Cherry Adair - T-flac 06 (28 page)

"What were they doing in there?"

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"I didn't get up and ask them, for Pete's sake! I stayed where I was and kept quiet, and hoped like hell they didn't have reason to round the wall. They stayed about five minutes, then left. Clemmie didn't start her contractions, and I eventually left, too. I stayed at the main house and went back the next morning.

I'm sure they didn't see me."

She didn't sound as sure as he'd like her to be. "It was dark. They could've watched you cross back to the house." She only spent the night at his house when he was gone. He'd change that, of course. But first things first. His blood chilled at the ramifications of what she'd just revealed. She'd known about this for weeks.

He'd had his own investigation going for the past eighteen months. Sean had been eyebrow deep in the mess. And even with him gone, the rest of the cartel involved was cleverly evasive, covering their tracks well. Nevertheless, his people were closing in on the top men now.

But, Jesus Christ, he'd had no idea Lily knew about it. "Why didn't you tell me weeks ago?" he demanded.

"First of all, because you weren't
there
," Lily said with asperity. "Second of all… damn it, Derek. How do I know
you
aren't involved?"

The accusation was a brutal punch to the gut. "You think
I'm
involved?"

"Sean was. It's easy money and extremely lucrative," she told him, her voice flat. "And it is your ranch."

"What if I were involved? Do you realize how damn stupid it is to ask me about this
now
considering the circumstances? We're alone out here. Miles from help—Jesus.
Jesus
."

"I'm armed, and a very good shot," she reminded him, then paused before saying quietly, "But you didn't know anything about this, did you?"

"As you say, it's my ranch. Damn straight I knew," he told her shortly, and with a sense that he'd been given a reprieve. "But set your mind at rest. In this case," he said bitterly, "I'm one of the
good
guys. It was
you
I didn't want to know. Christ, Lily, you have no idea who these people are, and what they could do to you if they knew. You should have contacted me and told me what you'd overheard. My staff always knows how to reach me."

"Your staff. But not your partner," she said flatly. "Trust goes both ways, doesn't it?"

Damn it, they shouldn't be having this talk now. Where the hell was the snowmobile? Closer? "I wanted to protect you. A shitload of money has been changing hands. In the
multi
millions—"

"The money's in my name in the Caymans," Lily said flatly. "Just tell me who and where; I can't wait to get rid of it. The bastard. I had no idea until I went through his papers that he'd opened an account in my name."

"Gambling was one of his biggest vices. All from the comfort of his sickbed."

"I don't think so, Derek. He hadn't left the house or gone out of town in years. How—"

"
Online
gambling."

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"My God." Her breathing sounded in his ear, harsh with anger as she added, "No wonder he had that damn computer on his lap night and day. I thought he was scouring the medical sites for any new cures or treatments."

"He was keeping in touch with the overseas buyers, brokering the sperm sales and then gambling with the proceeds," Derek told her flatly. "Heavily. It's a wonder there was any money left at all. He wasn't that lucky." The only luck the sorry bastard had had was Lily. And he'd screwed up there.

"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
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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.

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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
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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 she 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.

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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.