“What do you think you’re doing, Franco,” Salazar said angrily. “Do as I say.”
“I’m sorry, he won’t be doing anything you tell him to do,” Natalie said as she turned and strolled away from Salazar across the glade. “He belongs to me. He has for a long time.”
Salazar muttered a curse as he watched Franco lift Cara and take her to the rocks. “What’s happening here, Natalie?”
“It’s over, Salazar. Our association has become more trouble than it’s worth. I’ve decided to terminate it.” She turned and smiled at Eve. “Or I should say, I’m going to let Eve terminate it. I’m sure she’s made all the necessary arrangements.”
Salazar went still. “She has no weapon.” He lifted his automatic rifle and pointed it at Eve. “Are you trying to get me to kill her?”
Eve was frozen as she stared into the barrel of the rifle. Natalie’s move had stunned her. “I was wrong, Salazar. She did surprise me. But I have an idea she’s trying to manipulate both of us. Are you going to let her do that?” She slowly got to her feet. “Now, I’m going to go over to Cara. This is between you and Natalie. All I want is to get the child out of here. Give me Cara, and I’ll get you that treasure. I don’t care who takes it as long as Cara and I come out of this alive.” She was moving toward the rocks. “But I’d keep my gun pointed at Natalie or Franco if I were you. As you said, you know I’m no threat.” Three more steps, and she’d be at the rocks. Jock had told her the rocks would be safe. She had to reach the rocks. “It sounded to me as if that might not be the case—” She’d almost reached the rocks where Franco was standing over Cara’s body. “With your errand boy here. Don’t you think that you should—”
Now.
She dove on top of Cara! The next second she’d rolled off the rock, taking Cara with her. Two more rolls, and they were both behind the boulders.
She could hear Salazar cursing. “Get her! Get that bitch. I want her—”
A shot.
Jock’s shot, aimed with deadly accuracy at the explosives Joe had taken from the IEDs on the road and planted a few hours earlier in the glade.
The glade exploded.
Screams. Smoke. Fire.
The rocks sheltering Eve and Cara were chipping, splintering. Eve held Cara closer, her arm over the child’s head. She could hear Salazar screaming, moaning.
More explosions.
She couldn’t hear Salazar anymore, but she heard Franco gasping, cursing, with pain. She lifted her head to see him beating at his pants to put out the flames. He looked up and met her eyes. She saw pure rage.
“I’m going to kill you.” He started toward her.
Eve frantically looked around for something, anything, to defend herself. She reached for a rock.
“Get away from her, Franco.” Natalie was suddenly beside them. Her face was streaked by smoke, and she had a tear in the sleeve of her silk shirt. “Now.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“You’ll do no such thing. She might be very valuable to me.” She glanced at Cara. “She’s alive, Eve?”
“Yes.”
“Then she might stay that way if you cooperate.” She pulled out a pearl-handled pistol and strode through the smoke, to where Salazar lay crumpled, bloody and torn apart by the explosion. “Dead. I knew he would be the first target. There had to be a reason why you wanted to get Cara as far away as possible from him. I thought it might be a sniper. I didn’t expect you to blow everything up.”
“Salazar conveniently supplied us with the explosives from the IEDs we disarmed on the road,” Eve said. “Joe just grabbed them and came up here to give them back to him.”
“It’s a little messy, but I suppose it worked for you.” She whirled and ran back toward them. “We have to move quickly, Franco. Grab the girl and let’s get out of here. Eve’s friends will probably be all over this place in minutes.” She started running down the rocky slopes, away from the forest. “Coming, Eve?”
Eve had no choice.
Franco had lifted Cara in a fireman’s lift over his shoulder and was running behind Natalie.
Eve couldn’t let them out of her sight.
She ran after them.
* * *
This entire side of the hill was shale and loose stones.
Eve skidded, fell, got up, stumbled, and fell again. The smoke was drifting down, enveloping them as she ran. Her eyes were stinging, and she could just barely see Natalie ahead of her. She couldn’t see Franco at all, and that frightened her. He had Cara, and he was a killer who was wounded and enraged. Her only hope was that he’d obey Natalie Castino. Which was a slim hope indeed. Since Natalie was proving to be more dangerous than Franco.
“Hurry,” Natalie said over her shoulder. “We need to get out of here.”
“Why? You’re not going to get away. Joe will hunt you down, and he’s got very lethal friends. Give it up and take your chances. You said that you weren’t worried about anyone thinking you were guilty of having your girls kidnapped. You just called it a bother. Tell Franco to stop and put Cara down.”
“Presently.” Her brows lifted. “Do you really think that I’m just running blindly, that I have no plan? That’s not the way I do things, Eve. We’re almost there. Just around the next corner in the trail…”
Eve was already turning that next corner as she spoke.
She stopped short, her eyes widening as she gazed at the army-green helicopter tucked away and half-hidden by brush, rocks, and branches near the ledge of the slope. “What the hell?”
“I had to protect myself, didn’t I?” Natalie waved at the pilot, and he started the engine. “Nikolai has been sitting in the valley below waiting for the weather to clear so that he could slip in here and wait for me. He managed to do it last night.”
“Nikolai?”
“He’s one of my father’s men. My father put him at my disposal when I told him that I was trying to free my little girl. He was very worried about her. He’ll be glad to know that Salazar didn’t kill her, and I managed to take her away from him … and kill that terrible man in the process.” She smiled. “My father believes in revenge. So do I. Salazar was enjoyable, but he didn’t treat me with the respect I deserved.” She called to Franco, “Put the girl in the helicopter. I have to get out of here.”
Franco was opening the helicopter door and shoving Cara into the aircraft.
“He does belong to you,” Eve murmured.
“Oh, yes. I’ve been planning this for a long time. When I saw how clumsily Walsh was handling the hunt for Cara, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was tired of being Salazar’s mistress and Castino’s wife. I wanted something more.” She smiled. “So I paid a visit to California. I found Franco, and I set him up to help me. He’s ambitious, you know. All I had to do was convince him I’d be grateful, and he’d be rich if he went along with me. I had a long-term plan, but some of it had to be adjusted as I went along. But Franco didn’t like Salazar, so that made it easier for me to keep him in line. He was very valuable when I was keeping so many balls in the air. When I decided that Salazar had to go down for taking the girls, Franco even pretended to be Walsh and alerted the U.S. Justice Department that the body in the grave was Jenny Castino.”
“And was it your decision to let Franco go to that hospital and try to kill Cara?”
“It wouldn’t have mattered in the long run. Salazar had the right idea for the most part. I just had to work it into my plans.”
So cold. Absolutely no feeling in her tone.
“You’re looking at me with horror. Not that I mind. There’s a kind of respect connected with that emotion. I just thought you might understand.” She shrugged. “But, as it turned out, I was glad that Salazar failed with Cara and you. When Franco told us about Cira’s gold, I realized that you were holding the key to everything I’d ever wanted, everything I deserved.”
“Dammit, I think I hear someone on the rocks on the hillside,” Franco said. “Let’s go.”
/> “I’m going.” She pulled out her gun. “It’s time we left, Eve.” She pointed it at her. “As I told Franco, I need you. You know where that treasure is located. It’s going to be mine.”
“What if I don’t know? What if it was a bluff?”
“Not as good, but acceptable. Then I’d still need you. Franco said MacTavish was certain that you were going to find it. You’ll find it for me.”
“Natalie!” Franco’s gaze was on the trail. “You don’t have time for this.”
“You’re right.” She motioned with her gun. “Why don’t you stay and stop them for me, Franco?”
“What?”
“No, on second thought, I’ve decided to rid myself of you now instead of later.”
“You bitch.” His eyes were blazing. “I’ve done everything for you.”
“And now you can do the ultimate.”
She shot him in the heart.
She watched him fall to the ground. “What a pity. But he really knew too much, Eve. He might have thought he could blackmail me later. My relationship with my father has to remain solid. He’s all I have now.”
“Now that you’ve gotten rid of Salazar?”
“No, I’ve burned all my bridges.” She added softly, “If all went as scheduled, at five thirty a.m. GMT, my dear husband will have been gunned down outside the apartment he keeps for his current mistress. There will be abundant evidence that the kill was financed by Salazar because of his fear that my husband would learn that he’d kidnapped and killed Jenny and Cara.”
Eve gazed at her in shock.
“I told you, I was tired of Juan Castino. I was tired of being forced to be Salazar’s lover, so I could control him. It was time I got rid of both of them and became my own woman. So I had Franco contact his sources in Mexico City and arrange it.”
“I suppose that would be the obvious solution in your eyes.”
“There were others, but I was impatient. I want to start a new life.”
“With Cira’s gold.”
“Yes. The minute I heard about it, I knew it was meant for me.” She opened the helicopter door. “Get in the helicopter, Eve.”
“She’s not going anywhere.” Joe was standing by the trail with a gun pointed at Natalie. “Back away from the helicopter and put down your weapon.”
Natalie stiffened. “You must be Joe Quinn? I’ve heard about you. Could we come to an agreement?”
“No way in hell.”
“I didn’t think so, but I could probably persuade you if I had the time.”
“Put down that weapon.”
“You’re afraid for Eve?” She turned the gun on Eve. “Yes, I can see that you are.”
“Put it down, Natalie,” Eve said.
“That wouldn’t be intelligent. He’s not going to press the trigger because he knows that even if it was a great shot, I still could kill you.” She backed toward the helicopter door. “But it appears that I’d be wise to cut my losses and avoid this confrontation. It’s not as if I still won’t win in the end.”
“Get away from that helicopter,” Joe said.
Natalie shook her head. “I’m getting on board, and Nikolai is taking off.” She looked Eve in the eye. “I have Cara. We can still come to a deal. It will be a little complicated for me, but I can keep Cara alive until you give me what I want.”
“Let her go, Natalie.”
Natalie got in the helicopter. “Or I can do what I always do and look out for myself. It will be up to you. Now I’m going to point the gun away from you and on Cara. Will Quinn take the chance of killing her?” The helicopter was lifting. “I don’t think so. Most men are so soft about children … It’s always amazed me.” She was suddenly looking out the window at Eve, and her eyes were cold. “I don’t like to lose, Eve. I did very well, but this was only a partial victory for me. I want it all. I think I need to do something to impress you with that.”
She was lifting her gun.
Aiming it.
Aiming it at Joe!
“No!”
Eve was running toward him.
Tackling him, bringing him down.
She could feel the bullet as it passed her cheek.
And as it struck Joe.
Then she could feel the blood.
* * *
“Eve.”
Her arms tightened around him.
“Eve, it’s okay.”
How could it be okay? She had felt the bullet as it struck Joe. She could feel his blood on her arm …
He was pushing her away and sitting up. “It’s only a flesh wound. My side…” He looked down at his left side. “I think you did more damage tackling me than she did with that bullet. She must be a lousy shot.”
“You’re wrong. I think she must be a very good shot.” Eve was shaking with both fear and intense relief. “I watched her shoot Franco. She knew what she was doing. She probably was doing exactly what she told me she was going to do. Showing me that she had no intention of losing.” She reached out and touched the blood on his shirt. “I guess we’re both lucky that she didn’t want to drive the point home.” She turned and looked out at the horizon. The helicopter was still in view, but it was almost out of sight.
“She will lose, Joe. We can’t let her win.” She shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t think of Natalie right now. She had to take care of Joe. She began to unbutton his shirt. “You’re right, it’s only a flesh wound. Hardly more than a scratch.” She tore up his shirt and began to dab the wound. “She told me that she’d arranged for Castino to be assassinated. She said it was supposed to be done this morning.”
“She was telling the truth. I got a text from Manez right after you left me. Castino is dead.”
She nodded jerkily. “I didn’t doubt her. She’s capable of anything.” She moistened her lips. “And she makes it work, Joe. She thinks she can get away with any atrocity, and she finds a way to do it.”
“But we know her now. What we know, we can beat.”
“She has Cara, Joe. We don’t know what she’ll do with—”
“That bitch got away?” Jock was striding down the rocky path. “I saw the helicopter from the top of the hill. She got away?”
“Yes.” Eve gestured to Joe. “After taking a shot at Joe. It’s not bad, thank God.”
“Good,” Jock said absently as he strode to the edge of the cliff and looked out at the horizon. “Cara? I didn’t see Cara. Is she still alive?”
“Yes. She’s with Natalie Castino.” She’d finished bandaging Joe, and she rose to her feet and went to stand beside Jock. “But Natalie still wants Cira’s gold. That means we can still save Cara.”
“I thought we’d done that. Hell, we blew up Salazar and his men, and I thought she’d be safe.” His voice was low but vibrating with agony. “I told her once I’d keep her safe, that she’d never have to look over her shoulder again. I didn’t do enough. I should have done more.”
“We didn’t know that Natalie had an escape plan. You did all you could.”
“If I’d done all I could, Cara would be here with us now. I’m going after her. I’ll get her back.”
“We think Natalie Castino is going to Moscow to be with her father.”
“I don’t care if she’s going to hell. It’s where I’ll send her anyway.” He turned and strode back up the trail.
“He’s hurting.” She went back to Joe. “But we can’t let him move too fast. If Natalie gets spooked, she might decide that Cara’s not worthwhile to her.”
“We don’t know what’s fast or slow right now.” Joe was getting slowly to his feet, and Eve moved closer to help him. “It’s a whole new ball game, and Natalie is writing the rules.” He began walking toward the trail. “But right now I’m just happy that she seems to believe she needs you. It will be good not to have you designated as a target.”
Not at the moment, Eve thought. But Natalie had no compunctions about using people, then killing them. Salazar, Castino, Franco. It would be just as well n
ot to bring that up to Joe right now.
And right now, Natalie also needed Cara. After she got what she wanted from holding her daughter hostage, would she hesitate about killing her?
Not for a minute.
Joe’s arm slid around her waist. “It’s going to be okay,” he said quietly. His hand gently moved to her abdomen. “The three of us have gone through a hell of a lot in the past weeks. We can get through the rest.”
She nodded and stepped closer to him. She needed to feel his warmth and strength. “I know that.” She did know it, but she was tired and scared and wanted nothing more than to go home with Joe and Cara and this new, ever-changing life in her body.
But there was no Cara yet.
But there would be. There would be.
She had to believe it …
* * *
Jane watched the EMTs load MacDuff’s stretcher into the air ambulance before turning to Jock. “The doctor examined MacDuff before they moved him from his tent. He believes that there won’t be any serious consequences from his injury.”
“I didn’t think there would be once he regained consciousness. MacDuff is tough.” Jock started toward the ambulance. “I’m going to the hospital with him just to make sure.”
“But you’re not going to stay there long.”
“No.” He looked back at her. His silver-gray eyes were ice cold and without expression. “Not long at all, Jane.” He climbed into the helicopter and shut the door.
She was still feeling the chill as she watched the air ambulance take off. Chill and despair and helplessness. “I wasn’t sure that he’d be going with him,” Caleb said as he came toward her. “Jock isn’t quite himself right now.”
Jane shook her head. “I knew he’d want to be with him until he was positive of his condition. He loves MacDuff.”
“But he’s burning inside.” Caleb smiled faintly. “I know a lot about that.”
“I imagine you do.” Jane glanced one last time at the helicopter before she turned away. “I expected Joe to be down here getting some first aid. When Eve called me, she said that he’d been wounded.”
“Just a scratch. He’s still up in the hills dealing with damage control because of several bodies that have to be dealt with. Not to mention, MacDuff’s men. They were pretty upset about Colin’s murder, then MacDuff’s injury. And they didn’t like it that they were left out of that blowup that took out Salazar.” He shrugged. “I don’t blame them. I would have felt the same if I’d missed all the fun.”