Nick of Time

The man in black rounded a corner, disappearing out of sight.

Nick stuck to the shadows and ran the length of a building to the same corner. He stopped, poked his head out and saw nothing.

Streetlights shone down on an empty avenue. The only movement was a lone car heading his way at a slow speed. Nick ducked back behind the building in case the car contained the assailant. When it pulled to the curb and shut down, an old man dressed in khaki slacks, a light blue sweater and orthopedic shoes climbed out and reached into the back for a bag of groceries. He carefully locked the door and headed into the building.

Nick stepped out into the street, tucking his weapon back in the holster under his arm. He kept his hand on the grip, ready for anything.

He walked quickly down the street searching for the man dressed in black, but didn’t see him. Damn, he’d slipped away. Nothing he could do about it now but go see if Royce needed help.

Retracing his steps, Nick found his way back to the apartment and entered through the front door, climbing the steps to the third floor.

When Nick entered the destroyed apartment, Royce was on his cell phone to the local police giving enough details to get them started. When he’d completed the call, he flipped his phone shut and slipped it into his pocket. “Got away?”

“Yeah, he had a head start.”

“The gunfire. Yours or his?”

“His.” Nick didn’t fire his weapon randomly, especially not in populated urban areas where stray bullets could take innocent lives. “Who was the moaner?”

Royce’s jaw tightened. “Frank Richards.”

“The guy we came to help?”

A snort was Royce’s only answer.

“Damn. Did he give you a clue as to who might have done it?”

His boss shook his head, a frown drawing his brows together. “He died without uttering another word. But I found this and a pen lying on the bathroom floor close by.” Royce held up a small pad of paper with a page half ripped off. “I think whoever shot him took the message.”

“Let me see that.” Nick took the pad and tipped it back and forth until the light cast enough shadow over where the pen had dented the pages below the missing one. “What does it say?”

“North Pole, AX or AK. Help Santa.”

Nick barked out a mirthless laugh. “The man was clearly delusional. Already in the throes of death.”

“No. He wrote it before he was shot. There’s no blood on the pad or the pen and his fingers had blood on them when he died. I think he means for us to help someone.”

“There is a town in Alaska named North Pole. It’s close to Fairbanks. You suppose that’s what he was talking about?”

“Maybe.”

“Why there? Santa a code word for something?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that whoever did this was after something, and I’d bet my reputation they didn’t find it.”

“And they weren’t afraid to kill for it.” Nick stared down at the man lying on the floor, his face pale and tinged gray. “You think our shooter will look in North Pole, Alaska, next?”

“Perhaps.” Royce’s gaze fell to the man lying on the floor. He wore a New York Knicks sweatshirt and jeans.

“How did you two meet?” Nick moved to the living area.

Royce followed, the pad in his hand. “I met Sergeant Major Richards during my Navy SEALs training. He was a member of the Army Special Forces assigned to participate as a subject matter expert in a joint exercise we were involved in after Vietnam. We had a few beers after the training and since then, I’ve always kept in touch. When I’d come up to New York, I made it a point to look him up.”

A computer sat on a desk in the corner, with several bullet holes in the CPU.

“Look at this.” Nick bent to examine it. “Any reason why a shooter would target a man and his computer?”

“I’ll have Tim look into it.” Royce jerked the cord out of the wall and unhooked the CPU from the monitor. “In the meantime, I want you up in Alaska. If they were after something and didn’t find it, there’s a chance that’s where they’ll look.”

Nick shivered just thinking about the cold. “Couldn’t he have chosen Florida or Texas?”

“Whoever killed Frank might kill in Alaska.” Royce pushed back his shoulders and stared toward the bathroom where his buddy lay. “I want you there ASAP. I’d go with you, but I’ve got another case on the hot plate. Soon as I can, I’ll join you.”

“What am I looking for?”

Royce glanced at the pad. “Start with Santa.”

“FIRST NAME, PLEASE.” The agent behind the counter stared at the computer, fingers poised for input.

“Mary.”

“Last name.”

Mary sucked in a deep breath and let it out. When you had a last name like hers, you did a lot more explaining than if you were christened with a name like Jones, Smith or Henderson. “Christmas.”

Both clerks working the busy Fairbanks Airport car rental counter looked up at once, a smile on their faces. Even the goodlooking guy in the black Stetson next to her shot a glance her way.

Why couldn’t her parents have given her a different name? Did they know how hard it was growing up with a name like Mary Christmas?

Mary sighed. If her father hadn’t been so supportive, full of energy and the spirit of Christmas, she might have been a lot less adjusted. But the truth was she was a member of the family who owned a store called Christmas Towne in North Pole, Alaska, and that was how things were. Or they were until her mother died. Then it had been just her and her father to carry on the Christmas Towne legacy. Mary had tried hard to fill the void her mother left to the point she’d forgotten to have a life of her own.

“Here’s your keys.” The clerk waiting on the man next to her handed him a map. “Do you need directions, sir?”

“Yes, how do I get to North Pole from here?”

Mary cast another glance his way. Nice. Very nice. And going to North Pole. Too bad his hat would blow off the first second he stepped out into the Alaska wind. And too bad she wasn’t interested. Nice-looking men tended to lie and break girls’ hearts. Or at least this girl’s heart.

She’d almost refused to come home for Christmas this year, preferring to stay in the tiny apartment she’d rented in Seattle. If not for the desperate message from her father insisting he needed to talk to her, she’d have skipped Christmas altogether. She hadn’t even bought a tree for her apartment. The whole season, once a happy occasion to be enjoyed with family, was now a depressing time of the year. Christmas without her mother had never been the same. Without her father…well, she might as well skip Christmas altogether. Her dad had Kim now. He didn’t need Mary anymore. Mary should be happy she had a stepmother, but the word stepmother made her grind her teeth.

Not that her stepmother had done anything specifically to earn her distrust; there was just something about the woman that set Mary off. Somehow she had maneuvered her way between Mary and her father from the first.

The devil in Mary’s conscience nagged at her. Could it be because Mary couldn’t get used to the idea of another woman in the house? Or was it because her father had known Kim before he’d ever met Mary’s mother? Kim had been sure to share that information with Mary whenever they were in the same room, claiming she’d known him long before he settled in Alaska. A time Mary’s father had never shared with her.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t seem to have a reservation for a Mary Christmas,” the clerk said.

“I know. I flew space A. I didn’t know I was coming until this morning.”

“Because it’s so close to Christmas, we’ve been booked solid. We don’t have a single car left.”