Arctic Fire (34 page)

“Hi.”

Bill looked up from behind the sprawling desk of his home office at the sound of the soft voice coming from the doorway. “Hi.”

“Sorry about that scene in the kitchen,” Rita apologized as she closed the office door and moved toward him. “You know I’d never call the cops on you, Bill.”

There’d been that moment of weakness a few years ago, and he would forever pay the price if he ended this thing between them. Rita was careful to make that very clear every so often. “I know you wouldn’t.”

She went to sit on his lap, and she gave him a curious then irritated look when he didn’t turn in the chair right away and swing his legs out so she could. “I gave Cheryl a sleeping pill. She won’t be bothering us,” Rita assured him as she turned the chair to the side herself and eased herself down onto his lap. “She’s already out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“I did all that stuff in the kitchen for her benefit,” Rita whispered, nuzzling his neck. “You know that.”

“Of course.” Why couldn’t he have been stronger? He had been with everything else in his life. And he’d never even thought about cheating with any other woman, even when he’d sent Cheryl away when they were young. Why had he taken Rita to the hotel that day? Yes, yes, she’d been begging him to do it for months, but he should have been able to resist her. “And you were very convincing.”

She leaned back and gave him her vixen smile. “I was, wasn’t I?”

Rita was so damn passionate. Cheryl never had been that way during their lovemaking, not even when they were young. Cheryl had always been passive in bed, and he’d missed that passion in their relationship. But he still shouldn’t have cheated. And now his weakness was putting him squarely in the crosshairs.

She kissed his neck. “Let’s make love, Bill. Right here, right now.”

“Jesus, Rita, I don’t know if—”

“Don’t do that, Bill,” she warned sharply as the softness in her voice evaporated. “Don’t deny me.”

Hunter pressed his ear to the bedroom doorway. He’d hustled back here after he’d heard the man outside the apartment starting to jiggle the lock. It had occurred to him as he’d listened to the clicking and the rattling that the guy was probably capable of getting into anyplace he wanted to very quickly. He had that evilly competent look about him, even through the peephole, and it had scared Hunter to death—again. The same way it had the other night when the guy had his men force that plastic bag over his head the first time.

He’d been right to run back here. The guy had made it into the apartment only moments after he’d run into the bedroom and shut the door hurriedly.

The voices coming from the other side of the door were muffled, but Hunter could still hear the words. He felt terrible for leaving Lisa out there alone with the bastard, but what else was he supposed to do? If the guy found him here in the apartment, he’d probably kill him, which meant Lisa was in mortal danger as well because the guy wouldn’t leave a witness to a murder. It would probably mean the end for Amy too, Hunter realized. So it was better for everyone for him to cower back here like a little kid.

“Where’s Troy Jensen?” the man demanded loudly.

“I don’t know,” Lisa answered. “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“When was the last time you heard from him?”

“Awhile,” she replied.

Hunter could hear her voice shaking with fear.

“When was it exactly?”

“I’m not sure.”

“When was it, damn it?”

“
Ay dios mio.
Get your hands off me!”

“You don’t tell me what I want to know, and I’ll hurt your baby.”

“No, please,” she cried. “Please don’t touch him! Please!”

Hunter reached for the doorknob. He felt so guilty standing here doing nothing. He’d told Jack he’d take care of the girl, and here he was hiding out like a complete coward.

But he pulled his hand back as soon as his fingertips touched metal. It was as though he’d been shocked by a powerful electric current. He’d never been in a fight in his life. What chance did he really have against the man out there? The guy was small, but Hunter sensed that he was still so very dangerous.

“Where’s your damn cell phone?” the man asked harshly. “I want to see for myself if he’s called you. Show me!”

“I don’t have a cell phone.”

“Yeah, sure,” the guy muttered cynically. “Everyone has a cell phone. Even poor girls like you. Now where is it?”

“Ouch!” she screamed. “Stop it!”

“Give me your damn phone.”

“Not my baby, not my baby!”

Hunter burst from the bedroom and raced straight at the little man. He couldn’t take it anymore.

As Hunter was about to hurl himself into Maddux, the little man stepped aside and shattered Hunter’s kneecap with a wicked chop kick.

“
Oh, Geeeoood!
” Hunter screamed in agony as he collapsed to the floor and shut his eyes tightly. “Oh my fucking God!”

When he grabbed his knee it felt as if the cap had spun around to the back of his leg. There was nothing but a depression where the kneecap should have been, and there was a huge lump at the back of his leg. He heard Lisa and the baby scream, but the pain in his leg was so intense he couldn’t pry his eyes open.

Then there was a muffled bang and he thought he heard something fall to the floor beside him.

When he opened his eyes, he was staring directly into the pretty face of Lisa Martinez. It was only a few inches away.

“Lisa, are you—”

He cringed when dark red blood began pouring from her mouth and nose and pooling on the floor. Then he felt something pressing against the back of his head. It was the working end of a pistol with a silencer screwed to the end of the barrel.

Then Maddux fired a second shot from the pistol.

Rita pulled back from their kiss. “Do you love me, Bill?”

That was a question he didn’t want to answer. Either way, it was trouble. “Rita, I—”

She pressed her fingers to his lips and smiled wryly. “Don’t answer. I know you don’t want to. I know you’ll never leave Cheryl.” She hesitated. “But you can love two women, Bill, I know you can. You’re that kind of man. So I’ll just assume you love me too.”

The fact that Rita had even thought about him leaving Cheryl shook Bill to his core. It was all suddenly getting out of control. And he should have known that someday it would. “It’s just not something we should—”

“Why did Jack come to visit you in your office on Wall Street the other day?” she interrupted.

“Um, he just…well…”

“Was it to talk about Troy?”

“Yeah,” Bill muttered. “It was.”

Rita kissed Bill on the forehead. “I’m so sorry about what happened. I wish he hadn’t gone on that crab boat. He was such a good kid.” She smiled sadly. “He was you.”

“Thanks. That’s nice.”

He’d told Rita right away what had happened to Troy. For better or worse she was part of the family, and it would have been wrong not to say something to her immediately. It would have looked wrong too. It was a bizarre thing, but Rita and Cheryl were that close. If Cheryl ever found out what had been going on, she’d leave a husband and a best friend.

Bill shut his eyes. He’d been such a bad person. And Cheryl had always been so good to him.

“He was a great kid,” Bill murmured.

“And that was why Jack came to your office? To talk about that?”

“Yes.”

“That was the only reason?”

It seemed strange for her to push so hard. “Yes,” he repeated. “Why?”

“It’s just that I thought Jack told me he was going on a trip or something before you got to the office. I thought he said that, and I was just wondering where he was going.”

Bill’s eyes moved deliberately to Rita’s as a cold chill crawled up his spine. Fortunately, he was able to hide its effects.

He couldn’t believe what Rita had so blatantly asked.

“This is nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”

“There’s been an accident in Building 2 of the Bayside Projects on Temple Avenue in Brooklyn,” Maddux answered calmly. “Get somebody to apartment 312 as fast as possible. You’ve got two individuals down and a baby in distress.” The two individuals who were down were dead, so there was nothing the EMTs could do for them.

“Who is this?” the 9-1-1 operator demanded.

But Maddux couldn’t leave a baby alone in that apartment with his mother lying dead on the floor. He wasn’t that cold. Close, but not quite. “Did you get the damn address?” he asked as he hustled toward the subway that would take him back to Manhattan, where he would catch an Amtrak to Washington.

“Yes, I got it. I already have a team responding. Now tell me who I’m talking—”

“Read it back to me,” he ordered.

When the operator had read the address back correctly, Maddux ended the call with her immediately and dialed the man who was watching Amy Smith.

“What is it?” the man answered before the first ring had ended.

“She’s expendable at this point,” Maddux said matter-of-factly. “But make it humane. Got it? Don’t drag it out. Don’t even let her know it’s coming.”

“Yes, sir.”

He tossed the cell phone he’d been using into a sewer. Then he pulled out one of the two other cell phones he was carrying. He cursed under his breath when he saw that there were no messages waiting for him on the screen.

They had to find out where Jack Jensen was going. If Troy really was alive, that was undoubtedly where Jack was headed. Jack would lead them right to Troy, Maddux was certain, and then they’d kill both of them. Then everything would be fine.

As Maddux slipped the phone back into his pocket, he thought about the
Pegasus
and the two hundred thousand cubic meters of LNG that were churning steadily toward Virginia Beach. And how so many people had no idea what was coming straight for them. Then he thought about how President Dorn had no idea what was coming straight for him either.

Just a few more days and everything would come together.

Maddux shook his head as he moved down into the subway. Troy Jensen was the only person who could crash the party at this point.