Right. She wasn’t touching that. Besides Jordan had taken a gold coin to school, which had prompted his kidnapping and made it difficult to deny the treasure existed. Still she had no idea how he got his information. She changed the subject. “What will you do with me?”
“Keep you with me until this is over.”
Over her dead body. She couldn’t spend time with this man. “You’re kidnapping a police officer?”
He scowled. “Add it to my list of crimes.”
It would be very easy to dispose of a body in the ranges. No one had completely explored the eighty kilometre length of it.
So if she wanted to stay alive, she needed to play along. “Will you share the information you have?” He might not want to hurt her, but he would if she ran. While she bided her time, she could use his resources to put an end to Stonefish threatening her friends and using her town as its base.
“As needed.”
Annoyance swept through her and she forced her hands not to clench so he didn’t know she was riled. “Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
If he had wanted to kill her, he could have done it in the tunnel. She would be safe for the moment at least. She’d get her opportunity to get her gun back, and then she’d be the one calling the shots.
But maybe, just maybe, he meant what he said.
And they could bring down Stonefish together.
She sighed. Still being far too trusting and optimistic. Still her options were limited. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Two
Leesmotheredalaugh.No way was Nhiari going behind him where he couldn’t see her. He wasn’t stupid. She might have agreed to go with him, but that wasn’t the end. She’d given in too easily. And the one thing he’d learnt during their date was she didn’t give up, and she didn’t give in. It was something he admired her for, which made betraying her even more difficult.
But he had to be focused on the end game.
“After you.” He pointed back to the tunnel, trying to release the tension in his shoulders. This was all Kurt Webb’s fault.
Kurt was supposed to meet him to swap information, not bring two innocent boys with him, and force Lee to take them off his hands. He’d recognised Jordan and Cody immediately and knew if he hurt them, there would be nowhere he could hide. The Stokes and their friends would make it their mission to find him.
He’d already done enough to hurt them, and he might need their help to end this.
He couldn’t hurt those boys.
Added to his stress was the uncertainty of whether this was a test from Stonefish, to check if he was still loyal. His loyalty had already been questioned, but that might have been a taunt from a man who had always been jealous of him, rather than the truth from the top. Either way, he was safe as long as Stonefish didn’t know for sure where his loyalties lay.
The boys escaping on their own didn’t help matters.
It took a lot to surprise him, but returning to the cave to find it empty had shocked him. Then he’d been impressed by the boys’ ingenuity. Neither boy had seemed scared. They’d been defiant. Jordan was certain Sherlock would come for him, and the boy had been right. Sherlock had been smart enough to recognise how much of a threat Kurt was and to teach the boys to protect themselves.
A relief, really, because Lee hadn’t known what to do with them.
Lee followed Nhiari back into the tunnel, admiring how the cut of her blue police uniform pants moulded to the curves of her bottom. He suppressed the urge of longing. Their one night together had been perfect, but the memory would have to last him a lifetime, because there was no way she would trust him again.
He was a criminal and she was a cop.
Nhiari stopped at the small gap in the rock. “Where now?”
“Keep going.” It was a tight squeeze, but doable.
“I’m supposed to go through there?” Her voice wavered at a slightly higher pitch than normal.
Lee kept out of her reach and shone the torch on her face. Sweat glistened on her forehead, but it was humid as hell in here. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her hands trembled as she clenched them. Shit. She was scared. This strong, brave woman was claustrophobic.
