few miles back. He had no choice but to kill Kate. It was him or her. He hadn’t done all of this to end up buried up here in this frozen country—if you could even bury a body out here in the sagebrush this time of year.
Before that moment, he hadn’t even thought about what he would do with her body once he was done. Or even how he would kill her. In truth, he wasn’t sure he could, and that made him furious with himself.
Nor had he thought about what ignoring Gerald’s orders would mean. If they got through and into the States, then what would it matter? Gerald had treated him like he was stupid. Maybe he was. How else had he ended up in this mess? When had he lost control of everything? He wanted to believe it was when Kate stumbled into Jon Harper’s workshop and decided he was her dead husband.
But he knew it was long before that. Now as he watched the Homeland Security cop come out of his glass enclosure, he told himself he didn’t care if he got caught. Maybe that would be the best way out. Years of prison? With his fear of small places? No, he’d rather take a bullet.
“Turn off your engine,” the cop said. Collin quickly turned off the SUV’s engine and put down his window, smiling at the uniformed officer who couldn’t seem to crack a smile if his life depended on it.
“Passports,” the cop said. It wasn’t the same one from before.
Last time, Collin had been ready. This time he had to dig them out. Handing them through the open window, he waited as the officer took them and went back into his cubicle.
He seemed to be gone longer than last time. Collin felt sweat trickle down his back. He shifted in his seat as he stared at the glass and metal door in front of the SUV. He wondered how hard the front of the car would have to hit it to break through.
“What was your business in Canada?” the cop asked when he returned, startling him.
“Just a few things for the wedding,” Collin said. “This is our engagement trip. My fiancée wanted to see snow and Canada.” He shrugged. “We saw some of both.”
“Please put down the window behind your seat,” the officer said. Collin did, noticing that it had frosted over because of the temperature outside.
The cop peered in. “What’s in the box?”
“My wedding dress,” Kate said, speaking up.
The officer continued to peer in for a moment, then returned to Collin’s open window. The smile he gave the cop hurt his face. He held his breath, afraid the officer was going to want to look inside the box or maybe even search the car. “We’re getting married next week.” He sounded happy about that fairy tale, wishing it was true. How different their lives could have been if it was.
As the officer handed their passports back, Kate reached for hers. In front of the cop, Collin had no choice but to let her take it. But he couldn’t help smirking over at her. Who was she kidding? She wouldn’t be needing that. Not after today, since she wasn’t going to be leaving Montana. Not alive, anyway.
“Please wait until I am inside the booth and the door is open before you restart your engine.” With that, the cop walked away.
Collin put up his window, his hand shaking as he restarted the engine as the large door rose slowly. He drove out. He couldn’t believe it. They’d gotten through and without Gerald’s help. He couldn’t help grinning. He could breathe again. His heart was pounding. He’d been so scared that something would go wrong. But it hadn’t.
His cell phone rang. He didn’t even have to look to know who was calling. He realized he shouldn’t have taken matters into his own hands and crossed before he was supposed to. But he had, and he’d made it. No problems. Screw you, Gerald. The man would be livid. Right now Collin could have cared less. He let it ring four times before he picked up. By then he could no longer see the border crossing in his rearview mirror. There was no one behind him. No one in front of them.
He was home free with a shitload of drugs worth millions.
* * *
JON COULDN’T BELIEVE what he was seeing. He’d been able to catch up to Matthews, who seemed in no hurry to get to the border—given