Kelly Monroe, dog trainer and the bigOvcharka were Latrobe’s new guardians. The damn dog had certainly screwed upJordan’s attempt with the rifle.

  He’d forced Zarife to call his father and tell him to gethis ass in gear, to call his contacts in the States and get him a first classassassin. But he needed a way to neutralize the woman and her dog. Somethingthat would take her away from Latrobe and leave him protected only by normalhuman beings.

  Tapping his fingers on the desk, he sipped at his whiskey.He had an idea but it meant bringing yet another person into the equation, onemore person who could expose him, bring him down. Well, it couldn’t be helped.