Winter's Curse

by Mary Stone

  Would he do something heroic in his last moments? Or would he piss himself in fear? He was afraid it would be the latter.

  More than his own death, though, he was afraid for Ionie and Christopher. He’d treated his relationship with Ionie no different than his casual encounters with any other woman. He had a knack for attracting beautiful women, but Ionie reminded him uncomfortably of his own past. She also had him thinking thoughts of the future, which was even more terrifying.

  He didn’t blame her. She had a sweet, giving, undemanding nature. He could still hear a melodic accent, whispering in his ear at night when they made love. He couldn’t blame Christopher, either. The child was endearing and cute as hell, but that wasn’t what had scared him. It was that he could picture them together, raising Christopher and living in the island paradise until they were old. Giving up his “career,” such as it was. Supporting Ionie so she didn’t have to work her fingers to the bone every day, picking up after careless tourists and sending her son to daycare.

  It was that fear of settling down that had driven him to drink so much. To keep talking to the mystery woman who called him, instead of ignoring the seductive allure of the unknown.

  The headset crackled in his ear, startling him.

  “Why is it so quiet in there, Ryan? You’re not plotting anything, are you?”

  By the look the FBI agent gave him, she heard Heidi’s voice as well as he did.

  He cleared his throat. “No. Just enjoying the snow. It’s a pretty drive.”

  “Sarcasm is misplaced at this point, wouldn’t you think?”

  A stab of fear shot through him.

  “No. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “You have your instructions for the NBG robbery?”

  He did. The ink on the paper had all but bled away from being clutched in his damp palm, but he’d memorized it. “Go in. Tell the teller I need $250K.”

  The headset crackled again.

  “What?” he asked, a panicky feeling in his chest. What if she was giving him instructions and he couldn’t hear them?

  “I said…getting interfere…the weather…will have…on camera…follow list.”

  Over his pounding heart, the agent said, “Sounds like the storm is interfering with the wireless signal.” Her voice was so cool and conversational, as if they were strangers beside each other on a public bus.

  “I think she said she’ll have me on camera. Just to follow the written directions if I can’t hear her.”

  “I’m Winter,” the agent said, hitting the turn signal.

  “Ryan.”

  “I know.” She gave him a lopsided smile. “I’ve been following your recent career.”

  He winced.

  She held a finger to her lips as the headset gave out another staticky burst.

  There were no words forthcoming, though.

  “We’re just going to stay calm and do what Heidi tells us,” Winter said. She switched on the windshield wipers to a faster speed. The snow was accumulating almost as fast as the blades could swish it away. “Everything will be okay.”

  “No, it won’t.” Heidi’s voice and giggle came through crystal clear before the static took over again.

  Winter rolled her eyes. Yes, it will, she mouthed.

  Ryan tried not to hope. But she was so casual about the whole thing. Did they have a plan in place? Would he get out of this after all?

  He tried not to hope, but something dangerously like it unfurled in his chest anyway.

  Winter could feel O’Connelly’s fear. It was contagious.

  For his sake, though, she kept her serene and professional mask in place.

  “Just a few more minutes,” she said, knowing Heidi could probably hear her. “As long as this snow doesn’t slow us down. The NBG is about a mile out.”

  Ryan didn’t say anything. Not that she expected him to. He was staring out the window at the thick curtain of white.

  The snow was picking up, and so was the wind. She had to hope that was a good thing.

  So many things hung in the balance.

  Her life, for one.

  She could still see Noah’s face when she’d agreed to drive Ryan. If she got out of this alive, he was going to kill her. Hopefully, he’d understand. She knew he’d have done the same if he’d been in her position.

  Ahead of them, a minivan fishtailed without warning, and Winter tapped the brakes lightly, clenching her teeth. The driver of the van overcompensated, swinging wildly to the right, and then the opposite direction.

  Her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. They did not want to get into an accident right now.

  Luckily, she managed to avoid the same patch of ice that had taken out the minivan. She maneuvered around the other vehicle, which had gone mostly off the road. Its nose was in a ditch, the back end sticking partially out into her lane.

  “That was close,” she breathed out once they’d cleared it.

  “No shit,” Ryan agreed. It sounded like he was choking on the words.

  “These roads are something else.”

  The interior of the car went silent again. Small talk seemed out of place in their current situation.

  She wanted to say something reassuring. Tell Ryan that it was okay. They had a plan. But, conscious of their listening audience, she just drove in silence, her concentration on the messy slush of the road ahead of her.

  32

  Heidi was riding high on exultation.

  She’d fitted the collar bomb with a front-facing camera and had a good view of the dashboard. If Ryan had been sitting up a little farther, she’d be able to see out the window, but for now, she had to settle for the dashboard view.

  Every time the camera shuddered with one of Ryan’s fearful trembles, she wanted to grin.

  She didn’t even mind that the connection wasn’t clear on the wireless headsets. The body cam would let her know if they tried anything.

  It was amazing how calm Agent Black was staying. It was admirable, really. She had to know that Heidi held her life in her hands right now. The woman was absolutely fascinating.

  She caught another snippet of conversation.

  Something about the bad roads.

  It was a good thing the agent was driving. Ryan would have crashed into a telephone pole by now.

  A sudden idea came to her. It would only add to the fun. “Take Agent Black into the bank with you.”

  “Agent Black,” came Ryan’s garbled response. “She wants you to go into the bank with me.”

  “Tell her I want her to hold the money bag,” Heidi added. Why shouldn’t she manipulate the situation for her own amusement? It couldn’t hurt anything.

  “I hear her,” came the agent’s response. “I’ll go…” The rest of whatever she said dissolved in snaps and crackles. Then, the headset went out.

  She watched Ryan’s camera carefully, but he hadn’t moved. The distance and the weather had been too much for the signal. Oh, well. That had been fun while it lasted. She switched off her own headset and pulled it off, tossing it on the couch next to her. They would be at the bank soon. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she accessed the NBG bank security cameras she’d pulled up earlier.

  Time to watch the pigeon fly into the nest.

  “Don’t move,” Winter ordered.

  Reaching over, she plucked the headset off Ryan’s head.

  “There we go,” Winter said in satisfaction, after tossing it out into the snow. She watched in the rearview as the car behind them, with Noah driving and Sun riding shotgun, ran it over. “Now we can talk freely. How are you doing?”

  “I’m bloody fucking scared,” Ryan admitted. “Are you sure she can’t hear us?”

  “I’m sure. You have a body cam, though, so be careful where you point it.”

  “How do you know? She didn’t say anything about it.” Ryan looked down, searching his chest.

  “I know lots of things. I can’t tell you to relax yet, or not to worry, but hang in there.”<
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  “That’s about all I can do right now.”

  “Your arm doing okay? You’re holding it pretty stiffly.”

  “It hurts,” he admitted. “But I’ve got bigger things on my mind right now.”

  “No more time for conversation,” Winter said, glancing over at Ryan again, assessing his state of mind. Scared witless, bordering on shut-down panic. “The NBG is just ahead. Try to roll with the punches, okay?”

  He gave her a weak smile. “Do I have a choice?”

  “Nope.”

  “Were you able to do what I asked when I talked to you? Not that I deserve any favors at this point, but it wasn’t for my sake—”

  “The woman and her son are in protective custody until this is all over.”

  “Thank you.” He let out a slow breath, and some of the tension went out of his shoulders. “I guess I’m ready for whatever, then.”

  Winter slowed the car, turning left. “Good. It’s time to rob a bank.”

  The parking lot was mostly empty, and Ryan’s hands were clenching and unclenching in his lap. “The bad weather is keeping people at home, at least.”

  Winter snorted. “Lucky, aren’t we?” Winter parked the car. “I mean it, O’Connelly,” she cautioned. “I need you to stay flexible here and trust me. Got it?”

  “Sure. It’s not like I have anything to lose.”

  “All right. Let’s go.”

  She opened her car door and stepped out. He followed her lead.

  The snow was like nothing he’d seen in years. He spent his downtime in temperate climates. The wind from Lake Erie cut through his long-sleeved shirt, blowing snow in his face. He hoped melting snow wouldn’t cause his collar to short out. It hung heavily against the back of his neck, the metal a freezing, clunky weight.

  He wanted to shield it from the snow somehow. Cross his arms and cover it, just in case. But he didn’t want to touch it.

  By the time they reached the front doors of the bank, Ryan was wearing a quarter inch of snow on top of his head and on his shoulders.

  “You look like a yeti,” Winter commented, holding the door open for him.

  “You’re not much better.” She had snowflakes stuck in her long, black lashes. She grinned at him, and he appreciated the effort she was making to keep him calm. “Let’s get this over with.”

  The lobby was empty, except for two tellers behind the counter.

  “Hi,” Ryan said. That was lame, but he hadn’t really had time to give thought to this part. Best to be straight-out with it, he figured. He cleared his throat. “This is a robbery. I have a bomb attached to me, and I can promise you it will go off if you don’t follow my orders exactly. I need you both to fill a bag with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or my…associate…will detonate this nasty little invention currently hanging around my neck, and then we’re all screwed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The female teller closest to him went to a back room, surprisingly calm. The male stayed where he was. He looked tense but didn’t say anything.

  “Good job,” Winter said, her voice light and still a little cheerful. “It’s like you’ve done this before.”

  “Hope to never do it again.”

  “You probably won’t get the opportunity, even if we make it through this.”

  “That’s fine. I’ve lost my taste for larceny, I think.”

  “Make sure you look around,” she ordered. “Give Heidi a good view, so she doesn’t think anything hinky is going on.”

  Ryan obediently turned in a slow circle.

  “Get your kicks, bitch,” he muttered, his tone bitter.

  In what felt like moments, the female teller returned with a bulging bag full of cash. She came around the counter and set it down a good distance away from Ryan, and then quickly retreated behind her desk again.

  His nerves were strung tight, but no police came bursting through the door. No alarms rang. No inconvenient-timed customers with aspirations of heroism disturbed them.

  He made sure to open the bag, show the money in front of the camera on his chest, so Heidi could see it. He didn’t like her breathing in his ear. Listening to his every word. But he liked even less that he didn’t know where she was or what she was doing. She was a snake, coiled to strike at any moment.

  “I’ll carry that,” Winter said. “Don’t forget to grab your sucker.”

  He looked at her in surprise, the hair on his arms rising in goose bumps. Was she in on it? Did Heidi have a third “partner?” “How did you know about the sucker?”

  She didn’t look at him, just shouldered the heavy load. “Like I said, I know a lot of things.”

  Ryan shoved back his paranoia and did as he was told, going to the nearest teller’s booth. The man behind it shrank back, like he’d been confronted with a loaded gun. Close enough, Ryan figured.

  He chose a cherry sucker from the canister at the counter. The thought of anything food-like made his stomach twist with nausea, but he pulled the wrapper off and popped the candy in his mouth. Sickly sweet fake cherry flavor flooded his tongue, and his salivary glands went into overdrive. He hoped he wouldn’t throw up and embarrass himself.

  “Ready?” Winter was waiting for him at the door. “What’s next on your list?”

  “We need to drive over to the McDonald’s next door. It’s a short walk, but she wants us on camera, and doesn’t trust me to get there on my own bloody feet without supervision.”

  “Okey-doke.” Winter clapped her hands together. “To McDonald’s we go.”

  Heidi watched the screen, tapping her fingers on the sofa beside her impatiently.

  Ryan’s time was running out, she thought. Just a couple more minutes.

  So far, so good on the plan. The body cam, except for a brief, blurry moment when Ryan had gotten out of the car and faced into the wind, covering it with blowing, sticking snow, was picking everything up.

  She watched as the two of them went into the bank, the view marred only by water droplets on the camera lens. The tellers didn’t panic and did what they were told. A few minutes later, one of them came back out with the requested money.

  “Good job,” she murmured. She appreciated efficiency.

  Ryan and Agent Black left the building and started for the car, the FBI agent carrying the heavy load. Ryan appeared to slip in the unplowed lot, and Heidi tensed. He did not want to fall down right now. It was too soon for him to blow.

  But Agent Black grabbed his arm, steadying him. Good agent. Heidi couldn’t quite believe the woman was a rookie. Who was she then? That question haunted her as she continued to stare at the screen.

  Here was another tricky part. The camera range didn’t quite extend to the part of the lot they’d parked the black rental car in. And the body cam was getting covered with snow again. Soon, the screen was blank. It would melt when he got in the warm car, but for now, Heidi had no eyes but the NBG security cameras.

  She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t fret about that right then.

  Her hand hovered over the remote as she watched them move out of view.

  It would be fine, she assured herself. Better than fine.

  It was brilliant.

  She’d give them only a few moments to get to the McDonald’s parking lot, where she could pick them up again.

  In her head, a countdown timer started.

  Winter’s hands shook with cold and nerves as she took Ryan’s arm. His face was pale, as if he realized how close he’d come to falling and what might have happened if he had.

  “Steady,” she murmured.

  He nodded stiffly but his dry mouth couldn’t say a damn word.

  An unmarked white van was parked in the road, on the other side of the landscaped berm that separated the parking lot from the street. Police had barricaded the street on either side, so no traffic could get through.

  “I need you to move fast, but walk carefully,” Winter said as she dropped the bag next to the car they’d arrived in.

&nb
sp; The door immediately opened, and a dark-haired man with a bulky metal object around his neck reached down to grab it. Beside the man, Ryan saw a woman who looked just like Winter. If the agent wasn’t still holding on to his arm, he would have thought it was her.

  “What’s going on?” Ryan asked, fear making his voice rasp.

  “Change in Heidi’s plans,” Winter said, hurrying him along.

  She helped him up over the berm, where a few inches of snow had already accumulated. The back doors of the van opened up, and she led him to them. Inside were two sober-looking bomb squad techs. One reached out immediately, putting white adhesive tape over the snow-covered camera lens.

  “Let’s defuse you,” he said, “before the tape falls off.”

  In just a few seconds, after clipping several wires, both techs’ expressions eased a considerable amount. The other tech nodded. “He’s good.”

  Winter grinned at Ryan. “Congratulations. You’re no longer a walking time bomb.”

  Ryan sagged to the floor of the van in disbelief, stress still written clearly on his face. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. These guys will take you to the hospital to get you checked over. By the way, you’re now in official custody. You’ll have your rights read to you on the way there.”

  One of the techs worked with swift, sure hands to unfasten the collar and lift it off Ryan’s neck.

  He shuddered as the weight was literally taken off his shoulders.

  Behind them, the black rental car with two dark-haired officers in it, the man and woman he’d seen only moments before, pulled out of the parking spot with exaggerated care.

  Their doubles.

  For the first time, he really believed he was safe. The agents had done it.

  “I never thought I’d be so glad to get arrested,” Ryan said, a ghost of his old grin lighting his features. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Winter smiled back. “You did good during that last part. See you soon. We’ve got some things to take care of before we can officially interview you.”