Dark Tribute--An Eve Duncan Novel

by Iris Johansen

  “He’ll kill me,” Edding said flatly. “Svardak doesn’t fool around. He’ll tell Abrams to get rid of me.”

  “Not if you handle it right,” Jock said. “And you will handle it right. Or you won’t have to worry about Svardak or Abrams. I’ll get rid of you for them.”

  “I might as well let you do it,” Edding said glumly. “You’re as bad as Svardak. Either way, I’m dead.”

  “It depends on what you want to go through before you reach that point,” Jock said. “I don’t promise to keep you alive, but we’ll have to take those manacles off you when you meet with Abrams. That will give you a chance to cut and run while you’re on your way to Svardak’s hideout. Who knows? We might be too busy to come after you.”

  “I won’t get that far,” Edding said. “I was safe until you had me threaten Svardak. Now he’ll just send Abrams after me to shut me up.”

  Jock shook his head. “Not after you make the second call. Not if you tell him that you’ve written all the dirty details down and sent it to a friend in Nassau with instructions to FedEx it to the interested parties in case Svardak doesn’t help you.”

  “Threats and blackmail? He’ll still kill me. He’ll just torture me first to find out where I sent the info.”

  Jock nodded. “Probably. But the chances are Svardak will tell Abrams to bring you to him so that he can share the enjoyment of tearing you apart. That will give me what I need and you an opportunity.”

  Edding hesitated, staring at him. Then he said belligerently, “I can tell you need this. Give me enough money to get me out of the country, and I’ll do it.”

  “Wrong move,” Jock said quietly. “You’ll do it because I’ll make certain the pain doesn’t stop until you do. I’m very good with pain, Edding. I’ve been taught by experts.”

  Edding’s face turned pale as he met Jock’s eyes.

  “No, Jock,” Cara said.

  “It’s his call.” She could see the icy stillness in his face. “He will do it, Cara. Don’t interfere.”

  “Don’t be selfish.” Kaskov was motioning to Nikolai, who was standing by the steps of the helicopter. “Of course he’ll do it. But there’s no use your being greedy about persuading him when he and Nikolai have formed such a close attachment in the last few days. We’ll give Edding a little while to think about it. And then you can join them and listen to his chat with Abrams if you like.”

  “You’re giving me permission?” Jock asked mockingly.

  The ice was still there but now aimed at Kaskov, Cara thought, which was infinitely worse.

  Edding obviously didn’t agree, he was almost eagerly turning from Jock and letting Nikolai lead him away. Evidently, he was grateful to no longer have Jock’s attention.

  “You see?” Kaskov smiled. “Nikolai will do a much better job convincing him that he might have a chance to survive if you’re not in charge. You’re far too intimidating. Give him thirty minutes.”

  “And Nikolai is not intimidating?” Jock was relaxing the slightest bit. “Perhaps not compared to you. But against anyone else, I think he’d pass.”

  “True. Because unfortunately he’s had to smother his natural instincts. Life does that sometimes. Nikolai has a gentle soul.” His gaze shifted to Cara. “Like our Cara. And not at all like either of us, Gavin. I don’t believe she likes it when we show her glimpses of who we are. She finds it upsetting.”

  “I do find it upsetting,” she said coolly. “I hate it. But speak for yourself. Jock is nothing like you. And I can smother my instincts if I have to do it.” She repeated his words. “Life does that sometimes.” She turned to Jock. “And you will not tell me not to interfere. This is about Joe, and it’s about you. I’ll never stay out of anything concerning either of you.”

  Kaskov chuckled. “Besides the fact that she’s obviously irritated that I indicated we belong to the same brotherhood. You should have caught that instead of being so single-minded about Edding.” He turned away. “I’ll leave you to make amends while I go to see that Nikolai doesn’t get too enthusiastic to please me.”

  Cara watched him stroll away before she glanced at Jock. “He’s right, it made me angry to see you together,” she said curtly. “It reminded me that you consider yourself as much a killer as he is. You’re not anything of the sort, and I won’t let you believe it. That would mean I’d lose you, and that’s not going to happen.”

  “No, I don’t think it will,” he said quietly. “I’m too far gone to let you go now. Though someday you may realize losing me could be the best thing for you.” He smiled crookedly. “Actually, seeing Kaskov and me together might be a teaching moment.”

  “No, it won’t. He might be my grandfather, but I barely know him, and I never had him to lose.” She drew a deep breath. “But he’s here and he’s helping in his own fairly lethal way and I have to put up with him. So go and make certain that Edding survives both of you and that I can get Joe back. Because I could lose him.” She took out her phone and turned away. “While I call Eve and see what’s happening with her. She should be about halfway to those lakes by now.” She looked back at Jock. “It sounded as if it might work. What do you think?”

  “It depends if I’m right about Svardak’s wanting to punish Edding himself. If he does, then we have a good chance. If he doesn’t, then it will be more difficult.” He shrugged. “But by all means call Eve and let her know that there’s another option in the works besides Michael. I could tell she was barely able to hold it together when she and Michael got in that car.”

  “She’ll hold it together.” She was dialing as she walked away from him. “I’m not the only one who has Joe to lose…”

  * * *

  “Okay, Mom?” Michael was staring gravely at Eve as she pressed the disconnect after talking to Cara. “It didn’t sound as if anything bad was happening.”

  “No, kind of a holding pattern I think. Jock thinks that they might be able to track Svardak through one of his men.”

  “That would be good.” He leaned his head back on his headrest, his eyes on the distant mountains. “And Jock would be careful so that Svardak wouldn’t know he might lose Dad. That can’t happen.”

  She stiffened. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because he wants to kill him. He knows that it would hurt Cara. The only thing that’s keeping him from doing it is that he thinks he can still get Cara by keeping him alive.”

  She drew a harsh breath. “You found all that out just by being in the same room with him?”

  “He was hurting Dad. He was hurting me. It was all there in front of me. I told you that’s why I had to stay with him.”

  “Yes, you did. Just not in detail.” She had to ask him. “You said you’d know if Svardak was hurting your dad. You would have told me?”

  He nodded. “He didn’t do anything more to him.” He paused. “But he didn’t wake up.”

  She inhaled sharply. “What?”

  “He’s not dead,” he said quickly. “That man, Abrams, might have done something, but I don’t think … Dad’s feeling hot, and his wound is hurting.”

  “Fever,” Eve whispered. “Infection.”

  He nodded. “I guess it might be. Svardak had his nail digging in that wound.”

  She shuddered at the vision those words brought. “We have to get him out of there.” But they weren’t even sure where Svardak was keeping Joe. She could only pray that Jock and Cara could move fast enough to locate him if they failed to do it.

  “How long will it be before we get to Lake Kedrow?” Michael asked.

  She glanced at the GPS. “About an hour and a half. But Hunter’s Lake is thirty minutes closer than Kedrow.”

  “I’m sorry that I couldn’t help more,” Michael said. “I should have been able to do this better. What if I’m wrong?”

  “Don’t say that,” she said. “Do you believe you’re wrong?”

  “No.”

  “Then I trust you, and you’ll have to trust me. There has to be a reason that you
were able to reach out to your dad. That means that it has to be a way to save him.” She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. Everything he’d said to her had frightened her. But in a world that had given her Bonnie, then Michael, she had to believe that Joe would not be taken from her. Not when they needed him so desperately. “This is alien territory for both of us. It will only work out if we do it together. Okay?”

  “Sure.” Michael’s smile was gently luminous. “Okay.” He leaned back and gazed out the window at the mountains again. “Together.”

  * * *

  Darkness …

  No, not complete darkness, Joe thought hazily. There was a warm, golden cast that lightened it to the shade of deepest honey.

  “Wake up, Dad. Mom got really scared when I told her that you weren’t awake yet. I need to tell her you’ve come back.”

  Michael …

  He stiffened.

  Michael shouldn’t be here. Svardak! He struggled to open his eyes, to tell him to get out of here. He couldn’t do either, dammit. And he’d been talking about Eve. Did that mean Eve was here, too? God in heaven, she must not—

  “Mom’s not here,” Michael said. “I guess I’m not really here either.” He thought about it. “Yes, I am, but I’m in your head. Is that all right?”

  “No, it probably means I’m going a little crazy. Or maybe it’s okay if neither you nor Eve is here. You’re sure she’s not here?”

  “I’m sure. Right now she’s driving us to try to find the lake you were standing beside before you came to this place.” He paused. “But I wish you’d show it to me again. We have to find it right away, Dad.”

  “Too tired.”

  “That’s because you have a fever. But we really have to know. What’s the name of the lake?”

  “It doesn’t matter … I shouldn’t even be talking. They’ll hear and come back and find you.”

  “You’re not talking. No one can hear you, but me. Isn’t that cool?”

  “Very cool.” He could feel himself smiling. Michael always thought that anything new and different was cool. It was one of the things he loved most about his son. Every day was a new discovery waiting to happen.

  “But every day is like that for you, too, Dad,” Michael said. “You taught me that I could learn to do anything, be anything if I stayed open to everything around me. That was pretty cool, too.”

  “But I don’t believe I taught you to do this.” Joe was attempting to break through the haze that kept ebbing and flowing around him. “Or maybe Eve did? This is a dream, isn’t it?”

  “Sort of. But it’s the kind that can help you. We have to get you out of here. They’re … hurting you.”

  “Are you crying, Michael? You never cry.”

  “I never saw anybody hurt you before. It mustn’t happen again, Dad.”

  “I’ll try to oblige you. However, there are … a few roadblocks that might appear … on the horizon.” He paused. Everything around him was strange and disjointed and he wasn’t sure what was happening, but he could sense his son’s worry and unhappiness. Why couldn’t he help him? He’d always been able to help or guide Michael. But if he couldn’t help him, he had to get him away from any threat. “I think it might be … a good idea if you left here. I’ll be fine. You know I’m always fine.”

  “Yes, I know that.” He cleared his throat. “But let us help you this time. All we need to know is a couple things; and then I’ll get out of here. Okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay. I think I hear Abrams and Svardak outside. I want you out of here now.”

  “I tell you that it won’t make any difference.” He paused. “But if you hear them, then you must be pretty close to waking up. Will you open your eyes and let me see everything that you’re seeing, hear everything you do?”

  “Too hard…”

  “Nothing is too hard for you. We need it, Dad.”

  Then, of course, he had to give it to them. He had to give them everything they needed. Concentrate. Get rid of that damn cloudy mist, banish the searing heat that was scorching his body. He couldn’t do it for long, but Michael needed it …

  He struggled to open his eyes. So damn hard …

  Once …

  Twice …

  “You’re going to owe me for this, Michael.”

  “I do owe you. For everything. Just a little more…”

  And then his eyes were open, and the room was swimming before them. “Not worth it. Not much to see here.” He could hear Svardak’s and Abram’s voices humming like bees in the background. “Enough?”

  “Give me another minute.”

  “Too long.”

  “I might have enough. That door over there … And are those handcuffs like the ones you usually use?”

  “Close enough. Go away, Michael.” His lids were shutting again. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but keep your mother out of it. I told you to take care of her.”

  “I’m trying. Things happened.”

  “Don’t try, do it.”

  “Yes, Dad. But it will be easier when you come home, so we have to find a way for you to do it. You work on it, and I will, too. You just rest, and I’ll see you soon…”

  The darkness was no longer dark honey but a deeper black now. Michael was gone. It was good that he was no longer here, he thought. There was danger, and Joe still couldn’t be sure that it had only been a dream and not reality.

  But now Michael was safe again because only the memory and the loneliness remained with Joe …

  * * *

  “Mom.”

  “We’re almost there, Michael,” Eve said without looking at him. “Maybe another ten minutes until we get to Hunter’s Lake. You were so quiet, I thought you’d nodded off to sleep.” She glanced at him. “Is that what—” She broke off as she saw his expression. “Michael?” She reached out tentatively and touched his tear-wet cheek. Tears? She couldn’t remember the last time Michael had cried. But now everything in the world had changed. She froze. “What’s wrong? What happened? Is it your dad? Is he—”

  “No,” Michael said quickly. “He’s still sick, but he woke up for a few minutes. And no one is hurting him.”

  Relief flooded her. “Thank God.” She drew a deep breath. “You scared me.”

  He nodded. “I know you’ve been afraid. That’s why I had to try to make it better for you. We had to know about him. I thought I could do it.” He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hands. “And I did do it, but I’m not used to Dad’s being sick. I wanted to let him rest, but we had to know stuff and he had to tell—”

  “Michael, slow down.” She pulled over to the side of the road. “First, I’m going to assume that my speech about doing everything together fell on deaf ears?”

  “You were so scared, I could feel it. I thought if I’d reached him before, that I’d probably be even better at it now and I’d be able to—”

  “But you didn’t expect that seeing your dad sick would throw you for a loop,” she interrupted. She had to know the worst about Joe. “Skip to the chase. How sick is he?”

  “I don’t know. It’s the fever, like we thought. He was burning up, and he couldn’t think straight. I tried to tell him what I was doing there, but he couldn’t understand.”

  “What a surprise,” she said unsteadily. “He’s burning up with fever, and you expect him to comprehend that you’ve dropped in to pay him a visit that’s purely psychic in nature. Not to mention that he has no idea you’re even capable of it? It was hard for me to handle, and I had all my senses.”

  “I think he still knew what I was talking about part of the time. He’s so smart, Mom.” His eyes were glistening with tears again. “And all I had to do was tell him that we needed him, and he did what I asked.”

  “Yes, I can see how he would.” Keep control. Michael was upset enough. “What did you ask him? Something about the lake?”

  “I asked him the name, but he didn’t answer me. He only wanted me to go away because he was afraid Svardak
would know I was there. He didn’t understand that it wouldn’t— And he kept talking about taking care of you and how I had to leave.” He stopped. “So I knew I had to find out another way. I asked him to wake up so that I could see what he saw.” He swallowed. “It was so hard for him, Mom. I hated it.”

  “Then make it worth what he went through to give it to you.” She paused. “Tell me it was worthwhile?”

  “I think so. I thought there might be a photo of the lake somewhere in the room with a name, but there wasn’t. But there was another photo that was on the desk of a man in a brown uniform with an older man and woman standing on either side of him. They looked happy and kind of proud. Like you do when I do something good in soccer.” He was frowning with concentration. “And I found out about the cross. It was on the glass door leading out to the porch. It was a red cross with black letters, and below it said Officially Certified Facility.”

  “Red Cross,” Eve said. “Facility.” She could feel the excitement start to simmer. “And that’s where they’re keeping Joe?”

  “A hospital?”

  “Maybe. But in the wilderness it would more likely be a mobile facility like the ones the Red Cross uses in disasters.”

  He shook his head. “On the news they look all small and cramped. The room where they’re holding Dad didn’t look like that. There was even a leather couch.”

  “What else?”

  “Just the photo.” He had another thought. “And a map on the wall with bears all over it.”

  “Bears,” Eve murmured. “Not exactly the usual decorative accessory for a Red Cross facility. Anything else?”

  “I asked about his handcuffs, and he said they were kind of like his, so you’ll probably know how to get them open. But I didn’t notice anything else in that room. Nothing that he saw. But he heard Svardak and Abrams talking out on the porch, that’s why he wanted me to go. They were still talking when Dad woke for those couple minutes.”