Dark Tribute--An Eve Duncan Novel

by Iris Johansen

  Shock after shock. Don’t believe him. He only wants to hurt me. No proof. “Another lie,” she said unsteadily. “You don’t have Joe.”

  He sighed. “Oh, but I do. I’m tempted to make him scream for you, but as I said, he’s tough. It might take too much of my time, and I don’t want to upset you … yet. I suppose you’ll have to see for yourself. I need a minute to display him properly. I’ll call you back on FaceTime.” He cut the connection.

  Cara pressed the disconnect. “He sounded so certain, Jock,” she said numbly. “What if he does have him? And he said something about a bullet…”

  “Don’t panic until you know for sure. Then we’ll deal with it.”

  Her gaze flew to his face. “But you think it might be true?”

  “I think he knows more than I’d like him to know about Joe’s reactions.”

  And Cara had thought the same thing. “But he’s researched him, he’d know what—”

  Her phone was ringing again. Jock pulled off the road and stopped the car.

  She quickly punched the access. A request for FaceTime. She punched the accept button.

  “That’s right,” Svardak said. “Now let me point my phone at your dear guardian. Are you ready, Cara?”

  No, she wasn’t ready. She was terrified.

  “Well, I’m ready,” Svardak murmured. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.” He swung the camera toward a chair across the room. “Don’t be rude, Quinn. Say hello to her.”

  Joe!

  Her heart lurched. She felt sick.

  Blood. Joe was bleeding, and he was so pale. He was handcuffed and tied to a chair across the room. “Joe.” She swallowed. “How badly has he hurt you?”

  “Minor,” he said curtly. “I’ll be okay. Don’t let him use me against you. Do you understand? That will be what he wants. Don’t let him have it.”

  “But she’ll find that so hard to do,” Svardak said. “He still has the bullet in that wound. I can make it hurt him, Cara. You know how good I am at causing pain.”

  “What do you want from me?” she said unsteadily.

  “I believe you know the answer.” He moved the camera over Joe’s face, then to his bloody shoulder. “I want you. I deserve you. You’re the key to bringing Kaskov to his knees. And I owe you much more pain than I had the opportunity to inflict on you. Quinn is my opportunity to rectify that omission.”

  “You want a trade.”

  “Exactly. You have such a tender heart, and you must realize that you were destined to die. You were tribute. It was only wild chance that allowed you to escape me.”

  “It was also a dagger of glass shoved into your stomach. Does it still hurt?”

  “Yes. And you’ll pay for it.” The camera suddenly was focused again on his own face. “You’ll pay for all of it.” His mouth was tight and ugly. “And Kaskov will watch you do it. I’m going to call him and tell him that the game is on again.”

  “You’re so confident that I’d give my life for Joe? When I don’t even know if you’d keep your word to let him live?”

  “That’s the chance you’ll take. Could you stand the thought if you didn’t take it?”

  “I couldn’t stand the thought that you’d made a fool of me. I wouldn’t let you get hold of me again without getting something in return.” She took a deep breath. “You haven’t won yet, Svardak.”

  “Don’t let him win at all.” It was Joe’s rough voice in the background. “For God’s sake, back off, Cara.”

  “I am backing off,” she said. “Svardak, give me proof that you’ll let Joe live and we’ll talk again. Or let me decide the terms I’ll accept.”

  Silence. “I’m not going to let you dictate to me.” He smiled. “But I find I like the idea of giving you an excruciatingly painful period to dwell on what I intend to do to Quinn. You’re so sensitive that would be a torture in itself. And come to think of it, I suppose I do need a bit of time to arrange to bring in enough guards to keep you from being stolen from me again. That’s never going to happen, Cara. Once I have you, you’re mine. And it will be a long, long time before I decide I’ve had enough.” He added silkily, “Yes, perhaps I’ll see how you feel after twenty-four hours of worrying about what I’m doing to Quinn. I believe you’ll be much more amenable.” He cut the connection.

  “No!” Jock’s voice was clipped, his gaze on her face, as he took the phone out of her clenched hand. “Hell, no.” He took her in his arms. “Don’t even think about it.”

  She clutched frantically at his shoulders. “I have to think about it. I don’t have anything else.” She buried her face in his chest. “It’s Joe. He was … bleeding, Jock.”

  “He said the wound was minor.”

  “He’d say that anyway,” she said shakily. “You know it as well as I do.”

  Jock didn’t deny it. “It could be true. They had him cuffed, they still perceived him as a threat. Svardak had been torturing him, and it hadn’t fazed him.”

  “Stop it.” She pushed back and looked up at him. “I’m imagining enough without you analyzing every detail.”

  “You’re not imagining enough to keep you from jumping in to play Svardak’s dirty game,” he said grimly. “No way. Joe told you to back off. You’re going to do it.”

  “Do you think I want to go back to that monster?” she asked fiercely. “I have you, I have the music, I have family. I won’t let them be taken away from me without a fight.” She swallowed. “But he will make me fight. I could see it. He feels humiliated that I got away from him. He thinks he’s failed his Anna. He’ll want to make it up to her.”

  “He can make it up to her when I send him down to hell to join her,” Jock said. “And I won’t let him touch you.” His hands tightened on her shoulders. “Now stop telling me that you’ll fight to keep him from doing it. Say it’s not going to happen. Say it.”

  She couldn’t say it. She looked up at him. “It’s Joe,” she whispered. “That’s why we’ve got to find a way to bring him home. I have so much to lose. I’ll do anything I can not to let Svardak win.”

  “Joe wouldn’t want this. He told you no.”

  “But he didn’t tell me what to say to Eve and Michael if I let him die,” she said simply.

  He muttered a curse. “Damn you.” Then his hands dropped away from her, and he started the car. “He won’t win. Forget it.” He pulled back on the road. “We have at least twenty-four hours. If it takes longer, we’ll find a way to extend it.”

  “We’re still going to Wheeling?”

  “Until we find somewhere else more likely. Get on the phone and call Eve and see if she can tell us anything more. We need to know everything she knows about where Joe was in those mountains. Maybe we can GPS his phone.” He frowned. “Though I’m sure that Svardak would have destroyed it by now.”

  Cara was already dialing. “I don’t want to do this. Dear God, I’m dreading telling her about Joe.”

  “You’ll have to do it.”

  “Of course. I have to be honest with her. I’d want to know myself even if it terrified me.” And it did terrify her. She was still having trouble keeping from shaking. “Eve has to face the possibility of Joe’s being in danger every time he walks out the door in the morning. It doesn’t make it any easier for her.” She shook her head. “And it doesn’t make it easier for me that I brought this threat to her.”

  “Bullshit. Kaskov hand delivered this one on our doorstep. No one is going to blame you.”

  “The poison was there, but I increased the venom a thousandfold while I was with Svardak. I made him hate me. I just have to find a way to keep it from hurting Joe. I need to—” She broke off as Eve answered the phone. She took a deep breath. “Hi, Eve, Cara. I’m sorry, but I have to ask you a few questions about Joe. When was the last time you talked to him?”

  Silence. “Yesterday evening. I talked to him twice yesterday, but I lost the connection on the first call.” Another silence. “Why are you asking? What the hell is wrong?”<
br />
  She should have known that Eve would pick up on her disturbance immediately. She’d been awkward and stiff, and it had almost spelled out her panic. “Too much. That’s why we have to track him down.” She briefly told her about the call from Svardak. “But we’ll find him, Eve,” she added quickly. “We’re on our way right now. We just have to get some idea where he was traveling.” Eve wasn’t speaking. Cara could sense the terror she was feeling. “Eve?”

  “You bet we’ll find him.” Eve drew a harsh breath. “I’m sorry. Let me pull myself together. What did you ask? You have to know where he said he was when I talked to him? It’s hard to think right now. Saltor, I think he said. He mentioned the Saltor River. And Ruell Falls. And there were several other places … I’ll text you the ones now that I can remember. I’ll call you back with a complete list. I’ll have to go over Michael’s notebook when he gets home from school to make sure I don’t forget any of them.”

  “Michael?”

  “Michael always wants me to tell him where Joe is and what he’s doing. He has a notebook in which he charts where Joe is every day. I think it’s a healthy outlet for him and makes him feel closer to Joe and less worried.”

  “I can see that it would,” Cara said. “When can you call us back? The sooner we get that complete list, the better.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that?” Eve said jerkily. “But I’m not thinking straight. I won’t wait for Kaskov’s guard to bring Michael home after soccer practice. I’ll go pick him up myself as soon as I pack.”

  “Pack?” Cara had been afraid this would be the inevitable result the instant Eve knew Joe was in danger. She could hardly blame her. “You do realize that Jock and I are going to find Joe and bring him home.”

  “I realize you’re going to do everything you can. But you’re not going to do it without me.” She drew a deep, shaky breath. “Look, I have to get moving, and I’m not in great shape right now. As soon as I get off the phone, I have to call Catherine Ling and ask her if she’ll take Michael again. Then I’ll send you that first text before I throw a few things in my duffel. I’ll call you from Michael’s school the minute I pick him up and go over his notes.” She was silent an instant before she added unsteadily, “Maybe not the first minute. I’ve got to tell him about Joe.” Then she cleared her throat. “But right after that, I’ll be in touch, Cara. I promise.” She cut the connection.

  “Okay?” Jock asked, his gaze on her face as she put down her cell.

  Cara slowly shook her head. “No.” There was nothing okay about any single part of this, and Eve was already being hurt in all kinds of ways. The sound of her voice before she’d hung up had almost broken Cara’s heart. “How on earth is she going to tell Michael?”

  * * *

  How was she going to tell Michael? Eve asked herself for the hundredth time as she drove into the athletic parking lot two hours later. The tension was causing the muscles of her back to lock at the mere thought. Or maybe it wasn’t the dread of telling Michael about his father but just the sheer terror she was feeling about Joe. It was hard to separate her feelings when they were all the stuff of nightmares.

  Stop whining. Just do what has to be done.

  She parked her car beside the blue Subaru where Kaskov’s guard was sitting waiting for Michael to finish his practice. Cheknof nodded politely but didn’t roll down the window. Evidently, both guards had orders to be virtually invisible and seldom spoke. That was fine; all she cared about was that one of them was always with Michael. Cheknof would never leave the parking lot of Michael’s school until he brought her son home. She supposed should have remembered to call him to tell him she’d be here to pick up her son, but that had been the last thing on her mind after Cara’s call.

  And she wasn’t about to worry about it now. Her gaze was focused on the soccer field and the boys in their navy-and-gold uniforms. She had to find Michael and get through that dreaded talk without breaking down.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Quinn.” Coach Eastman was striding across the field, his brown face lit with a warm smile. “It’s good to see you. Beautiful day, isn’t it? What can I do for you?”

  She forced a smile. “Beautiful. I just came by to pick up Michael. I’m afraid we’ve had an emergency, and he has to leave early.” Her gaze was back searching the field. “I don’t see him. Where is he?”

  “What?” The coach frowned. “There must be a mistake.” He checked his clipboard. “Michael was never here today. He’s on the absentee roster. Maybe another of his relatives picked him up. Mix-ups happen when there’s an emergency.”

  Eve froze. “Not here? Yes, definitely a mistake. He has to be here.” Her gaze was frantically searching the young boys on the field. No copper-haired Michael running toward her. “Call the office. Only one person had my official permission to pick up my son, and he’s sitting in the parking lot waiting for him. There was no mix-up.”

  “I’ll call right away.” Eastman was punching numbers. “But I’m certain we’ll find there’s an explanation. It’s not as if Michael is ever a problem.”

  An explanation. But the only explanation that was occurring to her was causing her to shake with terror. Svardak. First, Joe. Now, Michael. Two people who were the center of Eve’s life and who Cara also considered as beloved family. The bastard would consider it a coup to take not only Joe, but his son from both of them. “Yes, you check.” She turned and started to run. “Come to the parking lot when you finish.”

  She tore across the field. It didn’t have to be Svardak, she told herself desperately. Yes, he’d regard it as a double triumph, but it would be difficult to coordinate taking her son as well as Joe. Perhaps it would be too difficult from where he was in the mountains. Hope, and look in another direction.

  She skidded to a stop in front of the Subaru. “Get out of that car, Cheknof. Now.”

  Cheknof hesitated, then got out of the driver’s seat. He was a bearded young man who had the strength and build of a wrestler. But he was looking at her warily. She couldn’t blame him. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and the wildness pounding through her. She probably looked as fierce as she felt. “You have a problem?” he asked.

  “You may have the problem. Where is my son?”

  He stiffened. “Soccer.” He nodded at the field. “I wait for him.”

  “He’s not there. His coach said that he hasn’t been at school all day. What did you do to him?”

  His eyes widened in alarm. “I did nothing. I did what I always do. I let him out at the front door, then waited outside. He knows to call me if there is a problem. He told me to pick him up here at the soccer field.”

  “And he didn’t call you?”

  He shook his head. “I stayed here. I watched all entrances. I did nothing wrong.”

  She reached for her phone to make the call she should have made if she hadn’t gone into a tailspin. She punched in Michael’s number.

  Answer me.

  Five rings.

  No answer.

  It went to voice mail.

  The panic was tearing through her.

  Her eyes were blazing as she looked back at Cheknof. “Last chance. Tell me who paid you. Tell me what happened to my son.” She started to dial. “Or I won’t be the one to whom you’ll have to answer.”

  “Who are you calling?” Cheknof’s scowl was menacing. He took a step toward her. “Hang up that phone.”

  “The hell I will.” The phone was ringing, but she took a step backward as Cheknof took another step forward. “Tell me what happened to Michael.”

  “You will not tell Nikolai I did not do my duty.”

  “No, not Nikolai, Kaskov.” She held up her hand as the cell call was answered. “And you stop right there, Cheknof. He’s on the line.”

  “What are you doing, Eve?” Kaskov asked curtly. “I answered your call because Gavin just phoned and told me about Joe Quinn. But now it sounds as if you’re using me. I don’t permit that from anyone.”

  “
Too bad. I am using you, and I might not have to do it if you didn’t hire scumbags who would sell anyone to the highest bidder.”

  Silence. “I believe that you might be referring to one or two of my employees who I sent to you at Cara’s request. You’re finding them unacceptable? What did they do?”

  “Michael’s gone,” she said harshly. “I thought at first it might be Svardak, but it would be difficult for him to pull off without help. And you supplied me with two dirtbag criminals who I’m sure would fill his bill.”

  “Don’t be rude. You’re making assumptions. To which dirtbag are you referring?”

  “Cheknof was on guard.”

  “And he was the one you were telling to stop when I answered the phone. Stop what?”

  “Mayhem. Murder. Whatever he could get away with. Tell him to give me back my son.”

  “Speaks the ferocious mama bear. I’m sure he’s already intimidated, but I’ll speak to him. Give him the phone.”

  She took the phone to Cheknof and handed it to him. “Kaskov,” she said curtly. “Talk to him.”

  He was still scowling with menace as he took the phone. But he was actually pale, and his hand was shaking, she noticed, as Russian words began to tumble from his lips. The power Kaskov wielded was blatantly evident.

  She stood there, tense, glaring at him, waiting as Cheknof stuttered and mumbled his way through the conversation. Then he sighed with relief and thrust the phone back at her. “You should not have done that. I told you I would never betray him.”

  She knew he was talking about Kaskov and not her son. But she hoped it would come down to the same thing. She lifted the phone to her ear. “He’s looking too relieved. What if he’s lying to you?”

  “He’s not lying. He knows that’s not safe, and he has a good sense of self-preservation.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” she said dryly. “He was ready to murder me to keep me from unleashing Nikolai on him.”

  “You made a mistake threatening him. You should have called me right away.”