On the Hunt - Page 81

Taylor laughed. “Nothing’s over! That’s what you thought down in those caves. But I wasn’t the one to die. I’m never the one to die. Do you believe I actually care about any of those men? Now I’m here and I’ll get what I need and then I’ll be gone again.” He raised his gun and pointed it at them. “I may not be able to get all of you, but if you don’t put that gun down, I guarantee at least one of you isn’t getting off this island.” He cocked his head toward Fiona. “Maybe it’ll be her. Or perhaps Kira. Do you really want to take that chance, Harlan?”

Kira raised her hands to try to soothe him. “Just… relax. You don’t want to do this. One way or another you’ll die if you don’t give up. We can work this out, Taylor.”

“But maybe I don’t want to work it out,” Fiona said quietly.

Taylor’s brow wrinkled as his gaze met Fiona’s. “What are you talking about?”

She took a step forward. “Didn’t anyone tell you that I’ve been training this wonderful animal you were going to kill? He obeys signals beautifully these days. And I guess you were too distracted just now by Harlan killing that asshole you brought to butcher him to pay attention to what I was doing.” She gestured down to Taylor’s boots.

His gaze followed Fiona’s gesture and his eyes widened. “What the hell…?”

It took him only a few seconds to realize that Fiona had clipped the end of her saddle rope to the leather pull loop at the top of Taylor’s left boot!

“Goodbye, Taylor.” She clicked her tongue twice. “Go, Sinbad!”

And the horse took off!

Taylor screamed as Sinbad jerked him off his feet and started dragging him through the rocky terrain. His face and skull were bashed against dozens of boulders and clumps of vegetation as the horse galloped across the wet hillside. Taylor lost his gun during the first few seconds, yet he kept struggling and screaming for almost the entire distance. But when the screams stopped, there was no doubt that Taylor was dead. Sinbad eventually halted and looked over his shoulder, then slowly started to walk back toward Fiona as if puzzled that she hadn’t signaled him to return.

She clicked her tongue again and held out her hand, and the horse trotted toward her. Somewhere along the way Taylor’s body had come loose from the saddle ropes and rolled several yards until it landed face down in a gully of rushing water.

Mack was running toward Sinbad and was whimpering and rubbing against his forelegs as Harlan and Kira rushed toward Fiona, who seemed to be frozen in place as she watched.

“Are you okay?” Harlan asked her gently.

Fiona nodded. “I did what I had to do.” She moistened her lips. “And I’m not sorry. You heard him. He would have killed at least one of us. I couldn’t risk it. No more deaths, Harlan. It had to stop.”

Harlan pulled her close. “I know, Fiona. I’m just very sad that you were the one to do it.”

She shook her head. “I might be sad later, but I don’t think so. He was a terrible, terrible man. And Sinbad had a right to protect himself.”

“Well, I think Kalim would agree with you.” Harlan glanced at Kira. “But do you, Kira?”

“Of course.” Kira took Fiona into her arms and held her close for a moment. “A clear case of self-defense,” she said. “No question.”

Harlan nodded. “As soon as I tie up Mack’s bloody prey that he left as a present under the tree, let’s get out of this rain and call Kalim and have him help us round up the rest of Taylor’s henchmen to deposit with the Moroccan police.”

“Absolutely.” Kira whistled for Mack as she put her arm around Fiona’s waist and led her gently toward the path. “And for once, I’ll be glad to see Kalim’s castle!”

EPILOGUE

HATHOR ISLAND AIRPORT

EIGHT DAYS LATER

“You’re sure Fiona’s okay?” Kira asked Belson as she opened the door of the Gulfstream jet and jumped out onto the tarmac. “She wouldn’t talk to me when I tried to call her yesterday. She said she had to speak to Harlan first. But then you called and said that Harlan might require my signature on some documents, and I had to come back and have them notarized or Kalim might get upset. Why didn’t they tell me about this before I left to visit Sarah?”

“I have no idea,” Belson said. “I just do what Harlan tells me to do.”

“Sometimes,” Kira said wryly. “When you want to do it. Is it a police or government document?”

“I don’t believe it is. I honestly don’t know the details. Harlan just told me to pick you up at Summer Island and bring you here.”

“How frustrating. Maybe it has something to do with Fiona? Is she in trouble? What the devil is happening?”

He shook his head. “No trouble. Not unless it’s the usual chaos that Fiona somehow manages to spread. Otherwise, she’s fine. Harlan just told me to come here and take care of you until he could get here.”

“Take care of me?” Kira repeated suspiciously. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. Particularly not Harlan, whom I’ve barely seen since Kalim took over his life when we went down to the castle the evening Taylor met his not-so-sad demise. You wouldn’t think one super criminal would cause that much trouble. The entire island was filled with police and investigators of every description. We didn’t get away from them until the next day.” She shrugged. “But at least we didn’t have to deal with the media.”