Copper Beach

46

DAWSON WAS SLUMPED IN A CHAIR IN THE YACHT’S MAIN cabin. His wrists were fastened behind him. His legs were bound to the legs of the chair. He looked up when Abby walked on board. Disbelief flashed across his face.

“What the hell are you doing here, Abby?” he said. “I told him that you wouldn’t come.”

The good-looking, sandy-haired man with the gun chuckled. “But I was sure she would. She’s your sister, after all.”

“Stepsister,” Dawson said dully. “I explained that she’s not a blood relative. She doesn’t even like me.”

“But you’re all part of Dr. Radwell’s modern blended family, his family by choice. I admit I don’t get the family-loyalty thing, but it can certainly prove useful.”

Abby stopped just inside the cabin, the package containing the lab book in her hands. She looked at the man with the gun. He was polished and well groomed, the kind of a man who was at ease with money and the sort of people who possessed a lot of it. His open, classically handsome features invited trust. He was dressed from head to toe in iconic yachting attire, a dark blue polo shirt, well-cut white trousers and deck shoes. The ring on his hand was set with a large diamond. The watch was gold, the kind of timepiece that, according to the ads, was meant to be handed down to the next generation. The ads did not usually mention that in a pinch the watch could be pawned to buy a ticket to a no–name island if the Feds came to the door.

“You must be Lander Knox,” Abby said.

“So you figured that out, did you?” Lander looked amused.

“Sam Coppersmith is the one who worked out your real identity.”

“I see. Well, no harm done. When this is over, I will disappear again, just like I did a few years ago, when I wanted everyone to think that I was dead.”

Dawson shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come, Abby. He’s a total psycho. Now he’ll kill both of us.”

“No,” Lander said. “I’m not going to kill either of you, not unless you force me to take extreme measures.”

“Bullshit,” Dawson muttered.

“Why should I kill you or your sister?” Lander asked, in a voice of perfect reason. “She followed all the rules today. She came alone, as instructed. Paid a private charter service to drop her off at the cabin. She knows what will happen if I hear or see another boat or if there’s any sign of a floatplane, don’t you, Abby?”

“Yes,” she said. “You’ll kill Dawson.”

“Exactly right.” Lander gave her an approving smile. “But if everyone sticks to the plan, you both will walk away from this meeting, and I will sail away. You won’t ever see me again.”

“Why the gun?” Abby asked. “You’ve already murdered at least two book dealers by paranormal means, and I’m betting that you’ve killed others the same way.”

“I have discovered that people tend to take guns more seriously than they do the paranormal. A gun concentrates the attention.”

“Sam said something similar.”

“And those people you say I murdered were all victims of cardiac arrest. There is nothing to tie me to their deaths.” He glanced at the gun. “Certainly not this device.”

“Device?” Abby took a second look at the weapon in his hand.

“It looks like a gun, but it isn’t a traditional pistol. It’s crystal-powered. Kills without leaving a trace.”

“He’s lying about letting us go,” Dawson said wearily. “He’s a damned psychopath. He lies as easily as he breathes. He’s been stalking you for months, using Grandmother and me. He’s the one who set up the Ponzi scheme and suckered Grandmother and me into investing in it.”

Lander gave Abby a warm, charming smile. “I don’t want to have to kill anyone. All I want is the lab book. Once you’ve broken the en­­cryption and I’ve verified that it’s the right book, we’ll take a short cruise. I’ll put you and Dawson ashore on one of the uninhabited islands here in the San Juans. It may take you a while, but sooner or later you’ll manage to flag down a passing boat. Plenty of time for me to disappear.”

“What if we go to the police?” Abby said.

Lander shrugged. “They wouldn’t believe you. There was no ransom paid. No money changed hands. At best, the kidnapping story will be viewed as a publicity stunt designed to help your father sell more books. Speaking of books, let me see Willis’s notebook. I want to be sure you brought the right one.”

“Afraid of being scammed the way you scammed Dawson?” Abby asked.

“You wouldn’t take the risk,” Lander said. “You know that it would cost your brother his life, and your own as well. But after going to all this trouble, I want to be certain that the book you found is the right one. You know how it is in the collectors’ market, so many frauds and forgeries out there.”

“True.” Abby put the package down on the desk and started to peel off the tape she had used to secure the wrapping paper. “How will you know if this is the right lab book?”

“I’ll know,” Lander said. He moved closer to the desk to get a better look at the package. “In fact, I can already sense some energy around it.”

“Encryption energy.” Abby finished unwrapping the book. The atmosphere inside the cabin heated a little, but she knew that it wasn’t all coming from the lab book. Lander had heightened his talent. He was powerful. The strange gun in his hand was suddenly a luminous green. A new chill went through her.

“You used a crystal from the Phoenix Mine to power that weapon,” she said.

He followed her gaze to the gun and gave her another approving smile. “Very good observation. My father thoughtfully kept one crystal as a souvenir. I ran a lot of experiments on it before I finally realized what it could do.”

“That’s what you used to kill Thaddeus Webber and the other dealer.”

“Yes. I know the East Coast hot-books market quite well. I’ve been dealing in it anonymously for some time now. But sadly, I lacked connections here in the Pacific Northwest.”

“But your contacts back east knew how to find Thaddeus.”

“It took some doing, but once I located him, I was able to get the names of the most likely auction dealers from him before he suffered his heart attack.”

“Before you murdered him, you mean. You sent those two men to kidnap me.”

“I had hoped to avoid violence, but when it became clear that you had another client and that your dear brother was not going to be able to convince you to work for him, I realized I had to take more drastic measures. I wasn’t absolutely certain that you would show up at Webber’s house, but it seemed likely. I didn’t have time to watch the place myself, so I hired that pair to pick up any female seen leaving his place. Obviously, they did a very poor job of grabbing you. I assume you had Coppersmith with you that day?”

“Yes.”

“That explains why you got away,” Lander said. “Never mind, what’s done is done, and it’s all ending the way it’s supposed to end. Let’s have a look at the lab book.”

He opened the leather cover and examined the first page.

“There’s Willis’s name,” he said. “The dates are correct.” He turned one page and then another. His eyes tightened. “This is a record of experiments conducted on rare earths and crystals taken from a mine, but there’s no mention of paranormal properties or the location of the mine.”

“The book is still encrypted,” Abby reminded him. “It won’t make any sense to you until I break the code.”

He closed the book with a snap. “Do it now.”

“You promise you’ll let us go?”

“I promise,” Lander said. Anger flashed in his cold eyes. “I told you, I have no reason to kill either of you.”

“He’s lying, Abby,” Dawson said.

Lander aimed the gun at him. “It occurs to me that now that I have your sister, I don’t have any more use for you.”

Dangerous currents swirled in the atmosphere. Dawson started to sweat. He gasped for breath.

“No.” Abby grabbed the lab book. “You said you wouldn’t hurt him. I’ll break the code for you.”

“Do it,” Lander snarled.

She jacked up her energy, found the frequencies and held out the lab book.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s done. Here, take the book and let us go.”

Lander reached for the book, ignoring her plea. His fingers closed around the spine. Abby seized the energy of the encryption and sent it into his aura.

Lander stiffened. His eyes widened in dawning horror.

“No,” he screamed. He tried and failed to let go of the book. “You can’t do this to me. I’ll kill you first, I swear it.”

His left hand was still frozen to the book. Abby sensed that the energy of the unlocking code was channeling straight into his aura. But he was so much stronger than she had realized. He managed to let go of the lab book. Gaining strength, he turned the pistol toward her.

“Bitch,” he screamed.

The barrel of the pistol glowed hotter. Icy currents flowed around her heart.

Sam came through the doorway, the Phoenix ring on fire. Paranormal lightning crackled across the small space, igniting Lander’s aura. Ultralight flames blazed. Lander jerked and twitched and writhed.

He stared at Sam from the heart of the inferno. “No. It can’t end like this. The crystals are mine.”

In the next instant, he crumpled to the floor. His aura and the psi-fire winked out with a terrible finality.

Sam scooped up the crystal gun and looked at Abby.

“I told you this was a bad plan,” he said.

“I thought it all went quite well,” she said. Her voice sounded far too high and thin.

She hurled herself against Sam’s chest. His arms closed fiercely around her.