Dark Tribute--An Eve Duncan Novel

by Iris Johansen

  “He’s not going to die. Give me a chance. I’ll work it out.” Jock gave her the faintest smile. “I don’t dare do anything else. I promised Cara.”

  “I admit that’s formidable.” She nodded jerkily. “Sorry, I lost it for a minute.”

  “I didn’t notice.”

  “Liar.” She looked back at the house. We’re so close, Joe. Can you feel me here? Just hold on. “Just get out of here and do something to make a difference.”

  “Whatever you say…”

  She didn’t take her eyes away from the house, but she knew he was no longer beside her.

  CHAPTER

  16

  “He looks like death warmed over.” Svardak gazed down at Joe Quinn with immense satisfaction. “At first I thought you might have gone too far, Abrams. I was afraid he might die on us. He might still die, but he’ll linger long enough for me to tear our Cara to pieces.”

  “If he dies, it will be the fever.” Abrams shrugged. “I’ve worked for you long enough to know you don’t tolerate mistakes.” He glanced at the clock. “And isn’t it almost time for you to show her my handiwork? Is that why you’re in here gloating?”

  “I’m not gloating. That will come later. I’m just examining your work. Though I admit that I’m having trouble waiting for her. It’s like a hunger—” He took out his phone. “But you’re right, it’s almost time and it won’t matter if I start the clock a little early.” He started to press the buttons. “Let’s see what she says about your work. I’m eager to—”

  His phone rang, and he smiled as he read the ID. “Ah, it seems our Cara is also eager to see if I’ve damaged Quinn.” He accessed the call and pressed FaceTime. “Hello, Cara. Have you missed me that much? You still have fifteen minutes before you have to bow down to—”

  “Shut up. I need to know if Joe is still alive.”

  “You sound quite desperate,” he said softly. “And there are circles under your eyes. Have you been tearing about the countryside trying to find me? What a pity. Because you didn’t have Quinn or that Gavin who appeared so conveniently on the scene to help you. Stressful.”

  “Is Joe still alive?”

  “Perhaps. But you had no right to expect it. I’m in control now, Cara.”

  “Is he alive?”

  “See for yourself.” He turned the phone toward Joe Quinn. “I’d say the answer is ‘barely.’ What do you think?”

  “My God.” Cara inhaled sharply. She closed her eyes for an instant. “Damn you.” Her eyes were glittering with tears when she opened them. “What did you do to him?”

  “I just amused myself while I was waiting for you to come back to me. Are you ready now?”

  “After … you let him go,” she said hoarsely. “You know my terms. Look what you’ve done to Joe already. Do you actually think I’d be stupid enough to believe that if I showed up on your doorstep, you’d release him? It would be an automatic death sentence for him.” She swallowed. “And you’d win, Svardak. I swore I’d never let you win. You might be able to get your hands on me, but only if you give up Joe.”

  “You stupid bitch.” Svardak could feel the rage sear through him. He knew how stubborn she could be, but he’d hoped against hope that she’d cave when she’d seen what he’d done to Quinn. He wanted this to be over. He wanted her to be back where he’d had her at the canyon. He needed to punish her, hurt her. He needed to see it. “Do you think that I won’t tear him apart? I have won. You just don’t know it yet. I’ll show you that—”

  “Stop ranting, Svardak. You’re boring me. I’ve lost patience with both of you.” Kaskov was roughly pushing Cara aside and taking her phone. “I’ve had enough of this. I’ve wasted entirely too much time on you.”

  “Kaskov?” Svardak stared at him, stunned. But he quickly recovered. “Cara ran to you when she was trying to save Quinn? Well, you couldn’t find me either, could you? All these years, and you’ve never been able to hunt me down. You should have gotten used to it.”

  “Do you think you’re that important to me? I barely know you’re in my world,” Kaskov said. “But lately, you’ve been getting in my way, and it has to end.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “It doesn’t have to be.” Kaskov was silent. “We can negotiate.”

  “Kaskov, what are you saying?” Cara asked incredulously.

  “Be quiet, Cara. You no longer have any say in this. You’re just in the way. Svardak’s cost me time and manpower and money. I’ve been on the hunt for him for years; and then he pops up again when he started to kill those women. How long am I supposed to put up with it? Yes, I could continue indefinitely, but there comes a time to make the deal.” He smiled. “You know a lot about me, don’t you, Svardak? You know I’m primarily a businessman. That’s why I’m successful. I leave passion and revenge to the fools who embrace it. Fortunately for you, you’ve caught me at a time when I need to concentrate on my new deal with Beijing.”

  “What does China have to do with anything?”

  “They believe as I do that business has to be paramount. I’ve been getting rumblings from them that they think me weak for spending so much time on a family matter instead of devoting myself to completing our transaction.” His smile vanished. “I cannot tolerate any rumors to that effect. The tigers are gathering. It would cause me problems on all fronts. I have to show them that I’m neither weak nor dominated by anything but the empire I’ve built for myself during these last decades.”

  “Which will vanish when I kill you. What are you saying?”

  “If you’ll listen instead of threaten, I’ll tell you. You’re not that important. I almost had you at Lost Canyon, but after that I decided to cut my losses. You were obviously going to be a constant headache to me.”

  “Until the day you die.”

  “Or not.” He was silent. “I’m very fond of living. But I might give you something that might satisfy you.”

  “Money?”

  “No, money wouldn’t sway you.” He smiled crookedly. “But what if I give you Cara? After all, she’s my blood.”

  Svardak stiffened in shock. “What?”

  “Why are you surprised? It would be payment for Anna, a way to settle this feud. Feuds are expensive.”

  “Kaskov!” Cara’s voice was shaking. “Why are you doing this? You said that if I came to you, you’d help me.”

  “No, I said I’d let you help me. There’s a difference. Unfortunately, you’re expendable, Cara.” He turned back to Svardak. “Now what about it? It’s clear you have an obsession with her. Neither of us would have a total victory, but there are advantages. If I gave you Cara, you could still keep Quinn to play with until you choose to kill him in front of her. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

  He was silent. “You’d actually do that?”

  “Why are you surprised? You must have researched me enough to find I scarcely know her. It would be no real loss.”

  “And what would you get out of it?”

  “I told you, it would give me exactly what I wanted. No one would ever question that I’d do anything I had to do to get what I wanted, even if it meant sacrificing family. Absolutely no weakness. And a chance to end this nonsense. I’m tired of it. I’m ahead of the game now. You’re the last of the family on my list.” He shrugged. “Of course, you might not be sated with Cara and still go after me later. But I’d still buy some time to finish the Chinese negotiations, which are crucial. And if the solution doesn’t prove effective, I’ll just go after you again, and this time I won’t stop. It will just mean I’ll have to make your end even more painful and bloody.”

  There had to be something wrong here, Svardak thought. Everything Kaskov had said made sense to him considering the bastard’s deadly reputation, but it was definitely suspect. “I could keep Quinn?”

  “Of course. Quinn is a cop, and he’s only a hindrance to me. Enjoy yourself.” His lips twisted. “By the look of him, you already have. Though I have a man who could have done it
better. Do you need any tips about—”

  “No!” Cara cried out as she launched herself and tried to grab the phone away from him. “Shut up! What kind of man are—”

  Her head snapped back as Kaskov’s fist struck her in the face. She staggered back and fell to her knees.

  “You don’t touch me.” Kaskov stood over her, his lips tight, his eyes blazing. “You would have learned respect if I’d had the raising of you. But now it seems Svardak will have that pleasure.” He lifted the phone again. “Yes or no, Svardak.”

  Svardak’s gaze was still on Cara’s shocked face. It had been a hard blow, and he could see the mark of Kaskov’s hand on her cheek. He suddenly wanted it to be his mark on her, and he felt a rush of pleasure and anticipation that was almost erotic. “She looked the same the first time I hit her. I’d almost forgotten … but the blood reminded me.”

  “Yes or no.”

  He couldn’t take his gaze off the blood on Cara’s lower lip. “How would you handle it?”

  “My men are very good at packaging. Tell me where, and I’ll have her delivered.”

  “And scoop me up? I’m no fool.”

  “Kaskov, don’t do this,” Cara pleaded.

  He slapped her again, hard. She fell to the floor.

  “You would be a fool if you didn’t take sufficient care, Svardak,” Kaskov said. “It’s wide-open country here in the mountains. You should be able to find a place that you could make certain you wouldn’t be ambushed.”

  Svardak could see that Cara was having to struggle to sit up. So weak. So pliant to anything he wanted to do to her. He felt another flush of heat twist through him. “Tonight?”

  “If you like, it’s up to you.”

  Yes, it was up to him. The possibilities were making him heady with exhilaration. He was winning, and she could do nothing about it. “I’ll send you the coordinates. Deliver her there in the next two hours. I want her bound and helpless. Do you hear me, Cara? Get ready for the chains again. I’ll have them ready for you.” He cut the connection.

  Abrams was staring at him warily. “There’s a good chance that it’s a trap, you know.”

  “Of course, I know,” he said curtly. “Only an idiot wouldn’t suspect it.” He paused. “On the other hand, Kaskov is a ruthless son of a bitch who might want to rid himself of me in the most convenient method possible. He does think of business first, and I’ve been getting in his way. Cara even told me once that he cared nothing for her. He’s quite capable of trading her for a truce.” He thought about it. “Or risking her neck to make me think he was.” He was staring at the blank screen of his phone. He could still see the image of Cara lying there, weak and in pain. “And Kaskov liked punishing her. I could tell.” Because he felt as if he had been joined with Kaskov in those exquisite moments. “It won’t hurt to play his game and see what happens. It will change nothing. It will only be a delay. I can afford to wait for Kaskov. I’ll send him coordinates to Copper Flats, where I was going to have Cara meet us when she agreed to surrender herself. As long as you’re very careful, there should be no problem.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Too bad. You don’t have to like it.” He was still mentally seeing that delicious drop of blood on Cara’s lower lip as he started to type in Kaskov’s address. “All you have to do is make sure that if a trap is sprung, it won’t be Kaskov’s.”

  * * *

  Oh, shit.

  The muscles of Eve’s stomach clenched as she pressed the device in her ear to turn it off. She should probably continue listening, but she couldn’t do it right now.

  Cara.

  That Svardak call Eve had just monitored had been terrifying … and bewildering.

  And she couldn’t face it alone.

  Her hand was shaking as she dialed Jock.

  He answered on the second ring. “Problem?”

  “Big-time. Can you come back right away? You need to hear this.”

  “Joe?”

  Of course he’d think it was Joe who was threatened. He’d seen how vulnerable he was earlier tonight. “Cara.”

  “I’m on the ridge overlooking the road. It will take me four minutes.” He hung up.

  Four minutes sounded like a long time at this moment. She couldn’t stop shaking.

  Cara.

  Kaskov?

  Jock was there in three minutes. “What is it?” he said curtly.

  She pulled out her earpiece and handed it to him. “I recorded the call as soon as I knew it was Cara.” She drew a shaky breath. “It’s crazy, Jock. What the hell can we do?”

  He didn’t answer. He was already listening. Even in the shadow-filtered moonlight, she could see the icy hardness begin to form in his expression. A few minutes later, he jerked the device out of his ear.

  He wasn’t moving. He was just sitting there with that terrible rage hardening his expression more every second.

  “Jock?”

  “Not now,” he said hoarsely. “Give me a minute. I’m not thinking, I’m just feeling.”

  She had also needed time to absorb. She nodded jerkily. She repeated, “It’s crazy.”

  He didn’t reply for another couple minutes. “You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. That’s what I’m hoping…”

  “Kaskov. I shouldn’t be surprised. I never trusted him. But I never thought he’d be that callous. He was ice-cold, Jock.” She shuddered. “And he hurt Cara. They were talking about her bleeding.”

  “Don’t talk about that right now. It’s getting in my way.” He was still once more, his brow furrowed. “But you were surprised, weren’t you? Because, in spite of everything the entire world knows about Kaskov, you have a tendency to see deeper.”

  “You’re wrong.” Her lips tightened. “I don’t have a clue about the man who hurt Cara tonight. I have no idea why he would do that.”

  He was silent again. “I do.” Then he reached for his phone. “Cara. Let’s see what she has to say about it.”

  She watched him in bewilderment as he punched in the numbers. “What are you doing? If she’s being held by Kaskov, there’s no way he’ll let her answer you.”

  “The question is all in the word ‘if.’” He hit the speaker button while he was listening to the ring. She could see the tension in every muscle of his body, desperation in each line of his face. “And Cara can be amazingly determined…”

  “Hello, Jock,” Cara said as she answered the phone. “I suppose you heard my call to Svardak? How angry are you?”

  Eve saw an expression of unutterable relief cross Jock’s face as his hand tightened on the phone. “I’m furious with you.”

  “I thought you would be. Will you please get over it?” she asked wearily. “That call almost drained me, and I still have a lot more I have to do before the night is over.”

  “I thought you might. Being a sacrificial lamb takes considerable energy, doesn’t it? And you had me fooled until I realized that it was striking too many false notes in my experience with both of you. So it was all just a show that you and Kaskov put on to set you up for Svardak?”

  “Yes. I was planning on calling you later if you hadn’t had time to set up the audio so you could hear it for yourself.”

  “How kind. It would have been even kinder if you’d given me advance warning so that I wouldn’t have to go through that hell. I want to strangle you, Cara.”

  “No, you don’t. You’re just hurting. I would have tried to warn you, but you’d have just argued with me. There was no question I’d change my mind.” She drew a shaky breath. “And time was running out. I could tell Eve was in a panic about Joe. From what Svardak showed me, she had a right to be. Is she there?”

  “I’m here,” Eve said. “And I’m not sure I don’t agree with Jock. I might be in a panic about Joe, but that doesn’t mean either one of us would want you pulling something like this. What do you think you’re doing?”

  “As I said, trying to get Joe away from Svardak. Jock wouldn’t listen to me. He just
closed me out because he was scared. I had to go to Kaskov.”

  “And you both lied to me,” Jock said through set lips.

  “I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t say what you wanted to hear. And you knew I’d do anything I could to help Joe if I got the chance. Because you were wrong, you need me. I can keep his attention away from Joe long enough for you to get him out of that ranger station and safe.” She added quickly, before he could argue, “Yes, Edding might have proved to be a minor distraction, but I’m the main attraction as far as Svardak is concerned. But I had to have a good reason to be there because at some point he would have questioned why I gave in about Joe’s release. Because he knows me, and it might have seemed too easy to him. But now all you’ll have to do is concentrate on getting Joe out and leave the rest to me.”

  “Providing we’re not concerned with what Svardak will be doing to you while we ‘leave the rest’ to you,” Jock said harshly. “That might be a major distraction in itself.”

  “I’ll find a way. I know how to push his buttons. And Kaskov said that he might be able to have some of his men run interference for me. But, of course, it will have to be after you get Joe away from the station.”

  “Might? Of course? I can’t say I’m liking Kaskov’s extremely casual view on keeping you alive. In fact, I’m not liking his entire input into the matter.”

  “Don’t blame Kaskov. It was entirely—”

  “Enough, Cara.” Kaskov came on the line. “I believe I can come to my own defense. You’ve already taken sufficient heat tonight. Go ahead, Gavin. It’s not something I didn’t expect.”

  “You’re going to get her killed. Didn’t you say that you couldn’t trust me not to do that when you showed up at Ruell Falls? Well, here she is, directly in the line of fire.”

  “Come now. We both know she’s a force of nature when she makes up her mind. I’m a reasonable man, I don’t fight battles I can’t win. Besides, she’s my blood. It would offend me to see anyone but myself defeat her. You couldn’t expect me to take your side against her.”