Page 63 of Deadly Peril

“Listen…Ross…we should go. The shop isn’t open and I’m on my way to eat.” Jana started to leave. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Jana noticed his hand in his pocket, and he motioned with it. “You aren’t leaving, Jana.”

Jesus, the guy had a gun. Or it sure looked like he did. Jana didn’t want to risk it.

“I’ll shoot if I have to.” Ross motioned toward the back of the shop. “Move. Back there.”

Jana’s mind raced. There had to be a way out of this. She had no idea what he wanted with her. The best thing would be to get him talking, figure out what this was about. Then she’d persuade him to let her go. The guy was a known troublemaker, but not a killer.

Standing beside a rack of boots, Jana turned to face him. “What is it that—”

“If you want something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself.”

Jana stared into his cold eyes.

“Looks like my guy won’t make it back from that mountain.” Ross shrugged. “He botched the job anyway.”

The pieces began to fall into place.

“Oh, I’m sure you thought you were going to get away,” Ross said. “You evaded a bullet, escaped an avalanche…” His lips stretched into a tight smile. “But you’re still going to die.”

Even as horror engulfed her, Jana struggled to think of a reason that Ross would want her dead. She should scream or fight or something. But if he had a gun in his pocket, it wouldn’t do her any good. There was no doubt that, as a former biathlete, he’d be a good shot.

Ross reached into his other pocket and pulled out a syringe. “Do you know what this is?”

Jana stared at the item as if it was a snake. “What’s in it?”

Ross postured in front of her, spreading his feet wider and puffing out his chest. “This, my friend, is cyanide. When I stab you with it, you’ll be gone within a couple of minutes. You won’t be around long enough to reveal the name of your murderer.”

Jana swallowed hard. “You won’t get away with it.” She stared at the syringe.

“Oh, but I will.” Ross moved a step closer. “It won’t be unexpected that you died as a result of an avalanche.”

“I survived it.”

“Let me rephrase, then.” Ross grimaced. “Died after the avalanche. Such an event can be very traumatic. It’s hard on the heart, and you were out in the cold for a long time.”

“No one will believe that.”

“I think they will. And no one will be the wiser about the poison.” Ross leaned toward her. “To find drug residue, a coroner would have to test for it. And not just for any drug. For this drug. And do you want to know something?”

Jana stood frozen to the spot.

“There are too many drugs to test for. In a routine autopsy, drugs aren’t tested for at all.” Ross chuckled at his own joke.

The situation wasn’t looking good. Jana was strong for a woman, but Ross was a couple of inches taller and bulkier. The guy must have been weightlifting. He’d changed since she’d known him years ago. And the gun in his other pocket put the odds in his favor.

Jana’s mind raced. When she didn’t show at the café, Thaddeus would miss her—but not right away. This time, her life was in her own hands. She focused and tried to stay calm. She needed to keep Ross talking, to give her a chance to come up with a plan.

“Why Ross? Please…tell me why.”

“You really don’t remember, do you?” Ross shook his head. “I was too insignificant to you. You were so wrapped up in your own world.”

“Did I do something to you? Because really, if I did, I wasn’t aware of it.”

“Don’t try to convince me of that, you little bitch,” Ross growled. “My career went down the tubes…because of you.” He waved the syringe at her. “Oh, you don’t remember?”

Jana struggled to recall, but she couldn’t latch on to anything specific. Ross had been in trouble repeatedly. He’d been held accountable for his actions and disqualified. But that hadn’t had anything to do with her.

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