Cold Sweat Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Biography

  Cold Sweat

  Heart & Endurance Series

  J.S. Marlo

  Breathless Press

  Calgary, Alberta

  www.breathlesspress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or

  persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cold Sweat

  Copyright © 2013 J.S. Marlo

  ISBN: 978-1-77101-183-9

  Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde

  Editor: Karen Smith

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations

  embodied in reviews.

  Breathless Press

  www.breathlesspress.com

  Dedication:

  To Joe and the kids. Love you!

  Acknowledgments:

  Thanks to my family and friends for their continuous support.

  Special thanks to my new editor, Karen. Working with you was a pleasure.

  Many, many hugs!

  J.S.

  Chapter One

  Blistery fire, Hope. What possessed you to name your father?

  His name belonged on Hope’s birth certificate. Nowhere else. Colonel Amelia Matheson had seen to it...until now.

  Her daughter’s biography, which Amelia would never have authorized, was posted on the team’s website along with the life stories of the other biathletes. The only person who could have written and submitted the article was Hope. Sometimes her only child was as infuriating as her father had been.

  Amelia was tempted to ask Hope’s coach to take it down, but the request would raise questions. A silent sigh expanded her ribcage. After eighteen years, she was tired of the truthful lies.

  With any luck, no one will read it. Regardless, her feisty daughter would still get an earful when she called from Montana tonight. She’d better wear her transmitter.

  A knock on her door ended Amelia’s broodings. “Come.”

  Captain Jackman stepped inside her office. When he closed the door behind him, Amelia braced herself for more bad news.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  With his hands behind his back, the officer came to stand at ease in front of her desk. A beautifully handcrafted desk buried under a mountain of paperwork.

  “We have two problems, ma’am.”

  Back in her younger days, Amelia had loved handling problems—the bigger, the better—but since she got stuck behind a desk, problems had multiplied at a higher rate than solutions. Her body and mind screamed for action. Accepting her latest promotion had been a mistake and filling in for Colonel Lewis until her position at the Pentagon became official was an even bigger one. She belonged in the field, searching for answers, not in an office waiting for reports.

  “What problems?” She kept her frustration wrapped under a cool and professional demeanor.

  “The body of a young woman was found in Major Elliot’s cottage in New Hampshire. She was in one of the guest bedrooms dressed in a hospital gown. Preliminary report indicates she died four to five weeks ago. No name or cause of death yet.”

  According to his exemplary service record, Major Charles S. Elliot owned a medical practice in North Carolina. He was one of many military doctors who provided medical care to the civilian population in his spare time.

  The cottage in New Hampshire is a long way from his private clinic.

  It baffled Amelia that in fifteen years, Elliot’s behavior or evaluations hadn’t shown he was prone to negligence. Had the doctor been incarcerated instead of being remanded to house arrest, he wouldn’t have escaped, and that young woman might still be alive.

  If the victim is one of his civilian patients, the media will have a field trip with the story. “Was Elliot apprehended by the local authorities?”

  Not territorial by nature, Amelia didn’t care who arrested the fugitive as long as the blood trail ended. Getting the job done was more important than receiving credits.

  “No, ma’am, and that’s the other problem.” Not one to be easily intimidated, Jackman looked her in the eye when he spoke. “A male nurse was arrested last night for administering an unapproved drug to a female soldier. The victim developed an adverse reaction similar to the one that killed Major Elliot’s three patients. A look at the nurse’s schedule showed he’d also tended to those patients within twenty-four hours of their death. The charges against Major Elliot haven’t been dropped, but he’s no longer the only suspect.”

  Wonderful. A month ago, Elliot had escaped custody while awaiting his court-martial for negligent homicide in the death of three patients. If he were innocent, he’d chosen the wrong month to take a hike and hide a fourth body in his cottage.

  “Regardless of his guilt or innocence, Major Elliot is AWOL since November fifteenth. Our job is to track him down and bring him back. The lawyers can figure out the rest.”

  ***

  The snow glistened in the early morning sun and the air sparkled with tiny crystals, changing the mountains into a picturesque Christmas card.

  Quest loved the serenity and beauty of winter with as much passion as she loved skiing and shooting.

  Her skis glided on the trail, packing the fresh snow into two parallel lines every time she raced down a hill and adding crisscross design to every slope she climbed. Ahead of her, a cute blond guy with dark brown eyes and a smile that could melt a glacier, groomed the trail. The vibrations of his machine sizzled through Quest’s body, but as the distance between them grew farther, the sensation faded away.

  Her rifle bounced on her back, unloaded, a comforting ally in her silent world. Alone on the trail, Quest didn’t bring any ammunition for target practice and didn’t wear her transmitter. Later on, once she rejoined the other athletes, she would rectify both situations.

  To give her brief reprieves from the white noise she must tolerate in order to hear, Coach Goldman had requested special accommodations. Thanks to him, Quest had been granted permission to train in the early morning solitude of the sleepy mountains, outside the normal hours of operation. She appreciated the consideration.

  As she ventured deeper into the forested area, the naked trees cuddled closer against the evergreens, blocking her view of the valley below.

  Being invited by her coach to the altitude training camp at Snowy Tip had been a dream come true. Convincing her mother and grandfather to let her take the year off and postpone her entrance to Princeton University in order to train full-time for the Olympic trials had required grueling efforts and perseverance.

  White clouds formed around her mouth with every breath she took. After two months in Montana, her lungs had adapted to the lower atmospheric pressure. She no longer felt the effect of the altitude. The trials were three weeks away. She was as ready—mentally and physically—as she’d ever be.

  Beads of perspiration trickled between her
shoulder blades, quickly whisked away by the microfiber undershirt she wore like a second skin. Every piece of clothing and equipment played a role, down to her gloves from which she’d cut off the tip of the right index finger to better feel the resistance of the trigger when she fired.

  The flat section ahead curved around a frozen pond. Red markers delimited the perimeter of the ice surface in case some skiers were tempted to cross over.

  A yellow light reflecting over the white blanket of snow caught Quest’s attention. Pausing, she looked behind her. Two snowmobiles were headed in her direction. The last one pulled a rake on the ground, mimicking the grooming effect and erasing her ski tracks. Puzzled by their presence on the trail, she moved to the side to let them pass. As they approached, they slowed down, stopping a few feet away from her.

  Despite the cold and wind, the ski masks covering their faces weren’t common attires among the maintenance crewmembers. One driver stood up. Big and stocky in his black snowsuit, he looked more like a man than a woman.

  Trying her best not to appear intimidated, Quest glanced back and forth between the two of them as she tried to decipher which one led the pack. “Is there a problem, guys?”

  The lips of the closer individual moved. “Hope Craig?”

  Only strangers—and her mother—called her Hope. “Who wants to know?”

  He pulled a gun on her. “No reaching for your rifle. You’re coming with us.”

  ***

  For their guests’ enjoyment, Scarlet Vacation Resort offered miles of private trails winding through the mountains. The red iron bridges along the trails, a trademark of the resort, added a touch of color to the wintery landscape.

  Sheriff Richmond Morgan and Deputy Gil Thompson had been hiking since dawn searching for a specific red bridge. In the photos in Rich’s pocket, the bridge overlapped a stream, guarded on one side by trees and on the other by a steep, rocky wall.

  In the last month, someone had snapped compromising shots of Senator Craig Norman while he vacationed at the resort, but the senator hadn’t deemed it important enough to notify the authorities he was being blackmailed until last night.

  Rich pulled the first photo from his jacket and compared it to the actual landscape.

  Some twenty feet ahead, a red bridge overlapped a snow-covered stream. In the morning sun, shimmering ice filled the crevasses in the rocky wall and fresh snow weighed down the branches of the evergreens.

  Despite the artistic differences crafted by the weather, Rich was confident he stared at the same bridge from the same vantage point. “Look at that. The bridge does indeed exist.”

  “That’s a shocker.” A cocky grin split his deputy’s face. “We’re just missing the senator and his Black Beauty cuddling by the railing.”

  Senator Norman was married with five kids. His wife of twenty-seven years had olive skin, not dark chocolate like the beautiful woman in the photo.

  “The senator remembers taking a friendly walk with a dark-skinned woman. Nothing more.” Scanning the surrounding area for a suitable place to hide and snap, Rich found none. “How did Norman not see the blackmailer snap the pictures?”

  “Maybe his eyesight is as faulty as his memory. Or maybe he was too busy enjoying his companion’s curvy attributes to notice—or care.”

  The politician didn’t strike Rich as the careless type. “Something in this story doesn’t add up.”

  In a bid to avoid political embarrassment and protect his marriage, the senator had paid the blackmailer $15,000 for the first snapshot—despite claiming it was fake. Two weeks later, a second picture, more provocative than the first one, had landed on the senator’s desk. The 200% increase in price had rattled Norman. He’d sent another $15,000 and begged for a two-week grace period in order to raise the missing $45,000. Surprisingly, the blackmailer had agreed and Norman had finally contacted the sheriff’s office.

  The FBI should be handling this investigation, not me. As a former federal agent, Rich had suggested that much, but for reasons Norman didn’t share—or wouldn’t share—the senator had ordered him to conduct a discreet investigation without involving any other agencies.

  Rich pulled out the most recent snapshot.

  Snowflakes dotted a grey, teal, and purple snowmobile parked near the same red bridge. Straddled over the seat, the senator hugged a youthful-looking blonde sporting nothing more than a pair of black boots and a pink hat with a purple pompom.

  According to Nathan Ford, their civilian computer technician who doubled as a photograph in his spare time, the pictures were real. No retouch. No photoshop.

  “You have to give it to the senator, Sheriff. He’s trying his best to keep Snow Bunny warm.”

  The blonde girl didn’t look any older than the senator’s children. If she was underage, Norman had bigger problems than worrying about losing his wife or his career.

  “I want that girl’s name and age.” Rich gave the pictures to his deputy. “Go back to the office and take Eve with you. She needs to see some action before she develops cabin fever.”

  Chapter Two

  “Like my Grandpa Thompson would say, this is like looking for a stinger in muddy water.”

  For a man born and raised in Montana, Gil used weird analogies. While Deputy Eve Ford wasn’t familiar with that particular expression, she shared her partner’s frustration.

  Eve was happy to be outside, not cooped up in the sheriff’s office, but it would have been nicer if Morgan hadn’t delegated them an impossible task. Despite their efforts, they weren’t any closer to identifying the mysterious snow bunny than they were two hours earlier.

  After no one at the resort recalled seeing the blonde girl with the senator, they shifted their attention toward the grey, teal, and purple snowmobile. By visiting every dealership in town, Eve hoped one of the employees might recognize it and give them a name.

  “Next dealership is Winter Adventure. Second intersection on the left.” An outdoor enthusiast, Gil knew every sales and rental place in town. “There’s a parking lot on the side of the building.”

  As Eve parked, a low rumble in her ever expanding belly reminded her she needed to eat something. “After this one, I’m grabbing a coffee and a donut. Baby needs her afternoon snack.”

  The door of the dealership chimed. They entered the showroom, their steps resonating on the concrete floor. A dozen or so models were on display. No purple and teal snowmobiles.

  As they approached an employee fiddling with the engine of a Polaris 600IQ, the man lifted his head in their direction. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  “Do I look like I have a moment?” Baby had eaten Eve’s patience. “Where’s your manager, Tool Boy?”

  Beside her, Gil muffled a chuckle. Though they both shared the rank of deputy, Eve had nearly a decade, both in age and seniority, over her twenty-four year old partner.

  “Sorry, ma’am.” The employee, who didn’t appear any older than Gil, wiped his hands on his jeans. “I’m the manager. Is something wrong?”

  She pulled the picture from her jacket. With her thumb covering Norman’s face, she showed him the compromising picture. “What can you tell us about this snowmobile?”

  A smile split the guy’s face, exposing a missing bottom tooth. “2012 MXZ 800 Special Edition. Custom painted.”

  Impressed despite herself, Eve raised a brow. “Would you know by any chance who bought that Special Edition?”

  “No, but Sherry will. She’s been riding it all month.”

  “Sherry?” The name rang like music to Eve’s ears. “Where can we find this Sherry?”

  “Not sure, but sometimes she crashes at my cousin’s place.” The helpful employee returned the picture. “1287 Spruce Drive. First floor. Last apartment on the left.”

  Without stopping at the donut shop, Eve drove to a two-story apartment complex at the other end of town.

  One step ahead of her, Gil knocked on the door of apartment 117. “You stay behind me. Sheriff’s order.”
<
br />   Ever since he learned she was pregnant, Sheriff Morgan had relegated her to safe and boring jobs. Looking for a snowmobile was as much excitement as—

  The door opened.

  At the sight of the teenage girl clad in furry bikini, Eve revised her definition of excitement. “Are you Sherry?”

  “Yeah. Are you here for the photo shoot?”

  Eve exchanged a dubious look with her partner whose eyes had popped out of his skull.

  Men. “Can we come in?”

  “Sure.” The girl took a step back. “You’re not going to arrest me, are you?”

  One hand on his holster, Gil entered first. “No, not unless you give us probable cause.”

  Eve followed him into a messy apartment. “How old are you, Sherry?”

  “Twenty-one. Why? You want to see my driver license.”

  “Yes, please.” To Eve’s disbelief, the license looked genuine. “Okay, Sherry. Tell me about that picture.”

  When she was presented with the incriminating evidence, Sherry’s face lit up like spotlights.

  “Don’t I look great! Those are my real boobs. Once I get a copy of the calendar, I’m sending it to Playboy. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a Centerfold.”

  Disheartened, Eve rubbed her belly. Baby girl, you’re so going to college.

  ***

  Hope didn’t earn the moniker Quest for nothing. When she set her mind on something, there was no obstacle she couldn’t handle. That included the two guys who bound, gagged, and blindfolded her.

  Her mother had taught her many survival skills, the most important being not to let fear paralyze her. Despite years of trying, Quest had never conquered her fear of the dark, but she’d learned to wrestle it into submission. Today, she’d prove to herself that she mastered her mother’s lessons.

  Deprived of her sight and hearing, she concentrated on her other senses. Sandwiched between the backrest of a snowmobile and the back of the driver, she couldn’t bail out of the moving vehicle even if she’d been inclined to dive head first into nothingness.

  Her center of gravity shifted, the vibrations of the engine grew louder, and gusts of wind pricked her face. They were climbing on a slope where trees were becoming few and far between.