And Then You Die by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page A

here. He wanted it clean. But everything will be blown the minute they discover the kid missing and the guard in the morgue.”
    A chill went through her. Very little about her escape had been clean and smooth and neat. And fool that she was, she was driving away from the hospital with a killer. “Where are we going?”
    He glanced at her and bared his teeth in a smile. “Scared? Good. You just sit there and think about it. At the moment I can't think of anyone whose neck I'd like to break as much as yours. I might have gotten around killing that guard but you had to take the damn kid, didn't you?”
    “Yes, I did.” For some reason his anger caused some of her fear to ebb. After watching the cool precision with which he had killed the guard, she doubted if threats were part of his modus operandi. If he really intended to kill her, he would just do it. She hoped. She repeated, “Where are we going?”
    “Away from San Andreas. Now, go to sleep. I'll wake you when we get there.”
    “You think I'd trust you enough to go to sleep? You just said you want to break my neck.”
    “It was only a passing thought. And you decided that I didn't mean it, didn't you?”
    He read her too well. His perceptiveness made her more uneasy than his brutality. “I believe you're capable of anything.”
    “Oh, I am. So shut up and don't provoke me.”
    “Why did you help me leave that place?”
    His hands clenched the steering wheel. “I'll make a bargain with you. If you'll just keep your damn mouth shut and let me think, I'll answer your questions once we get there.”
    “Get where?”
    “Tenajo.”
    She stared at him in shock. “We're going to Tenajo? Why?”
    “After we get there.”
    “Now.”
    “My God, you're stubborn.” He turned and stared directly into her eyes. “I'd think you'd want to go back. The last time you saw your sister was in Tenajo.”
    “She can't still be there.”
    “Then maybe she left a message for you. Do you have anywhere else to start looking?”
    “I could start with you. What do you know about Emily?”
    “If you don't shut up, I'll gag you until we get to Tenajo.”
    This was no threat. He meant what he said. “How far are we from Tenajo?”
    “Three hours.”
    She slowly settled back in the seat and cradled Josie's small, warm body closer. Three hours and she'd be back in Tenajo. The knowledge swept over her like a dark cloud. Hold on. It would be all right. Don't start shaking.
    Had the dogs stopped howling?
     
    They reached the hill overlooking Tenajo. The same place Rico had stopped that first day.
    No lights.
    No movement.
    No sound.
    “What happened to the dogs?”
    “The public health team swept through here yesterday. They rounded up all the pets and are keeping them under observation to make sure they aren't carriers. When the relatives of the dead are notified, they'll be given a chance to adopt the pets.” He smiled cynically. “It's one of those humane gestures that make politicians look good.”
    “The relatives haven't been notified yet?”
    Kaldak shrugged. “An entire town wiped out isn't small potatoes. The government wants facts before it exposes itself to the media.”
    “They want to cover it up.”
    “Probably.”
    “What are they covering up? A nuclear waste foul-up?”
    “No.”
    “It wasn't cholera.”
    “No, but that's what the CDC report will say.”
    “How could––” She remembered the man pouring something into the fountain. “You contaminated the water supply yourself.”
    He nodded.
    “If it wasn't a waste foul-up, what happened at Tenajo?”
    “Don't you want to go look for your sister?”
    He had again hit on the one objective sure to distract her. Smart. Very smart. Every moment she was with him she was becoming more and more aware of the intelligence behind that frightening face. “Why have you come back?”
    “Where do you want me to drop you?”
    “Third house on the right.” Where Emily had found Josie. The little girl who had