“No,” Eve said sharply. “I’m not leaving her here.”
“Look. Our Natalie will be out to get you as soon as she finds out you’ve cheated her. She has all the cards on her side while she’s in Moscow under her father’s protection. If she manages to take you captive, she’ll have a way to get Jock to give her Cara back.”
“I’m not too sure of that,” Eve said dryly. “Jock may not think I’m worth it.”
“Then there will be a brouhaha to end all brouhahas,” he said. “And that’s not good either. Get out of there and trust Jock.”
“Trust me,” Jock had said.
“Maybe.” She looked at Joe. “But I won’t go back to Scotland. No way.”
“Then I’ll fly you to Helsinki,” Caleb said. “Finland is an hour or less from Moscow. And you can wait there for word from Jock.”
“Joe?”
“I want you out of here,” Joe said roughly. “I saw her face when she was talking to you. It was like a cat toying with a mouse. You were willing to trust Jock before. Trust him now.”
She thought about it. No, that wasn’t the right word. She was agonizing about it. There was no way she wanted to leave Cara in this huge city, where Natalie had all the advantages. She wanted to find her, scoop her up, and take her home.
Advantages. That was the key word. And if Natalie managed to capture Eve, then that would be another advantage for her since Cara had a fixation on taking care of Eve.
“Stay clear,” Caleb said. “And then go in and save the day. That’s always been my favorite game plan.”
But Caleb had not seen how fragile and pale Cara had looked sitting there in her pleated skirt and wool jacket, her hands folded on her lap.
Trust me.
All right, Jock, you’ll get your way, but, dammit, you’d better pull it off.
“Okay, no more than an hour by jet away from here,” she said. “If Finland is really only an hour, I’ll leave Moscow.”
“Done,” Caleb said. “Bring them to me right away, Jane. By now, Ivan Sabak will know the airport you flew into, and they’ll go there first.”
“And that’s why you wanted to take your own plane,” Jane said. “Other than that, you always like to be in control.”
“But I’m not in control. Eve made the decision. I just entered a humble plea. I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
DROSTKEY PARK
“Follow me,” Jock whispered as he crawled behind the bushes that bordered the refreshment stand. “No noise, Cara.”
He didn’t need to tell her that, she thought in panic. She was too scared to utter a word. She had been terrified from the minute that Jock had come out of that maintenance closet on the carousel. She had never seen him like that. He had moved with lightning speed, and she had not realized what he was doing until the man in the black jacket had grunted and fallen to the floor. He had killed him, she had realized dazedly. Jock had killed that man as easily as she would have snapped a pencil in two. Then he had dragged her back into the maintenance closet and covered her mouth with his hand.
A shot.
Two shots.
Screams.
Jock had dragged her to the floor and pulled her to the crawl space beneath the ornate seats, trains, and carousel horses. “Let’s go. There will be a crowd, but they’ll be looking at the body, not at us.” He rolled out from beneath the carousel to the ground.
She rolled after him.
He grabbed her hand and started to crawl behind the shrubs. Jock was right. There was a big crowd, but no one was looking at them. They were all excited and chattering and looking in curiosity and horror at that man Jock had killed.
Don’t be afraid.
Don’t think about that man.
Don’t think how easy that kill had been for Jock.
Just follow Jock.
Trust Jock.
“We’re behind the refreshment stand now, and there are stairs that lead to a storage room on the second floor. Stay here and wait. I think it’s safe, but I have to be sure.” Jock moved up the stairs and disappeared inside. He came out a second later and motioned for her to come.
She almost ran up the stairs. She might have been a little frightened of him, but it was nothing compared to what she had felt without him.
“This is the safest place in the park for us right now.” He drew her inside and put his fingers on his lips. “The refreshment stand closes at five,” he whispered. “I think the owner is probably over at the carousel seeing what all the fuss is about, but we won’t take the chance. We’ll just sit here and not talk until we hear him closing up for the evening. Okay?”
She nodded and curled up against the wall. It was dim in this small room that had only the one window. It smelled of plastic cups and bitter chocolate.
There was something underneath her left palm.
She looked down and lifted her hand.
A shell casing.
She felt shock ripple through her. Her gaze flew to Jock’s face.
He went still. Then he put up two fingers.
Two shots.
Somewhere in this storage room there was another shell casing from a shot fired at the carousel.
Had that shot been aimed at her?
Her gaze flew to Jock’s face.
He nodded slowly.
Death. Someone had wanted her to die as she sat on that seat in the swan chair.
Natalie.
She closed her eyes tightly as she started to shake.
“No!” He was suddenly next to her, holding both her hands. His voice was low and fierce. “Don’t look like that. I had to tell you. Because I won’t ever lie to you. Now hold on to me until it gets better.”
Would it ever get better?
“Look at me.”
She opened her eyes and looked up, and she was held, captured, by those shimmering gray eyes. Beautiful eyes. Jock’s eyes. If she just kept looking at him, all the bad things would vanish, and they would be all right.
Her hands tightened on his.
Just keep looking at him …
* * *
“It’s okay now. I heard them closing up downstairs.” He tried to release her hands, but she wouldn’t let him. He stopped, and said quietly, “You’ll be fine. I know you. This was bad but you’re already moving forward. I can feel it.”
“That’s more than I can feel,” she said unsteadily. “I’m sorry … I should have—I didn’t expect—” She drew a long, quivering breath. “I shouldn’t be this weak. I’ll try to do better.”
“For God’s sake, you watched a man killed in front of your eyes. You were almost killed yourself. I’d say that you deserve a little slack.” His lips tightened. “But I can’t give it to you. I warned you that you had to do exactly as I told you, and we have to move fast.”
“Eve. You said this was about Eve and an exchange. Is Eve all right?”
“I think she’s okay. She should be if she did what I told her to do. I was a little too busy to check. I’ll call her and check once we’re halfway out of this.” He went over to the small window and gazed down at the carousel. “The police are there now, and they’ll be reconstructing the crime. That means that they’ll be coming here.”
“Why didn’t they come before? Why was it safe then and not now?”
“When I broke the neck of that guard who was watching you, I took his gun and threw it down beside him,” Jock said coolly. “Any layman would assume that he fired the shots. But the police would realize that the bullet holes were made by a sniper and from this location.”
“But it was safe here for us even though you knew that the shot was fired from here?”
“We weren’t hiding from the police then. We were hiding from the people who hired the sniper. And they would know that the first thing a sniper does is get as far away as possible from the scene of the crime. They might be angry with him for screwing up the job, but they wouldn’t go looking for him. Which left us with a place to hide while they searched the park f
or us.”
“The people who—” She couldn’t go on and she said, “So how do we leave here?”
“The way we came in. The way the sniper got out. Beyond those ornamental bushes in the back is a gate where the owners of the refreshment stand bring in their supplies. It saves them from going through the park.” He got to his feet. “Come on, time to leave. Natalie is having hysterics and playing the bereaved mother with those police detectives down there at the carousel. She’ll distract them for a few minutes while we get through the gate and a block down, where I parked my rental car.” He pulled her to her feet. “Ready?”
She nodded. “Ready.”
Don’t think. Just do what he said. She followed him toward the door and down the stairs. It was dark now, but through the falling snow, she could see that the carousel lights were still on, and the music was playing. Shouldn’t they have stopped the music? A man had died, and yet the music was still—
Jock had killed that man.
Her mind veered away from that thought. Don’t think about that now. Later. She would think about watching that man die before her eyes later. Now she had to make sure Jock was safe. He had saved her, and she mustn’t do anything that would cause him to be in danger.
Hurry.
Get him away from this park.
Then they were past the tall hedges, and Jock was opening the gate. He motioned to her, and she followed him out onto the street.
Don’t think.
Just move.
Do what Jock was telling her to do.
She was half running down the street beside him.
Don’t think …
CHAPTER
10
Cara didn’t speak again until they were in Jock’s car and had driven a few miles through the city. The snow was falling harder now, cocooning them in the car, and she felt somehow safer. “What happened back there?” She was trying to keep her voice steady. “Why … did they want to—”
“Kill you?” He finished. “The same reason that Natalie Castino wanted you dead before. She was afraid you knew too much and would be a threat to her.”
“She said she had a surprise for me.” Her lips were quivering. “Isn’t that … funny?”
“Bitch.” His voice was razor-sharp and laden with fury. “No, I can’t say I think that’s funny. Don’t think about her. She’s not worth it.”
But how was she not to think about her? “Did Eve give her Cira’s gold?”
“No, I believe she managed to trick her.”
“Good.” She had a second thought. “Or not so good. She’ll be angry. She’ll want to do something terrible to her.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Jock said. “But Eve has Quinn, and she has a hell of a lot of strength on her own. I believe she could face down the devil himself.”
“Herself,” Cara whispered.
Jock looked at her, then nodded. “Herself.”
“And she shouldn’t have to face Natalie. That’s my job. She did everything to save me. I can’t let it happen again.”
“We’ll talk about it later.” Jock looked straight ahead. “You’re not thinking straight right now. We’ll go into it once were out of Russia, and you’re safe.”
“I’m thinking straight,” Cara said. “Eve tried to save me. You tried to save me. It’s time I did something for myself.”
Jock looked at her and shook his head. “Let it go. I don’t need this right now.”
She nodded. “I’ll let it go.”
“Until you decide to resurrect it.” He made a face. “I know you too well, Cara.”
“I’ll let it go,” she repeated. “Could we call Eve now?”
“I believe that’s an excellent idea. It will take your mind off things I prefer you not to dwell on.”
A man in a black-leather jacket falling to the floor of the carousel, his neck at an odd angle.
“Aye,” Jock said, his gaze on her face. “That and many other things.” He was dialing his phone. “And you need to know that she’s safe and well.” He put the phone on speaker. “Eve, tell Cara where you are so that it will put her mind at ease.”
“At the moment, we’ve just landed at Helsinki. It’s only an hour from Moscow, and we can come back if you need us.” Eve rushed on, “You have Cara? She’s safe.”
“Not as safe as you are. But she will be, once we get out of Moscow.” He looked at Cara. “Most of the roads will be blocked, so I’ll try to take her over the hills to the north. I’ll let you know when we’ve reached somewhere we can be picked up.” He handed Cara the phone. “Cara wants to talk to you.”
“Eve?” Cara rushed on, “Be careful of Natalie. She’ll want to hurt you. I think she probably does anyway, but she’ll be so angry now.”
“Did she harm you, Cara?”
“No, I’m fine. But be careful, don’t do anything to make her more angry.”
“I’m afraid we’re past that point of no return now,” Eve said. “And I don’t care as long as you’re safe. So pay attention to Jock and let him get you home to me.”
“I’ll pay attention. He won’t let me do anything else. Good-bye, Eve.” She handed the phone back to Jock.
“I’ll let you know if we need a pickup,” Jock said. “Keep in touch.” He hung up and looked at Cara. “As I told her, it’s not going to be easy getting out of the city. We’re going to have to do some hiking.”
She remembered what he had told Eve. “Hills?” Cara repeated. “You believe they won’t expect us to go over the hills?”
“It’s a chance we have to take. We’re safer than on the roads. We’re going to tackle the area where the tourist department built ski resorts at the edge of the city. The mountains were too far away for them, so they built their own winter-sport centers. A few of them were pretty impressive, and I’ve zeroed on one that’s promising. Lascovic Ski Resort. It’s been closed for the last eighteen months. A few ski runs, but they mainly took advantage of the natural hiking and sledding trails. It’s near Khimki.”
“Promising?”
“You’ll see. Though I’m hoping they’ll think we might have gone on the plane with Eve. But I can’t take any chances. Kaskov is going to button this city down. He’s had decades to bring his bribes and influence peddling to state of the art in every government bureaucracy in Moscow. I imagine your photo will be all over the place.”
“Not yours? When I asked Natalie about you, she said she didn’t know who you were. So maybe you’ll be safe.”
“I’ll bet she knows who I am now,” he said dryly. “Ivan Sabak will have asked quite a few questions when Natalie’s plot was blown. Someone will remember seeing me at the park the day before.”
Yes, someone would remember Jock. How could they not remember him?
And that would mean his danger would be even greater.
“When do we leave?”
“We’re on our way. I’ve got a change of clothes for us and equipment in the car. It wouldn’t be unusual for a brother to take his little sister on a trip up there.”
“You said they might recognize you.”
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
A man’s body in a black-leather jacket falling to the floor of the carousel.
He nodded as he saw her expression. “And I’ll deal with that, too. Because I have no choice. But not until we both have a chance to assess the damage.”
She didn’t want to deal with it. She wanted to ignore it, to block it out.
He was shaking his head. “That would mean giving you up, and I won’t do that.” His gaze returned to the street. “So make up your mind, you have to face it. We both have to face it. That’s just the way things are. I would have liked it to have gone differently, but it didn’t happen…”
KASKOV ESTATE
MOSCOW
“This is the man?” Natalie gazed in fury down at the photo. “Who is he?”
“We think his name is Jock Gavin. We found a few vendors at the park who had security cameras on their boot
hs and had shots of him on the day before the exchange.” Sabak said savagely, “I’d like to slice that face to pieces.”
“How do you know what his name is?”
“I checked out Eve Duncan and the people who were on the MacDuff treasure hunt. Jock Gavin was one of them. He’s supposed to be very good.”
She looked down at the photo. “He was good enough to make a fool of you. How could you let that happen?” she asked furiously. “Not only was Cara’s guard killed, but she was whisked away before your sniper could finish his job. You kept telling me you had everything covered.”
“I did have everything covered. It shouldn’t have happened. But I don’t believe that Cara or Jock Gavin left with Duncan. Not according to my informants at the airports. They must be somewhere in the city.”
“But I was still left with a dead body that had no connection with either Cara or Eve Duncan. Now I have to find a way to explain that away to my father. Do you know how difficult that’s going to be?”
“At least we have the chest with the coins.”
“Do we?” She strode toward the front door. “Go to the car and bring that box in here. I want to see it. Everything else has gone wrong. I want to make sure that the chest isn’t another mistake.” A moment later, she watched him wrestle with the heavy box and drag it into the foyer. Her nails were digging into her palms as Sabak opened the wooden box, then the bronze chest. She walked forward as his hand dipped into the coins. “It seems all right,” he said. “You said there were even some other coins like that drachma.”
“Like it, not necessarily of equal value.” Her voice was trembling with anger. “I think she wanted me to make the comparison.” She bent over the coins and began to dig through them. “I think she might have—” She stopped as her fingers touched the bottom of the chest. Pure rage seared through her, so strong that she couldn’t speak for a moment. “That bitch.” She looked down at the false bottom. “I’m going to cut her throat. She’s made a fool of me. She’s going to die.”
“We don’t have the gold?” Sabak asked.
“You fool, of course we don’t.” Keep control, don’t alienate Sabak. She was going to need him. “And I don’t believe that it’s just a question of her keeping a portion of the treasure for herself. I think she did a substitution on these coins.” She could feel the heat sting her cheeks as she looked down at the coins. How dare Eve Duncan make a fool of her like this? Natalie always won. She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t come out on top.