Rakovac was still disappointed. The idea to have Luke murder in cold blood had been pure inspiration. Though he had made sure that Luke was involved in Mikhal’s most brutal raids, there was something much more horrifying about a deliberate murder. It would have been agony for Catherine to realize what her son had become.
“You told me that you were coming to get him,” Czadas said. “When?”
“Is he becoming too much for you, Mikhal? After all, he’s only a child.”
“He’s not too much. At times, it’s been amusing…and profitable.”
“And you’re wondering if the profits will continue after I take Luke away from you.” Boarding Luke with Mikhal had been expensive but safe. Mikhal was the last person that Venable would suspect Rakovac of using to hide Luke since Rakovac had betrayed Mikhal’s precious cause to the Russians when he’d left the Republic of Georgia. Supplying Mikhal and his small group of freedom fighters with weapons periodically had been worth the price.
Besides, Mikhal had the streak of sadistic cruelty he had been looking for in a guardian for Luke. It would not have been safe for Rakovac to come often to Savrin House, but he had to be sure that Catherine’s whelp had the proper upbringing.
He smiled at the term “proper.” Not the word usually applied for the way Luke had been raised in the violence and blood of Mikhal’s savage attacks on the South Ossetia villages protected by Russia. Rakovac had grown up in that war and knew how ugly it could be. He had wanted all the gentleness and humanity torn out of Luke and Mikhal had done his best. “It’s a shame to break up a partnership that’s worked so well. We may come to a new arrangement if you’re cooperative in the next few days. There may be some difficulty that I have to overcome.”
“You have only to ask.” He paused. “I killed Medvar when the boy refused. He whimpered and cried like a puking baby. Luke was braver. Our treatment has put some steel in his backbone.”
Or maybe it was Catherine who had given him that courage, Rakovac thought sourly. Even as a much smaller child, he had noticed that Luke never backed down unless he was knocked down.
Mikhal was hesitating. “I wondered if you wanted me to rid you of the bother of eliminating the boy. It would be no trouble. That is your intention?”
Rakovac didn’t answer directly. “You’ve been more than generous. I believe I can handle it from here. You may see me soon.”
“With the guns?”
Mikhal’s persistence was beginning to annoy him. “I’ll think about it.” He hung up.
It was not wise to break totally with Mikhal yet. He still might have to be a vital part of his final confrontation with Catherine.
Which was going to have to happen soon. The bombing in Lima had been a tremendous success and Ali Dabala was salivating with eagerness to turn loose his fanatic idiots on more desirable targets. Rakovac had barely been able to rein him in on the pretext that everything was not yet in place.
In fact, it was in place. It was Rakovac who wasn’t ready. He hadn’t completed his business with Catherine and Luke. He wanted to have his final revenge, then phone Ali Dabala on the way to the airport to board his flight for his island. He would give him all the details that he’d been keeping from him and fly off into the sunset.
But it was dangerous to wait any longer. He knew that Venable had an inkling of what was going on and he had been deliberately feeding him false information. The possibility that Venable might stumble onto something that would blow Ali Dabala’s plans was not to be tolerated.
He gazed at Catherine’s photo. He was going to miss looking at her beautiful witch’s face. She had become part of his life.
“I believe I’ve given you enough time for your Eve to find out that skeleton isn’t Luke,” he murmured. “Did it make you happy? Yes, I’m sure it did. Relief from agony can be very heady. But I put you through torment while she was working on it, didn’t I? I had some pleasant moments thinking of how you were being torn apart by my little deception.” He glanced at the bulletin board. He’d cleaned it up and eliminated all but the positive targets. “I’d let you worry a bit longer, but it’s not possible. Sadly, I’m having to deal with a few things that are interfering with our game. We’re going to have to proceed with all due speed…”
Chapter
14
Eve called Joe at seven that evening. “I finished the reconstruction early this morning. I meant to call you earlier, but I went to bed and passed out.”
“What a surprise. After only working the better part of two days without sleep. Well?”
“It’s not Luke.”
“Catherine must be over the moon.”
“So am I.” She paused. “We’ve got to find him quickly, Joe. If he’s alive, he’s not going to stay that way. And Catherine will go crazy if she actually sees him in danger. Hell, so would I.” If she had been in the same position as Catherine when Bonnie had disappeared, she would have done anything to get her back. She knew exactly the torment Catherine was going through.
No, she didn’t. She’d had no real hope that her Bonnie was safe. From the beginning, everyone had thought that Bonnie was a victim who would never return. Catherine still had the possibility of getting Luke back. “Is Venable just spinning his wheels trying to get Rakovac?”
“He can’t locate him. But we’re working on a way to get around that. Venable’s been pulling strings and offering bribes to the NSA to get them to let him use their satellite to track the phone calls that Rakovac is making to Catherine. If they can latch onto his signal, they can trace the call. But the NSA is dragging their feet, and it’s driving Venable crazy. They say that they can’t focus their satellite beam indefinitely on Catherine’s phone on the chance that he’ll call. That satellite is used on thousands of other projects. They’re telling us that if we can give them a small window of certainty, then they’ll go for it.”
“Are they crazy? Those other projects aren’t as important as preventing Ali Dabala from attacking.”
“We’re running into the same problem as we did with Homeland Security. There’s doubt that there will be an attack from Dabala since Red Darkness supposedly did the Lima bombing, and they’re on the run. I want to knock their asses into—” He stopped. “Venable’s still talking, but I don’t think that it’s going to do any good.”
She could feel his frustration. “Why do we have to go through the NSA? The CIA has their own satellites.”
“Not as sophisticated as the NSA’s. Even the military doesn’t have one that’s as powerful a tool for identifying and tracking. The NSA can get us the information within a few minutes. It would take any other satellite hours to process the information.”
“That’s kind of scary. I don’t like the idea of a spy in the sky having that much power to be intrusive with private citizens.”
“It’s the world we live in. And, in this case, be grateful they have the technology.”
“If they’ll use it. Rakovac is bound to call Catherine soon.
Can’t they—”
“A small window of opportunity,” he repeated. “We have to give them a time, and they won’t give us more than fifteen minutes either way, then they’re gone.”
“Which means we’re supposed to dictate to Rakovac when he’s to call? How can we do that?”
“Work it out. We won’t be able to catch Rakovac’s next call, but set him up to call back for some reason.”
“At the exact time that you want him to do it?” she said in despair. “Do you know how hard it will be for her to—” She broke off. Stop whining. If it was their only chance, then they’d find a way to do it. “Catherine will only push him so far. She’s walking a fine line.”
“It has to be done, Eve.”
“I said Catherine wouldn’t push him. If I have to take over, I’ll do it. But I’ll tell her what’s happening and see if I can persuade her to cooperate, if only on a minimal level.” She hoped Catherine could be swayed. It was going to be difficult enough for them to fight Ra
kovac without having to battle Catherine. Rakovac regarded Catherine as the primary foe, and he might pay no attention to Eve. “See if you can make those idiots in the NSA get a little sense.”
“I will.” He added roughly, “Be careful how you handle this, Eve. Dammit, the last thing I want is for you to switch Rakovac’s focus to you.”
“It would be a lot easier if we could just snatch Luke from him and get him out of the equation.”
“What about the progress on the surveillance reports?”
“Kelly says that she may have found something promising. But it sounds pretty tentative to me. Of course, all of this pattern business sounds a little far-fetched to me. I don’t understand how it works.”
Joe chuckled. “And your own work is absolutely clear and not at all far-fetched or hard to understand.”
“That’s different…to me.” She suddenly grinned. “You’re right, of course. We always doubt what we don’t understand. Maybe Kelly is on the right track. I’ll talk to her and see if she’s come up with anything else.”
“Get back to me as soon as you hear from Rakovac.”
“I will.” She paused. She didn’t want to let him go yet, but she had to do it. He was busy. Now that the reconstruction was finished, she was feeling without purpose. That was very bad for her. Purpose guided her life.
But Joe made that life worth living.
“Eve?”
“Good-bye, Joe. Take care.”
“I love you.” He hung up.
And she loved him. She didn’t want him in Moscow wheeling and dealing with all those agencies. She wanted him here with her.
It didn’t matter what she wanted. They both had a job to do, and she should stop wishing for the moon.
She got to her feet and headed for the door to try to find Catherine.
I should be there with her, Joe thought, as he hung up the phone.
Yes, he thought she was safe, but who knew how the situation would change.
Everyone around Catherine was in danger. Rakovac had already threatened Eve.
Nine-eleven.
How the hell could he leave here until they had a fix on Rakovac?
Joe turned to Venable, who was sitting across the room, papers spread all over the desk in front of him. “Who directs that NSA satellite?”
“The man in charge of the program?”
“The man who pushes the buttons at the tech center.”
“That’s George Helder. Why?”
“I want to know everything about him.” He paused. “And when we set up the phone trace, I want to be in charge.”
“What? That’s my job.”
“I want to do it.” He met Venable’s eyes. “You want to save those thousands of people. I’m with you on that. But I have a hell of a lot more personal investment. Do you doubt that I’m the best man for the job?”
Venable studied him. “No.”
“Then let me do it.”
Venable shook his head. “You’re not even government. They won’t recognize that you have any authority. They wouldn’t listen to you.”
“They’ll listen to me.”
Venable smiled faintly. “They might at that. I’ll give you a dossier on Helder’s background. That’s all I’ll promise right now. And the question is moot until we have a call for the NSA to monitor. Has Catherine heard from him yet?”
“Not yet.”
But it would happen soon and the tension was beginning to tighten within him.
Damn, he wanted to be with Eve now.
“An NSA satellite,” Catherine repeated thoughtfully. “I remember that Venable’s used it before, but most of the time it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Those assholes are so uptight about their precious schedule that it’s a nightmare.”
“We don’t have any choice. Joe said he’d deal with it.”
She smiled faintly. “I’d like to be around when he does. Joe against the establishment. It would be interesting.”
“But it won’t do a damn bit of good if you don’t manage to find a way to manipulate Rakovac into calling you at a given time.”
“So that you can find those records.” Her smile faded. “I knew that was coming.”
“Look, I know you said that it was up to us to take care of finding a way to getting those files from Rakovac, that you wouldn’t do anything to compromise rescuing Luke. But this is our opportunity to grab those records and still give you a chance to save Luke. Rakovac’s probably not keeping Luke with him. He wouldn’t take the chance. We might be able to infiltrate wherever he’s hiding out and steal the plans for Dabala’s raid without his knowing. Then we can follow him to where he’s keeping Luke.” She paused. “Or if Luke is with Rakovac, we don’t have to rely on Kelly to find him. We can go in and rescue Luke, then get the records afterward.”
“So simple. So easy.” Catherine’s lips twisted. “It won’t be either simple or easy. No matter what the scenario. I can see a multitude of problems.”
“I’m not trying to persuade you that there won’t be problems. I’m just saying that we’ll have a valid chance. We don’t have that now. Help us, Catherine.”
Catherine didn’t answer for a long moment. “Do you think I don’t want to help you?” she whispered. “I’ve been ripped apart by doubts ever since I heard about Lima. I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting to keep slugs like Rakovac from destroying all the good things in life. But this is Luke. Don’t I have the right to let someone else step up to the plate, and just be Luke’s mother?”
“I don’t know anything about rights,” Eve said. “Not in a situation like this. The good of the one against the good of the majority? Someone else can decide all that philosophical bullshit. I just want to keep Luke alive and give those other thousands of victims their shot at survival, too. This could be the way to do it, Catherine.”
She looked away from Eve. “I know.”
“Then help us.”
“I’ll think about it.”
She was still holding back, not committing. “What’s your main objection, Catherine?”
“What do you think? I’d be giving up control,” she said tersely. “It’s life or death for Luke. I don’t want to put that power in anyone else’s hands. People make mistakes. I’m the only one who cares enough. I’m the only one I trust.”
It was difficult for Eve to question that argument. It was how she would feel under the same circumstances. “Then you’ll have to make up your own mind. I just want to say that I do care. Joe cares. Whether that’s enough to make you trust us to make Venable and the others toe the line will be your decision.”
“Yes, it will,” Catherine said. “I said that I’d think about it, Eve.”
Eve had done all she could. She got to her feet. “Will you let me know when he phones you?”
Catherine nodded. “Nothing has changed. I told you that I’d always be open with you.” She hesitated. “And I do trust you, Eve. You know what kind of life I’ve lived. I have trouble having faith in anyone. But the moment I met you, I realized that…” She was having trouble putting the words together. “I felt…comfortable. As if I’d come home. I wanted to stay there in that cottage and talk to you, have you tell me what you thought, how you felt. I wanted to be your…friend.” She met Eve’s eyes. “Are you my friend, Eve?”
Eve felt her throat tighten as she gazed at Catherine. So tough yet so vulnerable. “Yes, I’m your friend, Catherine.”
Catherine smiled luminously. “I thought so. I’m glad, Eve.” Her smile faded, then vanished. “But it doesn’t make any difference. I still have to think about this.”
Eve opened the door. “By all means.”
“Eve.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell Kelsov about the satellite. I don’t want him bugging me about it until I make a decision. Kelsov can be difficult. He doesn’t care about Luke. Not really. All he cares about is killing Rakovac.”
“I’m sure he cares about Luke,” Eve said gently. “
How could he help it? He’s your friend.”
She shook her head. “We get along, and we have a joint purpose.” She added, “I told you, I have trouble with friendship. So does Kelsov. The closest he’s come is Natalie.”
Eve nodded. “He’s very kind to her.”
“She fills a need. She must make him feel like a god.”
“She was ready to kill Joe when she thought he was hurting Kelsov,” Eve said.
“He’d leave her in a heartbeat if he got his chance at Rakovac. I’ve had to rein him in for years to keep a balance that would keep Luke safe. He’d think that damn satellite was his way to get him at last.”
“I won’t mention it to him. You’re the only one Joe wanted me to discuss it with.”
“Thank you. I know it’s tempting to let him add his pressure to yours.”
She shook her head. “You’d probably balk and go the other way.”
Catherine smiled. “You’re beginning to know me very well.”
“I have my moments. It’s getting easier to gauge your reactions. Do you suppose that’s because I’m your friend?” The door shut behind her.
“What about these holes?” Eve asked an hour later as she sat down at the table across from where Kelly was sitting with her computer. “Yes, I know what Catherine told me, but have you pinned down when, why, and where?”
“You sound like a newspaper editor,” Kelly said. “I wanted to be on the school newspaper at college, but all my professors said that I shouldn’t waste my time. I didn’t think it was a waste of time.”
“Not if you wanted to do it.” Eve wondered how many other fun activities Kelly had been kept from doing because of that extraordinary and unique brilliance. “You should have told them to go jump in the lake.”
“It’s hard to know what’s right when everyone thinks you’re wrong.” She looked down at the yellow note pad on the table beside her. “I think the holes were the periods when Rakovac visited Luke. That was the only secret Rakovac wouldn’t have wanted Venable to know about. I was looking for triggers to his behavior that might give me a clue. I made Catherine think back and try to tell me when Rakovac’s phone calls occurred. But she couldn’t remember everything or every time he called her.”