* * *
It was starting to snow harder now.
Cara could barely see anything on either side of the trail.
But she could see Jock.
She kept her eyes straight ahead, fixed on his back.
Keep close to him.
Don’t make him slow down because of her.
The snow would melt, then refreeze, and she’d have that ice again. She could only hope she’d do better the second time around.
So cold. The snow was stinging her cheeks.
Put one foot in front of another.
Keep close to him.
She had to do her part.
She was strong. She could do anything if she tried hard enough.
Her own soul …
Keep close to him.
KASKOV ESTATE
“We’ve located the rental car,” Ivan said. “It was half-buried behind a large snow-removal truck in a garage at a ski resort.” His index finger stabbed a location on the map in front of Natalie. “Here. It’s Laskovic Ski Resort in the hills near Khimki. It’s been closed for repairs for the last eighteen months. One caretaker. He was the one who found the rental car.”
“They’re at this resort?” she asked eagerly.
“Somewhere on the property. I’ve sent men to search the area. We’ll know soon.” He smiled savagely as he stared down at the map. “I told you I’d find them.” He took out his phone. “Now we check and see how close that aircraft is to those hills.”
“You check.” She jumped to her feet. “I’m going to drive there and make sure there aren’t any slip-ups.” She was calling over her shoulder as she headed out the door. “If we’re this close, there’s no way I’ll let Duncan get her hands on Cara.”
* * *
“How near, Caleb?” Eve asked, her eyes on the whirling snow driving against the windshield of the helicopter. “And is this damn snow going to stop us? It looks like it’s getting heavier.”
“It will be close,” Caleb said. “But we’ll make it, if we don’t run into trouble.” He added quietly, “Jock said that he thought the same thing, remember? And he wouldn’t risk Cara in this weather if he wasn’t pretty certain he could get her out.”
“You can never be certain of the weather,” Joe said. “It’s always a risk.”
“Still, I’d lean toward Jock,” Caleb said with a smile. “He can be fairly uncanny on many levels.”
“The pot calling the kettle black?”
“I don’t care about kettles and pots,” Eve said impatiently. “How close are we to that mountain?”
“Forty-five minutes,” Caleb said. He added gently as he saw her expression, “And if Jock says that the weather will hold until we get them out, believe him.” He banked the helicopter. “Now let me see if I can nudge a little more speed out of this copter so that we can hedge his bet…”
* * *
“They’re nowhere in the resort itself,” Ivan said as he came back to the car where Natalie was waiting. “And all the ski lifts are shut down. But there’s a trail that leads through the hills past a plateau. It’s rough country. There would be no one to see if there’s a helicopter pickup. That could be a possibility.”
“How good a possibility?”
“The only one we have,” Ivan said flatly. “That helicopter was near here on the last sighting. I’m calling that plateau as the target.” He started across the snowbanked resort entrance. “And I’m phoning to another ski resort in the hills about thirty miles from here and arranging to get several bobsleds to get us down that trail to the plateau very fast. If you want to go along, be ready when they get here. I’m not waiting for you.”
Son of a bitch, she thought viciously, as she jumped out of the car. Arrogance on top of arrogance. She couldn’t wait to punish him for that ugliness to her. Keep cool. Not yet.
“Of course I’ll be ready,” she said sweetly. “We both realize how important it is that we cooperate with each other. You’re doing everything that’s needed, and I appreciate it.” She jammed her hands into her pockets. “After this is over, we have to work to get back on track. It was Duncan who caused all this disturbance. Everything will be fine again once we get rid of her.”
“Will it?”
“Do you doubt me?”
“Yes.” He was silent. “But you’re a great lay, and if you show me that gold, I might get over the way you treated me.”
“Oh, I do hope so. I’m only a woman, and I realize I’ve made mistakes.” She smiled. “I’ll surely try to make you happy, Ivan.”
* * *
“There’s the plateau,” Jock said quietly.
He had turned around on the trail and was watching Cara come toward him. She had been so numb with weariness that she hadn’t been aware that he had stopped.
It was over?
Relief.
The plateau was only a blur of white in the falling snow. All of that effort and pain, and she could barely see the result.
No, the result was that she had made it, that she hadn’t failed Jock.
That was enough.
He was frowning and walking back to her. “Okay?”
She nodded jerkily. “Tired.” She laid her head on his chest. “So tired. But I made it, didn’t I? Pretty darn good for a kid from California.”
He held her close. “Aye, you did. Pretty darn good. How do you feel, other than tired?”
“Strong.” She nestled closer. “Though I had to start making up my own music about halfway here to keep going. I can usually hear it, but I was having trouble.”
“Imagine that.”
“But I kept telling myself that I owned my own soul, and a soul has choices. I made this choice, and I was going to take it all the way.” She stayed close to him a few seconds more. He felt warm and strong, and she didn’t want to let that go. Then she stepped back. “When will they get here?”
“Anytime now. I received a text from Caleb that they were in the area fifteen minutes ago. I’ll call and tell him that we’ve—” He stopped as his phone rang. “Caleb.” He picked up. “I was just going to—”
“How close are you?” Caleb interrupted.
“We’re on-site.”
“Stay there. We’ll be there within five minutes.” Caleb’s voice was clipped. “And hope that someone isn’t there ahead of us. As we flew over that resort, it was teeming with people, a couple of police cars, two very stylish dark sedans. And several bobsleds getting set to go down the trail. I’d say they know you’re there. I thought I’d warn you.”
“You’ve warned me.” Jock gazed back up the trail they’d just traveled. “Just get here and get her out. I can cover you.” He hung up. “Cara, get to those rocks.” He pulled Cara off the trail and toward the rocky outcroppings that bordered the trail. “Stay low. They’ll be here in five minutes. There’s not going to be any time after they land. The door opens, you jump for it.”
“They’ve found us? That’s what you were talking about?” Her heart was beating hard as she watched him lift his binoculars to his eyes and look back up the trail. And she’d remembered something else he’d said. “You said you’d cover us. You want me to go without you?”
He’d lowered his binoculars. “You’d just get in my way. There are five or six men in bobsleds on that upper trail. Those sleds travel fast, anywhere from a hundred miles per hour to sometimes double that. It’s going to be close.” He was opening his backpack and pulling out a disassembled automatic rifle. He clipped it together quickly and efficiently. “I can take care of myself, but you’ll be a bother from now on. I’m turning you over to Eve and company.”
“Liar. Stop lying to me.”
“I’m not lying. This is what I do. What I am.” His head rose. “I hear the helicopter. Go out to the middle of the plateau and wait for them.”
She stayed where she was.
“Move.” He slung the weapon over his shoulder. “Or I’ll carry you.”
She shook her head. “Enough people have ri
sked their lives for me. I’m not going without you. If you make me fight you, you could get me killed. And I guarantee that I’ll make you hurt me.”
Jock stared at her, then shook his head. “Cara.”
She raised her head to look at the sky. “That helicopter sounds like it’s right on top of us. You’d better get me out there.” She held out her hand to him. “Take me to them, Jock.”
He looked at her in frustration and muttered a curse. He grabbed her hand and half pulled her, half ran her, out to the landing helicopter. He opened the door, and Joe was there waiting.
Joe held out his hand to Cara. “Get in. Those snow vehicles will be within range in seconds.”
She didn’t take his hand. “Jock, first.”
“Dammit.” Jock dove into the helicopter, and said through his teeth, “Get in here, Cara.”
She took Joe’s hand and let him pull her into the aircraft.
The next moment, the helicopter was lifting off the plateau.
Not soon enough.
A bullet struck the rim of the door.
Jock pushed her roughly aside, unslung his rifle and positioned himself to the side of the door. “You’ve had your way, now let me have mine.” He called to Caleb, “I’ll get rid of that first snow sled. It should give you time to get away from these hills.”
The helicopter was dipping, bouncing, but Jock appeared to be rock steady.
He started to shoot, the automatic weapon firing a steady stream that tore up everything in its path, then it reached the snow sled.
He destroyed it, glass, plastic, metal.
A moment later, he hit the gas tank, and the vehicle blew.
Cara could feel the shock wave, and she saw the sled explode.
“Cara.”
Eve was beside her, Cara realized.
“Come and sit down, Cara,” Eve said gently.
“Eve.” She went into her arms as Eve held her close.
Safety. Warmth. Love.
Eve stepped back. “Come on. We need to get you buckled into a seat, Cara.”
Cara nodded jerkily. “If Jock is finished with me now. Are you done, Jock?”
He turned and looked at her. “It’s what I do. It’s what I am.”
“It’s not true. You’re angry, and you wanted to show me, but it’s not true.” She turned back to Eve. “I do want to sit down. I’m tired. I walked a long way.” It seemed a long time ago that she had been so happy about that victory. “What about that snowstorm? Do we have to worry?”
“We have to worry.” Eve pushed her down in a seat and sat down beside her. “But now that we’ve got you, that doesn’t seem as important.”
Cara knew what she meant. Risks all around them, but she was here with all the people she cared about who had become her life. All but one. “Where’s Jane?’
“We dropped her off at an airport about eighty miles from here. She’s going to rent a plane so that we can trade off this copter for it and make some speed getting back to Finland to pick up Caleb’s Gulfstream.” Eve’s fingers smoothed Cara’s hair back from her face. “I imagine that you’re anxious to do that. It’s been pretty much of a nightmare for you.”
“I’m the one who caused the nightmare, Eve. I’ve caused you so much trouble.” She looked across the copter at Jock, who was talking to Joe. “Caused him so much trouble. I’ll do better from now on. I promise you.”
“Hush. Now isn’t the time for anything but being grateful that we’re all alive and together. We’ll worry about the rest later.” The copter gave a jerk and lost altitude. “Oops. Along with getting to Jane and that airport safely. I believe that storm has hit us at last.”
* * *
Fire!
Natalie could feel the heat of the flames from the burning pyre of the vehicle that had just blown up ahead of them. She frantically crawled through the snow, away from the wreckage. The blast had not only destroyed the vehicle in front of them but overturned their own vehicle and dumped her in the snow.
And she could see Eve’s helicopter flying away from her.
Humiliation.
Fury.
It was unbearable.
“Ivan!”
She saw him talking to the men in the next vehicle, gesturing to the departing helicopter.
Instead of paying attention to her.
Another humiliation.
“Ivan!”
He gave her a casual glance and kept on talking.
She wanted to scream.
To curse that woman who had taken Cara, who had made a fool of Natalie when no one could make a fool of her. Who had stolen her gold and endangered her relationship with her father. Who had made her turn to that simpleton, Ivan Sabak, for help because there was no one else.
That woman, that supreme bitch.
Eve Duncan.
She hated her. She had hated people before but not like this. It was twisting inside her, burning like that hot metal.
Natalie sat there in the snow, ignoring everything going on around her, watching the burning of the vehicle, no longer in a hurry to race after Duncan. She knew it would be too late now. Cara’s precious Eve had won.
Phoenix. The flames reminded her of that opera her father had made her attend with him years ago. Something about some silly bird being resurrected from the flames. From defeat to triumph. Death to life.
Don’t rest easy, Eve. Always look behind you.
Because, when you least expect it, I’ll be there.
* * *
The snow was slightly abating by the time Caleb landed the helicopter at the airport where they’d dropped Jane off.
Jane gave Cara an enormous hug and smiled at Jock. “You did it. Congratulations.”
“Let’s get going.” Jock turned away. “We’re not out of the woods yet.” He strode toward the waiting jet. “We’re still on their territory.”
Jane’s brows rose as she gazed after him. “A little tense? I guess he has a right.”
“He’s angry with me,” Cara said. “It’s not you.” She hurried after Jock and caught up with him as he was boarding the plane. “I was right,” she said desperately. “You were wrong. I had to do it. I can’t let you take care of me forever. Not if it means losing you.”
He shrugged and finished climbing the steps. “It’s not the time to discuss it. Get on board. This time I’m not going to plead with you to do it. I’ll leave that to Eve.”
“You didn’t plead with me.”
“Didn’t I? That’s what it felt like.”
She watched him walk down the aisle and sit down beside Joe and Eve.
“He’ll get over it.” Jane was standing beside her. “Though I admit I’m surprised. You’re the one person that I thought would never be subject to Jock’s anger.”
“I’m changing. He doesn’t like it.” She dropped down in her seat, her agonized gaze still on Jock. “I didn’t know it would happen like this. He helped me so much … what he said to me … it was a gift … but it brought other things with it. And now he’s angry. It hurts … Jane.”
“I can see that.” She took Cara’s hand. “And that’s all I can see. It’s between you and that wild Scot and always will be. You’ll have to work it out for yourselves. But I’m here for you, if you need me.” Caleb was starting to taxi and she buckled her seat belt and reached over and did the same for Cara. “All I can suggest is that you focus on something else. He’s not your whole world any longer. I can understand how in these last days it must have seemed that way.”
It still seemed that way, Cara wanted to tell her. But she was right, there was Eve, whom she had promised to take care of and then became lost along the way. She was being selfish worrying about Jock’s anger. “I never even asked Eve where we were going from here.”
“Back to Gaelkar for a little while.” She smiled. “MacDuff has done us some major favors and been injured in the process. He deserves to have our help in finding out whether Cira’s treasure is somewhere in that mist.” She added, “An
d Joe thinks it will be safer for you there until we find a way of getting you totally free of Natalie’s clutches. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but Immigration may still be set on returning you to her.”
“No!”
“It won’t happen,” Jane said quietly. “No one is going to let you go back to her. Believe me, Jock may have been your entire world over here, but we’ve all been fighting for you in our own ways. I think you should know about that, too.”
Cara listened in stunned silence as Jane related all that had been happening that had led up to Drostkey Park. “All that trouble…”
“No,” Jane said firmly. “All that caring. There’s a difference. It’s never trouble if you care enough. I think you’ve already discovered that truth.”
She nodded slowly, still bemused. “But all my life I’ve had Jenny and Elena, then no one. It seems strange that you all would want to—Oh, maybe Eve, but it causes so much—”
“Trouble?” Jane finished with a smile. “You’ll just have to become accustomed to the idea and the differences, Cara. I believe you’ve acquired an extended family.”
“You, Jane?” she whispered.
“Me, Cara,” she said gently. “You had a head start with me. We had the Eve connection. But you came the rest of the way on your own.” She nodded at Eve. “But now we’ve both got to focus on that connection. She’s going to need both of us.”
“Of course, I’ll do whatever—” Her eyes widened as she saw Jane’s grave expression. “What’s wrong? Is she sick?”
Jane quickly shook her head. “I didn’t say that. I just said that it’s time to focus on Eve.” She leaned back in the seat. “Now settle down and relax. You have to be exhausted from that trip down the mountain. It would be a good idea if you could manage to nap. You don’t need to do any more soul-searching than you’ve already done.” She closed her eyes. “And forget about Jock.”
Not possible. Any more than she would be able to forget everything that Jane had told her. Any more than she could forget that odd hesitance Jane had made when she had asked if Eve was sick. Her gaze flew to Eve across the aisle. She didn’t look sick. She had wonderful color. But she did look tired. That was probably Cara’s fault. Everything that had happened recently to her “extended family” was probably her fault.