Susan stared up Jerry, her eyes wide with fear.

  "What?" Jerry taunted her. "Nothing to 'talk about' now, is there?" Turning away from her, he grabbed Blair by the arm and hauled him roughly to his feet. "Come on, Mr. Sandburg," he said, shoving him toward the locked office door. "Let's take a walk."

  Susan grabbed at Jerry's arm. "Jerry, no!"

  He pushed her easily away. "Don't worry, I'm still going to take care of your business for you, Ms. Edwards." Shifting his attention to Blair, he flashed a brief predatory smile. "Thank you for telling us where to find the papers from Borneo, sport. As soon as I'm finished with you, I'll be paying a little visit to your office."

  "Jerry, please," Susan begged. "What are you planning to do?"

  "I plan to kill him."

  Blair stiffened at the simple, straightforward statement, fear twisting through him.

  Jerry turned back to Blair, fixing him with an amused gaze. "There's a pit at the back of the property here that we use to dump scrap material. I hope you'll find it to your liking, since you're going to be there for a very long time."

  /

  /

  /

  Jim strode through the nearly deserted halls of the administration building at Rainier University. At this hour, nearly all the staff had gone home for the night. But he knew one woman who would be working late.

  He didn't bother to knock, simply pushed through the door and stepped up to the desk. Chancellor Edwards looked up with wide, surprised eyes.

  "I'm Detective Jim Ellison." He flashed her his badge. "I have some questions-"

  "I recognize you, Detective," she cut him off, her voice curt, annoyed. "And just because you're with the police, that doesn't give you the right to barge into my office." She turned back to the papers on her desk. "You can call my secretary just like everyone else and make an appointment. I'll see you tomorrow."

  Jim reached over the desk and snatched the pen out of her hand. "You'll see me now," he said, his voice low, controlled.

  She looked up at him, her hand shifting to the phone, resting on the receiver. "Do I need to call your captain?"

  "Please do," Jim offered, gesturing toward the phone beneath her hand. "Maybe then you can explain to him why you refuse to answer some simple questions about his staff consultant."

  She pulled her hand away from the phone and glared up at Jim. "I should have known this would be about Mr. Sandburg," she said icily. "He has been nothing but trouble since the day he arrived." She leaned back in her chair, distancing herself from Ellison, who still stood leaning over her desk. "And he became even more troublesome once he started working with the police department. He's an embarrassment to this university. Did you know he misses more classes than he teaches? That shows a great lack of professionalism to me."

  "Yes? Well, if I had the time to discuss the lack of professionalism among the staff of this University, I'd talk to you about firing a professor in front of student without even hearing his side of the story." Jim leaned in closer and placed both hands down against the top of the desk. He watched with distracted satisfaction as the chancellor's face reddened in embarrassment--his veiled comment alluding to the Brad Ventriss case had obviously hit its mark. "But I don't have time for that right now," he continued coolly. "All I care about right now is the fact that Blair is missing."

  "Missing?" The chancellor frowned, her gaze shifting away from Jim as her heart tripped and began beating hard in her chest.

  "Chancellor," he said, drawing her attention back to him, "Do you know where he might be?"

  "No, of course not. How would I know?"

  "From what I've been able to gather so far, you were the last one to see him."

  "So you automatically assume I had something to do with his disappearance?"

  "You or your daughter."

  Her eyes widened in surprise. "What? You think Susan-"

  "I just came from your daughter's apartment," Jim continued, his voice overriding hers. "She's not there. In fact, I can't find her anywhere." Jim removed his hands from the chancellor's desk and straightened. Looking down at her, he continued: "I know Blair came to talk with you about Susan's thesis, that he was planning to expose her to Rainier's board tomorrow. If either of you has done something to Blair to shut him up about this---"

  "How dare you!" Edwards surged to her feet. "To imply that I or my daughter would do anything to Mr. Sandburg-"

  "I'm not implying it, Chancellor. I'm outright saying it." Jim leaned forward again, laying his palms flat against the desk top, leaning toward her. "And if something happens to Blair, if you or your daughter hurt him in any way... you will be sorry you ever laid eyes on me."

  Edwards visibly paled. "That sounds like a threat to me," she whispered.

  "It is," Jim promised. "Now tell me what I need to know."

  Edwards sank backwards into her chair, worry lines creasing her brow. "My daughter," she began haltingly, "She may have wanted to talk to him. She was a little upset when I told her what Blair planned to do." She looked up at Ellison, her gaze pleading. "He just doesn't understand what is going on. What she could lose."

  "He understands perfectly," Jim said, his voice low, edgy. "Where is he?"

  "I don't know." She rubbed a hand across her forehead in obvious dismay. "Susan mentioned the name of a man who's been helping her..."

  "What name?" Jim pressed.

  "He's the one who's trouble, Detective. Not my daughter. She-"

  "What name!"

  "Jerry Cutter. He's an ex-convict or some such thing." She looked up at him again. "Do you see the kind of people Mr. Sandburg has forced my daughter to associate with?" She shook her head in obvious disgust. "You know, Detective, if not for Dr. Stoddard pulling strings for him, I would have gotten rid of Mr. Sandburg years ago."

  "I'll be sure to let Blair know how concerned you were about him," Jim intoned sarcastically. He turned to leave, but stopped before taking two steps. "Oh, and one other thing," he said, turning back to face the haughty chancellor, "I don't know how you address your other colleagues, but in the future when you address Blair, use his correct title. He's no longer Mr. Sandburg. He's Dr. Sandburg now."

  /

  /

  /

  Blair looked back across his shoulder as he was pulled from the construction trailer, his eyes locking with Susan's. She bit her lip and turned away from his gaze. And Blair knew then that she wasn't going to help him--it was obvious that the situation had spiraled out of her control and that she was ill-equipped to know how to stop it from playing out to its disastrous end.

  Jerry tugged fiercely at his arm and Blair stumbled down the stairs, flinching at the tight grip on his arm.

  "You really think that killing me will solve this for you?" he said as Jerry hauled him back to his feet and began leading him away from the small trailer.

  "What is it with you academic types?" Jerry pulled at Blair's arm again, forcing him to keep up with his own purposeful stride. "Do you have to have everything spelled out for you? No, I don't think killing you will solve this. But then, I guess I didn't tell you the whole story, did I?" Jerry pulled Blair to an abrupt halt and stepped up in front of him. He let out a weary breath. "After I get the papers from your office, I plan to pay a little visit to Dr. Stoddard."

  Blair's eyes widened and he was stunned into silence for several moments. "No," he breathed out at last, "You can't. He's unconscious. Completely helpless!"

  "I know," Jerry boasted with a satisfied grin, "That's what's going to make it so simple."

  Panic clutched at Blair's stomach. He couldn't believe this was happening. "There's a police guard on his door," he blurted out, hoping to reason with his captor. "You won't get near him."

  "Do you really think I won't be able to get past a single guard, especially if I show up in a lab coat?"

  Blair swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. He's wrong. The guard at the door has a list of approved visitors. He won't just let anyone in a lab coat inside. Still...

  "And after that," Jerry continued, drawing Blair's attention again, "Well, there'll only be one final loose end to tie up, then this entire thing will just be a bad memory."

  "What loose end?" Sandburg asked, already fearing the answer.

  "Your cop buddy." Jerry inclined his head and winked knowingly at him. "Beautiful, isn't it? You die. Stoddard dies. And then? Detective Ellison dies."

  Blair felt his knees threatening to give way. This man was going to kill Jim! "You're kidding yourself if you think you'd ever be able to touch Jim," Blair argued with more confidence than he felt. By now, Jim has to know I'm missing. Will his concern make him careless? Vulnerable to someone like Jerry?

  "You let me worry about your buddy." Jerry started forward again, dragging Blair along with him.

  Without warning, Susan rushed forward and positioned herself in front of the men, stopping them in their tracks. "Jerry," she pleaded, "I can't let you do this. It's murder. Premeditated murder." Her voice rose in volume as she spoke, becoming high pitched, panicky. "Washington has the death sentence for premeditated murder."

  "Only if you're caught," he explained, his tone low and threatening. "I don't plan to get caught. In fact, I plan to take a nice trip up to Canada when I'm done, buy a piece of land with the money you paid me. I hear it's a beautiful country." He pushed Susan aside and started forward again, but once again Susan moved in front of him to block his way.

  "Please, Jerry, if you'd just-"

  "You're beginning to annoy me," Jerry ground out as he stopped in front of the petite woman. Slowly, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a gun; he pointed it at Susan. "I didn't want to have to kill you too." His gaze moved over her body hungrily. "Kind of thought there might be a future for us. But I can see now that I have no choice."

  Susan took a step back from him, her eyes wide, fixed on the gun in Jerry's hands. Her gaze shifted to Cutter's face. "You can't be serious."

  Jerry glanced at Blair, his annoyance clear. "She's a piece of work, isn't she?" He gestured at Susan with the gun. "Start walking."

  "Jerry, I-"

  "Shut up!" Grabbing her arm, he roughly pulled her toward Sandburg. "I've heard enough."

  Susan stumbled into Blair. Clung to him. "This can't be happening," she muttered, her fingers digging into the flesh of Blair's arm, her frightened eyes staring into his. "I... I just wanted to get a nice apartment. A good car."

  "Shut up!" Jerry shouted again. He released Blair's arm and gestured to the path in front of them with the gun. "Get moving."

  Blair slipped an arm around Susan's waist and propelled her forward. She continued to cling to him and she was crying quietly now, but he ignored her. Instead, he concentrated on the area they were walking through. He squinted; the few security lights scattered around the property cast long shadows, but he was able to make out large piles of construction material all around them. And ahead, the ground seemed to drop away to what he guessed were deep pits. Fear gripped his heart--one of those pits was Jerry's destination for them.

  Covertly, Blair studied the perimeter. The construction site was surrounded by an eight-foot chain link fence that had three rows of barbed wire strung along the top. It might not be possible to get out of here, but it would definitely be easy to find a hiding place amongst the piles of material and the equipment scattered around the grounds.

  "It's just ahead." Jerry shoved him from behind, putting an end to his surveillance of their surroundings.

  Blair glanced over at Susan. She was still crying softly, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. Can she do this? Will she keep it together long enough for us to get away?

  It didn't matter. He had no choice. He had to do something.

  Jerry shoved him again. This time Blair purposely stumbled and went down on one knee. Before he could change his mind, he scooped up a handful of loose, sandy material, turned quickly and threw it into Jerry's eyes. The man cried out, throwing his hands up in front of his face, temporarily blinded by the debris.

  Blair grabbed Susan's arm and ran.

  /

  /

  /

  Jim sat behind Susan Edwards' desk, going through her in-box. He'd flashed his badge to the night janitor in order to obtain entry to her office on the second floor of Hargrove Hall. He knew that without a search warrant any information he found in her office could not be used against her in a court of law. But right now, Jim didn't care about the law. He only cared about finding his partner.

  He had just managed to jimmy the top drawer open when his cell phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket, he punched the receive button. "Ellison."

  "Jim, I have the information you requested." Joel Taggert's voice came through clearly on the line.

  After Jim left Chancellor Edward's office, he'd called into the station and asked Joel to run Jerry Cutter's name through the police database to see if they could find his arrest record, the name of a parole officer, a current address--anything that would help find Blair. As usual, the amiable detective had come through for him.

  "Tell me what you found, Joel."

  "I was able to find a current home and work address for Jerry Cutter."

  Jim pushed up from the desk and headed toward the door. "Let me guess. He works at some kind of construction place."

  "Yeah, as a matter of fact," Joel said, a small chuckle in his voice. "Greater Cascade Stone Works. How'd you know?"

  Jim's heart sped up in his chest, his mind immediately making the connection to the stone dust they'd found in the tire treads by Blair's Volvo.

  "Joel, I'm going to need that work address," he said, slamming Susan's office door closed behind him. Quickly, he made his way toward the stairs that would take him to the exit. "Send some black and whites as backup and a few to Cutter's home address."

  "You think this guy's done something to Sandburg?" Joel asked, his worry clear.

  Jim reached the exit door and pushed at it; he was down the steps of Hargrove Hall before the door slammed shut behind him. "I hope to hell not, Joel. I hope to hell not."

  /

  /

  /

  Blair skidded around a large pile of crushed gravel, pulling Susan along with him, and stopped. Susan huddled against his side, her breath coming in harsh gasps. Blair turned to her and put a finger to his lips. She nodded and reached up to cover her mouth with her hand, muffling the harsh sounds of her breathing. Blair smiled his approval before leaning out, trying to see where Jerry was. He squinted into the darkness, straining to catch a glimpse of their pursuer, but the shadows that were helping to hide them were also making it impossible to locate the man who was hunting them.

  He looked longingly at the trailer lights in the distance. That's where they needed to go--back to the office and the phone he'd seen on the desk inside. Maybe they could make a dash for it. Maybe--

  Dammit!

  He jerked back behind the covering of the gravel, crouching close to it as Jerry moved into his line of sight. The man was not stupid. He was clearly keeping himself between them and what he knew would be their ultimate goal--the office trailer.

  Blair turned toward Susan. She stared across at him, her eyes unblinking. The terror she was feeling was practically tangible. Feeling a spark of compassion for his colleague, knowing she was not only scared but most likely in shock over the fast turn of events, Blair reached over and took her hands in his own. He could feel them trembling.

  "Susan," he said quietly, "Listen to me. We need to split up."

  Her eyes widened in panic. "No!" she blurted out.

  Blair cringed, then glanced carefully over his shoulder, relieved when he realized Jerry had not heard her, was not coming. He turned back to Susan, his hands tightening around hers.

  "We have no choice, Susan," he ground out. "I need you to double back to that trailer. I saw a phone on the desk. You can call for help and-"

  "No, no," she whispered fiercely. "Jerry will see me. He'll kill me!"

  "Susan, I will make sure Jerry sees me, not you. He'll follow me," Blair explained. "Once he does, you go back to the trailer and call the police. Tell them where we are and what's going on. Ask for Jim Ellison, that's my friend."

  "Blair, I can't. I can't!"

  "If you don't do this," he pressed, "We're both dead."

  She stared into his eyes, her mouth pulled into a grim line.

  "You can do this, Susan. You can."

  She swallowed hard. "Okay," she breathed out at last, her shoulders straightening as she accepted what she had to do.

  "Good," Blair encouraged her, "That's good." He leaned out again, checking on Jerry. The man still paced between them and the trailer, gun in hand, his gaze scanning the area.

  "You stay here," Sandburg whispered to Susan. "I'm going to catch his attention and lead him away. The minute he's gone, you go for the trailer. Understand?"

  She nodded, biting at her trembling lower lip.

  He smiled reassuringly at her. "You'll be okay. I promise." He gave her hands one last squeeze then turned to leave.

  Susan caught his arm, stopping him. "Blair... I... I'm sorry." A tear tracked down her cheek. She wiped it away, shaking her head at her own weakness. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Really I didn't."

  "I know," he said softly.

  She touched his cheek gently. "Good luck."

  "You, too." Blair glanced around the gravel, waited until Jerry was looking in his direction, then dashed out, running in a weaving pattern toward a pile of broken cement. A shot rang out. Blair ducked low... and kept moving.

  He reached the cement, but didn't stop. Instead, he chose his next target--a large mound of paving stone--and made a dash for it. He knew that if he could just keep moving, keep Jerry behind him, Susan would have enough time to call for help. All he had to do was keep moving...

  Another shot split the night air. And then--immediately--there was the searing sensation of pain. Blair cried out as the bullet ripped through his shoulder, hitting him from behind. He pitched forward, landing hard.