And once he knew which way they would jump, he could take them down.
He lifted the binoculars to his eyes again and focused on the gatehouse itself. He’d positioned himself so that he would be able to see the balcony of Cara’s room. The French doors were closed, but he knew she was there. He’d heard her playing when Palik had dropped him off an hour earlier. Just a thread of sound in the darkness, but it was unmistakable.
She wasn’t playing now, and he hoped she was asleep. She probably needed sleep. He didn’t know what she had been going through, but she had to be bewildered and uncertain and frightened at this abrupt change in her life. But at least that bitch, Natalie Castino, had seen that she was given something familiar in the form of that violin she had been playing. A bribe? Perhaps. Eve had said that she was manipulative and clever. But he couldn’t see Cara taking a bribe if she knew—What the hell was he thinking? Cara was just a kid and trying to function in a strange and frightening situation. But she couldn’t function if she didn’t know what the situation really was.
And he wasn’t going to be able to get her out of here when the time came if he didn’t have her prepared and ready to move fast.
Which meant he was going to have to do more than just watch and plan in the next few days.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out and glanced at the ID.
Eve. She’d been more patient than he’d thought she’d be. Palik had called Joe Quinn when Jock had arrived two days ago to tell him he’d arrived. She’d tried to call Jock twice, but he’d not been ready to talk to anyone while he’d been studying the situation as Palik had presented it to him.
He answered this call. “Hello, Eve. How’s MacDuff?”
“MacDuff is going at warp speed,” she said impatiently. “You knew he would be as soon as he was on his feet and halfway healed. I didn’t call to give you a report on MacDuff. Dammit, it’s been two days, Jock.”
“I was busy.”
“Don’t tell me that. Have you seen Cara?”
“No, but I heard her. Someone gave her a violin. I assume it was her mother.”
“What? Why would she do that?”
“I think I’ll have to find out. It’s not safe for me not to know how she feels about Natalie. It could present difficulties.” He paused. “And there are difficulties enough as it is. I may have trouble getting her out of Moscow when I take her out of that gatehouse. I’m working on it now.”
“Where are you working on it? Where are you now, Jock?”
“Close to her.” His gaze went to the balcony. “She’s asleep now. She safe, Eve. I’m watching her.”
Eve drew a shaky breath. “If you ever do this again to me, I’ll come after you, Jock. You answer me when I call you.”
“Palik was in touch with Burbank.”
“Palik isn’t you. I didn’t have to worry about Palik’s going ballistic and turning Kaskov’s estate into a battle zone.”
He smiled. “No, you didn’t have to worry about that. And you don’t have to worry about my doing that, either. It will have to be handled quietly, with no firepower, until Cara is out of the danger area.”
Silence. “You’re already getting ready to do it, aren’t you?”
“Getting ready.” He looked down at the ground some sixty feet below him. “But things are a bit in the air right now. You may still have a chance to divert me if you can show me that there’s a safer way to get her out. Have you heard from Natalie Castino yet?”
“No. And I’ve tried to call her, but she doesn’t answer either. I’ve been going crazy between the two of you.”
“I answered your call. I didn’t have anything to say until now. I was making contact with some previous acquaintances from my shady past and probing their thoughts on the matter of a safe extraction. Unfortunately, their views were the same as Palik’s. So I knew it was up to me.”
“The hell it is.”
“Find me a safer way, Eve,” he repeated. “And I’ll do anything you say. Maybe Natalie wasn’t ready to talk to you either. But she might be getting impatient now. Unless she’s changed her mind and thinks being Daddy’s little girl will be enough for her. In that case, there’s not going to be any safe way of getting Cara out of there if she’s using her to cement relations.” He added coldly, “And I won’t leave her here, Eve. She’s not going to be a pawn for Kaskov or his daughter. Pawns are much too easy to be thrown away in fits of rage.”
“Don’t do anything. I’ll find a way to contact Natalie. Look, MacDuff and Joe are setting up infrared lights on the north bank of the lake to try to pierce that thick mist. If they work, then we’ll be able to go after Cira’s gold soon. It’s what Natalie wants, and that will give us leverage.”
“Fine. But I’ll continue to make my preparations until you give me a reason to stop. I hope you do, Eve.” He hung up.
He could understand Eve’s impatience and worry and, in a remote way, even sympathize. But it was very remote, and he would not let it touch him. Eve belonged to that other life, the one that had too many rules and morals to let him be what he had to be. He couldn’t save Cara if he let that life control him. So close Eve out, close all of them out. Go back to the control he’d learned from Reilly so long ago.
He leaned forward on the branch and lifted the binoculars again. He concentrated on the sentry closest to the east side of the gatehouse. Watching him move, looking for weakness … getting ready for the kill.
* * *
“He’s cold as ice,” Eve said jerkily as she turned to Jane after hanging up the phone. “I’d rather he be angry or something. Then I could talk to him, persuade him. Or you could talk to him. You know him better than anybody but MacDuff.”
Jane nodded. “We knew this might be coming. I was hoping that the situation he found there might be a little more promising.”
“Cara is alive. No one is hurting her right now. That has to be promise enough.”
“As long as that continues, I don’t believe Jock will make any quick moves,” Jane said. “And he told you that he’s not ready yet. He gave us warning and a chance.”
“I don’t know why we haven’t heard from Natalie yet,” Eve said in frustration. She turned and moved out of the tent to stand looking out at the lake. Joe, MacDuff, Caleb, and several of MacDuff’s men had disappeared into that massive fogbank a few hours before with that lab equipment she’d told Jock about. She could only hope that they would be successful. “She wanted that treasure. She was almost salivating.”
“Maybe she’s just giving us a chance to find it,” Jane said quietly as she came to stand beside her. “You told her we’d found the treasure to set up a trap. It worked because you and Cara were part of that bait. Otherwise, she would have demanded proof that you’d found it. She may still want it, but she’ll be more cautious now.”
Jane was right, Eve thought wearily. The bait might not have been strong enough to make Natalie commit to giving up Cara without proof. She might want a guarantee, something tangible that would tempt her over the edge. She was safe in her father’s palatial home and had all the time in the world to make certain that Eve had what she wanted.
And what she wanted could be somewhere out in that mist hovering over the north bank of the lake.
“I don’t see any kind of light in that mist. Do you think those gadgets will work?” Eve asked.
“Maybe. If she wants them to work.”
Eve turned to look at her in surprise. “Jane? Is that a break in the wall of skepticism you’ve built around Cira?”
Jane shrugged. “The skepticism is still there, but I’m tired of closing my mind to Cira. I’m just accepting whatever comes along.” She smiled faintly. “And maybe what comes along will give us a clue how to lure Natalie into giving Cara back to us.”
“In the meantime, I’ll try to reach Natalie and at least set up a dialogue with her.” Eve moved down the bank and sat down on the grass. “She’s got to answer sometime.”
* * *
/>
It was Eve Duncan calling again, Natalie saw with satisfaction as she looked down at her phone. She felt a surge of power as she sat there gazing at the phone and not answering.
Natalie found it strange that the woman wanted Cara enough to humiliate herself by calling repeatedly. Soft. So soft. But then, it was what she should have expected of someone who spent her life trying to put skulls back together and sending them back to their parents. Weird. Very weird.
But that softness might still be of use to Natalie. She moved across the conservatory to look into the living room, where Cara was still playing.
She felt the familiar surge of rage as she looked at her father sitting listening, totally absorbed, his gaze on Cara. He hadn’t even noticed when Natalie had left the room and wandered into the conservatory. It had been like that ever since she had arrived here over a week ago. She wasn’t going to be able to stand it for much longer.
She had wanted to consolidate her position before she made any moves. She still had the money her father had given her to “ransom” Cara. But she would go through that in less than a year; and then she would be dependent on her father again.
And she couldn’t stand the thought of Cara’s taking all his attention, all the spotlight that should belong to her. The mere thought sent rage tearing through her. It was intolerable. She still needed her father’s power in the background, but she would not be put in a position where she would have to beg him for funds.
So it might be time to explore the possibility of another source of income.
And explore the possibility of getting rid of Cara sooner than she had planned.
How to do it?
She would think of something …
LOCH GAELKAR
“Did it work?” Jane moved toward MacDuff as she saw him emerge from the mist of the north bank. She didn’t really have to ask. MacDuff’s expression was not happy.
He shrugged. “Yes and no. We got a limited amount of mist clearance during the first part of the trip, but once we reached that cluster of big boulders toward the middle, it was as bad as it always was.”
“Why?”
“How do I know? Who has any idea what’s going on in that mist? I actually thought we might have the answer.” His lips tightened. “But I’ll find that answer, even if it means roping ourselves together and—”
“What good would that do? You still wouldn’t be able to see. You’d just be stumbling around in that mist.”
“We might stumble onto that something that we’ve been looking for.” He turned away from her and strode toward his tent. “In the meantime, I’m going to get a drink, then call the lab where I got those lamps and ask if they have any suggestions.”
She watched him until he disappeared into his tent. She was disappointed, too. Not only did MacDuff deserve to find his treasure, but Eve needed Cira’s gold to offer as bait to get Cara back.
Or was she disappointed? She had felt sympathy but also a tiny bit of relief. Which just showed how conflicted she was on this subject of Cira. Maybe she actually didn’t want the place where Cira had buried her son to be disturbed. Or maybe she wanted to be the one to find it herself.
She turned and looked back at the mist over Cira’s lake that never vanished.
Is that what you want, too, Cira?
No answer of course. She was being totally unreasonable, and she should dismiss the mystical and embrace the practical as she usually did.
But it made no sense that the lights would work so far and no farther. She wanted to see it for herself.
She moved across the bank and into the mist.
Not too bad. They had set poles with the infrared lamps at twenty-foot intervals, and she could dimly make out shapes and shrubs. Nothing clear. But, when combined with her flashlight it was like walking in a regular fog, not that impenetrable mist.
Until she came to the cluster of boulders. MacDuff had set up a pole lamp there also, but it was as if it wasn’t there. The mist wrapped itself around the light and smothered it, only permitting a weak gleam that could be seen no more than a foot away.
Amazing.
And exciting.
She stood looking at the darkness beyond the rocks.
Mist.
The sound of water lapping against the bank.
But Jane could not see the water.
Or the trees or rocks or anything but the blinding mist.
“What are you doing here?”
She stiffened and turned to see Caleb behind her. “I wanted to see for myself. MacDuff told me that gadget seemed to work on the first mile or so of the north bank, but after you passed that group of boulders, it failed. It didn’t make sense to me that it would do that.”
He smiled. “So you went to see if we’d done something wrong? Or did you want to know if Cira had erected some kind of ghostly barrier?”
“It didn’t make sense to me,” she repeated. “Don’t make anything of it but curiosity, Caleb.”
“I’ll try to resist the temptation, but it’s difficult for me. Temptations of all varieties are difficult for me. Are you ready to go back now?” He shined the beam of flashlight ahead into the mist. “It gets thicker from here on, and you won’t be able to see anything at all within a few feet, even with a flashlight. I wouldn’t want you to slip and fall into the lake.”
“I can swim.”
“But I’d feel bound to jump in after you, and that would make you feel annoyed if it turned out that I saved you.”
“Extremely annoyed.” She shined her own flashlight on the mist ahead. It was oddly alluring, calling, beckoning to her. She wasn’t sure if she would have gone on if Caleb hadn’t shown up. Perhaps. Perhaps not. She wasn’t even certain why she had felt compelled to come here after she had talked to MacDuff. “But I won’t risk your throwing that in my face for the rest of my life.” She turned and started back toward the south end of the lake. “You followed me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I don’t like the idea of losing you to Cira. I prefer to monitor the situation.” He was walking behind her, and his voice was drifting toward her, around her out of the mist. “You’ve been upset for the last few days, and I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to see what you were doing.”
“Of course I’ve been upset. That doesn’t mean I’d do anything stupid or irrational. Eve and I have both been stressed and on edge.”
“But Eve has a support group that you don’t have. She has you and Quinn and maybe that child she’s carrying.”
“And I have her. She would never shut me out.”
“But you wouldn’t let her know that you need her. You’re being too careful to make sure that she has as little trauma as possible. Isn’t that true?”
“I’m doing fine. Why should I bother her when she has all this to—I’m not talking about this to you, Caleb.”
“Very well. I only wanted you to know that if you cared to release a little of that stored-up pressure I’m sensing, I’m available.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him in disbelief.
He chuckled, his dark eyes twinkling. “Oh, the sex, too. That goes without saying. But I wasn’t referring to that. Aren’t you surprised?”
“Stunned.”
“It’s good for you. You have all these preconceived ideas about me, and I need to give you a fresh perspective on me occasionally. No, there are all kinds of pressure assaulting you right now, and I thought you might want to talk about it.”
“Talk?”
He chuckled. “You see? Those preconceived ideas again. Do you suppose that sex is on your mind as much as it is on mine, or you wouldn’t read it into my every word?”
He was coming too close to the truth. She quickly veered away. “Why do you think I’m experiencing any more pressure than anyone else in this camp? We’re all after the same thing, finding a way to get Cara back.”
“But with you it’s all tied to Cira and the treasure and balancing what you want for MacDuff with what you need for Eve.”
“Without a doubt. But would it hurt to let me shoulder a little of the load you’re carrying?” He added softly, “You persist in shutting me out, and I accept it. I can work on that. But I see an opportunity for myself with what’s happening here at this lake.”
“Opportunity?”
“To show you that I can be of value in a way other than in your bed. Wouldn’t that be different and interesting?”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself. I’m just offering my services. With no price tag involved.”
“What services?”
“Whatever you require.” He looked out at the mist. “But whatever it is, I believe it will probably happen here. Don’t you?”
She followed his gaze.
Mist.
Swirling.
Beckoning.
She was finding that she desperately wanted to follow that beckoning where anything could happen, any truth exist. “How would I know?”
“Then we’ll find out together. Nothing permanent. Only for this moment, this day, this week. Whatever. Would it be so bad to have someone by your side to help a little when you need it? To have someone completely devoted to you and no one else?”
It was as alluring as what was waiting out there in the mist. “You paint a lovely picture, Caleb. But you always were a spellbinder.”
“Right. So listen and go along with me. But I need a little help. Tell me about Cira.”
“What?”
“Oh, I know all about your dreams about Cira and the obsession you’ve had with her since you were seventeen. Since that was such a big part of your life, I made sure I was familiar with it. But what I don’t know are the details of the dream you had about Cira and this lake. I’m sure you told MacDuff all about it, or he wouldn’t have pulled up stakes and sent us down here to the lake. And Eve would know.” He grimaced. “But as usual, I was shut out. But I may need to know, Jane. Tell me why the hell we’re stumbling around in this mist.”
“There wasn’t any reason for you to know. It was only a dream, Caleb. MacDuff grabbed onto it because he thinks I have some kind of connection with Cira. Or because he’s just desperate to find that chest of coins.”
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