She’s Positive

by Delores Fossen

  Danielle nodded. And maybe it wouldn’t be long before Luke was indeed free. “What about the other items Boyd wanted? Do we have everything we need to take back to the estate?”

  “We have all but the video game. The nearest store was out, but the clerk remembered selling one to a kid who lives about a mile from here. Dylan called the family, and they’re going to let us have the game. All we have to do is pick it up.”

  Colin’s cell phone rang, and he glanced at the screen and answered it. “Boyd,” Colin said. He checked his watch and put the phone on speaker. “Is everything okay?”

  “I guess you could say that. I locked the kid in his room so I could search the guesthouse. I didn’t find any badges in the guesthouse. That’s good.”

  Danielle pressed her hand to her chest to steady her breathing. This was the news she’d wanted to hear. It meant Bobby was safe. Now, if she could only decide if Colin and she were safe from him. A glance at Callie confirmed that the woman would be making those background checks soon.

  “The arrangements for the helicopter and money are final,” Colin explained. “In fact, if you want to move up the time for Luke’s release—”

  “No. I want to spend a few hours with the metal detector first. In fact, I want to spend some time now.”

  “Now?” Colin repeated.

  “Now,” Boyd confirmed. “I’m giving you and the doc thirty minutes to get back up here. If not, I’ll delay Luke’s release until tonight. Better hurry.” And he hung up.

  Colin cursed and latched on to Danielle’s arm. They raced toward the van.

  Chapter Eight

  He was out of breath by the time he made it to the curve on the mountain road. Dead Man’s Curve, the locals called it. The name suited it because one wrong jerk of the steering wheel, and a car would plunge right down the mountain.

  With luck, that might happen today.

  Running, he got into place behind one of the massive outcroppings of rocks that littered the road. He got his rifle ready.

  And he waited.

  It shouldn’t be long. Mere minutes.

  “Medals,” he mumbled. He smiled just thinking about them.

  Specifically, medals that would lead to an offshore account, and thanks to the bug in Callie’s office, he’d learned all about it. There’d be tons of money in the account. He had no doubts about that. Vincent Del Gardo had cash to burn and instead of hiding it in the Vaughn estate, maybe he’d put it in that account instead.

  For his illegitimate daughter, Callie.

  That was touching, but Callie didn’t need her late daddy’s cash. He did. The last turn at the blackjack table had cost him a fortune. A fortune he didn’t have and one he’d have to pay back before the end of the week.

  Or else.

  This time, that or else would almost certainly be his own murder. He wouldn’t die because of this sickness, this obsession he had with blackjack. Any shrink worth his salt would say that the gambling was a disease, beyond his control. But the men that he owed money to would only laugh at the idea. They wouldn’t care. They’d kill him if he couldn’t pay.

  That’s why the medals were a godsend.

  All he had to do was find them. Three people had them. He’d heard Callie tell Colin that she might need his help with the medals and the offshore account—so she’d be able to get the money she didn’t even need.

  Or deserve.

  Vincent Del Gardo had likely gotten all that cash from years and years of illegal deals, years of robbing people at places like blackjack tables, and that meant the money was ripe for the taking. He could use it to save his own life, and that was certainly a better use for it than anything Callie might do with it. Hell, she’d probably just donate it to a charity or something anyway.

  So, he had to get his hands on the medals. But first, there was something he had to nip in the bud.

  He had to stop Colin Forester and Danielle Connolly.

  THIS HAD TO END. Somehow, Colin had to get control of the situation with Boyd.

  But how?

  He couldn’t push too hard or risk upsetting Luke, but he also couldn’t let a man like Boyd continue to call the shots.

  Colin stopped at the house to grab the video game. Thankfully, the boy’s mother was waiting on the porch for him so he practically snatched it from her hands and thanked her as he ran back to the van. The detour had cost them about ten minutes, but a half hour was plenty of time to do this errand and then make it back. Still, he didn’t want to be late. God knew how Boyd would react to that.

  “If Boyd’s trying to make us crazy,” Danielle commented, “then he’s doing a good job of it.”

  Yeah. He was. But the trick was for Danielle and him to stay calm. Boyd might be feeding on the panic that he was creating by issuing orders, only to change them. And maybe there was some logic to this seeming madness. Boyd no doubt wanted them off-kilter so he could ensure that he was the one who stayed in control.

  Danielle put the video game into the equipment bag with the other items Boyd had requested. She also retrieved her personal cell phone from her purse that she’d left in the van the day before, and then she checked her watch. “Three and a half hours until the helicopter and the exchange. We’ll just have to do as Boyd says until then.”

  Colin mumbled an agreement and took the road leading to the estate. He didn’t object to kowtowing to Boyd during that time, but he kept getting a bad feeling that all of Boyd’s ploys had a deeper, more sinister intent. Had all of this been a ruse just to get them away from the guesthouse? And if so, then what had Boyd hoped to accomplish?

  Because he didn’t want to risk making the call from the guesthouse, he grabbed his personal cell that he’d left in the van and called directory assistance to get Elliot Hennessey’s number. Colin called the man, but it went straight to voice mail. It wouldn’t be wise to leave a message, especially since he didn’t want Elliot trying to call him back. So, Colin would have to try again later.

  A sound alerted him. Danielle dropped something into one of the cup holders. It landed with a metallic ping.

  His wedding ring.

  “It was in the pocket of the pants you left in the bathroom at the crime unit. I wasn’t sure what would happen to the clothes, so I decided to…well, get it for you.”

  “Oh.” That was all he said for several moments. “And your rings are on a chain around your neck.” He didn’t actually say it, but the “Why?” was there.

  She didn’t respond to that unspoken “Why?” Nor did she pick up on the previous conversation about Boyd. The silence between them became awkward, and Danielle merely looked away and used the moment to shove her cell phone in the pocket of her skirt.

  Colin considered an explanation, but when he mentally went through it, he decided it best that he stay quiet, as well. It’d be a bear to explain to Danielle that he’d removed the ring the day before when he’d noticed she wasn’t wearing hers. An explanation like that would only make him sound petty.

  He fished the ring out of the cup holder and shoved it into his front jeans pocket. Colin didn’t look to see what her reaction was to that. He didn’t care. He was keeping his ring, even if he never wore it again.

  There was a sharp bend in the road, and Colin eased off the accelerator so he could make the turn. He was halfway into it when he heard the loud pop. Before he had time to register what was happening, the steering wheel jerked to the left.

  Straight toward the flimsy looking guardrail.

  “The tire blew out,” Colin told Danielle. Luckily, she was wearing her seat belt, but she also caught on to the armrest and the console.

  Colin grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and used every bit of his strength to keep it away from the guardrail. He didn’t want to bump it even a little because beyond that was the steep drop down the mountain. There was little chance they’d survive a fall.

  There was another loud popping sound.

  And with that sound, the adrenaline roared through
Colin. Because he knew. This wasn’t an ordinary blowout.

  Someone had shot out the tires.

  “Oh, God,” Danielle mumbled.

  The van jerked violently to the left again. Someone had shot out a back tire, and that someone was obviously trying to kill them. If Colin didn’t do something immediately, the person would succeed.

  Colin wrenched the steering wheel toward the right, and he pumped the brakes. But he essentially had no control. The steering wheel felt cemented in place, and they were headed for that guardrail.

  Beside him, Danielle arched her back, trying to brace herself for an impact, but there was no way to brace for this.

  Colin pinpointed all that adrenaline into one last attempt. He groaned from the strain of his muscles, and he gave the brakes one last pump.

  The van skidded to a stop, the front bumper slamming into the guardrail.

  Danielle gasped. Colin held his breath.

  And with his heart pounding like a war drum, he glanced down. The front left tire was off the road and literally hanging in midair.

  “Get out,” he told Danielle, though it was risky. After all, someone had shot the tires, and that someone might still be out there.

  Waiting to finish the job.

  Danielle grabbed the equipment bag that held the supplies, unbuckled her seat belt and threw open the door. The van rocked, threatening to plunge down the mountain.

  “Just go,” Colin insisted. And he unhooked his own seat belt so he could try to scramble out after Danielle.

  She glanced at him, and he saw the terror in her eyes. There wasn’t time to reassure her. There wasn’t time for anything. One gust of wind could kill them.

  “Now!” he shouted.

  With the equipment bag in her hand, she plunged out. The van wobbled. As Colin had expected. Without Danielle’s weight on the passenger side, the vehicle was off balance.

  And about to fall.

  He dove across the seat, scrambled out, and the moment his feet landed on the ground, he caught on to Danielle’s arm and got her away from the van. It wasn’t a second too soon. The van tipped to the side, and it broke through what was left of the damaged guardrail.

  It plummeted over the side, bashing against the rocks before it crashed onto a narrow ledge below.

  “We could have been killed,” Danielle whispered.

  Yeah. And it might not be over.

  Colin drew his gun and dragged her to the other side of the road so that the mountain itself would give them some measure of protection. He looked around, but didn’t see a gunman.

  That didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

  The mountain wasn’t a smooth surface but instead was littered with rock outcroppings and crevasses. Someone could be using those to hide.

  But who?

  Was this the work of the mole?

  Or was Boyd behind this?

  He could have asked his boss, Nicky Wayne, to send someone in to finish them off. But why would Boyd want them dead?

  Colin fired glances all around. And listened. The only sounds he heard were their racing breaths and the wind.

  “How far to the estate?” Danielle asked, looking down at her watch.

  “Not far. A half mile at the most.” He did a time check, too. They still had a little over fifteen minutes before Boyd’s deadline was up, but they needed to get moving. He doubted Boyd would care that they’d nearly died. And Colin didn’t want the man to use their being late as an excuse to do anything stupid.

  Colin positioned Danielle to his side, and they started walking. They didn’t get far.

  A bullet slammed into the rocks just above their heads.

  Colin pushed Danielle behind those rocks, just as another shot came at them. It landed close to where the first shot had landed and sent an angry spray of sharp fragments raining down on them.

  Another shot.

  Then another.

  Each one allowed Colin to pinpoint the direction of the shooter. The person was using a long-range rifle and was ahead of them, higher up the mountain. And in the direction of the estate.

  “The gunman might be using the tunnels,” Colin heard Danielle say.

  Possibly. After all, the tunnels weren’t exactly a secret. Everyone in Kenner City no doubt knew about them, including a mole. But Boyd also knew. And Bobby. Colin hated to suspect the young man without cause, but it was obvious that someone wanted them dead.

  The shots continued, and Colin knew he had to do something. They couldn’t just lie there and hope they continued to be lucky. He levered himself up slightly so he could do another visual check.

  There.

  He saw it.

  A glint of metal coming from another rock outcropping just up the road.

  Colin couldn’t see the gunman. The person was wearing a dark gray raincoat, and the hood and the shadows concealed the person’s face.

  The gunman popped off three more shots in a row, causing more rock fragments to pelt them. With Danielle face down on the ground, Colin crawled over her so that he was hovering above her back. This way, he could try to protect her. She probably wouldn’t appreciate the fact that he was risking his life to save her, but he didn’t care. He was an FBI agent and had been trained to deal with situations like this.

  Except he’d never envisioned a situation where he’d have to protect Danielle.

  Colin waited for the next round of shots. Like before, there were three more. And he knew he had to act now. He levered himself up again.

  Took aim.

  And fired.

  The blast was deafening and echoed through the mountain.

  Colin waited, breath held, and he kept his attention fastened to the area where he’d seen that glint of metal. The seconds ticked off in his head, and just when he was ready to fire a second shot, the hooded gunman dropped out of sight. Like a gopher going into a hole.

  Oh, yes. The person had definitely used the tunnels.

  “He’s gone,” Colin relayed to Danielle.

  She practically went limp and then tried to get up. But he stopped her. He also kept watch around them. He didn’t want the gunman using another tunnel to get closer to them so he could have a better shot.

  “We have to get back to the estate,” Danielle reminded him.

  Yes. But they weren’t going to blindly do that without taking precautions. Colin waited several more minutes. Still no sign of the gunman. So, he stood. Waited some more. But no shots came. He helped Danielle to her feet but kept her sandwiched between the mountain and him so that she wouldn’t be in the direct line of fine.

  Well, unless the guy managed to backtrack.

  “Let’s go,” Colin instructed. He hooked the equipment bag over his shoulder and got them moving.

  They started up the mountain, not using the road, but the narrow easement. Danielle was wearing flat beige shoes that obviously weren’t made for walking up mountains. She wobbled on the uneven surface, and he caught on to her arm to steady her.

  “We need to hurry,” she reminded him. And despite her unsure footing, she fell into a quick pace. Not a run, exactly. But it wasn’t a leisurely pace, either.

  He checked his watch. This was going to be close. Too close. But Colin wasn’t about to call Boyd to give him a heads-up as to what’d happened. What if Boyd was the shooter?

  Danielle was out of breath when they reached the top, and he prayed she didn’t have another of those dizzy spells. If she was even slightly light-headed, she certainly didn’t show any signs of it.

  Colin put his gun in the back waist of his pants so that Boyd wouldn’t see it, and Danielle and he made a beeline for the front gates. The gates opened as they approached.

  The phone rang, and Colin handed Danielle the equipment bag so he could get the cell from his pocket to answer it.

  It was Boyd.

  “You’re late,” the man greeted.

  “A minute or two. Someone shot out the tires of the van and nearly sent us over the side of the mountain. Would y
ou happen to know anything about that?”

  And Colin didn’t bother asking it nicely, either. He was pissed that someone had put Danielle in that kind of danger and even more upset that he hadn’t been able to stop it.

  “Don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,” Boyd insisted. “But I did hear the shots. It doesn’t appear that either of you are hurt.”

  Boyd sounded so cavalier that Colin wanted to crawl through the phone and knock some sense into the guy, but he forced himself to stay calm.

  “We have the supplies you requested,” Colin informed him.

  “Yeah, I can see the bag.”

  Which meant Boyd had to be somewhere at the front of the house. Colin checked the gardens where Boyd had surfaced before, but he didn’t see him. Finally, he spotted a flutter in the curtains in one of the front-facing rooms. Too bad Colin didn’t have a clean shot because he could end this here and now. No more negotiations with this moron.

  “Leave the bag on the front porch,” Boyd instructed. “And strip down so I can see if you got a gun while you were in town. Because I could have sworn I heard two sets of shots on the mountain.”

  Colin ignored that last comment, and they started walking toward the porch. “We’re not stripping down. Danielle and I have been through hell and back to get you these supplies. Well, we got them, and I’m a little tired of you using this situation to get your jollies at having us strip.”

  It was a gamble. Because it could enrage Boyd, but if that happened, Colin would deal with it. After all, Boyd needed them if he had any hopes of escape.

  The seconds crawled by, and finally Boyd laughed. “Jollies? Well, maybe I got some from the doc. She’s a knockout, Colin, and that makes you one stupid man for letting the likes of her get away.”

  Danielle started to say something, but Colin nudged her so she’d stay quiet. He wanted to continue this banter if possible.

  “Yeah. I can be stupid when it comes to relationships,” Colin admitted. He went up the steps and dropped the equipment bag onto the porch.