Raven’s Prey(53)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“All right! All right, she’s got the gun, now stop this crazy game!” Prager slapped the ugly weapon into Honor’s hand and her fingers closed convulsively around it.

“You have it, Honor?” Judd didn’t look at her. His eyes were on the instruments.

“I’ve got it,” she whispered tightly.

“Okay, hang on.”

As gently as possible Judd eased off on the back pressure he had been applying to the wheel and added opposite rudder. The Cessna obediently neutralized itself. The sickening spin halted. Now the plane was simply plunging headfirst toward the desert floor without the added effects of the spinning.

“Raven!” Prager was screaming as it became obvious they were in a headlong dive.

Honor didn’t say a word. Slowly Judd eased the craft out of the dive, bringing the nose up very gently. No sense ruining things now by doing this part too fast and pulling off the wings! The effects of gravity asserted themselves as the plane came up and out of the dive. Judd felt the familiar G forces sucking him down into his seat and wished he’d had time to tell Honor what to expect. She must be absolutely terrified by this point. Prager certainly was.

“My God, Raven,” Nick Prager whispered from the back seat as the Cessna leveled off. “You’re a bastard. A real, cold bastard. I wasn’t going to cheat you out of the money, I fully intended to hand over the fifty thousand.” His eyes slitted as he watched Honor turn in her seat and point his gun at him. “And I’ll still make it a hundred thousand if you’ll take another contract out on Miss Knight here.”

“Another contract?” Judd asked, checking for nighttime landmarks on the desert below. The lights of the airfield should be coming up at about one o’clock.

“This time I want her dead,” Prager hissed.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Nick, don’t sound so melodramatic.” Honor smiled. “And don’t waste your breath. Judd isn’t going to take your fifty thousand to fly you into Mexico. He doesn’t do that sort of work anymore. And he’s not going to take the extra fifty for killing me, either. He’s in love with me.”

She saw the thunderstruck expression on Judd’s face as he shot her a startled glance but Honor kept her attention on Prager. The gun in her hand was as unwavering as it had been when he held it. In that moment she didn’t think it would bother her at all to use it.

“In love with you!” Prager spat violently. “Don’t be such a dumb little bitch. Judd Raven will do anything if the money’s right!”

“Not quite,” Honor said gently. “You really don’t know him very well, do you?”

“I know his reputation!”

“Which is somewhat exaggerated, I’m afraid.” Honor chuckled. “He’s got business ethics, you see. Scruples. You wouldn’t understand about that sort of thing, Nick. But I’m afraid you’re going to have to accept the fact that there are some things Judd Raven won’t do for money.”

Prager shot her a fulminating look and then pinned his desperate glance on Judd’s set profile. “All right, so don’t kill her if she’s that good in bed. You can have the full hundred grand for the trip to Mexico.”

“Forget it, Nick.” Honor sighed. “Judd’s not a true mercenary. I can’t imagine why so many people have the wrong idea about him.”

Judd cleared his throat, started to say something, broke off and then tried again just as he brought the Cessna into the downwind leg of a landing pattern. “I expect,” he finally managed in a very soft voice, “it’s because most people aren’t close to me. They don’t know me as well as you do.”

“That must be it,” Honor replied cheerfully. “But, then, I’m in love with you and that makes a difference.”

Judd gave his full concentration to his landing. It was one of the most difficult of his life for some odd reason. Strange. He’d done plenty of night landings under far worse circumstances.

“What are we going to do with Prager?” Honor inquired conversationally as the Cessna rolled to a halt.

“We’re going to phone Maddock and ask what he wants done with him,” Judd replied tersely, unlatching the Cessna door.

He made the phone call, remembering to reverse the charges, and found Maddock at home.

“You’ve got him in Albuquerque?” Craig Maddock demanded, plainly astonished. “We knew he snuck past us getting into the country but we lost track of him two days ago.”

“He wanted to be flown into Mexico,” Judd explained. “Seemed to think I’d do the job.”

He could almost see Maddock’s eyebrows climb skyward. “And you weren’t interested?”

‘I’ve, uh, got a new business partner,” Judd drawled, his eyes seeking Honor’s face. “She vets my jobs these days. She decided we wouldn’t take this one.”

“I see.” Maddock chuckled on the other end. “Well, I’ll get someone to take him off your hands before you change your mind. There’s a man in the Albuquerque office I can call. Where are you now?” Judd told him. “Okay, stay where you are. We’ll have someone out there as soon as possible. Oh, and Judd…”

“Yeah?”

“Watch yourself. Prager’s as nasty as they come.”

“I didn’t know you cared.”

“It’s not you I’m worrying about,” Maddock growled. “It’s your new business partner. She seems to be a good influence on you.” He hung up the phone before Judd could slam his receiver down.

“What now?” Honor asked brightly. She had turned the gun over to Judd, who was keeping it idly trained on a sullen Prager.

“Now we wait. Maddock’s sending someone to pick him up.”

Honor seated herself on the old metal desk and swung her feet gently. She didn’t look at Judd. “What an interesting evening this turned out to be.”

“Didn’t it, though?” he murmured. “Fascinating”

And once again Honor couldn’t tell a thing about what he was thinking. They spent much of the waiting period in silence, neither of them making any real effort to break it. Of course, Honor assured herself, Nick Prager’s presence made it difficult to conduct a private conversation.

Still, by the time the Albuquerque authorities had come to collect Nick, Honor was beginning to feel slightly apprehensive. Judd hadn’t spoken at all in the past twenty minutes and he seemed relieved when the official car arrived outside the hangar.