On Thin Ice

by Cherry Adair

  "Between the sperm sales and the gambling, he made and lost millions of dollars at the click of a button. We're talking about a lucrative enterprise generating multimillions of dollars here. Makes no difference if Sean is around or not. Clearly the operation is still viable. And the pie has one less piece to be split," Derek said, still listening for the engine.

  "Do you think for a moment they'd let you walk away if they thought you knew anything?" Derek asked.

  "You didn't bother telling me about it either. So I figure we're even."

  "The difference," he told her grimly, "is that I was protecting you." He put on a burst of speed, feeling an itch of apprehension crawl up his neck even though the snowmobile was still running parallel. Still about three clicks away. Not getting closer. Not going away. "I've had an investigative team working on it for over a year."

  Come on, you son of a bitch. Come get me.

  "Maybe they could get together with the one Matt and I hired," Lily told him dryly.

  His fists clenched over the handlebars. "Matt knows?"

  "I trust him."

  So did Derek. He let the fact that she didn't trust him pass. For now. "Sean formed a cartel years ago. He was smart enough not to involve too many people. We've already apprehended several of them, and turned them over to the appropriate authorities. It won't be long before we have them all."

  "Oh my God, Derek." She paused and took a breath. He could almost see the stunned realization in her eyes. "That's why someone was shooting the other day, isn't it? It wasn't some kid, or a poacher or someone out shooting at the Iditaroders. It was someone deliberately shooting at me."

  He'd gone there several minutes ago.

  And damn it, now he didn't know who the sniper or avalanche starter had been after.

  Him? Or Lily?

  "The sniper the other day was Sam Croft," he told her flatly. He paused to listen. Nothing but the breeze zephyring through the tops of the trees.

  "How do y—You found him up there, didn't you? My God…"

  "He was sliced and diced," Derek told her brutally, the time for subtlety over. "Murdered. I suspect by the person who started the avalanche."

  "It doesn't make sense." Derek heard the bewilderment in Lily's voice. He could practically see the small frown between her brows as she tried to sort through the new information. "Why are they killing each other?"

  She was a vet. A woman who healed the sick. Violence had never been part of her life before now. And thanks to Sean's greed, and Derek's own belief that the killer was after himself—"Be quiet a moment…"

  The sound of the powerful engine was all but indistinct.

  "Can you hear a snowmobile close by?" he asked Lily urgently. Jesus Christ—

  A long silence throbbed between them as she listened. Finally she said softly, "No."

  "Well, he's there," Derek told her, not ready to believe the guy had merely moved on. "I want you to clear your weapon and have it in your hand. Now. Unstrap your knife and keep it close, too." The little whittling knife in her boot wasn't going to stop a bullet, but if the guy was close enough… Derek put on another burst of speed.

  "You're scaring me."

  "Good. Scared will keep you alive. Where are you? Is there anything you can use as cover?"

  "You mean like a fortress with a moat and drawbridge?"

  "I mean like trees growing close together, or a rock formation."

  "Plenty of trees. There's a nice stand about fifty yards ahead. Unfortunately I'm smack-dab in the middle of the river right now." He heard the wobble in her voice and cursed. "Yeah," she said weakly. "I'll ditto that. I'm heading for the trees on the bank as we speak."

  He imagined her out there on the frozen whiteness of the wide river, spotlit by the moon. Her dogs and sled dark against the brilliance of the ice. A sitting target.

  He wanted to warn her about suck holes, frozen whirlpools, some of them large enough for a whole team and driver to fall into. Covered by snow, they were hard to see. But of course Lily knew about them.

  He listened intently for the hum of the engine. Didn't hear a damn thing. But his mouth was dry as a desert and his heart pounded hard and insistently, warning him of danger.

  "Hunch over the handlebars to make yourself a smaller target and haul ass. I mean it, Lily. Get the hell off the ice as fast as you can." Jesus. Was that the throb of the snowmobile closing in, or was it the blood pounding in his ears? "Go. Go. Go! I'm six minutes beh—"

  "I hear i—"

  A loud retort of a high-powered rifle followed by a piercing and gut-wrenching crrraaaaack split the air and cut her off midword.

  Derek got the chilling sound stereo, through the air and through the mic. "Lily? Talk to me. Talk to me, goddamn it!"

  Her high-pitched scream cut him to the bone.

  No way. No fucking, fucking way! She'd done it again!

  He'd hidden the snowmobile and walked to the tree line ahead of her. She'd been a thing of beauty tooling down the center of the frozen river on her own. A living, breathing target.

  He'd fix that.

  The moon was now playing nice, and shone down on the bitch, full and bright as day. The only way she could've made it any easier for him was if she'd stopped to wave.

  Hidden by the trees fifty yards away, he'd waited, a shit-eating grin on his face. Man, this made up for all the times she'd managed to slip his freaking noose.

  He lined up the lead dog in the crosshairs, his finger gently squeezing the trigger, just waiting for the right moment. The right second. "Come to me, baby."

  He paused on the inhale. Shoot her—easy—but he was being paid for an accident.

  Aiming for the ice just ahead of the dog, he squeezed the trigger, already spending the ten grand they'd promised him.

  Even from here the ice made an impressive noise as it cracked, sounding like a giant plate glass window breaking. Through the scope he watched the spread of the cracks: veins of black running through the white ice like in some weird alien sci-fi movie. Cool.

  "Open. Open. Open!"

  For a second he watched his life go up in smoke. The cracks kept fucking spreading, but the dogs raced around them unharmed.

  He lined Lily up in the crosshairs, the barrel of the rifle following her as she came directly toward him. Sweat stung his eyes despite the fucking frigid air. He blinked back the sting, a half a heartbeat, just as he squeezed off another shot.

  The shot went wild.

  Fucking hell. He was going to go down there and club her to death with the stock of the rifle. Just pound it into her face until she looked like hamburger meat.

  His heart raced at the thought. Yeah. Fuck accident. Now it was personal.

  The noise startled him but good. "What the f—"

  Ruptured open by the force of the bullet, the ice fragmented in a spectacular crash and thunder to expose black water glistening beneath its deadly surface.

  A nice big hole. "Oh, yeah."

  He lowered the high-powered rifle and grabbed the binocs from around his neck. Damn things weren't focused—Yes. There!

  Damn. The fucking dogs did a mad zigzag to avoid the fragmenting ice breaking away beneath their feet. Fuck. Little shits were running flat out. Damn fuck shit hell! They were over the cracks and, like the goddamned Energizer Bunny, still going.

  She was going to do it again—

  They were taking her away from the break. Turn around, you little shits!

  No. Wait—

  Fucking perfect.

  The dogs, freaked by the noise of shattering ice, hauled ass at breakneck speed for the shore, barking their fool heads off. The sled tipped, and Dr. Munroe was flat on her face, spread-eagled, and sliding toward the nice big hole in the ice he'd shot up for her. She wasn't even screaming or nothing as she careened, helter-skelter, toward the gaping mouth of death.

  "Have a nice trip, see you next fall." He laughed as she nose-dived into the water with a splash.

  "Now that's an accident," he said as s
he went under. "Am I good or am I good?"

  One second Lily and the team were gliding across the frozen river as fast as possible toward the safety of the tree line, the next, she'd been flung off the sled and crashed onto the hard, slick surface of the ice.

  The deafening noise of the shattering ice beneath her made her heart stop, and she went sliding at the speed of light face-first across the slick ice. God. Was she going to die here? Crash through the ice and drown? Just like that? She spread her arms and legs wide, trying to flatten herself and find some sort of purchase. But there wasn't anything to hold on to and the slide built momentum.

  She slithered and slid inexorably toward an inky hole up ahead.

  It happened too fast to control. She had a moment, a nanosecond, to be grateful the dogs had escaped harm before a giant slab of ice tilted like a trapdoor and plunged her headfirst into an icy hell. The only thing she remembered was to exhale as she went under.

  It's not so very cold, she thought with detached surprise as she plunged down and down through watery black as thick and viscous as honey.

  And then it hit her with the impact of a wrecking ball to the lungs, cold so freezing it took her breath away, paralyzed her limbs and made her mind go white.

  OhGodohGodohGod.

  Disoriented, too terrified to panic and incapable of swimming, Lily flailed herself upright in the inky depths. Arms and legs leaden, visibility nil, lungs screaming, her prime directive—to clear the surface for a gulp—God, a small sip of air.

  Up-up-up-up-up-up!

  But which way was up? Wildly, she looked around and spotted the air bubbles rising toward a surface looking no brighter than the black currently freezing her to death.

  Her clothing weighed a ton, but contained enough air to help her rise to the surface in an ungainly, uncoordinated way that was nevertheless effective. Every inch of her body felt as though it were being sliced by pitilessly sharp razor blades as she popped through the opening in the ice.

  She sucked great drafts of freezing air into her aching lungs.

  "—o me!" She heard in her ear. And realized she still wore the lip mic tucked securely under her hat.

  Derek. As close as a voice. Warmth. Light. Hope.

  Tears froze on her cheeks. "C-come—" And get me the hell out of here!

  Eye level with the moonlit frozen river, Lily saw nothing beyond a few feet in front of her. She made a grab for the edge of the ice, but her gloved hands were useless, slapping at the frozen perimeter of the hole with no hope of finding purchase. Where had she fallen in? The ice would be more stable in that direction, she knew. She turned her head and saw where she'd cracked the ice on her way into the water. It looked a million miles away.

  "I'll be there in less than a minute," Derek said urgently in her ear. "Are you hurt? Did he shoot you? Jesus, Lily, talk to me!"

  His voice, she told herself. Listen. Concentrate. Cling to the warmth of him and the promise of the cavalry on its way. Lily clamped her lips between her teeth when new pain sliced into her skin as she started swimming to the other side. Shudders racked her body, and her face felt numb and so sore, more tears welled. "F-fe-fell in—"

  "Christ. You fell into the water?"

  She nodded, realized he couldn't see her and managed to mumble, "C-c-c—" Cold. God, it was beyond cold. So cold, she felt almost warm with it and she knew the dangers of that. She had to get out.

  Now.

  Her brain filled with snow. White and blank. "Cold," she tried again, more to prove to herself she still could than anything else.

  "Lily, sweetheart," Derek said urgently. "Stay with me—Where ar—I see you! I see you. I'm coming."

  Her leaden arms smacked the water in a clumsy attempt to keep swimming. Beneath her, the current moved, tugging at her like a lover, leading her off to a frozen bed. She refused to go. Wouldn't give up. Couldn't give in to the numbness dragging her down, making her so tired, so bone weary all she wanted to do was close her eyes.

  "Lily!" Derek's voice again. And as if he knew what she was feeling, he insisted, "Stay awake! Fight, Lily. Fight hard. I'm almost there, sweetheart. I'll get you but you have to fight the cold."

  Fight. Lily knew all about fighting. She could do this. She'd never quit before. She wouldn't quit now. Not with Derek so close. So-please-God close. She bobbed in the icy water like a cork, but finally managed to hook her elbow onto the jagged rim of shattered ice and hold on. Pain in wracking paroxysms flooded her with agony and convulsed her muscles. Her lungs labored to drag in a breath, as if her chest were too frozen to allow it. Her body ached, her mind spun. There was something important she needed to do. Something…

  She rested a heavy head on her wet, crystalline-covered sleeve, realizing with no alarm that her intellect was fading in and out.

  Something…

  "Hey there, gorgeous. Look at me, come on. Look over here."

  With a superhuman effort, she lifted her head, forced her eyes open and there he was. Derek Wright, her nemesis, her lover. Her savior. Larger than life, hot-blooded and sexy as hell. Come to rescue her from a fate worse than death—No, that wasn't right. She stared at him blankly.

  Twenty million feet away, he lay flat on his belly and slithered toward her like a polar bear on the ice.

  "You'll g-get wet," she told him thickly. Silly man. "Where are your d-dogs?" she asked crossly, breathing in raw agony as the frigid poison of the arctic water squeezed at her lungs. Tired. So cold. So tired. "Bye…"

  "Saf—What do you mean, bye? Shit!"

  Boneless, she slithered right off the edge of the ice and went under the water again. There was peace hidden in the black cold. Peace and sleep and a slow warmth crept into her bones, reaching for her soul. It's not so bad, she thought.

  Then her survival instinct kicked in, splintering the peace and demanding she rise again to the surface. Blindly, she followed, kicking against the pain of her frozen limbs until she breached the surface. Her skin burned like fire as she gasped for air, throat raw.

  "Jesus, woman!"

  Tears fell hot on her cheeks, quickly freezing into crisp little icicles that stung. Shards of sharp pain shot into her skin like hooked claws. About eight feet away she saw the bits of scuffed and jagged ice where she'd fallen off the sled.

  The unstable ice was directly between her and Derek. He'd fall in—She wanted him here with her. Big. Warm. Safe—She frowned. No, that wasn't right. They'd both die. "D-don't, D-D-Derek—"

  Stop, she thought. He was too heavy to come any closer. She tried to tell him, but her lips were numb and too thick. "S-st-"

  He swore a blue streak. "I'm not stopping, Lily. I see the bad ice. I'm going to try to go around. Just hold on. That's all you have to do. Just hang on. I swear to God, I won't let anything happen to you. Just. Hang. On."

  Easy for him to say. Oh my God. I'm going to die here, Lily thought, hearing Derek's voice as if in a dream. In the middle of Alaska. In—bullshit, Lily Marie! Get out of the water. Now!

  She needed something to anchor into the ice, something she could use to pull herself out. Something… her knife!

  She jackknifed her right leg up, and fumbled with uncoordinated fingers to feel for the small whittling knife in her boot. Her face went into the water as she struggled to pull the knife from the scabbard attached to the outside of her boot.

  She choked and gagged, but managed to liberate it, then used both hands to bring it to the surface, terrified she'd drop it into the water because she had no feeling left in her fingers.

  She looked across the white expanse of moonlit ice. Derek was gone. Had he really been here, or was that wishful thinking? Had her imagination conjured him when she needed him most? Was her brain dying and firing off last-minute hallucinations?

  Fourteen

  Lily sobbed with frustration as she attempted to get both hands high enough out of the water to plunge the knife into the ice to get purchase.

  "Clever girl," Derek said from behind her as she hacked int
o the solid crust. "Kick your feet like you're swimming. Harder. Yes! Keep at it, sweetheart. You're amazing."

  His voice. God, his voice. Yes. She could do it. She'd help him help her. Lily anchored the knife to the hilt with all her strength, then used it to drag herself, inch by agonizing inch, up over the lip of the hole. Her arms strained, her chest screamed, her mind went blessedly blank. And at last, she made it. Out of the water. But not out of danger. She lay there panting, muscles stiff and clumsy, vision blurred, wheezing for breath.

  "A little more. You're almost to me," Derek encouraged. She turned her head and could just see the top of his head. He was miles away. She'd be an iceberg before she ever reached him. "Come on, sweetheart. Get cracking. It's cold as hell out here."

  Well, yes, it is, Lily thought crossly. But he didn't need to sound so darn cranky about it. She was the wet one. She stabbed the knife in the ice again, and dragged herself across it with both hands.

  Derek eyed the thirteen feet or so separating them. The ice was thin enough here to see the shadow of deadly water beneath. He dared not go another inch. He'd flattened himself as much as possible, spread his limbs out to distribute his weight, but he wasn't able to get any closer.

  And somewhere on the riverbank, a sniper could be watching them right now. His shot hadn't offed Lily as planned. But it had scared the dogs and caused Lily to fall into the water.

  Although his blood boiled with rage, he couldn't worry about the sniper right this second. If he didn't hurry, hypothermia would finish what the sniper had started.

  The shot could prove fatal after all.

  He slowly reached down into his pocket and took out the belt he'd stuffed in there while running. "Lily. Grab on to this." With a flick of his wrist he tossed the buckle end to her.

  Chin on the ice, she gave him a blank look from under her ice-encrusted lashes. The metal clicked inches in front of her hand. She didn't blink.

  Shit.

  "Grab the belt, Lily. Grab it and hold on," he told her calmly while his heart pounded inside his chest at how close he was to losing her. "Come on, sweetheart. Grab it and let me pull you to safety."