Blood Debt

her eyes silvered. "Stop reacting and start thinking. Suppose you break into Swanson's house and force a full confession, what then? You've got nothing that'll stand up in court. If we want to find out what's actually going on, there has to be an investigation."
    "What am I doing? Wandering aimlessly through the night?"
    Eleven dead in a Richmond warehouse; but wandering aimlessly was a lot easier to deal with. "Yeah, mostly. Picking this mess apart is going to take resources we don't have."
    "If I get a full confession, I have resources enough to deal with Ronald Swanson."
    "No."
    There was such finality in that single word that the silver fled from Vicki's eyes. "What do you mean, no?"
    "If Swanson dies, if you kill him, it's more than I can ignore."
    She pulled her hand free and rubbed the band of warmth where his fingers had been. More than he could ignore. Those were the sort of words that came right before good-bye. "But…"
    "No buts, Vicki." He gripped her shoulder, shaking her, willing her to listen. "This is where I draw my line in the sand."
    One heartbeat. Two.
    "I'm not really happy about ultimatums, Mike."
    "And I'm not really happy about premeditated murder."

    Put like that, without either the masking rhetoric or the heat of the Hunt, neither was she. She supposed. One corner of her mouth twisted up in a wry smile as she reached out and pushed the overlong lock of hair up off his face. "I guess every relationship means compromises."
    A little surprised by the relief that softened his expression—What had he expected?—she laid her hand flat against his chest, reassured in turn by the steady beat of his heart. "Now that's settled, what do you want me to do?"
    "I want you to leave me here…"
    "Forget it."
    "Goddamn it, Vicki, would you just listen for a minute? The only way we'll find out what's happening is if we don't spook them. Leave me like you found me…" He paused. "Okay, there's no need to drug me again, but other than that…" When she didn't smile, he sighed and continued. "Go home, and call the police. Tell them you'd parked to check out a road map when you saw a big guy in a red T-shirt carry a body in the back door. They'll come out and they'll find…"
    "Nothing. This is a hidden room. The night nurse doesn't even know for sure that it's here; how the hell are the police going to find you?"
    "All right, fine. Tell them you were visiting a sick friend, were getting back into your car, saw the guy in the red T-shirt with the body, stuck your head in the back door and saw this room. You took off before he could spot you and after dithering for a couple of hours decided to call the cops."
    "Can I ask you a question?"
    His eyes narrowed at her tone. "What?"
    "You're a cop, try thinking like one. Would you believe a cock-and-bull story like that?"
    "It doesn't matter if they believe it, as long as they check it out."
    "I think I can come up with a story they'll believe."
    Celluci snorted as Vicki turned to glare at Henry. "That's right, you're a romance writer."
    "Stay out of this, Henry."
    "Let's start by remembering that you're working for me, and that I think the detective has made a very good point. If we let them know we're on to them, they'll vanish."
    "So you're all in favor of leaving Mike in danger?"
    Vicki pushed the words out through clenched teeth, shifting position slightly to better defend the man in the bed.
    Celluci sighed. "Vicki, calm down. Whatever they're going to do to me, nothing's going to happen until morning."
    "How do you know?"

    "How do you think? I overheard the bad guys talking in the hall right before they drugged me."
    "The bad guys?"
    "Big guy who brought me in…"
    "Cow eyes?"
    "I wouldn't know. The closest I've ever been to a cow is in a burger.
    He was talking to a woman, but I never saw her. I'm pretty sure she was the one using the needle, but he covered my face with a pillow before she came into the room. They don't matter now." Trying to find a position where his head wasn't pounding, he shifted against the pillow. "All you have to do is make sure the police get here before morning and I'll take them to where I got jumped and let them leap to the same conclusion I did."
    "Which is?"
    "That you could bury an army out in those woods." His voice gentled. "I promise nothing will happen in the time it'll take the police to get here. All you have to do is spin them enough of a story that they have to find me. I'll do the rest."
    "Why don't we take you to the