Eight Days to Live

  “It’s just sleep.”

  “And what do they call death? The long sleep. I won’t leave you. But you won’t even know I’m here.”

  She hesitated, then went to the couch and sat down. “Very well. It’s not important.”

  “No, it’s just your nature.” He pushed her down and tucked the couch cushion beneath her head. He went over to the easy chair and sat down. “I won’t leave you,” he repeated. “Whatever happens, you don’t have to be afraid. It might help if you think about Eve. I don’t know. It’s alien territory to me.”

  “It’s alien territory to me, too,” she said. “I keep wondering what if I’m wrong? What if Eve was killed at MacDuff’s Run. What if she’s dead?”

  “Then if you do find her, this search may have an ending that’s both unusual and mind-blowing. Are you afraid?”

  “No, not for her. She’s never been afraid of death. She’s gone through so much since she lost her daughter, Bonnie, that she came to terms with it. She might even look upon it as a wonderful adventure.” She whispered, “But I’m afraid for me. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

  “You won’t have to worry about that. Remember, you said you’d know.”

  “That’s right, and I have to stop having second thoughts.” She closed her eyes. “Do something. I don’t feel sleepy.”

  He chuckled. “What a demanding woman. It will come. Gently. I have an aversion to any roughness connected to you, Jane. Which is pretty astonishing when you consider that gentleness isn’t my forte.”

  “I’ve noticed.” She moistened her lips. “I didn’t thank you for doing this.”

  “I accepted it as a given,” Caleb said. “And you’d have trouble not being a little resentful at giving up your will to anyone.”

  “I’m not giving up anything. This is my will.”

  “You see? You’re going down deeper. It’s time to start thinking about Eve.”

  She had never stopped thinking about her. Not really. Deeper? She didn’t feel as if she was drifting off into . . .

  DARKNESS.

  No, misty grayness.

  Sleep, but not sleep.

  Eve.

  She wasn’t here.

  Bring her. Get past the darkness. Get to her.

  But perhaps she was lost in that darkness. Maybe she was lost forever.

  No, keep searching.

  Eve!

  VIBRATION. A FAMILIAR hum of sound. Stale air.

  I’m on an airplane, Eve thought hazily. Her second thought was of the throbbing pain in her right shoulder. Why . . .

  The courtyard at MacDuff’s Run.

  Millet.

  Her eyes flew open.

  “Are you comfortable?” Millet was standing over her, gazing down at her. “Medford told me that you’d regained consciousness. He was eager to make sure I knew that he hadn’t killed you. I was a little upset with him.”

  “I can’t imagine your being upset about any kind of brutality,” Eve said. “You told him to kill Lina.”

  “She wasn’t important.”

  “She’s a human being, young, smart, with her whole life ahead of her.”

  “And totally unimportant. She was helping Jane MacGuire, and that is a sin.”

  She gazed at him in disbelief. “And what you do isn’t a sin?”

  “I’m one of the chosen. I can do as I please as long as I serve the Master.”

  “You’re certifiable.” She gazed around the interior of the plane. It appeared to be more of a cargo than a passenger aircraft. There were several wood boxes stamped with a crescent surrounded by a circle. Seven or eight men sitting on long hard benches on either side of the plane. She was lying on a stretcher close to the door that must lead to the cockpit. “How many people did you shoot back at the castle.”

  “I didn’t count. Whatever was necessary.”

  “Shooting Lina wasn’t necessary.”

  “It was a way to get you into the helicopter faster. Then you stepped in front of that bullet and spoiled everything. I thought Medford had killed you.”

  She looked down at her shoulder that had been roughly bandaged. “How bad is it?”

  “Not too bad at all. You lost some blood, but you’ll survive to be useful.” He smiled. “And I may be able to play with you a little if I have time. I understand that Jane MacGuire cares a good deal about you. It would make her suffer to know that you’re in pain.”

  She gazed at him coldly. “Don’t bullshit me. I’ve known men like you before. You don’t have to have an excuse to hurt and maim.” She paused. “Though it’s curious that you think that your master is going to protect you from every consequence when he’s probably in hell.”

  “Liar!”

  Her head snapped back as he slapped her with all his strength.

  The plane whirled around her, and it was a moment before it steadied enough so that she could focus on his face again.

  Ugliness. Pleasure. Eagerness. What a sicko, she thought dizzily. He was a crazy fanatic with his sadistic soul in overdrive. “Where are you taking me, Millet?”

  “The temple. We should be landing fairly shortly.”

  “Syria?”

  “Yes. The situation may become tense, and I need to be on my own territory.” He smiled. “And I would have had to come anyway. The Offering is day after tomorrow.”

  “And you’re hoping to have Jane as that Offering.”

  “Not ‘hoping.’ I will have her. Roland has done extensive research on your relationship. I don’t think there’s any doubt that she’ll be ready to make a trade when I give her the opportunity.”

  No, Eve didn’t have a doubt either, and it was scaring her to death. “Why bother with her? You have me.”

  His brows rose. “You surprise me. You’ve already suffered a great deal, and now you wish to give your life for her? You’re very strong. You’re going to prove entertaining.”

  “What difference does it really make? You and your scumbag cohorts won’t care who dies under the knife.”

  “Oh, but we will. Jane MacGuire has to be made an example. More than one of the members has seen that photo of the painting and called me. She’s the Blasphemer, and it will please the members that she’s punished. Besides, I have to determine how she was able to duplicate the mosaic. I have to have my time with her.”

  Torture. The bastard was practically salivating. “It was purely coincidental.”

  “Perhaps. Since she hasn’t revealed the location of the temple in the time since she did the painting, there is that possibility. Or perhaps she was just afraid of my retribution.” His smile deepened. “I’ll enjoy the process of discovering the truth.”

  And she couldn’t even give him an explanation more substantial than coincidence. He’d laugh if she told him that Guilt was born of dreams. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. He wanted his pound of flesh and would fight anyone who tried to cheat him of it. What was important was that she couldn’t convince him not to try to trade for Jane.

  So she had to find a way to get away from him.

  “You’re very thoughtful.” Millet’s gaze was on her face. “You’re a scheming bitch, just like her. I hear you work on skulls. Maybe I’ll give you MacGuire’s head to play with. Yes, I believe I’d enjoy having you do that.”

  Keep cool. He was only trying intimidation, to play on her fear, to hurt her. But she was almost certain he’d follow through on any threat. “I’d rather work on yours. I think that possibility is considerably more likely.”

  His smile faded. “I’m growing tired of your—”

  “Captain Faruk said that we’re on the approach.” A dark, thin, man was at Millet’s elbow. “He asked if you’ll need him after we land or if he can return to Damascus. He’s received several requests from other members wanting to hire him to take them to the Offering.”

  “You remember Medford, Eve,” Millet said. “He’s the fool who almost killed you.”

  Medford cheeks flushed. “I didn’t expect her t
o jump in front of—”

  “You made a mistake,” Millet said. “It’s beginning to be a habit.”

  “Faruk,” Medford repeated.

  “I won’t need him. I expect to be busy until the Offering. If I do, I’ll call.”

  Medford turned and strode back toward the cockpit.

  “You see, everyone is excited to come to this Offering,” Millet said to Eve. “How could I disappoint them?” He turned and sat down in a seat across from her stretcher. “I’ll permit you to rest for a little while before we land. I’ve decided that I’ll let you walk to the temple. We have plenty of time. I’m going to let your Jane worry about you for a while. It will make her more amenable when I do call her.” His tone became mocking. “A strong woman like you would be insulted to be carried on a stretcher.”

  Eve closed her eyes. Think. Is there a way of escaping after we land or would it be better to wait? Lord knows, I’m weak right now, and they will be more alert during a transfer. It would probably be smarter to be patient until they reached this temple and I can access the situation.

  It was going to be hard to wait . . .

  DRIFTING . . .

  Darkness.

  Gray mist . . .

  No! Jane struggled desperately. She couldn’t leave Eve. She had to stay with her, help her.

  But the grayness was now disappearing, too.

  “Stop fighting it,” Caleb said softly. “You’re back, Jane.”

  Her lids slowly lifted. It took a moment for her to focus. “I have to go back. I have to help her.”

  “Not now. You were going too deep. I had to pull you back.”

  “Help me.”

  “I won’t help you. Not that way.”

  “Dammit, she’s alone.”

  “But not dead evidently. That’s a good thing.”

  “Yes.” She sat up and brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s her right shoulder. It was throbbing. It looked as if it had been bandaged very clumsily. She’ll be lucky if it doesn’t get infected.”

  “If we get her away from him quickly enough, we won’t have to worry about that.” He handed her a glass of water. “Now clear your head and let’s see if we can find a way to do it. You definitely made it through? You were dreaming about Eve?”

  “Yes. And I think it was that remote viewing you told me about. It was too real to be anything else.” She drank a few sips of water and handed the glass back to him. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Over an hour.”

  Her eyes widened. “That’s odd. Dreams are supposed to last only minutes, seconds.”

  “But then your dreams aren’t exactly run-of-the-mill, are they?”

  She shook her head. That was an understatement if she’d ever heard one. “He told Eve he wants a trade. He’s not going to kill her just as a way to punish me the way he did with Celine.” Her lips twisted. “There’s not enough time to waste when he needs me for the Offering.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  “She was on a plane on her way to the temple in Syria. They were almost there when I had to leave her.”

  “And where is this temple located?”

  “I told you, Syria. I don’t know anything else.” She gazed at him accusingly. “They hadn’t landed yet when you made me leave her.”

  “It was necessary.”

  She knew it was probably true, but it didn’t lessen her disappointment. “Okay, it’s done. There has to be something else I can use to find her.” Her brow knitted as she tried to sift through that ugly conversation Eve had had with Millet. “A man named Medford shot her. Millet wasn’t pleased with him. The plane they were on was some kind of a cargo aircraft. A few seats but mostly benches on either side of the plane. There were huge boxes that—”

  “Any writing on the boxes?”

  “Yes, but it was in Arabic.” She made a face. “There was no way I could decipher that script. But there was some kind of symbol under the writing. A crescent in a circle.”

  He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small notebook and pen and handed it to her. “Draw it for me.”

  As she began to draw the symbol, she suddenly stiffened, her gaze flying to meet his own. “I just remembered something else. Why the hell didn’t I zero in on it immediately? The pilot was a Captain Faruk,” she said. “He was going to return to Damascus to bring back other members to the Offering.”

  “Jackpot!” he said softly. “Any description?”

  She shook her head. “Eve never saw him. Medford was only talking about him.”

  “Never mind. The name may be enough.” He got to his feet. “I’m going to go outside and get Gavin. I need to fill him in and have him stir Venable into getting us information about Faruk.” He opened the door. “Damn fast. You try to think of anything else we can use.”

  As if she weren’t doing that already. But searching her memory word by word, the pilot’s name had been the only thing that even had a chance of being helpful. Excitement was beginning to build within her the more she thought about it. Faruk could be a major help to them. He wasn’t just a hired pilot. He knew about the Offering. Therefore, he must know the location of the temple.

  And, in Damascus, he was relatively vulnerable and isolated from Millet’s gang of thugs.

  As Caleb had said.

  Jackpot.

  “FARUK, AHMED,” JOCK SAID as he came into the house fifteen minutes later. “Formerly a copilot with Alitalia Airlines. He moved to Damascus four years ago and opened his own cargo line. He makes regular runs between Damascus and cities in Italy and does a bustling cargo and charter business out of Rome.” His brows lifted. “Now I wonder where he got the money to start his own business?”

  “Does Venable show any connection with Millet?”

  He shook his head. “And no criminal record. He’s clean.” He turned to Caleb, who had come in behind him. “Did you find anything else about him on the Net?”

  “Only his home address in Damascus,” he said. “But that was really all I was interested in.” He inclined his head to Jane. “I believe I should take a run to Damascus and pay Faruk a visit.”

  “No, Millet hasn’t even contacted me yet. What if something went wrong, and it got back to Millet? I don’t want to rush in and risk Eve unless we have a sure thing.”

  “That’s not going to happen, Jane,” Jock said gently.

  “As close to a sure thing as we can make it.” It was hard to be patient when all she wanted to do was rush forward as much as Caleb did. “Millet is letting me stew, so that he can have a maximum effect when he does contact me. We’ve got to take that time and try to turn it against him.” She turned to Caleb. “Look, find Faruk, zero in on him. Get ready to pounce. But hold off.”

  He just looked at her.

  The hunter, again.

  Not now. She didn’t want to have to deal with that savage side of him. Dammit, he was such a complex blend of lethal aggression and sophisticated persuasiveness that she could never know which one was going to surface. It made her feel angry and helpless and she wanted to strike out.

  She couldn’t strike out. The last thing she wanted was for him to strike back. She had enough battles looming on the horizon.

  She drew a deep breath. “Please.”

  He gazed at her for another moment. “That was extremely hard for you.” He shrugged. “If you like.” He turned and headed for the door. “I’ll head for the airport. I should be in Damascus within an hour or so, and I’ll locate Faruk. But keep in touch with me. I have to know that we’re moving or it becomes . . . difficult.”

  “It may be difficult anyway,” Jock said as the door closed behind him. “What Venable knows, Joe Quinn will know. How are you going to keep Joe from going after Faruk? That would be the first thing I’d do. Caleb won’t let anyone else take his prey while you keep his hands tied. It could be major mayhem.”

  Dammit, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. She seemed to be operating purely on instinct, and that wasn?
??t going to work. “I’ll have to call Joe.” She took out her phone. “In the meantime, can’t you see if you can get that artifacts professor here any sooner?”

  He nodded. “I’ll call Gillem and check on his progress.”

  She went into the bedroom and quickly dialed Joe’s number.

  “Are you all right?” Joe asked curtly when he picked up. “I meant to call you, but I’ve been scrambling.”

  “I know.” It was what she had expected. “I’m scared. Frantic. But working through it. You got Jock’s report?”

  “Yes, I’m heading for the airport now. I’ll be in Damascus in a few hours.”

  “No!”

  “Jane, don’t tell me no.”

  “I don’t have any choice. Do you think I don’t know how you feel?” she asked fiercely. “I’m not letting there be even the smallest chance of anything going wrong until we have some kind of trap in place. I’m not going to let either you or Caleb run your own show. We have to work together, dammit.”

  “What the hell are you thinking? I won’t do anything to risk Eve.”

  “Listen to me. Millet took Eve because of me. All of this is because of me. He knows about you and Venable and that he has to walk very carefully. But that’s not going to stop him from trying for a trade.” She paused. “If I feel as if I’ve lost control, and there’s a risk, he’ll get his trade.”

  Joe was cursing. “That’s crazy. He won’t let her live regardless.”

  “Then stop and clear your head and help me get a plan together. I won’t have you rushing to Damascus and grabbing Faruk and trying to force him. I gave you and Venable this lead to Faruk. He’s mine.”

  He was silent. “God, I’m scared, Jane,” he said hoarsely. “She’s . . . everything.”

  “I know. Me too.” She couldn’t speak for a moment. “It’s going to be okay,” she said unevenly. “I know it will.” She steadied her voice. “The temple is definitely in Syria. We don’t know where yet. You and Venable go on to Damascus, but leave Faruk alone. That’s as good a jumping-off place as you can get. I’m going to call MacDuff and tell him to join you there. You’re going to have your hands full just keeping him in line.” She paused. “I’m not trying to close you out of this, Joe. If you or anyone else can come up with a foolproof plan that’s safe for Eve, then I’ll grab it.”