And attack.
But she hadn’t heard his voice since she’d realized that it was either her own imagination … or Kevin. If the attack had come, she had been able to repel it.
“You’re weak, Kevin,” she whispered fiercely. “You can’t touch me. You think you can use your father to break through, but you have boundaries. It’s not going to happen.” She started running up the path. “Go back to hell, where you belong.”
* * *
HE WAS COMING!
Eve climbed higher in the tree, making sure that she made no sound.
Doane made no effort to be quiet. Why would he? He had a rifle, and she was the prey.
She had thought he had settled for the night in the house, but she’d been rudely disappointed. In the middle of the night, he’d come after her, and she’d had to go on the run.
And it was the second time tonight that Doane had gotten so close. He hadn’t been boasting when he said he was a great tracker. She had resorted to going through the streambeds to erase the tracks and lose him. But she must have left some sign, or he wouldn’t be here now. It wouldn’t surprise her. It wasn’t as if she was woods-savvy like Joe. She just had to do the best she could.
“I can feel you, Eve,” Doane called out. “I can feel your fear and the panic. It’s terrible being hunted, isn’t it? No matter where you go, I’ll be right behind you.”
She wasn’t in a panic, but she was experiencing that primal fear of being hunted. And she hated this feeling of helplessness.
Damn, she wished she had some kind of weapon. She’d found a branch earlier that she’d tried to fashion into a club, but that would not hold up when confronting a rifle.
Not unless she could stage a surprise attack, and he had given her no opportunity to think of a way to do that.
“Are you having a rough night? The temperature is near freezing, and I was thinking of you when I was curled up in the house. That’s why I decided to leave comfort behind and go after you. I expected to be able to bring you in with no problem. You must be tougher than I thought to survive so well.”
It had been rough. Even wrapped in the blanket and covered with leaves, it had been cold. The wind hadn’t stopped, and she had only dozed for minutes at a time. It was probably a good thing because she had heard Doane when he’d tried to surprise her.
“Were you afraid that I’d be tracking you tonight? You’ll never know when I’m after you or when I go back for a little well-earned rest. So never sleep too hard, Eve.”
He was right below the tree.
Don’t move. Don’t breathe.
“If you sleep, I’ll catch you, Eve. You must be very tired right now.” He lifted his head. “Do you hear me? I must admit that I’m enjoying our little hunt. I like the idea of running you to ground. I noticed that you were traveling the stream. Your feet must be wet. By morning, they could be frostbitten. It will be hard for you to run then, Eve.”
He had moved a few yards away and was going toward a stand of trees to the north.
Don’t move. No sound.
“And you can’t try to light a fire to dry out. Because I’ll see it or smell it. I may go back to the house for the rest of the night, or I might keep stalking you. You won’t know, will you? You might as well give up and come back to the house. You’d have a better chance of surviving.”
The hell she would. He wouldn’t kill her immediately, but it was definitely on his agenda.
“Though I am enjoying our little game. It brings back old times with Kevin. I loved those weeks in the woods. I never felt closer to him. I feel that way now. Do you feel close to him, Eve? Do you feel him hovering over you? Waiting?”
She made sure she didn’t think about Kevin. She blocked out everything but evading Doane. That was a full-time task. She’d been trying to locate a branch of the rock road he’d driven when he’d taken her to make the phone call to Joe, but she hadn’t succeeded. She’d probably have to go back to the house and start from there. But that would be like stepping into the lion’s mouth. Not yet. Not until she had a better plan on how to either avoid Doane or find the opportunity to take him out.
“The sun won’t rise for a long time. You’ll have to contend with the wind and darkness for hours yet…” His voice was fading away and she could no longer see him through the trees.
Too soon to get down. She’d stay here for a while in case he came back. She sat back on the branch and took off her wet right shoe and sock. He was right. Her feet were already cold, and she had to keep the blood moving. She began to rub her foot and ankle roughly. After five minutes she did the same with her left foot. Good, the blood was tingling. Once she was settled for the night, she’d massage them again.
Chance making a fire?
No, a fire was an emergency measure. She would just make do as she had done earlier tonight.
And keep busy trying to make that damn branch into a viable weapon.
She settled back against the trunk of the tree. Give him another forty minutes, then get down from the tree and make her way back to the tree where she’d hidden the small duffel that contained her store of treasures. Treasures, indeed, she thought ruefully. The blanket alone was worth its weight in gold.
More, it could save her life. She’d been right to go after the duffel.
Hate you. Burn you.
She instantly rejected the memory. Kevin might be close to Doane but not to her. She was having trouble keeping Doane and Kevin apart in her mind. Perhaps that was also Doane’s problem. Maybe it had been Doane projecting those thoughts to her.
Hate you. Burn you.
She shivered; the words seemed to reach out and touch her.
Time to get down and start moving. She could not let the thought of Kevin haunt her or get in her way. She carefully climbed down from the tree. She paused for a moment to lean against the trunk as she looked around the forest.
She rubbed her neck. God, she was tired and hungry.
Berries. Try to find some berries or something. Joe had told her about some of the edible ones on some of their walks through the woods at the lake. She had to keep her strength up. It wasn’t as if she could build a trap for a rabbit as he could do. It definitely wasn’t her forte.
Well, she might be able to do it, but berries would be easier.
If she could even see the bushes in the dark. She might have to wait until dawn. Or until she was sure Doane had gone back to the house. But she couldn’t be sure of anything, as tonight had proved.
Get moving.
Carefully. Warily.
Hate you. Burn you.
Oh, yes … warily.
The Abyss
“I’LL GET HER, Kevin. Be patient.”
Doane stood on the cliff edge and looked down into the abyss where Eve had tossed his son’s reconstruction.
Vicious bitch. He couldn’t control the sudden anger that tore through him. He wanted Kevin back.
All of his careful plans and they had been destroyed by Eve Duncan.
In spite of the words he had earlier hurled at Eve, he was no longer enjoying the hunt. The pleasure had lasted only a short time, until he realized that he was losing control of the situation. He had no doubt he would catch her eventually, but she was faster, smarter than he thought she’d be in the woods. She made mistakes, but she was still good enough to be annoying.
And the hunt could take much longer than he’d thought it would.
Which would mean that his plans for Zander might totter and be destroyed.
No!
Make up time. Move the plan forward.
He reached in his jacket and pulled out his phone. He would call Terence Blick and stir him into action. He was not alone in this. Blick loved Kevin, too, and would do anything to make sure he was avenged.
Blick picked up the call a moment later. “Doane?”
“Things are not going as quickly as I thought, Blick. I may need you to step in and help.”
“What’s wrong? You said you had Duncan
.”
“I did have her. There was a problem.”
“Did? You let her go?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s only a temporary setback. I just may have to spend time retrieving her. I need you to go to the safe house and retrieve the box. By this time, all of Venable’s searches must have been done, and it should be fairly safe. Maybe only a guard or two to get in your way.”
“You shouldn’t have let her go.” Blick’s tone was ugly. “You yell at me for not doing what Kevin would want, but I’m the one who’s making all the moves. I shot Jane MacGuire, I killed the general, and now you want me to risk my neck going to the safe house to get that box. You said you were going to do it.”
“And I would, but I don’t have time.” He controlled his anger. “We want everything to be perfect, don’t we? Get the box, then kill Zander. Remember what they did to Kevin. You said he was your friend. Is that how you behave toward your friend? You told me you’d die for him. Now you complain when I ask for one small change in the plan.”
Silence.
“I’ll do it.”
“I knew you would. Remember to take the photo. I miss it.” He hung up.
He stood there, looking down at the abyss, trying to control his rage.
He had been wrong. He was alone.
“He’s not worthy of you, Kevin,” he whispered. “He was good enough to serve you when you were alive but he’s proving … lacking. When this is over, I may have to send him to you. You’d be able to shape him to suit yourself.”
Yes, that would be the answer. He could feel Kevin’s approval for the solution he had crafted like a gentle touch. He and Kevin had usually thought alike when he was alive, but lately he had felt that their minds were linked.
“I hate to leave you,” Doane said regretfully as he turned away from the cliff. “But I have to go down to the house and get some sleep.” He started down the path. “Eve Duncan has more strength than I thought. I have to be ready for the hunt…”
CHAPTER
3
Lake Lanier, Georgia
KENDRA CURSED HER GPS as it struggled to calculate her route from Cornelia Highway to Eve Duncan’s lake cottage. Eve had been urging her to visit ever since they had met the year before, but Kendra had no idea she would be finally making the trip under these circumstances.
It was after midnight, but the infamous Georgia heat and humidity were still living up to their reputation. She had lowered her car window to look at a road sign a few minutes before, and the air conditioner was only starting to overcome it. She glanced at her GPS device. It had now given up entirely, locked in an endless loop of RECALCULATING.
No matter. Joe Quinn had been thorough with his directions, and she was sure she could find it on her own.
But to what end?
She had dropped everything and rushed across the country to join the search, as if she was Eve’s last best hope. She had managed to impress Quinn and most other investigators whom she had assisted through the years, but what if there was simply nothing for her to observe here? She knew it had rained, and that had a way of washing away a hell of a lot of clues.
But a muddy rural area made it almost impossible to erase others.
And since when did she give a damn what anybody thought of her? She was here for Eve and no one else.
Eve.
Kendra didn’t make friends easily, but her bond with Eve was strong and genuine. She had been touched by Eve’s strength and her quiet struggle to move beyond her daughter’s murder, which had defined her for so long. Now that Bonnie had finally been laid to rest, she could see a sense of freedom in Eve, not unlike the sudden freedom she herself had felt when she was finally given the gift of sight.
Kendra rounded the bend and passed a cluster of tall pines. There, near the lake, was what she was sure was Eve’s cottage. Half a dozen cars parked out front in a haphazard fashion and every light was ablaze. She could almost feel the tension radiating from the premises.
Kendra parked the rental car and climbed out. A front-window curtain parted slightly, and a moment later the door opened and a familiar silhouette appeared on the porch. Slim, powerful, every muscle tense and alert. He was always a presence to be reckoned with but tonight she could almost feel the intensity. His tea-colored eyes were narrowed as he watched her come toward him.
“You could have waited until tomorrow,” Joe Quinn said. “But I’m glad as hell you didn’t.”
“You expect me to get a call like yours and just sit around twiddling my thumbs?” She reached the top step of the porch and gave him a quick hug. “Any news?”
“Only that General Tarther, who was on Doane’s hit list, was shot and killed. We suspect Terence Blick, Doane’s accomplice, but he hasn’t been apprehended. Seth Caleb, a friend of Jane’s, was in the area trying to guard the general and we hoped to hear from him but nothing so far.”
“I’d say that’s a substantial piece of news all right. Anything else?”
“We’ve been trying to pull a car that belonged to Doane from the lake.” He nodded at the far end of the lake that was lit by floodlights and teeming with people and machinery. “We think Doane stole the truck of a farmer who lives nearby, then drove his own car into the lake.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I have no idea. That’s why I’m curious to get a look at that car and see if it can tell us anything.” He added grimly, “Besides the fact that it might serve as a coffin for that farmer Doane stole the truck from. He’s disappeared.”
“It would have to be something else.” Kendra took a step closer to the porch rail and looked out at the crane that was dipping into the water. “That’s a complicated way to dispose of a body when he could just bury it. Why haven’t you been able to pull the car up yet?”
“The lake’s very deep at that area. First, we had to verify that the car was really there. There was no sign of entry.”
She turned to look at him. “Then why did you bother to start looking there?”
Joe hesitated. “We had an informant.”
“Someone saw Doane drive the car into the lake?”
“Something like that.”
“Who?”
“It’s difficult to—forget it. Let’s just say it was … anonymous.”
“No, I won’t forget it.” She frowned. “I’m feeling too much in the dark. I’m not going to tolerate your keeping things from me. A witness could save us a great deal of time. What else did you find out?”
“Nothing. It was a one-shot deal. I’m not going to be able to squeeze anything else out of the informant.”
“Let me talk to him.”
“He’s already been released.” He added harshly, “Drop it. Do you think I would have let anyone get away from me if there were a chance he could help Eve? I’ll tell you about him later.”
“I’d still like to—” She broke off and shrugged. “You don’t have to be so touchy.”
“Yes, I do.” He drew a ragged breath. “I didn’t mean to bark at you. I’m on edge. For a while we were fooling ourselves, thinking that Eve might not be in real danger. Doane kept everything low-key, and he’s always been plausible. But now we know Doane was willing to kill at least three people to get Eve.”
“Eve’s smart. It doesn’t mean he’ll kill her.”
“Not until he’s done with her.” Joe looked back at the floodlights on the lake. “But after that she’s a witness and a—”
“I told you, she’s a smart woman. Either she’ll escape, or she’ll find a way to stay alive until we find her.”
“I agree.” The woman who had spoken was standing in the doorway. She stepped forward and extended her hand. “I’m Jane MacGuire. You’re Kendra Michaels?”
Kendra clasped her hand in both of hers, more as a gesture of comfort than greeting. Jane MacGuire was exuding a combination of strength and fragility at this moment. Kendra was not an instinctive caregiver, but she felt a sudden desire to shelter and protect. “Yes. Joe
told me you’d been wounded. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been shot by a high-powered rifle.” Jane half smiled. “Aside from that, just fine.”
Kendra smiled back. Jane was truly beautiful. She had Eve’s coloring, hazel eyes, red-brown hair, and fine features but while Eve was interesting-looking Jane had glamour. Although Jane was adopted, she also had some of Eve’s mannerisms, her purposeful walk, and the ability to deflect others’ concern while smiling through her pain. She might be a total person in her own right, but there was no doubt about it, Jane was every bit Eve’s daughter.
Jane moved a step closer to her. “Eve told me about you. You impressed her. She’d be happy to know that you came here to help us.”
“Nothing could have kept me away.”
“We can use all the help we can get, but … you’re a music therapist, right? That’s your specialty?”
Kendra sighed. It was coming. She had hoped to avoid it, particularly with Eve’s daughter. But Jane was so like Eve that she should have expected it. Explore. No trust. Perform. “Yes.”
“I’m having difficulty understanding what you can do to help. I realize you did some amateur investigating work with Joe, but is it enough to prove value in our case?”
Joe moved toward Jane. “I asked her to come here.”
Jane’s eyes met Kendra’s with a hint of a challenge. She said softly, “Maybe there are too many cooks in the kitchen already.”
“Jane, don’t be—” Joe stopped and smiled slightly. “What the hell, go ahead.”
Kendra nodded. “Oh, we intend to, Quinn. It’s okay, I understand where she’s going. Believe me, I’ve been involved in enough investigations and seen too many crime scenes spoiled by investigators stepping all over each other. You’ve already had more than your share. You’ve had what, nineteen different law-enforcement officers here in the last day and a half? Eleven FBI, six local police, two CIA, give or take. Fourteen men and five women in all.”
Jane wrinkled her brow and glanced at Joe. “Is that correct?”
“Hell if I know, but it sounds about right.”
Kendra jammed her hands into her pockets and walked slowly around Jane.