Frozen Fire (39 page)

“Well, that e-mail I sent before everything went down got through just fine.” She laughed. “I can’t believe you believed me when I said Victoria sent that. You must really have been out of your wits. Anyway, it’s only the island comms that are down. But I’m linked to a different satellite and sent another message just a few minutes ago, darlin’. Ours—mine, that is, not yours—is in a low-earth orbit, so it has come and gone and won’t be within transceivin’ range for a while.” She walked farther into the room and boldly sashayed right by him, giving him a scorching look as she did so. “The link was perfectly clear, and the transmissions were fast. Too bad you weren’t around. But then, you might know when to log on again if you had been, and we can’t have that.”

“Where’s the dish?”

She draped herself onto the chair next to his. The hem of her dress was high on her thighs, and the fabric flared out as she slowly twirled from side to side in the swivel chair.

“Too many questions, Dennis,” she said with a flirtatious smile.

What the hell is she up to?
“Why are you afraid to answer them?”

“Afraid? I’m not afraid of anything, Dennis. Not you, not your questions. The answer to the one you just asked is simply none of your business.”

“Of course it’s my business. But even if it weren’t, I don’t understand why you won’t tell me. As you’ve said, neither of us will survive this. It’s not possible for me to escape and you have no desire to. We might as well indulge in all the deathbed confessions we can.” He shrugged and watched as she brought her swiveling to a stop directly opposite him, then slowly, sexily lifted and extended a leg to cross one knee over the other.

Whatever game it is you want to play, you miserable, murdering bitch, I intend to win it
.

Changing his tactics, Dennis leaned back in his chair, smiled, and let his eyes wander over her body at a leisurely pace, lingering deliberately over her more interesting curves.

“I’ve always considered you one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen, Micki.”

She laughed, partly with delight and partly with derision. “Is that your idea of a deathbed confession?”

“Not at all. It’s a statement of fact. You’re gorgeous. Sexy.” He moved his bound hands, making the metal handcuffs rattle. “Erotic.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “So you like that, do you?”

“I might.” He forced himself to keep smiling. “I’ve known a lot of women. Slept with a lot of women. You’re unique among them.”

“I should say I am. And I’m glad you finally have sex on your mind.”

He lowered his voice and let his eyes wander again. “I thought it was on
your
mind. You’re the one who brought up the survival instinct.”

“It is on my mind, but I want to hear your confession,” she replied, leaning back in her chair. “I want to find out what the man who had everything and lost it all will miss the most. Hmm? Countin’ all your money? Makin’ money? What will you miss the most when you’re dead, Dennis?”

“Making love to beautiful women,” he said without hesitation.

She laughed out loud. “Like me, I suppose. Good answer for a man with a one-track mind.”

“I don’t have a one-track mind, I’m just a man.”

“Who’s hoping for a last hurrah?”

Dennis jangled the handcuffs again. “As much as you are.”

Micki didn’t move, didn’t reply. She just watched him in silence for a moment and fingered the pocket of her dress. The outline of the streamlined Taser was evident against her hip.

Come on, Micki. Let’s play
my
game and see who wins
.

He quirked an eyebrow at her and gave a short laugh. “You’ve called me
greedy and arrogant, and you’re not the first woman to do that, but you know me too well to make the mistake of thinking I’m stupid. You don’t need the Taser. I’m not going to hurt you, Micki. You know that’s not the way I work,” he said, his voice gone low. “I admit that I was angry earlier. It was the shock. But I’ve wised up. You didn’t leave me with any other options.” He shrugged. “You could have killed me a dozen times over by now. Frankly, I’m not sure why you haven’t. I suppose it doesn’t matter. We both know I’m dependent on you for every minute that’s left of my life. Everything I need to survive is in your head. Hurting you would be counterproductive.”

She continued to watch him in silence, her hand still resting on the Taser.

“Why not have a last hurrah? There’s not a hell of a lot else to do.” He paused. “And since you’ve taken on the role of hostess, I think you owe it to me to keep me entertained. Don’t you? I doubt either of us has forgotten how much fun we used to have together.”

Dennis slowly turned up his palms as if in surrender. It was several long minutes before Micki extended one of her own and touched him. Then she leaned across the chair and brought her face to his. He allowed himself to smile as she lowered her face to his for a long, deep, slow kiss.

It would be one of her last.

2:20
P.M.
, Sunday, October 26, Taino

After sweeping the area with high-powered binoculars as they made their approach, Simon Broadhurst and the two security agents with him beached the inflatable on the narrow strip of sand along the northern tip of the island. Wearing full masks and breathing through regulators from the tanks strapped to their backs, the men stepped out of the small boat and fanned out, using a crouching run to make themselves smaller targets. All the while, they kept their eyes moving and senses alert.

Their mission was to quickly survey the island and determine if anyone had survived. But they all knew that some survivors—if there were any—might not want to be found. They carried their guns at the ready, out of their waterproof sheaths. After a few tense but uneventful moments on the beach, Simon realized that the sounds of birdsong and droning insects meant that not everything on the island had died. Unlike what had been reported on the south end of the island, here no bird carcasses littered the beach, no dead fish floated in the water.

Cautiously pulling the regulator out of his mouth, Simon took a short, shallow breath.

Nothing.

“The air is clear. Whatever is on the other end of the island hasn’t made it here yet,” he called to the other two men as he closed the tank’s valve and pushed the mask onto his forehead. The security agents did the same as they kept their gazes on the dense undergrowth that closely bordered the beach.

Feeling triumphant and oddly calm, Simon reached for the radio unit strapped to his shoulder and called in a quick report to a still-fuming Maggy Patterson.

The three men regrouped to make a quick study of the steep rise before them, thickly covered with vegetation. There was one narrow, groomed path that led from the beach to the bunker—a path intended as an emergency evacuation route
from
the bunker. Its sheer ledges and long drops hadn’t been an issue during training, when they were descending the trail in full camo gear. Climbing it in wetsuits with full air tanks on their backs was going to be a royal bitch.

“Well, lads, let’s get this party started,” Simon muttered, and led his team across the sand.

4:30
P.M.
, Sunday, October 26, Taino

A sated, exhausted Dennis rolled onto his back in the custom-made bed in the bunker’s bedroom suite. Sex with Micki had always been measurable on the Richter scale, but today it had taken some determination to be able to look past the reality that the woman in his bed was an eerie combination of cold-blooded killer and hot-blooded lover.

“I think that’s called going out with a bang,” he said, looking at her face.
Not that I’m going anywhere. But you will be
.

“Oh, I could have sworn I heard a few whimpers, too,” Micki mumbled, her eyes closed, her long blond hair a wild mess flung across the sheets.

“Only a few?” Dennis ran a hand down Micki’s long, lean, very naked body.

“No more. Not now,” she said, rolling away.

“Do you have to be somewhere?” he asked with a laugh.

Micki slowly pushed herself upright, leaning on one hand as the other brushed her hair out of her eyes. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Soon?”

“Too many questions,” she said crisply.

“Well, is there time for a bath before you dash off to wherever you’re going?”

She hesitated. “A shower.”

“Baths are more fun,” Dennis said, lifting a section of her hair and wrapping it around his hand. He wondered briefly if it would be strong enough to strangle her. “After all, Micki, it’s not like we have to conserve water. There’s a thirty-day supply, and we won’t be here that long.”

“I don’t have time for a bath,” she said, swinging her legs off the bed.

“How about you go do your thing and I’ll run the bath? You won’t be long,” he said, sliding closer to her and nuzzling her neck. “When you come back we can pick up where we left off.”

“You think I’m going to leave you here?” she asked, looking over her shoulder with raised eyebrows. “Alone?”

He feigned surprise. “Well, you already told me you don’t want me knowing where your dish is. The one programmed to connect to your LEO satellite. So I didn’t think you would take me with you.” He paused and narrowed his eyes at her. “Or were you intending to kill me now, so soon after sex? Like a black widow.”

She blinked, and then a sly smile crossed her mouth. “Perhaps I am.”

He returned her smile.
You crazy bitch
.

“The hell with that,” he murmured, then moved his head and began to trail his lips down her spine. “There are a few more good times to be had. When I’m too tired for sex you can kill me. How about that?”

“Sounds good, Dennis, except for one small thing. I have no way to lock you up other than those handcuffs.”

He shrugged and began to play with her hair again. “You don’t have to lock me up, Micki. Just turn on the cameras and the motion sensors. If I leave the bedroom area, the alarm will go off and you’ll be able to see where I am. But for the record, I’m not planning to go anywhere.” He shrugged again. “There’s nowhere to go. Stepping outside would mean instant death, and you’ve changed all the codes on the systems, so I can’t contact anyone on the outside anyway.”

“So you’re going to be a good guy and stay here because I ask you to,” she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

“What other options do I have?” he asked.

She considered it as she lifted her dress from the floor and slipped it over her head.

“All right, I’ll give it a try,” she said easily as she stood up and walked to the door. “I won’t be long. You stay here. The alarms and cameras will be on. If you attempt to leave this room, I’ll find you and kill you.”

Her unnatural calm sent an involuntary chill through Dennis. He smiled against it.

“It’s a deal. I’ll run the bath.” He paused and lifted an eyebrow as he added some heat to his grin. “Make sure you come back by way of the wine cellar. Bring back a bottle of something cold and bubbly. There’s some good stuff in there. We might as well celebrate our last few hours of life in style.”

“Not a bad idea,” she murmured. Then, without a backward glance, Micki left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Less than a minute later, the small, glowing light on the alarm control panel changed from green to red. The alarm system was on. Exit doors were armed, motion sensors were activated, and cameras were rolling.

When, after ten minutes, none of the door alarms sounded, Dennis knew Micki had taken the precaution of purposely disarming one door to the outside. The system log and surveillance footage would show which one.

Hiding his smile from the hidden cameras, whose coverage encompassed his entire bedroom, Dennis got off the bed, balanced a moment on still-weak knees, then walked gingerly into the large bathroom. He turned on the taps and began to fill the deep tub.

The tub was full and he was in it by the time he saw the light on the alarm system’s control panel revert to green. Seconds later Micki entered the bathroom, bearing a bottle of vintage Cristal and two flutes, which she set onto the polished obsidian countertop.

“You kept your word,” she said, peeling off her dress and letting it swish gently to the floor.

“Of course I did. I always do. I’m counting on you doing the same,” he said with a grin as she climbed into the water.

“I don’t recall makin’ you any promises,” she replied. “Except to kill you.”

“Well, maybe you can just promise me that it will be quick and painless, then,” he said softly as he slid his arms around her warm, pliant body and brought her close for a lingering kiss.

Breaking off a long moment later, he glanced across the room at the Champagne sweating elegantly in the room’s steamy air.

“There’s only one thing that could make this moment better,” he said, releasing Micki and standing up. “And it’s almost within reach.”

From the wall of mirrors in front of him, he watched her smile widen
as he climbed out of the tub and walked, naked and dripping, across the cool, polished lava-rock floor to where the wine stood on the counter. He reached for the bottle and unwrapped the foil collar and then, deliberately making eye contact with her, eased the cork out of the bottle with a soft hiss.

After carefully filling one of the Baccarat flutes she’d brought with her, Dennis put down the bottle, dried his hands, and turned to face her.

She frowned. “Where’s mine?”

“You don’t get one.”

“What?” She began to rise out of the tub, her eyes wide with alarm.

“No, don’t get out of the tub.” He held up a hand and spoke in a soothing voice. “When I said there was only one thing that could make this moment better, Micki, I wasn’t talking about the wine.” He bent down and fished the Taser from the pocket of the dress that lay near his feet. Then, with a cold smile, he lifted the flute of wine in a toast.

“I was talking about solitude.”