Oceans of Fire (29 page)

“Hannah’s powers are very concentrated in one or two areas. Elle carries all elements so she’s not quite as strong. And Hannah uses her gifts daily and she works at strengthening them. She’d make a powerful adversary. Libby uses hers as well, but I’m not certain with her gift she would be capable of harming someone.”

“You think Prakenskii is like Elle?”

“He exhibited signs of tremendous control with several talents, not just one. I can do several things, all of us can, but we’re not
great
at all of them.”

“I don’t suppose I should venture the hypothesis that he’s male and maybe stronger because of that.”

“Not if you want to live through the next few minutes.”

“That’s what I thought.” He flashed a small grin at her. “The idea wouldn’t enter my mind.”

“Good thing.” She caught his arm as he went to make a turn off the highway onto another road, following the sleeper car. “Wait! Don’t take that road. Keep going. There aren’t any houses for rent down that road. It makes a loop back to the highway. Just drive to the bluff up there”—she pointed—“and park. We should be able to see if they continue south or turn back on us and go back north.”

Without hesitation, Aleksandr did as she said. He had hung back far enough that he was certain on the main highway, even with the small amount of traffic, the driver wouldn’t be able to spot him. He turned off the lights. “Were any of the men with Nikitin familiar to you? Could any of them be the men who killed Danilov?”

Abigail frowned. “No. And I injured one of the men with my punch stick. If I didn’t break a bone, I gave him a whopping bruise and he’ll be limping for a few days. It has a very powerful blow. Just punching a shark with your fist isn’t all that effective, so I use a small trigger device and it really packs a wallop. If you see someone limping, check him out.”

Aleksandr tapped his fingers on the dashboard. “What are we looking for? We know someone is bringing in artifacts and art from Russia via freighter and dropping them off to a fishing boat off this coast. There’s a good chance the items are being smuggled through Warner’s gallery. Either he’s aware of it or he’s not, but it’s a great route. He ships items to the city all the time and it would be a very slim chance that someone would open one of his crates.”

“And if they did, would they even know what they were looking at? He ships art and sculptures all the time,” Abigail said. “I wouldn’t know the difference.”

“He’s one of the owners of the fishing boat we suspect is being used. But so is Ned Fanner. I recognized his name the minute you said it.”

She smiled. “You’ve always had the best memory for details. I meet people and can’t remember their name five minutes later. How do you do that?”

He shrugged. “Partly training, but I always have had a talent for names and places. I can read text and not forget it. It’s a tremendous asset when I’m given so much data to cross-check.” He leaned forward to peer out the window. “There it is. See the headlights? One is just a little bit off. He’s going south.”

“Wait just a minute. The highway has switchbacks and twists and turns, and we’ll be above him. We’ll catch glimpses of him on the turns.”

He nodded his agreement and waited until the car had gone around a sweeping turn before pulling out onto the highway after it. “It would be useful to know if Chad Kingman works in shipping.”

“Jonas would know. And Inez Nelson. She knows everything. If you go into her grocery store and just hang around a few minutes and listen, everyone tells her everything. She’s like the local counselor. It isn’t that hard to lead the conversation where you want it to go, but she’s sharp, Sasha. Very sharp. Don’t let her fool you. If you think you’re going to put anything over on her, you won’t.”

“She must know Warner and Ned Fanner. She’s a part owner in the fishing boat as well.”

“Don’t even think Inez would do anything illegal. She was born and raised in Sea Haven. Her husband was a wonderful man, born and bred there as well. Donald Nelson was a leader in the community and when he died five years ago, Inez stepped into his shoes and took over helping small businesses grow and neighborhoods thrive. She was behind the small library and theater and even the park. There is absolutely no way she would be involved in anything illegal.”

“You have such faith in people, Abbey.”

She looked at his expressionless face. It didn’t matter what she said about Inez or Frank or any other of the town’s inhabitants, Aleksandr reserved judgment. The things people did never seemed to shock him. She shrugged, slightly annoyed. “You can look at her if you’d like, but it’s a waste of your time.”

“I look at everyone. Did you know your aunt Carol had coffee with Frank Warner the other day?”

“Yes, I did. Does that make her a suspect? For heaven’s sake, she just got back to Sea Haven. Do you suspect me?”

“Don’t be so sensitive, Abbey. I have to be thorough in any investigation.”

“Well, what about your friend Prakenskii? Don’t you think he’s up to his eyebrows in this?”

“Not necessarily. Nikitin is here for a reason. It could be as simple as the fact that he admires Joley’s singing and heard this was her hometown and hoped to meet her. I know he’s a huge music buff and he definitely has a sense of entitlement. He would think he should be given extra privileges. It could be Ignatev took a contract out on me and gave it to Nikitin. He did a little research, realized I was coming here, and got here first to set up shop. That’s highly unlikely.”

“Why?”

“Because Nikitin wouldn’t want to be in the vicinity when the hit went down. He likes to look clean.”

Abigail allowed her head to fall back. She was suddenly tired and the headache that had been pushing so close all evening had become a throbbing pain. “What are you not telling me?”

“I think Nikitin is here for an altogether different reason that has nothing to do with you or with me. I think it’s a lot worse than that.”

A chill went down Abigail’s spine. “Worse than trying to kill you? What would be worse than that?”

“Killing a lot of people.”

“Why would Nikitin want to do that?”

He shook his head, slowing the vehicle. They were catching up to the sleeper car and he didn’t want that. He signaled and pulled onto a side road, killed the lights; and made a U-turn to bring them back to the entrance. “I told you, Nikitin is a businessman. You have to think like him. He has no reason to kill a large group of people. In his mind he simply brokers deals. We know that much of the stolen art leaving Russia is coming to this coast. That means the route has been open for some time and most likely Nikitin would be aware of it. He probably has a hand in the thefts.”

“So he is involved in the stolen artifacts.”

“As long as he gets his percentage, he’s happy. Why would he have Danilov killed over a smuggling route? When a route gets hot you just close it and move to another until things cool down again. No one should get killed over it unless they can’t shut down the route for a reason. And it would have to be
big
reason and worth a great deal of money to take a chance on killing an Interpol agent, especially since they know I’m here.”

“Some art is worth millions.” Abigail placed a hand on his wrist and indicated for him to go past the street the car had turned onto. “Keep going, this is another loop. Several of these houses are rentals and we can enter from the other side. We’ll be able to see him getting out of his car and going up to the house.”

Aleksandr did as she suggested, setting the car back in motion. “Art can be worth a great deal of money, but it isn’t time sensitive. Why wouldn’t they change the route? They could easily rendezvous in San Francisco or anywhere along this coast. It would take a little time to set it up, but it could be done. So they’re bringing in something that
has
to use
this
route because everything is already set.”

“Like what?”

“Nikitin deals in violence, Abbey. He has ties to a dozen terrorist groups and he’d take money from any of them.”

“There’s a coast guard station just a few yards from where your partner was killed. If they were going to do anything involving terrorists wouldn’t they choose a better place to do it?” Abigail was appalled. “Why would you make such a leap between art and terrorists?”

“Because I know Nikitin and I’m certain Prakenskii didn’t know about the hit on Danilov. There’re only one or two things Nikitin wouldn’t use Ilya for. It’s fairly well known in the business he holds terrorists in contempt. He thinks they’re cowards. Nikitin deals with them, but never through Prakenskii. I heard a rumor once Nikitin sent him to a meeting and when the police showed up there were explosives everywhere, guns, and several dead terrorists, but no Prakenskii. How true the story is, I don’t know, but if Nikitin didn’t use Prakenskii to kill my partner, whatever Danilov found out that night involved terrorists.” He didn’t even glance at the house as they drove past and back out onto the main highway.

“It seems strange that Nikitin would have someone working for him who wouldn’t do everything he wanted. Nikitin seems to be a self-absorbed, very violent man who insists on instant cooperation.”

“He’s all of those things, Abbey.”

He sounded tired. She turned her head to look at him. “Are you taking me home?”

“I want you to come to my place.” He reached for her hand, his thumb sliding over her skin, sending a small shiver down her spine. “I’m renting a small home almost right on the beach.”

She shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

He tightened his grip on her hand as if she might slip away from him. “I was telling you the truth when I said I hadn’t been able to sleep. I get up every hour all night long. Some nights I don’t bother going to bed. I pace around the room and think about calling you and what I’d say when you answered. Sometimes I write you letters I don’t bother to send because I know you won’t read them. I’m tired,
baushki-bau
, and I can’t sleep without holding you. At least lie down with me. I swear I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

“You know exactly what I’ll want if I’m alone in bed with you. I’ve never been able to resist you, Sasha.”

“I’m being very honest. Ask me. Ask me how often I’ve slept without you. I need you, Abbey. Come home with me.”

Chapter 12

ABIGAIL paced through the house. What was she doing there? It didn’t make sense that she’d allowed Aleksandr to take her somewhere they’d be alone. She couldn’t resist him when they were alone. She closed her eyes briefly and stepped out the sliding glass door leading to the lower deck where the hot tub was. The ocean view was spectacular. She could see white spray arc into the air as waves hit long fingers of rocks. It was cool outside, but the stars glittered overhead. She stood for a moment, contemplating whether or not she was strong enough to make love with Aleksandr, hold him all night, and walk away the next morning.

“What are you doing out here?” Aleksandr came up behind her. “It’s cold, Abbey.”

“But beautiful. Look at the moon.” She indicated the dazzling silver ball. “We’ve had incredible weather lately.”

He wrapped his arms around her from behind, nuzzling her hair out of the way so he could kiss the nape of her neck. “Are we going to talk about the weather?”