Bounty Hunter Honor

As she tiptoed across the ripped indoor-outdoor carpeting toward the only occupied desk, she’d taken in the gallery of Wanted posters with darts protruding from the faces and the stacks of magazines—Soldier of Fortune, Guns & Ammo, Fast Car—decorating the desks.

The only computer in the room was a big, beige clunker grimy with fingerprints.

But then she’d seen Rex. Although his face had not appeared in the magazine article she’d read, she’d somehow known instantly that the man seated behind a desk at the back of the room was Rex Bettencourt. With military-short, sun-bleached hair and a deep tan even in the dead of winter, his posture had communicated the sort of supreme confidence she was looking for. And from the moment he’d opened his mouth to speak, she’d known he was the man who could get her little girl back safe and sound. His impressive muscles made him look dangerous, but the intelligence behind his green eyes assured her he was also capable.

“You haven’t given me much to work with,” Rex said when he’d run out of questions. “A description of a woman who smokes with a rodent face and an accent isn’t much help. Are you sure you’ve never seen this woman before?”

“I know I’ve never met her. But now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, to go over it in my mind, she seems familiar somehow. I may have seen her before—at a party, in a crowd.”

“She might have been following you.”

Nadia shivered at the idea of being watched. Her Russian grandmother had risked her life to come to this country, where she could be free, where her movements were not constantly monitored or her motives challenged. Nadia had been raised to appreciate her freedom, her relative safety.

Peter had taken that away from her.

“I know I haven’t given you much,” Nadia said. “But someone will be at the mall to spot me. Maybe it will be the woman again. You could follow her.”

“If you spot her. Or if he doesn’t send someone else, someone you wouldn’t recognize.”

“When he contacts me again, then,” Nadia said.

“Peter probably won’t send another messenger with a piece of paper. He’ll try something different this time, maybe a phone call from a throwaway cell phone.”

“He’s bound to drop some kind of clue,” Nadia said. “And if he doesn’t, you can follow whoever picks up the package after I make the drop.”

“If you aren’t planning to give Peter what he wants, what will you put in the package?”

“Something that will look real enough that it will fool him for at least a while. He’ll have the contents verified, but it will take some time. We have to find her before he discovers the truth.”

“We’ll do the best we can.”

She searched his eyes, hoping to find reassurance there. But his expression was grim. “You’re thinking he might have already hurt her.”

“We have to consider all possibilities.”

Nadia’s eyes swam with tears. She did not want to hear this, yet she knew Rex spoke the truth. Peter was not honorable. He was a spy, a traitor to a country that had given him a chance, offered him sanctuary, embraced him as one of its own. He had no reason to keep Lily alive or deliver her unharmed, even if she gave him the Petro-Nano.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” Rex said. “I’m just making sure you understand the terrible position we’re in. He has all the cards. We have to find a way to upset the balance of power. And the first thing, I think, is to force him to open two-way communications.”

“But I have no way of forcing him to do anything,” Nadia said, calming down. Rex’s commanding presence was almost comforting, despite the fact he was big and powerful and a little bit scary. Her experience with Peter had taught her just how much pain a man could inflict on a small woman like her. And Rex was taller, larger, undoubtedly stronger than Peter.

“We will find a way.”

“Does that mean you’re taking me on as a client?”

He looked slightly bemused. “I’m sure talking like that’s the case.”

Chapter Two

It wasn’t the fanciest of plans, Nadia thought as she sat in the food court at Forest Ridge Mall, but Peter had left them few options. Nadia was frankly terrified of what would happen when Peter discovered she wasn’t playing by his rules. But she’d put her fate in Rex Bettencourt’s hands, and she’d agreed to let him make the decisions.

That didn’t mean she was comfortable with the plan.

She had arrived at the time Peter had specified, wearing a red windbreaker over a red T-shirt. But she carried a small, hand-lettered sign that read, Must See Lily or No Deal. She had some leverage—she had something Peter wanted. The sooner she exerted her power, Rex had said, the better. And she should use that power to ensure her daughter was alive and well, which was their number-one priority.

Nadia tried not to look at Rex, who’d arrived at the food court a full hour ahead of her. He sat a few tables away, sipping a soft drink and talking to Gavin Schuyler, another bounty hunter. Rex had pulled a team together with amazing speed, and each of the other team members accepted their roles without question. Rex and Gavin would keep their eyes open for anything unusual. Peter, or one of his agents, had to be nearby to visually verify Nadia’s presence.

Out in the parking lot, Beau Maddox was watching Nadia’s Volvo. It had occurred to Rex that Peter, wanting to avoid phone calls or personal contact, might leave a communiqué on or near her car while she was safely inside the mall.

Back at the office, Lori, Rex’s sister, was running through every possible avenue of computer research to locate Peter. She was also monitoring Nadia’s cell phone. Nadia had privately wondered about Lori’s qualifications, but Rex had assured her that in addition to being a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Lori was a skilled hacker. If anyone could trace a call or turn up an e-trail for their suspect, Lori could.

Now they had to wait, and hope that Peter made a slip.

When Nadia’s cell phone rang, she nearly upset her untouched soft drink. She fumbled with the phone, glancing to see whether Rex had noticed. He had. Though his gaze was never directly on her for more than half a second, she knew he was watching her.

“Hello?”

“You are in no position to make demands, sweetheart.”

Inwardly shaking, Nadia gave a casual hand signal, indicating to Rex that she had Peter on the line. The call was being recorded via a device hidden inside her jacket.

“Oh, yes, I am,” Nadia said. Everything inside her yearned to beg and grovel for Peter to return her child. But Rex had told her specifically not to do that. She had to pretend she was in perfect control. “I will give you what you want. But not without complete assurance that I will get Lily back safe and sound. Let me talk with her.”

“You can talk with her after you—”

“No,” she said sharply. “Once you deliver proof that Lily is safe, I will listen to your next demand. Not before.” Then, though it was the hardest thing she’d ever done, she hung up. She knew she had to prove to Peter she was serious.

A few feet away, Rex was shocked that their power play had produced results so quickly. Peter Danilov must be desperate for whatever Nadia had. He might even be here at the mall himself.

The Forest Ridge Mall had three levels. The food court was on the bottom; the other two levels looked down upon it. Rex had guessed that Peter had chosen this location so he or a coconspirator could observe from a high perch. Rex scanned the people near the railings above him.

“There,” said Gavin, pointing with his eyes. “Two o’clock to you. A blond guy in a black shirt, talking on a cell phone. His body language says he’s angry.”

Rex saw him. He could have been Peter Danilov, but Nadia had only been able to provide a grainy, outdated photo of her ex-husband. He had apparently taken all photos with him when they’d divorced, anticipating something like this. Lori was currently tracking down other photos—his employee ID picture, from when he’d worked at JanCo as a low-level lab tech, or his mug shot from when he’d been arrested for assaulting Nadia. But they hadn’t arrived yet.

“Let’s go,” Rex said. Their plan was to follow a suspect, if they found one, which was one of the reasons Rex had brought Gavin with him. Two people could tail someone easier than one could, and with less chance of being spotted.

He didn’t like leaving Nadia unprotected, but she’d been instructed to remain exactly where she was until she received a prearranged signal from him or someone on the team to return to her car.

As Rex and Gavin rode the escalator up to the second level where their suspect was, Rex spoke into his walkie-talkie headset, which resembled a cell phone accessory. “Beau, you copy?”

“I’m here.”

“Any action around the car?”

“Nope.”

Rex tamped down his irritation at Beau’s less-than-military lingo on the walkie-talkie. Beau was an ex-cop, the emphasis being on ex. He didn’t care for anything that smacked of rules and regulations, including radio codes. But no one could argue with Beau’s results. He got the job done, and Rex couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather have at his back.

“We’ve made a visual ID of a suspect. I’ll need your help tailing him once he exits the mall. Blond guy in a black T-shirt, about six feet, one-eighty pounds—”

“Hold on,” Gavin interrupted.

As they reached the second level, their suspect turned around and smiled as a redheaded girl about ten years old approached him. They hugged, and Rex could see the relief evident in his face. “I told you to wait for me at the bookstore,” he scolded. “You scared me to death.”

Gavin and Rex looked at each other. No wonder the man had been agitated on the phone—he’d lost his daughter. They could also both see, now that they’d gotten a good look at the man, that he was closer to fifty than forty—way too old to be Peter.

“Hell,” Rex muttered. He spoke into the walkie-talkie again. “Cancel the previous. Wrong guy.”

Rex headed for the down escalator, which descended through a forest of carefully sculpted trees still sporting their Christmas lights, though it was January. He peered through the trees, searching for Nadia’s red jacket, feeling inexplicably anxious about having left her vulnerable, even for a couple of minutes.

Moments later, he realized his anxiety was perfectly well placed. Nadia was gone.

“Where’d she go?” Gavin asked, sounding as bewildered as Rex felt.

“Damn it!” He scanned the crowd for any sign of a red shirt and a curly mop of black hair.

“Maybe she went to the bathroom,” Gavin said uncertainly.

“She wouldn’t. I made myself pretty clear, didn’t I? That she wasn’t to move from that table? If she did, she must have had a good reason.”

“You hardly know her,” Gavin argued. “For her, maybe a call of nature is a good reason.”

But Rex felt he did know her. Technically they’d met only four hours ago. But he’d seen that haunted look in the eyes of other women, other mothers who feared they would never see their children again. He might not know exactly how Nadia felt, but he understood how a woman in her situation thought. And she wouldn’t take an unnecessary risk.

Had she been lured here for a kidnapping? But if that had been her ex-husband’s goal, why stage it here in a crowd? Why not a more remote location?

“Hey, is that her?” Gavin asked, pointing to a speck of red far down the mall concourse.

Rex pulled a tiny pair of binoculars from his jacket and peered toward the retreating woman who walked side by side with a dark-haired man. He couldn’t see her face, but he could tell by her walk that it was Nadia. As a sniper, he’d learned to identify people from a distance. Now it was second nature to catalog the way people walked, how they moved their hands when they talked, how they cocked their heads, how their hips swayed with— He pulled his mind back to the present.

“It’s her,” he confirmed. “Let’s move.”

They hurried down the concourse, breaking into a sprint as Nadia and her companion neared the entrance of a department store. The shoppers they breezed past gave them strange stares.

“Beau, you read?” Rex said into the walkie-talkie.

“Ten-four, good buddy.”

“Change of plans. Nadia is heading into JCPenney with an unknown person. Male, six feet, one-seventy, dark hair.”

“Dark hair?”

“Be ready to take over pursuit if they exit the store. Under no circumstances are you to allow Nadia to enter this guy’s vehicle.”

“IS SHE EATING?” Nadia asked, hurrying to keep up with Peter as he strode toward JCPenney. Her heart pounded and her skin was awash in goose bumps, and she had to resist the urge to look behind her to see if Rex was following.

She had disobeyed one of Rex’s direct orders. She wasn’t supposed to have moved from her table at the food court until he gave her the signal. But Rex and Gavin had both disappeared, and then there was Peter, his blond hair dyed brown, whispering in her ear the most seductive of songs: “You win. Come with me, and I’ll let you see Lily.”

She hadn’t seen him coming. Peter always did have the ability to move quickly and silently, like a cat. When he’d told her that her baby was close by, her body had moved almost of its own accord, her mother’s instincts craving contact with her offspring.

Her Nana Tania had always emphasized the need for flexibility when it came to matters of intrigue. Peter suddenly appearing in person was an unforeseen event, she reasoned. Rex would approve of her impromptu response, she was almost sure. This might be their best chance of recovering Lily. Rex would follow, and he would have help from Beau and Gavin.

Provided Rex had seen her leave with Peter. Oh, God, what if he hadn’t? She wasn’t in danger, though, really, was she? In this public place, what could he do? He hadn’t pulled a gun, hadn’t shown her any sign of force at all. He’d merely told her that his girlfriend was with Lily in another part of the mall, and this would be Nadia’s one and only chance to see her daughter until after the Petro-Nano was delivered.

Peter set a zigzagging course through the department store, pausing often to see if anyone was following.

“I’m here alone,” Nadia said, certain Rex wouldn’t reveal his presence.

“You double-crossed me once,” Peter said. “You’d do it again in a heartbeat if you thought you could get away with it.” He paused long enough to look her in the eye in a way that made her shrivel inside. For a moment, all she could think about was the feel of his fist making contact with her face, the sickening thud-crunch, the explosion of pain and the keening scream that had sounded strange and alien, but which had come from her own throat. And she knew he would make her suffer for not meekly following his orders. If he knew she’d gotten help, if he knew she’d lied to him, his retribution would be that much worse.

Even if he had to exact it from a prison cell.

She shivered.

“All right. Come on. Lily is in my car with Denise.”

Nadia hadn’t counted on Peter taking her outside. She was afraid of what he might do in the relative isolation of the parking lot. But surely Rex and his buddies were watching.

As they exited the store into a cold, gray day, Nadia zipped up her inadequate windbreaker. The parking lot wasn’t all that isolated, she realized with some relief. It was a busy Saturday afternoon. People were coming and going.

Then she noticed a blond woman heading toward her, and she tensed. Lori, Rex’s sister. They’d left her back at the First Strike office doing computer searches. What was she doing here?

Lori was going to pass very close to them. But there was no reason to worry, Nadia thought. Peter wouldn’t recognize her.

“Nadia?”

Lori had stopped squarely in front of them. Panicking, Nadia looked blankly at Lori. Was she going to just give away the game right here in front of Peter? Or, she thought giddily, had the team already recovered Lily?

“Nadia Penn, it is you, right? It’s Annette, from Michigan?”

“Annette!” Nadia said, hoping she had inherited at least a smidgen of acting ability from Nana Tania. “I haven’t seen you in a million years! You look different. Have you lost weight?”

“Only about fifty pounds.” Lori came in for a hug and whispered in Nadia’s ear, “We’re getting you out of this.” After releasing Nadia from the hug she said, bright and cheerful as could be, “Is this your husband? I thought I heard you were getting married.”

“That must have been a while ago,” Nadia said. “Peter and I are divorced. But we, uh, have a daughter. That’s why we’re, uh…” She was blathering. She had to get control of this thing. Peter, who’d looked merely annoyed by the interruption a moment ago, was starting to frown and turn red.

“Come on, Nad, I do not have all day,” he said. “You can gossip with your girlfriend another time. Denise and Lily are waiting for us in the car.”

“Oh, that Russian accent is so cute,” Lori simpered. “You sound just like Boris Badenov from the Bullwinkle cartoon.”

What in the hell was Lori doing? Nadia wondered wildly. Stalling, maybe, so the team could get into place? She was also making Peter angry. What if he took it out on Lily, or the hapless Denise, whoever she was?

“We really have to go,” Nadia said with as much conviction as she could muster. How far were they from Peter’s car? she wondered. How close was Lily?

“I’ll walk with you,” Lori said, sounding ridiculously perky. “I’d love to see your daughter.”

Peter turned on Lori, his temper erupting. “Why don’t you mind your own business, you stupid cow? This is a private matter.”

“Hey, nice manners.” Lori’s chin jutted out, challenging Peter. “God, Nadia, no wonder you divorced him.”

Without warning, Peter took a swing at Lori and Nadia reflexively screamed. But Lori blocked the blow with amazing agility, Peter’s fist glancing harmlessly off her forearm. Realizing he’d tangled with more than he bargained for, Peter took off running.

Lori started to follow, but Nadia grabbed onto her arm. “No,” she said insistently. “If you chase him, he’ll know you’re not just an old friend.” Nadia watched in despair as her chance to see Lily vanished with Peter as he dodged in and out of the rows of cars.

Lori nodded, seeing the wisdom of Nadia’s logic. “Beau’s out here, too. He’s in his car. He’ll be able to follow Peter.” Even as the words left her mouth, a black Mustang sped past them.

“Peter will know he’s being tailed,” Nadia said.

“Not if we double-team him. Come on, my car’s over here.”

Certain Peter was focused on escape and no longer paying attention to them, Nadia sprinted beside Lori’s long-legged lope. “Why did you do that?” she demanded. “Why did you confront me? He was taking me to see Lily.”

“It was too dangerous, letting Peter take you to his car. Strict orders from Rex not to let you go with him.”

The burning in Nadia’s lungs was the only thing that prevented her from dissolving into tears. She wouldn’t be able to breathe if she started crying, and she had to keep up with Lori. Lori was going to chase Peter, and Nadia couldn’t slow her down.

When they reached Lori’s vehicle, an ancient gray van with mirrored windows, Nadia had her doubts that this old bucket of bolts could catch anything, but she climbed into the passenger seat.

Her doubts about the van melted when Lori started her up. Sounded like she had a souped-up V-8 under the hood. “Batjushki,” she murmured, borrowing one of Nana Tania’s favorite curses. She quickly fastened her seat belt as Lori whipped out of her parking space with a roar and a screech of tires, driving the behemoth as if it were a sports car.

Lori grabbed the CB radio, driving with one hand. “Beau, this is Lori, you read?”

“Ten-four, Blondie. You got Blue Dog here, runnin’ and—”

“Shut up with that stuff. What’s your twenty? Over.”

Beau sounded more serious when he answered. “Heading south on the service road. The target just crossed Augustine Road. Over.”

“What’s he driving? Over.”

“Green Plymouth Reliant, older model. No license plates. You can’t miss it. Over.”

Nadia grabbed the mike out of Lori’s hand. “Beau?”

“Push the button, hon,” Lori said.

Right. “Beau?” she repeated. “This is Nadia. Can you see who’s in the car with him? Um, over.”

There was a pause before he answered. “There’s no one else in the car, just Peter. I got a good look when he almost bashed into me. We’ve hit some traffic now. He’s about five car lengths ahead of me.”

The mike dropped out of Nadia’s hand. There was no one in the car. Lily wasn’t with Peter at all. He’d lied. The implications made her sick to her stomach. Peter had had something else in mind when he’d lured Nadia out here, something other than allowing her to see her daughter. If Lori hadn’t intervened, she would be in Peter’s car right now, under his complete control.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Nadia said.

“Roll down the window, then, ’cause I’m not stopping.” To prove her point, Lori ran the next light, which was Augustine Road. “Look, I think that’s Beau’s Mustang up ahead. But this damn traffic! Maybe I can turn left under the freeway and find an alternate route.” She veered to the left lane, but it was no use. The traffic had come to a standstill.

Beau cursed over the radio. “He’s going over the median and into the U-turn lane. I’m boxed in, I can’t follow.”

“Neither can I,” Lori moaned. “Rex, are you there? Gavin?”

There was a loud burst of static. Then, “Where the hell are you? What happened? Where’s Nadia?” The angry voice was undeniably Rex’s, and Nadia wanted to dissolve into the van’s tattered upholstery.

“I’ve got Nadia,” Lori said. “She’s safe. Beau has the suspect’s car in his sight. Over.”

“Correction,” Beau interjected. “I had the car in my sight. It’s gone now.”

Rex let loose with a string of curses over the radio. Nadia was sure the FCC would yank his license if they caught him. “We’ll debrief back at the office,” he concluded. “Now.”

Nadia’s whole body burned with shame a few minutes later as she pulled her Volvo into a parking spot next to Lori’s in front of the First Strike offices. When she entered, she saw that Beau, Gavin and Rex were already there, along with a man she didn’t recognize. He was a robust-looking guy in his fifties with a tan and very short, silver hair. All the men were discussing something in hushed voices. They went silent when Nadia joined them, and she imagined they all stared at her with accusing eyes.

Rex opened his mouth, but Nadia beat him to it. “I know, I screwed up.”

“Monumentally.” His face was hard as quartz crystal, his jaw working. She could tell he was forcing himself not to explode. “When I give an order, I expect it to be followed.”

Lori put her hand on Nadia’s arm. “Oh, Rex, shut up. This isn’t the Marines. Peter said he was going to let her see her baby out in the parking lot.”

“I th-thought you would see what was happening,” Nadia added, feeling her excuse was a poor one. He was right to be angry with her—she shouldn’t have gone against the plan they’d laid out.

The older man pulled out a chair for her. “I’m Ace McCullough. You want some coffee? You look a little shaken up.”

“Some water. I can get it.” She started to rise, but Lori pushed her back down in the chair.

“Just sit for a few minutes. I’ll get your water.” She shot an accusing look at her brother as she passed where he sat, perched on the edge of a desk.

Rex took a deep breath, his muscular chest expanding beneath his black T-shirt. Nadia slid out of her windbreaker in deference to the office’s overactive heater.

“Okay,” Rex said in a calmer voice. “Does Peter know Nadia went to someone for help?”

“I doubt he knew I was following,” Beau said. “I never got close enough.”

For the first time, Nadia noticed a huge black dog lying near Beau’s feet. A Rottweiler, she thought, remembering a story her grandmother had once told her about being chased by a Rottweiler when she was part of the Russian occupation force in Germany. Nadia kept one eye on the enormous dog, and it seemed to be studying her with equal parts curiosity and suspicion.