The Bullet

by Iris Johansen

  He was silent. “An intelligent argument. How wise of you not to rely on my affection or humanity.”

  “Don’t be silly. You’re careful not to show anyone those qualities. I think you might have felt some affection for my mother, but I’ve never been sure.”

  “But you’re sure you might find me useful? And how am I to help you?”

  She drew a deep breath. She had not been certain she would get this far with him. “The most important thing is to keep my family safe.”

  He chuckled. “Really? I believe we’ve discussed the problems I have dealing with Joe Quinn and Eve. I hardly think they’ll willingly put themselves in my hands for safekeeping.”

  “I don’t care. Just do it. You’re very smart. There aren’t many things you wouldn’t be able to do if you put your mind to it.”

  “That’s accurate, but it depends on whether I think it’s worth my while. And I’m curious to see what else you have planned for me.”

  She took a deep breath. “You have to find Svardak for me. He was hurt. He’d have to have a doctor. And you have contacts. You can find out where he’s hiding.”

  “Or where he’s making plans to launch his next attack on you,” he said softly. “That’s far more likely with a man as crazy as Svardak.”

  “You’re right. Far more likely.” She braced herself. “Will you help me?”

  “I’m considering it.” His gaze was probing her face. “You’re not going to want me to discuss any of this with Quinn or Eve, are you? You want to go after him on your own.”

  She nodded. “They’d take it out of my hands. They’d want to protect me. I’d have to go away to do it, and that would hurt them.” She leaned toward him, every muscle in her body burning with intensity. “You’re the only one who would accept my doing what I need to do. It would make sense to you. You’ll want it to be me.”

  “Will I?” He gazed thoughtfully at her. “Because you intend to finish what I failed to do all those years ago? I admit there does appear to be an intrinsic blood justice connected with you killing Svardak. However, it really doesn’t appeal to me. I would much rather kill him myself. I found myself very annoyed when I was watching him with you.”

  “But don’t you see? He’ll go after me.” Her words came fast and hard, tripping over each other. She had to convince him. “You’re still paramount on his list, but when I stabbed him, it became personal. I put everything about my time with him on a personal level. I was like a constant thorn jabbing at him. He’s crazy, and he can’t handle that kind of treatment without responding.”

  “Did it occur to you that you didn’t show the greatest judgment yourself to taunt a madman?”

  “It occurred to me, but I couldn’t let him win.” Her gaze was eagerly searching his expression. “And you also understand that, don’t you? You’re going to do as I ask.”

  “Perhaps. We’ll take it step by step. I’ll see to it that your family is protected. I’ll search for Svardak, but I would have done that anyway.” He tilted his head. “Whether I give you information that might bring you and Svardak together again will be determined at a later date.”

  “You’ll do it. Svardak beat you. It was a terrible defeat in your eyes. It brought back memories of that day at the Gulag. You’ll do anything you can to erase that defeat.” She tapped her chest. “And that’s me. You’ll have to use me to get to him.”

  “I don’t appreciate being thought predictable, Cara.”

  “You’re not predictable. You intimidate me, and you sometimes frighten me. But I have to try to understand you because this is important to me.” She lay back down on the pillow, drained. “And there are two other things that I’m going to ask you to do. They’re also very important to me.”

  His lips turned up at one corner. “By all means, don’t hesitate to state your demands. I find I’m becoming accustomed to it.”

  “Not a demand. A request. Marian Napier’s body is probably buried somewhere in that canyon. I don’t know where. Svardak told me he’d thrown her down there, but he wanted to shock and frighten me. He wouldn’t just leave her body out in the open for anyone to find. I think he buried her. Maybe one of Svardak’s men might be able to tell you.” She was having trouble keeping her voice steady. “I’d like you to find her and send her home to her grandfather to bury. Will you do that?”

  He was silent. Then he said quietly, “That doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable request.”

  “Thank you.” She cleared her throat. “I believe she’d like to go home. That canyon was … lonely.”

  “And the other request?”

  “Don’t tell Jock Gavin what I’ve asked you to do for me.”

  He chuckled with genuine amusement. “Why on earth would I do that? Regardless of my final decision, it would be the quickest way to sign my death warrant.” He turned to leave. “I’ll leave Gavin entirely for you to handle. You seemed to have developed a variety of new attitudes and skills while you were at Lost Canyon. Perhaps that will help you with Gavin.”

  She watched the door close behind him.

  Kaskov was wrong. Everything she had learned at that cabin in the thicket had merely complicated her relationship with Jock. The best she could do until this nightmare was over was to keep him away from Svardak.

  And she might be able to accomplish that if Kaskov cooperated with her. There was never any way of being certain what he would do in any given circumstance, but she might have guessed right about him.

  If she hadn’t, then there was still the chance that she could manage this alone. She just had to know what to expect. Because she had told Kaskov the truth.

  Svardak would be coming after her.

  All she had to do was wait.

  CHAPTER

  8

  U.S. FORESTRY STATION, WEST VIRGINIA

  He had started to bleed again, Svardak realized furiously as he got out of the Jeep and made his way toward the three-story, A-framed cabin/office several hundred yards away. He’d managed to stop the bleeding after he’d first gotten away from the canyon, but now it was starting again. Was he dizzy? Maybe a little. If he didn’t get this knife wound stitched and take an antibiotic, that bitch, Cara, might claim she’d done him serious damage.

  But he couldn’t take a chance on going to even an urgent-care hospital. Too many questions. He didn’t know enough about what had happened when those explosives had gone off on the mountain. Not yet. Joe Quinn? Kaskov? He’d know soon. Any of his men who had gotten away would contact him and be begging for money and a way to escape. In the meantime, he had to protect himself, so he’d driven north, deep into the Appalachians, to recoup and hide and get this damn wound taken care of so that he could function.

  “May I help you, sir?” A sandy-haired man in a brown uniform who looked as if he was barely out of college was coming out of the cabin. “Have you had an accident?” His concerned gaze was on the blood on Svardak’s shirt. He hurried down the steps. “Let me help.”

  “Thank you.” Svardak leaned against him as he slowly went up the steps. “Quite a place you have here. I thought I was seeing things when I saw that third story that looks like a tree house.”

  “My partner and I get bored in the winter. It’s a work in progress. Maybe next year we’ll finish it. Anything to keep busy.” He was frowning as he gazed at the wound. “Have you lost much blood?”

  “I don’t believe I have. It was stupid of me.” He looked at the ranger’s ID tag. “Ranger Billings. I only ran into a sharp branch. For it to hurt this bad, you’d think I could at least have been attacked by a bear. Do you have a first-aid station here?”

  “Yes, but I’d rather run you into you into Charleston to a hospital unless it’s an emergency.” He grinned. “Since we don’t have a doctor on the premises, I wouldn’t want you to sue me. All I’ve had is a six month course in basic first aid.”

  “That might do. Anyone else here?”

  “Just my partner, Bob Duggan, but he’s out checking on a possib
le fire hazard today. He won’t be back for the rest of the morning. Besides, he has the same training as I do. I’ll take a look at your wound, but we’ll almost certainly be driving you to Charleston.” He opened the door with the red cross imprinted on it. “No broken bones? Anything else I should know about it?”

  Not a perfect situation, but it would have to do, Svardak thought. One young punk kid on the premises who could be easily controlled and then disposed of.

  And by the time the other ranger returned, Svardak would be ready and waiting for him.

  “What else should you know about my wound?” Svardak repeated. “Well, there may be glass in it. You might have to take bits of it out before you stitch it.”

  “Glass? From a tree branch?” He was frowning. “And I won’t be stitching it. I told you that we’d have to go—” He broke off, stiffening, his gaze on the switchblade knife that had appeared in Svardak’s hand. “There’s no need for this, sir,” he said quietly. “I only want to help you.”

  “There’s every need.” He pressed the blade into the center of the ranger’s back. “And I’ll explain the glass and the bitch who stabbed me while you do help me.” He added mockingly, “It’s important you realize who’s responsible for what’s going to happen to you, Ranger Billings.”

  BLUE RIDGE GENERAL HOSPITAL

  “The head nurse says you’ve been causing massive waves about getting out of here,” Eve said as she came into Cara’s room. “The doctor just released you an hour ago. Give me a break, Cara. Do you know how long it takes someone to be sprung out of a hospital?”

  Cara smiled. “Sorry. I wanted out. And they weren’t massive waves. Hardly a ripple. Actually, I was thinking of turning Kaskov loose on administration. But I was afraid they’d throw me out in the street.” She tilted her head. “Come to think of it, the nurse was looking very uneasily at Nikolai while I was talking to her. Maybe he supplied her with the definition of ‘massive.’” She got to her feet and picked up the canvas duffel containing the phone, clothes, and vanity items Eve had brought to the hospital for her. “Ready to go. So I’m officially sprung? Can we leave now?”

  “After you tell me why you wanted to talk to Kaskov,” Eve said. “Joe didn’t like it.” She paused. “Neither did I.”

  Cara met her eyes. “I told him that what he’d done was wrong and that he had to protect my family from Svardak. He said you’d argue. Don’t argue, Eve. Look at it this way—if you’re safe, then I have a better chance of being safe. The family is the only weapon he has as far as I’m concerned.”

  “We can take care of ourselves.” She frowned. “We don’t need your damn grandfather.”

  “He’ll have his people be unobtrusive. Think of Michael. Think of Joe. Just don’t fight it. Please.” She moistened her lips. “I didn’t tell you, but he kept mentioning Joe while I was with him. He said he’d made special plans to keep Joe from taking me back. He seemed to think of Joe as a challenge.”

  Eve’s eyes widened in shock. “Joe is a challenge. That’s why he doesn’t have to have a major criminal like Kaskov babysit him.”

  “But it scared you when I told you that just now,” she said soberly. “It scared me, too. But I knew Joe would ignore it. So let him ignore it. But just do me a favor and let me do what I can to keep from worrying about you all.”

  “And then have you owe Kaskov again?” Eve’s lips tightened. “No way.”

  “It won’t be like that this time. I promise you.”

  Eve hesitated, then slowly nodded. “Okay. I guess you’ve gone through enough trauma. Do what you like as long as it doesn’t cost you.” She gave her a quick hug. “Now let’s get out of here. I want to pick up Michael at Catherine’s and be home by midnight.”

  Cara had known this confrontation was coming. “You go ahead. I’d rather stay at a hotel here in town until Svardak is caught.”

  “No deal,” Eve said flatly. “Joe and I both want you out of this area. It’s not safe for you. We’re going back to the lake cottage, and Joe is going to arrange with the precinct to give you protection.”

  “Svardak could find me anywhere.” She turned and was heading for the door. “You know Joe won’t be leaving these mountains until he’s sure that Svardak is no longer here. He’s out there looking for him now, isn’t he?”

  “Of course, he’s a cop, and Svardak is a mass murderer. Not to mention what he did to you. Joe’s contacting all the county sheriff’s departments for help with the locals. And he’s trying to track down some more of that bastard’s goons to squeeze them for information.”

  Cara grimaced. “And you’re trying to tell yourself that he’ll be fine, and you’re not at all nervous.”

  “It’s his job,” Eve said. “And it’s my job to accept that sometimes it does scare me. At least, you’re safe now, and that makes Joe safer.”

  “Well, it’s not my job,” Cara said quietly. “I’ll check into that Holiday Inn where you said you stayed the first night. I’ll move on when Joe moves on.” She looked over her shoulder and smiled faintly. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to be trekking along after him. That would draw Svardak’s attention to Joe. But I have to be close to him.”

  “The hell you do.”

  “Yes, the hell I do,” she said quietly. “All the years he took care of me, and now I have a chance to try to take care of him. You know how much I owe him, Eve. How much I owe both of you.”

  “You’ve always had that idiocy about owing us,” Eve said shakily. “It’s crazy.”

  “It’s right. And you’re not going to talk me out of this. So you go home and take care of Michael and let me keep an eye on Joe. No one is safe from Svardak, and who is more vulnerable than a child? You know Joe would say the same thing.” She opened the door and looked back at her. She made one more attempt to convince her. “Stop worrying, Eve. Look, there’s no current sign of any threat to Joe. Maybe I’m paranoid. There’s a threat to me, but that would exist anywhere until Svardak is caught. Besides, Kaskov will probably have Nikolai watching me. Even Svardak would have trouble getting past Nikolai.” She was closing the door. “Call me when you and Michael get home. Okay?”

  She didn’t wait for an answer as the door clicked shut behind her.

  She drew a deep breath and started swiftly down the corridor toward the elevators. She didn’t know if she’d pulled it off or not. Eve’s first instinct would be to either yank Cara back to the lake cottage or stay with her here. But Michael’s safety was a powerful magnet and always Eve’s and Joe’s paramount concern.

  She would just have to see if she’d made a good enough case to persuade Eve to get in that car and head back to Catherine’s to pick up her son.

  HOLIDAY INN 7:40 P.M.

  Cara stepped out of the shower, dried off, and slipped on the white terry-cloth robe Eve had stuffed in the duffel she’d given her.

  She looked like a drowned rat she thought ruefully as she gazed in the vanity mirror. Bruised, thinner than she remembered, far too fragile, with that sopping-wet hair hanging around her face and down her back. At least she was flushed from the shower. Maybe she wouldn’t appear like such a damn victim once she got rid of that drowned-waif look.

  Okay. Stop putting it off. She drew a deep breath and braced herself. Then she took the portable hair dryer from her makeup bag. She was being stupid. It was a tool. Nothing to dread about using it.

  She forced herself to raise the hair dryer.

  Only a tool.

  Her cell phone on the nightstand in the bedroom was ringing.

  Cara stiffened. Coincidence. Stupid to be so jumpy. He wasn’t reaching out to her. She shouldn’t panic, only Eve knew she was here. But she lowered the hair dryer and found she was almost running to the nightstand to pick up her phone. “Eve?”

  “No,” Jock said curtly. “She’s probably well on her way to pick up Michael. Where you should be.”

  “Hello, Jock.” It wasn’t really a surprise. Eve had not wanted to leave her alone. She knew Jock
would be one of Eve’s choices to fill the gap. “Eve phoned you? She shouldn’t have bothered you. There’s nothing you can do. I don’t need you.”

  “That’s obvious. Or you would have told me when you decided to leave the hospital. I’m only grateful that Eve decided to tell me that you’d opted to disappear into the depths of Coal Town instead of getting the hell out of Dodge.”

  “She didn’t have many options. She knows I’m trying to make Kaskov help me, and she could have gone to him, but she doesn’t trust him. She does trust you, Jock.”

  “Which is more than you do.”

  “I trust you.” She sighed. “You’re just going to be difficult.”

  “You’re right about that. Stay where you are. Now it’s my turn to tell you not to slip out the back way. I’m less than five minutes from you.” He cut the connection.

  She slowly put away her phone. He was angry, and he would be more than difficult. She automatically started to brace herself for what was to come. It always hurt her when she knew all was not right between them.

  Then she shook her head as she realized what she was doing. Not this time, Jock. There was too much pain in her world right now. She desperately wanted to see him, but it had to be her way. Easy to say, she thought ruefully. Not so easy to accomplish when he was already storming the gates and giving orders.

  He was knocking on her door in four minutes. She threw open the door. He was just as high-impact as she’d thought he’d be. Dark jeans, black shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and that magnetism casting out sparks in every direction. She tried to smile. “Hi, stop looking so grim.” She stepped aside to let him come in. “I would have let you know I’d left the hospital … eventually. I just didn’t want to deal with you for a while.” Then her eyes fell on the object he was carrying, and she inhaled sharply. “The Amati?” She grabbed the violin case from him and set it on the bed. “I was afraid to ask about it. I thought he might have taken it with him.” She was unfastening the latches and throwing open the lid. “Or smashed it…” She gently took out the Amati and was stroking the bridge with caressing fingers. “It could have gone either way.”