Hunting Eve

  Margaret’s smile brightened to brilliance. “Good decision.”

  Kendra started the car. “Really? I can’t tell you how relieved I am that you think so.”

  CHAPTER

  10

  Rio Grande Forest

  Colorado

  “GO ON,” ZANDER SAID. “Why did you stop?”

  “Because I’m tired of talking,” Eve said. “I’ve been answering your questions for over an hour. You can’t want to know anything more. I’m not that interesting. I’m an ordinary woman with a few people I love and a career I tend to obsess over.”

  “On the contrary, I find you very interesting.” He rested his head on his hand as he gazed at her over the fire. “Of course, it might be that I’m trying to find some fascination in you because we have a connection. There’s a theory that people tend to develop passions for others because they subliminally remind them of themselves. In other words, they tend to love only themselves.”

  “That’s bullshit, and cynical beyond belief.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t think you’d go along with that philosophy.”

  “Do you?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “And we have no connection.”

  “Oh, but we do. Even if you’ll not admit to a paternal connection, this time together has definitely caused a bond to form. Don’t you feel it?” He chuckled as he saw her expression. “I didn’t say affection, I wouldn’t presume. But I may know more about you now than your lover does. I’m sure you never discussed the details of your childhood or commonplace events that made up your life. Most people assume that those are too ordinary to be of interest to anyone else.”

  “Then why did you ask about them?”

  “I’ve always found that if you want to learn about someone you have to take the tiniest details and put them together to form the big picture.”

  “And you believe you have the big picture?”

  “No, but I’m on my way.” He paused. “When you tell me about Bonnie.”

  She was silent. “I’ve told you about Bonnie.”

  “Very sketchy. If I were a man of sentiment, I’d be considerate and either ignore or walk gingerly about your loss. But we’ve established the fact that I’m not a man of sentiment.”

  “Yes, that’s carved in stone.”

  “You see? We do know each other,” he said. “But I’ll know you even better after you tell me why you speak of Bonnie in the present tense.”

  He had gone full circle, Eve thought. She had thought he might forget it in the multitude of information he had pulled out of her, but everything had led back to this point.

  “You don’t want to talk about her.”

  “Because I won’t have you—” She shrugged. “What do you want to know?”

  “I’ve already told you. Answer the question.”

  “Present tense? I can’t think of her any other way. She’s always with me.” She looked him in the eye. “She always will be.”

  “And yet I don’t sense … sorrow.”

  “I’ve been through that and come out on the other side. She doesn’t want me to be sad.” She smiled faintly. “So I won’t be.”

  “How do you know that she doesn’t want you to be sad?”

  Her smile faded. “You won’t give up, will you?” She didn’t speak for a moment. “Because she told me.”

  “Go on.”

  “You want all the details that constitute my particular form of insanity?” She lifted her shoulders. “Why not? The spirit of my daughter comes to me, and I’m grateful with every cell in my being. After Bonnie was killed, at one point I thought I was spiraling downward to death. Then she came, and I knew I could live.” Her gaze shifted away from him to the fire. “There it is. Nothing mysterious. Just love. Just Bonnie. You can laugh now.”

  “No, I can’t,” Zander said. “And I do find it mysterious. Though I had a vague suspicion. And I can’t call you insane because that would be insulting myself, wouldn’t it?”

  “Suspicion?”

  “The way you spoke about your daughter, your expression. And I’ve studied After Life stories. I became interested when I was at that monastery in Tibet. There were some very bizarre experiences on that mountain. The stories varied, angels, demons, reincarnation. I take it your Bonnie is an angel.”

  “No, she’s just Bonnie. And very special. I don’t know anything about all that other stuff.” She kept her eyes on the fire. “Do you think that demons—” She stopped. “I never thought much about demons before.”

  “Before what?”

  She was silent. “Kevin. Sometimes I think that he’s trying to break through and merge with his father. Crazy…”

  He smiled. “You accept Bonnie but not Kevin? Good and evil. That’s not crazy. The eternal battle.”

  “I’m afraid to accept Kevin.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if he’s a true entity, then I’m afraid he’s with my Bonnie. And I can’t reach her to protect her.”

  “Then she’ll have to protect herself, won’t she? Don’t you believe that good triumphs?”

  “Most of the time.” When she didn’t think of the evil Kevin and Doane had done. “Do you?”

  “Not in my world.”

  “Then it’s not a world I’d want to live in.” She grimaced. “Though my world probably doesn’t seem all that inspiring to you either.”

  “Inspiring? I’m far beyond being inspired by anything. But your life is full of idealism and hope. Incredible when one thinks where you came from and all that’s happened to you. Fascinating.”

  “I’m glad that I was able to entertain you.” She held out her wrists. “Now show me that you’re not a liar as well as a killer. Let me go.”

  He gazed at her for a moment, then slowly got to his feet and came around the fire. “I’m many bad things, but I’m not a liar, Eve.” He knelt before her, took out his knife and cut the ropes. “Unless I find it necessary.” He sat back on his heels. “And you’ve paid your way. Now be still, I’m taking a souvenir.”

  “Souvenir?” She went rigid as the cold blade of the knife pressed against her neck.

  “Don’t be so suspicious.” He carefully cut the collar off her cotton shirt. “See, I’ll trade you. And you’ll get the best of the deal.” He took off his black thermal vest. “I don’t want you to freeze while you’re on the run. It would be a waste. A lack of completion.” He slipped her arms through the vest and fastened the top button. It felt warm from the heat of his body.

  “You’ll get cold yourself.”

  “Does that mean you want to give it back?”

  “No, you can take care of yourself.”

  “Indeed, I can. Now stay still. I’m going to roll up the leg of your pants.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wish to do it.” He was quickly rolling up the material. “Two pairs of pants. You were prepared when you took off from Doane.”

  “I tried to be. I knew what I was going to face out here. What are you—” He had pushed up his black denim pant leg and was unfastening a sheath and a huge bowie knife from his left leg. “Another knife? Isn’t that overkill?”

  “In my business, there’s no such thing.” He was fastening the holster to her bare leg. “Your legs are too skinny. It would be easier if you were wearing boots.”

  “It’s not my style. I don’t go around trying to choose my wardrobe to accommodate gigantic knives. I have a friend, Catherine Ling, I can see doing that.”

  “Catherine Ling?”

  “She’s a CIA agent. Very smart, very tough.”

  “Oh, one of Venable’s team?”

  “No, not really. She’s more of a loner.”

  “Then I can see how you’d be drawn to her,” he said absently as he drew the straps tighter on her calf. “You didn’t tell me about her…”

  “You didn’t ask. You can’t expect to know everything about my life in a few hours.”

  He sat back and pulled her trouser dow
n. “Then maybe I should spend another hour or two.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “I agree. I know enough. Do you know anything about handling a knife?”

  “No.”

  “Just rely on surprise if you get cornered. Doane won’t expect you to have a weapon.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “You put up a good fight against Doane. I don’t like the idea of his blundering across you on the trail and being able to kill you because you didn’t have a weapon. For some reason, the thought offends me.”

  “Why?” He didn’t answer, and she shrugged. “You’re very weird. Where’s the phone you stashed?”

  He tilted his head and smiled. “Straight to the point.”

  “It’s a way out. I won’t let Doane beat me.”

  “The phone and the gun are in a building in a town down the mountain from the log house where Doane imprisoned you.”

  “A building?” Her eyes widened. “I thought I saw roofs down in that valley. People?”

  “No, not for a hundred years or so. Probably since the mines played out in this area. Just cobwebs and rats. It’s a ghost town.”

  Eve felt her hopes plummet. What had she expected? Nothing had been easy since she’d been brought to this place. Make the adjustment. “Which building has the phone?”

  “The saloon. No sign on the place, but it’s the first building closest to the road leading up the mountain. Evidently the saloon was the town’s main attraction, and it was the first and last place the miners wanted to visit.”

  “Where did you put the phone?”

  “Behind the bar. I pushed it far back on the top shelf beneath it.” His eyes narrowed on her face. “No mention of the gun. Tell me, would you use it? Would you use the knife I just gave you?”

  “Would I kill Doane if I had to do it?” Her lips tightened. “I’ve been thinking about that while he’s been hunting me. It would be difficult.” She was silent. “Or maybe it wouldn’t. I believe that monsters like him have to be destroyed. It wouldn’t be the first time for me.”

  “Really? That’s not in your dossier.”

  “Screw my dossier. During the years I was searching for Bonnie’s body and her killer, I encountered a hell of a lot of monsters.” She looked at him. “But it’s different making a deliberate decision.”

  “No one knows that better than I.”

  “Did it get easier?”

  “No, you just get harder and don’t think about it.”

  “I wouldn’t get harder. It would tear me apart.” She got to her feet and headed toward the trees. “I’m out of here. I hope you kill Doane before he kills you.”

  “So that you won’t have to do it?”

  She looked back over her shoulder. “Maybe that’s one reason. But I know Doane is a monster. Perhaps I should think that about you, too. I don’t know why I’m not sure.”

  “I could furnish you with a collection of opinions to assure you that I am. One of them from Doane.” He lifted his hand in a half salute. “That ghost town is quite a distance down in the valley. It will take you a long time to reach it on foot. Stay away from that road until you’re sure Doane is away from the house, and you know I’m tracking him. He’s probably familiar with the town. There were signs that someone might have been down there lately. I saw footsteps in the dust on the floor.”

  “Good-bye, Zander.”

  He nodded and smiled. “And you’ll do exactly what you want.”

  “I’ll do what I want.”

  “What can I say? It was my one and only attempt at fatherly advice. Since you won’t believe I’m your father, it was bound to fall on deaf ears.” He suddenly smiled recklessly. “I don’t know why I made the attempt anyway. It was an impulse, and I’m not given to impulse.”

  “Any more than to sentiment?”

  He nodded. “You have a strange effect on me, Eve. I don’t believe it has anything to do with the fact that you’re my daughter.” He paused. “That caused you to stiffen, didn’t it? You don’t like me saying that. You’re closing your eyes to the possibility. But someday, if we both stay alive, you’re going to have to ask me a few questions, too. Because you’re an honest woman and can’t hide from the truth for very long.”

  “And would you tell me the truth?”

  “If it suited me.” He met her eyes. “I think … maybe I would. We’ll have to see, won’t we?” He turned away and started to smother the fire. “Get going. You’re on borrowed time. Doane will be on the hunt soon.”

  “I’m going.” But Eve lingered a moment longer, her gaze on Zander. The fire was casting a halo of light on his white hair, and he was moving with the athletic power and vitality of a young man. These hours they had spent together had been strange and bewildering and filled with emotions she had tried to smother. She couldn’t believe him, and she had no desire to accept anything he said to her. But one thing she had to accept was that Zander had said he would let her go, and he had kept his word.

  Zander glanced up at her. “Now don’t get maudlin. I prefer you spitting cold little ice darts at me.”

  “Maudlin? Bullshit.” She turned back to the woods. But she found she couldn’t leave it like that. Not with Doane hovering and threatening both of them and so forming a united bond between them that might be unwelcome but was unquestionable.

  “Take care,” she muttered as she strode hurriedly into the woods.

  * * *

  ZANDER CHUCKLED AS HE watched Eve disappear from view.

  Those last two words had been difficult for her. He could understand. They would have been impossible for him.

  Or would they?

  He thought about it. He was surprised he was even considering the question. Yet had he not done almost the same thing when warning her to stay away from the ghost town until he could distract Doane?

  Good God, it had seemed entirely natural to offer her the protection of his experience if not his actual physical aid.

  Forget it. He had taken what he wanted from her during those hours. He had satisfied his curiosity.

  But had she also taken something from him during those hours?

  Get to work.

  When he had decided not to use Eve as bait, he had known that the game would be harder and more hazardous. He had put a plan in place, and now it must be executed. Doane was an expert in tracking, and he would know soon that there was someone else out here with whom to contend. He might know even now.

  Zander could feel a tiny jolt of excitement at the thought. For years he had not felt more than the cool, logical, mathematical appreciation for a puzzle about to be solved. Was it because Eve was involved in this puzzle that it was different?

  Take her out of the equation as he’d intended. Why go to the trouble of releasing her and sending her on her way if Doane was going to recapture her? It would be a failure for Zander if that happened. He detested failure.

  He strode back to the trail where he’d taken Eve down and knocked her unconscious. He erased all signs of that encounter. Then he backtracked her trail, carefully obscuring her footprints by smoothing the ground and artfully dragging vegetation over them. Finally, he found two clear footprints of Eve’s. These would do nicely.

  Zander reached into his pack and pulled out the small container of instamold modeling compound. He broke the seal and immediately spread it into the footprints, knowing it would harden almost instantly once in contact with the air. It wasn’t ideal; a silicone-based material would be a much better match for Eve’s shoe prints when leaving a false trail, but that would have taken far too long to harden.

  After a couple minutes, he pulled out his casts. They would do. He could leave an occasional print in the frost-hardened mud. Just enough to keep Doane on the trail. It would not be foolproof but good enough to withstand scrutiny in the darkness.

  Then he took the collar of Eve’s shirt and ripped it into tiny shreds. Large enough pieces for Doane to occasionally catch sight of the material on a bush or t
ree.

  He was back at the fire and erased all signs of himself but kept Eve’s impressions clear. He put out the fire and faded into the forest.

  It wouldn’t take long to erase the direction of Eve’s footprints as she’d left the campfire. Then he’d double back and start a new trail for her in the opposite direction that would go deep in the valley and totally away from the log cabin and the road leading to the ghost town.

  It would have been easier for him to just go the same route as Eve and try to set a trap along the trail. He had carefully refused to ask himself why he hadn’t done it instead of leading Doane completely away from Eve. Perhaps it was a question of the excitement that was gripping him at the thought of confronting Doane at last. It didn’t matter what the reason. The decision was made.

  He started moving, masking his own footprints, laying the Eve trail. He ticked all the boxes that a skilled tracker would be looking for: the occasional stone disturbed and turned muddy side up, vegetation broken and twisted in direction of movement, dew droplets brushed from leaves. He pulled scraps of Eve’s clothing over the thorny branches, careful to leave only a few threads at a time. Mustn’t overdo it.

  Come on, Doane. Eve was good for an amateur, but you have no idea how much better I am. You’ll get such an exciting surprise when you find me waiting for you instead of Eve.

  Come and get me …

  Gwinnett Hospital

  “SHOULDN’T YOU BE BACK in bed?” Caleb’s brows rose as he strolled into Jane’s hospital room and saw her in a chair with the bed table lowered so that she could draw up over her lap. “I know that Trevor has full control of the nursing staff around here, but your orders are for bed rest.”

  “I’m resting, that’s good enough.” She didn’t look up from the computer. “And Trevor does not have full control around here. He’s just persuasive.”

  “Whatever.” He leaned against the bed. “Where is he, by the way? I left him to watch over you last night, and the sacrifice was for nothing?”