Free Dead Aim by Iris Johansen Page A

to cut the glass of the window and unlock it.
    Darkness.
    Are you in there, Morgan?
    He waited.
    Silence. Emptiness.
    Morgan was gone. He could feel it. Disappointment surged through him.
    He swung over the windowsill into the room.
    Paintings. Canvases. Morgan's studio. Like the studios in the other two houses where he'd just missed catching him.
    Frustration and sorrow soared within him as he looked around.
    Morgan hadn't bothered to pack up his canvases and take them with him, even though he'd known Runne would find this hiding place as he'd found the others. He knew Runne would not destroy them.
    Destroy the man.
    Destroy the soul.
    Never destroy the beauty.
    He would not turn on the lights. He would not look at the paintings. They would hurt too much.
    But he knew the sketch would be somewhere in full view where he could find it. Morgan always took pains to make sure he wouldn't miss it.
    There it was. By the window.
    He didn't want to see it.
    Yes, he did. At this moment he wanted nothing more in life than to see that sketch. He slowly walked toward it. As he drew closer, he saw that it wasn't just one sketch this time. There were several. He picked them up and held each one up to the moonlight streaming in the window.
    Twisted. Haunted. Passionate.
    It was Runne's face, sketched over and over. Each portrayal more revealing than the next. It made Runne feel naked and angry . . . and sad. He could feel the tears run down his cheeks.
    Morgan, may you rot in hell.
    It couldn't go on. Life was too unbearable. He couldn't keep hunting him down and then having him slip through his fingers.
    He had to die.
    Alex carefully opened her bedroom door.
    It was after three A.M., and she could see the crack of light beneath the door of the study but no moving shadow on the other side. It was the fourth time she'd checked out the study and found it the same.
    Hell, maybe Morgan had sat down in a chair or couch and fallen asleep.
    Not likely.
    He was probably listening, waiting for her to make a move.
    Well, she was going to make one. What could she lose? Morgan didn't want her dead, so he wasn't going to shoot her if he caught her. She'd try the Land Rover first and see if she could hot-wire it. She'd spent the last few hours prying the brass trim off the marble fireplace in her bedroom to make a jimmy stick. If that didn't work, she'd hike down the mountain and see if she could see the lights of another house. For all she knew, Denver might be only a few miles away.
    What she did know was that she couldn't wait any longer. She had to do something.
    She closed the door and went over to the window she'd opened a few minutes ago. It was snowing harder and there was already a little pile of snow dampening the carpet.
    She pulled her jacket closer around her and swung over the windowsill.
    She'd gotten the Land Rover started.
    Judd smiled and put down his brush as he heard the roar of the engine.
    Smart woman. He wondered how she'd managed to open the door.
    He heard the vehicle's tires crunch in the snow as she peeled away from the lodge and down the mountain. He moved across the room to the closet and got out his jacket and gloves. A moment later he was trudging down the mountain, his gaze on the taillights on the road ahead of him.
    He hadn't gone ten yards before he lost his footing and slipped. He recovered before he fell, but it wasn't the cold that sent a chill through him.
    Ice.
    Shit.
    Dammit, the snow was so heavy she could barely see the road ahead of her.
    Alex lifted her foot from the accelerator and braked lightly. Even the slight pressure caused the Land Rover to skid on the ice-covered road.
    She frantically turned the wheel into the skid and then straightened the car.
    God, that had been close. A foot more and she would have been off the road and plunging down the mountain.
    She drew a deep, shaky breath to steady her nerves.
    No big deal. She just had to drive more slowly. This Land Rover was a strong workhorse of a