“They could see you, and it would ruin everything. Let me run back to the road and come back from the other side of their car.”

Trevor nodded. “Good idea. I’ll circle around this dune and approach from the other side.”

Jane looked between them with exasperation. “What am I supposed to do? Sit here and do nothing?”

Trevor smiled. “I wish I could talk you into that, but I know better.”

“Damn right, I’ll go straight up and over and see if I can spot them on the beach.”

Caleb stepped toward her and handed her his revolver. “Stay low. There’s a good stand of grass on this side of the dune. Use it for cover. And if you see them, wait for us before you try to follow.”

She looked at the weapon in her hand. “I can’t take your gun, Caleb.”

He pulled a seven-inch LHR combat knife from his ankle sheath. “I prefer this. Messy, but quieter. I’ve never been one to attract attention to myself.”

“We both know that’s not true.”

“We’ll discuss it later.” He nodded to Trevor and sprinted back in the direction from which they’d come.

Jane put the gun in her waistband and turned back to Trevor. “Be careful,” she whispered.

He hesitated. For an instant, she wasn’t sure he would leave her. Then he gave her a quick kiss. “You, too.”

She watched as he ran down the length of the long sand dune. She dropped to her hands and knees and started her climb to the top.

She suddenly cocked her head, listening. Had she heard a woman’s voice?

Hard to tell over the sound of the pounding surf.

She continued slowly up the dune, an inch at a time.

She reached the top and drew a deep breath, listening.

No sound but the surf.

She raised her head to peer down at the beach.

A gun was leveled at her face from only a foot away!

“Welcome.” The man crouching there was one of the men who had met Harriet at her plane. “She’s been waiting for you. Now be very quiet, and you might live for another few minutes.”

Shit. If she tried to jerk her gun out of her waistband, he’d pull the trigger.

“That’s right, freeze.” He rose unsteadily to his feet, slipping on the loose sand. He turned to signal someone below.

Use the distraction. Move.

She hurled herself over the dune and toppled the man who was already precariously balanced on its face. She heard him cursing as they both tumbled down the other side toward the beach.

Rolling, twisting, turning …

She was struggling to grasp the revolver in her waistband. She grabbed the handle just as she hit the beach and rolled over to her feet. She leveled the gun at the man who was still flat on his back but struggling to sit up. He’d lost his gun on the way down, and it was several feet away. Don’t let him get near that gun again.

A shot rang out.

Pain seared the flesh of Jane’s lower arm and her own gun dropped from her hand. What the hell? Jane spun around.

“In the end, a woman always has to take care of things herself if she wants them done well.” Harriet was walking toward her. “Look what you’ve done to poor Craig. Of course, he deserved it for letting you take him by surprise.”

“She didn’t do anything. I … slipped.” The man Harriet had called Craig was scowling.

“Shut up, Craig. I should have known Cartland would send me two bunglers.” Harriet moved forward, her gun extended before her. “I’ll take care of this from now on.” She glanced at Jane’s arm and smiled with satisfaction. “Good shot. Just a flesh wound, as I intended. Hardly bleeding at all. Kevin taught me, you know. I didn’t want you to die before I could talk to you.”

“So talk to me.” The gun she’d dropped was only a few feet away. Could she reach it before Harriet pulled the trigger?

“I wanted to tell you that you’ve lost. That I had won.” Harriet’s face was full of triumphant malice. “And I wanted to see your face when you realized what a fool you were. You thought you were so clever. When Cartland told me that you’d followed me to my hotel, I had to wonder how you did it. When I got back to my room, I searched it very carefully and found all your little bugs. But that didn’t tell me how you’d followed me from Muncie.” Her lips twisted. “And then I thought about my Kevin’s wonderful letters and how you must have committed the final desecration by going through them. And had even planted a GPS bug in the lid of the box. Can you imagine how angry that made me?”

“I don’t really care.”

“You’ll care when I pull this trigger. Kevin and I beat you. We used your own trick to lure you out here. Kevin would have been proud of me.”

“I don’t doubt it. You’re two of a kind. I don’t know who is the more evil.”

“You thought you were going to stop me?” Harriet leveled the gun at her. “You’ve caused me so much trouble. I wish I could take more time with you. But I can’t afford to indulge myself.”

She was going to pull the trigger. Jane couldn’t wait any longer. She gathered her muscles to leap for the gun she’d dropped.

“Harriet.” Trevor’s voice. “Don’t touch her. Drop your gun.”

Harriet whirled, startled, at this new attack. Her hand tightened on her weapon as she saw Trevor with a gun in hand. “Keep back. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill both of you.” She was spitting venom. “You must be her lover, rushing to the rescue. How fitting that you’ll die with the little whore.”

“Get away from her, Harriet.” Trevor moved a step closer. “We both have guns, but you’ll be a dead woman the instant you pull that trigger. My gun is pointed at your heart, and you’ll be dead in seconds. I don’t think that’s what you want. You have all those grand plans. Or maybe you’re expecting help from that gorilla who was guarding the other side of the dune? He won’t be coming. I took care of him before I moved on you.” He glanced at Craig, who had made a motion toward his gun in the sand a few yards away and told him, “And there will be a bullet between your eyes if you’re not very, very still.”

Craig froze.

A flicker of uneasiness crossed Harriet’s face. “I don’t need him. I don’t need either of them.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a large, clumsy-looking cell phone. “I don’t need anything but this detonator. I was saving it for the grand finale after I kill Zander, but I’ll set it off now if you don’t put down that gun. And, if you shoot me, I’ll activate it as I’m falling to the ground.”

Jane inhaled sharply, her gaze on that antique phone. Millions of deaths, she thought. One touch, and millions of deaths.

“So it’s a game of chicken? I won’t put down my gun,” Trevor said. “Don’t be foolish. I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t use your gun to shoot Jane. That’s what this is all about. But I’ll let you walk away from here. We’ll be right behind you, but you’ll have a little head start.”

“You fool. Can’t you see as long as I have this detonator that I’m the one who gives the orders?”

“No, all I see is a danger to Jane.” He met Harriet’s eyes. “And I won’t risk her life no matter what you threaten. Look at me. I don’t care about anything else but Jane. Can’t you see that? Now turn around and walk away.”

She hesitated, staring at him. “You really mean it.” Then she shrugged. “It’s only a postponement. I swore on Kevin’s soul that I’d kill the bitch.” She moved away from Jane, toward the road. “And that’s what I’ll do. As quickly as I—” She suddenly whirled and the gun in her hand was belching fire.

Trevor flinched back as the bullets tore into his body.

Jane screamed.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

She jumped to her feet.

She had to get to Trevor.

Not fast enough.

Not fast enough.

He was falling …

The muzzle of Harriet’s gun swung toward Jane.

“No!” Trevor was stumbling toward Jane. “Get down. Let me do—”

Then, suddenly, Caleb was there on the scene, moving lightning fast. His knife sliced across the throat of Harriet’s henchman, Craig, who was scrambling for his gun. An instant later, he was knocking Jane to the ground and covering her body with his own.