to my lawyer.” He yanked open the door and gave them a hard glare. “Hope you enjoy your trip back to D.C. By the time you get there, I’ll have already talked to your supervisor. You’ll both be lucky to have jobs waiting on you.”
Oh, Thomas was sure the jobs would be waiting. He was also sure they wouldn’t be leaving Alaska anytime soon.
The mission isn’t over. It’s just started.
“Thanks for your time, Senator,” Noelle said. “It’s certainly been enlightening.”
Duncan frowned at that, but Noelle just headed right past the guy.
Thomas took his time following her. He’d been around men like the senator before. Men born with silver spoons shoved deep in their mouths. He often wished those guys would choke on them.
“You and your partner should be careful,” the senator muttered. “This is a dangerous part of the country.”
Thomas froze. Had that jerk just threatened them? He turned his head and met the senator’s dark stare.
“No one comes into my home and tries to destroy me,” the senator spat at him. “No one. You’ve just made a very powerful enemy.”
Thomas fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Right. In case you can’t tell, I’m terrified right now.”
The senator frowned.
It was Thomas’s turn to smile. “Something you should know, too. I’m a bit of a hunter, like you.” He motioned to the trophies on the wall. “Only I don’t hunt animals. I take out the humans who are too dangerous to be walking the streets.”
“I—” The senator’s face reddened.
Thomas leaned in closer to him. “We know what you did. We know what you are. Soon, the whole world will know, too.”
The senator’s shoulders hunched.
Thomas nodded. “We’ll be seeing you again, soon.” Because they hadn’t come all the way to Alaska for some quick turnaround trip. They’d come to Alaska to get the proof they needed. Proof of the senator’s guilt. They weren’t leaving until they’d accomplished their mission.
Satisfied he’d made his point, Thomas exited behind Noelle. Paula watched them with wide, wary eyes. Thomas knew she’d overheard plenty of their conversation. If you’re smart, lady, you’ll get away from the senator, as fast as you can.
But Paula appeared to have frozen in place.
Thomas and Noelle didn’t speak again until they’d left the senator’s mansion. Once they were back inside their rented SUV, Thomas glanced at Noelle.
She was staring up at the senator’s home.
“Don’t keep me in suspense,” he drawled as he cranked the vehicle. A light dusting of snow had started to fall. “What did you think?”
She didn’t glance his way. “It’s too early to tell.”
He didn’t buy it. Noelle made her living by reading people. By looking past the bright, shiny surface they presented to the rest of the world. He pulled out of the winding drive and headed back toward the cabin in town that the EOD had rented for them.
They hadn’t bothered with getting a room in the local lodge—they’d needed more permanency.
They were planning to stay in Alaska for the long haul.
Until we can bury the senator.
“But I do know he was lying to us,” Noelle added.
Thomas wasn’t a profiler, and he knew that. The guy had barely been able to hold eye contact with him, and the senator had reacted far too strongly to their questions.
“So he’s our guy.” Thomas kept his hold steady on the steering wheel. He’d driven on snow-covered roads plenty of times. But those roads were sure different from the dirt roads of his youth.
“I think he could be. The man is controlling, dominating, and he’s—” Noelle hesitated. “I think there may be quite a few layers to the senator.”
“Yeah, well, your job is to peel away those layers, isn’t it? To find out what hides underneath.” That knowledge made him nervous. He didn’t want Noelle to ever see beneath the surface he presented. Thomas had told her before she shouldn’t profile him, but he’d caught her staring at him a few times, her eyes curious.
What does Noelle see when she looks at me? He knew what he saw when he looked into her eyes.
The thing I want most.
But when she stared at him, Thomas wondered if she just saw a killer.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what he was.
* * *
“THEY NEED TO VANISH,” Lawrence Duncan said as his fingers tightened around the phone he had pressed to his ear. “Hell, yes, I know the risks, and that’s why I’m telling you...they can’t make it out of this area.”
His heart was racing in his chest. It had been pounding too fast from the moment his study door had opened and FBI agent Noelle Evers had walked inside. He’d recognized her instantly, even after all those long years. “She’s a threat,” he said flatly. “One that should have been eliminated by now.”
Silence stretched on the phone line.
“Do it,” Lawrence snarled. “Or I will.” Even though he hated to get his hands dirty. But too much was at stake in this situation. They were already too exposed. And when Noelle put the pieces together—
I’ll lose everything.
He heard the rough rasp of breathing on the other end of the line. Lawrence waited, hoping to hear—
“They’ll die tonight.”
He smiled. “The snowfall is just going to get heavier. They’re on their way to their cabin now. That means they are heading your way.” He’d taken the liberty of acquiring all of his information earlier. His assistant, Paula, had a knack for discovering information. Even before the agents had entered his home, Lawrence had known where they’d be staying in town. “With weather like this, it will be easy enough for them to have an accident.”
A fatal one.
The senator hesitated. “Just...don’t leave obvious wounds on their bodies.”
“Don’t worry, there won’t be any bodies to find.”
The words should have chilled Lawrence, but he’d lost his conscience long ago. The first time he’d seen a kill, his life had changed.
And the blood had stained his hands ever since.
* * *
THEY’D BEEN DRIVING for about twenty minutes when the bright flash of headlights illuminated their rental vehicle. Thomas narrowed his eyes as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
