Body of Lies

by Iris Johansen

  "Let's go."

  She whirled to see Galen coming toward her. At least she thought it was Galen. He was covered in mud and slime, and his wet clothes clung to his body. "What happened to you?"

  "Not a tenth of what should have happened to him," Nathan said bitterly as he entered the room. He was also wet and covered in slime. "He's the craziest son of a bitch I've ever met. He made me swim that damn bayou."

  "What?"

  "We would have been spotted as we crossed the bridge," Galen said. "It seemed the easiest way around the problem."

  "Easy?" Nathan sputtered. "He pushed me in the water. What if I didn't know how to swim?"

  "The water was almost shallow enough to wade across."

  "It was not," Nathan said, outraged. "And what about water moccasins, alligators ... Anything could have been lurking in that foul mess."

  "Stop complaining. You didn't get bitten by anything more dangerous than mosquitoes. You should be glad I let you stay on the bank instead of going into the church with me." He went to the bathroom and got two towels and tossed one to Nathan. "Dry off. We don't have time to shower."

  "Did you get Victor?" Eve asked.

  He looked at her in surprise. "Of course. Everything you asked me to get is downstairs by the back door. He's fine. I put him in a big Ziploc bag for the swim back, with a couple of inflated trash bags as floats. I took care of him, and I loaded Nathan down with the other stuff you wanted."

  "No trouble?"

  He shook his head.

  "You're lying," Nathan said sourly. "I saw a guard go into the church after you went in. He didn't come out."

  "I'm not lying." Galen gave him an annoyed glance.

  "I was just omitting an incident that might have upset Eve. I told the truth. He was no trouble. I got him before he alerted anyone."

  "Got him?"

  "Don't worry, it wasn't Rick. Let's go. We have to get out of here before they find out the skull is gone."

  "He's crazy," Nathan grumbled to Eve. "The bastard could have gotten us eaten." He looked belligerently at Galen. "And I need a shower."

  "No time. Go as you are or not at all. You made your way here; if you want, you can find your own way out of it."

  "For this Jules Hebert to find?" Eve asked.

  "He has to keep up with the program. My mum always said that what goes around, comes around."

  "I'm getting very tired of what your mum said. I think you make it up to suit yourself." She headed for the door. "We're taking him."

  He shrugged. "If you insist. But we both smell to high heaven, and two of us packed in that car will be enough to make anyone sick." He passed her and hurried down the stairs in front of her. "We go out the back door and get to the car parked in the cypress grove a few hundred yards from the house." He stopped at the kitchen door. "Stay here for a minute. I'll be right back."

  "Where are you going?"

  "I've checked the area out. Most of the guards are located across the bayou at the church, but one rascal is a little distance down the bank of the bayou watching the house. I didn't have time to take care of him when I went for the skull." He glanced at Nathan. "And besides, Nathan was making too much noise complaining. We were lucky to get back to the house without anyone seeing us."

  "You were trying to drown—"

  "Be ready." Galen was out the door and moving to the side of the house. "And cross your fingers they don't find that guard in the church..."

  -------------------

  "Come on. Move." Galen appeared at the door a few minutes later. "We're on borrowed time."

  "The guard?"

  "Taken care of." He broke into a trot as they neared the cypress grove. "It's the guard in the church we have to worry about. It's been almost fifteen minutes. Someone will go and look for him."

  Eve stopped short. Galen's brown rental car was not parked there as she had expected. Instead, there was a late-model gray Lexus.

  Joe Quinn was standing beside it.

  Eve whirled on Galen. "What the hell is happening?"

  "I'm happening," Joe said curtly. "Get in the car and let's get out of here."

  Eve ignored him. "You called him, Galen?"

  "Sure. Before I went to the church. I told you I might need him. I'd say the situation is escalating enough to bring him in. I can't be everywhere at once. Pop the trunk, Quinn." He put the cases in the trunk. "This is Bill Nathan. Get in the backseat, Nathan."

  He turned to Eve. "Your choice where you want to sit, but Quinn is going with us. I've invited him along for the ride."

  "Galen, you're taking too much on yourself."

  "It's a habit of mine. I'm providing." He opened the back door for her. "And that includes as much protection as I can manage."

  "For God's sake, I'm not going to contaminate you," Joe said roughly. "Get in the car."

  She hesitated, and then got into the backseat next to Nathan. "I don't like this, Galen."

  "Sorry." He looked over his shoulder at the church as he got into the passenger seat. "Nothing stirring yet. God, we're lucky. Let's go, Quinn."

  Joe got into the driver's seat. "Where are we going?"

  "South. I have a place just a little north of New Orleans. That should be safe for a time."

  "They won't look for us there?"

  "Well, when you're in my business you don't want the entire world to know where you make your home. The paperwork is buried pretty well."

  "Don't be overconfident," Nathan said. "Jules Hebert has the Cabal behind him, and that opens a lot of doors."

  "If this so-called Cabal even exists. Anyone can find anyone, given enough time. But we may have enough leeway for Eve to finish Victor."

  "Maybe."

  "Drive, Quinn," Galen said. "He's depressing me."

  -------------------

  Joe's shoulders were squared; he hadn't looked back at Eve for the entire journey.

  And she had tried her best to keep her gaze off him by looking out the window or trying to chat with Nathan, who was less than communicative. Galen was no help. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet during the trip, only giving Joe an occasional direction. So there had been nothing to distract her from looking at Joe, thinking about Joe, during these hours on the road.

  It seemed wrong to be back here, when she was always beside him. All those years when they had been best friends and then lovers...

  Lovers.

  Jesus, how she loved him to touch her. Her body was readying, just thinking about the last time he had entered her, driving deep and hard. And afterward was almost as good, being held as if she was wonderfully precious. She always felt so safe....

  She forced herself to look away from him. Life wasn't sex. Life was trust and honesty.

  And sex.

  She hadn't been away from Joe's bed since they had come back from Arizona two years ago. It was natural that she would become used to his body, used to sex with him. It wasn't as if she couldn't do without it. It would be better once she got out of this damn car.

  Okay, block him out. She had to try to decide what to do once she reached Galen's place. There were too many important issues to resolve. What was best for Jane and her mother? Think about them instead of Joe. Hell, what was best for her?

  An hour later Galen pointed to a huge wrought-iron gate mounted on an equally huge iron fence. "Turn in there. The house is beyond those cedar trees." He pressed a button on his keychain and the gates swung open. "Thank God, we're here. This wasn't the most relaxing trip I've ever taken. I could have cut the atmosphere with a knife."

  "It's all your fault." Eve said her own prayer of thanks that the journey was over as she leaned forward to get a shadowy glimpse of the huge two-story yellow-beige stucco house. "For God's sake, it's a mansion."

  "I made the owner an offer he couldn't refuse," Galen said as they drove up the curving driveway to the two carved twelve-foot doors. "I thought it appropriate."

  "I hope we're not going to be involved with the Mafia," Eve said.
"That's all I'd need at the moment."

  "I was joking," Galen said. "My job pays pretty well and I had Logan invest for me. I have a few shekels to rub together."

  "Quite a few," Quinn said dryly. "One wonders why you're still working."

  "When you grow up in the slums, there's never enough money in the world to make you feel safe." Galen got out of the car and opened the back door. "But I tried to stop about a year ago and I couldn't take it. I was bored to death. As a matter of fact, that statement was pretty close to the truth. I started taking chances. Hell, I even took up mountain climbing. When I sprained my ankle on one of the kiddie slopes, I decided I was a sad case, so I went back to work. I figured it was healthier." He helped Eve out of the car. "You okay?"

  "Fine."

  "I'm not," Nathan said. "I'm smelly and dirty and I think I have leech bites."

  "Really?" Galen's brows rose. "Anywhere interesting? If you were attacked by leeches, then they're probably still attached. Want help pulling them off?"

  Nathan glowered at him. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

  "Don't be surly. You'll survive. I doubt if you have leeches."

  "You're such an expert?"

  "Sure. Though I'm more knowledgeable about crossing piranha-infested rivers."

  Nathan snorted.

  "You doubt me? You always cross the river at night when the piranhas are dozing, and you stay away from docks where—"

  "I don't want to hear about piranhas. Will you unlock that damn door?"

  "Just trying to educate you." Galen turned, climbed the four steps, unlocked the front doors and flipped on the hall lights. "No servants, Eve. I have someone from town come once a week and make a little headway in the dust. Other than that, we're on our own. All the bedrooms are on the second floor. I think there are ten or eleven. Choose any that suits you."

  "The only thing I want is a shower." Nathan went past him into the house.

  "Wrap yourself in a sheet when you get out of the shower," Galen called after him. "I'll try to find some clothes of mine that are big enough for your rather Olympian frame."

  "I'm just a few pounds overweight," Nathan said through his teeth.

  "Grumpy, isn't he?" Galen said as Nathan disappeared. "But I agree with him about the shower. However, I'll make the supreme sacrifice and give you a glimpse of the room I think will be perfect for you to work on Victor, Eve. Come on." He went into the house.

  "Go on. I'll get the bags." Joe had moved around the car to the trunk. "I'm not all that eager to see Galen's pad. I've had enough of him for the time being."

  "Then you shouldn't have come."

  "You know why I came." He met her eyes. "And it had nothing to do with Galen." He opened the trunk. "Apart from the fact that I might get the opportunity to break his neck."

  -------------------

  "What about working in here?" Galen threw open the door of a room on the bottom floor. "Lots of light."

  "A kitchen?" She looked around at the huge room with stone floors, an ancient Aga range, as well as a fireplace big enough to walk into.

  "It used to be a scullery in the last century. The man I bought the place from converted another room to a kitchen on the level above. This was impossible to update, and he liked his comforts. So do I." He gestured to a butcher-block table. "You could put your equipment there. Okay?"

  She shivered. "It's a little cold."

  "That's what the fireplace is for. I'll keep it stoked for you. So should I bring your stuff down?"

  She hesitated, tempted, and then shook her head. "I don't think so. I did some thinking on the way here."

  "Second thoughts?"

  "Yes."

  "And what did you decide?" Joe asked from the top of the stairs.

  "That I'm being a damn idealistic idiot to even consider going on with this reconstruction."

  "Good." Joe came down the steps. "That's what I've been telling you."

  "If I work all my life, I can't get through all the reconstructions for people who really need me. Bently may have been a good man, but there are other good people in the world. People are being killed all around me. How do I know it won't touch my family?" Her lips thinned. "Yes, I'm sorry at the idea of not finishing Victor, but I'm not going to be stupid."

  "Well, you seem to have made up your mind," Galen said. "How do you want it handled?"

  "I don't trust Melton. He lied to me."

  "The FBI?" Joe asked.

  "Maybe."

  "I know, you don't trust them, either."

  "You used to work with them. Do you know anyone who has the reputation of being incorruptible?"

  "Incorruptible isn't easy to find. Let me think about it and make a few calls."

  "Since I'm not needed, I'm going to see about that shower." Galen turned and started up the stairs. "If you like, I could bring Victor down and you could have one more go at him before you turn him over."

  "No!"

  He stopped in surprise. "It was just a suggestion. I thought you might like—"

  "She's afraid," Joe said. "She thinks if she starts to work on him again, she won't be able to give him up."

  Dammit, Joe could always read her. "I'm not stupid. I know what's important." But Victor was important, too. He was lost, and she could find him. If she worked on him just a little longer she might— "Don't set Victor up."

  Galen nodded. "Try to get some rest, Eve. It's been a long night."

  "Are you giving me orders, Galen?"

  He started back up the stairs. "Perish the thought. I know I'm in your bad books. But I stand by my decision to bring Quinn along."

  She hurried after him. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with Joe. "Axe you going to check on Bill Nathan? He seems okay, but nothing has been as it seems since I left Atlanta."

  He nodded. "Right after my shower." He smiled slyly. "I wonder if he really does have any of those cunning little leeches..."

  -------------------

  "She's gone?" Melton's tone was controlled, but Jules could detect the anger beneath the smoothness. "With the skull?"

  "Yes. But don't worry, I'll find her."

  "You should never have lost her, Hebert. Your orders were to see that she finished the skull, and then get rid of her. Where the hell were you tonight? Why weren't you watching her?"

  "I had to be in Boca Raton to check on the progress. I thought it was safe. She didn't appear to suspect anything, and I knew she wanted to finish the skull. It seemed a good time to—" He stopped in disgust. He was babbling, making excuses like a fucking amateur to this asshole. "I made a mistake. I'll rectify it."

  "You certainly will. If it's not too late. What if she takes the skull to the police?"

  "I don't believe she'll do that yet, but I'll have to move fast. My men saw Joe Quinn enter her house earlier tonight. Either he or Galen must have convinced her to run. But she can't know anything for certain. If she took the skull, it's probably because she wants to finish it. We both know how intense she is about her work. That may give me a little time. I'll need your help."

  "As long as I'm not compromised."

  "She won't go home. If she suspects something, then she'll be hiding out. I need you to tap your sources and find out where Galen may have taken her. Fast."

  "It's a big country."

  Jules tried to hold onto his temper and spaced each word with precision. "Can you do this?"

  "I permitted you to pursue this line with Duncan when you blundered with Etienne, but we can't risk it anymore. It's too dangerous for us. You get that skull and then dispose of her and everyone around her quickly. I don't want even a ripple of publicity. Do you understand?"

  "I understand. Can you find her?"

  "I'll try." He hung up.

  And he'd try very hard, Jules thought. Melton might try to lay the entire blame on Jules, but he was responsible for Boca Raton and wanted this Bently problem wrapped up before he had to answer awkward questions.

  So did Jules. He was having
trouble keeping all the balls in the air. Ever since that night when he had killed Etienne, he had been forced to lie and cheat and make compromises. If he wasn't careful, everything would come crashing down on him.

  No, he wouldn't permit it. He had given up too much to be defeated now. He couldn't sit here and trust Melton to find Eve Duncan.

  He would take matters into his own hands.

  Chapter Ten

  Christ, she wanted dinner to be over.

  The meal seemed to go on forever. Nathan's surly attitude had not improved with his shower. Joe had been almost silent, and Eve had been so aware of him sitting across the table that she had only been able to respond stiltedly to Galen's questions and comments.

  Galen was the only one who seemed to be unaffected by the atmosphere. He was charged, wired, a one-man show. He alternated between running to the kitchen for a variety of delicious dishes, telling stories, and occasionally jabbing verbally at Joe or Nathan.

  "You're all a great disappointment to me." Galen leaned back in his chair after he had served coffee. "If I weren't so socially adept, this meal would have been a disaster. Your performance has been abysmal."

  "This isn't a circus, Galen," Joe said. "And you're not the ringmaster."

  "Very good comparison, Quinn. Evidently you're not totally lacking in the conversational arts."

  "Galen," Eve said.

  "She obviously wants to smooth the troubled waters around here." Galen turned to Joe. "Is she afraid for me or you? What do you think?"

  "I think I've had a bellyful."

  "Crude. Very crude."

  Joe turned to Eve. "I did some phoning before dinner. I called a few of my contacts with the FBI, and they all agreed that Bart Jennings is probably our man. He's smart and dedicated, and he's been with the Bureau for the last twenty years."

  "Do you know him personally?"

  Joe shook his head. "But I heard about him when I was with the Bureau."

  "What's happening here?" Nathan asked.

  "Eve's decided to turn over the skull."

  "Without finishing it?"

  Eve nodded.

  "Thank God. Smart move. Though you'd have done better to leave the skull and just run for it."