Silencing Eve

by Iris Johansen

  Move.

  If Margaret was right, Venable might be here and get in her way.

  Harriet had at least an hour head start, but she would not be hiding. She would be going to Driftwood Cottage to accomplish her final act of revenge for Kevin’s death. She had a destination.

  And so did Jane.

  As soon as she reached her car, she pulled out her phone and called Catherine.

  “I’ve been trying to reach you,” Catherine said. “We were worried. You hung up, then there was no answer when I called back later.”

  “Some things were happening. The last thing that I heard you say was that you thought you’d found that Driftwood Cottage. Did you find it?”

  “Yes, we’re on our way there now. We’re about thirty minutes away at a powerboat-rental facility at a town near there. Joe Googled it, and the cottage is on the beach, surrounded by hills, but he says that there’s too much danger of being spotted as you approach the cottage. It’s better that we come in from the sea.”

  “The sea?”

  “That’s what he says. I trust him to know what he’s doing.”

  “Then you’d better hurry. Harriet is on her way, too. And she’s not going to care if Doane spots her coming toward the cottage.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. But she’s wounded. She’s bleeding. I don’t think it’s serious, but it could delay her if she has to stop the bleeding. I can only hope it does.”

  “Wounded?” Catherine was silent. “Jane, what the hell happened?”

  If she told her, it would break the fragile balance. “I’ll tell you later. Look, maybe I’m closer to the cottage than you. Give me the location.” She typed in the location on the GPS. “I am closer. I’ll get on the road right away.”

  “Wait for us. Don’t do anything on your own.”

  “I won’t be on my own.”

  Catherine was silent. “Jane, is everything all right with you? You sound…”

  “Nothing is wrong.” Except that her world had ended. Except that Trevor was in the back of that ambulance and would never come back to her. “I’ll call you when I reach Driftwood Cottage.” She hung up and buried her head on the steering wheel.

  Take just one minute.

  Get control again.

  One more call. She sat up and dialed Venable.

  “You blew it, Jane,” Venable said harshly as he picked up the call. “Stay where you are. I’m coming after you.”

  “I know you are. I don’t care. Shut up a minute. I have to tell you something. Harriet has the detonator. I wasn’t sure before, but I saw her with it. She has it, and she’ll use it.” She paused to steady her voice. “So do whatever you can to locate those devices and defuse them.”

  Silence. “We’ve already located them. They’re in the clock towers as you said. Our flyovers picked up the plutonium signatures. I’ve already got a team headed inside. Very discreetly, as we agreed.” His tone hardened. “But there’s nothing discreet about what happened with you and Harriet Weber tonight.”

  “Forget being discreet. It’s too late for that. By the time they get to those nukes, it will be settled one way or the other.”

  She hung up the phone as he started to fire questions.

  She’d done what she could.

  Now all that was left was getting that detonator away from Harriet and trying to save Eve.

  Hurry.

  Even if Harriet had been delayed by doing first aid on that wound Trevor had inflicted, she was probably close to the cottage now. When she got there, it could be only a matter of minutes until Harriet and Doane decided to make their kills.

  Eve.

  Panic shot through her, piercing the agony.

  Eve could die.

  They were so close to saving her, yet all that bitch, Harriet, had to do was to pull the trigger, and she would die.

  As Trevor had died.

  No, Harriet, not again. Never again.

  Her foot stomped on the accelerator, and the car jumped forward.

  Driftwood Cottage

  “SHE’S NOT HERE.” DOANE’S EYES were glittering with anger as he stormed back into the cottage. “Harriet promised me that she’d be here by this time. The arrogant bitch is probably keeping me waiting on purpose. I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s always played games like that.”

  “You mean she’s not eager to witness the grand execution,” Zander said mockingly. “What an insult to me.”

  “And to you,” Eve said to Doane. “Do I detect a lack of trust?”

  “Shut up, both of you.” He was dialing his phone. “I won’t have her spoiling everything. I’m not going to let her—” He spoke harshly into the phone as she came on the line, “Where the hell are you? I’m not going to wait any longer. You can’t do this to—” He broke off, listening. “I don’t care what happened to you. I don’t believe you anyway. Fifteen minutes. You’d better be here. I won’t wait a minute longer.” He punched his finger savagely down on the disconnect. “Excuses. She said that she’d been hurt and had stopped at an emergency clinic to get the blood stopped. Bullshit.” He headed for the door. “She told me she was nearly here, that she’d just started over the hills. If she’s telling the truth, I should be able to see her headlights from the beach.” He glared at them over his shoulder. “If I don’t see them in ten minutes, I’m coming back here.” He smiled savagely. “And all the bitch will see when she gets here will be two corpses.” The door slammed behind him.

  “I believe it’s time we got out of here,” Zander said. “It appears that Doane isn’t going to wait until Harriet darkens his door.”

  “I got that impression,” Eve said. Her heart was pounding hard. She hadn’t thought she’d be this frightened. She had known this moment was coming. “By all means, if you can pull a rabbit out of your hat and get us free, I’ll be interested to see it.”

  “No rabbit. But you’re in the right ballpark.” His brow was furrowed with concentration. “I’m working on it. These handcuffs aren’t easy with this broken arm.”

  Eve stared at him. “You really think you can pick the lock?”

  “No. Not in a reasonable amount of time, anyway.” Zander shifted, and suddenly both hands popped up in front of him. His left hand was entirely free of the cuff.

  Eve’s eyes widened. “I thought you said—”

  “I didn’t pick it.” He showed her his hand, which looked horribly malformed. “I dislocated my thumb and little finger. It’s something I learned a while back from a very talented escape artist in Thailand who had aspirations to be Houdini.”

  “It looks painful.”

  “Not nearly as painful … as popping them back.” He used his other hand to move his thumb and finger into their joints.

  He winced. “Now for the other one. The right hand is a little more difficult because of the swelling due to the cast on my arm.”

  Eve watched in amazement as he did the dislocation on his other hand and slid off the remaining handcuff. He popped his thumb and finger back, then flexed both hands like a master pianist who had just finished a challenging concerto.

  He grimaced. “Not pleasant. But in my profession, it comes in handy on occasion.”

  “I can imagine.” She pointed down to his leg cuffs. “But I doubt if you can dislocate your toes.”

  “Even if I could, it wouldn’t help. But fortunately I can easily access these locks.”

  Zander reached behind him and yanked sharply on the carpet. It separated from the floor. He felt the underside of the edge and pulled up a single carpet staple, which he proceeded to bend in two places. He inserted it into the lock of his left leg cuff.

  “These look daunting, but larger locks are often easier to pick than smaller ones. More room to work in.” He frowned in concentration. The left cuff fell to the floor. He repeated the motion with the right leg cuff. It was off even faster.

  “Now let’s get you out of these ropes.” He jumped to his feet and ran behind her
chair. He worked at the complicated knots for a moment, then was quickly unwinding the ropes from her body. “Come on.” He grabbed her hand and jerked her to her feet. She almost fell as the blood rushed back to her legs. He grabbed her by the waist and half carried her toward the door. “You’ll be okay in a minute. We’ve got to move. We don’t know how long we have before Doane decides to give up on Harriet.”

  He might have already done that, Eve thought. He had been angry and impatient and ready for the kill. The beach wasn’t that far away from the cottage.

  He might be on the other side of that door with a gun in his hand.

  Oregon Coast

  JOE CUT THE POWERBOAT’S ENGINE and raised his high-powered binoculars toward the shore. “That’s the cottage. We can’t risk taking the boat any closer.”

  Gallo stood up, his gaze on the shore. “We’re still miles away.”

  “If Eve is there, and Doane sees us coming, it’s all over. We can’t risk it.”

  Catherine took the binoculars and looked for herself. “Those objects on the beach … that’s driftwood?”

  Joe nodded. “Some of those pieces are probably ten, twelve feet tall. Amazing, aren’t they?”

  “Disturbing. They look like giant talons clawing up from the sand.”

  Joe pulled a package from a canvas bag and placed it over the side of the boat. He yanked the pull cord and a gray, six-foot raft inflated. He tied the raft to a cleat and started loading weapons into it.

  Gallo studied the raft. “Quinn, I don’t see how there’s room in there for us and all that artillery.”

  “There isn’t. We’re swimming.”

  “Interesting. You’re not joking?”

  “No joke. We’d be too easy to spot in there anyway. I’ll attach a towline to my belt and drag it in. You and Catherine can drag yourselves in.”

  “We weren’t Navy Seals like you, Quinn.”

  Catherine unzipped her jacket to reveal a wet suit that accentuated her sleek, toned figure. “Stop giving him a hard time, Gallo. You swam nearly that far when we were trying to reach that sub off the coast of China.”

  He smiled. “But I had you standing by to aid and assist.”

  “If you think I’m towing you into shore, you’re crazy.”

  “Too bad. It would have been fun. I suppose I can manage it by myself.” Gallo turned toward Joe. “But I have to point out that one phone call from Catherine, and we could have an entire squadron down here backing us up. Providing you want to trust Venable again.”

  “I do not,” Joe said curtly. “We’ve already been down that road. It almost got Eve killed. If you’re not in, Gallo, just stay here. Catherine and I can handle it.”

  “I think you know better than that,” Gallo said quietly. “I felt I had to state the options. It’s too important to rush in because that’s what we want to do. Do you think I don’t feel the same way you do, Quinn?”

  Joe met his eyes. “No, you don’t feel the same. You couldn’t. But I’ll grant that you may feel something approaching it.”

  “I won’t argue with you. I’ve told you how I feel about Eve. She’s my friend and the mother of my child.” Gallo pulled off his shirt and slid into a blue wet-suit top that matched the bottoms he was already wearing. “One way or another, we’re getting her back today.”

  Joe nodded. “Damned right we are.” He finished packing the raft and jumped into the water. He clipped the tether to the belt of his wet suit as Catherine and Gallo joined him. Joe started toward shore with long, powerful strokes. “Let’s go get her.”

  * * *

  “THIS WAY!” ZANDER PULLED Eve left as they hurtled out the cottage’s front door.

  She pointed to a path that extended down the other direction. “That one runs parallel to the beach. I think Doane’s car is—”

  “No cover there. Hurry.”

  They ran up the hill and almost immediately found themselves in the midst of an area populated by tall rock formations. “Do you know where we’re headed?” she whispered.

  “No idea at all. How could I? But if he comes after us, I can take care of him.”

  “Without a weapon?”

  “Hands and mind are weapons. Sometimes conventional weapons only get in the way.”

  “I still like to have them available,” she said dryly.

  “Okay, if you prefer.” Zander moved toward a half-buried chunk of driftwood and tore off one of the branches. He held up the sharp, jagged end, about eighteen inches long, and looked at her questioningly.

  Eve shook her head. “That’s not going to do much good against his gun.”

  “Complaints. Complaints. It’s all we have.” He handed the branch to her. “This one’s yours.”

  “Thanks a lot.”

  He broke off another sharp piece and hefted it. “Let’s get moving.”

  They slid between the rock formations. With each twist and turn, Eve saw more spires of driftwood on the beach below them, looking like a series of insane modern-art sculptures created in a fever dream.

  More like a nightmare.

  She tensed.

  Footsteps were pounding behind them.

  Doane.

  Zander’s head lifted as he listened. “I believe our absence has been noticed,” he murmured.

  The footsteps stopped.

  “Did you think you could get away?” Doane shouted. “I can track you even in the dark. I can feel you, smell you.” More footsteps. “I can’t risk waiting for that bitch, Harriet. It’s time you paid the price. Both of you. Kevin wants his pound of flesh. Kevin’s here, Eve. Can you feel him?”

  She felt that familiar, icy chill run through her.

  Fight it.

  Fight it with everything she had.

  Doane laughed maliciously. “Just like old times, Eve. Me chasing you through the wilderness … But this won’t end as well for you. For either of you.”

  “Don’t listen,” Zander whispered, perhaps sensing how Doane’s words were affecting her. “Keep moving.”

  They crouched low and snaked through the rocks.

  Doane’s voice called out. “You’re going to watch each other die … Just as I planned, just the way it was meant to be.”

  What in hell was he doing with this taunting?

  Of course. He was trying to provoke a response, any response, so that he could zero in on their location. Give him nothing.

  She turned to Zander. “I can try to draw him toward me. If he’s distracted, maybe you can make your way back to him.”

  Zander smiled. “You’re willing to act as bait? Not this time, Eve. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  Her lips twisted. “Bad timing for a tender family moment.”

  “I haven’t had that much experience.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. “So we stick together.”

  Blam!

  A branch exploded next to her head.

  She and Zander ducked as Doane rapidly fired four more shots in their direction.

  They crouched lower and scrambled for a cluster of rocks ten feet ahead.

  Shit. That was too damned close.

  “The only way down is through me,” Doane yelled. “You don’t believe me?”

  She and Zander continued through the rock formations, trying to stay close to the larger ones for cover.

  “I promise you … it’s a dead end. Your choice is a rock wall and a fifty-foot drop that will kill you quicker than I will.”

  Not likely, she thought. Doane had waited too long, and he was hungry.

  She and Zander negotiated the twists and turns of the nature-built maze until she heard another sound ahead. More crashing waves, but these sounded … different. The rock formations abruptly ended, and Zander abruptly blocked her path.

  They were standing on the edge of a sheer cliff. Waves crashed on the rocks below.

  Doane was right. There was no place else to go.

  “I told you so.”

  Eve and Zander whirled around. Doane stood
fifteen feet away, with his gun trained on them.

  He was smiling. “We’re done now,” he said softly.

  “You have no choice now, Zander,” Eve said in a low voice. “There’s a cluster of rocks over there. Get to them and take him down when you can.” She took a step forward so that she blocked Doane’s view of Zander. Think. Use what she knew about Doane. She raised her voice. “Kevin doesn’t want this, Doane. He told me. You’re making a terrible mistake.”

  Doane’s smile faded, his brow furrowing in puzzlement. “What?”

  “You’re right. You were right all along. He does live. He’s with us right now.”

  “You’re lying. Do you think I’m a fool? You’ve never believed me.”

  She’d caught him off guard. Keep his attention focused on her. She didn’t sense any action from Zander behind her, but that meant nothing. He moved like a cat.

  She took another step closer. “I didn’t want to admit it. But how else was I able to reconstruct his face so well? Every blemish, every detail?”

  Doane’s pistol hand was starting to tremble. “It’s what you do. His skull … and the pictures.”

  “Not like that. And I didn’t see the photos until later. You saw what I did. I brought Kevin back. And the only way I was able to do that was for him to work through me. We bonded. We became one. Kevin lives and breathes through me. If you kill me, you’ll be killing him all over again.”

  Doane was sweating. “You’re lying. I was the one he wanted to join with.”

  “You weren’t close enough. I was there, and he reached out and took. That’s what Kevin always did, right? Think about that skull. Think about how much I made it look like Kevin. I’m good, but not that good. Kevin is the only one who could have done that.”

  Doane’s eyes moistened. “Is it true? Kevin…?”

  “Yes. No one is that good.” She raised her hand and touched her chest. “Kevin is here.”

  “He should have waited for me.” His hand tightened on the gun. “If you’re lying, I’ll—” Doane took a step toward her, then froze, his back arching.

  His eyes widened, bulged. “No … you bitch.”

  He coughed. An instant later, blood dripped from his nose and mouth.