Page 74 of K-9 Prime Target

Raz ignored him. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Nina climbed off the snowmobile. “Sheriff, you need to head up to the ruins of the Nina Marie mine,” she said. “Aaron Nicholson kidnapped me from the ski hut and held me at a cabin at the mine, after he tried to strangle Liam and left him for dead. Liam came after me and saved me, but Nicholson is still up there.”

“How did Nicholson get all the way up there?” the sheriff asked.

“He had a snowmobile.” Liam came to stand beside Nina. “We took it from him, but it ran out of gas on the way back to the ski hut. I disabled it, just in case Nicholson had more gas stowed somewhere. We don’t think he has skis, so he’s stranded up at the old mine.”

“Why is Derek handcuffed?” Nina asked.

“We found him here at the trailhead, waiting for you,” the sheriff said. “You told us he was acting suspicious. We thought he was your stalker.”

“I tried to tell him I only loaned Raz my snowmobile so she and Brian could find you two,” Derek said. “I haven’t stalked anybody. I wouldn’t do that. I was just trying to help.”

“Derek didn’t have anything to do with Nicholson stalking me,” Nina said. “Please, let him go.”

The sheriff nodded to one of the deputies. “You can let him go.”

The deputy unlocked the cuffs, and Derek got to his feet and rubbed his wrists. He faced Nina. “Are you all right?” he asked.

His concern touched her. “He didn’t hurt me,” she said. “I’m going to be okay.”

“Why did he kidnap you?” Derek asked.

Nina sighed. “He’s convinced we’re fated to be together—or that’s the excuse he gave for kidnapping me. He said he was going to take me to Mexico, where we would get married.”

“Did he harm you in any way?” the sheriff asked.

“He hit me once and he threatened me,” she said. “He chained me to the wall of the cabin for a couple of hours. He almost killed Liam, though.”

The sheriff looked to Liam, who rubbed his throat. “He tried to strangle me. He almost succeeded.”

“I’ll need a full statement from both of you,” the sheriff said. “But that can wait while we go after Nicholson. Is he armed?”

“He had a knife,” Nina said.

“If he had a gun, he never used it on us, or threatened to use it,” Liam said.

“Do you know where he is now?” the sheriff asked. “Where, exactly, at the mine?”

“There’s a cabin there that is mostly intact,” Nina said. “That’s where he held me.”

“The last time we saw him, he was running through the snow after us,” Liam said.

“I don’t know if he went back to the cabin or continued after me,” Nina said. “But thanks to Raz and Brian—and Derek—we’re finally safe.” She moved to each of them in turn and embraced them. When it was Derek’s turn, he flushed red. “I’m sorry anyone ever thought you were my stalker,” she said.

“Me, too.” He cleared his throat. “But I think from now on, I maybe won’t pay quite so much attention to you.”

She smiled. “I hope you find someone to pay the right kind of attention to,” she said.

He looked away. “There’s a new girl at work. She’s been sort of flirting with me, so maybe…”

Liam stepped forward and offered his hand. “I’m sorry I came on so strong,” he said.

“I get it,” Derek said. “You were protecting Nina.”

“I was still out of line,” Liam said.

“You all need to go home and wait for me to contact you,” the sheriff said. He joined his deputies beside the now unloaded snowmobiles. He climbed onto one machine while the two deputies mounted the other, and they all sped away.