Vendetta

by Iris Johansen

  “I know you were.” He took a step toward her. “Rachel, I can’t let you—”

  “Yes, you can. If it has to be done. But don’t think about it. We still have some time.” She had to get away from him, or she might break. She turned and headed for the kitchen. “Will you tell Monty that it might be a good idea for him to go back to monitor those bugs I put in Claire’s room? I think she’s biding her time, but there’s no telling what she’ll do.”

  “I was going to do that anyway.”

  “Of course you were.” She tried to smile. “Your world, Brandon. What was I thinking?”

  “Doing a damn good job of making it your world,” he said roughly. “I just wish you’d let me offer a little more support.” He turned and disappeared into the library.

  She didn’t feel as if she was doing a very good job, she thought wearily. She wasn’t sure that Blanca would think so either. She couldn’t even find her daughter, much less rescue her.

  And so little time to do either.

  Nine tonight.

  Thirteen hours …

  HYATT HOTEL

  Catherine turned to Cameron when she pressed the disconnect after talking to Brandon. “All hell’s breaking loose,” she said shakily. “I’m tempted to let you whisk Rachel away until this is all over. There’s a good chance she’ll end up dead.”

  “Say it and it will be done,” he said simply. “But I can’t save the child without a definite location. Do you want to risk Rachel’s hating you? It would be better if we could find another road. Do you believe Claire Warren was telling the truth about not knowing where his compound is?”

  “If Rachel thought it was the truth,” she said. “She’s very smart, Cameron. This is terribly important to her. She probably gauged Claire very well.” She frowned. “And I can see Claire being totally absorbed with Max Huber. It’s no wonder she wasn’t really interested in a potential disaster if she could slip by it and keep her skirts clean. She’d already earned big points with her work at San Kabara. Now she’s free to concentrate on getting Red Star.” She glanced soberly at him. “Those last reports on Van Deek were pretty ambiguous, weren’t they?”

  “It’s what we expected. He’s very clever. But there were a few omissions and sidesteps in his recent schedule that I’m interested in exploring.”

  “How?”

  “Why, I’ll just ask him.”

  She gazed at him in surprise. She knew exactly what that kind of questioning entailed. It started off with mesmerizing persuasiveness and usually ended with complete domination. “But you’ve always told me that you prefer not to use that kind of interrogation.”

  He smiled. “I make exceptions when it comes to people who destroy oceans. They upset me.”

  “And can you ask those questions before the Katrina gets in the Port of Oakland harbor?”

  “If we decide it should happen.” He looked down at his notes. “We have time. Right now, the Katrina is delivering oil near Santa Barbara. Later today, it will move up to San Luis Obispo for another delivery before it sets out for Oakland for the final delivery.”

  “Final delivery,” Catherine repeated. “It sounds so … ominous. There has to be a way to stop it.”

  “Anything is possible,” Cameron said. “But I wouldn’t give odds if we rely on your fine organization to do it. It’s not that they’re not efficient, they just don’t go all the way.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  He smiled. “There would be a few operatives who would remember Van Deek’s medals and his fine record. It would get in the way. They’d ask questions instead of taking action.”

  “So did we.”

  “But we’re willing to let suspicion be our guide.” He tilted his head. “You’re not going to let me take Rachel, are you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I do.” He reached over and touched her hand. “So if you won’t let me take Rachel, why not let me take the Katrina Notalo.”

  “Just like that?”

  “There will be a measure of difficulty. I’ll not only have to secure the ship, but I’ll have to make certain that Van Deek is in Huber’s pay before I turn him over to Homeland Security. Or kill him if that’s what you need. You’re a stickler for details like that. And it will have to be done quietly and discreetly.”

  “Piece of cake.”

  “Easier than solving Rachel’s problem. But if it robs Huber of a victory, then it might make you happier.” His brows rose. “So could I please take the Katrina Notalo? I promise to make it satisfactory for you.” His smile was intimate and full of mischief. “Have I ever failed you in that regard? I do deliver, Catherine.”

  She stared at him helplessly. He meant it. And she knew enough about his background to know that he might be able to do it. “Piracy on the high seas, Cameron?”

  “It does have a definite ring to it. However, an oil tanker lacks a certain romanticism. But it’s all how it goes down.”

  “Stop joking.”

  His smile disappeared. “As you like, I prefer humor when watching you try to save the world from its own barbarism; otherwise, I find it hurts me. Because someday it will hurt you.” He added succinctly, “The options are these, I can arrange to have your friend, Rachel, taken and I can guarantee she will live. The child will probably die after extreme torture. I probably would not have time to locate the compound and get a force inside in time to rescue her if there’s no Rachel as a distraction. Or I can give you the supertanker, and if Van Deek is crooked, as we think, I can stop Huber from destroying the California coastline. It will stave off any destruction until Huber gets a new plan in place. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  She swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “Not great options.”

  “They never are,” he said wearily. “It’s the world you live in. If you like, I’ll promise to go after Huber later when I can put full force behind it. But you’ll still remember that child, and so will Rachel. It will haunt you.”

  And how many painful decisions haunted Cameron, who made them every day, she wondered. “It already does.” She jumped to her feet. “And there has to be something that I can do.” She headed for the door. “I’m going down to talk to Claire. Maybe Rachel didn’t do as good a job as I would at questioning her. She doesn’t have the experience and—”

  “You said she was very smart,” Cameron said quietly.

  “Don’t throw my words back at me.”

  “And you’re just looking for a way out. Fine, do you want me to come with you?”

  “No! You’ve been avoiding the CIA since I’ve known you, and Claire is the last person you should be around. She’s brilliant, ambitious, and completely immoral. You don’t want more trouble.”

  “Are you trying to protect me? I’m touched you consider my problems your trouble. But I might be helpful.”

  “I don’t need all that mind-control crap. I’ll know if she’s telling me the truth.” She shut the door and headed for the elevator. That instinctive urge to protect Cameron had come out of nowhere. No one needed less protection than Richard Cameron. It didn’t matter. In this battle, they were on the same side, and she wouldn’t let him be hurt or taken down. Claire was a cold and formidable opponent, and Catherine didn’t choose to let him even be on her radar.

  And that coldness was clearly visible when Claire opened her door a few minutes later. Every silky dark strand of hair was in place, and her eyes were cool and amused. “You’re a little late. I expected you to escort your little friend when she found it necessary to confront me. She told me that since I was your superior, she didn’t want you to be combative with me.” She smiled faintly. “Are you here to express your indignation that I didn’t tell you I was working undercover as Nemesis? But you know how it works in the Company. That particular revelation would have been way above your pay grade.”

  “I know how it works.” She entered the room and turned to face her. “And it didn’t really surprise me. Nemesis had a lot of your
double-dealing characteristics. Perhaps also a few of your insecurities and weaknesses.”

  She stiffened. “I have no weaknesses.”

  “But you don’t deny the double-dealing.” She made an impatient gesture. “And I’m not there to waste my time telling you what I think about you. I only have a few questions. You’ll answer, and I’ll be out of here.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “One, was it true that you don’t have any idea where Huber’s compound is located?”

  She frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t waste time, Catherine. I’d have destroyed Red Star if I knew. I spent too much time studying everything about how they operate, who they are, during those months I was undercover.”

  “Two, do you have any knowledge that Van Deek might be an accomplice of Huber?”

  “No, I do not. As far as I know, he’s the hero everyone thinks him. This is a little denigrating, Catherine.”

  “Unfortunate. You can live through it. What time is Huber’s big celebration supposed to take place?”

  “How do I know? I told Rachel the truth. Kraus seldom lets anything slip.”

  “Seldom. There was a faint flicker there.”

  She shrugged. “He just referred to it once as a new dawning when he was talking about it. Nothing else.”

  “But you’re used to putting two and two together where he’s concerned.”

  “It’s Max Huber’s daddy’s giant celebration. It’s a big deal to Huber. He’d want his glorious spectacle clearly visible to all and sundry. That would mean he’d probably schedule it during the day. Or maybe dawn? Kraus would like the idea of starting Conrad Huber’s big day by giving a wake-up call to the entire West Coast. I’d say that it will be scheduled around dawn’s early light. Just a guess, of course.” She tilted her head. “Not that it will do you any good. When doesn’t tell us where.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” But it was frustrating the hell out of her that Claire didn’t know more. Claire was superintelligent and experienced. She should have picked up on something more. “Last question. Have you made your plans for turning Rachel over to Huber?”

  “Why, I’m not going to have to do that.” Claire smiled gently into Catherine’s eyes. “We both know that Rachel is going to do that for me. I’m just waiting until she makes up her mind that it’s the only thing to do.”

  Catherine wanted to strangle her. She turned on her heel before she did it. “What’s the decision on whether to keep Van Deek out of the Port of Oakland harbor tomorrow?”

  “I believe that Homeland Security has decided that’s totally unnecessary. They’ve decided the threat is gone. Captain Deek even invited Homeland to come aboard and search his vessel to make sure that there’s no problem. But you’ll have to check with them.”

  “Because you’ve washed your hands of such an unimportant matter?”

  “Exactly.” She smiled. “I’ve moved on. You’ll be glad that I can concentrate on coordinating any strike necessary once I locate Red Star. I’ve already set up a tentative drone strike with Langley. It will completely destroy Red Star’s facility once we trace the location. All it will take is for me to make the call. And it might save Rachel and that poor child.”

  “Or blow them both to hell.”

  “That would be very sad. But Rachel is such a giving person, I’m certain she’d be ready for any sacrifice.” She smiled. “But then, you know that already. Good day, Catherine.”

  Catherine slammed the door behind her.

  Breathe deep and don’t go back in and waste your time fighting with Claire, Catherine told herself. It was just anger and frustration, and she shouldn’t let it matter this much. But it did matter, and she stood waiting for the elevator while she tried to clarify anything she’d learned from Claire.

  It wasn’t that much. She believed that Rachel had it right and Claire was being as honest as possible for her. The only difference was that the time of the ship’s explosion was to be early morning if Claire was right. Was there some way they could make it work for them? Grabbing at straws …

  Well, wasn’t that what she’d always done? Catherine had been born to nothing and made the world what she wanted. She wouldn’t let that son of a bitch kill her friend or steal a precious heritage from her son or the children who came after him.

  Think.

  Plan.

  Take it apart and find a way.

  Grab at straws …

  Straws …

  She suddenly stiffened. Perhaps more than a straw.

  She turned and strode back down the corridor. The next moment, she was once more knocking on Claire’s door.

  “Really, Catherine?” Claire said as she opened the door. “This is no longer amusing. It verges on harassment.”

  “I won’t keep you long. It just occurred to me that you could know more than you said.”

  “I did not lie to you.”

  “I just want to know why you chose the Calgary location when you went after Huber the last time.”

  “Everything pointed to it. Satellites showed activity in the area.”

  “Is that all? But you just said that you’d studied Red Star in depth. Surely you wouldn’t have risked your neck without something more than a single source.”

  She shrugged. “Call it a hunch. It was the kind of landscape Huber liked. He spent a lot of time in Germany with his father and Kraus when he was a child. That scenery around the Calgary compound might have come out of a tourist book about the Black Forest. Even the small towns around the main house and compound reminded me of Red Star.”

  “Why?”

  She made a face. “Well, one of them was named Eagles Prey. What’s Red Star’s symbol? A black eagle carrying a bloody star in its talons. Very much like Hitler’s eagle carrying the swastika. Huber and Kraus do like their symbols. I’ve seen them use them in other places and situations.” She shrugged. “And I might have caught them, dammit. There were signs that they’d occupied that compound earlier in the year. I figure it was just bad luck I was wrong that time.”

  “I’m sure Venable would agree that it was bad luck for him.” Catherine turned and walked away.

  She was on the phone with Rachel by the time she reached the elevator. “Look for eagles,” she said curtly. “Eagles and anything else reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany. Claire said that Huber and Kraus love their symbols. That was the reason she thought that Calgary might be the place. It fit the image.”

  “And you think that she might be right? She evidently wasn’t right about Calgary.”

  “I don’t know if she’s right. I only know she’s brilliant, and she knows Kraus better than anyone else. She has good instincts, and some of that might also have a part in it. We don’t have much choice, do we?”

  “No. I’ll get back to you. Eagles…”

  Catherine pressed the disconnect.

  Blind alley? Maybe. But she didn’t know if she could tolerate the other options that Cameron had given her. There had to be another way.

  Another straw that she could try to turn into gold. But she couldn’t leave Rachel to find it by herself. They had to try to help her. Cameron was probably fantastic at turning straw into gold, and he’d offered, hadn’t he?

  She punched the button for the sixth floor.

  BEACH HAVEN

  “Eagles?” Rachel stared blindly down at the atlases heaped on the kitchen table in front of her. “Do you know how many towns and places in Canada have eagle in their names or title?”

  “I’ve been finding out in the last three hours,” Brandon said dryly. “From the mountains to the coastline…”

  “The list is enormous,” Rachel was rubbing her temple. “We’ve got to find a way to pare it down.”

  He nodded. “I’ll go talk to Monty and see how we can run it through the computer with cross-references to landscape features.”

  If they could do it, Rachel thought. No, she wouldn’t be negative. She couldn’t afford it. “That’s a good idea.”

 
“And here’s another one,” he said quietly. “Go out on the veranda and get a cup of coffee while I talk to him. It might be a long day, and we’re both already a little dizzy from staring at these atlases. You need to be fresh.”

  She started to open her lips to protest, then closed them again. He was right, she needed to be sharp, as good as she could be. She got to her feet. “Maybe a Coke. Call me as soon as you can.”

  He nodded. “I’m not pampering you. I know the stakes.”

  She watched him leave the kitchen, then headed for the veranda. She must not be discouraged. It was natural to be excited when Catherine had given her the possibility of finding that compound. It was also natural to feel disappointment at the difficulty of turning hope to reality.

  She didn’t bother to grab a Coke. She just wanted to sit and let the sunlight flow over her and look out at the sea.

  And maybe say a prayer for Maria.

  We’re trying so hard to keep you safe. We’ll keep trying, little girl. We’ll find a way.

  She just wished that way didn’t involve all those zillions of eagles.

  Her phone rang ten minutes later.

  Phillip Sanford.

  Not good. She didn’t need to hear that Blanca might have had a relapse when she’d just been praying for her daughter.

  She punched the access. “Is she okay, Phillip?”

  “Not okay, but a little better. She regained consciousness for a few minutes today. That was a plus, I thought you might like to know.” He paused. “You sound frazzled. Did I call at the wrong time?”

  “No, I’m glad you called. I meant to phone you anyway. I was afraid that she might have gone the other way.”

  “Like the way things are going where you are?” he asked gently. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “We’re doing everything we can. Just take care of Blanca.”

  “I’m doing that, and I believe she’s going to be on her way back soon. But I think she’d rather have you. When she woke, she called your name.”