Page 34 of One Last Stand
“Tomas had his own reasons for wanting to extricate himself from the Petrovs, and I turned him. He called me his fiancée, and I got close to Drago. We didn’t trust that they couldn’t hack the lock we put on the account, so I created my own bio card and transferred the money into my account before I met with my handler.”
She got back on the highway. “The meet was set up in Switzerland at a mountain resort in Zermatt, but when I got to the chalet, I found my handler, Mick Brown, dead, and in his stead, a different man claiming that Brown was a double agent. Something inside me said it was a lie. I’d left Tomas behind, intending to get him later and figure out our next move, and all I thought was—run. So I did, and that’s when the mountain blew apart. I managed to get to a smaller chalet, higher on the mountain, but the slide took out the main lodge of the resort, killing twenty people. Tomas was never found, and after I was found, I ran. And left him behind.”
The service road led east, and she cut her beams to high. The snow had lessened, was melting on the dirt pack, and here, not much had accumulated. She slowed.
“I am sure he thinks I ran away with the money, but I haven’t touched it. It’s still in the account.” She sighed as the night pressed in around them, the trees arching above, just the beams cutting a swath into the bush. “When I came here, I’d hoped this was all behind me.”
“It will be after you settle this. But aren’t you worried the Russians have found you?”
“I’m not sure they know it was me—Tomas was the one who worked for them, was the inside man who accessed the money. But . . . yes. Of course.”
Flynn had been holding her phone and now zoomed in. “Just up the road here, there’s another road, probably the drive into the cabin.”
“We should leave the Bronco here and hike in. How far is it?”
“Three hundred yards, maybe? What’s the plan?”
London glanced at Flynn. “I think I go in, you stay behind, watch my back. He just wants the bio card.”
“What about the seed code?”
“I wrote down a code with the card.” She patted her pantleg pocket. “But it’s not right, and the minute he tries it, it will lock the account.”
“And he’ll come back.”
“I’ll be ready for him.” And the solution Ziggy had suggested flashed in her head.
No.She’d never killed anyone and never would.
Maybe Flynn read her mind, because she turned to London as they pulled over. “If he hurts you or Shep . . . I’m not letting him get away.” She grabbed one of the walkies that Moose had given them.
London nodded, then turned off the car and grabbed the other walkie. Slid the KA-BAR into her belt.
Then she went around to the back and took out her Glock and the night-vis monocular from her backpack.
She handed Flynn the night-vis. “Keep an eye on me.” Her own eyes would adjust to the darkness, and really, Tomas wouldn’t just shoot her. Probably.
She had left him for dead, however, so . . .
A film of snow covered the road. She turned on her phone and used it to guide her. If Tomas was watching from the trees, it didn’t matter—she needed him to know she was here and cooperating.
Please, don’t let him have hurt Shep.
The driveway led through the forest, the woods silent, the snow sifting gently from the heavens. If only things had gone down differently, she could be sitting in her cute bungalow in front of a fire. Maybe with Shep, sharing a pizza, playing a game of Scrabble.
The thought tightened her chest.
Things had been good—so good—for over a year here in Alaska. Made her believe in happy endings, even.
She should have known better.
The cabin sat in a clearing, small rough-hewn logs stacked together with chinking between them. It sat in darkness, a small SUV parked in front of it, covered in a thin layer of snow.
She wanted to call out, but maybe Tomas was waiting for her inside—which made sense. Still, she paused and inhaled a shaky breath.
Okay, here went nothing?—
The cabin exploded.