“What, and keep running?”

He tried not to wince at that, but she was close enough. “No,” he said, and meant it. “If he’s left town, I’ll go back to Vegas after him. I’ll pull every string I have, cash every marker. But I’m done. All done.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “This is all…a lot.” She gently disengaged her elbows from his grip. “I-I need to call Thad. And my insurance company, I guess.” She blew out a breath, then turned away from him and went to the phone.

Standing by and watching was possibly one of the hardest things he did, but she knew the story now, and how she wanted to handle things, both with Thad and between them, was up to her. Not that he didn’t plan on having any influence, but she’d been happy here, going along with her plans for the future. And yes, the lack of snow had put those dreams at risk, but somehow he knew she’d have found a way, even if he’d never shown up.

He turned and looked out the rear window, looking at the shredded quilts in the rapidly fading daylight. Goddammit. If anything had happened to her…

He paced the room, half listening to her talk to the deputy, then her insurance rep, his anger building, his patience growing thinner by the second. He tried Dan’s room at the resort, planning on having him meet him in the lobby before tracking Maksimov down. Dan was the only other person in town he could trust and it wouldn’t hurt to have backup. Or witnesses.

As soon as Thad arrived and Brett gave his statement, he told Thad to please stick by Kirby, that he had some business to attend to at the resort that couldn’t wait.

Both Thad and Kirby protested, but he was already out the door and on his bike before they could stop him.

Before the night was over, it was all going to be over.

Brett parked his bike right in front of the hotel and headed inside to the registration desk. “Hi, Bobby,” he said to the young man behind the counter. He knew most of the desk staff by now. “Listen, I need to find out where-” He stopped when there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned, half expecting it to be Maks confronting him. He wouldn’t put anything past him at this point. But it wasn’t Maks, or anyone he’d seen before.

“Mr. Hennessey, sir? If I might have a word with you?” The man was massive. Tall, dark skinned, shoulders wider than most doorways. He gave big a whole new meaning. He opened his jacket to show his security badge. “Privately, please?”

Brett stepped away from the desk, but said nothing.

“Sir,” Mr. Big began, “With all due respect, I am supposed to alert you to the fact that we’ve placed hotel security out front of Mr. Maksimov’s villa. He’s not to be disturbed until someone from the sheriff’s department arrives to talk to him.”

“Okay,” Brett said. Chalk one up for the small town deputy. “I’ll just head up to my room, then.”

“I’ll escort you,” he said cordially enough, but the way he instantly flanked Brett’s steps made it clear he wasn’t going to be dissuaded.

“Fine.”

They rode up the elevator in silence, with Big standing in front, closest to the doors. Brett was fine with letting him play the shield. The doors slid open to reveal an empty hallway. Big stepped out and gestured for Brett to precede him. They both walked over to the door leading to his suite. Brett opted not to knock for Dan. Better to keep him out of this as much as possible until Brett figured out exactly what was going on. He slid his card out, but the security guard already ziplined his out from his jacket and swiped it through the locking mechanism.

The tumblers dropped, and Brett pushed the handle down and went in. He started to turn to thank the security guard for the escort, intending to close the door between them, but suddenly the guard planted one beefy palm on Brett’s shoulder and shoved him straight to the floor. Do not pass go, face on carpet.

Brett immediately started to scramble, thinking maybe this was all some kind of elaborate setup by Maks. He’d never have guessed they’d go that route, but what the hell did he know at this point? Except there were no stakes high enough for them to be taking this kind of risk. There had to be cameras in the hallway getting at least some of this, as the door hadn’t shut yet. None of this made any fucking sense.

But he barely got his hands beneath him to shove himself up, when he was stomped right back down again, with either a foot or a hand, he had no idea. But when he heard the gun clear the holster, he renewed his efforts. “Don’t move,” Big ordered. “Stay right here.”

Then he released him, stepped over him, and moved farther into the apartment, gun drawn and held steady in front of him, like a cop would breaking into an apartment where he thinks there might be trouble.

Dan.

Should he call out? Warn him? Or would Brett just be drawing attention to his presence?

Well, one thing he wasn’t going to do was stay prone on the floor. But just as he got to his feet, he heard Big yell, “Call nine one one!”

Shit. He palmed his cell out of his pocket as he ran through the suite into the bedroom where Big was standing. Over a prone body. Brett’s fingers faltered on the dial pad as his heart squeezed into a tight fist. Until he got a look at the whole body and realized it wasn’t Dan. Thank God. But…

Big was already on his ear piece, notifying the front desk that there was a guest in trouble and needing immediate medical assistance, then he was on the floor, checking the man’s pulse.

“Don’t move him,” Brett cautioned. “You don’t know where he’s-” He stopped because he’d moved around the room enough to see the prone figure from another angle. One that provided him with a look at his face. And the pool of blood extending out from under his head.

It was Maksimov.

“Dan!” he immediately shouted. He spared a glance at Big, who looked up at him and shook his head, indicating there was no pulse.

Holy-“Dan?” he shouted again, and tore through the suite to the other bedroom. Empty. No one in either bathroom. He checked behind the kitchen counter, out on the balcony. Even, God forbid, down below the balcony. Nothing.

“Will you step back inside, Mr. Hennessey. We need for you to remain calm until the sheriff’s department arrives. They’re going to want to speak with you.”

“Me? I didn’t-you were with me when we opened the door.” And thank God for that, he realized now. This was not going to look good, not after the way he tore out of the inn. And where the hell was Dan?

“We don’t know anything yet. What, when, why. Just stay put. Sir,” he added, remaining respectful but clearly not willing to have any discussion about the matter.

Brett didn’t argue. Instead he pulled his phone out again and hit the speed dial for Dan. “Come on,” he muttered.

“Sir-”

“I’m trying to find out where the gentleman is who was staying here with me, okay? Given what we found, we might want to know that. I want to know that. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’m not going to sit here and do nothing.” He dialed again, but it went straight to voice mail. He dialed the inn, then hung up before Kirby could answer. She didn’t need to be any more freaked out than she already was. Hell, she was probably already packing his things for him and putting them by the front door as it was. Goddammit. They go up in the hills for a few hours and the whole world goes crazy.

Medical staff from the resort showed up a few minutes later, followed by the town paramedics. They were in the bedroom, doing…whatever the hell they could with Maks.

Brett paced the living room like a caged animal, alternately trying to dial Dan and spending the rest of the time trying to calm down enough to figure out what in the hell was going on.

Thad showed up and Brett was across the room in a blink.

“What’s going on? What have you learned?”