“Out, Brad,” George said quickly. “Haven't you ever heard honesty is overrated in a situation like this?” He opened the door and pushed him out. “It seems Brad's barbaric instincts are at the forefront, Kerry. I'll make sure you see us tailing you, since Brad says he'll make Dickens blind to us. I don't quite believe him, but it's a most interesting situation.”
Interesting? It was terrifying, she thought. “You listen to me.” She stared Silver directly in the eyes. “You've broken your promise to me before, but you can't break this one. You promise me right now that you'll wait until I give you a safe target to take out Trask.”
“And what if you find you can't push him? I'm supposed to sit around and watch him burn you all to kingdom come?”
“Then you'll have to trust me to find some other way to lure him to expose himself.”
He just looked at her.
“Promise me, Silver.”
He was silent a moment. “I promise you I'll give you your chance.” The door closed behind him.
It wasn't the answer she'd wanted, but it was all she was going to get. It was bad enough that she wasn't sure she could influence Trask. Silver had become an unknown quantity.
She checked her watch. Only a few minutes had passed, but it was time she left. How did she know what Dickens would do if she wasn't there on time? He was another unknown quantity. Her life seemed to be full of them.
The blue Ford made three passes around the block where Kerry stood before it pulled over to the curb.
“Get in.” Dickens leaned over and opened the passenger door. He took her purse, rifled through it, and then ran his hand over her breasts and arms.
She pulled away. “What are you doing?”
“Checking for weapons and to see if you're wearing a wire.” He gave a nervous glance at the Baptist church and then down the street. “Let's get out of here. I want to get this over with.”
“No more than I do.” She slammed the car door. “Where are you taking me?”
He dialed his phone. “I've got her. No, there's no one around. I made sure before I picked her up. I know my business, Trask.”
“I want to talk to him.”
He shrugged and handed her the phone.
“You said I could talk to my brother, Trask.”
“Ah, yes. I was a little worried he'd be reluctant, but I believe he has something to say to you.”
Jason came on the line. “Kerry, don't come. Find a way to get away.”
He was alive. She hadn't realized until this moment how frightened she'd been that Trask had already killed him. “Are you okay?”
“Don't come,” Jason said desperately. “My life isn't worth—”
Trask came on the line. “He must care a great deal for you. He's a smart man, and I don't believe he has any doubt that his own life is on the line. Now, you be good and don't give Dickens any trouble. He's nervous and he can be quite lethal. I don't want anything to happen to you.” He hung up.
She handed Dickens the phone. “He said you're nervous. That must mean you don't like doing this. Wouldn't it be smarter to help me save my brother and bring Trask down?”
“Shut up.” He pulled away from the curb. “I'm not nervous. Everything's fine. This is all going to be over tonight.”
Where was Silver? He'd said five or ten minutes, and yet Dickens showed no sign that— Hell, what did she expect? She didn't know whether she'd even be able to tell any difference in Dickens's behavior if Silver had managed to get into his mind. “They'll catch you, Dickens.”
“No, they won't. I'm through here the minute Trask gets on that plane with Ki Yong.” He turned the corner and headed for the edge of town. “I'll disappear into the sunset with a bag full of money.”
“If Trask doesn't decide you'd be perfect for one of his experiments with Firestorm.” With seeming casualness, she shifted her gaze to the side mirror. Her heart sank as she saw the street behind them was empty. No one was following.
Dear God. Had something happened? Don't think about it. If she had to cope, she'd do it. “Trask is capable of any deceit. You must know what he did to Fairchild. What's to keep him from—”
A brown Lexus had turned the corner with George at the wheel.
Get closer,” Silver said curtly. “You can't lose him.”
“No?” George raised his brows. “You'll excuse me from being ignorant of the process, but wouldn't you be able to find out where he's going?”
“I don't want to waste the effort,” he said curtly. “I'm having to dig down beneath layers of slime to find out what I need to know about the guards surrounding the farmhouse.”
“Farmhouse?”
“That's where he's taking her. A farmhouse. Dickens had to scout it out for Trask.”
“Then maybe you should find out where it is so that we can go ahead and wait for—”
“For Christ's sake, it doesn't work that way. I don't know this asshole's mind. I have to pick up what I can until I get control.”
“Okay,” he said soothingly. “Just a suggestion. You're right, I don't how this works. Who the hell does?”
“Sorry.” Silver's gaze never left the car ahead of them. “Just get closer and don't lose him.”
“You're sure he won't see us?”
“No, I'm not sure, but I don't think he will. I believe I've already got that much control.”
“Then it's a chance.”
“Hell, yes.”
What is it?” Dickens was staring suspiciously at Kerry's face.
Shit. “Nothing.” She looked hurriedly away from the mirror and tried to distract him. “Trask's not stable, you know. Anyone's a target.”
It didn't work. Dickens's gaze had followed hers to the mirror.
She tensed. Jesus, George had moved to only a few car lengths behind them and wasn't even trying to avoid being seen.
Dickens shrugged and glanced away. “Shut up and stop trying to spook me. I'm not buying it.”
And he clearly wasn't seeing the brown Lexus behind them.
Silver had gotten in.
She let out a deep sigh of relief. “I was just trying to save you from making a mistake. I won't waste my breath.” She forced herself not to look at the mirror again. “Where are you taking me?”
“Into the country.”
“Where?”
He scowled. “I can't tell you. Trask wants it to be a big surprise. Stupid . . .”
She smelled the smoke first. Harsh, acrid, evoking a hundred nightmare memories.
Her heart leapt. Had that bastard already turned Firestorm loose on Jason?
“Get Trask on the phone, Dickens.”
Dickens shook his head. “The place is right around the bend up there.”
“Then hurry up, dammit.”
“Don't give me orders.” He glared at her. “I'm tired of everyone telling me what to do.”
She barely heard him. They were already going around the curve in the road and she saw the fire.
A large barn down the road, burning, blazing, devoured, and devouring.
Anguish tore through her. Jason. “Let me out.”
“Do what you please.” Dickens had pulled up in front of a farmhouse. “I've done my part.”
She threw open the door and jumped out of the car. The intense heat struck her as she started at a run for the barn.
“He's not there, Kerry.”
She whirled to face the man who'd spoken behind her.
Trask had come out of the house and was standing on the front porch. There was no mistaking him. The childlike blue eyes staring at her were the same as the ones she'd seen in his photo. The reflection of the fire lit his amused smile as he started down the steps. “You keep thinking I'd cheat myself by being too impatient. After waiting all this time I want to enjoy every nuance.”
She ignored everything but that first sentence. “Jason's not in that barn?”
“No. I even turned the livestock out of their cozy home. I merely wanted to light a beacon to welcome you.”
And scare the hell out of her, she thought bitterly. “Where is he?”