Chasing the Night

by Iris Johansen

“Calbre was in charge of guarding the grave at Svedrun?”

  Russo nodded. “There’s been no trouble since we left there.”

  “Evidently there’s trouble now.” Ah, clever Catherine. He hadn’t expected that she would be able to put together the pieces quite so soon. “Have you been able to contact any of his men?”

  “We’ve made the attempt.”

  “That means you’ve failed.”

  “I can have someone there in the marsh in thirty minutes. We have people we can call on in a small town just outside the marsh.”

  “You haven’t done so?”

  “I was waiting to ask our position in the matter. It has to be Catherine Ling. Your reactions haven’t been predictable where she’s concerned.”

  “Our position is to kill Catherine Ling if we can, as well as anyone who is helping her. I expect that she has very good help if they’ve been able to get this far along.” Joe Quinn. Eve Duncan. Who else? Kelsov had been a thorn in his side since he had been released from prison and had helped Catherine in the past. Yes, Kelsov was probably with her, too. “Is that clear enough, Russo? Now I’d suggest you make that call.”

  He smiled as Russo left the room. The man didn’t understand the subtleties of the game. No, Rakovac didn’t want Catherine to die yet, but there would be no satisfaction in the finale if the threat was not genuine. Let her run from the hunters, and he would accept it if he was cheated.

  But he would not be cheated. He believed in fate. It was meant that she be killed by him in the most painful way possible.

  He looked at the photo of her on the desk.

  “Run, Catherine,” he said softly. “Run until you drop. I’ll be there to pick you off as you fall.”

  His cell phone rang.

  He glanced at the ID. It was the call he’d been waiting for.

  Lima, Peru.

  So small, Eve thought. The bones of a child were so delicate, so easy to break. Her Bonnie was only a little older when she’d been taken. Had her body been flung carelessly into the ground to become—

  “Eve.”

  She tore her eyes from the little boy’s skeleton to look at Joe.

  Empathy.

  Tenderness.

  “I know,” he said. “But we need you to hurry.”

  Yes, no time for pain. No time for memories or comparisons. She jerked her attention back to the task she had to do. “I need more light. Catherine, get the lantern out of my backpack.” She crawled closer to the skeleton. The pelvis and teeth definitely indicated a male of four or five. Bones appeared aged and weathered, but probably preserved by being buried near the peat marsh. The skull…Rakovac had said that he’d shot the child.

  “The light,” she said impatiently. “I have to examine the skull, Catherine.”

  “Sorry,” Catherine said hoarsely. “Here it is.”

  The lantern was shaking as she gave it to Eve. No, it was Catherine’s hand that was shaking. Her gaze flew to Catherine’s face. It was pale in the lanternlight, and her lips were trembling.

  “Sorry,” Catherine said again. “I didn’t think I’d fall apart like this. He’s so little.”

  “Yes, that’s what I was thinking.” And Catherine had the additional heartache of thinking this might be her son. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  She shined the beam of light on the skull. “Bullet hole. Very clean. More clean than the photo indicated. It’s lucky it didn’t shatter the skull or we’d be spending a lot of time just in the initial reconstruction. It should be a relatively easy job.”

  “You’re going to do it?” Catherine said.

  “That’s why I came, isn’t it? The boy is four or five years old. I can’t determine exactly how long he was buried here because of the marsh preservation, but that could be correct, too.”

  “He lied. It’s not Luke.”

  “I hope you’re right. But it could be Luke. Are you going to walk away and never be sure? I’m not. Joe, get my case.”

  “You’re going to take his skull,” Catherine said. She drew a deep breath. “Okay, what can I do to help you?”

  “Nothing,” Joe said. He pulled Eve to her feet. “Go to the car. Both of you. Yeah, I know. You want to be professional and do your job. And Catherine wants to prove that she can take it and help you. Well, it’s bullshit. You can’t be careful about taking that kid’s head. We don’t have time. I’m the only one who won’t agonize over doing what has to be done.” He took her lantern and case. “Now get the hell out of here. I don’t want you remembering how I did it.”

  She hesitated.

  “Go.” He turned back to the skeleton. “And take Catherine with you. I don’t want her stabbing me in the back when she sees what I have to do to this poor kid.”

  Oh, no, he was so tough. He wouldn’t agonize the way she and Catherine would.

  The hell he wouldn’t.

  But he was right, she’d take too long because she couldn’t bear to be rough. She took Catherine’s arm and pulled her toward the road. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I have my orders. I have to protect Joe’s back.”

  Catherine didn’t argue. She gazed straight ahead and never looked back as they hurried toward the car that had just come to a halt a hundred yards from the grave site.

  Kelsov stuck his head out of the window. “Hurry. We may be in trouble. Where’s Quinn?”

  “Right behind us.” Catherine jumped into the backseat. “He won’t be long. He had to—He won’t be long.”

  Kelsov was cursing. “We can’t wait. I’ll give him two more minutes.”

  “You’ll give him as long as it takes,” Eve said. “We won’t leave him. If you do, I’ll personally hunt you down and castrate you.”

  The glance he gave her was not pleasant. “So much for your caring, gentle expert, Catherine.”

  “Joe has the skull, Kelsov,” Catherine said. “What’s wrong?” Her gaze was on the trees. “Someone’s coming? I don’t see any lights.”

  “They’re either on foot or driving without lights, but they’re here. I know these marshes.” He nodded toward the southwest. “They’re coming from that direction.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The birds. You can always tell by the birds. Right before I reached the car, I heard them screeching and then the sound of their wings as they took off.” His gaze was raking the trees. “The birds in this area haven’t been panicked yet. When they are, we’ll be in real trouble.”

  It made sense to Eve. She wasn’t about to try to find any other more innocent reason for the disturbance in the swamp. Not tonight. She reached for the door handle. “I’ll go get Joe.”

  “Wait.” Catherine was gazing beyond her. “He’s coming.”

  The next moment Joe was diving into the passenger seat. He threw Eve’s forensic case on the floor. “Move! Something’s wrong out there.”

  Kelsov gunned the car and it jumped forward. “The birds.”

  Joe nodded as he rolled down the window. “Southwest.”

  He would be on the same wavelength as Kelsov both in instinct and experience, Eve thought.

  Joe went still. “No, not southwest anymore. Listen.”

  Screeching.

  A flapping of wings.

  Here.

  Chapter

  12

  The first bullet hit the rear window thirty seconds later.

  “Down!”

  But Catherine had already pulled Eve to the floor and was reaching in her backpack for her gun. “Not on foot.” She was looking over her shoulder at the tan Volvo racing after them. “How many in the car, Joe?”

  “Six,” Joe was taking aim. He fired. “Five.”

  Another bullet splintered the driver’s mirrors and ricocheted into the roof of the car.

  Catherine was rolling down the window. She tossed off a quick shot before ducking back down. “Four, Joe?”

  “Four,” he confirmed. He stiffened. “Move, Kelsov. I don’t like this. I think they’ve got—Shit.”
r />   Eve’s gaze flew to the rear window. “My God.”

  A small missile launcher was being aimed at their vehicle by the man in the rear seat of the Volvo.

  “Out!” Joe yelled. “Pull over, Kelsov! Everyone out!”

  Kelsov didn’t question but skidded to a stop by the side of the road bordering the marsh. He was the first to jump into the muck.

  Catherine jerked Eve out her door, and the next moment, she was floundering knee-deep in the mud.

  “Joe!” Eve screamed. Where was he? She couldn’t see him.

  The car exploded into a fiery mass as the missile hit it.

  “No!”

  “Easy.” Catherine was dragging her through the mud. “He jumped out the other side. He’s okay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Catherine was glancing over her shoulder. “There he is across the road. He’s aiming at—Oh, yes.”

  The Volvo’s gas tank exploded as Joe’s bullet hit it. The explosion ignited the missile launcher and the vehicle blew high in the air!

  “Yes, your Joe is very much okay.” Catherine’s eyes were glittering with fierce admiration. “Great move. I couldn’t have done better.”

  A tribute warrior to warrior, Eve thought.

  “Where’s Kelsov?” Joe said as he jumped into the muck and waded toward them.

  “Here.” Kelsov called from some distance away. “I was just about to come and rescue all of you. But of course I had to make sure that I was safe first. That’s the only intelligent way to proceed.”

  “You’re nothing if not intelligent,” Catherine said dryly as she started toward him. “It was lucky that Joe acted on instinct and not intelligence. It worked out better for all of us.”

  “You don’t think that I’d have come back for you?”

  “Actually, I do,” Catherine said. “Unless Rakovac was standing between us. Then you’d go after him and let us take our chances.”

  “And you wouldn’t?”

  “Yes, I’d probably do the same thing.”

  “I don’t think so,” Eve said. “Hatred can only twist your character so far. I believe you have the same instincts as Joe and would act on them.”

  Catherine looked at Joe. “I’d like to think you’re right, Eve. What do you think, Joe?”

  He didn’t answer her. “I think that we’d better get out of this marsh and find a car. Those explosions would have been heard for miles. We don’t know that we’re safe yet. Rakovac might have sent out a second team.” He tucked the forensic case he was still carrying into Eve’s backpack. “Kelsov, if we call Bravski, will he come and get us?”

  “Maybe.” He shook his head. “But we can’t trust him not to talk about what he’s doing. It’s safer to get back to the village on our own. Then we can borrow his car to get back to where I dropped off the Mercedes and be on our way.”

  “Safer, not quicker,” Eve said. “Six miles, if I remember correctly.”

  “You’re not strong enough?” He smiled slyly. “And you were so full of threats of violence to my person when I only mentioned that we might have to leave Quinn. I’ll have no trouble at all slogging my way through this marsh. I might even offer you a hand if you ask prettily.”

  “Knock it off, Kelsov.” Joe took Eve’s elbow and half led, half pulled her with him as he started out. “He’s right; we shouldn’t give away our position to anyone. We’ll stay in the marsh for the first few miles to make sure no one else is going to be after us. Then we’ll take to the road. It will make the going faster and easier.” He glanced over his shoulder at Catherine. “Are you all right?”

  “Of course.” She smiled brilliantly at him. “It takes a lot to take us down, doesn’t it?”

  He stared at her for a moment and then slowly nodded. “You’re damn right it does.”

  He turned back to Eve and his arm tightened protectively around her. “And we’ll get through this, too. Just keep moving…”

  “Good Lord, you all look as if you survived a mudslide,” Kelly said as she threw open the door. “What happened?”

  Her description was probably accurate, Eve thought. She could see what Kelsov, Joe, and Catherine looked like, and she must be the same. She had caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror in Bravski’s house where they had “borrowed” his car. Caked mud up to her waist, in her hair, tennis shoes muddy brown instead of white. The smell was almost as bad.

  No, worse.

  “We need baths,” she said, as Natalie came to stand beside Kelsov. “I hope you have a large water heater.”

  She nodded, her gaze never leaving Kelsov. “You are well?”

  “I will be when I get clean,” Kelsov said.

  “You will have the first bath,” Natalie said.

  “No, that wouldn’t be polite. We have guests.”

  But Natalie didn’t care about politeness when it interfered with her caring for Kelsov, Eve thought. “We could draw straws,” she suggested.

  “Ladies first,” Joe said. “I saw a creek about a mile from here. If you can give me soap, I’ll make do there.”

  Catherine nodded eagerly. “Great idea. I’m used to roughing it. I’ll go with you and—” She stopped suddenly. “No, I guess not. I’ll have a hot bath. You go first, Eve. I’ll wait for you.” She turned to Kelsov. “And you’re right, you’re our host. You go down to the creek with Joe. I guarantee that it will feel better than trekking through that marsh.”

  “He will be cold,” Natalie was frowning. “I do not think that—”

  “He’ll survive. Kelsov always survives.”

  Eve smiled. “And he’s been telling me how strong and hardy he is. What’s a little fresh springwater to a titan like him?” She moved toward the bathroom. “I’ll hurry, Catherine.”

  “Take your time. Don’t worry about me. I need to talk to Kelly anyway.” She made a face as she sat down gingerly on one of the wooden kitchen chairs. “Though I’ll have to scrub this chair as soon as I get up.”

  Eve didn’t doubt it. They were all so filthy that she was reluctant to touch anything herself. Into that shower so that she could feel human again.

  And the warm water did feel wonderful as it ran over her naked body. She worked the shampoo into her hair. Just stand here a moment and let the warmth seep into her muscles. She hated to be dirty.

  But Catherine hadn’t been too bothered about her foul condition. She had bounced back and that wonderful vitality had gone into high gear. She was like Joe in that reaction to adversity. The adrenaline began to flow, and they came alive. It had been a perfectly natural response when Catherine had been about to go down to the creek with Joe. Considering her assignments in the jungle, she probably had no qualms about bathing with the men she worked with. It was more unusual for her to have caught herself and quickly changed her mind.

  Had she thought that Eve would resent that intimacy?

  And would she?

  She had a sudden visual picture of Catherine naked and beautiful, covered with drops of water.

  Hell, yes. Eve wasn’t perfect. She had the usual twinges of envy and possessiveness. She hoped that didn’t translate to giving in to the green-eyed monster. She had no right. Joe had given far more to her than she ever had to him during these last years. The only thing she could give him in return was love and freedom.

  Somehow, the fact she was telling herself that she had no right didn’t seem to matter. The emotion was still there.

  It had to matter. If Joe ever wanted to leave her, then she had to make it easy for him. He had lived with her obsession and endless hunt since the moment he had met her. He was entitled to walk away without having to look back at her. Whether it was alone or with another woman.

  She had never thought of him with another woman until now.

  Was it because Catherine was so much like him? Watching them together had been amazing. She and Joe were close, but Catherine was like his other self.

  Stop it. She was borrowing trouble. She wasn’t going to go around spying o
n them just because she had noticed that affinity. She trusted Joe, and Catherine was becoming closer to her than anyone but her Jane. She had an idea that Catherine’s abrupt change of mind a few minutes ago was an indication that she was on guard to keep that closeness intact. Eve would not destroy either relationship because of doubts.

  She began to wash the shampoo from her hair.

  Enough of this soul-searching. What would be, would be. She could only do what she thought was right.

  Loving Joe was right.

  Helping Catherine find her son was right.

  The rest would have to sort itself out as time went on.

  “The Rakovac file,” Catherine said to Kelly. “Have you found anything we can use?”

  Kelly shook her head. “Not yet. Though I think I have a glimmer of a hope in finding him. Before he disappeared, he did establish his own pattern, but there’s no regularity to it. Perhaps that will reveal itself the more I know about him. It may be numerical or it might have to do with his history. Everyone has a life pattern that they establish over the years. Rakovac wouldn’t feel comfortable veering too far from his pattern. It would take some enormous upheaval to cause him to break his routine.”

  “Or he may be the exception to prove the rule.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “You don’t know.” Catherine’s hands clenched into fists. “And even if we find Rakovac, will Luke be with him? And will it be in time?”

  Kelly didn’t answer. “You found the skeleton?”

  Catherine nodded. “We brought the skull back. Eve said that the reconstruction won’t be too difficult. The bullet didn’t shatter the skull.” Her lips twisted. “I was so weak I couldn’t even look at the bullet hole. I kept seeing…” She stopped, thinking of that fragile skeleton lying on the mound of dirt. “I was ashamed. Eve was hurting, too, but she did her job.”

  Kelly reached out and touched Catherine’s hand. “And you’ll do yours when the time comes to help Luke. You saved me.”

  “It may be Luke’s skull in that case in Eve’s backpack. She said it was possible.” She straightened and shook her head. “But he lied. I know it.”

  “He does lie,” Natalie said from across the room. “But not all the time. Sometimes he makes the lies come true.”