Chapter 1
Robert couldn’t possibly drink another cup of Turkish coffee. It was delicious, without a doubt, but he’d been jittery even before wandering into the tiny cafe in this dirty corner of Dogubeyazit. Besides, he’d sat in one place for too long. He should get moving again.
He handed a few bills to the man behind the counter and watched them disappear. The man gave him a quick smile, mischief dancing in his eyes, and turned away. Oh well, getting back change was the least of his concerns right now.
“Excuse me, but can you tell me how to get to…”
The man shook his head. “No English,” he said, his back still to Robert.
“That’s all right, then. Thank you.”
He stepped out of the dimly lit shop and onto the dark street. No one seemed to be about at what would have been considered an early hour back home. That was fine with him. He tucked his hands into his pockets and resumed his search for the way back.
Every shadow made him jump. The tiny shadows that flitted across the windows lining the darkened street, dancing across the corners of his vision. The flat, distorted shadows cast by the moonlight. All were dark and foreboding. But it was the moving shadows that were the worst. The long thin shadows that swept across him with every vehicle that passed along the main street. He imagined each one was a hand reaching out to grab him.
“Pull yourself together, Robert. You’re letting your imagination run wild.”
But that wasn’t entirely true. Someone was after him, though who it was, he could not fathom.
He’d suspected it for a while. Several times today he’d seen the same car parked in various places he visited. He’d told himself it was a mere fancy, but when he’d returned to his hotel this evening to find his room ransacked, he’d run. That had been a mistake. Now he was lost.
“Just keep on the move,” he told himself. “Stay out of sight until you get to your car. You’ll drive to the airport, get on the plane, and you’ll be out of this place.”
Something rustled in the alleyway to his right and he let out an embarrassingly high-pitched cry. He whirled around, ready to flee again.
It was a cat, probably after a mouse. Nothing more. It stared up at him, judging him with its wide-eyed stare. Even it knew he was a craven.
Why did I come here, and alone to boot? I’m not cut out for this cloak and dagger business.
Of course, it hadn’t seemed like anything other than a scholarly endeavor at the time he decided to make the trip. He was merely following up on an old legend he’d uncovered. To his great pleasure, it had proved to be true, and what he’d discovered was remarkable. Better than that, it was a tantalizing clue that might lead to the greatest prize imaginable.
At least he no longer had it in his possession. By now, it would be miles from here, on its way across the ocean. He considered calling Dima and warning her to be on the lookout for a mysterious package, but something told him not to. He didn’t know who was after him, or how they’d found out about his search, but if they were to catch up with him, he supposed they could check his outgoing calls and target her next. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
He took a left turn at random, cutting through an alleyway. He checked his watch. It was ten o’clock. A long time until his flight out but he’d feel better if he found his way back to his hotel and his vehicle soon.
Several times he’d considered walking up to any of the doors he’d passed and asking directions, but paranoia kept him on the move. If he’d seen a taxi or a police officer, he could have flagged them down, but no luck. He’d really made a mess of things.
He just needed to make it to the airport. They had security. There he could safely hide in plain sight until his flight departed.
Why hadn’t he simply hopped in his rental car and driven away? He knew why. He was a coward and completely out of his depth. A day of rising tension and fear had led him to snap.
He quickened his pace and came out on a familiar street. His hotel was not far from here! Perhaps another mile. His spirits buoyed, he set out down the street at a slow jog. When his hotel came into sight, he quickened to a trot.
Almost there.
He was so focused on his destination that he didn’t see the figure lurking in the shadows off to his right. A powerful hand closed around his wrist and another clamped down over his mouth. He tried to cry out, to struggle, but the unseen figure held him fast.
“Mister Crane.” The speaker’s breath was hot on Robert’s neck. “We have some questions to ask you.”
Chapter 2
“The winner by knockout and still champion, Angel Bonebrake!” The crowd packing the arena roared as, in the center of the cage, the referee raised Angel’s hand high in the air. From his seat in the front row, Dane Maddock clapped and whistled. For a brief instant their eyes met and she winked.
Bones Bonebrake, Angel’s brother and Maddock’s business partner and best friend, elbowed him in the ribs.
“How does it feel to know your fiancé can beat the crap out of you?”
Maddock smiled. The truth was, he was still in a daze over his engagement. For years he thought he’d never marry again, but the beautiful Cherokee girl with the vocabulary of a sailor had other plans.
“I can still kick your ass, Bones. That’s what matters.”
“Keep dreaming, Maddock.” He looked around at the attendees who were already filing out of the arena. “I suppose we should get out of here. She’s going to be busy with post-fight interviews and all that crap.” Bones caught his sister’s eye, waved, and then pointed to the exit. She smiled, gave him the thumbs up, and then blew Maddock a kiss.
“Do you think she’s the first mixed martial arts champion to blow kisses in the ring? That’s not very badass.” Bones asked as they pushed their way into the lines of people making their way to the exits.
Maddock rolled his eyes. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure. Let’s talk about the wedding. Which one of you is going to wear the dress?”
Maddock silenced his friend with a frown, but it didn’t last. Upon leaving, Bones spent the drive from his uncle Crazy Charlie’s casino, where the fight had taken place, to his mother’s house, speculating about what Maddock’s and Angel’s children would look like.
“Don’t get me wrong, but it’s going to be weird if I have a bunch of short, blue-eyed blond nephews. I mean, I can teach them how to pull chicks and all that other important stuff you don’t know anything about, but there’s nothing I can do about the DNA. We’ll just have to hope they get that from my sister.”
At a hair under six feet tall, Maddock was hardly short, but most people look small alongside the burly, six foot five Bones. The big native had lorded his height over Maddock, literally and figuratively, since their days in the Navy SEALs.
“We haven’t even talked about a wedding date and already you’ve got us having kids? Slow your roll,” Maddock said. The engagement was so new, he wasn’t at all ready to contemplate anything beyond that.
“Maybe you missed a couple of health classes, but you don’t have to get married before you…” Bones broke off in midsentence and tapped the brakes as his mother’s house came into view.
“What is it?” Maddock asked. Neither silence nor slow driving could be classified as typical Bones behavior.
“Something’s not right. Mom’s still back at the casino with Angel, so Grandfather’s the only person home. He goes to bed at, like, eight o’clock and he never leaves a light on.” Bones pointed to the front of the house, where a faint light was barely visible through the front curtains.