“Neither can I. He doesn’t care about our forgiveness.”
“He’s her father, dammit.”
“Neither one of them would say that had anything to do with their relationship. He never acknowledged her during her entire life. She doesn’t want or need a father at this stage.”
“Unless he can do something to save Doane from killing her. She needs him for that.”
“And she’ll have him as soon as I find the bastard,” he said grimly. “Believe me, I’ll serve Zander up to Doane on a silver platter if it will keep her alive.”
She did believe him, and she was going to be as worried about Joe as she was about Eve. Zander was one of the most expert assassins on the planet. It wouldn’t be easy even for a man as tough as Joe to overcome that skill. “I’m going to go with you.”
He shook his head. “Not now. A mass exodus from here would definitely be suspicious. I’ll call you as soon as I find Stang.”
“You expect me to stay here and wait? It’s not going to happen, Joe. I’m through with waiting.”
“It would be suspicious,” he repeated. “I’m not going to blow everything we’ve done to keep Doane off guard.”
His jaw was set, and she knew he wasn’t going to be persuaded. Frustration seared through her. “I won’t blow anything, dammit. Do you think I’d do anything that might hurt Eve? Okay, I’ll give you one day. Then I’m going to come after you. I’ll ask Caleb to file a flight plan to London, and we’ll leave Atlanta for Vancouver tomorrow afternoon instead. It will seem perfectly natural that I go back to London where I came from before this nightmare started.”
“I’m not going to let Venable give you papers.”
She smiled recklessly. “Screw Venable. I’m going, Joe. I won’t risk Eve, but I won’t sit here and do nothing. You go after Stang. I won’t get in your way. I’ll find my own way to Zander.”
Joe muttered a curse.
“It’s not the way I wanted it.” Jane could feel the tears sting her eyes as she turned and started back toward the cottage. “I’ve put the journal in the last drawer of Eve’s worktable. You’ll want to get that up to Quantico before you leave. Keep safe, Joe.”
Her eyes were so blurred, she almost ran into Margaret when she stepped out of the trees.
“Too bad that all the photographers have left,” Margaret said quietly. “They’d get some wonderful shots. You’re looking completely … lost.” She gazed past her to Joe, still standing by the lake. “I was wondering if he’d try to keep you here.” She shrugged. “When you’re losing everything important to you, it’s not unusual to try to salvage what you can.”
“He’s telling himself that he’s being perfectly logical. I’m not needed; therefore, I should stay out of the way.”
“And it hurts.”
“I need to find her,” she said. “I have to find her.” She drew a long breath and tried to pull herself together. “Kendra left. Did she tell you she was leaving?”
“Yes, she tried to tell me that I should leave, too. That I wasn’t needed and could be a liability.” She smiled. “I told her that I was never a liability.” She raised her hand as Jane started to speak. “But you’re probably going to say the same things that Kendra said. That’s fine, but it’s not going to change anything. I’ll just have to convince you how valuable I am and that you can’t do without me.” She tilted her head. “You read the journal, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” She shuddered. “It was terrible.”
She nodded. “I read it, too. And I may have picked up some things that Kendra and you missed. We all look at life from different viewpoints, and with a man like Kevin, the horror of his actions sometimes blur the intent and the reason for what he did. That can be important.”
“And it doesn’t blur it for you?”
“Of course it does. But I virtually grew up in the forests. Nature is brimming with horror as well as joy. I learned to accept both and try to make them work to help me to survive.” She cast another glance at Joe. “He’s right about your not going immediately after Zander. But there may be other paths.”
“What paths? Why didn’t you say something before this?”
“It wasn’t the time. I was going to speak to Kendra as soon as this brouhaha was over.” She lifted her shoulders. “But now she’s gone. Logical to the end.”
“And probably right.”
“I’ve never argued about that. It was a joy to watch her work.” She chuckled. “And it was even more of a joy to watch her try to cope with the fact that I’m not at all logical and still manage not to screw things up.”
“You’re sorry she’s gone.”
She nodded. “You’re always sorry when a friend leaves. But it’s not as if it will be forever. I never let a friend be lost for long. They’re too rare, particularly when I work so hard to get them to accept me as I am.” She smiled. “Like you, Jane.”
“It took a while,” she said dryly. She had first met Margaret at an experimental animal clinic on an island in the Caribbean. Jane’s dog, Toby, had been gravely ill, and no one could diagnose the cause. Until Margaret, a tech, had strode into the exam room full of love and empathy and that strange gift that allowed her to dive deep below the surface and decipher the dog’s “impressions.” Though it sounded to Jane that impressions meant memories. Anyway, she had diagnosed Toby’s illness as poisoning and, to Jane’s deep gratitude, had set him on the way to recovery. “And the circumstances aren’t always in place to display that it’s not the method but the result that matters.”
“That’s true. That’s why I used the word ‘rare.’” She changed the subject. “Kendra made several copies of that journal. Did she give you one?”
“Yes, and the original that I’m turning over to Joe.”
Margaret’s gaze narrowed on her face. “And judging by how upset you are at Joe, I don’t think you’re going to stick around the cottage for long.”
She shook her head. “I’m packing up and leaving the cottage tonight. I’ll check into an airport hotel. He’s heading for Vancouver sometime after midnight anyway, but I don’t want to be here to argue with him again.” She paused, then said unsteadily, “It hurts too much.”
“And you’ll be traveling with Trevor and Caleb?”
“I don’t know about Mark Trevor. I’ll have to ask Caleb to fly me to Canada.”
“I know about Trevor. He’s crazy about you. He won’t let you out of his sight.” She tilted her head. “Caleb? I’ve never been able to read him. I don’t know what he’s thinking most of the time. But I keep trying because it could be either terrible or wonderful, and I wouldn’t want to miss it.” She turned away. “I’ll go change and get my suitcase. Be sure to bring that extra copy of the journal. I need to go through it again. Do you want to take me to the hotel, or are you going to make me show up on my own?”
Jane stared at her with exasperation. “I never said you could come along with us, Margaret.”
Margaret darted a mischievous glance over her shoulder as she strode away. “But I’m probably the only one who has an idea where we should be going. Therefore, it’s you who are coming along with me.”
CHAPTER
5
Starlite Motel
Casper, Wyoming
THE MOTEL ROOM WAS DARK, and Eve could smell the musky scent of Doane’s body in the next bed. He’d tied her wrists to the posts of the headboard, and she felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
Go to sleep, she told herself. It was easy to be ambushed by fear in the minutes before sleep came to rescue her.
Rescue. But she mustn’t expect rescue. She had to save herself.
The telephone calls. Was there a way to find an out through this Cartland Doane had called?
“You’re not sleeping,” Doane said mockingly from the other bed. “What’s wrong, Eve? Anxiety at last? It must have been terrible to watch your lover, Quinn, grieving for you. Did it make you feel lost? You are lost, you know. It’s only going to be a
few days more, and it will be over.”
“I’m not lost. And the reason I can’t sleep is that I can smell the stink of you in this tiny room. It makes me sick.” She paused. There was a strange intimacy about talking to him in this darkness. Did he feel it, too? Would it help loosen his tongue? Test it. “Are we going to Vancouver after I finish repairing the reconstruction on your son? Do you really think that Zander is still going to be there? Not likely.”
“Why not? He thinks we’re both dead. There’s no reason for him to close up his house and take off.”
“Except that he’d be afraid that it wouldn’t be safe since Venable and Joe would both know that Zander lived there. I imagine a hit man has to be careful of the number of people who have that information. You’re probably not the only one who wants to get to him and cut his throat.”
“But I’m the one who’s going to do it,” he said. “And I’m not going to stumble into his lair without checking. That’s not good planning.”
“Oh, yes. Your great planning ability. How could I forget? So far, it doesn’t seem to have panned out too well. Everything has gone wrong for you, hasn’t it? And now you’re stuck with me in this fleabag of a motel making more great plans. Who’s going to check on Zander for you? You killed Blick. You’re alone now.”
“I’m not alone. I’ve just had to readjust my plans, and that takes a little time. Did you really think I was just going to burst into Zander’s home and kill you the minute I saw him?”
“Yes.”
“No, it has to be done with a certain subtlety.” His tone hardened. “And now there’s a price to be paid. I’m very angry with Venable. He was supposed to protect me, and I think he tried to kill me in that ghost town. I thought I had him under control, but I can’t trust him any longer. So he has to be punished. They all have to be punished.”
She stiffened. “All? Who else?”
“You’re afraid I’m going to go after Quinn and your Jane. It might happen, but I can’t waste my energy on them now that they’re no longer a danger.”
Thank heavens that it was dark and he couldn’t see her relief. He’d pounce on any hint of weakness to hurt her. He was so volatile that he could change his mind in a heartbeat. “But you can target Venable.” She paused, then asked again, “Who else?”
“All the sons of bitches who were responsible for that bullet that Zander shot into my boy. They could have saved him. They should have saved him. Kevin told them that if they let him go and gave him enough money, he’d give them the names of the other people in the sleeper cell.”
“Cell?” She was confused. “You mean that disk that dealt with the embedded agents in Pakistan trying to find Bin Laden?”
“That had little importance. Kevin offered it to them in the beginning as an opening bid, but General Tarther made such a stink about the death of his daughter that Kevin knew he had to up the ante. He decided he might have to give him the sleeper cell.”
“What sleeper cell?”
Doane was silent, and she was afraid that his brief loquacious period had come to an end. Then he spoke, “You think I’m going to tell you something that you can use against me and Kevin. You still think that you’re going to get away from us.” He chuckled. “You should be resigned by now, Eve. I’ve taken away every person you might have hoped could help you get free. I have total power. I could press a gun to your head right now and end it all.”
“It wouldn’t end. I’m not that important in the scheme of things. Someone would stop you and destroy all your dreams. Destroy you, Doane.”
“You believe that your death would mean nothing. And that’s one of my greatest regrets. You’re not afraid to die. I can cause Zander to suffer when he sees you die, but you’re going to cheat me of the same pleasure with you.” He added speculatively, “So I might have to throw Quinn or Jane MacGuire into that mix when I kill Zander instead of attending to them later.” He thought about it. “But I might be able to spark a response from you in a different way. Let me think … You have such a tender heart. Just the thought of needless death makes you sick, doesn’t it? What if it was the deaths of thousands of children, thousands of innocent men and women? Yes, I believe that knowing you weren’t able to stop that slaughter would cause your last moments to be a torment.”
She stiffened. “Thousands of children?”
“You see, you focused on the children immediately.” His tone was filled with delight. “I knew you would. Think about it, Eve, you’ve spent your entire adult life trying to bring children back to their grieving parents. How would you feel, if in the flash of a second, a greater number of children than the total you sent back to their parents were vaporized? No bodies to retrieve, no children for you to bring home to their parents. But, then, there might not be any parents grieving for their little ones. One has to consider that probability.”
Probability, not possibility. The choice of words terrified Eve. “You’re talking crazy, Doane. Vaporized? What the hell are you planning?”
“You know, I thought that the bodies of Blick and the whore he brought to the ghost town might be vaporized. Maybe I should have used more explosives. Kevin would know better than I what kind of effect a blast would have. I’m an amateur compared to him.” He added, “But I believe the blasts that Kevin and his friends planned would cause vaporization. I hear that’s what happened in Hiroshima. Come to think of it, the numbers might climb to millions.”
She couldn’t breathe. “Nuclear. You’re talking nuclear.”
“Of course. What else? Kevin wouldn’t deal with anything that was penny-ante. I told you once how much he admired Hitler. If Hitler had gotten the atomic bomb first, he would have been a god. Naturally, Kevin would follow in his footsteps. Only his plans were much more brilliant than Hitler’s, and he was right on track to bring them to completion.”
“How?”
“Your voice is weak. I’m frightening you, aren’t I?”
Don’t deny it. She was frightened, and he was more likely to keep talking if he felt that heady sense of power. “How can I help it?” she asked shakily. “It’s a horror story. He’s a horror story.”
“Kevin was magnificent. Horror is in the eye of the beholder. Horror can be power. It can twist the heart and bring a man to his knees.” He added maliciously, “Or her knees. I think that you’ll bow down before him before this is over, Eve.”
“Those children…” she said hoarsely. “How?”
“It’s really hurting you, isn’t it?” He paused. “And I’m not afraid you’ll ever be a threat. Kevin is getting stronger, and you’re getting weaker.”
“How?”
“And I’d really like you to be dreading it during the next few days. I’d enjoy that very much.”
“How?”
“A very sophisticated device that can be triggered from a great distance. It was state-of-the-art five years ago, but nowadays it’s a little behind the times. But it will work.” He murmured. “Oh, my, how it will work. Boom! There go ten blocks of prime real estate in two American cities.” He chuckled. “And the possibility of the rest of the city being unfit for habitation for the next three decades. It’s a very dirty device. If Kevin does something, he does it right.”
“Two cities.”
“It was estimated that the destruction of two large cities would definitely destroy the U.S. economy. What’s left of it after the last years of recession. Of course, back when the plan went into place, the recession wasn’t as rocky, and they were considering adding—”
“Who would do this? And don’t say Kevin. He wouldn’t have had the power to initiate a plot like that.”
“Well, he didn’t actually initiate it. It was funded by Iran. They were having trouble getting their nuclear program off the ground, but a small device is much simpler. There were cells set up in the target cities, but Kevin immediately became involved once he found out about it. He became responsible for acquiring key parts and distributing the uranium to the two cities. He was
so trusted, he was even allowed to transfer the devices from place to place to avoid their being discovered. He might just as well have initiated the plan.”
“So trusted he was going to turn over the names of the members of the cell to save his neck.”
“It was necessary. He had to be free to have a new start. That bastard, Fred Juskow, in the counterterrorist team promised him that they’d set him up somewhere with money and a new identity if he’d talk to them.” His voice hardened. “And then they let Tarther hire Zander to kill him just because he’d killed his little girl. They told me General Tarther was disobeying Homeland Security orders. But Kevin was dead, my boy was dead. What difference did that make?”
“Then the Pakistan disk had nothing to do with the deal you made with Venable, did it?”
“It was a good, acceptable substitution. Everyone wanted to get Bin Laden, and Pakistan was far away. It would have been another matter if it had gotten out that the counterterrorist guys had botched a job that concerned the deaths of millions of Americans on home turf.”
“And did they botch it? It never happened.”
“They botched it. When Kevin was murdered, the Iranians thought their operation had been discovered. The cell members in the two cities scattered to the four winds.”
“Then how did they botch it?”
“They never found the nuclear devices. Kevin flew in from the Middle East and moved them to a hidden location before he went back to Pakistan. He made sure no one but him knew where they were hidden. That was going to be part of the deal he made with Homeland Security.”
“But then Zander killed Kevin.” She paused, trying to piece it together. “And you took over the negotiations. You wouldn’t tell them where the devices were located, but as long as Venable had his hands on you, they thought that you wouldn’t reveal where the devices were to the terrorists.”
“I had Venable fooled. I had all of them fooled. They got careless.”
“How do you know those nuclear devices are still operational? It’s been five years. Wouldn’t they disintegrate or something?”