Long After Midnight (13 page)

“I must have lost it somewhere back at the cave. Maybe in the fire. Afraid it’s too late.”

Jimenez’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? That lighter had my initials engraved on it.” His voice went shrill with panic. “What if Ishmaru comes back and finds it? He’ll think I did this.”

Seth turned to look at him. “Oops.”

They were calling his flight.

Seth quickly finished typing the address into the label machine he’d picked up at a drugstore on the way to the airport. He pulled the
Warriors
book out of the small cardboard box before sealing it. He might need it later.

He pressed the address label on the box, added the stamps he’d purchased from the airport post office, and headed for the postal box down the hall. He was barely able to squeeze the box into the opening.

Second call for his flight.

He stripped off his gloves and stuffed them in his back pocket. No other fingerprints but Ishmaru’s and Jimenez’s were on the box, which was now on its way to the L.A. district attorney’s office. He had little faith they’d catch Ishmaru, but maybe it would be a wake-up call. Even if they managed to nail only that bastard Jimenez, it would be a plus. He’d been tempted to kill the asshole himself. Seth had thought he had seen everything, but the sight of that little girl’s silky—

Last call for his flight.

Don’t think about it. He couldn’t do anything for that poor kid, and Ishmaru was still out there. He had a job to do.

He hurried toward his departure gate.

Noah’s cabin was set far back from the road, screened by trees and shrubbery. Kate wouldn’t have even been aware the place existed if she hadn’t been closely following Noah.

“Are we here?” Phyliss asked.

“I guess we are.” Kate rolled to a stop behind Noah’s jeep. “It’s about time.” It seemed as if they’d been winding through bumpy back roads for hours. She glanced at Joshua sleeping in the backseat and decided not to wake him. Let him sleep. It had been an exhausting trip, emotionally as well as physically. She’d rouse him when they had a bed in which to settle him.

Kate got out of the car and looked up at the cabin. Actually, it was larger than her house back in Dandridge but it was built of logs and stone and appeared rustic enough to be called a cabin. A wide deck wrapped around it. “How many rooms does it have?”

“Seven.” Noah pulled his duffel out of the jeep. “Kitchen and living room combo, three bedrooms, two baths. Plus the lab at the back.”

“I’ll start to unpack,” Phyliss said as she got out of the car.

“Don’t bother,” Noah said. “You’re not staying.”

Kate froze. “What?”

He started climbing the steps leading to the deck. “I’m moving Phyliss and Joshua to the ranger station four miles from here.”

“Why? There’s obviously plenty of room for all of us.”

“You’ll be busy.”

She followed him up the steps. “Not too busy for my son. He stays with me.”

He looked at her. “No, he doesn’t stay with you. I made you a promise to keep your son safe. I intend to keep it.”

“By separating us?”

“Think.” He lowered his voice so that it would be audible only to her. “We’re the primary targets. We’d be first on the list. Joshua and Phyliss are much more likely to be hurt if they stay close to you.”

But she didn’t want to be separated from Joshua and Phyliss. The very idea made her feel isolated and shaken. “You said this place is safe.”

“As safe as I can make it.” His lips tightened. “There’s no way I can assure you that you’ll get out of this alive, but the boy
will
survive. We’ve had enough innocent bystanders suffer.”

She couldn’t help but be swayed by both the logic and the passion of his argument. “I don’t like having them there by themselves.”

“They won’t be by themselves. I told you I’d have them guarded.”

She frowned. “By the forest ranger?”

“Well, of sorts.” He paused. “Actually, Seth persuaded the forest ranger to take a vacation and let him take over.”

She went rigid. “Seth?”

He tried the front door and found it open. He called, “Seth.”

“He’s here?” she asked in shock.

“Damn right, I’m here. You took long enough. I was getting bored.” Seth rose from the easy chair across the room. “Good to see you again, Kate. How’s Joshua?”

“Okay,” she answered automatically as she watched him come toward her. It was the first time she had actually looked at him. His hair was very dark, cut close to subdue a tendency to curl. He was in his middle thirties but moved with the same youthful springiness as Joshua. His face was as lean and angular as his body and dominated by a wide mobile mouth and light blue eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was invited.” He looked at Noah. “You didn’t tell her?”

Noah shook his head. “She was skittish.”

Skittish? Anger suddenly jarred Kate out of her bewilderment. She whirled on Noah. “You told me no one knew about this place.”

“I lied,” Noah said simply.

“Because I was ‘skittish.’ ”

“His word, not mine,” Seth said.

Noah ignored him. “Because I needed you here and you were looking for an excuse not to come.”

She flung out an arm at Seth. “An excuse like him?”

“My feelings are hurt,” Seth said. “My company is usually sought after by one and all.”

“Who else knows?” Kate asked Noah.

“No one.” He raised his hand to ward off the charge he knew was coming. “And that’s not a lie.”

“How could I ever be sure?” It was too much after the exhaustion and terror of the past few days. She exploded. “
Damn
you. I’m out of here.”

She turned on her heel, strode out of the house and down the steps. “Get back in the car, Phyliss.”

“Again?” Phyliss made a face and climbed into the passenger seat. “Make up your mind.”

“It’s made up.”

“Where the hell are you going?” Noah called from the deck behind her.

She didn’t answer as she got behind the wheel.

“Will you listen to me?” Noah called. “I can’t let you go like this, Kate.”

She started the engine and drove away.

“Testy, wasn’t she?” Seth strolled out of the cabin and handed Noah the Springfield rifle he’d taken from the case by the door.

“What am I supposed to do with this? Shoot her?”

“Just the left back tire. She’s going slow enough.” Seth shaded his eyes with his hand. “And you’d better do it before she reaches the curve or she may go off the road when the tire bursts.”

“Since you seem to be orchestrating this, maybe you’d prefer to do it,” Noah said sarcastically.

Seth shook his head. “I’m already in deep trouble and I’m going to have to live with the kid and the grandmother. I don’t want them shaking in their boots every time I walk in the room.” He grinned maliciously. “Besides, I want to see if you’ve lost your touch. Come on, it’s only five hundred yards.”

“Six.”

“Whatever. The way I see it, it’s either a high-speed chase that could send them over a cliff or a neat little bullet on the straightaway.” He looked back at the road. “I’d judge you only have forty seconds before she reaches the curve.”

No one was better than Seth at judging in this arena, Noah thought. And he was right; it was the only safe way of stopping Kate and she had to be stopped. He lifted the rifle and sighted. He pressed the trigger.

The tire blew. Kate struggled to keep the car on the road. The Honda came to a stop two yards from the curve.

“Not bad,” Seth murmured. “Some people never lose it. Did it feel good?”

“No.” He tossed Seth the rifle and started down the steps. “And it’s going to feel even less good when I get out there and have to face Kate.”

Seth smiled. “I think you’re lying. I watched you. I bet it did feel good.” He headed back into the house. “I’ll go get my gear and set out for the ranger station. I’m a peaceable man. I really don’t want to hang around if there’s going to be a row.”

Noah snorted derisively as he jumped into the jeep.

Kate leaned her head on the steering wheel, heart beating frantically. Damn him. Damn the crazy, obsessive son of a bitch.

“My God, what happened?” Phyliss asked after she caught her breath.

“He shot out a rear tire.” The sound of the shot and the blowout had come almost simultaneously, but there was no doubt in Kate’s mind what had happened.

Phyliss blinked. “He really didn’t want you to go, did he?”

“He really didn’t.”

“Why have we stopped?” Joshua asked sleepily from the backseat. He sat up and looked around. “Are we there? I don’t see a cabin.”

She was grateful Joshua had slept through everything, but this was no time for explanations. “Stay in the car.” She grabbed her purse and got out of the Honda.

Phyliss followed her as she moved to the rear of the car. “Why did you change your mind about staying?”

“He lied to me. There was someone at the cabin.”

“Oh, and you were afraid?”

“No.” Fear hadn’t entered into it. She had known neither Noah nor Seth Drakin would hurt them. But Noah had lied to her. She had felt used and manipulated and then he had used
that
word. Brainless birds were skittish, horses were skittish. Women were not skittish.

“Here he comes,” Phyliss said, looking up the road. “What do we do now?”

“Wait.” Kate drew the Colt from her purse as the jeep stopped behind them.

“For God’s sake, put that up.” Noah jumped out of the jeep. “You know I’m no threat to you.”

“You shot at us,” Kate said coldly. “I’d say that’s a threat.”

“I had to stop you.” He held out his hands. “Do you see any weapon?”

“I see a liar and a man who shot at me.”

“I shot at your tire, not at you.” He went to the trunk of the car. “Give me your keys. I’ll change your tire and you can drive it back to the house.” He glanced at the gun. “Put it away. If you weren’t so tired, you’d realize that you overreacted. You know I’ve no intention of harming you.”

“I’d say you’re the one who overreacted,” Phyliss said dryly.

“Maybe you’re right.” He grimaced. “I was desperate. There didn’t seem anything else to do at the time. I honestly had no intention of harming you, Mrs. Denby.” He met her gaze directly. “I promise that I’m going to do everything in my power to see that nothing happens to you.”

Phyliss studied him for a moment and then said, “Put the gun away, Kate.”

Kate hesitated, then wearily slipped the gun in her bag. She was sick to death of guns. She felt like some half-baked Annie Oakley. She had handled the weapon more in the past few days than she had in all the years since Michael had given it to her. She threw him the trunk keys. “Change it and let us get out of here.”

“I want you to come back to the cabin and let me make dinner for you all. Okay, I made a mistake. I should have told you about Seth.”

“
And
the ranger station.”

He took the spare tire and jack out of the trunk. “But does the fact that you find me untruthful and unscrupulous really alter the reason you came here? You wanted to be safe. I’ll keep you safe.”

“That could be a lie too.”

“Don’t you trust your own judgment? You didn’t think it was a lie before.” He knelt down and began to jack up the car. “Just come back to the house and give yourself a chance to think. You’ve been under tremendous pressure and, like an idiot, I tossed the last straw at you. I won’t do that to you again. Even if you—”

“What happened to the tire?” Joshua was standing beside Noah staring curiously at the hole in the rubber.

“I told you to wait in the car, Joshua,” Kate said.

“But it was rocking. Besides, maybe I can help. You taught me how to fix a flat.” He touched the hole. “Blow-out?”

Noah nodded. “My fault, I’m afraid.”

“Why?”

“I shot out the tire.”

Joshua’s eyes widened and he took a step back.

“I only wanted to get your mom’s attention.” Noah made a face. “But she’s mad and punishing me by making me change and repair it.”

Joshua looked at Kate.

What could she say? She didn’t want him frightened. “That’s right, Joshua. It’s okay.”

He looked back at Noah. “Yeah, she always makes me fix what I break.” He shook his head. “But I never did anything this stupid. You have to be careful with guns. My dad would have tanned me for doing something like that. He used to take me to the target range, but I never—” He stopped abruptly and Kate saw his hands clench at his sides.

“I was careful,” Noah said quickly. “I’ve done it before when I was in the service. You were never in any danger, but I guess I was pretty stupid. It won’t happen again.” Noah took off the tire and laid it on the ground. “It’s getting dark. I’d like to finish this job and get back to the cabin and start supper for us. I could use some help.”

“Supper,” Joshua repeated. Then he nodded vigorously, shifted the tire aside, and knelt beside Noah. “I’ll put on the lug nuts, you tighten them. Okay?”

“Okay,” Noah said. He looked at Kate. “Okay?”

He wasn’t asking only for permission for Joshua to help him, Kate knew.

“We’re all hungry, Kate,” Phyliss said quietly. “What could it hurt?”

She wasn’t sure. In the space of a few minutes Noah Smith had won over Phyliss, who was no easy game, and was now working on Joshua. Not only that, but he had almost convinced Kate that she had compromised Joshua’s safety by acting impulsively.

Maybe it was true, she thought wearily. She had certainly not acted with her usual cool deliberation. She had gotten angry and walked out. Perhaps she should have listened and—

My God, what was she doing? She was blaming herself when this asshole had just shot out her tire.

And called her skittish. Somehow that repulsive adjective weighed almost as heavily as the more violent act.

“Please,” Noah said softly.

And that was supposed to make everything all right? Not likely.

But she was hungry and tired, and so were Joshua and Phyliss. She wouldn’t make them all suffer because she wanted to brain Noah Smith. In fact, it might be pleasant to see him slaving on their behalf. “Okay,” she said. “Supper.”