“Of course I will.”

“And what, if we get away, that’s it?”

“You will not get away. I own the land for miles. And the land that I don’t own, no one else does either. There is nothing out there. Nothing. Except you and me.”

“And Katie?” asked Shaw.

“So long as you follow my instructions, she will be released unharmed.”

“I want to go with Shaw,” said Katie.

Kuchin ignored her and instead looked at his watch. “You now have fifty-nine minutes.” He nodded to his men, who freed the three from their bindings.

Shaw looked at Katie for what would be the last time, he assumed. He tried to say something, but what was there to say? She seemed to be having the same problem. They finally simply exchanged a brief if earnest smile.

Reggie finally pulled Whit away from staring at Dominic’s body and they followed Shaw out the door, where they set off at a fast trot.

Alan Rice had not moved.

“Alan?” said Kuchin.

“Please, Evan, please don’t do this,” the younger man moaned.

“You said it yourself. I pay them thousands and yet they want millions. You wanted more, it’s that simple. And do not beg. Men do not beg.” He fired a round into the floor next to Rice, who leapt to his feet and raced out the door. Katie James was taken away and locked in another room.

It was then that Kuchin turned to Pascal. “Get the dogs ready.”

94

ALAN RICE sprinted past them but quickly fell back, tugging at a painful stitch in his side. He was obviously not in good physical shape. He would be a drag on the rest of them, making it easier for Kuchin to catch them. Because of that Shaw’s first inclination was to leave him, but then another thought occurred to him. He fell back and put his hand under Rice’s arm, helping him along.

“Just pace yourself. Not too fast or slow.”

“Okay, okay,” gasped Rice, and his stride became more measured.

Reggie, seeming to sense what Shaw was doing, dropped back to join them. Whit ran on ahead, his head bowed, his focus no doubt still on Dominic.

“What can you tell us about this place?” asked Reggie. “Anything that’ll give us an edge.”

“Like what?” said Rice.

Shaw said, “I figure we’re in Newfoundland or Labrador.”

“It’s Labrador, right on the edge of the coast.”

“How did you know that?” Reggie asked Shaw.

“I had a lot of time to count seconds,” he answered.

Rice snapped, “There’s nothing out here. We’re screwed. We’re dead.”

They passed a small pond of scummy water. Before Shaw could react, Reggie had grabbed Rice, hauled him over to the pond, and pushed him in. He went under and then came up sputtering. She pushed him under again and held him there for several seconds.

When he came up again he screamed, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Just in case you have an electronic tracker on you,” she said. “Water and electronics don’t play well with each other.”

Shaw glanced over at her. “Nice catch. I should’ve thought of it.”

“Figured it wouldn’t be past Kuchin to plant a spy with us under the pretense of punishing his guy.”

“Let’s keep moving,” said Shaw.

As they jogged along Shaw said, “What else can you tell us?”

“He has hunting dogs too, follow any scent.”

“That’s another reason they took our clothes,” Shaw said. “For the dogs.”

“Has he done this before? Hunted people?”

“Well, I know he doesn’t hunt animals. He told me once he hated it.”

Reggie grimaced. “Well, there’s your answer. He has hunting dogs but doesn’t hunt animals.”

“At least not animals on four legs,” said Shaw.

“He’s cruel and unpredictable,” added Rice.

“The cruel part I get. It’s the unpredictable part I’m worried about.” Shaw looked around. “Are we heading towards the way someone would drive in here?”

“It’s hard to tell in the dark, but I think so.”

“What’s close?”

“Nothing. Well, there’s an airstrip about forty kilometers in the direction we’re heading, but the last time I looked we don’t have a plane. Goose Bay is maybe the closest town, but it’s a long way. Hours by car, days on foot.”

“Does he have weapons here?”

“You’re kidding, right? He has a gun safe in the house full of them.”

“You know the combination to that safe?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve got it right here in my pocket.”

Shaw jerked hard on the man’s arm and stopped, nearly throwing Rice to the ground. “We can just leave your ass back there for Kuchin to chew on first. You want that? Or do you want to stop with the wiseass cracks and try to help us here?”

“I don’t know anything that can help you. I’ve been here before lots of times, but I just fly in and out. I almost never leave the house. Waller, Kuchin, whatever the hell his real name is, he knows this area better than anyone.”

“That’s reassuring,” said Reggie grimly.

“If he has dogs,” Shaw said, “we have to address that.”

They started jogging again.

“How?” asked Reggie.

“Change our scent.”

“How do we do that?” asked Rice as he puffed along beside them. “I thought dogs couldn’t be fooled.”

“Anything can be fooled, even scent dogs. And we have an advantage.”

“What?” asked Reggie.

“Take a whiff.”

“What?”

“Take a deep breath.”

Both she and Rice drew in heavy breaths. Rice almost gagged while Reggie wrinkled her nose. “Rotten eggs,” she said.

“Sulfur dioxide,” amended Shaw. “There’s probably a lot of metamorphic rock around here. That means a lot of sulfur. Probably some sulfur pools too.”

“So you mean?” Reggie began slowly.

“We cover ourselves in the smell. That way we smell like everything around here. It’s not perfect, but we may confuse the dogs just enough. And we don’t have a lot of options. And we need to turn our jumpsuits inside out. The lining color stands out a lot less than the neon yellow.”

He ran ahead to tell Whit this. They reversed their jumpsuits and twenty minutes later, following a stronger odor, they found a shallow pool of water that reeked of the naturally occurring mineral.

“We have to go in that?” exclaimed Rice.

“If you want to live a little longer, yeah,” said Shaw. “Just don’t drink it.”

Drenched, chilled, and smelling horribly, they continued on west for a bit longer before Shaw brought them to a stop, looking frustrated. “This is all wrong.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” demanded Whit, his wet hair down in his eyes. “We’re trying to stay ahead of the guy. He’s back there coming this way. So we have to go that way.” He pointed straight ahead.

“And that’s exactly what he wants. He told us to go this way, Whit. Why do you think that is?”

Reggie answered, “Ambush? Driving us to a perimeter?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. I didn’t actually believe the guy when he said it was just him against us.”

“And so what do we do about it?” asked Whit.

“I’ve always taken it as a good tactic that when your opponent expects you to go left you go right.”

“Meaning?”

Shaw said, “Meaning we skirt the ground we just covered and head back to the house.”

“What if he thought we’d do that and plans to ambush us that way?”

“Then he probably deserves to win.”

“He will win,” whined Rice.

Before Shaw could react, Reggie grabbed Rice by the neck and squeezed. “Tell me something, you bloody piece of shit. Were you cheating him on the shipping costs?”

Rice said nothing. She squeezed harder. “Were you!”

“Yes.”

“And you did try to shoot him?”

Rice nodded, looking miserable.

“Then damn you for missing the bastard. Now let’s go.”