Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat (3 page)

It worried him, though. That…teary-eyed intensity as she gazed up at them.

Not that he hadn"t known his share of bold-faced liars. Enough so he thought he was pretty good at telling truth from fiction. Believed he had an instinct for it. And it was a silly lie—not being in LA at the time—easily disproved, right? So she"d probably come up with something better if she was alibiing herself. She"d had enough time to think of a stronger story. Seven months.

Hedwig was still pleading, still insisting. “It"s the truth. I"m telling you the truth. If you"re not going to listen to me, if you"re going to drag me back to LA, then at least do yourself a favor and take me in on your own. If you"re halfway good at your job, we all might even make it alive.” Even with her hands cuffed, she unconsciously, protectively cradled her belly.

It wasn"t science, but…

“Brandt, wait.”

Will paused, his look watchful.

“We"ve got her in custody. We don"t need local support now. Let"s take her back on our own.”

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Josh Lanyon

Will"s expression was pained. “Come on. You don"t believe that bullshit about the police and the FBI trying to kill her?”

“No.” Taylor said more firmly, “No way. But it won"t hurt to be on the safe side.”

“Yeah, well I don"t think you and me trying to transport her back to LA is on the safe side.”

“If she cooperates—”

Will"s jaw dropped. He recovered immediately. “Uh, buddy boy…” He glanced at their prisoner, who was tensely following their exchange. “If anything goes wrong…”

“What could go wrong? We"re just going to drive up to Sierra Blanca, board a plane with her, and fly back in to Los Angeles.”

“Like she goes into labor.”

Taylor chewed his lip.

“It"ll be our heads on Popsicle sticks.”

Taylor nodded. “But what if, just on the off chance, there
is
something to what she"s saying?”

“What is she saying? So far all I"ve heard is the usual
I been framed
!”

“I
was
framed,” Hedwig put in.

Will raised his eyebrows.

“Who framed you?” Taylor asked.

“I don"t know.”

“Oh! Well!” Will gave Taylor an exasperated look.

“If I knew, I"d have given the name up a long time ago,” Hedwig protested.

“But it"s someone at the DEA. I know that for sure.”

“Why"s that?” asked Will. “Why couldn"t it be the FBI? Or the CIA? Or the PTA?”

Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat

15

“Because I was working with the DEA as an informant, and some of the information I had implicated agents at a high level.”

The pause that followed her words was filled in by the dogs baying in the kennel behind the house and Ramirez"s continuing, though increasingly hoarse, rants from downstairs.

“You"re saying there"s a mole in the DEA?” Taylor headed off Will"s questions.

But Will had another question in mind. “Who were you informing on? Who was the target?”

Hedwig hesitated.

Will"s gaze met Taylor"s. “Who?” they questioned at the same time.

“Mikhail Bashnakov.”

“Who?” Taylor could feel Will"s stare.

He said carefully, colorlessly, “Mikhail Bashnakov. The Technician.”

“Yes,” Hedwig said softly.

There was a flash of white outside the bedroom window, followed by a long rolling boom of thunder. Perfect timing. Pretty funny, in fact. Except…not. Taylor had the horrifying sensation of having reached his hand into a cookie jar, only to find a coiled rattlesnake.

“Who"s Mikhail Bashnakov?” Unlike Taylor, Will made it a policy not to concern himself with crimes that were unrelated to the DSS. It was Will"s view that their game preserve was stocked with all the bad guys they could ever require—and that was certainly true.

“He"s a kingpin in one of the Russian drug cartels,” Taylor told him.

Hedwig nodded confirmation.

“Oh. Good.” The mildness of that made Taylor"s lips twitch. Yeah. No wonder he loved Will.

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Josh Lanyon

“Let me see if I have this straight,” Will stated. “You were framed for killing a DSS director by someone within the DEA who was afraid that your information would implicate him—or her—in the Russian drug trade?”

“Yes. That"s what I believe.”

“And I believe this is total bullshit.”

“What if it"s not?” Taylor intervened.

“You keep saying that. What if it
is
?”

“Well, what does it matter in that case? I"m not saying we turn her loose. I"m saying we take her back to LA ourselves. That was the original plan, right? Escort her back to LA?”

“Yes.”

“So?”

When Will had no immediate response, Taylor pressed, “So that"s what we do.

Except we don"t advertise the fact that we"ve picked her up. We just…take her back.”

“
Yes
,” Hedwig pleaded. “That"s all I"m asking. That you take me in yourselves.”

“See. I don"t trust that.” Will nodded at Hedwig"s strained face.

“I don"t trust it either. That just means we"re prepared for anything she might try.”

He could see Will struggling with it, but it made sense. Right? This
had
been the plan from the beginning—before Denver PD lost Hedwig in the system.

Whatever the hell system that had been. True, the original plan would have supplied them with backup and resources they didn"t currently have, but if there was a chance that what Hedwig was telling them was true—and Taylor followed the news enough to know there was more than a chance that it was—the best chance of all of them reaching home safe and sound was to slide in under the radar. To make it back to California before anyone knew they"d even located their quarry.

“This is the way you want to play it?” Will asked finally.

Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat

17

Taylor nodded.

“Okay.” Will"s smile was sour. “Your call. For the record, I think it"s a lousy idea.”

Will went downstairs to have a friendly chat with Ramirez while Taylor gave Hedwig five minutes to dress and pack an overnight bag. He had no idea what essentials a pregnant woman might need. He"d been overseas during his sister"s pregnancies—not that the circumstances were similar, and not that he would have paid attention even if they had been. If their prisoner wanted anything very complicated, she was going to have to do without. Anyway, it was a little over an hour to the airport, and then a short, hopefully direct flight to Los Angeles. A toothbrush and her spectacles ought to do her, in his opinion.

He kept the door half-open while she dressed, observing impersonally while offering the illusion of privacy.

Downstairs he could hear Ramirez bellowing at Will and Will"s quiet responses. It took a lot to get Will really worked up. Like Will, Taylor wasn"t concerned with Ramirez. If he needed persuading to go along with the change in plans, Taylor had no doubt that Hedwig could handle it. She seemed like a resourceful girl, appearances to the contrary. Either that or unbelievably lucky.

The door to the bedroom swung open. Hedwig had changed into jeans and a loose green and white-checked smock thingie. Her hair was tied back in a lank ponytail, and she wore her glasses. She carried a white denim jacket draped over one arm, and she held a small flat overnight case. She looked like a timid kindergarten teacher. Taylor took the jacket and the overnight case, setting them aside to examine at his leisure.

Hedwig made a scornful sound at this display of suspiciousness.

“Hands behind your head.”

“How stupid do you think I am?” she demanded as he briskly patted her down.

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Josh Lanyon

“I don"t know. How stupid do you think
I
am?”

“
Totally
stupid.”

He laughed. “Ask a silly question.” He sort of liked the sheer outrageous balls of her. Anyway, he was just making double sure, knowing Will would expect this, but he didn"t expect—nor did he find—that she"d tried to arm herself while he was looking on. “Sorry, but I have to cuff you again.”

“That"s not necessary.”

“Maybe not, but that"s the way we"re doing it.”

Taylor snapped the cuffs on her wrists again, retrieved her bag and jacket, and nodded for her to precede him down the hall, watching critically as she moved. She didn"t have that ungainly pregnant-lady waddle, but no way was she going to be outrunning them. That didn"t mean she wouldn"t try any other means that presented itself to get rid of them. He would. Anyone would. Yep, it was better to keep her cuffed.

“Did you search her?” Will asked when they reached downstairs.

Taylor assented.

Ramirez was still cuffed. He sat on the floor, glaring out of a puffy eye. Blood crusted his nostrils.

“You okay,
chiquita
?” he asked Hedwig.

She nodded. “I"m so sorry, Reuben. Did they hurt you?”

Ramirez shook his head. “It"s my fault. I should have shot this pig when I had the chance. I should have turned the dog on him. I should have—”

“Don"t blame yourself, Reuben.”

“Cute couple.” That was Will.

“Yeah. Reuben and Juliet. You better explain the facts of life to your boyfriend,” Taylor told Hedwig.

“He"s not my boyfriend.”

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19

Will"s gaze rolled to meet Taylor"s; Taylor could practically hear the casters clicking. “This could take all night.”

Taylor ignored that. “Well, whatever Señor Ramirez is, we"d prefer to turn him loose, but if he comes trailing after us, things are going to get messy. If what you"ve told us is true, the less attention we attract, the better.”

Hedwig scowled over this, then rattled off a string of Spanish.

“In English,” Will interrupted.

“It"s better if I go with them,” Hedwig told Ramirez. “Better for everyone.”

“They"re not cops, chiquita. You can"t trust them. They"re Feds.”

“I know. They"re Diplomatic Security.”

“Who? What"s Diplomatic Security? I never heard of them.”

“I think our PR machine is broken,” Taylor told Will.

“If they were part of it, we"d be dead now,” Hedwig said. “They"re going to take me in themselves.”

“Bullshit. Don"t trust them, Kelila.”

“The trust is all on this side.” Will was losing patience. “In fact, if I had my way, you"d be on your way to jail and we"d be handing your girlfriend over to anyone who"d take her.”

Taylor couldn"t tell if he meant it or not. If Will
really
was dead set against this—well, there was more at stake here than the honor of the DSS or their own professional reputations. More at stake for Will, certainly. But if Will
was
dead set against taking her back themselves, he"d say so. He wasn"t one for beating around the bush.

Ramirez was stubbornly shaking his head. Taylor"s unease increased. “We can"t waste any more time here. Make up your mind.”

“Reuben…
please
.”

“Here"s what we"re going to do,” Will said. “I"m going to take the cuffs off you.”

He was talking to Ramirez. “You"re going to get hold of Cujo out there, and then the 20

Josh Lanyon

three of us are walking out of here. If it all goes smoothly, that"ll be the end of it.

Your part of it, anyway. If you do anything stupid, I"m arresting you and handing you over to the Ruidoso cops for aiding and abetting a fugitive.”

Ramirez looked at Hedwig. “It"s okay,” she said. “Really. Just do what they tell you. Please.”

Ramirez was still shaking his head as he rose. He stood sullenly while Will uncuffed him. Well, he didn"t like it, but that made it unanimous. So long as he followed orders…

He did. He went to the door and shouted for the dog. It trotted inside, nails ticking on tile, woofing aggressively. Ramirez grabbed its collar and held tight, muttering what he apparently imagined were soothing noises.

Dog and man watched in silence as Will, followed by Hedwig and then Taylor, moved briskly across the exposed yard. The night air smelled of distant pines and approaching rain. The Sierra Blanca Mountains stood silent and silver beneath the scaffolding of clouds and stars.

Man and dog were still silhouetted in the lighted doorway when they reached the road.

Will closed the heavy wooden gate behind them, and they started, still single file, down the dirt road lined with the twisted, tortured forms of Joshua trees.

They"d parked the rental car about a mile from the house. It felt like the middle of nowhere, nothing to see but sagebrush and cactus. Lightning flashed overhead like a failing light behind a lavender veil. Thunder boomed and rolled away into the forest-covered mountains.

Beautiful if you liked that kind of thing. Taylor didn"t particularly. He was a city boy through and through.

Fortunately it wasn"t cold. In fact, despite the threat of rain, it was unseasonably warm for this time of year in the Lincoln National Forest.

The girl, Kelila—no, better to think of her as Hedwig—was breathing fast as they hurried her along the deeply rutted road. Were they pushing her too hard?

Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat

21

Speaking for himself, Taylor felt they couldn"t get to the car a minute too soon. The vast panorama of the desert, however majestic, made him feel too exposed.

Vulnerable.

He was relieved to spot the gleam of the car roof a few yards ahead.

The moon had been out when they"d parked earlier that evening. Now it was too dark to see past the brush and cactus. Still, everything seemed undisturbed.