The Persuasion

by Iris Johansen

  She shook her head to clear it. “Then choose someone else for your lessons. And leave me and my family out of it.”

  She could feel the waves of rage he was emitting as he looked down at her. Then they were suddenly gone and he was smiling. He reached down and pulled her to her feet. “I forgive you. After all, I did choose you for a reason. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to punish you until you learn, but this was only the initial skirmish.” He pushed her toward the helicopter. “And now we’d better get out of here before that brat sends up an alarm of some sort. Alberto says your brother was trouble from the moment he took him.”

  “It runs in the family. So this might not be worth your while.” She was still dizzy, weaving back and forth and having trouble staying on her feet. She felt a chill as she gazed at the helicopter. But Michael was free, and if she boarded that helicopter Luca wouldn’t be going after him. “You might keep that in mind, Luca.”

  “Oh, I will,” Luca said as he opened the door of the helicopter for her. “And when I do think about it, I’ll have Alberto describe to you what he wanted me to let him do to your brother. One must always be ready for future eventualities. Your Michael might be free now.” He jumped in the pilot’s seat of the helicopter and started the rotors. “But, as they say in that city where your dear brother was born, tomorrow is another day, Jane.”

  * * *

  MacAllen Cabin

  Wales

  “Okay, Michael?” Joe asked huskily as he rushed into the small bedroom where Rod MacAllen had just led him. He enfolded his son in a giant hug, closing his eyes with relief. Then he pushed him back to look at his face. He touched the cut on his son’s lower lip. “Maybe not so okay,” he said grimly. “Who did this? Luca?”

  Michael shook his head. “Luca called him Alberto. He’s the one who hurt Lisa. Jane said she’s all right?”

  “She will be.” His gaze was raking over Michael’s face and body. “Anything else but the bloody lip?”

  “He hit me in the stomach when I was trying to get away from him at the castle.” He drew back as Joe reached out to examine him. “But Mr. MacAllen said that it was only bruised when he looked at it. It kinda made him mad and that’s why he called the police instead of waiting for you to get here. I told him he should wait for you, Dad.”

  “I’m glad he didn’t.” He turned to the burly, gray-bearded man who was hovering, frowning suspiciously at him from the doorway. “Thank you for taking care of my son. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

  “You should take better care of him,” MacAllen said bluntly. “Not let him run around knocking on strangers’ doors in the middle of the night.” He shrugged. “Maybe I shouldn’t have called the police, but you can never tell in this day and age who might be the bad guy.”

  “That’s absolutely true.”

  “But the lad evidently doesn’t think you’re anyone to worry about.” He turned and headed toward the door. “I’ll give the bobbies a cup of tea and then send them on their way.”

  “He’s a nice man, Dad.” Michael watched as Rod MacAllen left the cabin. “But at first he thought I was just some crazy kid and didn’t pay any attention when I told him about the fire, and the helicopter, and Jane. He thought I was just making up stories.” His gaze shifted back to Joe. “But you believed me when I called you and told you about the helicopter, didn’t you?”

  “I always believe you, Michael.”

  His eyes were searching Joe’s face. “But it was too late, wasn’t it?” he whispered. “By the time you tried to get to Jane, the helicopter was gone?”

  Joe nodded. “They must have taken off right after you ran away.”

  Michael shook his head. “Not right after.” He was silent. “Jane told me not to look back, but I did anyway.” Another silence. “He hit her. Hard. Then she was lying there on the ground and he was looking down at her and smiling.” His hands were clenched into fists. “I wanted to turn around and run back to her. But I didn’t do it, because I promised her. But I should have done it, Dad. I was wrong.”

  “No, you were right.” Joe could see the pain and torment the boy was feeling. He was experiencing the same thing Michael was going through. All the frustration and worry and rage. Only his anger was more deadly, and he wanted to reach out and crush. “And Jane was right. If you’d gone back, she’d have had to fight for you. She would have probably been hurt much more than what Luca did tonight. We’d never want that to happen.”

  “No, but he did hurt her. And I hate it.” He drew a deep, shuddering breath. “It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me. I have to get her away from him.”

  “That’s my job, Michael.”

  “No, it’s not,” Michael said fiercely. “Not this time. Go ahead. You do your job. But I have to help her. I told her I would.”

  Shit. Joe was gazing at Michael’s expression with exasperation. Usually his son was reasonable and respectful, and he paid attention to rules from either him or Eve. That was not going to be the case today. Michael’s expression was stormy and determined. There was no way he was going to be talked out of searching for Jane. Okay, accept it, and draw away from the argument. Find a way around it.

  If he could manage to do it.

  “Suppose we try to mount a partnership. But there are a few things we’ll have to do immediately. We have to call your mom and let her know that Jane’s in trouble.” He paused. “And it might be a good idea if we tell Caleb right away what happened to her.”

  “He’ll be angry.”

  “Absolutely.” He added, “And I’ve been debating whether or not I should mention that you saw Luca hit Jane. He might get a bit upset.”

  Michael shook his head. “I told him I’d always tell him the truth. Not mentioning is like telling a lie.”

  “Yes, it is, but I know how I felt. It was like a kick in the gut to think of Jane being hurt.”

  “I know,” Michael said hoarsely. “Me too.” He moistened his lips. “But we’ll be able to bring her back. There are ways I can help. You always try to keep me away from everything, but you can’t do that this time. I have to be part of it.” He was talking fast, his eyes fixed pleadingly on Joe’s face. “Luca would be hard for me, but maybe not Davron or Alberto? But you’d have to let me get close…”

  Joe tensed. “What are you talking about, Michael?”

  “You know.” Michael stared him in the eye. “You’ve always known. I can do stuff. You and Mom might not like me to do it, but what if those men try to hurt Jane? That Alberto is really bad, Dad. Tonight every now and then I’d pick up one of his thoughts and it was…ugly. So much pain. And I’m not the only one he wanted to hurt. There was something about another boy. He was wishing I was more like Tomas so that Luca would give me to him. He didn’t see what difference it would make to him since we were both just kids.” He paused, thinking about it. “But if he thinks I’m just like this other kid, that might make it easier.”

  Joe felt his stomach lurch.

  A little dark-haired boy twisting in pain on that cross.

  “Another boy? How old?”

  “I don’t know. Younger than me.” Michael’s gaze was on Joe’s face. “You know something about him, don’t you?” he asked softly.

  “I might.” But he wasn’t about to share that knowledge with Michael. The boy had already gone through enough horror for one night. “Enough to know that I don’t want this Alberto to start comparing the two of you.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you are a kid,” Joe said roughly. “And I’m not going to let you do anything you’ll regret because you’re feeling guilty. I’m the one who was responsible for both of you. Anything that happened is at my door. That’s still the way it is. So get anything else out of your head.”

  Michael was looking soberly at him. “I don’t think I can. I think you’ll have to let me help you, Dad.” Then he suddenly shrugged. “But I can try to do as you like. I don’t want to make you and Mom unhappy.�
��

  It was clear that Michael wasn’t going to give him anything more than that tentative promise. It was going to be a fight. Joe could see it coming. The smart thing would just be to accept what he’d been given and work behind the scenes for a final victory. “Good. I don’t believe your Mom would approve of you planning on going after a creep like Alberto for any reason. It would make her very unhappy.”

  Michael nodded gravely. “But she would understand if it was because of Jane. She wouldn’t like it, but she’d realize that we have to get her back.”

  “But not if she had to risk you to pull it off. Understanding doesn’t mean giving approval. She’d tell you to go another way. And that’s what we’ll do.” Joe held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go back to the castle and see if the medics have released Lisa from the hospital yet. I know she wanted to see you. Then we can get busy finding Jane.”

  “We can do that now.” Michael jumped off the bed and pulled Jane’s phone out of his pocket. “She told me to give her phone to you when I saw you. I was curious so after I got here I looked to see why. She must have palmed her camera while she was talking to Luca. She took photos of Alberto, Davron, and Luca and the helicopter. There was moonlight, but the photos are still kind of dark. Maybe you can get someone to brighten them up?”

  “Maybe I can,” he murmured. It was like Jane to grab any opportunity she could to get an advantage. He just hoped she’d managed to give him something he could use. “We’ll see what Scotland Yard will say about them.”

  “They all like you at Scotland Yard. They’ll work hard to help us find her.” Michael was hurrying across the room toward the door. “Maybe you can call them once we’re on the road? I only have to thank Mr. MacAllen and say goodbye and I’ll be ready to go…”

  Michael was more than ready now, Joe thought. He was almost frantically eager to go after Jane. Joe knew that no matter how often he told the boy he was not to blame for drawing Jane into Luca’s trap, he’d still feel guilty.

  And so would he, Joe thought wearily. It stung that there was no way to deny that Luca had been clever enough to trick them. He’d have to dismiss the memory and go after Luca with every weapon at his disposal. He just hoped that Jane wasn’t going to have to pay for it.

  Though according to Michael she already had begun to do that, he thought bitterly.

  He hit her. Hard…

  * * *

  Mantua

  “He hit her.” Caleb repeated Joe’s words. He could feel the blinding rage tear through him. The blood was pounding; he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. Smother it. It would do no good right now. Save it for when he was on the hunt. But he was on the hunt, he thought. He had been on the hunt since the instant Quinn had told him about Jane. “How could you let him do that? You said that you’d keep them safe. I trusted you.”

  “I know you did,” Joe said curtly. “I screwed up. You’re an idiot if you think I did it on purpose. I could have lost them both. But Jane saw that I didn’t lose Michael and that probably pissed off Luca. So stop fuming and let’s find a way to make sure the asshole doesn’t make her suffer more because everything didn’t go quite his way. Unless you’d rather just indulge yourself by going on the attack at me.”

  “Tempting,” Caleb said harshly. “What can you say that would convince me that I can’t do both?”

  “Not a damn thing except that Jane wouldn’t forgive you if you went after me. That would make a difference to you. And somewhere deep in that twisted psyche of yours, I think you might actually like and trust me. Now, shall we get down to business? Jane managed to smuggle out a few photos with Michael. I’m going to send them to you.” Caleb heard a faint ping. “We have Luca, Davron, and this Alberto who Michael says is more vicious than smart. I don’t know if their photos will help. I was more interested in the helicopter. Evidently from where Jane was standing she was only able to get the first two numbers. I just turned it over to Tovarth, and he’s trying to trace it or get a location.”

  “It’s a Bell 407. Not a new model, perhaps six years old.” Caleb was looking at the photo. “I’ll get Palik on it right away. Anything else?”

  “One thing.” He paused. “It might not be useful. But I think the name of the boy Jane was drawing is Tomas and that he was connected in some way to this Alberto.”

  “How do you know?”

  He hesitated. “Michael told me. He said he…caught something.”

  “And you were waffling about telling me because it meant admitting that Michael is psychic?” Caleb asked fiercely. “It’s time to forget about that crap. I don’t care if it makes you uncomfortable not to pretend that Michael’s just like any other kid. He is what he is. Just as I was when I was his age. You just do what you have to do to survive it. And I’ll use anything Michael can do or tell me to get Jane back. Just as I’ll use everything I have. You want him safe? I’ll keep him safe. But I won’t take a chance on sacrificing Jane to do it.”

  “You won’t take a chance?” Joe repeated with soft menace. “Did I ask you to do that, you son of a bitch. I don’t care what kind of hell you went through when you were Michael’s age. He’s my son and I’ll do whatever I can to help him get through this with as few scars as possible. He’s feeling so guilty about Jane that I’m just trying to keep him from doing something crazy that will get him killed. Now I’m going to hang up because I have to call Eve and tell her that I don’t know what the hell is happening to Jane this minute, much less what Luca will be doing to her in the future. Do you realize what that’s going to do to Eve? So I don’t want to hear from you again until you can give me something else to tell her. You’re this great master hunter? Well, go prove it. I need a location and then I’ll be on my way to join you. I don’t care if I get that information from you or Tovarth.”

  Caleb was silent. Even through his own fury and frustration he could sense Quinn’s pain. He knew how much Quinn loved Jane and could hear how this was tearing him apart. But Caleb’s own pain was so intense that he was barely able to process anything else. “You’ll get it from me,” he said unevenly. “And soon.”

  He cut the connection.

  He stood there for a moment while the waves of rage swept over him. How was he supposed to function when he was having trouble even thinking? Bullshit. It was a hunt. Think about the hunt. Don’t think about Jane. She must not exist until the last moment when he moved in to take her away from Luca. Otherwise she’d get in the way.

  He was punching in the transfer of the photos Jane had taken to Palik’s phone as he strode back into the suite where he’d left both him and Nicco Barza. “Pull up the photos I just sent you, Palik. There’s a helicopter in that photo and I don’t know if it was a rental or if Luca owns it. It was used by Stefano Luca in Wales last night, but I think it’s likely he’ll be heading in this direction. He appears to know the area and has cult members on hand at his beck and call. Find that helicopter and trace it to Luca.” He turned to Barza. “Davron was with Luca last night, so Luca must be keeping him trailing at his heels. Call Davron and arrange a meeting for tomorrow.”

  Barza shook his head. “It’s not that easy. He might not call me back right away. I told you that he’s afraid of Luca.”

  “Not acceptable,” Caleb said softly, his eyes flickering in his taut face. “Make it easy. Say the right words to make him come to you. Promise him anything.”

  Barza frowned. “You’re pushing me too hard. And I might not want to go through with—” Then he broke off as he met Caleb’s eyes. He inhaled sharply. “What the hell’s the hurry?”

  “Don’t ask, just do it, Barza,” Palik said quickly. “Believe me, you don’t want to go there with him right now.” He was now looking critically at the photo. “This is damn bad quality. It looks as if whoever took it was on crack. Don’t blame me if I can’t trace that helicopter right away.”

  “Oh, I’ll blame you,” Caleb said. “Count on it.”

  Palik raised his gaze. “I was afraid of that,” he sa
id quietly. “I knew when you walked back in here that the stakes had been upped.” He paused. “Jane MacGuire?”

  Caleb didn’t answer. “Find the helicopter. And pay attention to anything you hear about a child, Tomas, who might have something to do with Luca or the cult.”

  “Anything else?” Palik asked. “What are you going to be doing while Barza and I do your work for you?”

  “Luca gave me a list of all the things he’s going to take away from me. I’m going to take a look at a few of them in the vicinity and see if he’s already started to take possession.” He headed for the door. “It would be like the arrogance of the asshole to think he could get away with it right under my nose.”

  “Not if he knew you,” Palik said.

  “But he doesn’t,” Caleb said as he opened the door. “He only thinks he does, and that could be a fatal mistake…”

  Chapter

  ​11

  Another lake…

  Jane had seen at least three lakes as the helicopter had begun its descent, though there might have been more. But no villages, no houses that she could see. Still, she knew these hills; she’d painted those lakes when she came here earlier in the year. The rest of the trip from Wales in Luca’s helicopter had been a complete puzzle, but she’d recognized the lake country of Italy when it had come into view almost twenty minutes ago. She leaned forward so that she could see anything else. She needed to locate a distinctive marker so that she could find her way out of these hills when she managed to escape.

  “Curious?” Luca’s smile was catlike. “Of course you are. You’ve been sitting there, not saying a word during the entire trip. If you were any other woman, I’d think you were frozen, terrified. Not you. You’re studying everything, hoping to escape. Go ahead, it amuses me. But you’re not going to get away, Jane. I’ll make certain that every one of my people knows what will happen to them if you manage to wander away from me.” He glanced over his shoulder at the two men in the backseat. “Isn’t that right, Alberto? You went to a good deal of trouble to bring her to me. What would you do to someone who made all your fine effort a total waste?”