Читать книгу AWOL with the Operative - Jean Thomas - Страница 9

Chapter 1

The first thing Sam noticed about her was the fear in her eyes.

Okay, maybe not the first. If he was going to be honest with himself, the first had to be how tantalizing those eyes were. That is, if a pair of eyes could be described as tantalizing. Hers could, he decided. Definitely. They were wide, framed by dark lashes and a pure, luminous green.

But, yeah, at the moment registering her fear. Understandable, he supposed, considering how her boyfriend had died. And now she was at risk herself. Or so Sam’s squad supervisor believed. Sam, himself, had yet to be convinced of that.

“Anything new on the case?” he asked the ruddy-faced RCMP officer, to whom he had just presented his American passport and his FBI credentials.

The young Mountie, standing protectively at Eve Warren’s side, shook his head. “We’re still investigating. That particular stretch of road can be real bad, especially in winter conditions. Either the accident was just that, an accident, or—”

The Mountie glanced at Eve, plainly not wanting her to hear the rest. But Sam could guess what he must have intended to say.

Or Charlie Fowler’s rental car was forced off the road and down that mountainside where he fell to his death.

“It was snowing, you see,” the Mountie explained, “and the tire tracks were no longer visible for us to read. But a witness on the lower road thought there was another car up there behind Fowler’s. If so, it disappeared from the scene.”

Sam gazed at Eve. If she was upset listening to what she must have heard already, it wasn’t visible on her face. Except for the fear that was still in her eyes. Other than that, she was silent. Just as she had been since Sam had introduced himself a moment ago when he had arrived in the lobby of the main lodge. They had been waiting for him.

Could be she was in a state of shock. Damn. He was in no mood to deal with anything like that. This situation was bad enough as it was.

The Mountie returned Sam’s wallet folder containing his picture ID and badge, which he tucked back into his coat pocket, along with his passport. “Unless there’s anything else, Special Agent McDonough, I’ll turn Miss Warren over to you.”

Sam nodded and addressed himself to Eve with a brusque, “You ready?”

“Yes.”

Her voice was low and husky. And every bit as sexy as her green eyes, Sam thought. One more thing he was in no mood to deal with.

They both started to reach for her suitcase at the same time. Their fingers made contact. Sam swore he felt a jolt of current that was decidedly not static electricity shoot clear up his arm—something he was determined to ignore. She must have felt it, too. She quickly withdrew her hand, letting him take possession of her suitcase.

Eve thanked the Mountie for guarding her and accompanied Sam out the front door and down the steps to his waiting rental car. He stowed her bag in the trunk and saw her settled in the passenger seat. Then, before climbing behind the wheel, he did a fast check of the area to be sure it was secure. They were alone.

God, what a place for a high-class skiing village, he thought as he started the car and headed away from the lodge. April, and still as cold and white as mid-January. He supposed that was the point, to be located somewhere that would extend the season as long as possible. Yeah, but did it have to be in the Yukon wilderness, remote and isolated? Perfect for Charlie Fowler, though. A safe spot for his little tryst with Eve Warren. Or so Charlie must have believed.

The driveway out to the main road took them winding through the village’s colony of chalets. The chalets were presumably occupied by guests who preferred the small, Swiss-style structures over accommodations in the lodge.

“You and Fowler stay in one of those or in the lodge?” Sam asked the woman beside him.

“In a chalet,” Eve informed him. She didn’t point out which one.

Figures it would be a chalet, Sam thought. More privacy that way. And Charlie Fowler would have wanted as much privacy with her as possible. The FBI special agent would bet they never wasted a moment out on the ski slopes.

Sam didn’t blame Fowler. If he’d been holed up with a woman like Eve Warren, he’d want her all to himself, too. Or he would have before his life went all to hell. Now it was just a question of getting through each day without losing his sanity.

They had reached the main road. Sam turned right. When Eve realized which direction they were headed in, she challenged him with a startled “This isn’t the way to Dawson!”

“We’re not going to the commercial airport in Dawson.”

“Stop the car and turn around!”

Sam stopped the car. “Yeah, we can do that,” he said, not bothering to soften the sarcasm in his tone. “We can turn around and head for Dawson. That what you really want? To climb up over that pass where Charlie died?”

She didn’t respond, but when he turned his head to look at her, he saw her shudder with something like grief or dread. Maybe both.

“I didn’t think so,” he said without offering any sympathy as he drove on.

“Then where are you taking us?”

“To a small airfield used by private planes. I’ve arranged for us to be flown out of here by one of the bush pilots there. Any more questions?”

He shouldn’t have given her the opportunity. Should have known she’d have one. The woman was turning out to be a real pain in the ass.

“But why?”

“Because I’m a cautious agent, Eve Warren. If Fowler was murdered, then whoever killed him could be watching either that road or the airport in Dawson, just waiting for you to turn up. Okay?”

She must have been satisfied with his explanation because she offered no more objections. Not that he would tolerate them if she did. All that mattered to him was that she obey his instructions. The sooner he got her to Chicago and turned her over to his boss, the sooner he could walk away and get back to his life. What remained of it, that is.

He could see she was nervous, though. Her body went rigid every time they encountered an icy patch on the road, with the car starting to slide sideways before he corrected it.

Although he periodically checked the rearview mirror to make certain they weren’t being followed, there was no other vehicle either in front or behind them. They were on their own out here.

When he wasn’t concentrating on the road, Sam found himself sneaking glances at the woman beside him. Not wise. Not wise at all, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

She was an eyeful all right. A mass of russet-colored hair, creamy complexion, a beguiling little cleft in her chin and a full mouth that…well, a mouth that could only be described as lush.

He couldn’t see her body under that bulky parka, but he was willing to imagine it was every bit as alluring as the rest of her. And that made him even more puzzled about her than he’d been back in Chicago.

“What was this Eve Warren doing up there with Fowler?” Sam had asked his squad supervisor. “According to the record you have on him, he was never married, so she couldn’t have been his wife. There wasn’t a mention of any ongoing affair, either. So just who is she?”

Frank Kowsloski, hands folded across his paunch as he rocked back in his desk chair, had just shrugged. “We don’t know. We didn’t even know she existed until the RCMP called us with the news of Fowler’s death. And since then…well, there’s been no time for any proper investigation. All we could learn were the basics online. Her address, that she’s single, parents deceased, works for a magazine in St. Louis. That kind of thing.”

“Seems to me Fowler could have told you he was meeting someone up there.” Sam hadn’t been able to keep the sour note out of his voice as he’d faced Frank across his littered desktop. He’d resented being called in like this. Still did.

“Look, I was lucky to even persuade him in the end to tell us where he was going. I could have lost him if I’d pushed too hard.”

And that, Sam had thought, would have meant losing the FBI’s prime opportunity to send one of the nation’s most notorious crime bosses to prison. Because Charlie Fowler had been Victor DeMarco’s longtime accountant. He’d had the evidence to convict DeMarco, records that would prove years of tax cheating. And Charlie had been willing to turn those records over to the FBI. Why? Terminal cancer. Apparently, Charlie had also suffered from an attack of conscience and a need to make things right before he died.

But now it was too late. For all his careful handling of the case, Frank had lost Charlie Fowler anyway on that road to Dawson.

“Why didn’t you send an agent up there with him?” Sam had pressed his boss.

Frank had shaken his head. “He anticipated that. Said if one of my agents turned up there, the whole deal was off. Guess he wanted this last fling of his, if that’s what it was, to be strictly private. Anyway, the Canadians don’t appreciate our agents operating up there, not without permission and a lot of red tape. I had to settle for the Mounties promising to keep an eye on him.”

Which hadn’t worked, Sam thought, although he knew the RCMP was a reliable law enforcement agency.

“Why me, Frank? Why do I get to be your delivery boy? Hell, you know I’m not ready to come off leave. I’m still a head case.”

“Can’t be helped, Sam. All our agents are either out in the field or off somewhere with their kids on their spring vacations. Disney World, for all I know.”

Yeah, Sam had thought, warm places. Not the freeze-your-ass-off Yukon Territory. Why had Charlie Fowler chosen such a spot? Probably because he’d figured it was absolutely safe. It hadn’t been, not if he was murdered because DeMarco had suspected his accountant was about to turn on him. If that was true, it meant DeMarco’s boys had somehow managed to find him.

“You know, Frank, it would have been a helluva lot easier if Fowler had just turned those records over to you before he took off for the Yukon.”

“But he wouldn’t, not until his return. Probably his way of making sure I’d stick to my end of the bargain. I had no choice but to play by his rules.” The squad supervisor had hunched forward in his chair with an earnest “Look, it’s a simple enough assignment. All you have to do is fly up there and bring Eve Warren out. I need her, Sam. My gut tells me if DeMarco’s goons haven’t managed to get their hands on those records, then the woman either has them or knows where they are.”

Sam had doubted that then in Frank’s office, and he doubted it now even more after meeting Eve Warren. There was nothing about her to indicate that Fowler would have trusted her with such important information. No, given her spectacular looks and the considerable age difference between Fowler and her, Sam would wager she had to be nothing more than a playmate hired by Charlie to share his last holiday.

But, yeah, Sam could understand all right why Fowler had wanted her. Temptation that she was, he desired her himself. Not that he would try to initiate anything. She was his assignment, and that was all. Period.

Still, Charlie Fowler must have cared for her on some level other than a purely carnal one. The report Sam had read on his flight up here indicated Charlie and Eve had flown separately to Dawson and that Fowler had intended them to return in the same manner, which was why Eve wasn’t in that rental car with him. Why had Charlie insisted on that? Because he had wanted to safeguard her in the event of trouble? Sam wondered…

She didn’t like him.

On a purely physical level, Eve thought, Sam McDonough might qualify as every woman’s ideal male fantasy. He certainly had all the right, rugged looks for it. She wouldn’t deny him that.

All right, so in that sense she wasn’t entirely immune to him herself. But his attitude…well, that was another matter. The man was a devil—nasty to the point of harshness.

If he had any sympathy for her loss, he didn’t bother to express it either by word or manner. One thing was clear. He resented her.

Eve didn’t bother to wonder why. She was suffering from too much grief over Charlie’s death to trouble herself with something that didn’t really matter.

Charlie, Charlie, what happened exactly? And why did it have to happen?

She missed him. Missed him terribly. She was alone now. Alone and frightened.

Not quite alone, Eve. There’s the man at your side. But why, oh why, do you have to be so aware of him and this very disturbing effect he has on you?

It was impossible to ignore him as she would have liked. He was too blatantly there. Very much of a forceful presence with his hard body and hot temper.

An FBI agent of all things. They had sent an FBI agent to escort her home. Something connected with Charlie, and she was clear about none of it. Still too traumatized by the whole thing to try to figure it out. Or could it be that she didn’t really want to know?

How had she managed to get herself into this terrible situation anyway? She was just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. Work, a nice apartment, good friends, occasional dates when both her mood and interest prompted her enough to go out with the men who asked her.

Pleasant company. None of them that held the promise of anything approaching a serious attachment. None of them any more extraordinary than she was. No secrets in her life, no suggestion of intrigue. And no man who assaulted her senses while managing to be hateful about it at the same time. Until now.

The airfield was a simple one—two runways recently plowed for takeoffs and landings and a metal hangar attached to a small building that must serve as an office.

Their pilot emerged from the structure, shaking hands with them when Sam and Eve climbed out of the car. He was a portly, middle-aged man with the look of a Native American. Or at least a mixture of ancestry, Sam thought.

The guy verified that when he introduced himself. “Ken Redfeather,” he said. “Plane’s all gassed and ready for you.”

Sam nodded in the direction of the rental car. “There’ll be someone who’ll return the car to the Dawson airport, won’t there?”

“Yep. All arranged for, just as you specified on the phone. This way, folks.”

Ken Redfeather led them out to the waiting plane, a single engine, high-wing craft. Insisting on carrying her own suitcase this time, Eve followed their pilot. Sam brought up the rear with his own bag.

Why the hell couldn’t he keep his eyes off her? First it was her face. Now it was her backside. Or, anyway, what he could see of it in that coat. Whether the seductive sway of her hips was done consciously or unconsciously, whether it was fair of him or not, he resented her for his arousal. Emotionally messed up as he was, he didn’t need this unexpected complication.

Redfeather took their luggage when they reached the plane and stowed it in a baggage compartment behind the seats. Apparently a conscientious pilot, he invited them to settle themselves inside while he checked the outside of the plane to make sure everything was sound.

Ducking under the wing, Sam folded the front passenger seat back. “You take the backseat,” he indicated to Eve.

“Why?”

“Because there are no windows back there to speak of. You’ll be more secure.”

“And just what do you think I could possibly be in danger from up there? Birds?”

“It’s not birds I’m worried about. I don’t want you being a possible visible target when we land for refueling, which I was told when I made the arrangements that we’d have to do before we set down in Calgary.”

“And after Calgary?”

“We board a commercial jet for Chicago. No more questions. Get in the back.”

“I don’t think so,” she said stubbornly. “It’s bound to be warmer in front near the heater.”

“So, just keep your coat on.”

“I’d still like to ride in front.”

“I’m not giving you that choice,” he informed her sharply. “Just do what I tell you when I tell you, and we’ll both be happy.”

He could tell by the way her eyebrows lifted and the ice-hard glare under them that she was royally pissed off with him. Well, that was her problem.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re rude to the point of—”

“Meanness? Yeah, plenty of times. So what?”

She muttered something under her breath that he didn’t catch. He could guess what it might be. Something that probably involved the word bastard. Too bad. She had to understand he was responsible for her. That meant, like it or not—and she obviously didn’t anymore than he did—following his instructions.

“I’m beginning to think the only threat to me is you, Special Agent McDonough.”

One of those shapely eyebrows of hers, which Sam was beginning to realize were capable of expressing a whole range of emotions, shot up again with barely restrained anger. Before she could go on arguing with him, he cut her off with an emphatic, “Now get in the back like a good girl, and try not to give me any more grief.”

She must have figured it wasn’t worth the effort to make a further issue of it. Long-strapped, leather purse swinging from her shoulder, she clambered aboard and into the backseat. Sam lowered the front seat and swung himself into it. He shut the door behind him as Ken Redfeather rounded the tail of the plane and approached the pilot’s door.

As cramped as the cabin was, Sam wondered how Redfeather, with that ample belly of his, could possibly fit behind the yoke. As it turned out, once he’d shed his coat, he managed it with relative ease.

“Belt up, folks, and we’ll get my girl here on her way.”

A few minutes later, the plane lifted off the runway and into the clear, blue sky. When they had reached their cruising altitude, Sam looked down over the side.

The terrain spread out below them was an impressive sight. Snowy mountains, frozen lakes, vast forests of white spruce, birch and fir. On the flat, treeless bowl of a valley, Sam thought he could spot what had to be a herd of elk.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Redfeather said, obviously proud of his rugged homeland.

Sam murmured his agreement. Eve, probably unable to catch more than glimpses of what lay below them, had nothing to contribute. Sam should have felt some guilt about that and didn’t. Hey, he was only ensuring her welfare, wasn’t he?

Needing to confirm that welfare after a long silence in the cabin, he twisted around in his seat to check on her. And learned she was waiting for him. Or so it seemed when their gazes collided head-on. Sam sucked in his breath as her green, siren’s eyes held his, searing him with a hot intensity.

The moment was a compelling one. He had never felt so inflamed by a woman. And he didn’t appreciate it. Not when his self-control was in jeopardy by this senseless attraction to a woman he’d met less than two hours before. Not when he felt helpless to do anything about it, except damn himself for a weakness he couldn’t afford.

She finally broke the contact, dragging her gaze away from his, her face flushed. That’s when Sam realized she was not only conscious of him on the same level but that she didn’t want this tug of strong emotions between them any more than he did.

Releasing his breath with a rush of air, he turned around in his seat to avoid the provocative sight of her. Ken Redfeather appeared to be unmindful of the whole exchange. Sam meant to keep it that way.

“Think I’ll catch a few winks,” Sam mumbled. “I didn’t have a chance to sleep on the flight up here.”

Focused on his flying, Redfeather merely nodded.

It was warm up front, probably why Redfeather had wisely rid himself of his coat before takeoff. Something else that Sam should have felt guilty about, especially since he meant to follow the pilot’s example. Unbuckling his seat belt, he squirmed out of his own coat and dropped it down beside Redfeather’s in the space between them.

Sam restored his belt before he slid down in the seat as much as his tall body would allow. He closed his eyes, but, although he needed the rest, he didn’t expect to sleep. He didn’t sleep much at all these days, not even in his own bed. And with Eve Warren very much on his mind…

Sam must have dozed off after all. For how long he had no idea. The next thing he knew, the pilot was calling to him.

“Agent McDonough, wake up! I need you!”

Sam didn’t like the insistent, concerned tone in Redfeather’s voice. Shaking off the fog of sleep in his head, he sat up on his seat, instantly alert.

“What is it? Something wrong?”

“I hope not. That out there has been tailing us.”

The pilot nodded in the direction of the window on his side. Sam leaned over to get a better view through the glass. That proved to be a sizable helicopter of the military variety.

“How long has it been out there?”

“Not sure. But it has to be a powerful chopper to keep up with us.”

Not only keep up with them, Sam realized, but overtake them. The craft was flying level now with their plane a few hundred yards straight off to their left.

“Maybe it’s an official chopper patrolling the region. Just checking us out to make sure we’re legitimate.”

Ken Redfeather shook his head. “I don’t think so, not in this area. Anyway, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“What’s happening?” Eve demanded to know.

Sam had forgotten that, except for a very small pane on either side, she had no window back there. He turned his head to make sure she was all right. “Probably nothing. Just keep low until we know,” he ordered her curtly. He swung his attention back to their pilot. “Can you rouse them on your radio? Ask them what they’re doing out there?”

“I can try.”

Before Redfeather could act, the helicopter suddenly and rapidly closed the gap between them until it was no more than a couple of hundred feet away. A door in the side of the craft rolled back, revealing a burly, bearded man kneeling there in the opening with a rifle raised to his shoulder. Within seconds, Sam could hear bullets pinging against the body of their plane.

Sonofabitch!

“They’re shooting at us!” Redfeather shouted.

Sam concurred with a caustic “I noticed that.”

He knew what their objective was. Eve Warren. He also knew who they were. Had to be Victor DeMarco’s goons ordered to bring their plane down. But how in hell had they learned his method of transport?

No time to worry about that. Somehow he had to get them out of this mess, but first—

“You okay?” he asked, whipping his head around. “You weren’t hit, were—?”

He broke off in exasperation. Although she managed to shake her head, she went on sitting there upright, looking too numb with terror to move.

“Didn’t I tell you to get down?”

“Stop bullying me!”

“Then, dammit, do as you’re told.”

The look of alarm on her face was joined now by rancor directed at him. But she complied this time, squeezing down as low as possible in her seat.

Satisfied, Sam faced forward again, snatching his Glock out of his shoulder holster. Not that it would be of much use at this distance against a powerful rifle, but he felt better with the gun in his grip. He scanned the sky out his window. Not a cloud in sight. Wait a minute. There, below them!

“We’ve got cloud cover under us,” he informed Redfeather. “Looks big enough to hide in.”

“It’s a low snow mass.”

“Man, I don’t care if it’s a typhoon. Just get us into it, and fast.”

Ken Redfeather obeyed him, pushing the yoke forward. The nose of the plane went down, sending them into a dive. Sam steadied himself against the plunge, hoping Eve was hanging on. And hoping even more that Redfeather had the skill to get them out of this steep descent once they were buried in the cloud mass.

If the helicopter was swooping after them, Sam had no indication of it. At least there was no further gunfire from the chopper. None that he could detect anyway.

Small comfort, Sam thought wryly, remembering his squad supervisor’s certainty. It looked like Frank Kowsloski had been right about Eve Warren. That she did know something vital enough for Victor DeMarco to want her taken down. In this case, literally.

So much for a simple pickup and delivery. Squad supervisor or not, he was going to blister Frank when he got back. If he got back.

A fog closed in on the plane, cloaking them with its thickness. Snowflakes swirled around them, adding to their cover. They were in the cloud mass.

To Sam’s relief, Ken Redfeather pulled them out of the dive. They were flying level again. He searched through the windows on both sides. No sign of the chopper. They were safe. At least for the moment.

“Where are we anyway?” he wanted to know.

“On the border between British Columbia and Alberta,” Redfeather said.

“Not anywhere near Calgary, I suppose, since we haven’t stopped for refueling.”

“No, Calgary is still a long way off.”

Sam checked on Eve. “You holding up?”

“Just dandy,” she answered him dryly.

He guessed that was all the reassurance he was going to get. He wasn’t going to ask for more. He’d had enough of her obstinate crap. Besides, he had another concern to address. He switched his attention back to Redfeather.

“I don’t know about you, Ken, but I think it’s time you got on your radio and called out a distress. Let them know what’s happening up here.”

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure I’m in range of one of the towers. Bush pilots have been complaining for years about the dead zones out here.” Redfeather reached for his mike. “Let’s see if I can reach—” He broke off, staring in alarm down at the instrument panel.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“The oil pressure is dropping—and dropping fast. One of those bullets must have struck a push rod tube, and now we’re leaking oil at the bottom of the cowling.”

Great. Another freaking complication. “How bad is that?”

“Real bad. You want it straight?”

“Let’s have it.”

“Without oil, the engine will lock up and quit. I’m surprised she hasn’t already—”

There was a sudden, sickly sputtering. It was happening. The engine was seizing up. Sam heard a horrified gasp from the rear seat, and then there was nothing but a terrible stillness. The engine was dead.

The plane drifted for a few seconds, and then Sam could feel it settling as it lost altitude on its descent through the cloud cover.

“I’ll try to glide us in for a safe landing, folks, but it’ll be a miracle if there’s a clearing down there. Better make sure your belts are tight before you fold yourselves into a crash position.”

Sam whirled around in his seat, barking a command at Eve. “Brace yourself! Head on your knees!”

But she knew the drill. Her head was already lowered, face hidden against her knees. Sam risked a quick glance through the window. They had broken through the cloud mass. The ground was coming up on them swiftly. There was nothing down there resembling a clearing, only the dense, unbroken forest.

Sam ducked down, straining against his belt to get his head on his knees. A few seconds later, they plowed into the forest. He could hear the undercarriage tearing apart as the plane, nose down, smashed through the limbs of the trees.

The action jerked him up, slamming his head against the window on his side. He felt a sharp, shooting pain, and then everything went black.