Eve (25 page)

“The only names and addresses you’d find are banks and account numbers,” Judy said. “John spread his funds in banks all around the world. He said that as long as Queen and his buddies didn’t know where it was, they couldn’t find a way to confiscate it.” She looked him in the eye. “I’ll let you take a look if you don’t believe me. I don’t think you’d tell Queen anything about the banks. You want John, not the money.” She turned away. “I’ve got to finish up here. John said that if they found out that he’d gone on the run, Queen would move in quick.” She glanced at Eve. “And to tell you that you should watch out for them.”

“
I’ll
watch out for them,” Joe said grimly. “And John Gallo.”

“Come into the kitchen and let me clean that arm,” Eve said. “You can go through those boxes after I make sure that wound’s taken care of.” She suddenly turned back to Judy. “You talk as if John’s been preparing to go on the run for a long time. Why? And why now?”

She shrugged. “I just know that he told me right after I came to work for him that there was a good chance that it would happen. He told me what to do. I’m doing it.” Her lips tightened. “He told me to take care of Hanks, too. If you hadn’t gone running after John, this would never have happened. Are you going to have Hanks thrown in jail?”

“Maybe. It depends on what he can tell me.”

Judy shook her head. “He’s a good man. You shouldn’t have—” She stopped and opened another drawer. “Talk to him, Eve. It’s your responsibility. This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t come here.”

“She hardly had a choice,” Joe said dryly.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Judy said. “But John didn’t hurt her, did he? Everything’s okay.”

“Come on, Joe.” Eve knew she’d better get him out of there before Judy’s simplistic approach to the situation made it infinitely worse. “And a wounded arm isn’t exactly okay, Judy,” she said as she drew Joe out of the room.

“The place seems to be reeking of Gallo’s fans,” Joe said sarcastically. “Everything he does is just fine as long as no one is dead.”

Eve pushed him down in a kitchen chair. “You didn’t hear that from me. I’m a Joe Quinn fan.”

“Are you?” He watched her unwind the bloody shirt from around his arm. “That’s nice.”

“Are you being sarcastic?” She examined the wound. “It’s a flesh wound, but it’s not pretty. I’ll clean it up as best I can, but I want a doctor to give you an antibiotic.” She went to the sink, filled a bowl of water, then searched for and found the first-aid kit. “We’ll get out of here as soon as we can and find a hospital.”

“After I take a look at the documents in those boxes,” Joe said. “Though I’m not sure it will do me any good. Gallo’s cook-slash-majordomo was being very careless about throwing everything in those drawers into the to-go stacks. No selectivity. She may have been telling the truth.” His gaze was on Eve’s fingers as she carefully washed the wound. “But money is important to most people. Maybe I can use those records as bait for Gallo.”

She opened the first-aid kit. “No.”

His gaze lifted to her face. “You object?”

“I’m just telling you it wouldn’t work. It would hurt him, but it wouldn’t bring him back.”

His eyes narrowed. “How do you know? Have you become an expert on Gallo in such a short time?”

“He has a purpose. He wouldn’t let himself be distracted.” She put antiseptic on the wound and flinched as he inhaled sharply. “Sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.” His gaze was on her face. “What purpose, Eve?”

She was silent as she began to wrap the wound.

“Eve.”

“You won’t believe me any more than Catherine did.”

“What purpose?”

“He’s trying to find Bonnie’s killer,” she said quietly.

Joe began to curse beneath his breath. “He gave you that bull, and you—”

“There are two cars coming up the mountain.” Catherine was standing in the doorway. “Hanks got a call on his phone from one of the perimeter guards, and I let him take it. Hanks thinks it may be MI. He said Gallo warned him to expect a call from Army Intelligence if anything disrupted the status quo.” Her lips twisted. “I think we may constitute a disruption. They may not know Gallo has flown the coop, but they must know we’re here and are using it as an excuse to invade the property.”

“Queen.”

Catherine nodded. “That’s my bet. He’s sent out the troops.” She looked at Joe. “So what do we do? Stand our ground and take whatever they want to throw at us? Or take off and avoid the confrontation until we’re on our own turf?”

“How much time do we have?” Joe asked.

“Hanks says ten minutes.” She paused. “He said Gallo told him it wouldn’t be pretty. There would be interrogations. He gave him orders to take off and have everyone at the compound spread to the four winds.”

Joe thought about it. “Where is Hanks now?”

“Living room. I left him tied up.” She paused. “I talked to him, Joe. I believe him when he said he wasn’t trying to kill you. He was just trying to do his job and protect Gallo.”

“He may know where Gallo is.”

She shook her head. “He might, but I don’t think so.”

Joe glanced at Eve. “Do you know where he is?”

Her eyes widened. “No, I do
not
.”

He shrugged. “It was a possibility.” He pushed back the chair. “Let Hanks go. Tell him to get the hell out of here and take Judy and anyone else in the house with him. We’ll take that passage back down the mountain and circle down to where we parked the car.” He stood up. “You get Eve down the mountain, Catherine. I’m going to go take a quick look at those records in the library, and I’ll follow.”

“Right.” Catherine turned on her heel and hurried out of the kitchen.

Eve hesitated. She didn’t want to leave him. Joe was on edge and still in battle mode. There had already been one violent encounter tonight, and she wanted him away and safe.

“Get going, Eve.” Joe didn’t look at her as he strode out of the kitchen. Anger, frustration, and tension were in every line of his body. And who could blame him?

And she could do nothing about it now but trust that he’d control the impulse to let loose an emotional flood.

She turned and moved out of the kitchen in search of Catherine.

CHAPTER

14

“THE PLACE IS DESERTED, COLONEL
Queen,” Lieutenant Sagalin said. “The house was lit up like a Christmas tree. Hot coffee in the kitchen, the office looked like a tornado had hit it. But no one is around.”

“No sign of Gallo? Or Eve Duncan?”

“A woman’s jeans and shirt in the bathroom of one of the upper bedrooms. Gallo’s clothes were in his bedroom. Our informant said that Gallo took off before Catherine Ling and Joe Quinn got here.”

Queen’s hand tightened on the phone. What the hell? He hadn’t expected Gallo to go on the run. If anything, he’d expected his men to find Quinn’s and Ling’s bodies, along with Eve Duncan’s in the house. Why had Gallo run?

Paul Black? Black had had time to get there from San Francisco. Queen knew how terrifying he could be. Yes, that might be it. Perhaps Gallo wasn’t as invulnerable as Queen had thought. He felt a rush of relief. Black had made his choice, and that choice wasn’t Queen.

And if Gallo had gone on the run, there was no chance that he would have left the ledger at the house. He would have taken it with him. He could only hope that Black was on Gallo’s trail.

“What do we do now?”

It was probably too late to do more than cover all the bases. “Go to the library and take every file you find and load the computers in your vans and bring them back here.”

“Anything else?”

Queen had a sudden memory of Gallo sitting in that luxurious library, taunting him. He’d acted like some kind of snooty English lord of the manor instead of the vicious, murdering bastard Queen knew him to be. And Queen had been forced to listen and choke on his fury.

But the situation had changed, and that meant the rules had changed. Screw Gallo.

“Burn the damn house down to the ground.”

*   *   *

JOE, EVE, AND CATHERINE HAD
reached their car and were on their way down the mountain when Catherine looked up at the rearview mirror. “My God.”

Eve glanced at the mirror, then quickly over her shoulder. Gallo’s beautiful mountain house was burning, the flames licking the surrounding trees and leaping for the sky. “Why?” she whispered. “It was such a lovely house.”

“Frustration,” Joe said. “Revenge. It was evident that Queen hates Gallo.”

Yet it seemed strange to Eve that Gallo, who had been the clear victim of Army Intelligence, would be so hated. “They wanted to hurt him. I wonder what they would have done if they’d found Hanks or Judy in that house.”

“Queen isn’t stupid. He’d be careful of any move that might draw attention.”

Eve shook her head. “And that fire doesn’t draw attention?”

“They’d find a way to do it so that it looked like an accident,” Catherine said. “It’s not difficult.”

And Catherine would be adept in those methods of destruction, Eve knew.

“You’re upset.” Joe’s gaze was on her face. “It’s just a house, Eve.”

“No, it was a home. I think it meant something to John. He told me he’d had it for ten years. How would you feel if someone burned down the lake cottage?”

“Mad as hell.”

“And I’d be sad.”

“And you think Gallo would feel as you do. You’re identifying with him.”

She shrugged. “I think it would mean something to him. I think he’s been hurt enough.”

“You’ll forgive me if I’m a little lacking in sympathy. I went through hell imagining everything he could be doing to you. I can’t identify with him at all.”

That was very clear. The entire situation was complicated and barbed with emotion on both their sides. “I’m not saying it wasn’t wrong of him to do what he did. I’m saying that what he went through may have contributed to his making the mistake.” She changed the subject. “Where’s the plane waiting, Catherine?”

“At a private airport about thirty miles from here,” Catherine said. “You should be back in Georgia in about four hours.”

“That’s good.” She leaned back in the seat, her gaze once more on the flaming ruin in the rearview mirror. So much ugliness and destruction. It was beginning to touch everyone and everything around her. Tonight, Joe had been wounded, and it might have been horribly more serious.

And it had been her fault that he had been hurt. He had come to the rescue as he always did, as he would always do. Because Eve would not stop, could not stop, as long as Bonnie and her killer were out there.

And someday Joe’s selfless giving would end tragically. It was only a matter of time.

She could feel the tears sting her eyes as her every emotion vibrated in rejection of that thought.

No.

She couldn’t let it happen.

*   *   *

PAUL BLACK STOOD ON THE
north slope and gazed at the flaming fury of the burning house.

Pity. It had been a nice house, and now Black would have no chance to go in and search it. It appeared that Queen, as usual, had been ruled by his emotions and not his head when he’d given the order to put it to the torch.

It annoyed him that Queen was getting in his way even before the hunt had begun.

He leaned back against a tree and watched Queen’s errand boys get into their trucks and start down the mountain. He was no longer in any hurry. He had missed Gallo but had watched all the other people pour out of the house. He had license numbers and photos of all of them. He’d e-mail them to Queen and have him identify them. Then he’d carefully choose who was to receive his attention.

Find a mate, find a cub, find a bait so succulent it was impossible to resist. There was always a way to trap the prey. Like the prey Black had just devoured. Pretty little Daniele, who had followed him from the airport as if he was the Pied Piper once he’d offered her the right bait.

The flames were burning hotter now. He felt as if he could feel them from where he watched. He liked fire. Everyone spoke of the fires of hell, and he had always thought he would have no problem there. If there was a hell, he was sure he would become the archdemon and rule it. If there was no hell, perhaps a man like him could live forever. Sometimes after a kill like tonight’s he felt as if he could take enough lives that they would give him the power he needed to carry on.

He should go soon. There would be police and firemen coming to put out the fire. But perhaps he would take a few more minutes to enjoy it. As he stared at the yellow-orange flames, he thought he could see the faces of all the prey he had taken through his life like a giant kaleidoscope, moving in and out in a blurring haze. He could not make out all the distinctive faces, but he recognized the Samoan teenager he had gutted only last week. And of course, the little Daniele from the airport. She was still fresh in his memory.

But the power she had given him was already fading, and the hunger was beginning anew. He needed a new kill, a strong kill.

Gallo?

Yes, Gallo would be strong.

Or perhaps, if Black was lucky, the road to Gallo would be paved with a river of blood.

*   *   *

“HOW ABOUT A COFFEE?”
Catherine asked Eve as she unbuckled her seat belt after the plane had gained altitude. “I could use one. The adrenaline has seeped out of me, and I need a replacement.”

“No, thanks.” Eve was looking out the window. “I might try to sleep.”

“Whatever.” Catherine moved down the aisle to the coffee bar in the front of the plane. She had just poured coffee into the Styrofoam cup when Joe came out of the cockpit. She handed him the cup and reached for another for herself. “You don’t look like you want to sleep, either. How’s the arm?”

“Throbbing.” His gaze went to Eve. “She okay?”

“She’s very quiet, Joe.” Catherine poured herself coffee. “But I can’t blame her. We’re not on her wavelength right now. All she would get would be an argument, and after what she’s been through, that’s not what she needs.”

“He has her hypnotized,” he said grimly.

“No one hypnotizes Eve,” Catherine said flatly. “But I agree he must be clever as hell. He’s managed to tap into the one passion that could blind her to everything else.”

“Bonnie?” His lips tightened. “But maybe there could be another passion just as strong. She told me that she was different when she knew Gallo.”

Jealousy. Catherine had been afraid that demon would raise its head. Joe was one of the most confident men she had ever met, but an all-consuming passion like the one he had for Eve would have primitive roots. “But she’s grown up; that girl doesn’t exist any longer. No, it’s only Bonnie you have to worry about.”

“Only Bonnie.” Joe lifted his cup to his lips. “That’s like saying only a Cat 5 tornado.” He leaned back against the cockpit door. “And if he’s using Bonnie, then I need to move fast. I have to find him before he contacts Eve again.”

“Maybe he won’t contact her. He left her when he knew we were coming.”

“Which was the smartest thing he could have done. He put himself in the position of avoiding confrontation and hurting people she loved. Now, by running away, he’s also lost his home, friends, and way of life. And Eve is feeling sorry for him, dammit. How the hell can I fight that?”

She smiled. “You’ll manage. You’re already thinking about it. What are you going to do?”

“Go after Hanks. I had to let him go, but he’ll be easier to find than Gallo. I’ve just been on the phone with a friend in the Bureau and asked him to e-mail me a dossier and any records of Hanks’s relationship with a John Gallo.”

“Hanks said he didn’t know where Gallo is.”

“Even if it’s true, he’s been with Gallo for years. I might be able to trace, connect, and reach a possible destination.”

“I’d think Judy Clark would be a better source.”

“Then you go in that direction. She’s very loyal and fierce about Gallo. I’d rather deal with Hanks.”

Catherine smiled and nodded. “A regular pepper pot.”

“He seems to have a way with the ladies,” Joe said dryly.

“Judy didn’t impress me as being able to be swayed by charm. Neither is Eve. It could be they’re seeing something there that we can’t.”

He finished his coffee and threw the cup in the waste container. “You’ll have to tell me whether they’re right when you meet him.” He started down the aisle toward Eve.

Catherine watched him sit down beside Eve and fasten his seat belt. Eve smiled slightly, then looked back out the window, where the purple clouds were being touched with the gold of dawn.

Yes, Eve was definitely quiet and a little remote, Catherine thought. Eve was thinking, weighing, and feeling very much alone.

That could be dangerous.

*   *   *

WHEN THEY REACHED ATLANTA,
Catherine walked Eve and Joe to their rental car before getting back on the jet to be flown home to Kentucky. She fell back with Eve as Joe went around the car to get into the driver’s seat.

“If you need me, call me,” she said quietly. “I’m here for you no matter what. I may argue with you, but in the end I’ll do whatever you want me to do. That’s what friends are all about. Don’t close me out.”

“I know you and Joe want the best for me.”

“You’re thinking of us as a team. We worked together because it was necessary.” She made a face. “And because a lot of the time we think alike. But we’re not joined at the hip. Remember that, Eve.”

“I will.” She opened the passenger door. “Have a good trip home, Catherine.”

“I’ll be placing a few calls to Venable and seeing if I can get a handle on where to find Hanks and Judy Clark.” She gave Eve a hug and looked at Joe as he started the car. “Take care of that arm, Joe.”

“Right, say hello to Luke for me.”

“If I can tear him away from the
Lost Cities of the Ancient World.
Since he found that book, he’s been glued to it.” She stepped back. “I think he may be planning on finding a couple of them. Luke is so independent, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a plan together and took off on his own. But I’m going to work at it and make sure he includes me in that expedition. That may be my chance at bonding.” She turned back to the plane. “I’ll call you if I find out anything from Venable.”

Eve watched her as Catherine climbed the steps and boarded. Then she glanced at Joe. “She’s already in work mode again.”

Joe shrugged. “She’s CIA. And she has a personal interest. I’m glad to have her on board.”

She smiled faintly. “Because you think alike.”

“Yeah.” He drove out of the airport lot onto the street. “With some exceptions. She’s more inclined to giving the benefit of the doubt.”

He was talking about John Gallo.

She didn’t answer. It was difficult defending John, and she was too tired and drained to make the attempt.

She turned away and watched the skyscrapers and domes of the great city flow by the window.

*   *   *

“WHY DON’T YOU TAKE A NAP?”
Joe asked Eve as he unlocked the door of the cottage. “You didn’t sleep on the plane at all.”