On the Hunt - Page 79

“It can’t be too soon.” She gazed up at Kalim’s craggy mountain seascape again. “I want Fiona out of there.”

“Did she seem that upset?”

“No, on the contrary. As I said, she was… different.” She shrugged. “It was Sinbad that she said was edgy. That bothered me a little.”

“Why? Sinbad is a wild horse yet has magnificent breeding. He has to be very high-strung.”

“I guess it was because Sinbad never showed me that side of himself. He was always so arrogant and sure of himself that he was never edgy. Very princely, even kingly.” She looked back at the mountain. It seemed even more intimidating than it had a few minutes ago. The sun was dimmer and the sky was turning gray as it began to cloud over. “That was why it surprised me when she said Sinbad was edgy. It made me… wonder.”

“Did it? You believe Sinbad might have been sensing something that made him restless?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not. Anything that’s even a little offbeat tends to strike me as strange these days.”

“Considering what you’ve gone through lately, that doesn’t surprise me.” He reached out and took her hand. “But could I throw a little brightness into the picture? We’re both alive and free, and so are the people and animals we care about. We just managed to foil the bad guy and send him on his way. Plus I’m trusting that we’re going to bring the son of a bitch down very soon. Is that bright enough for you?”

Her hand squeezed his. “It’s wonderful. You’re wonderful. I’m feeling very lucky at this particular moment. I don’t know how you could do any better.”

He chuckled. “Is that a challenge? I believe I can meet it.” He pointed at the mountain. “You know that edginess in Sinbad that you worried about? Those are storm clouds hovering over the mountain. I believe in a few minutes we’re going to get a severe drenching. You might as well not have changed out of your wet suit. You’re just lucky this launch had a few ponchos tucked away in the cabin.” He tilted his head. “And we both know that horses can sense when storms are coming and become agitated. Particularly wild horses like Sinbad. True?”

“Quite true. But I refuse to give you a total victory. There could be other reasons. You’ve earned enough medals for one day.” She was laughing even as the first claps of thunder roared in the distance.

CHAPTER

20

There was definitely a storm coming.

Fiona rode Sinbad up the narrow trail that she hadn’t even known existed until a few minutes before. Sinbad had been restless for the better part of an hour, which often meant a thunderstorm was on the way. Now, with endless dark clouds rolling in, it was clear that the horse was right. The timing couldn’t have been worse, with that monster Taylor on the loose.

She knew Kira and Harlan were doing everything they could to get to her, but a storm wouldn’t make it easy. She looked down at Mack, who was running alongside.

“Just a little farther!” She was speaking to herself as much as the animals.

She heard a buzzing sound overhead. She looked up. It was a drone helicopter tracking her from above! She’d seen camera drones just like it during her time when she’d been a prisoner on Taylor’s cruiser. He’d found her! She felt a rush of panic. No way was she letting him get his hands on her again. She’d die first.

The hell she would!

She instantly rejected the defeatist thought. No, that would just be another victory for Taylor. She’d just find a way to hide and maybe set a trap…

She raised her middle finger into the air as the first drops of rain fell.

Taylor chuckled as he looked at the drone image on his tablet screen. Young Fiona kept her middle finger in the air for a long moment as she charged up the hillside on a magnificent horse. It must be the multimillion-dollar stallion that Taylor had heard about as belonging to Kalim, the owner of the island.

He showed the tablet to the two men whom he’d chosen to accompany him to climb to the island’s upper reaches from the group he’d brought from his hideout on the reef. “She’s flipping us off, gentlemen. I wonder if she’d be quite so bold if she knew how close we were to intercepting her.”

Connor, who had impressed him on their recent lethal excursion to Latvia, scowled at the tablet. “Or if she knew we were probably going to make her watch that horse die in front of her eyes.”

Phil Wendell laughed. “Yeah, she won’t be such a smart-ass then, will she? Let’s go get her.” Wendell had come highly recommended by the late Zeke Donovan. He still hadn’t broken a sweat from their climb. And his eagerness to please now was also a good sign, Taylor thought. He might be able to use him as a permanent replacement.

Taylor double-tapped Fiona’s image on the screen, activating a tracking function on his camera drone. He might temporarily be missing out on that treasure trove, but Kalim’s island, Hathor, itself had riches that he could take and build toward a new start for himself. Many of the villagers were very well off; Kalim had those horses and probably jewels of his own that he could be persuaded to turn over to Taylor.

And there was one more rich prize on that island that had nothing to do with treasure.

Fiona Harlan had been sent here for her protection by that bitch Kira Drake. What a wonderfully satisfying punishment it would be for both Kira and Harlan if Taylor was able to give Harlan’s niece the final death blow. It would strike Harlan to his very soul. It was obviously meant to be.

“We need that girl,” he said. “She holds the key to making me richer than Midas. Once we have her, there’s no way we’ll leave here empty-handed. Understand me?”

The two men nodded.