He opened the refrigerator and removed a tub of butter. Using a knife that he retrieved from the floor, Belkin plunged the blade into the container.
Nothing.
He examined the rest of the food before searching through the freezer. He opened the oven, careful to check behind the burners. When that search proved fruitless, Belkin checked the tanks of both toilets.
The possibility that Cody had taken Viktoria Mateev, her son and the hard drive to safety left Belkin ill. There was only one place left to look. He opened the washer and found it empty.
Then he opened the dryer. His knees went weak. Packaged in a Ziploc baggie was the computer’s hard drive and every secret Belkin knew.
He exhaled with relief, a seed of confidence beginning to take root in his chest.
Belkin grabbed several cookies as he passed the table. After returning some cushions to the sofa, he settled down, determined to wait as long as needed for Cody and Viktoria to return with their most precious cargo, Gregory.
He chewed and wondered where they might have gone on a night like this one. The roads were unsafe. Hadn’t Belkin just witnessed a family plummet to their deaths only moments before?
He stopped, midchew.
He tried to remember what he could of the other car. To him it had been nothing more than blinding headlights and screaming brakes. And yet, he might have caught a glimpse of the passenger. A woman...yes, it had been a woman. She had long blond hair, he recalled that much, as well.
Could it have been Viktoria Mateev? Well, if it was then she was dead and he’d never be implicated at all. He would have to deal with Nikolai Mateev and explain about his grandson, but Belkin had time to think of a story. He liked the idea of somehow implicating Dimitri—yes, it was Dimitri who took a bribe and double-crossed Belkin and Viktoria both. Taking another bite of cookie, Belkin propped his feet on the coffee table—all the better for the fire’s warmth to dry his shoes as he waited for Samuels to return—and smiled. Perhaps this would be a very happy Christmas.
* * *
Blackness surrounded Viktoria. Heat dried her eyes. Her lungs felt hot and ragged. She coughed and coughed and yet she could not draw a single breath. Her foot. There was something about her foot. But, Gregory? In her mind, she saw a pair of crystalline blue eyes and knew that her son would be safe and cared for.
The searing heat became a welcoming warmth and Viktoria began to float on a cloud. She let her lids drift closed, yet then she saw a light. A form emerged, as if birthed from the brightness. It was Lucas she knew, although she didn’t know how it could be.
She wanted to ask him so many questions, but she could not recall a single one. She also wanted to tell him that Gregory was safe. Lucas reached for her and called her name.
* * *
Cody knew two things: any movement toward the front of the vehicle to help Viktoria could cause the fiery Range Rover to careen down to the bottom of the ravine and kill them all. Also, he couldn’t sacrifice the child to save the mother.
That made Cody’s decision simple and at the same time, the hardest one ever. He turned and slipped Gregory through the shattered rear window, lowering him to the ground. The boy sank in snow that came up to his waist, but in all likelihood it was several feet deeper. The kid could easily sink and then the snow would collapse, entombing him. He dared not turn away and yet, he had to get Viktoria.
“Hold tight to the bumper,” he said to Gregory.
Thick clouds of smoke rolled over the boy but he nodded and gripped the back of the Range Rover with hands that Cody found incredibly small for such an important job. Cody swallowed down any apprehension as he turned back to the interior of the Range Rover.
Heat pressed down like a hand, as flames of blue and orange stretched along the roof and reached for the open rear window. Smoke and ash blew into Cody’s eyes, making it difficult to see. He cast the discomfort aside, along with the desperation that was forming a hard knot in his chest. He had one final task to accomplish and he refused to leave without Viktoria.
The Range Rover shuddered again. It rolled forward. From outside, Gregory screamed.
Goddamn it! He’d told the kid to hold on to the bumper. If the vehicle broke free, would he know enough to let go? Or worse yet, would he get pulled under the tires?
An explosion rocked the Range Rover as the front tire exploded. The car listed to the right and the rear end slipped around.
Cody called out Viktoria’s name.
She didn’t answer.
He tried again. “Viktoria,” he said, “you need to answer me so I can find you.”
“Cody,” she said, her voice thin. And then, “Gregory.”
Those words were all he needed to hear. Cody braced one hand on the floorboard and with the other he reached forward. He felt nothing, then his palm connected with fabric. His grip tightened and he pulled with all his might, dragging Viktoria over the rear seat. Soot covered her face and had turned her hair gray. Her eyes were red and watered. He’d never seen anyone more beautiful in his life.
The car rolled forward. He didn’t have time to panic. With his hand still clutched tightly on her shirt, he dove out the rear window. Cody landed on his back and Viktoria on top of his chest. Only inches away, Gregory still held tight to the rear bumper. Tears streamed down his face. Cody reached for the kid and pulled him close.
The trees holding the Range Rover were fully alight. Thick black smoke billowed out of the rear window as flames danced on feet of destruction in and around the car. The total devastation gave him pause, and yet Cody was thankful they had all made it out of the inferno.
The trunk of a tree broke with a loud crack and the Range Rover began to roll downward. The fiery bumper was visible for only a minute before disappearing over the edge of a cliff.
Cody had promised to keep Viktoria and Gregory safe, and he had. But now there was one final challenge to be met: the steep and treacherous climb to the road.
* * *
Viktoria’s chest burned. Her eyes watered. Her throat was raw. Her ankle throbbed where it had slipped and then stuck fast between the front seat and the console. Coughs racked her body with such vehemence that she thought she might retch. Yet, the discomfort and pain meant that she had made it out of the car alive.
They all huddled together on a small outcropping of an otherwise sheer cliff and waited as Viktoria caught her breath.
As if a band that had been constricting Viktoria’s chest was loosened, she was finally able to draw breath and her coughs lessened. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her first words a paltry substitution for the dark chasm of what could have been. “I put all three of us at risk.” Another cough broke free from her chest. Cody drew her closer.
“We’re okay,” he said. “We made it out.”
He looked over his shoulder and she followed his gaze. She knew what he was thinking, for she was thinking the same thing. They were far from safe and would have to scale the mountain wall before they became victims of exposure.
“Take a minute,” he said. “With the trees on fire we’ve got heat, but fire’s unpredictable and we don’t want to be trapped as the flames spread.”
“Let’s get going then,” Viktoria said. She kissed the top of Gregory’s head. The scent of woodsmoke clung to his hair, and she realized he was wearing only the pajamas she’d put him in last night. In her haste to run she hadn’t even grabbed a coat or jacket for Gregory, trusting the car’s heater to keep him warm.
“We only have a hundred yards or so to the road,” Cody said, “and it’s climbable, but it’ll be hard going.”
“I was able to keep my boots on,” she said, thankful for her shoes.
“Tighten your laces,” Cody urged. He stood and removed his coat first and then his belt. He wound the belt through a loop at the small of his back and it re
sembled a tail. “I want you to hold on to this, Viktoria. It’ll help you as you climb and keep us together.”
Viktoria nodded and turned her attention to re-lacing her boots.
Kneeling again, Cody said, “Grab my neck, Gregory. You and I are going to race to the top of this mountain, okay?”
Gregory gave a solemn nod and looped his arms around Cody’s neck.
“Viktoria,” said Cody, “help me slip the coat over my back. It’ll give Gregory a little more support, but mostly keep us both warm.”
Cody was clever and skilled, and clearly thinking of ways to help them all survive. Why hadn’t she believed in him before? Because she simply hadn’t been willing to trust Gregory’s welfare to anyone but herself. Viktoria knew it was time to reframe the way she looked at things—especially at Cody.
He wasn’t just some random guy. Meeting Cody was the most important thing to happen to her in years. In her lifetime, really—second only to giving birth to Gregory.
“Grab the belt,” said Cody. “Are you ready?”
She gave a light tug in response and they began their ascent. When Viktoria took her first step a bolt of pain shot around the front of her foot. She clenched her teeth and tried to ignore the ache. They were all together and her son didn’t seem to be too troubled by their predicament. She put the other foot in front of the first. And again. And again.
Only her hands and face were exposed to the cold. She tucked her nose into the jacket’s collar and used the sleeves as cover. One hundred yards, she said to herself. The length of a football field. A track star can run the distance in under twelve seconds. Surely, she could walk that far. True, most football fields weren’t on the side of a mountain. Nor were many races run in several feet of snow. Viktoria refused to think of that and continued to climb. Instead she thought of Cody’s home and a hot shower. She thought of having a nice cup of coffee along with an entire plate of Christmas cookies. She thought of the driver who’d been parked in the middle of the road and had hopefully called the authorities for help by now. Although it would bring the police into her life that much sooner, she also thought about Gregory being totally safe and cared for.
Then she thought about the driver of the other car again. A face flashed in her mind, seen for only a terror-fueled instant. Yet, what had she seen? A high forehead? Neatly trimmed hair? Could it have been Peter Belkin?
The car they’d struck was black and large, possibly an SUV, like the ones used during the raid on her cabin. But, the police weren’t interested in speaking to Belkin, so he was still locked in the pantry. Unless...
No. She forced the possibility from her mind. It could have been any one of thousands of people from the Telluride area. Thinking that she’d seen Peter Belkin was a trick of her mind—a byproduct of fatigue and stress.
To keep from worrying, she turned her mind back to the climb. They’d covered half the distance to the road so far. Gregory was still safely tucked underneath Cody’s thick winter coat. Viktoria took a step and then another. Her thighs burned and a pain gripped her side. Cold wind bit her cheeks.
Onward they trudged. No one spoke. Viktoria knew that she didn’t have enough breath to carry on a conversation anyhow. There were even things that made the treacherous ascent a little easier than it might have been. During the crash, the Range Rover had cut a neat path for them to follow, giving them broken branches and small stumps onto which they could hold. The tires and grill had packed down the snow and made walking possible. Upward. Upward. She kept moving.
“Here we are,” said Cody.
A moment later, Viktoria stepped onto the roadway. She let go of the belt. Her legs throbbed. Her pulse raced at the base of her skull. Her throat and lungs still felt like they’d been scrubbed with sandpaper. Cody took off his coat and Gregory slid to the ground.
Her son ran to Viktoria and threw himself into her arms. Nothing hurt so badly that she couldn’t scoop him up and hold him tight. “We made it,” he said.
Viktoria squeezed Gregory tighter. “We did.”
Cody placed a hand on her shoulder and Viktoria turned toward him, connecting the three of them with each other.
A gust of wind rushed down the mountainside, pushing forward a drift of snow. For a moment, they were lost in swirling ice. It stopped and Cody lifted Gregory into his arms.
“Come on,” he said. “We don’t want to be out here any longer than necessary. My place is only a few miles away.”
A few miles. To Viktoria’s sore body, that distance seemed one hundred times longer. Yet, she had no choice but to continue. “Lead the way,” she said.
A set of headlights cut through the icy winter blackness as a vehicle edged over the rise. Viktoria saw that it was a bright red pickup truck. It slowed and pulled up next to where they all stood. The window eased down and a man leaned out.
“What the devil are you folks doing out on a night like this?” He looked at the path down the hill and the trees that still burned behind them. “Looks like you had a heap of trouble. I’m glad I came by when I did. Anyone else down there?”
The man’s words were easy enough to understand, yet Viktoria blinked twice, not sure if she trusted her own eyes. He was a large man with a shock of white hair and yes, a white beard. He wore a flannel shirt of green, blue and red plaid. For a moment, she stood mute.
Then Gregory whispered, “Is that Santa?”
Even though she had just been thinking the same thing, Viktoria understood the impertinence of what her son had said. “Gregory,” she chastised. “That’s not polite.”
“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before.” The man laughed. “Especially this time of the year. What can I do to help?”
Cody stepped closer to the truck. “Our car went off the road and we’d really appreciate a ride. My place is back about three miles—right across from the entrance to the ski resort.”
“Sure thing. Hop in.”
Cody sat in the seat opposite the driver. Viktoria and Gregory sat in the two back jump seats. At one time she might have considered the space cramped, but not tonight. Her cold hands began to thaw and the soreness in her muscles lessened. Just being able to sit in someplace warm was a simple pleasure and one for which she was truly grateful.
“Is there anyone I can call for you?” the man offered as he began driving. “The highway patrol? Family?”
“We’ll just make the calls when we get home,” said Cody. “Although we’re grateful that you’re willing to help.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” the man said. “I was just on my way to work. It’ll be a busy night and I don’t think I’ll be home until morning.”
“You have a lot of work to do on Christmas Eve?” asked Gregory. He gave his mother a sideways glance that she read as I told you so. She shook her head at him.
Her son ignored the chastisement and leaned forward. “What’s your job?”
“I work for the Department of Transportation clearing the roads,” said the driver. “This blizzard has shut everything down and it’s going to take me all night to get it cleared.” He laughed. “I suppose I am a little like Santa. I keep the roads clean and safe so that people can visit their loved ones.”
“See?” Gregory mouthed.
From his seat in the front, Cody leaned forward. “That’s my turnoff,” he said.
The truck moved easily off the main road and cut through the snowdrifts that had shifted as the wind blew down from the mountains.
Cody continued, “My house is up ahead, on the right.”
The truck pulled up in front of Cody’s place. The man put the gearshift in Park and stepped out. He pulled his seat forward and offered a hand to Viktoria. With his help, she stepped out of the truck. While sitting in the warm cabin, her ankle had gotten stiff and she stumbled now as she tried to walk. A burst of pain exploded in her l
eg and she grabbed the hood of the truck. Cody was at her side in a moment, his strong arms supporting her as the driver helped Gregory down.
“Are you sure I can’t call someone?” the driver asked.
“No,” said Cody, “we’re home safe now, which is the important thing. We’ll call the highway patrol to report the wreck once we get inside.”
“Thank you for everything,” Viktoria said.
She looked longingly at Cody’s house. Because she’d hoped to sneak away, everything was as they’d left it. The lights were still blazing along with the TV. Their warmth and comfort beckoned and she gingerly took slow steps. She stopped near the porch and turned to the man. He was already back in his truck. “You literally saved us,” she said, “and we don’t even know your name.”
The man leaned his elbow on the window frame and raised his voice to be heard above the hum of the truck’s engine. “You can call me Kris,” the man said. With that, he gave a wave and backed out of Cody’s drive.
“Kris,” said Gregory, a little breathless. “Like Kris Kringle.”
Cody smiled at Gregory. “Your mom was right. Santa can use his magic to get wherever he needs to be. And to help us make it home in time for Christmas morning.” He turned the door handle and pushed it open.
As Gregory cheered his excitement for presents, all Viktoria could think about was home. That was all Viktoria wanted. A place to call her own, where she could raise her son in peace. Swallowing, she turned to walk through the open door, then stopped. Her blood froze. The cabin was in disarray. Cushions were strewn about. Cutlery was scattered on the floor. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
On the sofa sat Peter Belkin. Gun in hand, the barrel aimed at her chest.
Chapter 14
A wide smile spread across Belkin’s face. He’d hit the trifecta with what had just walked through the door. Viktoria Mateev—a problem to be neutralized. Gregory Mateev—the precious cargo that needed to be delivered. Cody Samuels—the only other person who could implicate Belkin personally in any of the crimes.
Her Rocky Mountain Hero (Rocky Mountain Justice Book 1) Page 17
