"Are you laughing?" she asked.
He shook his head, but his eyes were sparkling.
"You are!" she said.
He sighed. "Your sense of humor slays me, it's so dry." he said and kissed her. It was a hard, firm but brief touch of his lips and she blinked, her breath snatched.
Both Seth and Sam turned, tensing, as footsteps sounded on the verandah outside.
"It's me!" Tyler called, before he even opened the front door. He pushed inside, scraped his feet, but didn't take off his shoes. He took a few steps inside, enough to sight Seth. "It's been taken," he said simply.
Sam threw on her coat. "I'm gone, sir," she told Seth.
"Hourly reports," Seth said.
"Yes, sir," she murmured and left.
Seth let Gabrielle go and moved closer to Tyler. "Signs of forced entry?"
"Not that I could see. I looked around in case you hid it somewhere else and forgot."
Seth rolled his eyes.
"Well, it possible, sir," Tyler pointed out. "But the cabin is empty and very clean. Nothing. It's gone."
He held out a keycard, which Seth took and pushed into an inner pocket of his coat. He sank onto one of the dining chairs.
"God, what a mess." He sounded almost ill.
Tyler looked at Gabrielle and she caught what looked like pity in his expression.
"What am I missing?" she asked.
Tyler glanced at Seth and lifted his brow. Seth nodded. "Call it in. Deep background on Ronny Hewitt. And we need help here. The fox has jumped the fence and is in the yard now."
Gabrielle felt her heart lurch as the questions slammed into her, but Seth was still speaking, still saying terrible things.
"We're down to a three meter radius. Sam is on Cameron Sherborne, I'm on Ellie. Until we get more help, we survive on coffee and stay-awakes, and you shuttle between us as relief and errand boy." Seth's expression was grim. "Cameron can't talk. They've got a hold on him, so we have to find out some other way. Call the information in and let's start from there, and in the meantime, we hunker down and wait."
"Yes sir," Tyler said. He backed out of the cabin, pulling out his phone. Gabrielle heard him dialing and then talking into the phone, as he walked up and down the small verandah outside.
Seth pulled her gently to him and sat her on his knee. His blue eyes were dark. She knew already that the change in color meant that just like the ocean, stormy weather was ahead. Seth had bad news to impart.
"Tell me," she said, her heart hurting.
"How much did you understand from what I just told Sam and Tyler?" Seth asked her. "You've done enough action movies, Ellie. You know the language and you're a smart woman."
She swallowed. He was making her deal with it. Making her put it together for herself. "My father is in trouble. You sent Sam to cover him. They took the brakes out on my car to either kill me, or harm me as a way to...threaten him? Hurt him?"
"Make him cooperate, probably," Seth murmured. He kissed her temple. "That's why he offered me a million dollars to marry you and get you out of the picture. I imagine that if I'd agreed, the wedding would have proceeded on the spot and we would already be on our honeymoon in some distant land a long, long way from here. Go on."
"Then killing me was just a warm-up for them?" Gabrielle felt horror wash through her. "Who are these people?"
"We're working on that," Seth told her. "I can tell you that they're foreign and use terror as their preferred method of persuasion. They're known to my people, Gabrielle. The explosive device on your car sent up alarm signals in Ottawa. When I sent photos of the device back to my superiors I was put on immediate duty and told not to move away from your side. They recognized the handiwork."
Gabrielle closed her eyes. "My family is involved with these people? Ronny is involved with them?"
Seth's arms came around her. "I thought you'd figure that out," he murmured. "I'm sorry, Ellie. He's the weak link in this. We have to look at him. Someone stole the device from my cabin. Only the family knew I was staying here and only the family knew I'd retrieved your camera and laptop from the car and might have also seen the device."
She rested her cheek against his shoulder and sighed. "I'd look at him, too, Seth." And she wept a few hard, stinging tears, mostly for Destiny. "I can't stop thinking of that photo of them at Thanksgiving...at the table, when they actually looked happy."
"Sir?" Tyler pushed open the screen door and leaned inside. "They want you."
Seth held out his hand and Tyler tossed the cell phone to him.
"This is Captain O'Connor," he said into the phone, but his hand continued to stroke the back of her shoulder in gentle, soothing motions. She knew the moment his mind switched completely to military matters, though, for his fingers stilled and his gaze became unfocused.
He listened for a full minute without saying a word, while Gabrielle's heart just went crazy.
"Yes, sir," he said at last.
He disconnected the phone and put it on the table behind her. For a moment he said nothing.
"What is it, Seth?" she whispered. "Are the orders secret or something?"
"Or something," he murmured. He took a breath, making his chest lift and looked at her. His expression was bleak. "But there is worse news." He put his hand on her thigh. "Tyler!" he yelled.
Tyler stepped into the cabin fast enough that Gabrielle knew he was expecting this call. "Sir?"
"They tell you about the Scorpion?"
"Yes, sir."
Seth put Gabrielle on her feet and stood up, reaching under his coat. He pulled out his Glock, checked the load and put it back. "Let Sam know. We're going to have get the family together in one room until reinforcements arrive. This is too big now for just us. And we can't wait for the background on Ronny. I'm going to have to go get him myself. We'll keep him separate until it's confirmed."
He turned to Gabrielle, his mouth a straight, grim line, his eyes stormy blue again.
"Ronny has someone else here, helping him," Gabrielle guessed. "An expert. This Scorpion."
Admiration flickered across Seth's face. "Yes. You're not going to like this, Gabrielle..."
She sighed. "The name is bad enough, Seth. Is it the Triads? Ronny was doing business with Hong Kong, importing clothes for his fashion company. If the business was ailing, he might have fallen in with the wrong sort of business people." She thought of the photos she'd taken when Ronny had been on the phone, highly stressed and arguing, even on Thanksgiving Day.
Seth pressed his temples. Hard. "There's the connection. Damn!"
Tyler dug out his cell phone. "Already dialing," he said.
Seth kissed her briefly on the mouth, but thoroughly. "You're brilliant," he said. "Ottawa couldn't figure out from over there why a Sherborne would be in bed with the Triads."
"Ronny isn't a Sherborne," Gabrielle said. "Not anymore." She swallowed hard. "I don't think he ever really was."
Seth held her, wordlessly telling her he understood her distress. "I have to leave you for a bit," he murmured, his voice echoing in his chest against her. "I want you to do what Tyler says and do not under any circumstances move away from his side. Okay?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Okay."
His hands were stroking her arms, the thumbs moving in restless circles, Gabrielle knew with sudden clarity that he didn't want to let her go. Seth was afraid that if he did, he would lose her, because that happened sometimes in his line of work.
She rested her hands on his chest. "I'll be fine, Seth," she told him softly. "You need to go and do your job."
His hand slid into her hair and he kissed her, his tongue caressing her mouth, his arms crushing her to him. He was telling her what he would not say in words—all the things he didn't know how to say. He was still looking to find the right words and the right time to say them and she was still willing to wait, because moments like these spoke for themselves.
"Go," she whispered, when he released her. Her vision was blurring, but she didn't d
are blink to clear it case that made the tears fall and she wouldn't cry in front of him. There was little else she could do, but she could do that.
Chapter Fifteen
Seth ran to the main cabin, adrenaline spiking in his system. Action usually calmed him, but not this time. The stakes were too high, the odds too weighted.
He pushed into the main cabin and didn't bother knocking the snow off his boots. Cameron was in his office. Predictable. Sam's gun was already out when Seth opened the door. Good.
"Trouble," Seth said shortly. "Ronny has help. The Scorpion. And he's here. Possibly in the compound."
Sam got to her feet. "Sweet lord," she said slowly. "There's only the three of us."
Seth nodded. "We're centralizing. I'm going to get Ronny. I want you with me." He switched his attention to Cameron.
The man's eyes had narrowed as he took off his reading glasses. Now Cameron speared Seth with a penetrating look. "Is this Scorpion some sort of hit man?"
Smart, Seth thought. "Triad assassin," he confirmed. "One of their best."
Cameron sighed. "Ah, Ronny..." He tossed his glasses on the desk.
"I need you to come with us," Seth said. "We have to bring Ronny to the chalet."
Cameron got to his feet. "You know for sure it's Ronny?"
"Not one hundred percent," Seth confessed freely, picking up Cameron's coat off the hook behind the door and handing it to him. "But that's why I'm bringing him to the chalet, and not Tyler and why Sam's coming with me. We're out of time. I was told that Triad forces are in the area and the Scorpion himself is probably in the lodge area. My people are on their way, but they couldn't tell me how long they'd take to get here, which means I have to operate on the assumption that we're on our own for now."
Cameron shoved his arms into the coat and his feet into the boots next to the door. "You're hoping to provoke him into revealing something?"
"I have enough information now that he may feel he has nothing left to lose." Seth shrugged. "And this time, I won't be caught flat-footed."
Cameron glanced at him sideways. "You think, hmmm?"
Seth hurried the man out of the chalet. "You still can't talk, Cameron?"
"I don't know yet," Cameron said. "Honestly, Seth, Ronny doesn't seem like the sort of man to have the backbone to try and kill my daughter. I know that's a terrible thing to say of any man, but there you have it."
Seth considered the assessment with military coldness and agreed. "There's something missing from the picture yet," he said.
They drew closer to the cabin Destiny and Ronny used and could hear thudding sounds from twenty meters away. Not rhythmic, but from inside the cabin, they must be loud. No one said anything, but all three of them broke into a run.
Seth was the first to reach the cabin, but the door was electronically sealed against him. Cameron pushed his own keycard into the slot. His was a master key and the door unlocked with a solid 'thunk'. Seth shouldered his way inside, his gun already out. He quartered the big sitting room with his gaze, taking it in.
Destiny, at the bar, drinking.
Ronny, an open briefcase on the desk, tossing papers into it from across the room. They were arguing. Around the desk and the bar and on the floor about both, were paperback and hardcover books, lying open and scattered at all angles and positions, with pages up, ripped, fanned open. The library case was behind Ronny. He had been throwing them at Destiny, then.
As soon as Seth entered the room, Ronny took off running, heading for the passage that gave access to the bedrooms.
Seth vaulted the sofa, chasing him.
Destiny, standing forgotten behind the bar, lifted her crutch as Ronny streaked past. His ankles tangled around the aluminum pole and he went down with a yell, his face scraping along the hessian floor tiles.
"I'm so sorry, darling, how clumsy of me," Destiny drawled and drank the rest of her gin.
Seth landed on Ronny's back, driving the wind out of him.
Destiny smiled.
Seth threw Ronny on the sofa and Sam locked him in a sleeper hold, half an inch shy of knocking him out altogether. She rested her Mauser at his temple and that alone was enough to keep Ronny sweating nicely.
Cameron came back from the bedrooms. "Destiny's resting. I gave her a sleeping tablet. She'll be out for a while."
Seth nodded. It was probably better that way. He looked down at Ronny. "Why is the Scorpion here, Ronny?" he demanded.
Ronny's eyes got bigger.
"You think I'm stupid. Of course I know," Seth told him. "Why do you think I'm here?"
Ronny swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his extended neck. His gaze swiveled to Cameron.
"Yes, I know too, Ronny." Cameron's expression was one of bitter disgust.
"You don't know it all," Ronny whispered. "You can't."
Seth slapped Ronny across the face. "Focus Ronny! Why is the Scorpion here?"
Ronny blinked, his eye watering, as his gaze snapped back to Seth.
"Tell us why you bought him here," Seth demanded.
Ronny laughed. It was a low sound, but developed into an insane-sounding full-throated roar. This time, Cameron stepped forward and slapped him. He didn't hold back. Ronny stopped laughing, but tears were in his eyes as he looked at them.
"You have no idea at all," he said, looking at them with pity in his eyes. "None. I didn't bring anyone. It's the Triads. You don't tell the Triads what to do. They told me what to do. Don't you get it?"
Seth let out his breath. "They've got a hold on you, too."
Ronny laughed again. A bitter sound. "It's going around man."
"Money," Cameron concluded. "How much are you into them for, Ronny?"
Ronny closed his eyes. "The business was going to fold," he said. "Everyone else in the family is a millionaire at least. And I couldn't run a simple business."
"How much?" Cameron demanded.
"Eighteen million," Ronny said.
Seth felt sick.
"Whose idea was it to put the bite on me?" Cameron demanded.
Ronny swallowed. "They insisted. All of it. The whole plan. It was all their idea, to get their money back, or payback for the debts. Even...even Gabrielle."
"I believe you," Cameron said, his tone one of infinite bitterness.
"I'm sorry about that," Ronny said. "She was such a nice person."
Seth felt a chill settle in the bottom of his heart. "What does that mean?" he demanded.
Ronny opened his eyes. "You said you knew. Everything." Suddenly the panic was back in his eyes.
"Sam, hold him," Seth said quickly, seeing the flight instinct in Ronny's face. He brought his gun to line up on Ronny's chest. "What do you mean about Gabrielle, Ronny? Why are you talking about her in the past tense?"
"The deadline, man! The deadline! It's after ten a.m. and Cameron didn't pay the five million!" Ronny was squirming on the sofa despite Sam's lock on his throat and the pistol at his temple.
Cameron crossed his arms. "I don't pay blackmailers and Gabrielle was safe. I made sure of it this morning." He glanced at Seth.
Seth took a breath. It seared on the way down to his lungs. He replayed again the last seconds of his breakfast conversation with Cameron.
"Tell me you'll protect her."
"With my life."
"Then it's done. I can finish it now."
"Sweet Jesus," Seth breathed. "That's why the Scorpion is here. He's here for Gabrielle if you don't pay up." He looked at the clock over the bar. Ten twenty-five.
He turned and ran.
* * * * *
Gabrielle stirred under the thick eiderdown quilt when she heard the doorbell chime. Tyler must have ordered food. She wasn't hungry, but she wasn't sleepy, either. Nothing was going to make this time go any faster, so she might as well get up and go see who was at the door and maybe try and eat. It would at least make a few more minutes pass by.
She moved out into the main room as Tyler opened the door. He saw her and put out his hand. "Do
n't step into sight of the door," he told her. He looked out through the screen door, but didn't open it. "Hi."
"Morning tea, sir." It was a female voice, with oriental tones.
Tyler looked at Gabrielle. "Did you order coffee and..." He tilted his head to look at the tray through the screen door. "Muffins and doughnuts?"
She shook her head.
Tyler's hand eased to his hip. "Must be a mistake, miss," he called through the door. "We didn't order it."
"Compliments of chef," she called. "He is friend of Mr. O'Connor."
Tyler grinned. "Well, that makes sense," he said to Gabrielle. "Seth knows everyone." He reached for the latch on the door.
Alarmed poured through Gabrielle. "No, wait, Tyler! How did she know Seth was staying here in my cabin?"
He glanced at her at the same moment the quiet "whomp" sounded and glass tinkled. Tyler grabbed at his shoulder as he staggered back.
He's been shot. Tyler's been shot, Gabrielle thought, stunned.
A second shot sounded. Tyler fell, sprawling, up against the closet and lay very still.
Get down. She'll look for you in the windows.
Panic was pushing at her chest and her mind again, but Gabrielle knew she had to keep it contained so that she could continue to think straight. If she let herself panic now, it was going to be all over.
She moved as quietly as she could closer to the sofa that sat beneath the windows, so that when the woman looked in, she wouldn't see her crouched on the floor. She looked despairing at Tyler.
He was watching her.
Her breath left her in an unsteady rush. Tyler was alive.
She clapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from making any noise. Blood was trickling from Tyler's mouth, but he was alive for now. His hand was moving slowly to his hip. He was reaching for his gun.
Tyler had a gun.
The knowledge filtered slowly through Gabrielle's scared and sluggish mind.
She knew how to use guns.
The board under the second window creaked as the woman—the Scorpion—stepped on it. She was at the far end of the verandah.
Gabrielle considered the matter, trying to get her mind to crank up and move faster. To clear itself. She just couldn't seem to get it to work very fast.
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