Scent of Danger

by Judith Rochelle

  The reality was worse than anything she could have imagined.When Mike set the chopper back down on the bluff, Kelly stumbled back to thecabin, Xena hard on her heels, barely making it to the bathroom before sheemptied her stomach of everything in it. She was well into the dry heaves whena hand reached around her holding a wet washcloth.

  “Here you go, Red.” Rick’s voice was soft and gentle.

  While she wiped her face and the inside of her mouth hestroked her hair with a tender caress. She was humiliated that he saw her thisway but grateful for his ministrations.

  “It was awful.” Her voice was hoarse in a throat made raw bythe retching. “It looked like someone had taken a giant bulldozer and justleveled everything.”

  “I talked to Dan about this while you were gone. We thinkit’s time to get you somewhere safe. Someplace where you’ll be out of this.”

  She struggled to her feet, shaking her head. “Where could Ibe safer than here?”

  “Kelly, that fire was meant to draw you out. At the veryleast to be a warning to you and it was set by someone who knew what the hellthey were doing. Mike says they avoided all your alarm sensors and usedsophisticated incendiary flashes set to a timer. Whoever this is meansbusiness. You can argue all you want to but it’s not safe for you to be aroundme.”

  She said nothing while she rinsed out her mouth and wipedher face again. Still silent, she walked back into the main room of the cabinwhere she turned to face him.

  “I’m not going. Period.” She looked down at Xena who hadpositioned herself next to her mistress. “Last night she woke me because sheknew what was going on but she wouldn’t let me leave the cabin.” She bent downand took the massive face in her hands, locking her eyes on the dog’s. “What doyou say, girl? Shall I let them run me off? Leave Rick here by himself?”

  Xena instantly moved to stand in front of Rick, a low growlrumbling from her throat, her large body vibrating.

  Kelly held her hands out to Rick, palms up. “See? If Ileave, she’s staying and then what would I do for a bodyguard?”

  “I don’t need her.” Rick raked his fingers through his hairin frustration. “Just tell her it’s okay.”

  Kelly looked at Xena again and chuckled when the dog emittedanother growl.

  You can’t leave him. I will protect you.

  He’s being a real pain about it.

  Do not leave him. The three of us must stay together.

  Kelly switched her gaze to Rick. “Sorry, big boy. It ain’tgonna happen.”

  “I agree,” Mike chimed in from the kitchen where he wasopening a soft drink. “With everything she says. Xena too. If she’s with us atleast we can control her situation.”

  “Like we controlled what happened at the farm?” Rick bitoff.

  “But she’s alive, right?” He turned to Kelly. “Right?”

  “Right. So let’s not argue about this and get back to work.I want to catch these bastards and skin them alive.”

  Now it was Rick’s turn to chuckle. “Okay, then. Dan called.Our attorney is already on the job, talking to your insurance company. He’ssent someone up here to make a site inspection and nose around.” He turned backto his computer. “I’ve been doing some research into the guest list at CamelliaCay. But Andy’s going to have to help with that too, because a lot of peoplewho stayed there used aliases. So far I haven’t come across one familiar name.”

  “If you can’t, how can Andy?” Kelly wanted to know.

  “Andy could find ways to trace the president of the UnitedStates if he was using an alias. I don’t ask questions. I just let him do histhing.”

  “Did you find out who owns the place?” Mike asked.

  “Someone named Matthias Grant but we’ve figured that’s analias too. That’s the first name Andy’s gone to work on.”

  “Then why don’t I fix us some sandwiches?” Kelly walked intothe kitchen area. “At least if we get attacked, we can defend ourselves on fullstomachs. And then let’s try some of those exercises we got from The LotusCircle. Maybe we can knock down that brick wall in your brain.”

  * * * * *

  He was going about this all wrong. Zarife pushed away fromhis computer after hours of fruitless searching, not even knowing what he waslooking for. Wherever Rick Latrobe was hiding out, it wouldn’t be at a placethat was easy to locate.

  Asking questions wasn’t the way either. He’d alreadydiscovered that just the mention of his name made people look at him withunfavorable curiosity. He couldn’t afford to make himself stand out any morethan he already had.

  And that was when he realized he needed to tackle this froma different angle. If anyone knew where Latrobe was it would be his partners.They’d be the ones who’d hidden him away. Of course, he couldn’t exactly walkup to them and ask them. But he could try following them, one at a time,searching for an opportunity to learn the information.

  None of them was listed in the telephone book, not that he’dexpected them to be. And hanging around the building where their offices were,a giant black obelisk, could get him in more trouble. There were no convenientcoffee shops across the street or stores to browse in and the security wastighter than at Guantanamo.

  He just wanted this over. He wanted to call his father, givehim the information and whoever the elder al-Dulami had in readiness wouldfinish the job Greg Jordan hadn’t been able to complete.

  His best bet, then, was to check out the airfield. For thathe would need to call Gabir. He had already scoped the place out thoroughlybefore the aborted accident on the interstate. He could tell Zarife where toposition himself and what to look for.

  Reluctantly, with an unwanted suspicion that he was making abig mistake, he picked up the telephone and punched in a number.

  * * * * *

  Ken Murphy leaned back in what had been Greg Jordan’s deskchair and propped his feet on the desk. He hadn’t been here a week and alreadyhe was suffering from the fatigue that seemed to affect everyone. Dealing withthe security on a daily basis took every bit of his patience and ingenuity. AndAmin was an enigma yet to be decoded.

  At least the Grainger Caldwell crews were on a steady workschedule and the projects were beginning to move. Somewhere—God only knewwhere—Dan Romeo had procured two more specially outfitted Humvees andpiggy-backed them onto someone else’s shipment. With gunners at the ready, eachday they acted as escort for the two of the three crews considered to be in thearea of highest danger.

  Everyone was jumpy, though. The construction crews wereanything but happy, despite the obnoxious amount of money they were being paid.The guards slept with one eye open, expecting to be shot or have their throatsslit at any moment. By this time Ken’s charm and patience were both stretchedbeyond thin.

  But, in the way he’d learned from too many years in thisbusiness, he had finally cracked the wall of silence around the invaders in thenorthern part of the country. It had taken skill and patience, cajoling peoplein places in the city that no sane man would be found in and no small amount ofmoney. In the end, however, it had paid off.

  When his sat phone rang he picked it up knowing who was onthe other end. But at least this time he had some new information for him.

  “Always nice to hear from you, Dan,” he joked. “And thistime I might even have something to say to you.”

  “God, it would be nice to have something from someone,”Dan told him. “What have you got?”

  “I have to tell you, this was like mining gold in a river ofsludge. If we had enough hot water I’d shower for two days straight.”

  “When you get back here, I’ll personally see to it that youhave an unlimited supply of hot water. Now. Give.”

  Ken rubbed a hand across his eyes. “It seems that way up in thenorthern corner, almost to Iran, in the Zagros Mountains, is a family tribe,al-Dulami, Shi’as who have been working for years to reclaim their power andglory. Somehow over the past two decades they’ve been accumulating a massiveamount of wealth.”

  “From where?”

&n
bsp; “That I don’t know. Is it important?”

  “I don’t know yet. Let’s hear the rest of it.”

  “Very quietly, almost silently, they let it be known theyhad cash to pay for weapons if there were a lot of them and the buy wasn’t madeon the open market. Once they got their hands on the weapons, they began awell-planned offensive.” He stretched out his arm and reached for his coffee.“Thing is, everyone is either a supporter of the al-Dulamis or scared to deathof them. No one mentions their name. And each area they’ve taken is like awalled fortress. Coalition troops trying to breach their security have taken somany hits they’ve stopped trying.”

  “How does a deposed tribe get that kind of power?” Danmused.

  “Money and threats. You’re with us or you’re dead kind ofthing.”

  Ken could almost hear the wheels in Dan’s brain turning.“Someone had to put the buyer and seller together. Someone had to be thego-between. And someone had to know about this particular shipment to beginwith.”

  “It wasn’t all that secret,” Ken pointed out. “All thesecurity firms have been shipping stuff over here.”

  “Yeah but there had to be a way to get all the partiestogether. And I have a feeling it didn’t just happen overnight.”

  “All right,” Ken sighed. “I’ll see what else I can findout.”

  “No. Let it lay on your side. I need to attack it from overhere. What’s happening with Amin? You think he’s involved?”

  “Hard to say. One minute he’s my best friend, the other I’mafraid to turn my back on him. Honest opinion? I think you need to get rid ofhim but not before this situation is resolved. Keep your enemies close kind ofthing.”

  “You believe he’s involved.”

  “Without a doubt. But I want this wrapped up before I doanything about him.”

  “You just keep on with what you’re doing and I’ll get youout of there as soon as I can.”

  “Gee. And just when I was really starting to have fun.”

  * * * * *

  They’d tried the exercises the Lotus Circle women hadsuggested, four in all, but so far without success. Rick finally gave up forthe moment and went back to what he’d been doing. He was trying to run a moneytrace on Greg Jordan, Kelly was sorting papers as he printed them out and Mikehad gone back to Blue Fork to snoop around when Xena began her growl and prowlagain.

  “You think she senses something outside?” Rick asked,turning away from the computer.

  “I don’t know. Let’s see.” But when she headed for the door,Xena did nothing to stop her. In fact, she bounded ahead of her, almost leadingher.

  “Let me open the door,” Rick said. “You stay back. Just incase.”

  He had his handgun out at his side as he carefully pulledopen the door. Kelly stood to the side but she had her H&K securely in herhand.

  Xena stood in the doorway, sniffing and barking. When Rickstepped out onto the porch, the dog leaped off the porch and ran ahead of himto where the helicopter sat. By the time Rick had carefully searched around thecabin and no one had taken a shot at him, Xena was practically a maniac,running around the chopper and barking loudly.

  “What does she want, Red? What’s she trying to say?”

  Kelly watched the dog carefully. “I think she wants us toleave.”

  “Why? Can’t be because of danger on the premises or shewouldn’t let us out of the house. So what’s going on?”

  She wrinkled her forehead in thought. “No. It has somethingto do with the airfield. Airfield, right, girl?”

  Xena barked at her twice.

  Kelly looked at Rick. “She’s telling us something’s wrong atthe field.” A thread of fear skittered over her spine. “Oh, God. I hopenothing’s wrong with Granddad. I should call him.”

  She fished her cell phone out of her pocket but before shecould dial it rang in her hand. The voice on the other end startled her.

  “Granddad? What’s going on?”

  * * * * *

  Zarife had gotten the information he needed from Gabir,found the place on the hill behind the airfield Gabir had told him about andconcealed his car in a thick stand of trees. Now he crouched between two ofthem, binoculars trained on the airfield below.

  He should have thought of this before. Wherever the Phoenixpartners went it was usually by air and always from this, their private strip.He knew their air transportation was all hangared here. It was most likelywherever Rick Latrobe had gone, it had been from this place.

  Now he watched for any activity, anything at all that showedmovement. The mysterious man who was pulling the strings had given him yetanother cell phone number to call, disposable like the others, he was sure. Heapplauded Zarife’s ingenuity and told him if he saw any sign of movement at allto call. He would be able to take it from there.

  He also told him what to look for when he got to thefield—how many planes, how many helicopters should be there.

  Gabir had warned him to watch out for the guard at the gateand told him where the cameras were mounted on the gatehouse and by the door tothe office. He was looking directly into the sun, which made it difficult tosee and he had to keep shifting his binoculars.

  Two men were standing on the tarmac in front of one of thehangars, one of them about seventy he judged, in khakis and a long sleeveshirt, a worn ball cap on his head. The other looked to be close to forty,tall, his muscular body evident beneath his faded jeans and pullover shirt.Zarife put his binoculars down for a moment and pulled a stack of photos out ofhis shirt pocket, shuffling through them. The old man was the airfield managerwhile the other one was the brother of the agency’s senior partner and one ofthe two pilots.

  His mysterious caller, the man he’d come to refer to in hismind as the devil, had couriered the photos to him and also given him a list ofthe aircraft the company owned.

  “This is a good trail to follow,” he’d told Zarife. “Makesure all the aircraft are still in place. If not, then one of them hastransported Latrobe somewhere and we can start figuring out where. Smartthinking on your part.”

  Praise Allah he had done something right. But how the hellhe was supposed to do what the man said Zarife had no idea. He prayed ferventlyto Allah that an idea should come to him.

  Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he lifted his binocularsagain. The men turned toward him and for one heart-stopping moment, he thoughtthey’d seen him but then they turned away and walked into the open hangar. Werethey going to fly somewhere? Would it be to where Latrobe was hiding?

  No, apparently not. In a few minutes Ed Romeo came backoutside, climbed into his vehicle and headed out through the gate. Zarife triedto see which way he turned but the curve of the hill hid him from sight, so hewent back to studying the airfield.

  He adjusted the focus on his binocs and tried to see deeperinto the hangar. Were all the aircraft still there? He was so intent on seeinginto the murky darkness of the hangar that he never heard the footfalls behindhim. By the time he heard a twig snap, it was too late. The barrel of a gun waspressed against his neck and an icy cold voice said, “Looking for something?”

  * * * * *

  At least I won’t be freezing my ass off during thedaytime, Denny Hammond thought as he made himself comfortable in his van.He’d found a well-hidden spot just down the road from the farm for hissurveillance and was settling himself in.

  “I want to know everyone who comes around the fire site,”the man had ordered. “If she doesn’t show up, someone will. She’s the link toLatrobe right now. She and that obnoxious dog. One of them is bound to take alook at the damage. Someone from Phoenix. And he can lead us back to Latrobe.”

  “You said the same thing about the woman herself,” Dennyreminded him. “You said the fire would smoke her out, if you’ll pardon the pun.But she never showed.”

  “Someone will,” the man insisted. “Maybe already has and youmissed him.”

  “Then what am I waiting around for?”

  “To see if he shows up again. I just sent everyone’s pict
ureto your cell with identifiers. Memorize their faces and keep a sharp eye out.”He paused. “I have you and someone else on this. The first one to find him getsa big bonus.”

  And that was the only reason Denny was still there. Becausewhen he’d watched the fire scene through his binoculars, from a safe distanceaway, one of the men whose picture he had did indeed show up. And Denny had afeeling he was still in the area.

  He sipped at the dark brew that passed for coffee, thesludge he’d bought at the convenience store. He should have learned the firsttime but he didn’t want to start showing himself in town and he needed thecaffeine.

  He had just taken another swallow when a flash of metalcaught his eye. Something black. He set the coffee cup in the holder and pickedup his binoculars. There. A black SUV just turning onto the highway from a roadclimbing the side of the cliff. A road so well disguised, Denny wouldn’t evenhave noticed it if he hadn’t been looking.

  The truck turned into the driveway to the farm and stoppedat the gate, where crime scene tape still flapped in the breeze. A man got out,walked to the gate and pushed it open, ducking under the tape. The cop standingthere making notes on a clipboard nodded at him.

  Okay! They know him!

  Hastily Denny scrolled through the photos on his cell. Yes,there he was. Mike D’Antoni. The pilot.

  Pilot!

  Could that mean he’d flown Latrobe and the girl up here andthey were somewhere close by? Was he doing their snooping for them at the firescene?

  Fifteen minutes passed before D’Antoni tramped back to thecop, nodded to him and climbed back into his SUV. Denny waited to see which wayhe turned. Would he go into the village? No. He was turning back toward thealmost invisible road.

  Denny rolled down his window, dumped the rest of the coffeeand turned on the ignition. He gave D’Antoni a five-minute head start beforefollowing him.

  * * * * *

  Kelly had handed her cell phone to Rick when her grandfatherasked for him and watched as the grim lines on his face cut even deeper. Angerflashed in his eyes as he listened carefully to Harry.

  “Do you have a name?” he asked, then nodded at the answer.“All right. Call Dan. Get him over there. He’ll know where to take him. We’renot turning this one over to the police. I want to sweat him myself. As soon asMike gets here we’ll be in the air.”