“All right. How much? I’ll send you whatever you need. Just tell me where you are.”
A quiver of uncertainty went through her. Once she revealed her location to him, her plan would be set into motion and there would be nothing she could do to stop it. If Daniel was the one who’d framed her—and she was certain he was—he would contact The Jaguar. The Jaguar would come for her. Could she handle the terrorist on her own?
“I’m in Alberta,” she said. “A ski resort near the U.S. border called Silver Lake.”
“Is there a wire office?”
“Yes.” She rattled off the phone number of the tiny shop on the edge of town, next to the post office. “Five hundred dollars should tide me over.”
“Tide you over until what, Mattie? My God, the police are looking for you. What are you hoping to accomplish?”
“I think someone framed me, Daniel.”
A beat of silence. “Who?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”
“Honey, maybe you should let the authorities handle it.”
She cringed at the endearment. “I’m not going to prison.”
“I’ll wire the money immediately.”
“I’m using an alias.” She mind spun through several names. “Donna Clark.”
“You got it.”
“Thank you, Daniel.” She looked through the window at the wire office across the street. “I’ll be waiting.”
“Take care of yourself,” he said.
“SILVER LAKE?”
“That’s what we were told.”
The Jaguar looked at the map pinned to the wall and pondered how to best handle the situation. “That’s an hour from here.”
“She’ll be waiting at the wire office for the money to be sent.”
“Excellent.” He looked at his watch. “Is there an airport?”
“Yes. It’s a ski resort. Lots of small planes flying in and out.”
“Have my jet fueled and ready to go in ten minutes.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And be sure to reward our contact in Washington, D.C., for his loyalty. Ten thousand dollars ought to keep him happy.”
“I’ll make sure he gets the money.”
“Good. We will continue to treat him well as long as he remains useful.”
“I’ll meet you at the landing strip in ten minutes.”
The Jaguar disconnected and walked to his desk. He smiled as he opened the manila folder containing the file he’d compiled on Mattie Logan. Her photograph smiled up at him. So lovely, he thought. It would be a shame to mar that face. He wondered how long it would take to make her talk.
Anticipation zinged through him. He would finally have the plans for EDNA. He would finally have the power he needed to bring the West to its knees.
Then he would have the pleasure of killing Mattie Logan.
THE TOWN OF SILVER LAKE was small, but one man could only cover so much ground. Cutter started on the west end of town and worked his way east. He stopped at every business—the café, the boutique, the antique store, even the bookstore, and asked about the young woman with big blue eyes. But no one had seen her. Where the hell had she gone?
Before leaving the bed and breakfast he’d discovered she’d taken one of the cell phones. He’d called the number a dozen times, but she hadn’t picked up. Damn her. Didn’t she realize what this was doing to him? After twenty minutes of striking out, he was nearly out of his mind with worry. Had The Jaguar already found her? Had she become frightened and gone on the run? Either way, she was in terrible danger. He had to find her. But how?
Cutter hadn’t wanted to enlist the help of the agency. Not because he was trying to save face; he’d long since concerned himself with anything so superficial. But Mattie’s life was on the line. It was only smart to use every available resource to find her.
Pulling the cell phone from his pocket, he called Martin Wolfe. “She’s gone,” he said simply when the other man picked up.
“I know,” the other man said.
It wasn’t the response Cutter had been expecting. His stomach twisted into a knot. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She called me, Sean.”
The words crashed over him like a tidal wave. “You had better start talking.”
“I figured she would have called you by now.”
Cutter’s heart began to pound. “She didn’t. So, talk to me, damn it.”
“She’s going to try to make contact with The Jaguar. Use herself as bait. Try to set him up so we can move in.”
He swore darkly. “Tell me you did not go along with it.”
“You know as well as I do that she’s our best bet for nabbing that sick son of a bitch. If you weren’t personally involved with her you’d see that as clearly as I do.”
Uh-oh, Cutter thought. Of all the things he’d anticipated Mattie doing, calling his superior was not one of them. He sure as hell hadn’t expected a man of Wolfe’s professional stature to go along with her cockamamie scheme.
“When were you going to clue me in on this?” Cutter snarled.
“She was supposed to call you.”
“Since when you do rely on a civilian to keep me informed?”