The next moment the door closed behind him.
Stay here?
Jane got to her feet. She did not want to stay here. She wanted to be on the move, part of the action. But there was no doubt it was the sensible thing to do. At least, she was here in the same hotel as Harriet, close to the action and not parked “safely” a block away.
“Jane,” Trevor said.
“I know, I know. I’ll do what’s smart and discreet.” She turned to Margaret. “Okay. But I’ll go with you to Wrigley Field. Maybe I can do something to—”
“Perhaps we’d do better to stay here and explore that driftwood thread that Ben Hudson—” He stopped as he saw her expression. “Problem?”
“I’m not going to stay cooped up in a hotel room doing computer research on driftwood. I’ll leave that to Catherine and Joe. I spent all those days in the hospital doing the same kind of research to find that place in Colorado where Doane was keeping Eve.”
“And you found it,” Trevor said softly.
“I only did it because I wasn’t strong enough to go after Doane myself. I had to rely on others to do my job.” She met his eyes. “I won’t do that again. I’m strong, Trevor. Thanks to Caleb, I’ve never felt stronger.” She grimaced. “Damn him.”
“But that isn’t all, is it?” Margaret was studying Jane’s expression. “You don’t believe Ben Hudson?”
“Of course I believe he’s telling the truth as he knows it. Who wouldn’t? When I was drawing that sketch of Doane from Ben’s description, it was like looking into a crystal-clear pool. He’d never intentionally lie.”
“Intentionally seems to be the key word,” Margaret said quietly. “You’re saying that his dreams are hallucinations? Yet you’ve evidently had some very strange dreams yourself. Were your dreams of Cira and her Anthony hallucinations?”
“Maybe. I’ve never ruled that possibility out.”
“Because you have problems accepting anything that’s not strictly black-and-white.” Trevor smiled. “But I believe that Cira managed to suspend your disbelief on occasion.”
She was silent a moment. “But I never claimed that she was a ghost who talked to me and told me how to run my life.”
“Ah, there we have it,” Trevor said. “The crux of the issue is Bonnie. I had a few reservations myself when I heard the story, but I was willing to go along since Quinn appeared to be taking it seriously. He’s a cop, and I thought there might be minimal substance.” He tilted his head. “He believes in ghosts?”
“I don’t discuss it with him.” She saw him gazing quizzically at her. She would not lie to him even by omission. “I don’t know about ghosts in general. I think he believes in Bonnie. I know that Eve believes in her.”
“But you can’t bring yourself to do it?” Margaret asked.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with me. If they want to cling to Bonnie even beyond the grave, if it brings them peace or happiness, why should I mind? All I want is for Eve to be happy.” She tried to steady her voice. “And safe. I want her to be safe. And I can’t go chasing off on a wild-goose chase that could waste time and kill her.”
Margaret nodded. “Then you shouldn’t do it. Let Kendra and Catherine work on it.” She chuckled. “That’s actually funny. There aren’t two more hardheaded women that I know and I’m tossing a ghost at them.” She got to her feet and gave Jane a hug. “Personally, I don’t know if you’re right or wrong. But it doesn’t matter. I’m here for you no matter how you want to handle this. By all means come along to Wrigley Field and we’ll play hickory dickory dock. Only substitute rat for mouse.” She glanced at Trevor. “You can come, too.”
“Thank you,” he said dryly.
“You’re welcome. You can keep an eye on Jane while I’m busy up behind the clock.” She smiled. “You’ll like doing that. You can hardly stop staring at her anyway.”
Trevor’s gaze shifted to Jane. “Yes, I will like that very much, Margaret.”
Jane was caught, held. She could not look away from him.
Today. Tomorrow. Ever After.
“We’ll leave right after we get the call from Caleb that Harriet has left the hotel,” Margaret said. “In the meantime, I’ll call Kendra and see if she’s come up with anything else.” She pulled out her phone. “I’m feeling a little de trop at the moment. You’re practically glowing, and Trevor is … I don’t know what.” She waved her hand as she started to dial. “But go ahead, continue. It’s interesting, and I think I like it. It’s kind of … warm.”
* * *
“A BANK, HARRIET?” Cartland gazed at the BANK OF AMERICA gold lettering as he opened the glass door for her. “It’s not what I expected.”
“Why not? A bank is where treasures are stored.” Harriet smiled. “And Kevin and I decided that Bank of America, the king of capitalism, should be where we kept the key to our kingdom. Don’t you find it amusing?”
“No, there was nothing amusing about Kevin’s shifting those nukes without telling me or anyone in the cell,” Cartland said bitterly . “It wasn’t a one-man operation. We had a right to know where they were.” He scowled as he followed her through the plush marble halls. “And it caused the entire project to go down the drain when he was killed.”
“But now it’s resurrected,” Harriet said. “And Tehran will be more pleased than if you had been able to set off those bombs five years ago. The political climate is much tenser now. Every victory is shouted from Tehran. You do agree that virtually destroying this fine city and Seattle will be a great victory?”
“Don’t be stupid,” he said shortly. “Of course it will. Why do you think I’m here? I didn’t want to deal with you. Kevin wouldn’t listen to anyone else after he brought you into the project. I knew it was going to cause trouble. Now it’s happening again. Doane came to me and offered us the nukes. Then, all of a sudden, he said that you had to be bought off. Well, I’ve done it. You have what you want. Now prove that you’ll give us what we want.”
“I’m not stupid, Cartland,” she said coldly. “You’ve obviously been associating too closely with your Middle Eastern cohorts who think that ‘woman’ is a synonym for ‘feeblemindedness.’ And you’ve not bought me off, you’ve only made the first installment.” She was heading for the safe-deposit-box section. “I’ve decided that I have job for you to do that will make my departure from these shores a little safer. Now be quiet until we get this business over with. Then we’ll talk, and you’ll find out the price for being touted as the next Bin Laden.”
* * *
“SHE TOOK HIM TO THE BANK of America on State Street,” Caleb said when Jane picked up the phone. “I’m e-mailing you a photo of Cartland. He’s in his forties, well dressed, dark hair. Very much the American businessman.”
“You didn’t expect him to look like he just stepped off the plane from Tehran,” Jane said. “Did you hear anything? Could you plant any listening bugs?”
“No time. And it would take a hell of a lot more sophisticated mobile equipment than I could pick up at a mall or on the street.” He added dryly, “So even if I could get close enough, the only way I could get anything would be to read their lips. Maybe your friend, Margaret, might have that kind of skill, I don’t. I’m outside the bank, and I’ll wait until they come out and follow them.” He paused. “It may come down to me protecting that bitch if Cartland decides to try to take her down.”
“She’s into power. I can’t see her not being able to manipulate him.”
“He’s a terrorist.”
“Same answer. Be careful, Caleb. We’re on our way to Wrigley Field. Call me as soon as they leave the bank.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.” He hung up and leaned back against the door of the bakery across the street from the bank. This wasn’t the kind of stalking of which he was fond. He had done it before during the years when he was hunting down his sister’s murderer, and he had learned all the tricks. But it was more detective work than seeking out prey.
It would have bee
n so simple if Jane had permitted him to go after Harriet and make her talk to him. Simple and completely efficient.
Don’t think about it. Do what Jane wanted him to do. Keep the flame burning low.
His time would come.
* * *
CARTLAND FROWNED AS HE gazed down at the sheaf of papers in the open safe-deposit box. “What the hell is this crap? I thought you might be going to give me the detonator.”
“I never said that. I just said you’d find it valuable.” She picked up the papers and handed them to him. “And interesting. Kevin wasn’t sure that you wouldn’t cause him trouble with Tehran when he moved those nukes. He set about getting insurance.” She watched his face as he scanned the documents. “You weren’t always hard-line al-Qaeda. You made deals that Iran would find not only disloyal but offensive to their religious creed.” She listened to him cursing for a moment. “If they knew about those transactions, you’d be on their hit list. And you know how deadly it can be for those on that hit list.”
His angry gaze swooped up to her face. “Blackmail, you bitch.”
“Yes,” she said. “I had to be certain that you understood that I’m not anyone you can discount or try to manipulate. We can work together, or you can go on the run and hope you have a week before they butcher you.” She stared him in the eye. “Until this is over, I’m in charge. Do we understand each other?”
He didn’t speak for a moment, and she could read the struggle in his expression. “Maybe,” he muttered.
No maybe, she thought triumphantly. He had caved. He might try to save his pride, but she had him. “Then I’m willing to show you this.” She lifted the black cloth in the bottom of the box on which she’d placed the documents. “Since we’re going to be such good partners in the battle for Islam.”
Cartland’s brow furrowed as he looked down into the box. “A cell phone? What the hell?”
“Why are you surprised?” Harriet said. “You set off bombs all the time using a cell phone as a detonator.”
“But this is an antique.” He gazed skeptically at the large, clumsy-looking cell phone. He took out his own sleek, thin iPhone. “Technology has left it in the dust.”
“It was the last thing in technology five years ago,” Harriet said. “And once the phone is charged it will still work beautifully. I consulted with an electronics expert just six months ago.” She looked him in the eye. “Believe me, all I’ll have to do is put in the code. Boom. There goes Chicago and Seattle.”
“Both cities?”
“My Kevin was brilliant. You never appreciated him. We were going to get on a plane to Samoa, and as the door closed, he was going to press in the code.”
“That’s still your plan?”
“With certain modifications.”
His voice was suddenly eager. “You said you weren’t going to give me the detonator.”
“Do you see me handing it over to you?” She took the cell phone out of the box and slipped it into her handbag. “But now that you understand who makes the rules, I don’t object to proving that I have it.”
“I want that cell phone, Harriet.”
“Forget it. It would do you absolutely no good without the code. Surely you don’t think I’d give that to you?”
“I believe you could be persuaded,” he said softly.
“How nasty. Are you threatening me, Cartland? Remember those documents? On my death, my lawyer will FedEx a copy to Iran. And do you think I brought you here to flaunt this detonator in your face? I know you have no problems with torture. Kevin told me all about you and your friends. He said you were amateurs. That’s why he took the devices away from you.”
“He was a traitor.” His cheeks flushed. “I was glad when I heard he’d been killed.”
“And you all ran for cover.” She smothered the rage she was feeling. Cartland still had his uses. “Think what you like. I know what my son could do.” She took a deep breath. “You’re thinking that you don’t have to know where the nukes are located if you have that detonator. You’re quite right. That’s why you have to deal with me and not my ex-husband. I have the detonator, and I have the code. That gives me all the cards, Cartland. And it puts me in the driver’s seat.” She added, “You’ll like the way I drive. I’m waiting for James to give me the death of the man who butchered my son. Then I’ll personally set off those nukes. You won’t have to do a thing but accept the responsibility. You’ll have no risk. You and your little group can take credit and become big men in Tehran. And I’ll have a red herring that will give me time to go underground. Interested?”
“Maybe,” he said cautiously.
“You’re very interested.”
“You want more money.”
“Yes, one more payment would make me happy. It should be sent to the same bank a week after the explosions take place. I’m taking a chance on you, of course. But I still will have those documents, and I’m sure that you won’t want those politicians in Tehran to know that I’m the one who will be responsible for the explosions. It would be humiliating for you to have them know that you took credit for the work of a lowly woman. I’ll just disappear into the sunset.”
“That would be best,” he said slowly.
“I thought so.”
He was silent. “Just one more payment?”
“And perhaps a favor or two.”
He stiffened. “Favor?”
“Kevin told me that you were a very clever man. You trained at a camp outside Berlin that specialized not only in bomb making but assassination. I’m sure you’ve just gotten better over the years.”
“You want me to kill someone.”
“It would make it safer for me to leave the country. Safer for me to disappear. Safer for you to maintain the reputation I’m going to hand you.”
“Who?”
“No one who should cause you any problem. Just a woman who pushed in where she shouldn’t be. James says that I shouldn’t worry about her, but then James can sometimes be a fool.” She smiled. “Her name is Jane MacGuire.”
“Why do you want her dead?”
“She knows about my son’s journal. That means that she may find out more than I’d like her to know about our project. I’ve no desire for her to suspect that I had anything to do with either your group or the explosions. She may have some kind of connection with a CIA agent, but she had a purely personal reason for hunting me down and harassing me.” Her lips tightened. “And she won’t give up. I saw it in her face, heard it in her voice. No matter where I go or how much time passes she’ll be right behind me. I won’t permit that to happen, Cartland. Take care of it for me.”
“How do I get to her?”
“That’s your problem. Her family lives in Atlanta. She’s the adoptive daughter of Joe Quinn and Eve Duncan. I last saw her in Muncie, Indiana.” She paused. “I want it done quickly. I don’t want to have it hovering over me. Find her. Kill her.”
“I’ll find her.” He smiled grimly. “It shouldn’t take long. The advantage of living in a technical world is that no one can really get away from it. I’ll have Samli run a check on her smartphone. Unless it’s been specially blocked, it should be easy enough. He’s located troubling people for me before. I can probably give you her location down to half a mile or so.”
“You can really do that?”
“Anybody can do that, if they know the right person. A couple hundred bucks to an employee of one of the wireless carriers will tell you exactly which tower Jane MacGuire’s phone is pinging at any given time. No muss, no fuss.”
“And no warrant.”
“Actually, the cops don’t even need a warrant for that. The phone companies have a cozy relationship with most law-enforcement agencies. This isn’t exactly legal, but it’s also no big deal. Any private investigator in any fleabag strip center could do the same thing for you. There are thousands of underpaid telephone employees who are glad to supplement their incomes.”
“But I don’t want a private detective t
o do it. I want you. How long will it take?”
“I’ll put Samli on it and he’ll be able to narrow down her exact location within five or six hours. Once I have her zeroed in, it’s all over.”
“Excellent.” She closed the safe-deposit box and locked it. “When you tell me that I no longer have to concern myself with her, I’ll be able to concentrate on more important things.”
“When?” Cartland asked bluntly. “How soon will you punch in that code?”
“Don’t nag me. I don’t like it. It’s all coming together.” She turned and headed for the door. “Within two days, you should be a very happy man.” She glanced at him over her shoulder. “And if you take care of the Jane MacGuire matter, I’ll be a very happy woman.”
CHAPTER
14
Seattle
“THE KING STREET STATION TOWER,” Catherine told Gallo. “Margaret said Kendra’s bet was on that clock tower to be the one where Kevin placed one of his nukes.”
“We’ll check it out and see how we can get inside. Though there’s a good chance it’s being watched. We won’t be able to move on it. The last thing we want is to goad Doane and Harriet into a panic.”
“I’m just hoping that we’ll be able to pull all these strings together at the last minute,” she said wearily. “And praying that we won’t be the one in a panic.”
“Not you, Catherine.”
“Don’t count on it. I checked with Langley about any real estate purchased by Kevin here in Seattle, and they haven’t come up with anything. Of course, he probably buried the paperwork under a dozen names or companies. It will take time.” She paused. “But maybe Venable could get it faster. He has more clout. I may have to go that route.”
“You’ll do what you have to do.” He changed the subject. “Joe and I have been to the Marine Museum, and we’ve been talking to the curator about driftwood. We tapped a lot of technical and historical background, but I doubt if it’s going to prove valuable.”