The Bullet

by Iris Johansen

  “You’ve got it. Fifteen minutes.” Joe cut the connection.

  Fifteen minutes. Jock could feel the blood pounding through his veins. It was going to happen. Fifteen minutes, and he’d have Cara back and Svardak would be dead. He started up the trail at a dead run.

  CHAPTER

  7

  Svardak was coming.

  Cara stiffened as she heard his footsteps. She felt an instant of panic before she controlled it. She’d done all she could. She’d tried to wash all the glass and blood off the sink. She’d wrapped her makeshift glass dagger in the washcloth and tucked it in the waistband of her pants. Then she’d pulled the bottom of her red blouse out to cover it. There was no bulge that she could see. It might not be enough, but Svardak’s rage at her might make the difference. At any rate, it was the best she could do.

  The door was opening.

  Showtime.

  She jumped to her feet and was there immediately in Svardak’s face, confronting him. “I’ve been waiting for you.” Her hands clenched into fists. “I’ve been thinking about your sister and how ashamed she’d be of you. You weren’t man enough to kill Kaskov, so you took me. And I’m nothing to him. He hardly changed expressions during that conversation, did he?”

  His face flushed with anger. “She wouldn’t be ashamed. She’d be proud of me. He wanted you back. He offered me money for you.”

  “Money means nothing to him. He probably has billions. That’s another mistake your family made.” She took a step closer. She had to make him keep looking at her face so he wouldn’t glance up at that mirror. “You took away his music, but you gave him more power and money than he would ever have made on the concert stage. So your stupid sister cheated herself more than she cheated him.”

  That was the insult that tipped him over the top. “She wasn’t stupid. You’re stupid.” He slapped her, hard. “Or you wouldn’t insult her. Don’t you ever learn? Every time you do, I’ll hurt you.”

  “Like you hurt Marian and those other women? But Kaskov hurt your Anna, didn’t he?” She was only inches from him now, and her words spat at him like bullets. “How long did it take her to die? Do you know, or were you cowering in that mental institution she stuck you in? She must have really hated you to put you in that place.”

  “She loved me. She said I was too careless, and Kaskov would find me. She wanted me to get well and be safe.”

  “She made you believe that? You were in her way. What a fool you are.”

  That was enough. He made a sound deep in his throat, and his hands closed on her neck. “Bitch. Liar.”

  She couldn’t breathe. “It’s—true,” she gasped. “Fool.”

  He leaned forward and jerked her cuffs free of the vanity chain. Then he was whirling her out the door and into the living room. His face was almost the deep red of her blouse and his eyes were wild. His grip tightened on her throat. “Why are you doing this? I didn’t want it to happen yet.”

  “I don’t want you to have anything you want.” Her eyes blazed up at him. “I won’t be your damn tribute.”

  He slapped her again, then backhanded her other cheek. “You will, Cara. You won’t win. I’ll win. Because after you’re dead, I’ll erase every trace of you from the earth. Your Joe Quinn and Eve and that kid will all be tribute.” He leaned forward, and hissed, “Look at me. Did you hear me? I promise you. Tribute.” He hit her in the stomach.

  She crumpled to the floor and rolled over on her side, holding her abdomen.

  “Hurt? Get up on your feet. I’m going to do it again.”

  She didn’t answer, she just rocked back and forth, clutching her stomach.

  “I said get up!” He fell to his knees beside her. “I’ve only just started.” He grabbed her shoulders and started to pull her. “You’re going to take back every word you said to—”

  He screamed.

  He stared in dazed horror down at the jagged glass sticking out of his abdomen. “What did you—”

  She pushed him off her. “Tribute, damn you.” She jumped to her feet and ran toward the door. “To Marian and all those other—”

  Kaboom!

  She staggered against the door and grabbed it to keep from falling. An explosion? The cabin was shaking, and she heard Svardak cursing on the floor behind her.

  She must not have hurt him enough. She had to get out of here …

  Then she was outside in the night and the cold. The sharp wind whipping her hair into her face.

  Fire. She could see leaping flames halfway down the mountain. The guards who usually guarded the cabin were running toward the trail leading down the mountain.

  Kaboom.

  Another explosion shook the earth.

  She turned in the opposite direction from the mountain and started running through the trees toward the cliff.

  “Cara!”

  Jock’s voice!

  But it couldn’t be Jock. She was just dazed and bewildered. Or it could be some kind of trick. She kept on running.

  “Dammit, Cara. Stop!”

  Closer. The voice was closer,

  “Cara! I don’t want to—”

  She fell to the ground. Tackled. She’d been tackled.

  Svardak?

  She started to struggle.

  “Cara, I can’t let you—” He was holding her shoulders pinned to the ground. “Look at me!”

  She had no choice but look at him. Not Svardak. Silver-gray eyes, those wonderful features twisted in agony. She stopped fighting. “Jock?”

  “Thank God.” He got off her and pulled her to her feet. “We’ve got to get out of here. I don’t know how long Joe’s explosions can keep those guards occupied.” He looked down at her cuffs. “I don’t have time to get these off you right now. Later.” He was pulling her across the thicket. “We’re going down the cliff trail. I’ll hold on to you. It’s not too bad. We’ll be down to the canyon floor in a heartbeat.” He was leading her down the winding trail even as he spoke. “It’s going to be fine, Cara.”

  Fine? She didn’t believe him, but it was good to have Jock here and trying to comfort her. And he was so smart and he might be able to keep Svardak from getting to her again. But he had said something disturbing. Her gaze went to the mountain trail that was still in flames. He had said Joe had done it …

  Joe!

  She stopped short. “Joe’s here? Joe started that explosion?” Panic was racing through her. “No, it can’t be Joe. He can’t have anything to do with Svardak. It will make him—” She was trying to pull away from Jock. “I have to go back to the cabin. Right now. I shouldn’t have run away. I should have finished him.”

  Jock’s grip tightened on her shoulders. “You’re not making sense. We have to get out of here.” He drew a deep breath. “Look, you’re hurt. I can see it. And you’re not thinking clearly. We don’t know what kind of reinforcements Svardak might pull out of his hat. I have to get you out of here. Then I’ll go back and take care of Svardak.”

  “I’m thinking clearly.” She was staring desperately up at him. “He can’t win, Jock. He can’t kill anyone I love. I’m almost sure I didn’t kill him. I tried, but I only had that piece of glass…”

  “He won’t win.” His hands tightened on her shoulders to keep her still. “I’ll take care of it. I promise you. Now come with me.”

  “Promise me?” She shook her head. “But Svardak made me a promise, too. He didn’t know about you, but he knew about the others.” She was struggling. “I have to go back and—”

  “Cara.” He held her still, his eyes holding her own, his face contorted with pain. “I have to get you down,” he said hoarsely. His hands moved to her throat. “Come with me, or I’ll have to do it the only way I can.”

  He didn’t understand. She was so dizzy and scared for Joe, she wasn’t making it clear why she couldn’t do what he wanted. “Let me go, Jock.” She kept struggling. “He’ll hurt them. I can’t let him—”

  “Shh.” His thumb had slid to her carotid. “Rela
x. I’ll take care of everything. Trust me…”

  His hands were tightening.

  “Jock?” What was he doing? Her eyes widened in bewilderment. He looked so strange. His eyes were moist and glittering.

  “Trust me…”

  Darkness.

  * * *

  Someone was coming!

  Eve jumped out of the car as she saw Jock’s shadowy figure coming through the trees. Panic flooded her as she saw he was carrying someone over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “Jock!” Then she saw the flow of silky dark hair of the woman he was carrying. “Cara?”

  “Don’t panic. She’s not badly hurt.” He muttered a curse. “No, that’s a lie.” He was striding toward her. “But it’s not physical, and we’ll handle the rest. Open the passenger door.”

  She ran around the car and opened the door for him. “What do you mean, she’s not hurt. She’s unconscious. Did Svardak do it?”

  “No, I did. She’ll come out of it in an hour or so.” He put Cara gently on the seat and worked a few minutes at freeing her of the handcuffs. He tossed them in the backseat and fastened her seat belt. “Get her out of here. You should be safe. I called Kaskov when I was halfway down the cliff and told him to send Nikolai and men to meet you on the road. He should be almost here. Tell him to take you to the nearest ER and have her checked out.” He started to turn away. “Get going, Eve.”

  “Stop right there, Jock,” Eve said. “You don’t give me bits and pieces of an explanation, then walk away.” Her gaze lifted to the mountain trail that was still blazing. “Joe. Dammit, what happened to Joe?”

  “He’s okay. I called and told him I’d gotten Cara out, and he was fine at that time. I haven’t been able to reach him since then.” He was already moving toward the mountain. “I’m going to take the mountain trail to get back up to the thicket, so I should run into him when I reach the point where he set off the explosives. I’ll call you when I make contact.”

  “You’re going back to the thicket? Why?”

  “Svardak’s still alive. I made Cara a promise.”

  “Are you crazy? I’ll bet there are probably still Svardak goons alive and lethal up there. Yes, I’m worried to death about Joe. Cara wouldn’t want you to run a risk like that.”

  “I don’t know what she’ll want. But I know what I want.” He looked back over his shoulder. “Kaskov will be sending more men up that mountain to finish what Joe started. We’ll keep Joe safe, you just get Cara out of here. That’s what you said you came with us to do. Now do it.”

  Her hands clenched as she watched him start up the trail. She’d been frantic about Joe as well as Cara while she’d been waiting here. She wanted to follow Jock up that trail to see for herself if Joe was all right. Lord, she was tired of being this passive.

  But it wasn’t what she wanted to do that was important. She had to get Cara out of here or risk her being captured again. She ran around to the driver’s seat and jumped in the car. The next moment, she was driving out of the forest, and two minutes later, she reached the road leading back to Coal Town.

  She glanced at Cara in the dim light cast by the control panel. She inhaled sharply as she saw the bruises, the cut lip, that delicate throat that was swollen, red, and badly bruised. Heaven knows what other wounds she’d suffered that weren’t immediately visible. And Jock had regarded these physical wounds as relatively unimportant? She knew how he would have reacted to them when he first saw Cara. It meant that he expected something worse had happened to her.

  The monster must have struck deep.

  She reached over and gently touched Cara’s knee. But Cara was strong, and monsters could be defeated. “It’s over. And we’ll be here for you…”

  Headlights ahead!

  She stiffened, her hands clenching on the steering wheel.

  Then her phone rang.

  Kaskov.

  “Stop the car,” he said curtly. “We’re coming toward you. I want to take a look at Cara.”

  “I didn’t expect you. Jock said Nikolai was going—”

  “I chose to come along. Pull over.”

  She pulled to the side of the road but didn’t get out of the car.

  Kaskov got out of the passenger seat of the Mercedes and strode toward her car. “Roll down your window.”

  She pressed the control for the passenger seat. “She’s unconscious, but Jock said she was probably all right.”

  Kaskov was playing the beam of a flashlight on Cara’s face. “That’s what he told me, too. I had to be sure. I didn’t like the idea that she might have a concussion. Is he certain she doesn’t?”

  “Only a doctor can be certain, but he thought she was…” She hesitated, then shrugged. “And it wouldn’t be because she’s unconscious now. Jock said he did it. He said she’d wake up on her own in about another hour.”

  Kaskov stiffened. “Why?”

  “He didn’t go into it. He was too busy getting back up that mountain to go after Svardak. Evidently, he left that minor item undone.”

  “Careless.” Kaskov’s gaze was still on Cara. “I don’t like this development.”

  “Neither do I,” Eve said bluntly. “But I’m not going to argue with him when there are still important things to do. Have you sent men up to the mountain to help Joe?”

  “Would I dare not do as I was told when Gavin warned me not to screw up?” he asked mockingly. “They should reach the canyon in another five minutes.”

  “Then you’ve already screwed up. They should be climbing that trail by now. Joe’s still up there.” She started to roll the window back up. “Now get back in your car and let me get Cara to that ER. We don’t know what other damage has been done to her. Your Nikolai is supposed to be acting as an escort to see that I get to a hospital with her. They should have left you at home to make sure that everything else got done.”

  Kaskov frowned; and then he chuckled. “Honest to the point of extreme pain as usual, Eve. You’re probably quite right.” He turned toward his car. “We’ll get her there safely. There’s a hospital on the other side of Coal Town, and I’ve already sent one of my men to pave the way.”

  “Great.” Eve made a face. “All Cara needs is to have the medical staff too terrified to treat her.” She pulled back out on the road. “Now you definitely have to come with us to run interference, Kaskov.”

  LOST CANYON

  “Shit!”

  The Jeep that Jock had seen parked near the back road when he’d been up here at the thicket before was gone.

  “Problem?” Joe came up the trail behind him.

  “Unless the car that was here was stolen by one of Svardak’s men, we have a big problem.” He went to the edge of the cliff, where the winding back road appeared to disappear around a curve halfway down. “Fresh tire prints. I was afraid of this.” He knelt as he saw something else. A minute drop of blood caught in one of the ruts at the top of the road. He got to his feet and turned back toward the cabin.

  The front door of the cabin was wide open.

  “Cover me.” Jock ran toward the cabin. He paused to the right of the doorway, then dived in and rolled to the left. Then he was on his feet and dodging behind the kitchen bar.

  No shots.

  Silence.

  The room was empty.

  A long smear of blood on the floor in the middle of the room and another sprinkle near the front door.

  Joe was suddenly in the room. “I’ll take the door to the left.”

  Jock went to the other room. “Clear,” he called to Joe. “Svardak’s quarters. Still luggage here and a rifle in the corner.” He came out of the room to see Joe standing in the middle of a bathroom. He was staring down at a length of a chain in his hand that had been affixed to the vanity.

  “This is where he must have kept Cara.” Joe’s hand tightened on the links of chain. “Chained like an animal.” He threw the chain on the vanity. “He’s not here.” His voice was hoarse. “God, I wish he was. I want him.”

  Jock�
��s gaze was wandering over the small room, the splintered mirror, the faint trace blood on the drain of the sink, then back to the chain.

  Control.

  Don’t let the rage take over yet.

  Save it. Nurture it. Let it become part of him.

  He turned on his heel and strode toward the door. “Then don’t just talk about it. Let’s go hunting.”

  BLUE RIDGE GENERAL HOSPITAL

  Eve …

  Cara could hear Eve’s voice talking to someone, but she couldn’t make out the words …

  But if Eve was here, Cara had to know if she was safe, if they were all safe …

  She forced her lids to open and saw Eve’s face. She was frowning. Something must be wrong, Cara thought in a panic. “Eve!”

  Eve’s gaze flew to her face. “Hey, don’t be afraid.” She was immediately beside her, holding her hand. “It’s over. You’re fine, Cara. Go back to sleep. You’re in the hospital, and we’ve just gotten you settled into your room. The doctors say that you’re not badly hurt but that you need rest and sleep. They gave you a shot to make sure you’d get it. Don’t fight it.”

  Drugs … That was why she was so blurry … “They shouldn’t have done that. I need to keep awake. Svardak…”

  “You’re safe. He can’t get to you here.”

  Eve didn’t understand. “But I can’t get to him … either. He’s … not dead yet, is he?”

  “Not yet. He’d disappeared when Jock and Joe got back to the cabin. They’re still searching for him.”

  Joe!

  “But Joe’s safe?” Her hand clutched Eve’s. “Svardak didn’t know about Jock, so he should be okay. But Joe … he knew about Joe and you and Michael. He knew…”

  “Shh. Calm down. Joe’s safe. We’re all safe.”

  “No, you’re not. And it’s my fault. I didn’t do what I was supposed to do.” She could hear her voice slurring. “They shouldn’t have given me that drug. I keep drifting off. What if he does something … while I’m sleeping…”