Countdown

by Iris Johansen

  And then Kim Chan at Reilly’s place.

  He shied quickly away from the thought of her. “And Jane wants it?”

  “He won’t force her, Jock.” MacDuff paused. “Do you mind?”

  “Not if he doesn’t hurt her.” He tilted his head. “Did you think I would?”

  “You’re attached to her. I just wondered.”

  “I . . . like her.” He frowned. “But sometimes she makes me feel . . . It hurts. She keeps talking and prodding and I want to put a gag on her mouth.”

  “But not a garrote around her throat.”

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t do that. But even after I left her, I kept hearing what she said. I’m still hearing it.”

  “Then maybe your mind is telling you it’s time to listen.”

  “You want me to remember too.”

  “Deep down, isn’t that what you want?”

  Four eight two. Four eight two.

  Not now. Block it out. Block it out. The laird would see his suffering and be upset.

  But the laird didn’t understand, Jock thought in agony. He didn’t understand the chains or the pain that he fought every night. He didn’t want him to know. “She said . . . you wouldn’t wait. That you’d go after Reilly without my help.”

  “If I have to do it.”

  “Don’t,” he whispered. “Please.”

  MacDuff turned away. “Come and help me clean up the supper dishes. I have work to do.”

  “Reilly will—”

  “Unless you can tell me what I want, I don’t want to hear any arguments about Reilly, Jock.”

  Despair tore through Jock as he watched MacDuff go into the stable. Memories of death and guilt and pain swirled around him, tearing through the web of scar tissue that had formed since MacDuff brought him back from Colorado.

  Four eight two. Four eight two.

  Hurt. Hurt. Hurt.

  Trevor stood framed in the doorway of Jane’s bedroom. “You left the door open.”

  “I didn’t want there to be any mistake about my intentions.” Jane could hear the trembling in her voice and tried to steady it. “No locks. No closed doors. Now take your clothes off and get over here. I don’t want to be the only one naked. It makes me feel vulnerable.” She suddenly tossed the cover aside. “Hell, I am vulnerable. I’m not going to lie about it.”

  “Give me one minute.” He closed the door and pulled the sweatshirt over his head. “Less.”

  His body was as beautiful as she’d known it would be. Narrow waist, powerful legs, and wide shoulders that made her want to dig her nails into them. She wanted to sketch him. No, the hell she did. She wanted only one thing from him at this moment. “You’re too slow.”

  “Tell me that after I get in that bed.” He was coming toward her. “I’ll try to be slow then, but I don’t promise.”

  She held out her hand and pulled him down. “I don’t want promises.” She wrapped her legs around him. She arched upward as she felt him. “I want you to—”

  His mouth covered hers to smother her cry as he started to move. “This? And this?” His breath was coming harshly. “Tell me. I want it to be good for you. God, do I want it to be good. . . .”

  Jane’s lips brushed Trevor’s shoulder before she nestled closer. “Are you tired? I’m going to want to do it again.”

  “Tired?” He chuckled. “Are you impugning my stamina? I believe I can keep up with you.” He licked delicately at the tip of her breast. “Now?”

  “Pretty soon. When I catch my breath.” She stared into the darkness. “It was good, wasn’t it?”

  “Superb. Wild. Mind-blowing.”

  “I was afraid I’d be disappointed. Sometimes anticipation spoils the real thing.”

  “And did you anticipate?”

  “Sure.” She lifted herself on one elbow to look down at him. “I tried not to, but when you’re denied a candy bar, that’s the only thing you want to eat. Now I’m getting my fill of you.”

  “You’d better not. I’ll make damn sure I’m much more appetizing than a candy bar.” He smiled up at her. “And what did you anticipate?”

  “The Joy of Sex, the Kama Sutra.”

  “Good God, what a challenge.”

  “Can you meet it?”

  “Oh, yes.” He moved over her, his eyes gleaming down at her. “Can you?”

  It wasn’t Julius barring the way, Cira saw as she neared the end of the tunnel. Thank the gods, it was her servant, Dominic.

  “Dominic, what are you doing here? I told you to leave the city.”

  “The Lady Pia sent me.” He looked beyond her at Antonio and stiffened. “Do you wish him dead?”

  “I told you I didn’t betray you, Cira.” Antonio was beside her, taking his sword from her hand. “Now let’s get out of here.”

  Dominic took a step toward Antonio. “He made you unhappy. Shall I kill him?”

  A low rumble shook the floor of the tunnel.

  “Out,” Antonio said. “I’m not going to let us all die to satisfy Dominic’s bloodlust.” He grabbed Cira’s arm and pulled her toward the tunnel opening. “Or yours.”

  Dominic took a step toward him.

  “No, it’s all right,” Cira said as they burst out into daylight that was like night. Smoke. She could scarcely breathe. She stopped in horror, staring at the mountain burning like a flaming sword, fingers of lava streaming down its side. “Later, Dominic. We have to get to the city. Pia—”

  “That’s why she sent me,” Dominic said as he ran after them down the hill. “The Lady Pia was afraid Julius had found out about her. She thought someone had been following her since yesterday. She told me to tell you she’d meet you at the ship.”

  “What ship?” Antonio asked.

  “It’s moored down the coast,” Cira said. “I paid Demonidas for passage away from here.”

  “You did?”

  “Why are you surprised? I’m no fool. Julius will never rest when he finds me gone. I have to get far away from Herculaneum.”

  “I’m only surprised that you were able to get anyone to help you. Julius is very powerful.”

  “I managed. Pia helped. Demonidas is waiting for me.”

  “Perhaps,” Antonio said, gazing at lava running down the volcano. “Or maybe he sailed when the mountain exploded.”

  That had been one of Cira’s fears as she ran through the tunnel. “He’s a greedy man and I paid him only half. He’ll take his chances. The lava flow doesn’t seem to be going in that direction. It’s heading straight toward—” She stopped in horror. “Toward the city.” She gazed at Dominic over her shoulder. “How long ago did the Lady Pia send you?”

  “An hour.”

  “And she was leaving right away for the ship?”

  Dominic nodded, his gaze on the lava. “She said to tell you that she’d be waiting for you.”

  And it seemed as if the mountain had erupted a century ago, but it couldn’t have been very long. Surely Pia was out of the city.

  “Do you wish me to go and make sure?” Dominic asked.

  Send him into that fiery trap? That deadly lava was flowing faster every second. But what if Pia . . .

  She forced herself to look away. “If someone is going to go, it will be me.”

  “No!” Antonio said. “It would be insane. You wouldn’t even be able to reach the outskirts before—”

  “This isn’t your concern.”

  “By the gods, it couldn’t be more my concern.” His expression was grim. “What have I been trying to tell you? Do you want me to go after this Pia? I’m mad enough to do even that for you.” He stared directly into her eyes. “Tell me and I’ll go.”

  She believed him. He would go rather than let her risk her life.

  Another rumble shook the earth.

  She tore her eyes away from Antonio’s and asked Dominic, “Is Leo with her?”

  “No, she told me to take him to the ship last night. He’s with Demonidas.”

  And Demonidas would be only
as compassionate with the boy as his payment dictated. She couldn’t risk leaving him alone and unprotected. She had to assume and pray that Pia left the city as she’d told Dominic she’d do. “Then we go to the ship.” She turned away from the city and started to run. “Hurry.”

  “I left two horses at the bottom of the hill.” Antonio passed her. “Dominic?”

  “I also brought a horse for her,” Dominic said. “I did not expect you to return. You betray—” He stopped, his gaze on the mountain, and muttered an oath. “It’s coming this way.”

  He was right, Cira realized.

  Though the main flow was heading for the city, a rivulet of molten lava was making a path toward Julius’s villa, coming directly toward them.

  “We still have time to reach the horses.” Antonio’s hand tightened around Cira’s. “We’ll go north and skirt the flow.”

  If they could. Smoke and lava seemed to be attacking, smothering, surrounding them on all sides.

  Of course they could, Cira thought impatiently. She hadn’t gotten this far to be brought down now. “Then stop talking and get me to those horses.”

  “I’m trying, you demanding woman.” Antonio was pulling her toward a stand of trees. “Go get your horse, Dominic. Let the other animal free. Slap his rump and send him north.”

  Dominic disappeared into the smoke.

  She could hear the horses ahead neighing in fear and fighting their ropes.

  Then Antonio was tossing her onto the back of one of the horses and handing her the reins. “You lead. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “How unusual for you.”

  “No choice. I’ll keep close. I wouldn’t doubt you’ll try to lose me.” He looked into her eyes. “It won’t work. I left you once and I found that out. It’s forever, Cira.”

  Forever. Hope and joy mixed with the fear soaring through her. She kicked the horse into a gallop. “Words have little value. Prove it.”

  Incredibly, she heard him chuckle behind her. “Only you would make a condition like that. We’ll discuss it later. Right now we have to get out of this inferno.”

  And an inferno it was. The tops of the tall trees along the road were aflame from the sparks. She glanced at the stream of lava coming down the mountain. Was it closer? They had to go at least a mile before they were out of the path. Pray they weren’t cut off before they reached it. . . .

  A burning tree crashed across the road in front of her! Her horse screamed and reared. She felt herself slipping from the saddle. . . .

  “Antonio!”

  Jane jerked upright in bed, gasping. “No!”

  “Easy.” Antonio’s soothing hand was on her shoulder. “Easy.”

  Not Antonio. Trevor. Not two thousand years ago. Here. Now.

  “Okay?” Trevor was pulling her down, cuddling her against his naked body. “You’re shaking.”

  “I’m all right.” She moistened her lips. “I guess I should have expected bad dreams after you told me what Reilly wanted to do to me. I can’t imagine anything worse than having someone able to control your mind and will. It makes me go berserk to think about it. Cira was born a slave. I probably associated—”

  “Easy. Take a deep breath. You’re not Cira, and Reilly’s not going to get his hands on you.”

  “I know that.” She was silent a moment. “Sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about. What kind of nightmare?”

  “I thought everything was going to be fine for her, and then the tree—”

  “Cira?”

  “Who else? I seem to be under siege by her.” She made a face. “Cripes, that sounds weird. I’m still half convinced that I must have read something about her somewhere that’s causing these dreams.”

  “But only half convinced.”

  “I don’t know.” She nestled closer. “They seem so real, and it’s like a story unfolding. As if she were trying to tell me something.” She got up on her elbow. “You’re not laughing at me.”

  “I wouldn’t dare.” He smiled. “Cira’s spirit might strike me down with a bolt of lightning.” His smile faded. “Or you might decide to leave me. Either way I face disaster.”

  “Now you are joking,” she said uncertainly. Trevor’s expression was odd, taut, and without humor.

  “Am I? Perhaps I am.” He pulled her down again and his lips were pressed in the hair at her temple. “You’d say it was too soon. You’re probably right. But I know damn well I want the chance to find out.” His arms tightened around her as he felt her stiffen against him. “Okay, I’ll stop making you uneasy. God knows, I’m unsettled enough myself. I was expecting a hell of a good roll in the hay with a woman I’ve wanted for years. I didn’t expect—” He broke off. “I believe a change of subject is in order. Would you care to tell me about your latest Cira dream?”

  She hesitated. She’d avoided telling anyone details of those dreams, with the exception of Eve. Eve was not only like her other self, but she had her own secrets that she had not divulged even to Joe. Jane could understand that instinctive avoidance. She was as private a person as Eve, and it was difficult to trust anyone with these dreams that seemed not like dreams at all.

  “I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk about it,” Trevor said quietly. “But I want you to know that whatever you believe, I’ll believe. I trust your instincts and your judgment. Screw everything else.”

  She was silent a moment. “I don’t know what to believe,” she said haltingly. “Cira’s out of the tunnel. Antonio’s with her. So is Dominic. They’re heading toward a ship moored down the coast. Cira paid Demonidas to take her away from Herculaneum.”

  “Demonidas?”

  “He’s greedy. She believes he’ll wait for her, even though—” She shook her head. “Even though their world’s ending. Antonio’s not so sure.” She stared into the darkness. “There’s fire all around them. The cypress trees bordering the road are all burning. One fell across the road in front of Cira. She slipped from the horse. She called out for Antonio. . . .” She closed her eyes. “It sounds like something from The Perils of Pauline, doesn’t it? Thank heaven there were no railroad tracks back then. I’d probably have Cira tied to them with an engine roaring toward her.”

  “Cira seems to be doing fine in that department herself.” Trevor said. “Demonidas . . .”

  She opened her eyes to look at him. “What are you thinking?”

  “Well, you haven’t been able to find any reference to Cira that you could have come across before you started dreaming about her. Demonidas is a new player in the mix. Maybe he’s a well-known merchant and trader. Perhaps we can track Cira through him.”

  We. She felt a surge of warmth at the word. “If he existed.”

  “Don’t be a pessimist. He exists until proven otherwise. I’ll see what I can do about finding a reference to him tomorrow.”

  “That’s my job.”

  “Then we’ll both do it. Lord knows, there are enough alleys to explore for the two of us.”

  “Too many. And we don’t have time to do this now. Not with Reilly and Grozak—”

  “We have a little time now. And it might prove important. If Cira was running away from Julius, is it likely she’d go without the gold?”

  She stiffened. “No.”

  “Then wouldn’t it be logical that the gold was on that ship?”

  “Yes.” She added, “You’re talking as if there really was a Demonidas.”

  “You said you half believed. I’ll work on that assumption. Could you have run across the name Demonidas sometime in the past and woven it into fantasy? Possibly. But why not check it out? It can’t hurt.”

  “It might be a waste of time we don’t have.”

  “I told you I’d believe what you believe. I have a hunch you believe in Cira and Antonio and Demonidas more than you’ll admit. You don’t trust me enough yet.”

  “I . . . trust you.”

  He laughed. “That was a pretty lame response.” He moved over her. “But that’
s okay. You respond very enthusiastically in other areas. I’ll just have to work on making a major breakthrough.” He parted her thighs and whispered, “But there are all kinds of breakthroughs. I think we can make a very interesting one right now.”

  The heat was moving through her again as she looked up at him. He didn’t realize that he had already made a breakthrough tonight. Not the sexual one that had shaken her to her core. She had let him beyond the barriers into her mind and this private part of her that she trusted to no one. She felt joined, part of him. That they were so fantastic sexually together almost paled in comparison.

  Almost. What was she thinking? There was nothing pale about sex with Trevor. It was completely mind-shattering. She pulled him closer. “I’m all for breakthroughs.” She tried to steady her voice. “Show me. . . .”

  What are you doing out here?” Joe came out on the porch and sat down beside Eve on the top step. “It’s almost three in the morning. Worried?”

  “Of course I’m worried.” She leaned against him as he put his arm around her. “And scared to death. Why not? All the politicians are still arguing about responsibility for 9/11. I’m afraid that we won’t do enough to stop that crazy Grozak.”

  “We’re doing all we can. Did John Logan call you back?”

  She nodded. “He’s flying to Washington to talk to the bigwigs in Homeland Security. He has enough clout with Congress because of his campaign contributions to have them at least listen. He says he can promise that if nothing else they’ll elevate the warning. He’ll call me back tomorrow.”

  “And I contacted the director of the Bureau. He was cagey, but I told him if he didn’t step in with the CIA that I’d call in the media. So stop fretting, Eve.”

  “I’m not fretting.” She made a face. “I’m trying to avoid making a painful decision. No luck. I don’t think there’s any way I can get around it.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I’m saying we have to do everything we can. I kept telling myself that it probably had no connection, but I can’t run the risk.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s eight o’clock in Scotland. I won’t wake Jane if I call her now.” She got up from the step. “I’m going in and making a pot of coffee. Come on in and we’ll talk.”