She looked at the weapon in her hand. “I can’t take your gun, Caleb.”
He pulled a seven-inch LHR combat knife from his ankle sheath. “I prefer this. Messy, but quieter. I’ve never been one to attract attention to myself.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
“We’ll discuss it later.” He nodded to Trevor and sprinted back in the direction from which they’d come.
Jane put the gun in her waistband and turned back to Trevor. “Be careful,” she whispered.
He hesitated. For an instant, she wasn’t sure he would leave her. Then he gave her a quick kiss. “You, too.”
She watched as he ran down the length of the long sand dune. She dropped to her hands and knees and started her climb to the top.
She suddenly cocked her head, listening. Had she heard a woman’s voice?
Hard to tell over the sound of the pounding surf.
She continued slowly up the dune, an inch at a time.
She reached the top and drew a deep breath, listening.
No sound but the surf.
She raised her head to peer down at the beach.
A gun was leveled at her face from only a foot away!
“Welcome.” The man crouching there was one of the men who had met Harriet at her plane. “She’s been waiting for you. Now be very quiet, and you might live for another few minutes.”
Shit. If she tried to jerk her gun out of her waistband, he’d pull the trigger.
“That’s right, freeze.” He rose unsteadily to his feet, slipping on the loose sand. He turned to signal someone below.
Use the distraction. Move.
She hurled herself over the dune and toppled the man who was already precariously balanced on its face. She heard him cursing as they both tumbled down the other side toward the beach.
Rolling, twisting, turning …
She was struggling to grasp the revolver in her waistband. She grabbed the handle just as she hit the beach and rolled over to her feet. She leveled the gun at the man who was still flat on his back but struggling to sit up. He’d lost his gun on the way down, and it was several feet away. Don’t let him get near that gun again.
A shot rang out.
Pain seared the flesh of Jane’s lower arm and her own gun dropped from her hand. What the hell? Jane spun around.
“In the end, a woman always has to take care of things herself if she wants them done well.” Harriet was walking toward her. “Look what you’ve done to poor Craig. Of course, he deserved it for letting you take him by surprise.”
“She didn’t do anything. I … slipped.” The man Harriet had called Craig was scowling.
“Shut up, Craig. I should have known Cartland would send me two bunglers.” Harriet moved forward, her gun extended before her. “I’ll take care of this from now on.” She glanced at Jane’s arm and smiled with satisfaction. “Good shot. Just a flesh wound, as I intended. Hardly bleeding at all. Kevin taught me, you know. I didn’t want you to die before I could talk to you.”
“So talk to me.” The gun she’d dropped was only a few feet away. Could she reach it before Harriet pulled the trigger?
“I wanted to tell you that you’ve lost. That I had won.” Harriet’s face was full of triumphant malice. “And I wanted to see your face when you realized what a fool you were. You thought you were so clever. When Cartland told me that you’d followed me to my hotel, I had to wonder how you did it. When I got back to my room, I searched it very carefully and found all your little bugs. But that didn’t tell me how you’d followed me from Muncie.” Her lips twisted. “And then I thought about my Kevin’s wonderful letters and how you must have committed the final desecration by going through them. And had even planted a GPS bug in the lid of the box. Can you imagine how angry that made me?”
“I don’t really care.”
“You’ll care when I pull this trigger. Kevin and I beat you. We used your own trick to lure you out here. Kevin would have been proud of me.”
“I don’t doubt it. You’re two of a kind. I don’t know who is the more evil.”
“You thought you were going to stop me?” Harriet leveled the gun at her. “You’ve caused me so much trouble. I wish I could take more time with you. But I can’t afford to indulge myself.”
She was going to pull the trigger. Jane couldn’t wait any longer. She gathered her muscles to leap for the gun she’d dropped.
“Harriet.” Trevor’s voice. “Don’t touch her. Drop your gun.”
Harriet whirled, startled, at this new attack. Her hand tightened on her weapon as she saw Trevor with a gun in hand. “Keep back. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill both of you.” She was spitting venom. “You must be her lover, rushing to the rescue. How fitting that you’ll die with the little whore.”
“Get away from her, Harriet.” Trevor moved a step closer. “We both have guns, but you’ll be a dead woman the instant you pull that trigger. My gun is pointed at your heart, and you’ll be dead in seconds. I don’t think that’s what you want. You have all those grand plans. Or maybe you’re expecting help from that gorilla who was guarding the other side of the dune? He won’t be coming. I took care of him before I moved on you.” He glanced at Craig, who had made a motion toward his gun in the sand a few yards away and told him, “And there will be a bullet between your eyes if you’re not very, very still.”
Craig froze.
A flicker of uneasiness crossed Harriet’s face. “I don’t need him. I don’t need either of them.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a large, clumsy-looking cell phone. “I don’t need anything but this detonator. I was saving it for the grand finale after I kill Zander, but I’ll set it off now if you don’t put down that gun. And, if you shoot me, I’ll activate it as I’m falling to the ground.”
Jane inhaled sharply, her gaze on that antique phone. Millions of deaths, she thought. One touch, and millions of deaths.
“So it’s a game of chicken? I won’t put down my gun,” Trevor said. “Don’t be foolish. I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t use your gun to shoot Jane. That’s what this is all about. But I’ll let you walk away from here. We’ll be right behind you, but you’ll have a little head start.”
“You fool. Can’t you see as long as I have this detonator that I’m the one who gives the orders?”
“No, all I see is a danger to Jane.” He met Harriet’s eyes. “And I won’t risk her life no matter what you threaten. Look at me. I don’t care about anything else but Jane. Can’t you see that? Now turn around and walk away.”
She hesitated, staring at him. “You really mean it.” Then she shrugged. “It’s only a postponement. I swore on Kevin’s soul that I’d kill the bitch.” She moved away from Jane, toward the road. “And that’s what I’ll do. As quickly as I—” She suddenly whirled and the gun in her hand was belching fire.
Trevor flinched back as the bullets tore into his body.
Jane screamed.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
She jumped to her feet.
She had to get to Trevor.
Not fast enough.
Not fast enough.
He was falling …
The muzzle of Harriet’s gun swung toward Jane.
“No!” Trevor was stumbling toward Jane. “Get down. Let me do—”
Then, suddenly, Caleb was there on the scene, moving lightning fast. His knife sliced across the throat of Harriet’s henchman, Craig, who was scrambling for his gun. An instant later, he was knocking Jane to the ground and covering her body with his own.
“Good … That’s good … Caleb…” Trevor’s knees buckled, and he fell, his gun firing at Harriet.
Blood blossomed on Harriet’s shoulder. Then she was gone, running toward the road.
Jane didn’t even look at her as she struggled to get from beneath Caleb’s weight.
Trevor …
Agony tore through her.
Three shots. Three bullets.
She ran
to him and fell to her knees.
Blood. Dear God, so much blood. Stomach. Chest.
So much blood.
“She’s gone?” Trevor was looking up at her. He whispered, “You’re safe?”
“She’s gone.” He was alive. She had to keep him alive. “I’ll call 911 and get someone out here. Don’t talk. I have to stop the blood, Trevor.” She was so scared. The tears were running down her cheeks. “You hold on, okay? I have to find a way to stop the blood.”
“I’ll … hold on.” He smiled at her. “It’s not yet, Jane.”
Not yet. Those two words scared her more than she had been before. “Not ever, Trevor.”
“Ever … After,” he said. “You shouldn’t be afraid.”
Today. Tomorrow. Ever After.
“Of course, I’m afraid.” She started to unbutton his shirt. “I will be until I get you well. Be still. I don’t want to hurt you.” She pushed aside his shirt. “I hate that she did this. I want to—” She gasped as she saw his chest and abdomen. Three wounds and so much blood she couldn’t see where one ended and the next began.
“Do you want me to try to help?” Caleb asked quietly. She hadn’t known he’d come to kneel beside her. “I don’t know how much of the blood flow I can stop, but I can try to direct it somewhere in his body.”
“Yes, help him. Do something.” She grabbed her phone and called 911 while she watched Caleb place his hands carefully on the wounds.
Was the flow slowing? Make it slow, she prayed. Caleb knew so much about blood. He had said he was no healer, but just this once let him be able to heal Trevor.
She waited, holding her breath.
And her prayers seemed to be answered. “See, it does seem to be slowing,” Jane said, relieved. “Thank you, Caleb.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said harshly. “I couldn’t stop—” He took his hands away from Trevor. “Don’t thank me.”
She looked at him in bewilderment.
“Then I’ll thank you, Caleb,” Trevor whispered. “You gave me a little time, didn’t you? Precious gift…” His gaze was on Jane’s face. “Listen … I have to go away now. I don’t know much about this, but I don’t think it’s forever. But you have … to go on as if it is forever.”
“Trevor?” She couldn’t understand what he was saying. She wouldn’t understand. Because if she did, it was the end of everything.
“Caleb stopped everything but the internal bleeding.” His voice was unsteady. “He couldn’t … stop that. She … did too much damage.”
“No.” She shook her head. The panic was rising. The darkness was moving closer. “Stop talking like that. You’re not going to die.”
“I don’t know what death … is, but I’m mad as hell I’m not going to be able to be with you and Joe and Eve at the barbecue on the lake. Maybe the … second time around.” His voice seemed to be failing. “And I won’t be there to take care of you and make sure that you’re happy and safe and that everything—” He stopped. “That worries me.”
This couldn’t be happening, Jane thought dazedly. Where the hell was that ambulance? Surely someone could save him. He was so good, so special, someone had to save him. “I can take care of myself,” she said brokenly. “But I want you here. You have to stay with me. Do you hear me?”
“Shh, love. You’ll get through it. You’re so strong.” He reached up and touched her cheek. “My own love.” His glance went past her to Caleb. “You know … what’s necessary…”
Caleb stiffened. “No,” he said emphatically. “I won’t do it. You can’t do this to me. I won’t be used.”
Trevor smiled. “Yes, you know…” He turned back to Jane. “Now just hold my hand and tell … me you love me. Okay? I think that’s all we have … time for.”
“I do love you.” She kissed him, the tears running down her cheeks. “And I’ll love you forever. You gave me … so much. I just wish you’d stay so that I could start giving back. Please. Please do that.”
“Not this … time. I want to give you … anything you want. I can’t … do it, love…” His eyes were closing. “Maybe … Ever After…”
CHAPTER
18
“THE MEDICAL EXAMINER IS HERE, Jane,” Caleb said gently. “There are things to do. You have to let them take him.”
She looked up at him dully. She’d been aware of the flashing lights and the techs, but it was as if they had been on another planet.
She didn’t want to let go of Trevor’s hand even though she knew he was no longer in that body. It would be the final parting, and she didn’t think she could bear it.
“Jane,” Caleb said. “Dammit, what can I do? I’ll do anything you want me to do. Tell me.”
He was angry. No, that wasn’t it. His eyes were glittering with moisture. Strange …
“Jane.”
They were all waiting, she realized. Waiting for her. She had to do what the world judged right and normal.
She had to let him go.
She closed her eyes. It’s not really good-bye, Trevor. You said I was strong, and I’m not right now. But I have to be strong for you. They’re right. It’s not finished, not for you, not for me. She opened her eyes. She tried to steady her voice. “I heard you, Caleb.” She put her lips for the briefest moment on Trevor’s hand, then slowly, slowly released him. Stop the tears. They would only get in the way. “I’ll see you later … Trevor.”
Later, my love.
She got to her feet and turned away. She couldn’t stand to see them take him away from her. “It’s okay, Caleb.” It was a lie. Nothing would ever be okay again. “Tell them to do their job.”
She stood there, vaguely aware of Caleb’s voice, the voices and movement of the ME ambulance techs, and the slamming of the ambulance doors.
“Jane.” Margaret was standing beside her. Jane had been vaguely aware of her reaching out in silent sympathy from the moment she had run down to the beach when she had heard the shots. But she had been careful not to intrude on Jane’s grief until now. “I’m not going to talk about Trevor right now. You’re not ready. But there are things I have to tell you. I think Venable knows what happened here. You said he’d be monitoring what we were doing and would step in if he thought he should.” She made a face. “I’d say death and Harriet on the loose would qualify. The police didn’t bother you when they got here, but they started to question me and Caleb. Then the detective got a telephone call, and they suddenly backed off and just started the forensic stuff. I think Venable pulled strings to keep them off us until he could get here.”
“You’re probably right,” she said dully. She had to concentrate on what Margaret was saying. “And that should be pretty soon.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not good.” She forced herself to turn and look at the flashing lights of the ambulance as the driver got back in the vehicle.
“They’ll be gone in a minute,” Caleb said quietly as he came back to her. “Hold on, Jane.”
She was holding on. It’s better now, Trevor. I can do it.
“Go with them, Caleb. You, too, Margaret.”
He turned to face her. “We’ll follow them in the car with you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going with him. Not right now.”
He went still. “Why not?”
“I have something else to do.” Keep your voice even. Don’t break down. Every minute that passed, she was getting stronger. You were right, Trevor. I can get through this. I can do what has to be done. “You said you’d do anything. Well, I’m asking you to go with Trevor, take care of him, and do all those things that have to be done. I can’t stand the thought of his being alone.”
“He’s dead, Jane. I know you can’t think straight, but try, try.” Caleb cursed beneath his breath as he saw her expression. “I know what you think you have to do. You want that bitch dead? You go with Trevor and let me do it.”
She shook her head.
“My God, look at you, you’re a basket case. Trevor
wouldn’t want you to do this. You know that, Jane.”
“He would want me to be strong. She killed him, Caleb.”
“Let me do it.”
“I can’t do that. Evil. She’s so evil. She killed him to get to me. She didn’t care that he was good and fine and everything that her monster of a son could never be. She just … destroyed him because he was in her way.” She gazed at the ambulance. “She’s never going to kill again. I’m going to send her to hell to join her son.”
“I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?” His eyes were burning in his taut face. “I’m tempted just to knock you out until you’re thinking clearer.”
“Everything is very cIear to me, Caleb. It couldn’t be more clear.”
“Look, if I get close to Harriet I can—”
“You said you’d do whatever I wanted you to do.”
He stared at her in helpless fury. “Shit.” Then he turned on his heel and strode toward the ambulance. “I’ll take care of your dead lover. And then maybe I’ll have to come back and bring your body back to the same morgue.” He jumped into the passenger seat and motioned to the driver. “At least make a token effort to keep me from having to do that.”
“He’s right, Jane,” Margaret said gently. “But it doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong. You won’t let me stay with you?”
She shook her head.
“I’m not going to force it. I want to do it, but I’d probably feel the same way if it was someone I loved.” She gave her a quick hug. “Take care,” she whispered. “And move very fast. Venable should be roaring up anytime now.” She turned and moved toward the ambulance.
Jane watched the taillights of the ambulance until the vehicle disappeared around the curve in the road.
“I have to do it, Trevor,” she whispered. “You’d understand. You always understood.” But Caleb was right, Trevor wouldn’t like it. He always wanted to keep her safe.
But her safety didn’t matter any longer. Nothing mattered but Harriet’s death. By Caleb’s last words, she knew he had known that, and it had added to his frustration.