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it on Nemov, who was busily throwing handfuls of what looked like bird"s nests into the fire.
    “Morning,” Will said laconically, stepping out from behind the wall.
    Hedwig gasped. Nemov lunged for his shotgun.
    “Hold it right there.” Taylor appeared behind the waist-high wall.

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    Nemov froze.
    “Not a good feeling, is it?” Taylor said as Nemov gazed down the barrel of his SIG.
    “No.”
    Will started toward the fire and Hedwig.
    “In fact, it"s pretty sickening thinking about what a bullet can do to you.
    Especially a .357 cartridge. Have you ever been shot?”
    Nemov swallowed. “No.”
    “I have. I don"t recommend it.”
    Will listened to this exchange with half an ear. His attention was on Hedwig, who had her eye on Nemov"s shotgun. He didn"t like her expression.
    “Let us make a deal,” Nemov said.
    “Let us not,” Taylor returned, “and say we did.”
    Hedwig sprang for the shotgun, but Will was faster. He dived, grabbed her by her ponytail, and dragged her back. She let out a squeal of pain and fury but stopped struggling, folding her arms protectively around her middle.
    “Down, girl.”
    Hedwig let off a stream of invectives that might have made a Russian drug lord blink. If he wasn"t already used to her winning ways. She finished inexplicably with, “You have no right!”
    “You see,” Nemov said. “You should leave her with me. I will split the reward money with you.”
    “What have I told you two about eating juniper berries for breakfast?” Will confiscated Nemov"s shotgun. “Why"d you uncuff her? It seems rash.”
    “She could not climb in handcuffs.”
    “Well, we"ll give her a helping hand with that.” Will reached for his handcuffs.

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    Hedwig gave a vicious but inaccurate kick at his legs. He jumped aside. Nemov laughed nastily.
    “I"m really getting tired of you two,” Taylor commented. “You, the Mad Russian, take your—actually my —handcuffs out. Good. Now siddown, hands behind your head.”
    Nemov slowly complied. Taylor reached across the wall, took the cuffs, and locked one end around Nemov"s hairy right wrist, looped the other through one of the rusted rods partially sticking out of the bricks, and locked it around Nemov"s left wrist.
    “That ought to hold you for a bit.”
    Hands fastened behind his head, Nemov glared up at him. “This is not legal.”
    “Isn"t it?”
    Taylor looked at Will in surprise. Will said, “Uh, you really want to leave him like that?”
    “What I"d really like to do is shoot him, but I was thinking you"d probably object.”
    Will hoped—assumed—he was kidding. He looked at Hedwig, who was still glowering up at him. “My partner"s not in a great mood. I"d advise you to start cooperating. If you don"t, the first thing we"re doing after we drag your ass off this mountain is call the marshals and let them deal with getting you back to charm school.”
    She bared her teeth at him.
    “I"m sure I can find a stake to chain her to,” Taylor said.
    “You"d like that,” Hedwig said. “You don"t care about me. I"d be safer with him .” She jerked her head at Nemov.
    Nemov nodded approvingly.
    “Yeah, but who"ll protect him from you?” Will knelt and got Hedwig handcuffed. For all her quivering fury, she didn"t put up any resistance. If she was Dangerous Ground 3: Blood Heat

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    half as tired as Will felt, she had to be ready to drop. Weren"t pregnant women supposed to sleep a lot anyway? Maybe Hedwig hadn"t gotten the memo.
    Will helped her to her feet. “Do we leave the fire or not?” he asked Taylor.
    “What do you think?”
    Will considered. “There"s nothing for it to burn in here, but while it"s going it"ll keep off predators and act as a beacon for the choppers.” To Nemov he said, “The first phone we get to, we"ll contact the sheriffs and have them send someone for you.”
    “I will not be here.”
    “That would be my suggestion, but if you come after us, you"ll