Quicksand (27 page)

Agonizing pain as his hand shattered as it moved toward the trigger.

He was shot, he realized incredulously.

He stared in disbelief at Eve Duncan standing a few feet away, pointing a Magnum at him. The bitch had shot him!

Another blast of pain as another bullet tore into his arm.

His rifle dropped to the ground.

No!

He dove to get it.

Pain in his back. She'd shot him again.

"Bitch," he screamed. "You can't do this to me."

"Yes, I can." She was coming toward him. Her face was hard and totally without mercy. With her toe she pushed him from the bank and into the water. "Ask Bobby Joe and Laura Ann. Ask all of those children you buried on this island. Ask my Bonnie." He was sputtering, water in his eyes and his throat, pain wracking his body. "I'll get away. You can't stop me." He started to swim with his good arm. "I'll come back. I'll kill you all. No one can stop me."

"You're wrong." He looked back to see her standing on the bank, gun lifted, pointing at his head. "I can stop you." Her finger was slowly pressing the trigger. "Ask the alligators, Kistle." His head exploded as the bullet shattered his skull.

EVE DROPPED THE GUN AND SANK
to the ground. She felt cold and she couldn't take her gaze from the place where Kistle had disappeared under the water.

She had killed him and was feeling no remorse. All those children, all the cruelty and savagery that he had let loose in the world. She would call Joe's cell in a minute and tell him what had happened, but first she had to pull herself together.

Even after making the call, she couldn't seem to stop staring at the water. Joe jumped onto the bank from Montalvo's boat ten minutes later. "Go on," he told Montalvo.

"Get the kid and Miguel back to the dock. I'll take care of Eve."

"She seems to take fine care of herself." Montalvo turned the boat. "But I envy you the opportunity."

Joe didn't answer as he fell to his knees beside Eve. "You've got blood on your jacket. You didn't mention you were hurt."

She shook her head. "No. He shot me, but he made sure it was a flesh wound." She smiled crookedly. "He wanted to make certain that it wouldn't interfere with what he planned for me later." Her stare shifted back to the water. "I killed him. I don't regret it. Monsters like him shouldn't be permitted to live."

"You're right, I'm just sorry that it had to be you who did it." Joe took her in his arms. "I'm still a little wet, but I want to hold you. Okay?"

He was damp, but his skin was warm from the hot summer breeze and she nestled closer. She needed warmth right now. "Megan was right. I saw the graves. So many . . ." He was stroking her hair. "Bonnie?"

"He said that she wasn't there." She closed her eyes. "I don't know, Joe. He lies . . ." No, it was past tense now. He was dead. She had killed him. "I could never trust anything he told me. He wanted to hurt me, to make me think I'd failed again."

"You didn't fail. Laura Ann is safe."

"Yes, she's safe." Her eyes opened. She had to think of that one true positive. No, there was another one. Kistle would never be able to kill another child. "We should get back to Megan."

"Did she bandage your shoulder?"

"No, when I went to the boat to get your gun she was sitting there like a statue. I couldn't get her to answer me. I don't believe she even knew I was there. I just put a bandage on the wound and took off. I had to find Kistle." She pushed him away and stood up. "I have to get back to her. I have to make sure she's all right."

Joe got to his feet. "She was probably safer than any of us, staying in the boat." Eve shook her head as she remembered Megan's face that last moment before she had gone after Kistle. "I wish I could be sure of that."

EVE'S FIRST THOUGHT WAS
that Kistle had somehow found the boat and killed Megan. Megan was no longer sitting upright but lying huddled beside the seat.

"No sign of a wound. But she's unconscious." Eve checked Megan's pulse. "She's ice-cold and her pulse is thready."

"Shock." Joe jumped into the boat. "We've got to get her back to the dock. Was she this bad before?"

"After Bobby Joe?" She shook her head. "I don't think so. This is . . ." She didn't know what it was. But Megan's almost coma-like state was scaring her. "She kept saying there were too many. I saw what it was doing to her. I made her come to the island anyway."

"Stop the guilt trip," Joe said curtly. "She came because she thought she should do it. She's a strong woman and you wouldn't have been able to browbeat her into doing anything. It's done and we have to do damage control. At least she doesn't have a bullet in her like you do."

"Small favors," Eve said wearily. "It wasn't her war. Though she still looks in worse shape than I feel. We don't even have anything to drink or blankets to cover her to fight that shock."

"It will only be twenty or thirty minutes back to the dock. As soon as we get under way, we need to call Phillip Blair and have him have an ambulance at the dock when we arrive." He cast off. "Can you drive the boat?"

She nodded. "This wound is barely a scratch."

"Then change places. I'll hold her and try to give her my body heat." He took off his shirt and drew Megan to him. "You always said I was a furnace."

"Yes, you are." Eve started to back the boat away from the island. "But I wasn't sure you'd want to share anything with her."

"Then you were wrong," he said shortly. "I'm not sure what the hell went on with her tonight, but I know what she did was for you, not herself. I don't want her checking out and making the nightmare any worse for all of us."

Checking out. Surely Megan wouldn't die because of this night. But what did Eve know about the trauma the other woman had suffered? There was no doubt Megan Blair was in dire straits and people did die of shock.

She looked back at the island where all those children had met their end. Had Kistle lied again? Was Bonnie one of those children buried there? One of the voices that had sent Megan spiraling downward until she crashed and splintered? She didn't know, but she knew that Megan needed more than body heat and the medical care that waited for her on the dock.
I don't know if you're there, Bonnie. If you are, then you know Megan tried to help you. Or
maybe you're not there but the others are holding on to Megan. Things were terrible there on
the island and everyone was hurting, so maybe you don't realize that you're taking Megan
with you. Let her go now
.

Help her
.

SIXTEEN

PHILLIP BLAIR WAS WAITING
when they arrived back at the dock.

His fists clenched when he saw Megan.

"My God," he said unsteadily. "What the hell have you done to her?" He held out his arms as Joe carried Megan from the boat. "Give her to me."

"Where's the ambulance?"

"It should be here any minute. Give her to me."

Joe transferred her to Phillip's embrace. "It's shock. She wasn't wounded."

"Maybe not physically. How do you know what you did to her? My wife spent years in an institution fighting those damn voices. And you made Megan go searching for them. I told you to take care of her."

"We didn't make her go," Joe said.

"Yes, we did." Eve got out of the boat. "No,
I
did. I didn't force her, but I used every way I could to persuade her. I wouldn't take no for an answer." She stood before Phillip. "So if you want to blame someone, blame me."

"I do blame you." He looked at the blood soaking her shoulder. "But Megan wouldn't blame you. She'd want to fix your damn arm." He turned away. "So you'd better come along to the hospital with us."

"HOW ARE YOU?" MONTALVO MET
Eve as she was coming out of the emergency room.

"Any problems?"

"No, they cleaned it, bandaged it, and sent me on my way. After telling me that I had to make a report to the police department because it was a gunshot wound. How is Laura Ann? They told me she was in a room down the hall."

"Bruises, scratches, and hungry. The bastard didn't feed her." He smiled. "But she felt much better after she talked to her mother on the phone. She's on the road now, driving down to pick up her daughter."

"That's good. After what Laura Ann has been through, she'll need her mother close for a while."

"Right now Miguel seems to be filling the maternal role. She won't let him out of her sight."

"How are his hands?"

"Bad. The stitches are torn out and he's having to have shots to fight infection from that swamp water. We'll have to start all over."

"That's too bad. But he did save that little girl. I don't think he could have made any other choice."

"No. And they seem to have formed a bond dangling in that tree over those alligators. He doesn't mind playing surrogate mom for a while and he'll be able to keep the media away from her. They're bound to get the news anytime now that she's been found. Where's Quinn?"

"He dropped me off and then went directly to the local police department to make a report on Kistle's death and what they're going to find on that island." She shuddered. "I don't even want to think about the scope of that burial ground." But she would think about it for the rest of her life. There would be no forgetting one minute of this night. "I asked him not to mention Megan Blair's part in this. She's been through enough and sure as hell doesn't need the kind of notoriety this would bring her. I don't even know what all this did to her. She's still unconscious and the doctors didn't like her condition when we brought her into the emergency room." She shook her head. "They couldn't understand why they couldn't bring her back. I could tell them why. But they wouldn't believe me." She moved down the hall. "I'm going to her room and stay with her until she regains consciousness." She made a face. "If Phillip Blair will let me near her. He wanted to take a hatchet to all of us when he saw what I did to Megan."

"You didn't do it," Montalvo said.

"Of course I did. I saw what happened to her with Bobby Joe and I went right on. I was willing to put her through that hell. Oh, granted, I didn't know that she wouldn't just be facing one death but all those others." She said unevenly, "But, God help me, I might still have done it. So what kind of ruthless bitch am I?"

"Driven, obsessed, desperate," Montalvo said gently. "And, yes, ruthless. It goes with the territory. But you're also very giving and have moments of being damn wonderful."

"Bullshit."

He smiled. "Go on and start your vigil with Megan. This isn't the time for me to talk to you. But my moment will have to come, Eve."

"No, it doesn't. I don't want to—" She broke off as she looked at him. He was still dirty and bruised and it reminded her of all he had gone through tonight for her and Laura Ann . . . and Bonnie. She nodded slowly as she moved down the hall toward Megan's hospital room. "We'll find a time to talk."

MEGAN'S FACE HAD NO COLOR
and she looked very fragile in the white hospital bed. She was hooked up to an IV.

Phillip Blair was sitting in an upright visitor's chair beside her bed.

"How is she?" Eve asked.

Phillip shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think those doctors know either. We're all just waiting. Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Though I'm surprised you'd ask. You obviously have no kind feelings toward me." She grimaced. "And who could blame you? Certainly not me."

"No, it will take a long time for me to feel anything but resentment toward you. Megan is my family. We've been together since her mother died when she was fifteen." He gave her a cool glance. "I'm very protective of my family."

"And I respect you for it. But you don't have to protect Megan from me right now. All I want to do is stay with her until she wakes."

"Why?"

"Because I like her more than any woman I've met in a long time. Because I hurt her. Because I'm worried sick about her. Is that enough reason?"

He didn't speak for a moment. "Maybe." He nodded at the other visitor's chair. "Sit down." She dropped down in the chair. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I have an ulterior motive. Megan's going to want reassurance when and if she comes out of this. I have to have answers."

"Answers," Eve repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"She was probably very upset before she collapsed?"

"Of course. It was horrible for her."

"And did she touch any of you?"

Eve tried to remember. "I reached out and held her hand at one point. Just for a minute, and then she pulled it away."

Phillip muttered an oath. "Dammit, I knew it would happen. Anything else?" She shook her head. "Joe held her on the way back from the island. She was unconscious and in shock."

He frowned. "I think that's probably all right. No emotional contact."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

He glared at her. "You wouldn't have had to know anything if you hadn't persuaded Megan to go into that swamp."

"Look, she did go, and that's past history. There's nothing I can do about it. Now, why are you on edge about my touching Megan?"

He didn't answer.

"Phillip, I'm exhausted, I'm worried, my nerves are shot, and I've no intention of letting you say something like that and ignoring it. This weird phobia Megan has about touching people has been popping up since I met her. I've hurt her enough tonight. I'm going to know if I somehow managed to accidentally hurt her again."

He looked back at Megan. "She's the only one who has the right to talk about it."

"Tell me, dammit."

He wearily leaned back in his chair. "She wouldn't be the one hurt. It wouldn't matter so much to her if she was the one to take the hit. When she's under extreme emotional tension, it's sometimes dangerous for her to touch anyone."

"How?"

"Megan is not only a Listener. In the last few months she's discovered she has another psychic gift." He smiled sardonically. "Though she thinks of it more as a curse. She found out that she's a Pandora."

"Pandora?"