Hunting Eve

by Iris Johansen

  “You’re afraid I’ll pass out or die, and you won’t get the information you need?” Zander asked dryly. “I won’t die. I don’t promise I won’t pass out for a while. And you don’t go anywhere until I come around. I won’t have you blundering in and causing Doane to scatter before I’m ready.” He looked at Stang. “Keep him here.”

  “Who? Me?” Stang glanced at Joe. “Not my area of expertise.”

  “Do it anyway.” He said to Eland, who was preparing a hypodermic, “Painkiller? I’ll take that but nothing that will put me out for more than a few minutes.”

  “Be quiet,” Eland said. “This is going to be excruciating, and if you hadn’t given me such a bad trip, I’d almost feel sorry for you.” He administered the shot. “It won’t take effect fast enough to help much, but you’re in a hurry.” He reached in his backpack and started taking out his surgical equipment. He glanced at Joe. “You look fairly strong. Will you hold him down? I can’t have him moving.”

  “I won’t move,” Zander grated through his teeth.

  “My pleasure,” Joe said as he dropped to his knees and grasped Zander’s shoulders and upper arms and pinned him to the ground. “Now get this over, Eland. I want him back to his senses and able to talk.”

  Eland was wiping his hands on an antiseptic towel. “You do have such kind and sympathetic cohorts, Zander.”

  “Kind, no.” Zander was looking up at Joe. “But somehow familiar. It’s like looking in a mirror. Only something changed for you and made you—” He broke off and jerked his head toward Eland. “Do it!”

  His back arched with agony as Eland set the bone. He didn’t scream, but the blood ran from his lower lip as his teeth bit into it.

  He passed out.

  * * *

  THE FIRST TENTATIVE PEARL GRAY of dawn was lighting the sky, Zander noticed, as soon as he opened his eyes.

  Not good, dammit.

  “How long have I been out?” he whispered to Stang. “And where the hell is Quinn?”

  “You’ve been out almost two hours.”

  “What!”

  “Eland gave you another shot as soon as you passed out. He said that it was stupid to have you go through all that pain when he was going to have to work on you for a while,” Stang said. “And he put you in a cast to keep the bone from shifting.”

  “Good. That arm wasn’t doing me any good anyway.” He added grimly, “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to have a word with Eland about disobeying orders.”

  “Eland said to tell you that you’re going to need extensive follow-up surgery if you don’t want to do permanent damage. He didn’t know how you managed not to go into shock with the amount of pain that break is causing you. He wants to check you into a hospital right away.”

  “No way.” He glanced around the clearing. “Quinn?”

  “He’s just exploring the general area. He’s not going to go after Eve until he has an idea where he’s going.” Stang smiled faintly. “He may be going through hell, but he’s not going to risk Eve. He’s even willing to put up with you if it has a chance of helping her.”

  “That held a hint of disrespect.” Zander’s eyes narrowed on Stang’s face. “Something’s different about you.”

  “Because something’s different about you. I’ve never really been able to fathom Lee Zander, but I am beginning to get a tiny clue.”

  “Don’t insult me. I refuse to be so transparent.”

  “Transparent you are not. Maybe just a little less opaque.” He paused. “Why did you tell me to come along? Why me, Zander?”

  “Maybe I thought I might need a business—” He shrugged. “You have a personal interest. You want Eve Duncan to live.”

  “Because you wanted me to have a personal interest. You wanted someone around you to spur you to save her.” He tapped his chest. “I was the chosen one.”

  “Ridiculous.”

  “You’re a very complicated man, and most of the time, I don’t have a clue as to what makes you tick. But I think in this case somewhere there was a battle going on that even you didn’t know about.”

  “Convoluted nonsense.”

  “Convoluted. Yes, that’s an accurate description of you.” He nodded. “And I think I have the answer to my question. You’re going to go after Doane, and it goes against your grain not to do that with complete ruthlessness. But you wanted a safety net for Eve Duncan.” He tapped his chest again. “The chosen one. You should be happy that I brought someone along who’s better qualified. Of course, you can’t control him. That will bother you. But you might be able to reason with him. He’s very, very smart. He has only one goal. He’ll let you kill Doane if you’ll protect Eve.” He added softly, “Protect your daughter.”

  “I have no daughter. Ask Eve, and she’ll tell you that.” He paused. “Quinn told you?”

  “Yes, not really a confidence. It just came out. I doubt if he’ll confront you with it.”

  “Yet you’re confronting me with it.” He tilted his head. “You’re not afraid of me any longer.”

  “Yes, I am. I’ll probably always be afraid of you. But I’m so used to it that a little fear is exciting.”

  “That’s sick.”

  “You don’t really think that’s true. That edge is the only thing that’s kept you alive during these last years.”

  “I don’t believe I like you psychoanalyzing me,” he said with silken menace. “Particularly since I’ve never been sure if or when you might decide to kill me. Why don’t we discuss that bizarre behavior on your part, Stang?”

  Stang shook his head. “Someday, maybe. If I live that long.”

  “If you live that long,” Zander repeated. “Now why don’t you go find Quinn for me? I’m not sure I trust him not to go after Eve without me.”

  “I told you that he’s smart and won’t—”

  “Tell me where that trail along the upper slope leads.” Joe was striding toward them. “I was going to follow it myself, but I decided to give you another chance to fill me in on what I need to know.” His gaze coolly raked Zander. “You don’t look in such great shape. You should have Eland help you back across that mountain to the helicopter and let me handle Doane for you.”

  “Screw you.” Zander struggled to sit up against the tree. “You’d go straight for Eve and Doane would skip out and I’d have to deal with him later.”

  “You’re right, I’d make the right choice. Where does that trail lead?”

  “I’ll take you there.” Zander got to his feet. “If you can exercise a little restraint.”

  “No promises. Not if Eve’s at the end of that trail.”

  “She may be. I can’t be sure. I tried to track them on the trail, but the heavy rain washed the signs away. I kept passing out, and I couldn’t risk being helpless if Doane stumbled over me. He kept her at a house, an old coin factory, before she managed to escape. But I gave her my knife and, if Doane found it on her, alarm bells would ring.”

  “You gave her your knife?” Stang asked. “Why?”

  “It seemed to be the thing to do at the time.” He was picking up his backpack. He pointed toward a row of mountains to the left. “If you follow the trail over that ridge, you’ll find yourself in a valley. It’s shaped like a punch bowl. The only possible road spirals downward from its rim to an old ghost town at the bottom. But several miles back on this side of rim, we can hike to a cabin that I believe Doane occupied. It used to be a coinery. It was probably built up there so that the miners wouldn’t have to go all the way to town to cash out.”

  “You might be proving valuable.” He tilted his head. “I may be glad I stuck around.”

  “Let’s get moving. With any luck, they’ll still be at the factory. If they’re not, I have a few other ideas.”

  “But now that I know where the trail leads, I don’t need you,” Joe said. “The last thing I want is to be saddled with someone who can’t function. Go back to the helicopter with Eland.”

  Stang’s eyes widened, and he
gave a choked gasp.

  “Saddled? Me?” Zander’s voice was icy. He turned and stared Joe directly in the eye. “I believe you should reconsider. Will I be able to function, Quinn?”

  Joe’s eyes narrowed as his gaze held Zander’s for a long minute. Then he turned away and started back toward the trail. “Yes, you can function. Just keep up with me.”

  Zander watched him for an instant, then moved after him. His tone was low, almost conversational, as he said, “Do you know, you arrogant son of a bitch, I may take you out before we even get close to Doane.”

  CHAPTER

  16

  Ghost Town

  “YOU’RE STALLING,” DOANE SAID harshly. “You’ve done everything you had to do to repair what you did to my boy. Now complete him.” He reached into the sack in which he’d stored all the equipment of hers that he’d taken from the coinery and pulled out the flat wooden box. “Give him sight.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. They’re only glass eyeballs,” Eve said. “He won’t be able to see except in your imagination.”

  “And yours,” Doane said softly. “That’s what you’re afraid of, isn’t it? He’s blind now, but you’re afraid that he’ll look at you and be able to see how to destroy you.”

  “I’m not afraid.” Reluctant, not afraid, she tried to convince herself. This strange, overpowering, emotional involvement she’d developed with Kevin might be pure hallucination or something more malignantly mystical, but she must not let fear enter into it. “And he can’t destroy me. Only I can do that.”

  “Then give my Kevin his eyes, and we’ll see who is right.”

  She hesitated, then opened the box. “Blue eyes. The color of the sky. They should be pitch-black.” She lifted the left eye out of the box. She took a deep breath and carefully placed the eye in the orbital socket.

  Fast. Do it fast.

  Get it over with.

  She took the right eyeball and placed it into the socket.

  “There it is. He’s done.” She stepped back, avoiding looking at the reconstruction. “Happy, Doane?”

  “Oh, yes.” His eyes were glittering with tears as he stared at the skull. “It’s all there, all the beauty, all the power. How handsome he is. How could they kill anything that glorious?”

  “How? With a great deal of skill and a strong stomach to combat the stench of him.”

  “Bitch!” His hand lashed out, backhanding her, bringing her to her knees. “Even at this perfect moment, you manage to spoil it for me.” His fingers were buried in her hair, and he jerked her head back. “Look at him. He wants you to look at him.”

  She was looking at Kevin. She couldn’t help it unless she closed her eyes, and she knew Doane would force her to open them.

  Yes, Kevin was beautiful, as Lucifer must have been beautiful. She could even see the power that she had never meant to give those features. It had just come …

  And, God help her, she could see the shining blue eyes staring, seeing her. It was not possible that adding those eyes had made his face come alive. She would not accept it. As long as she didn’t accept that nightmare, it did not exist.

  Mine. Have you. Have her.

  The hell you do.

  “So handsome,” Doane whispered. “No one could ever resist him. You won’t be able to do it either. He’ll reach out for your Bonnie, and you’ll fall on your knees begging him to take you, too.”

  “Try me. It won’t happen like that.”

  “Yes, he’ll try you.” He stroked her hair gently before releasing it. “Soon. Very soon, Eve.” He stepped back. “Get up and get out of my way. I have to carefully package Kevin in his container, and I don’t want you near him.”

  “Are you afraid I’ll tear him up again?” She got to her feet and moved away to stand by the window in the front of the barbershop. “I might be tempted.” But she stared out the window so she wouldn’t have to look back at the skull. “I hear that wolf howling again. He sounds hungry. Kevin wouldn’t stand a chance if he got hold of him.”

  “He won’t get hold of him,” Doane snarled. “I’m going to go out and shoot that wolf and shut him up. I’ll bring back his head and throw it at your feet.”

  “Do you really have time to go hunting? Or maybe you’ve decided that all your plans to kill Zander should be tossed aside. They haven’t been going so well, have they? Joe will find me, you know.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “When I got away from you, I gave him some extra time. He’s probably closing in on you now. These mountains aren’t safe for you any longer. Why don’t you leave here and go on the run?”

  “Why don’t you be quiet?” He fastened the catches on the container in which he’d placed the skull. “I’ve considered the possibility that I might not be safe any longer. I’m taking care of it.” He lifted his head and glared at her. “If I have to do without killing Zander, I will do it. Kevin would forgive me. He really wants you more now than he does Zander.” His lips curled. “And he’ll get you, Eve. If I die, I’ll take you with me and give you to him to play with as he did the children. You’ll be too busy protecting yourself to know what he does to your Bonnie.”

  “I believe both you and your son are full of hot air and bullshit,” Eve said curtly. “If his spirit still exists, he has no power. He’s just frantically scurrying around and trying to save those nightmare fantasies that don’t exist any longer.”

  “You’ll see. He’ll enjoy—” Eve heard a soft ping and watched Doane take out his cell phone and check it. He smiled and thrust the phone back in his pocket. “Perhaps sooner than you might think.”

  He strode across the shop, handcuffed her hands in front of her, and grasped her arm. “Come on. It’s time to move to phase two of our visit to this wonderful town.” He pushed her outside the door. “You were so interested in the saloon when we first arrived. Let’s see if it still holds its fascination for you.”

  She stiffened. Had he found Zander’s gun and phone? “The saloon? Why?”

  He didn’t answer, and a couple minutes later, she was across the street, and he was pushing open the door of the saloon.

  Dimness.

  Broken wood planks that served as a floor beneath her feet.

  The smell of dust and mildew.

  She could see the shape of a long bar across the large room with a broken mirror on the wall above it.

  Yes.

  But Doane wasn’t pushing her in that direction. He was heading toward a cupboard against the opposite wall.

  “What are we doing here, Doane?”

  “It’s sort of a holding cell for you. Don’t you like it? I have to leave you for an hour or two, and the barbershop is too small and exposed to the street.” He added maliciously, “What if those wolves came looking for Kevin and found you instead? Or perhaps Venable or Quinn might stumble on our little home away from home. I wouldn’t want to make it that easy for them.” They were next to the pine cupboard that must have been close to six feet high and four feet wide. “They used to store liquor in this cupboard during the wild days.” He threw open the two doors of the cupboard, and Eve was suddenly assaulted with the overpowering odor of sour whiskey. “No one is going to take you away from me, Eve. If I’m going to lose you, it’s going to be to Kevin.” He thrust her into the cupboard. “Or maybe the roof rats I’ve seen running all over this saloon. You’ve got to hope there isn’t one or two in that cupboard waiting to pounce.”

  “You’ve taught me how to deal with rodents, Doane.” But the reference to Joe and Venable had made her nervous. She might have expected that Zander could have been sighted because she knew that was a possibility if Zander had managed to get up that ridge. But Joe? “Where are you going? Did Blick tell you that he saw any sign of Joe or Venable in the vicinity when he showed up earlier?”

  “Do you think I’d tell you?”

  “Or maybe it wasn’t Blick who came. Maybe you lied to me.”

  He smiled. “Oh, it was most certainly Blick.” He slammed the cupboard door shut,
and she was in darkness. “As to where I’m going, you’ll have to wonder. Did I catch sight of one of your brave heroes who want only to rescue you? Or am I only going after that wolf that you’ve been tormenting me with?” She heard the bolt of the lock slide in place. “I leave you to decide for yourself. Oh, and, if by some chance, the wolf or your lover do manage to kill me, then you may never be found in that cupboard. Not a pleasant death.” She heard him chuckle, the sound of his footsteps crossing the saloon, then the door slam.

  Darkness.

  Sour whiskey.

  Suffocating walls closing in around her.

  A coffin, the cupboard was like a coffin.

  She took three deep breaths.

  Okay, get control.

  Doane had done his best to terrify her and make sure she knew how hopeless her situation was. Now she had to clear her head and look for a way out.

  She had a few hours without Doane. The bar where Zander had told her he had placed the gun and phone were only yards away. If Zander hadn’t lied to her. She had to believe he had not deceived her. She needed something to believe in right now. But how to get out of this damn cupboard …

  It had been a bolt lock. The cupboard must be over a century old and been left to rot in this place. Pinewood was not strong like oak. She had managed to pry open the drawer of the desk at the coin factory by shattering the wood around the lock.

  She looked down at her handcuffed wrists. She’d have to be Houdini to get out of them. She had no tool to pry anything.

  She heard a scampering outside the cupboard. The roof rats with which Doane had been taunting her, she thought absently. She could almost see their sharp teeth gnawing at every piece of wood within sight. She and Joe had been plagued by those rats one summer at the cottage. They had been difficult to get rid of because they were voracious eating machines.

  She stiffened. And those eating machines would not have left this pine cupboard alone without taking at least a few bites.

  Perhaps weakening the wood around those hungry bites.

  She began to carefully run the tips of her fingers over the surface of the wood. Nothing obvious. Doane would have noticed if there was anything that would herald a weakness in this coffin in which he had stuffed her. Nothing near the bolt itself.