He looked at LeValley, who was pointing at two figures in the distance. “There they are.”
Rasmussen narrowed his eyes. Sure enough his longtime employee and Kelsey were a hundred yards away and walking toward them. Jealousy and bitterness seared him as he watched them approach. Kelsey was the only woman he’d ever loved. But she’d betrayed him, and now he had no choice but to kill her. His only regret was Vanderpol. But if Vanderpol was under her spell, he knew the other man would suffer when he learned of her death. And in a few months, once Rasmussen was settled in a new country, he could always send someone back to finish the agent….
Withdrawing the pistol from his coat pocket, he pulled back the slide and dropped a bullet into the chamber.
“Get the chain,” he told LeValley and started toward the two figures. “Let’s get this nasty business over with.”
JAKE COULD FEEL Leigh trembling violently as they approached Rasmussen. He could feel his own nerves crawling when he saw the pistol in the other man’s hand.
“What the hell took you so long?” Rasmussen demanded.
“Lost my way in the snow,” Jake said in a low voice.
Rasmussen looked at Leigh. “It looks like loverboy isn’t going to save you this time.”
LeValley approached them with the heavy length of chain. “We don’t have much time, Mr. Rasmussen.”
For a full minute Rasmussen didn’t take his eyes from Leigh. With a grimace, he took her arm. “Come with me,” he said.
Letting her go was the hardest thing Jake had ever done in his life. But he needed a better feel for the situation before he made his move. He needed to know how many men there were. How well they were armed. He needed to know where the chopper pilot was.
He gritted his teeth in fury when Rasmussen shoved Leigh. It took every bit of self-discipline he possessed not to go to the other man and take him apart with his bare hands. But he held his temper, if only by a thread. He needed to concentrate, get a handle on the situation and what they were up against.
At best it was three against two. Jake might be a highly trained agent, but Leigh wasn’t. He could tell by the way Rasmussen was looking at her that he was near the snapping point. Jake figured he had two or three minutes before all hell broke loose.
The chopper was fifty yards away. The engine was running, the blades whipping through heavy snowfall. The pilot was already inside. Behind him, Rasmussen and the man Jake recognized as renegade U.S. marshal Derrick LeValley were taking Leigh to the hole in the ice.
Knowing he only had seconds to act, Jake went to the chopper and opened the hatch. He caught a glimpse of the pilot’s face. A pistol lay on the jump seat behind him.
“You got a smoke?” Jake asked, stepping onto the foothold.
The man reached into his pocket. Jake delivered a bone crunching punch to his forehead. Then a quick upper cut to his chin. The pilot’s hands flew up to protect his face. Jake finished him off with a brutal jab to the solar plexus. The pilot slumped against the seat.
Jake climbed into the chopper. Finding a bungee cord tie-down used for stowing and securing items in the fuselage, he tied the pilot’s hands behind his back and heaved him into the rear.
“Sweet dreams,” Jake said, and slipped out the hatch.
Chapter Twenty
Dread and horror creeping over her, Leigh stood a few feet from the opening in the ice. Even knowing one of the cuffs wasn’t secure was not enough to keep the terror at bay. There were simply too many things that could go wrong.
She stood quietly while Rasmussen draped the heavy chain over her shoulders. It was incredibly heavy—at least forty or fifty pounds. If he shoved her through the hole in the ice and into the water, she wouldn’t stand a chance….
Her entire body vibrated with terror. She’d lost sight of Jake in the heavily falling slow and could only assume he’d gone to the chopper. She wondered when he was going to make his move.
“I’m sorry it has come to this, my darling.”
If she hadn’t been so terrified, Leigh would have laughed because she knew he was just twisted enough to mean it. “Please don’t do this,” she choked.
“You betrayed me. Humiliated me.”
“I was afraid,” she said, trying to buy time.
“I lost six years of my life because of you. Six years of being treated like an animal. If I don’t do this, I’ll lose face.” He shrugged. “You’ve left me no choice.”
Leigh’s heart pounded like a jackhammer.
“I loved you,” he said.
She couldn’t speak. Her breaths tore from her mouth in ragged gasps. She imagined the shock of the icy water. The black abyss closing over her.
“One last kiss goodbye, and I have to go.” Never taking his eyes from hers, he leaned close.
Leigh steeled herself against the revolting press of his mouth against hers. She couldn’t stop thinking of that hole in the ice just a few feet away. Of how easily he could shove her into it.
Jake, where are you?