Shiver

were not Rick Marco, then he would not be going to prison or to witness protection or wherever. She would not never see him again. Unless . . . “It’s all been a big lie?”
    He took one look at her face and shook his head. “Not all of it. Not you and me. Not Tyler, either. Everything between us was real.”
    Sam frowned suddenly, remembering. “You made me cry. I never cry. But I thought I was never going to see you again.”
    “I know.” At least he had the grace to look slightly sorry. “I never meant for that to happen. I was dying to take you to bed, but I was going to hold off until this was over and I could tell you the truth about who I was. But you came on to me last night, and I lost my head. You were way too sexy to resist.”
    She was indignant. “I came on to you?”
    “Oh, yeah.” He grinned at her. “You made me hotter than I can just about ever remember being, too.”
    “The way I remember it, you were coming on to me. This whole time.”
    “Well,” he said. “There’s that.”
    Sam frowned at him, he grinned at her, and all of a sudden she realized she could have him if she wanted him. A real relationship. With nothing to take him away.
    The very idea made her wary; she had learned a long time ago not to believe in happy endings.
    “So what now?” she asked, a little gruffly. By this time they’d walked a long way, and the first pink fingers of dawn were stealing over the eastern horizon.
    “First things first: we get off this mountain.”
    She made a face at him. “After that. You know what I mean.”
    “Well, let’s see. Probably you want to go grab Tyler, and then—” He broke off abruptly as a low pulsing sound filled the air. They both looked around. Sam was excited to see a helicopter soaring over the woods toward them. It was big and black and official looking, and she grabbed Marco’s—no, Danny’s; that was going to take some getting used to—arm excitedly.
    “We’re rescued,” she said happily.
    “Yeah, so you’d think.” He sounded grim suddenly. “I want you to walk away from me straight into the woods. Go right now.”
    “What?” She looked at him in bewilderment.
    “Sam,” he said. “Just do what I say. Please.”
    After one look at his face, she did. She turned and left him and walked into the woods as the helicopter soared above the clearing she’d just left.
     

     
    As he watched the helicopter land, Danny was resigned. He’d hoped against hope that he was wrong, but he’d known he wasn’t. Ever since Veith had said he hadn’t blown up the town house, Danny had known who his real enemy had to be.
    He’d made his plans. Back there when he’d taken Veith out of their lives for good, he’d set them into motion.
    When the helicopter was on the ground and Crittenden stepped out, Danny waved and walked toward him like he was expecting to be rescued.
    Crittenden was regulation FBI today: dark suit, white shirt, dark tie. His salt-and-pepper hair was blowing a little in the breeze cast up by the rotors.
    “Where’s the girl?” Crittenden greeted him. He sounded tense.
    Danny jerked his head at the woods behind him. “She had to take a tinkle.”
    “We need to get her back.”
    “She’ll just be a minute.”
    Looking past Crittenden at the man who’d descended fromthe chopper on its other side, Danny got a surprise. Crittenden had Rick Marco with him. Danny had seen his picture, read his file, knew who he was instantly. In fact, the man felt like an old friend.
    The kind you love to hate.
    Both men drew on him at the same time. Bottom line, as far as Crittenden was concerned it was clearly game over; he wasn’t even going to bother to pretend anymore.
    Danny didn’t even reach for a gun.
    “Nine million dollars worth it, Crittenden?” he asked his boss.
    “Four and a half million,” Crittenden corrected with barely a pause. “Marco and I are splitting it. How’d you find out?”
    “A little bird told me.” Danny looked at the man he’d worked for for the last four years with a mixture of sadness and anger. “You sent Army Veith after me for real. You blew up the town house I was staying in. You shot down the damned plane I was in last night.”
    “It wasn’t anything personal.” Crittenden sounded almost apologetic. “You just happened to be the best stand-in for Marco. When I busted him for being a crooked agent, and he told me about the money, it just seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. Nine million