The hill grew steeper. The plow listed to one side.
“We’re going to tip over.” Isabel’s fear-filled words seemed to come from far away as he struggled to get the machine onto stable ground.
The plow rolled over on its side, and Isabel fell on top of him.
The motor was still running. Tiny gasps escaped Isabel’s lips as she struggled to right herself. She climbed out the back of the cab’s broken window.
Jason pushed himself up. His hands were bleeding from the broken glass. He pulled himself through the same opening Isabel had used. Isabel jumped down into the snow.
Nick was maybe twenty feet from them, still behind the wheel of the other plow. The headlights glared at them.
Isabel took off running before Jason had jumped down off the plow. Drops of blood in the snow revealed that she was cut up, as well. He raced after her as the plow drew closer, the engine noise surrounding them.
Isabel felt the warm seep of blood on her forehead as she struggled to navigate through the deep snow.
The clanging of the plow’s motor stopped. She looked over her shoulder. Not wanting to risk the same outcome as their plow, Nick had turned the motor off and was crawling out of the cab. He held a gun in his hand.
Jason was at least twenty yards behind her and struggling even more than she was. She lifted her feet one after the other as she slogged up the snowy hillside. When this was over—if they survived—she never wanted to trudge through snow again.
A gunshot echoed across the terrain. She winced but kept moving, trusting that Jason would catch up with her.
She was nearly to the tree line when she looked over her shoulder. Jason was lying facedown on the ground.
Her heart stopped. She was out of pistol range, but if she ran back to help him, she would be a target too.
She turned and hurried back down the hill toward Jason. If they both died out here today, fine. She wasn’t about to abandon a good man to the forces of evil. Before she could get to him, Jason rose to his feet. His hands were bloody and he’d left stains in the snow.
He signaled for her to keep running. Nick was having as much trouble navigating the deep snow as they were. The only way he could aim a shot was to stop moving.
She heard another bullet whiz through the air just as she reached the tree line. She slowed, looking behind her for Jason.
Finding a large tree with long branches, she hid underneath it, peering out and hoping to see Jason’s boots. She caught her breath as the minutes ticked by. She heard a rustling off to the side and a moment later saw Nick’s dark boots moving past.
What was going on here? Where was Jason?
She rolled out from underneath the tree and headed back toward the tree line. Down below, Jason had crawled into the cab of the working plow. He must have doubled back once Nick entered the trees and had no view of the plow. He signaled for her to come back down.
Her feet sank three feet down as she struggled to get to Jason. A pistol shot zinged past, close enough to send shock waves through her. She heard groaning behind her. Nick had fallen in the deep snow.
Jason got out of the cab and waved his arm, indicating she should get down the hill. The pistol rested on the surface of the snow.
Once and for all, she would see to it that Nick Solomon wouldn’t escape justice ever again. She hurried toward the gun and picked it up.
“Get on your feet.” Her voice held unexpected strength.
Nick pushed himself up. He was covered in snow. “Oh, come on. You’re not going to shoot, Blondie.”
“Try me.” She aimed the pistol close to Nick’s feet and squeezed the trigger.
“Whoa.” Shock spread across Nick’s face as he did a jig with his feet and held his hands up in surrender.
She could never shoot anyone. Nick just needed to know who was in control now. “My name is not Blondie. It’s Isabel.”
Jason came up behind her. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back.” Jason held a scarf that he must have found in the cab of the plow.
Nick sneered. Isabel raised the pistol and pointed it at him. Nick glared but turned his back to them and put his hands together behind him.
They led Nick down the hill with his hands bound. Isabel held the gun while Jason drove. Once they were out on the road, he checked the rearview mirror several times.
Both of them knew there was a good possibility that the others from the warehouse were after them.
Isabel felt a sense of satisfaction as Nick hung his head and closed his eyes. “I’m telling you, baby, you and me would have made a great team.”
“I don’t want to be on that kind of team.” She glanced at Jason, feeling warmth spread over her as he gazed at her before focusing on the road.
She cared deeply for him. They had been through so much together. He had shown over and over that he would give up his life for her. What was going to happen now that all of this was close to being over?
TWENTY
Jason and Isabel sat in the FBI field office waiting to be debriefed after a trip to the emergency room to deal with their cuts. The head of the smuggling ring had opted not to chase them. Knowing that he’d been found out, he had booked a ticket to Argentina along with his girlfriend, the maid. Agents had caught him at the airport.
Michael came out of his office. “We’ll need to interview each of you separately.”
Isabel’s hand grasped his. “I’ll go first.” She squeezed his fingers.
He saw an affection in her eyes
