A Game of Chance Read online

  He took it, his big hand almost swallowing the small weapon. “What in hell are you doing with a weapon?” he bit out.

  “The same thing you are, I imagine.” She walked away from him and missed the look of shock that crossed his face. With her back to him she said, “I carry it for self-protection. Why do you carry yours?”

  “I charter my plane to a lot of different people, most of whom I don’t know. I fly into some isolated areas sometimes. And my weapon is licensed.” He hurled the words at her like rocks. “Is yours?”

  “No,” she said, unwilling to lie. “But I’m a single woman who travels alone, carrying packages valuable enough that a courier service is hired to deliver them. The people I deliver the packages to are strangers. Think about it. I’d have to be a fool not to carry some means of protection.” That was the truth, as far as it went.

  “If your reason for carrying is legitimate, then why don’t you have a license?”

  She felt as if she were being interrogated, and she didn’t like it. The tender, teasing lover of the night was gone, and in his place was someone who sounded like a prosecutor.

  She had never applied for a license to carry a concealed weapon because she didn’t want any background checks in the national data system, didn’t want to bring herself to the notice of anyone in officialdom.

  “I have my reasons,” she retorted, keeping her tone very deliberate.

  “And you aren’t going to tell me what they are, right?” He threw her a look that was almost sulfuric in its fury and stalked off in the direction of the traps. His stalking, like everything else he did, was utterly graceful—and completely silent.

  “Good riddance, Mr. Sunshine,” she hurled at his back. It was a childish jab, but she felt better afterward. Sometimes a little childishness was just what the doctor ordered.

  With nothing better to do, she set off in the opposite direction, toward the plane, to gather more sticks and twigs for the all-important fire. If he tried to keep her pistol when they got out of here—and they would get out, she had to keep hoping—then it would be war.

  Chance examined the compact pistol in his hand. It was unlike any he had ever seen before, for the simple reason that it hadn’t come from any manufacturer. A gunsmith, a skilled one, had made this weapon. It bore no serial number, no name, no indication of where or when it was made. It was completely untraceable.

  He couldn’t think of any good reason for Sunny to have it, but he could think of several bad ones.

  After yesterday, he had been more than halfway convinced she was innocent, that she was in no way involved with her father. Stupid of him, but he had equated chastity with honor. Just because a woman didn’t sleep around didn’t mean she was a fine, upstanding citizen. All it meant was that, for whatever reason, she hadn’t had sex.

  He knew better. He was far better acquainted with the blackness of the human soul than with its goodness, because he had chosen to live in the sewers. Hell, he came from the sewers; he should be right at home there, and most of the time he was. The blackness of his own soul was always there, hidden just a few layers deep, and he was always aware of it. He used to make his way in the dangerous world he had chosen, shaped it into a weapon to be used in defense of his country and, ultimately, his family. And being on such intimate terms with hell, with the twisted evil humans could visit on one another, he should know that golden hair and bright, sparkling eyes didn’t necessarily belong on an angel. Shakespeare had hit the nail on the head when he warned the world against smiling villains.

  It was just—damn it, Sunny got to him. She had slipped right past defenses he would have sworn were impregnable, and she had done it so easily they might as well not have been there at all. He wanted her, and so he had almost convinced himself that she was innocent.

  Almost. There was just too much about her that didn’t add up, and now there was this untraceable pistol that she smuggled on board airplanes, concealed in some very effective but simple containers. Airport scanners would show metal, but if a security guard was suspicious enough to check, he or she would find only the normal female styling aids. The hair spray can actually sprayed, and he didn’t doubt the blow-dryer would work, too.

  If Sunny could get a pistol on board a plane, then others could, too. He went cold at the thought of how many weapons must be flying around at any given time. Airport security wasn’t his line of work, but damn if he wasn’t going to make it a point to kick some asses over this.

  He shoved his anger aside so he could concentrate on this assignment. He hoped he hadn’t blown it by losing his temper with her, but his disillusionment had been too sharp for him to contain. The pleasure of the night they had just spent together should more than outweigh their first argument. Her inexperience with men worked against her; she would be easy to manipulate, where a seasoned veteran of the mattress wars would be more wary and blasé about their lovemaking. He still held all the trump cards, and soon he would be playing them.

  He reached a particular point in the canyon and positioned himself so he was in the deepest morning shadows. Sunny couldn’t catch him unawares here, and he had a clear line of sight to a certain rock on the rim of the canyon. He took a laser light from his pocket, a pencil-thin tube about two inches long that, when clicked, emitted an extraordinarily bright finger of light. He aimed it at the rock on the rim and began clicking, sending dashes of light in the code he and Zane had agreed on at the beginning of the plan. Every day he signalled Zane, both to let him know that everything was all right and that they shouldn’t be rescued yet.

  There was an answering flash, message received. No matter how closely he watched that rock, he never saw any movement, though he knew Zane would have immediately pulled back. He himself was damn good at moving around undetected, but Zane was extraordinary even for a SEAL. There was no one else on this earth Chance would rather have beside him in a fight than Zane.

  That mission accomplished, Chance settled down in some cover where he could watch the trickle of water. Since the traps hadn’t been productive overnight, he really did need to shoot something for supper. He was willing to starve to achieve his ends—but only if he had to. If a bunny rabbit showed its face, it was history.

  As Sunny walked the canyon floor, picking up what sticks she could find, she studied the rock walls, looking for a fissure that might have escaped notice, an animal trail, anything that might point the way to freedom. If they only had some rock-climbing gear, she thought wistfully. A rope, cleats, anything. She had tried to anticipate any possible need when she packed her bag, but somehow being trapped in a box canyon hadn’t occurred to her.

  For the most part, the walls were perpendicular. Even when they slanted a little, the angle wasn’t much off ninety degrees. Erosion from wind and rain had, over millions of years, cut grooves in the rock that looked like ripples in water. The only sign the canyon wasn’t impregnable was the occasional little heap of rubble where smaller rocks had crumbled and fallen.

  She had passed several of those small heaps before the light went on.

  A fragile stirring of hope made her stomach tighten as she investigated one scattered pile of rock. It looked as if a larger boulder had fallen from the rim and shattered on impact. She picked up a fist-sized rock and rubbed her thumb over the surface, finding it gritty, the texture of sandpaper. Sandstone, she thought. It was a lovely pink color. It was also soft.

  Just to be certain, she banged the rock down on a larger rock, and it broke into several pieces.

  This site was no good; it was too steep. She walked along the wall, looking up at the rim and trying to find a place where the wall slanted back just a little. That was all she asked; just a little slant, enough that the angle wasn’t so extreme.

  There. One of the ripples curved backward, and when she picked her way through rocks and bushes to investigate she saw the opportunity for which she had been looking. She ran her hand over the rock, exulting in the sandpaper texture of it under her palm. Maybe, just may