Arctic Fire (32 page)

Jack slipped halfway through the back doorway—just as the officer moved around the corner of the cabin to the right.

“Go back,” Jack whispered over his shoulder to Karen. He was pretty sure the guy hadn’t seen him. “Now.”

They retreated into the house, closed the door—the top half of which was a nine-pane window—and flattened themselves against either side of the kitchen wall beside the door.

“Open up in there,” the officer called as he moved to the door. “I see your footprints in the snow coming across the yard. And I don’t see any footprints coming back out. I know you’re in there. Open up now. Give yourself up. My weapon is out and ready to fire.”

Jack closed his eyes tightly. This was the last damn thing they needed right now.

“Jeeeeesus!” Speed Trap screamed as the
Arctic Fire
burst through the crest of a big wave. Salty spray went flying as the ship plunged toward the next trough. “Don’t do this to me, Grant. Pleeeease!”

Grant was holding Speed Trap upside down by the ankles over the port side of the ship near where Troy had pulled him back aboard by that sliver of a yellow harness. The ship was plowing through the rough seas, and Speed Trap was absolutely terrified—almost as terrified as he’d been that day Troy had pulled him back aboard.

“Tell me the truth, Speed Trap,” Captain Sage shouted down at him. “
Tell me the goddamned truth!
”

“Let him in,” Karen whispered.

“Are you crazy?”

“Let him in,” she repeated. “We’ll talk to him.”

“No way,” Jack whispered back, his anger at her boiling over quickly. He was shocked that she’d do this, and suddenly the suspicious side of his brain was getting the better of him. “I’m not getting arrested. We don’t have time for that. And you know that’s what’s going to happen if we—”

“
Open up!
” the cop yelled from outside.

“Do it,” she ordered quietly. “Open the door or I will.”

“Karen, you’re going to ruin our chances of—”

“Do it!” she hissed. “Now.”

Jack stared into her burning eyes. She wasn’t backing down. That was clear. “All right, officer,” he called loudly. “I’m opening it now.” He stepped slowly in front of the door and pulled it back.

“Move into the kitchen slowly,” the officer ordered as he aimed his revolver at Jack’s chest. “Move it,” he demanded, moving forward as Jack backpedaled. “Go on. But take your time.”

As the officer moved past the door and into the kitchen, Karen darted out from the wall and slammed him on the back of the head with the revolver she’d whipped out of the back of her jeans. The officer tumbled limply to the tile floor as his gun crashed into the bottom of the stove.

“Jesus Christ!” Jack shouted, his suspicions gone that quickly. Now he was nothing but impressed. “What the hell?”

“Hey, we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do.” She knelt down beside the officer to see if he was OK. “I hit him just right. No blood, just a lump. He’s gonna wake up with a big headache, but other than that he’ll be fine.” She looked up at Jack. “He’s gonna wake up tied to that chair too,” she said, motioning at one of the big wooden chairs around the kitchen table.

Jack shook his head and grinned as he stared down at her. “I…I can’t believe you just—”

“Go find some rope,” she interrupted. “There’s probably some in the garage. Hurry up!”

Maddux answered his cell phone before the second ring. “What?”

“It’s me.”

It was Captain Sage. “What do you have?”

“Well, we went at the friend of mine pretty hard, and he denied helping out the ballast.”

“Are you sure he’s telling the truth?” Something told Maddux that he needed to get to Alaska immediately. Captain Sage was a tough, tough man, but he might not have
really
put the screws to his nephew during an interrogation. “Absolutely sure?” He could already hear Sage struggling with his answer even though he hadn’t said anything. Maddux’s gut was telling him that Speed Trap had definitely floated Troy Jensen a raft from the back of the
Arctic Fire
that night on the Bering Sea. “I’m coming out there,” Maddux said
decisively, not even giving Sage a chance to answer. “If you’re not in port now, get your ass back there within forty-eight hours.”

“I owe you an apology,” Jack said. They’d been driving in silence as they headed south from Bemidji. They were only a few miles from making it back to Interstate 94 and continuing their journey westward. He was hoping to reach Montana by late tonight. His target was Missoula.

“You thought I was going to ruin everything by trying to talk it out with that cop, didn’t you?” Karen asked as a grin tugged on the corners of her mouth. “You thought I was going to tell him how I used to be a cop and all, right? You thought I was going to try and negotiate our way out of it.”

“Maybe,” Jack admitted as he eased off on the accelerator. He was doing ten miles over the posted limit. The last thing they needed right now was to get pulled over. “I sure as hell didn’t think you were gonna nail him in the back of the head with your pistol.”

She laughed. “Well, I guess you better watch out, huh? Maybe you better keep your eye on me.” She opened her eyes wide and waved her fingers at him like she was putting a curse on him. “Woooo. Maybe I’m crazy.”

He broke into a wide smile of his own as he watched her put her head back in the passenger seat and laugh even louder. He could feel himself falling for her. She loved life like no one he’d ever met. She wasn’t scared of
anything
. And that laugh of hers was so contagious.

“I just hope that cop’s all right,” Karen said as her laughter faded. “I felt bad about that. The guy was just doing his job.”

“He’s fine. He was coming to as we left.” Jack checked the rearview mirror. “I just hope he doesn’t get out of there too fast, or we could be in real trouble.”

Karen reached for the black box they’d taken from the cabin closet. It was on the floor by her feet. “How could we get in trouble?” she asked as she put it on her lap. “That cop has no idea what kind of car we’re driving, and we’ll be out of Minnesota and into North Dakota pretty soon. Then we’re really fine.”

“I guess,” Jack agreed. “Hey, that was a pretty cool thing you did with the footprints.”

As they’d moved across the yard toward the back door, Karen had followed in Jack’s footsteps in the snow so it looked as if only one person had entered the house. He’d thought it was overkill at the time, and he’d needled her about it. But it had turned out to be a stroke of genius.

“That cop thought I was the only one in the house when I opened the door. If he’d seen two sets of prints coming across the lawn, he probably wouldn’t have come inside and you wouldn’t have had a chance to knock him out.”

“Hey, I learned a few things on the force.”

“A lot of things, actually.”

She smiled appreciatively and then shook her head slowly. “You and Troy are so different, Jack.”

He shifted in the driver’s seat. He didn’t like the sound of that. When a woman said something like that it usually didn’t end on a good note. It usually ended up with him finding out that the woman wanted Troy—not him. “What do you mean?”

“You see things he didn’t. Or maybe he saw them, but he wasn’t willing to say anything.” She hesitated, and then she shook her head again. “Nah, that’s not it. He just didn’t see them. His mind was on other things. I only met Troy a few times, but from what I picked up face-to-face and from what Charlie told me, he was only really into two things: being a daredevil and the Latin girls.”

“There was more to him than that. A lot more.”

“Yeah, but you know what I mean.”

Jack smiled sadly. “I do.”

“Troy saw the things he needed to see, things that would save his life while he was into his extreme situations.” She nodded at Jack. “But you see a lot more than that. And you’re willing to talk about what you see. That’s the difference with you.” She paused. “I love it.”

Those last few words had sounded so good to him. “I’m older.”

“Two years doesn’t make any difference in terms of that. Not at the ages you guys are now, anyway.” She looked down. “Sorry,” she said softly. “The age he was.”

Jack took a deep breath. It was time to tell her. “We were only half brothers, Karen.”

Her eyes shot to his. “Really?”

Jack quickly told Karen the story of Cheryl leaving and being eight months pregnant with the child of another man when Bill asked her to come home. “I guess that’s why we’re so different.”

“Wow.”

“For a long time I thought I was adopted.”

She stared at him for a few seconds. “You mean they didn’t tell you what the real deal was?”

“No. Some psychiatrist told Bill and Cheryl to tell everyone I was adopted. I guess he figured it would be easier that way. Less explaining for Bill and all that.” It seemed like it had always been what was best for Bill. “Times were different thirty years ago.”

“Not that different.”

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Troy never mentioned that you were adopted. All he ever told Charlie was that you were his brother.” She hesitated. “He said you were the best brother a guy could have.”

God, he missed Troy. “I only found out a few days ago that Troy and I were half brothers.”

“
What?
No way.”

“Yup.”

“How?”

“Bill told me in his office on Wall Street.” Jack sped up as the turned onto the I-94 ramp. “It was after I told him I was going to Alaska to find out if we’d really gotten the truth about what happened to Troy.”

“He waited all this time to tell you that you weren’t adopted?” Karen asked in a hushed voice.

“Amazing, huh?”

“Disgraceful.” She shrugged when Jack didn’t say anything. “Well, it makes more sense now.”

His heart sank as soon as she said that. He knew he shouldn’t ask…but he had to. “What does? What makes sense?”

“You guys look so different.”

Jack turned away so she wouldn’t see his irritated expression. Women just couldn’t resist Troy. It was so damn frustrating.