While You Were Dead (32 page)

“As they’re supposed to.” He ripped open a square of gauze, applied it to the cut next to her eye and met her gaze purposefully. “I’ve only got saline. It’ll burn to high heaven. I don’t think you’re up for that.”

Kat wanted to object, but she wasn’t stupid. He was right, she wasn’t up for that kind of pain. Cleaning her wounds could wait. Someone had to go to Lizzie. Soon. “Did Cap come back?”

Now the look Ghost shot her was sharp and suspicious. “No. Why?”

“Because he sent him after Lizzie.”

“Viper,” he clarified. “Sent Cap. After Lizzie. Who’s Lizzie?”

“Our daughter.” Quick tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away impatiently and not without a little fear. Tears were telling. She couldn’t afford to tell too much. Had he noticed?

“I thought you said Viper kidnapped her.”

“And you said you preferred to gather intelligence.” They didn’t have time for him to be putting pressure bandages on each and every one of Vic’s puncture marks, but that was exactly what it seemed he was going to do. “Look, Greg. Ghost. Whatever. Max has to go to Lizzie. She’s alone, and if Cap didn’t come back, he’s still looking for her. Viper wants,” her voice trembled again and she fought to keep it steady. “He wanted us all dead. He killed my father, framed my mother for his murder–“ No! No! No! The past didn’t matter. Only Lizzie. She had to stay focused, stay alert. “You have to let Max go to her.”

“Why?”

“So he doesn’t win.” She touched his wrist. “Let him go, Gregory. Please.”

Gregory the Ghost lifted his radio, pressed a button and smiled at Kat. The smile was genuine, the look he gave her warm with pity. Kat felt a chill that went all the way to her bones. “He’s already gone, honey. Aren’t you, Ice?”

Kat heard Max’s chuckle from the radio. Hope flared to life out of cold embers of dread. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you?”

Ghost’s smile faded. His gaze stayed focused on Kat. She shivered. He pushed the talk button again. “Crater and Tron are waiting back at the house.”

“You keep that son of a bitch away from my woman!” Kat closed her eyes, praying for Max’s escape. She’d bested Vic. Crater didn’t scare her. Nothing could scare her as long as Max and Lizzie were safe.

Ghost caught her hand, sending her eyes back open. She jerked at the unexpected contact and tried to wrench her arm away. He held on far too easily. “She’s not bleeding.” He lifted her hand, holding it in front of her face. “Tell him.”

The radio moved to her lips. “I’m not,” she whispered. “Go, Max. Don’t come back.”

Ghost cut off the end of her plea. “I’ve got to take her back.”

Another voice broke into the transmission, angry, cursing. “What the hell are you doing, Ghost? He’s getting away and you know it!” Crater. The one who’d hit her, after the fire.

That fast, the confusing but rational man who knelt at her side disappeared. In his place was a stone. Rock hard. Stern. Impenetrable. Terrifying. “No chatter.”

The man at the other end wasn’t listening. At least not well enough. “But, sir, he’s–“

”Tron.”

Another voice. Just as stern as Ghost’s. “Yes, sir.”

“Eliminate all radio contact. Begin clean. You outside, Crater inside.”

Kat heard what sounded like a vehemently muttered four-letter word. “Yes, sir.”

“Any questions about your orders?”

“No, sir.”

“Good.” Ghost turned his attention to her.

Kat tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. Whoever he was, Ghost was scary as hell. Then, suddenly, he wasn’t. He rested the radio on one bent knee, raked his fingers through his hair and muttered a curse word of his own.

The radio squawked again. Max’s voice, still sounding much too close. “Hell of a mess to clean, buddy.”

“You got that right.” Again, Ghost’s world-weary stare pinned her. “She worth it?”

Max didn’t hesitate. “All that and more. They both are.”

Embarrassment heated her cheeks as Ghost’s stare became a little more personal. “Hope you’re right.”

“Still your call.”

He lifted a corner of the gauze next to her eye and sighed before answering. “A deal’s a deal, Ice.”

Kat’s heart sank. The truth was so obvious, how could he not see it?

“Never welched yet, my friend.”

Ghost set the radio down, not bothering to transmit his reply. “No, you haven’t.” He tipped her head forward, examining the gash behind her head. “Any idea how far away she is?”

“Lizzie? But he just said–“

”He just said he’ll be back.”

“Where is he? Do you know?” He seemed to know everything else. Was it true? Was he letting Max go?

“Now? Halfway to wherever your daughter is, I’d imagine.”

“And you’re letting him go?”

“Not much else I can do at this point. Ice doesn’t ever get found until he wants to be found.”

##

Max stole a pair of shorts from a clothesline. They were too tight, and with the seams busted open, they made him feel like the Incredible Hulk. Don’t make me angry. Too late for that. Would Lizzie be amused? Probably not without some green paint. Not a bad idea, actually. In a corner of the deserted yard, he grabbed handfuls of grass and added green to the brown, sticky camouflage he’d already applied to his chest and arms.

“Max. Go.” Kat’s words, barely more than a whisper, accompanied each inch he gained as he crawled through the adjoining field. Contrary to Ghost’s assumption, he hadn’t let his former friend out of his sight until Ghost had set down the radio. Max was still close enough to read his lips and understand the decision Ghost had made.

The rookie’s interruption on the radio had proved an enormous boon. Viper was out of the picture–dead this time, not running things from his cramped office in Virginia. But just like in the field, when Viper wasn’t there, Ghost was in charge. Max smiled and slithered into a ditch. Irritating as hell, that radio silence order had to be, especially for Tron, who’d no doubt agreed with Crater’s dissension. But Tron was a soldier, first, foremost and always. If Crater happened to enjoy his job a little too much, well, that was Viper’s problem. Was being the operative word. Max’s smile broadened to a grin and he darted across the road, barely more than a shadow in the overhead sun.

He gained the slight hill overlooking the subdivision twenty minutes later. Not as fast as an all-out run, but not bad. The car was still there. He squinted. Where was Lizzie? Max lifted his head cautiously.

There. He spotted her profile in the rear corner of the car. Good girl!

“Don’t even blink.”

Max heard the snick of a revolver loading. It had to be Cap. Had he led him right to her? He ignored the soldier’s order, but only to close his eyes, the rest of his body frozen in place. Lizzie. . .run, baby.

##

Lizzie spotted the man about half an hour after Uncle Max left. Her heart pounded in her throat and her fingers were slick as they tightened around the phone. The stranger was in the field, the same field she’d crossed and the one Max had disappeared into, but when he only stayed there, up on the small ridge under the radio towers, her heart calmed down a little. He was too far away for her to see him clearly and as long as he stayed far away, well, she wouldn’t worry. Too much.

She’d lost her wrist watch somewhere during her long trek, but Uncle Max’s cell told the time. Max had until noon. High Noon–wasn’t that the name of one of the old westerns he liked so much? It seemed a long, long time to wait, but Kat was counting on her. Partners. A good partner would wait, no matter how long it took. The man on the hill was still there, sitting in the weeds.

She watched him for an hour, but he didn’t move–at all. The threat of his presence slowly faded. A birdwatcher? Maybe someone who just wanted to be alone. She got that way sometimes herself, when Mom was pestering her about her room and Max was being a pain about homework or something. Sometimes being alone was good. At least it used to be. Right now, well, right now she wanted people. Her people.

Lizzie yawned and stretched her sore foot out across the seat. The sun played warm across her face and shoulder, soothing the chill inside. That chill had been around longer than she cared to remember. Ever since she’d realized Max wasn’t waiting for her outside the hospital like the man had claimed. She’d never learned his name, but Crater was the other one, who’d helped him. The one she’d kicked. Lizzie grinned, hearing his curse again. She had to remember to tell Max about that.

The night Kat had come, she’d seen the other one, lying on the ground outside the house with blood all over his leg from the knee down. Tron, after an order from Vic, had hustled her back inside and then she’d heard a single gunshot. Certain it was Kat, she’d sobbed silently into her lone blanket until Tron had carried Kat’s still form into Lizzie’s room. After that, she’d forgotten everything but the miracle that Uncle Max’s Kat was there with her. Now she shivered, wondering about that shot.

The man on the hill hadn’t moved, other than to shield his eyes and scan the horizon every once in awhile. Lizzie yawned again and eased her seat back. She should probably be worried about the guy on the hill, but he wasn’t paying any attention to her. Noon was still hours away. It wouldn’t hurt to close her eyes for awhile.

If you sleep, the time will fly.

She grinned at the words she’d heard from Uncle Max hundreds of times. When Mom first got sick, they’d made the trip to Denver millions of times. He always told her that then. She frowned. Despite Mom’s repeated attempts to relieve her fears, this last trip wasn’t good. Max, well, he never out-right told her it was bad, but he never lied and said she’d be fine either, even this morning when she’d asked. Max’d also promised to stay, even though Mom had always said he’d disappear again someday.

Lizzie turned her head, getting her eyes out of the direct sunlight pouring into the car. Max hadn’t left yet, not once in all her life. She didn’t think he would, no matter what Mom said. He’d come for her, right? Sent Kat before that. At least she thought he’d sent Kat. She was just like Max said she was, pretty and smart. Actually, those were the same words Uncle Max used about her, when he wasn’t settling for just Lizard.

Flexing the ankle of her sore foot, she distracted her brain with questions. Uncle Max had asked about her toe. Now wasn’t the time to take off the dressing and look, but maybe it was time to face some facts. Like why had Max asked specifically about her toe? Why had he sent Kat instead of coming himself? Kat’d turned out to be not so stupid after all, despite Lizzie’s concerns when she’d first arrived. She knew she’d never been so glad to see anyone as when Tron had carried her into Lizzie’s room. Funny how easy she’d been to talk to, because Lizzie didn’t make new friends easily. Mostly because nobody new ever moved to Bluff River Falls, but even so. . .

Would Max marry Kat, now that she was back in his life? Would he move to Denver if he did? If they had kids, she’d be an aunt. Not as good as a sister, but better than nothing. Unless he moved to Denver. Why hadn’t they married before? If they had, they’d have kids her age, not just be starting on babies.

Lizzie scratched her nose, loosening a clump of dirt. Was there more? She flipped down the mirror over the visor, wrinkling her nose at the sight of her dirt-encrusted cheeks. The nose wiggling back at her didn’t even look like hers. Soil and heaven knows what else hid her freckles, made her skin darker. Not her nose at all, but familiar. Like, like. . .

Lizzie’s mouth flopped open and the mouth in the mirror did too. She didn’t pay any attention, only stared into eyes that were huge. She wiggled her nose again. Tried on a grin, then crinkled up her eyes. And started to count months.

##

Max waited only until the soldier had found his gun, the taser and the radio. “Did you follow me?”

The young man’s smile was grim. “Hell, no.” He waggled the radio. “Weren’t you listening?”

“To what?”

Cap wiped his face clean of expression, but not before Max had seen a glimmer of confusion. “I’m AWOL. So are you, now.” He gestured to the ground. “Sit.”

Max sat, keeping his hands behind his head. “AWOL?”

“AWOL. How many with you?”

Max lifted his hands a fraction of an inch. “Just me. And I’m on your side. Name’s Ice. They call you Cap?” Max sought out Lizzie, still visible in the car below. What the hell was going on?

Cap was suddenly stiff. “They call you a traitor.”

He kept his eyes on Lizzie. “Not all of them.”

“All I know.”

Why was Cap up here? He had to know Lizzie was just below.

“How did you get away? I heard Tron’s message. You went over the back wall.”

“Ghost let me go.”

“Like hell.” Cap’s voice registered disgust, but when Max glanced at him, his gaze looked reflective. “It wasn’t a ruse? With Tron and Crater?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”