Chasing Silver (17 page)

Nathan watched Remy sleep, his chest tight. Something was wrong. Not very wrong, but enough to make him nervous, to make sleep impossible. He had woken with a pressing sense of dread, and now he couldn’t shake it. But looking at Remy’s full lips and long eyelashes, it was almost impossible to believe anything bad could happen.

What is this? Did I leave the oven on? The car unlocked? What?

In an attempt to comfort himself, he spooned around her. He buried his face in her hair, inhaling her sweet fragrance, and closed his eyes. She still felt so new, so unexpected. And everything she said still echoed into every corner of his thoughts—each word, each inflection, each breath imprinted on his mind.

But the vague sense of unease continued to plague him.

Nathan eased himself away, rising from the bed, too nervous to remain still. Was it something she had said to him? One of the many things he couldn’t forget? He looked down at Remy, studying her once again, noting the slight smile on her soft lips. She was too good to be true, and could she have been right? Had she been sent to him? To him, specifically?

Nathan caught his breath. Something clicked home. Something Isaac had said. If the Silver Maiden sent her to him, what was to stop it from taking her away again?

He hurried to the living room, reaching for the box at the top of the bookshelf with numb fingers. Nathan fished out the coin, holding it up by its worn edges to watch the light glint off its dull surface. It looked amazing, and yet, so ordinary. Was he crazy for believing Remy? Was he wrong for thinking such a small object could be responsible for something so…great?

Nathan didn’t know how it worked, how it could have happened, or why. But he didn’t want to see it work firsthand. The Silver Maiden was far too precious, and dangerous, to leave lying around his apartment.

“You got up.” Her sleepy voice came from the doorway, and he almost dropped the box as he whipped around to stare at her. Remy leaned against the jamb, legs bare beneath the hem of his shirt that she seemed to have permanently appropriated for sleeping. The full mouth that had been smiling only moments earlier in his bed now bowed into a pretend pout. “I thought we were going to have a lazy morning and sleep in.”

“We are…well, we were.” The box felt heavy in his hand. “But I couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d bribe Isaac with some doughnuts and find out if he has any new information about Kirsten.”

“I suppose that means you’re going to make me get dressed for when he gets here,” she teased.

“I thought I’d go see him. At the station.” He did intend to stop and visit Isaac at the station on his way to the bank. He didn’t like lying to Remy, but he also didn’t want her to know where he intended to hide the coin. She couldn’t reveal what she didn’t know.

“Oh. Okay.”

Nathan’s relief was palpable when she began to turn away to go back into the bedroom. Then she stopped. His heart resumed its thudding.

“That’s going to gyp me out of breakfast, isn’t it? Because you know and I know that you don’t have a thing in this place that’s edible.”

Nathan smiled. “Fair point. There’s a grocery store around the corner. But…”

“You could drop me off.”

“No.”

“It’s a grocery store, Nathan. It’s safe.”

“How do you know it’s safe? Do I need to remind you of all the people currently searching for you?”

“None of them are stupid enough to attack me in such a public place.”

“I wouldn’t put it past any of them.”

“What am I supposed to do? Just stay locked up here? Starve? I can take care of myself, Nate.”

“I just…I worry about you when you’re not in my direct line of sight.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I’ll drop you off.”

She smiled, and in that moment before she disappeared down the hall, any doubts he might have had about his decision fled. He couldn’t lose her, not so quickly and not because they were so foolish as to leave the coin lying about where almost anyone could pick it up. Better to lock it away until they understood its secrets once and for all.

Her voice floated back to him, snapping him from his reverie. “Last one dressed is the last to come when we get back!”

*   *   *

Nathan located the small key on his key ring and slid it into the tiny lock. The safety deposit box wasn’t big, and it was far from full, but it held everything that was important to him. It was the only place safe enough to keep the coin. He didn’t think even Kirsten Henryk would have the means or the stupidity to break into a bank.

He placed the small box holding Remy’s coins near the back, but he was unable to resist the temptation to look at the Silver Maiden one final time. He slipped the coin out and cradled it in the palm of his left hand, staring at the fine work and the mysterious woman etched into the silver. As he studied it, it began to warm as before, the heat spreading up his arm.

A sudden image flashed in his mind, painful in its clarity. He saw Remy running, but he didn’t just see it. He felt it. Felt her fear, felt her pain, the sharp flash of horror, and then, longing so strong it made his chest ache. For a moment, he could see her face. Her eyes were flashing, and she turned to look over her shoulder, just like the woman on the coin.

The vision was interrupted by a searing pain shooting up his arm. Yelping, he dropped the coin in the box. Holding his injured hand against his chest, he stumbled back from the drawer, too stunned to quite understand the extent of the burn. Tears stung the back of his eyes, and his palm throbbed. A faint purple light pulsed from the box, and Nathan was afraid to look away, worried the coin would disappear, or worse, make him disappear.

But as quickly as it all began, the light faded, as did the pain in his arm. Tentatively, he stepped forward, peering into the drawer. The Silver Maiden was resting on a tattered, wrinkled envelope, dull and harmless. Nathan watched it for a moment to make sure it didn’t burn through the paper. He paused, distracted from the coin by the envelope he barely remembered putting in the deposit box. The painful throbbing stopped him from grabbing the coin again. It was fine where it was. Taking a deep breath, he closed and locked the box with his unburned hand.

Nathan’s heart still hammered against his ribs when he returned to his Mustang. The distracting image of Remy kept flashing in his mind. It took three attempts to find the correct key and start the engine, the simple act made even more difficult by the pain in his palm. The moment he touched the wheel, fresh agony flared through his arm. Sighing, he wrapped a rag around his fingers. Why didn’t Manuel’s information mention the bit about first-degree burns?

Remy’s emotions had been imprinted on his mind, overlaying his own shock at the experience. He could recall them, as though he had experienced every single one himself, but at the same time, they were foreign and even disconcerting. As Nathan navigated into traffic, though, he couldn’t quite push them away and focus on the simple task of driving.

Nathan checked the familiar landmarks, assuring himself he could give in to the temptation to analyze the experience later. When he was at home. The bank was only a few miles from the grocery store, which in turn, was only a few blocks from his flat. He just wanted to pick up Remy and go back to bed. He needed some time to think and—

The Mustang lurched forward, yanking him from his thoughts. Alarmed, he checked his rearview mirror, seeing nothing except the intimidating grill of a very large truck. Swearing under his breath, he pulled into the right lane, noting the plate number as the truck passed. What the hell was wrong with that asshole?

The truck cut him off without warning, its back fender nearly brushing against the Mustang’s bumper. Nathan laid on the horn, signaling to move left, but another truck pulled even with him. They all rolled to a stop at an intersection, and a third truck slipped into the lane behind him.

The light turned green. Nathan made a sudden right turn, stepping on the gas to pull away from his new friends, but he only made it a single block before one was on his ass again. “Fuck.”

Nathan took a sudden left, then a right, then another quick left, and finally a quick U-turn to double back. For a moment, he was alone on the narrow street. Before he could congratulate himself on his clever driving, the first truck rounded the corner in front of him, bearing down hard. Nathan swerved to the left, the wheel rubbing against his burnt hand.

The Mustang fishtailed, only a few feet between it and the truck. The second one appeared out of nowhere, its tires squealing as it hit the passenger side of the car. Nathan slammed against the door, his head hitting the window hard enough to make him see stars. When his vision cleared, the third truck was already behind him.

Nathan didn’t recognize the two men who approached his car, but he did recognize their colors. He reached for his gun automatically, but there was nothing there. They yanked his car door open, shoving their guns into his face.

“You’re coming with us.”

“Fuck you.”

One of the men raised his hand and brought a gun down across Nathan’s temple. Everything went black.

*   *   *

Remy squinted into the brilliant morning light, searching up and down the busy street for the familiar shape of the Mustang. Nathan had rushed her out of the apartment so fast she had forgotten her shades, and already her head punished her for the oversight. It would take more than a few days to get used to all this California sunshine. Either that, or find more reasons to stay inside.

Remy grinned, in spite of her increasing agitation. Staying inside was not a problem.

If she didn’t think too much about the greater implications, the entire notion of her and Nathan had her stomach dancing, her heart humming. She hadn’t lied when she’d said she was scared. What Remy hadn’t mentioned, though, was that the thrill outweighed the fear. She looked at him, and the adrenaline from every fight she had ever been in and every win she had ever accrued coursed through her veins. Nathan made her feel like anything was possible. That she could take on Kirsten, face-to-face, one-on-one, and win with a single hand tied behind her back. Blindfolded. Hopping on one foot.

With Nathan, she had something she had never had before. She had hope. Who knew it came with five o’clock shadow and a killer kiss?

A squeal of tires shifted her attention in the opposite direction, scanning the parking lot to see a gray minivan slamming on its brakes to avoid hitting a teenaged boy on a skateboard. Still, there was no sign of Nathan. Had she misunderstood his instructions? Was she supposed to meet him back at the apartment instead?

Remy twisted to peer through the front window of the store. The clock on the wall over the deli counter read ten-forty. Forty minutes longer than the latest Nathan had promised he would be. She had to have screwed up the directions.

Picking up the plastic bag sitting at her feet, she let it swing from her fingers as she walked out of the lot. The beating sun made her neck itch, and she tilted her head from side to side to relieve the pressure building up at the base of her skull.

She spotted the Mustang when she rounded the corner. It was a narrow street with little traffic, and as soon as she saw the car turned sideways in the middle of the road, Remy knew something was wrong. She broke into a run, the groceries banging against her leg with every step. Her breathing wasn’t labored, but her heart thudded so loudly it made it difficult to suck in air.

It got even worse when she saw the empty interior.

Dropping the sack to the ground, Remy ran around the front to the driver’s side. The door was shut, though not properly latched, and spidery fractures webbed the window. She yanked it open, hoping the glare of sunshine off the glass had created the mirage of the inside being empty, but found only the bare seat. A rag lay discarded in the footwell, but a glint off something metal slid her eye past it, had her bending in and over to reach down and pick it up.

Her throat went dry. Nathan’s phone. He never went anywhere without his phone.

Her search became more frantic, sliding behind the wheel to look for any other clues about what happened. His keys dangled from the ignition, heavy and unmoving until her movements sent them jingling again. But other than what she had already found, Remy saw no other clue to explain why Nathan would abandon his car. Had he been chased? Forced to flee on foot? But then he wouldn’t leave his keys and phone behind. It could have been an accident, but cops and paramedics wouldn’t just leave his car like this, blocking the road.

Remy’s head turned to look at the driver’s window again. The epicenter of the break was at head level. Even worse, when she peered closer, unmistakable flecks of blood were caught in the cracks.

It was all too obvious what had happened. Hadn’t Tian already proven they were keeping an eye on Nathan? And they had a penchant for using their cars as weapons. The events of the other night had not been a fluke.

Her hand shook as she opened his phone, fumbling with the unfamiliar buttons until she figured out how to retrieve the number she wanted. It rang only once, and the brusque greeting did nothing to ease the knots in her stomach.

“Isaac? It’s Remy.” She fingered the rag from the floor, wondering what it had to do with Nathan’s disappearance. “Nate’s in trouble.”

He had never driven this quickly outside of a work situation in nearly four years. In fact, the last time Isaac had pulled out his siren for a non-work-related emergency had been about Nathan, too. Nobody else in his life had the power to put the fear of god in Isaac more than his best friend. Nobody else had ever mattered as much.

When he pulled into the narrow street, his wheels squealing as he made the turn, Isaac saw the Mustang pulled up to the curb, Remy’s familiar form leaning against the dented side. He jerked to a crooked halt behind it and was out and onto the walk before the engine had barely stopped.

“What the fuck happened?” he growled, marching toward her.

Immediately, Remy straightened, shoulders squaring, chin lifting as her hackles rose. Fury flared in her dark eyes.

“You tell me,” she shot back. “He was late picking me up so I decided to walk home and found the car like I told you.” She jabbed a finger into his chest. Though he swatted her hand away, Isaac was surprised at how much the poke hurt. “Maybe something you told him this morning had him so distracted, he wasn’t paying any attention when Tian’s gang decided to run him off the road.”

His mouth was open to argue with her when her words sank in. “What do you mean, something I said? I haven’t talked to Nathan since yesterday.”

“That’s why we went out this morning. Nate said he needed to find out what you might have learned about where Kirsten is.”

Isaac shook his head. “For one thing, that’s ridiculous. Nathan knows the first thing I’d do is pick up the phone and call him if I had a bead on her.”

“So why would he say he needed to see you then?”

“I don’t know.” He folded his arms over his chest and pulled himself to his full height. He might not be as tall as Nathan, but he was definitely broader and he would use whatever advantage he could over Remy. “Maybe he felt the need for a little fresh air.”

The implication of his words sank in as soon as they were out of his mouth.

“This is not about me.” She bit her words out. She looked ready to swing at him, and his muscles tensed at the unspoken threat. “Me and Nate, we both want whatever this thing that’s happening between us is. He’s been on my side from the get-go, even before I had real proof about what was going on. So just because you’re going a little green around the edges, don’t try and turn this around on me.” She pointed to the car, and he followed her finger to see the cracked window she’d mentioned earlier. “That’s the only thing I need to know something’s wrong. If you give half a rat’s ass about Nate like you say you do, you’ll help me find him before Tian’s gang makes it too late.”

She had a point. Nathan’s disappearance was infinitely more important than any of his concerns about her loyalty. Nathan trusted her, after all. Besides, if Remy didn’t care about him, she would never have called Isaac in such a panic when she found the car. She could have sat on the information instead of bringing him in as early as possible.

Isaac jerked his head back to his own vehicle. “Get in,” he ordered. “We’ll check out the apartment first. Make sure he’s not there or they didn’t toss the place.”

Nathan’s keys jangled from her fingers as she followed. “Nate doesn’t have anything of value. They didn’t even take his car.”

It was difficult not to slam his door even harder than he did. “No, he’s got you and those coins. In my book, that’s a lot more dangerous.”

She didn’t say a word the few blocks back to Nathan’s place, but she dogged his heels as he took the stairs two by two. Though he had a spare key, Remy pushed ahead of him when they reached the door, slipping Nathan’s into the lock with a familiarity that made Isaac grind his teeth. He followed her in, but a quick glance around the living room was all he needed to know nobody had been around.

Remy didn’t seem so sure, rushing off to the bedroom before he spoke. He had already looked over the kitchen by the time she came back out.

“Everything looks the same.” There was a tinge of disappointment in her voice, and it dawned on him that she had been hoping for a disturbance. Probably because she knew a disturbance would give them more information on whoever it was had snatched Nathan.

“I think the fact we had to unlock the door to get in was our first clue. Tian’s boys would have had to bust it down since they left the keys with the car.”

Her eyes drifted to the front door, finely arched brows drawing together in a small frown.

Isaac pulled his phone from his pocket and punched in the number for the station. “I’m going to have someone check out all the hospitals.” She seemed oblivious to his explanation, wandering back into the living room with a listlessness he hadn’t seen from her before. “Maybe Tian just had Nathan roughed up a little bit. He might—”

“They’re gone.”

The secretary Kathy came onto the line at the same time Remy made her little announcement, and Isaac had to clumsily ask her to hold while he asked Remy what she was talking about. His gaze followed her as she went to the bookshelf, and it was only then he realized the box that had stored her coins was gone. One more piece of the puzzle fell into place.

She was still busy scanning the shelves when he finished giving Kathy her instructions. He snapped his phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket. “You’re not going to find it. The coins aren’t here.”

“Well, obviously,” Remy retorted. Her torpor had vanished with her discovery, and she was taut again with barely pent energy, like a thoroughbred waiting at the gate of a big race. While there was no denying what Nathan’s physical attraction to Remy was, when she was like this, Isaac thought he saw what other interests his best friend might have. She was like a living flame in a slight breeze, flickering first in this direction and then the next, attracting everybody to come close and then dancing out of their reach. Nathan would find the contradiction irresistible.

If nothing else, the fact she was the physical antithesis of Susanna had to be a good thing. Nathan had fallen for that sugar and spice act far too easily. Remy could never be mistaken as less than worldly.

“I think I know what he was doing this morning,” Isaac explained. “Which means the coins are safe. Right now, our priority has to be finding him. Agreed?”

She looked like she wanted to argue some more, but to her credit, Remy nodded. “What do we do first?”

“We’re going to talk to my connection to Tian.” He headed for the door. They couldn’t afford to waste any more time; Nathan’s life was in the balance. “Which means, keep your mouth shut, your eyes open, and if you do anything to fuck this up, I will not hesitate to lock you up and get you out of my way until he’s back, understand?”

In the doorway, he glanced over his shoulder. None of the fight had faded from her eyes, but she gave him another nod anyway.

That was all he needed.

*   *   *

Nathan did not expect to wake up in a bedroom—a rather posh bedroom, at that. He thought at first they had taken him back to a hotel, and the soft whisper of waves just feet from his window added credence to the assumption. But as his head cleared, Nathan realized he was in somebody’s home, tied to somebody’s bed.

His arms were stretched over his head, secured to the bedpost with handcuffs. Thick ropes bound his feet together, while a cool breeze floated through the room, caressing his overheated skin. The situation would almost be pleasant if he wasn’t most certainly going to die.

Nathan curled his fingers, gasping at the sting from the burn still raw on his skin. Remy. Did they get her, too? Did they know where to find her? Had she been the target? Nobody Nathan knew had such nice digs. Tian didn’t own any beachfront property. The room offered no clues, or anything useful for an escape. The walls were bare, the door shut and locked, and the cuffs unyielding.

The low murmur of voices outside the room joined with that of the surf, too indistinct for him to decipher who or how many were speaking. Nathan turned his head in time to see the doorknob move, and in the crack created when it opened, saw a more than familiar shape.

Tian. Maybe the house was a recent acquisition.

The woman who entered, closing the door behind her, was an unknown, though. Tall and willowy, she had white-blond hair shorn into a severe short cut. Rather than make her appear masculine, it accented the sharp angles of her face, lending her an austere beauty that would have been striking under other circumstances. Right now, Nathan was only interested in finding out who she was.

And why she was smiling at him.

“Mr. Pierce.” Her voice was lower than he imagined, her accent from the East. She came to a stop at the side of the bed and gazed down at him, glancing at his various bindings. “How are we feeling?”

“We’re feeling great,” Nathan said, his smile matching his bright tone. “And you are?”

“An ally. If you allow me to be.” Grabbing the straight-backed chair from the nearby desk, she pulled it up to the side of the bed. “I’m Kirsten Henryk.”

Nathan didn’t betray his feelings when she introduced herself. Despite his rather unfortunate situation, he couldn’t help but behave as though he was the one in control. She wanted to get information from him, but not before he got what he wanted from her. He squashed the instant reaction of rage, forcing himself to forget about the pain and terror—the pain and terror he had just experienced himself—that this woman had caused Remy.

“An ally?” He wiggled his wrists, the chains jingling against the bedposts. “It seems I’m in need of one of those. What can you do for me?”

Her gaze never left his face. “Get you out of here, of course. And get that idiot Tian off your back for good. In fact—” she leaned forward, “—I can fix it so you can catch him, Mr. Pierce. Tian’s garbage that should have been cleaned up ages ago. It would be better all around if we got him off the streets, don’t you think?”

“Oh, yes. I quite agree with you. The problem is that we’re all quite clear on what I need from you, but I’m not certain what you want from me.”

The ice-blue of her eyes seemed to grow even paler as she regarded him, and for the first time since entering the room, her smile began to fade. “A trade,” came her quiet response. “I give you your freedom and your criminal. You give me what’s mine.”

“That seems fair enough.” He kept the relief out of his voice. A trade meant she did not have Remy. More importantly, it meant she didn’t know where to find Remy. At this point, Nathan prayed Isaac had her, and was keeping her somewhere safe, out of Kirsten’s reach. And of course, she wouldn’t be able to get her evil claws on the coin. “What’s yours?”

“A family heirloom. It was stolen from my father’s home. A silver coin he’d been entrusted to care for, taken by somebody whose only concern was to sell it.” Her mouth hardened, her smile now gone. “She’s not the woman you think she is, Mr. Pierce. Remy Capra has killed more people than you did while you were still on the force, including cops. All she cares about is herself, and she will do anything necessary to get what she wants. She’s not like us. She has no regard for what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“What if we calculate the number of people I’ve killed since I left the force? Would our numbers be closer then?”

His glib response gave him his first real reaction from her. Kirsten’s nostrils flared, the muscles in her strong jaw twitching. In her lap, her long fingers curled into a fist.

“You’re out of your league, Mr. Pierce.” She didn’t raise her voice, but the menace in it was unmistakable. “And if you have any desire to walk out of this house with your heart still inside your chest, you’ll agree to my deal. I am the only hope you have to get out of here alive. You don’t want to piss me off.”

“Yes, your reputation precedes you. I heard you’re worse than Godzilla and Hitler combined. Unfortunately, I don’t know where Remy is, and I don’t have your coin, so I can’t help you.” Nathan shook his head. “Sorry. And things started so promising, too.”

She rose from the seat so abruptly he had to blink in order to see her standing at her full height. Even more alarming was the gun that had suddenly appeared in her hand. He hadn’t seen her draw it, let alone where she could have had it holstered.

He didn’t flinch when she pressed the muzzle to the middle of his forehead. “The only reason Tian didn’t kill you as soon as his boys brought you in was because of me. I don’t know why you’re protecting that bitch, but don’t think it’s going to do any good. I got your partner without breaking a sweat. I’ll get her, too.”

“Technically, you scratched Isaac. He didn’t even have to go to the hospital,” Nathan pointed out. “And there is something to be said for the home-field advantage, Ms. Henryk.” He moved his hands, trying to ease the throbbing in his palm. “I’m not from the future or anything, but I predict you’re not leaving Los Angeles.”

The gun never wavered. “A little old for believing in science-fiction stories, aren’t you?”

“Are you trying to tell me
Star Trek
isn’t real?”

Her lips pressed so thin, they almost disappeared. “I think I’m beginning to understand. That’s a blatant disregard for authority you’re showing there. No wonder you’re so eager to believe Remy’s little lies.”

“Well, yes, there is that. And her tits.”

She didn’t speak. For a brief moment, Nathan wondered if he’d gone too far. In the end, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t ever going to give Remy over to her.

“Cesar is dying to get his hands on you, you know. Something about payback, I think he said.” The gun was moving, away from his head, down his neck and along his arm, the heavy metal catching on his skin as she dragged it along. “Maybe I should get the ball rolling. Start taking you apart, piece by piece, until you tell me what I need to know.”

“He probably took that knife in his back personally,” Nathan said, watching the nose of the gun as it traveled up his arm, cold and hard. “I don’t know why. I didn’t take the grenade—”

Before Nathan finished his sentence, she jammed the barrel of the gun into his burned hand. He managed to keep the scream from ripping through his throat, but just barely. White-hot slivers of agony flew up his arm and lodged in his shoulder and chest. He couldn’t breathe for several seconds, and he didn’t miss the look of surprise, or pleasure, on Kirsten’s face.