by Sharon Dunn
Jason pressed the accelerator, feeling a surge of excitement in his veins. Danger did that for him. But he had Isabel to think of now. He needed to get her to a safe place.
Both vehicles slipped on the icy road.
Isabel braced an arm on the dashboard.
Jason righted the car and watched the speedometer nudge toward forty, a dangerous speed in these conditions. Nick was right on his bumper.
They entered a section of the road that was switchback curves. Jason stayed close to the inside as he maneuvered the car around the tight turns.
Nick tapped their bumper. Their car lurched. Jason gripped the wheel, bringing the car back under control.
Headlights filled the rearview mirror. “Hold on.” Jason pressed the accelerator to the floor.
Nick’s headlights got smaller.
“I think we’re going too fast,” Isabel said breathlessly as her hand clasped the armrest.
“We just need to put a little distance between us,” Jason said.
Visibility was reduced in the darkness. A curve came up without warning. The car slid sideways. Jason turned the wheel in the direction of the skid, hoping to straighten the car.
They continued to slide. The car came to a stop. The engine had quit. Jason turned the key in the ignition.
Nick’s truck barreled toward them, ramming them in the side by the back door. The whole car shook.
Jason tried to start the car again and the motor revved to life. Nick backed up, preparing to ram them again. Illumination from Nick’s headlights filled the car, making it hard to see.
“He’s trying to push us in the ditch.” Isabel’s voice filled with terror.
“Not if I can help it.” Jason pressed the gas. The back wheels spun.
Nick’s truck loomed toward them a second time. He rammed them hard enough that the car slid down the hillside and then tilted on its side. Metal creaked and groaned.
The driver’s side of the car was closest to the ground. “Crawl out,” Jason said as he unbuckled his seat belt.
He heard Isabel struggling in the darkness. “I can’t get the door open. It’s too heavy.”
“Out the back, then.” Nick was probably waiting for them. “Let me go first.” He crawled through the car and pushed open the back hatch. His feet touched the snowy ground, and he reached a hand out for Isabel.
About fifteen feet above them, Nick’s headlights glared down at them. He didn’t see Nick anywhere.
Isabel wasn’t dressed for running in the snow, but it was the only choice they had. If they could escape Nick’s clutches, Jason could call for help. The other agents out looking for Isabel were in the area.
They took off running as gunshots exploded close to their feet.
Jason ran blindly, unable to make out what was in front of them. Isabel stumbled. He helped her to her feet. He heard footsteps behind them but saw no light.
They came to a cluster of evergreens. Jason and Isabel wove through them while Nick’s footfalls seemed to surround them. If Jason could just get to a hiding place... Isabel’s dress made swishing noises as they ran that could give them away.
He came to a spot where the trees were clustered close together and pulled her behind a tree with a thick trunk. Isabel’s back was pressed against the tree and he stood facing her. Their breathing seemed augmented by the darkness and the silence.
Nick’s footsteps drew near, slowed, stopped altogether.
Jason held his breath.
The footfalls were slower but very near. Nick seemed to be doing a circle around them, stopping every four or five steps.
As close as Jason was standing to Isabel, he could sense her body tensing.
Finally, the footfalls retreated and then faded in the distance. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t turn around and come back.
Jason pulled out his phone, praying he would get a signal. He stared at the screen. Nothing.
Isabel gripped his arm just above the elbow. “We can get back up the hill and take Nick’s truck.”
“Yes. Good.” He took off running with Isabel right behind him. Had Nick doubled back or had he gone deeper into the trees? There was no way to know.
They scrambled up the hill. Her hand slipped into his as he pushed toward the top. Isabel had no gloves. Her hands were probably icicles by now. They ran past their overturned car.
Nick’s headlights were no longer on. If Nick had taken the keys, Jason knew how to hot-wire a car, but it would cost them precious seconds.
Isabel hurried around to the passenger side of the truck. Jason reached for the handle of the driver’s-side door. Cold metal pressed into his temple.
“I think someone here needs to die tonight.” Nick’s voice was menacing.
“No,” Isabel shouted from the other side of the truck. She hurried around to face the two men. “You don’t want to do that, Nick. You’ll go back to prison.”
“You should be with me, Isabel. You’re my soul mate.”
“You don’t have to kill him.” The silence surrounded them like a heavy blanket.
Nick pressed the gun barrel deeper into Jason’s temple.
“Leave him out here in the cold. He’ll freeze. Then you won’t be charged with his death.” Isabel took a step toward the two men.
“He deserves to die,” Nick said.
“No, Nick. I’ll go with you. You’re right—we were meant to be together. But just leave him here. He won’t make it back.”
The pressure of the gun let up a little on Jason’s skin.
“You’ll go with me?”
“Yes.”
What was she saying? This guy was a nutjob. How could she sacrifice her life like this? Or did she have something else in mind?
Nick pushed on Jason’s back. “Get down the hill by your wrecked car. Don’t try anything.”
Jason took a step. Nick held the gun on him. Jason brushed by Isabel. In the darkness, she reached out, touching his fingers only briefly. Was that her way of saying she was going to be okay, she had a plan, or was it just a goodbye?
He turned, thinking he could grab her. They could run again.
She shook her head.
“Keep moving!” Nick shouted.
He had to fight for her. He wasn’t about to give up so easily. He reached out for her arm, prepared to run.
“Jason, no.”
A gunshot cracked the air around him. He felt a stinging sensation on his upper arm. He’d been grazed by a bullet.
“The next one goes straight through your heart,” Nick said.
“It will be okay, Jason. This is what I want. I want to be with Nick.” Agitation colored every syllable she uttered.
His heart squeezed down to the size of a walnut as an invisible weight pressed on his chest. She was putting herself in so much danger...to save him, to help the investigation?
“Please,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Jason made his way down the hill and stood beside the overturned car.
“Now lie down on the ground on your stomach and don’t move until we’re gone.”
Jason’s hands curled into tight fists. He really hated this guy.
He lay down in the snow, a chill seeping through his layers of clothes. He squeezed his eyes shut, listening to truck doors slamming and an engine fading into the distance in the cold dark night.
What had he allowed to happen? He rose to his feet, vowing to rescue Isabel before it was too late.
* * *
Once again, Nick had forced Isabel to sit behind the wheel, pointing the gun at her.
“If we’re going to be partners, don’t you think you should quit pointing that thing at me?”
Nick leaned close and brushed a finger down her cheek. “You got to prove yourself to me. Show your loyalty, Blondie.”
She steeled herself against his touch, not giving away how much he repulsed her.
For a moment, she listened to the sound of the car’s tires rolling over packed snow. She stared out into the lonely dark night.
Nick would have killed Jason. She knew that much. Her life was only at risk if he figured out she was undercover or if his rage got out of control. She had to choose her moves carefully.
Jason had a cell phone. If he could get to a place where he had a signal, he’d be picked up. The other agents might even find him. She had to trust his survival skills. He’d be all right.
Somehow, she’d have to find a way to communicate with Jason. Nick had taken her phone. He’d hinted he knew who was behind the smuggling operation. This was the connection they needed to take this thing apart.
Saving Jason’s life had been only part of the reason she’d made the choice she had. What she wanted even more than to help the investigation was to see to it that Nick Solomon went to prison for a long time.
Nick leaned so close to her she could feel his hot breath on her cheek.
“Show my loyalty? What do you want me to do, Nick?”
“There’s a pickup tonight at a property Sun and Ski manages. The cabin on Old Fort Road.”
“Yes, I know it.” She took in a breath to steady her nerves as she stared out at the road ahead. “What time?”
“Midnight. We’ll have time to go to your place so you can change into something that isn’t so noisy.”
Her neck muscles tensed. The ball had started at eight. Midnight had to be maybe an hour from now. How was she going to get in touch with Jason before then? Nick would watch her like a hawk.
He leaned back in the seat and chuckled. “You play this right, and it could be the start of a great partnership.” He kissed her cheek. “In so many ways.”
“Yes, indeed.”
He patted her hand. “You’re looking forward to it, aren’t you, Blondie?”
She cringed. She hated being called Blondie. “Of course I am, Nick. You and me, just like old times.”
“You have an in with Sun and Ski, so no more having to fish out the entry codes.”
At least now she knew her boss wasn’t involved. “What do you mean fish out the entry codes?”
Any information she could garner would be helpful.
“What do you care?” Suspicion clouded his words, and she feared she’d overplayed her hand.
Nick kept the gun pointed at her as she came to the edge of town and made several turns to get to the Sun and Ski office.
As they approached the building, Nick sat up straighter. He looked from side to side, homing in on the dark cars parked on the street. He waved the gun in the air. “Go past. Keep driving.”
The Bureau probably was watching the office and her home.
She checked the rearview mirror by raising her eyes but not moving her head. Just as she turned onto another street, headlights came on at the end of the street opposite the Sun and Ski office.
Nick instructed her where to turn until they came to a trailer park on the outskirts of town. They pulled up to one of the trailers where the lights were still on and a television glowed through the window. She’d been here before when she dated Nick.
“Go in and get a pair of black pants and a shirt from Aunt Phoebe’s closet. Hurry.” He lifted the gun slightly. “Don’t try anything.”
She met his gaze. “You know I wouldn’t, Nick.” Her voice had sounded a little too forceful. She remembered Aunt Phoebe from when she had dated Nick all those years ago. Chances were she was passed out on the couch with her two cats.
Isabel stepped inside the dimly lit trailer.
True to form, Aunt Phoebe snored away in an easy chair. There was only one cat resting on her lap, though.
Isabel saw no landline or cell anywhere in the living room. She hurried down the hallway to where the bedroom was. As she grabbed a black shirt and pants from a drawer, she glanced around, searching for a cell phone.
She spied it on the bureau beside Aunt Phoebe’s bed. She slipped into the shirt and zipped up the pants. Phoebe was maybe a size bigger than Isabel. She’d stepped toward the bureau when Nick’s voice pelted her back.
“You’ll need a coat too.” He held up a ratty-looking dark blue ski jacket, then stepped toward her and kissed her on the lips.
Everything in her wanted to push him away, but she planted her feet and let him kiss her as she went cold as a stone on the inside. She stepped back. “We better hurry, don’t you think?”
Nick squeezed her upper arm. “Let’s do this, baby.”
He made her drive up to the cabin. She focused on the tiny bit of road illuminated by the headlights. Now was her opportunity to try to get as much information as she could.
“Why does the guy in charge pick these vacation homes for the drop-off and pickup? There has to be an easier way to do the smuggling.”
Nick chuckled. “I think he likes the game of it. Breaking into rich people’s fancy digs. He likes the idea of people coming into their homes and feeling like something is off but not being able to say why.”
The guy behind this was a little twisted psychologically. She drove on in silence for a few more minutes. She had to choose her words carefully to not give herself away. She knew from experience that Nick could spin out of control if he felt betrayed. “He told you that?”
“Yeah. One night when we’d had too much to drink.” Nick shook his head.
So Nick hadn’t been bragging about being close to the top in this whole operation.
“I gotta hand it to you, Nick. I’m impressed. Word on the street is that millions in merchandise changes hands.”
The flattery changed Nick’s whole demeanor. He sat back in his seat, lowered the gun and tilted his head toward the ceiling. “I’m telling you, Isabel, this is the big time. I think I might be able to take over this whole operation.”
Nick had always had an overblown view of his criminal skills.
She had a hundred other questions she wanted to ask him, but she needed to bide her time.
The road curved around several more times.
Nick sat up straight and peered out his window, suddenly alert.
Her heart squeezed tight. “What is it?”
She hadn’t seen any headlights behind her since they’d left town. She couldn’t assume Jason had made it to safety and been able to alert the agents, though she prayed that was the case.
Nick twisted from side to side, clearly nervous. Now she remembered how mercurial his moods could be. When she was with him as a teenager, it was like the ground was always shifting beneath her feet. “What’s that helicopter doing out here?”
Was it possible the FBI had decided a helicopter was a better choice in tracking them on this remote road? “The resort does rides, remember?”
“Yeah, but at night?” He curled his hands into fists and pounded one against the other.
“Maybe. I don’t know,” she said.
Nick slammed the back of his head against the seat and stared at the ceiling.
“It’s probably just a private citizen. Lots of people own helicopters around here.” She struggled to keep her voice neutral. His volcanic personality affected her even now. “I think we should go forward with the plan. You don’t want your boss upset with you, right?”
Tension invaded the car like a lead blanket.
Nick continued to stare at the ceiling. He let out a heavy breath. “Are you ordering me around, Is...a...bel?” He dragged out her name as his voice filled with accusation.
Sweat trickled down the back of her neck. To hide the fear in her voice, she enunciated each word with care. “I. Would. Never. Do. That.”
The cabin came into view. The car rolled toward it as Isabel tried to calm her nerves with a deep breath.
Nick
peered out the window again. “The chopper is off that way.”
She stopped the car, turned off the ignition and waited for Nick to tell her what to do.
Unbuckling his seat belt, he turned to face her. He waited for a long moment before saying anything, probably because he knew the silence would make her even more afraid. “You sure ask a lot of questions, Isabel.”
Whatever suspicion he’d had about the helicopter was now being transferred to her.
“I’m just curious about your life, Nick. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
The answer seemed to satisfy him. “You know the code for this house?”
“Yes.”
“You can get more codes, right?”
“Well, I—”
“It would really help me look good to the boss.”
“Sure, Nick.” She wasn’t about to hurt Sun and Ski’s reputation in that way, but for now, to keep Nick on an even keel, she would agree to anything he said.
“You’ll be picking up five silver coins sitting in a dish on the entryway table. Don’t turn on any lights. You know the layout of the place, right?”
“Yes.”
He leaned toward her and kissed her on the cheek, then placed a leather pouch in her hand. “Put the coins in here.” He let out a yelp. “This is the big time for you and me.”
Her cheek felt slimy where he’d kissed it, but she didn’t wipe it away. Nick Solomon was a bad man, and she would do whatever it took to see he went to jail.
“Okay, I’m ready to do this,” she said. Her voice didn’t even sound like her own, all light and airy. Anything to not make Nick fly off the handle again.
“You do good tonight, and I’ll let you do the meet-up with the buyer.”
She pushed open the door, zipped up the old coat against the nighttime chill and hurried toward the house. Her heart pounded against her rib cage, and her fingers trembled as she touched the keypad and slipped into the dark house.
Maybe that helicopter had been the Bureau’s. All she knew was that right now she was on her own. She’d be all right if she could keep Nick from erupting. He was paranoid. After this was all over, he’d probably stay close to her or demand that she check in with him every hour.
