The Hidden

“Get up, Scarlet. Leave him. Now. Unless you want me to make sure that he’s dead. You know—put another slug in him.”


Scarlet got to her feet. The Colt was still pointed at her. She thought about the hours she’d spent at the shooting range when she was still with Diego back in Miami and the vast array of historic weapons just inside.

He was wearing a burlap bag over his head with roughly cut holes for the eyes. But she knew who it was. Knew by the sound of his voice, and his height and build.

“If you’re going to shoot me, shoot me,” she told him, amazed at how calm she sounded.

She couldn’t see his mouth, but she knew he was smiling. “Now, Scarlet, I’ve learned to judge people fairly well. You’re going to come with me, because you know that I’m perfectly willing to shoot people. And I’ll be happy to shoot your friend.”

“I’ve just closed the door.”

“Which has to be locked from inside.”

“Do you think Lara is an idiot?” Scarlet demanded. “She’ll lock the door. And there are dozens of guns in there.”

“That need the right ammunition. Why take a chance with her life? The poor woman has been through enough. Come with me,” he said.

“Where?” she asked.

Nathan Kendall was still there, gritting his teeth in concentration and trying to fight him. But Terry Ballantree was entirely unaware of the apparition at his side. “We’re going to take a ride,” he told her.

“Where?”

“Up to the cemetery.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve figured out that’s where it is—where it has to be! I’ve searched everywhere else, and hell, where do you bury things? A graveyard. I just don’t know where in the cemetery. But you do, and you’re going to show me.”

She shook her head. “The gold? I don’t have any idea where the gold is. That’s the truth. And why did you attack Angus? He had no part of any of this. He’s not a descendant of Nathan Kendall.”

“No, he’s not, and I don’t really care. He was just a means to an end. And it’s not as if the scraggly old coot has anything to live for anyway. You think ancestry is so important, don’t you? Well, yeah, I learned about the gold because I’m a descendant of Rollo Conway. I heard about the gold and how it was stolen from us my whole life. I needed specifics, though, and all those ancestry sites were perfect for that. You like the burlap bag? I think it’s a nice touch. I know it’s what Nathan Kendall and his friends wore when they robbed people, and I thought it would help muddy the waters.” He snorted derisively. “This place is called the Conway Ranch. It should be mine, but it isn’t. I don’t really give a damn about that, though it was fun to watch you all go crazy looking for the connection to old Nathan. It was such fun to find and kill the right people to get you all hot on your research. I know you read those diaries cover to cover—and I know you found the gold. Now let’s go.”

“Brett Cody is here, and I can guarantee you’ll lose in a shoot-out,” Scarlet said.

“Not to worry. Agent Cody is off following Angus’s bloody trail into the woods. He’ll come back eventually, of course, and then I’ll shoot him. Lara, too, when she comes rushing out to see what’s going on. And, of course, if you don’t come with me nicely, I’ll start shooting you in some of your less vital body parts. Hurts like a mother, but you’ll stay alive long enough to give me what I want.”

“You idiot. Brett Cody called for backup,” she said.