Vendetta

by Iris Johansen

  “Not Maria’s?”

  “No, your name. Twice. And then she drifted off again.”

  “Strange.”

  “Is it? But then you and she have formed a bond, haven’t you? My feelings aren’t hurt that she prefers you. I’ll let you go now. I’ll keep in touch.”

  “Thank you, Phillip.” She slowly pressed the disconnect. Twice. Blanca had called her name twice the moment she’d regained consciousness. Urgency? Panic? The desperate desire to communicate?

  “Blanca…” she murmured.

  Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook. Let those blasted eagles wait for a few minutes. She was doing exactly what she’d done when Phillip had first told her about Blanca’s letters. Putting it aside to work on something she considered more promising. How did she know what was promising? What could be more promising than a mother reaching out for her child? She didn’t know if those letters meant anything, and she’d tended to ignore them because they’d frustrated her. But she could not ignore Blanca any longer if there was even a chance …

  U A N C

  If it was a destination in Canada, it was a complete mystery. What word started with U? She pulled up her Google. Uranium City, Saskatchewan; Upton, Quebec; Uxbridge, Ontario. Unity, Saskatchewan …

  What the hell were you trying to tell me, Blanca?

  And then she knew!

  * * *

  “We got it wrong,” Rachel said when she burst into the library ten minutes later. “Or Blanca got it wrong, but who could blame her after she was hit on the head and almost killed. No one could expect her to be clear after what she—”

  “Easy,” Brandon said. “I take it this is not about eagles.”

  “I hope it is. That’s why I came running to Monty instead of wasting more time.” She tossed her notebook down on the desk. “U A N C. I couldn’t put it together. If Blanca was trying to tell us where her daughter had been taken, I couldn’t understand it. The letter U isn’t used that much and I couldn’t combine the other letters with it and make any sense. So I decided to put myself in Blanca’s place, hurt, crawling, trying to scrawl a message in the mud.” She tapped the first letter. “It’s not a U. It’s supposed to be a V. It’s much easier to form a U than a V. Try it yourself.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Brandon said. “And that made it work for you?”

  “I think it does. I hope it does. You tell me.” She tapped each letter in turn. “V A N C. Where is it taking you?”

  “Vancouver.” Monty gave a low whistle. “A port city with access to the world and yet offers the ability to disappear into a virtual wilderness.”

  “But a very sophisticated city,” Brandon said. “And one that a man with money and power could manage to control if the proper bribe was put in place.” He leaned back in his chair. “But there’s no way that the main compound wouldn’t be hidden away in that wilderness you were talking about, Monty. Even knowing it might be there, it would still be hard to find.”

  “Then start looking for it,” Rachel said. “Why else have you got that damned pet satellite hanging around? Make it earn its keep.”

  Monty grinned. “I’ll do the best I can.”

  She shook her head. “Do better than that. I don’t have much time.” She looked at Brandon. “Does it make sense to you? Tell me if this is wishful thinking.”

  “It makes sense,” Brandon said. “That doesn’t mean that it’s true.” He smiled. “But we’ll give Monty a little time to do his magic, and he might even come up with an eagle or two.”

  “How long?” she asked bluntly.

  Brandon looked at Monty.

  “Two hours to locate and verify if it’s a logical site knowing what we do about Huber,” Monty said. “But at least two to three hours more to get a detailed grasp of the entire setup.” He added, “Providing it’s not underground. That would be troublesome.”

  “Two hours…” Rachel felt limp with relief. Only two hours, and she’d know if there was a chance of saving Maria. As long as she knew that could happen, everything else might work out. “Will wonders never cease?”

  Monty grinned. “Not as long as I’m here to orchestrate.”

  “Will you let me help?”

  “No, not during the initial search. I’ll only need Brandon until I’ve zeroed in on what might be the compound. But you can do fact and geographic checks like you did when you were scanning the California coast. Good enough?”

  “Good enough.” She smiled. “I’ll let Catherine know what’s happening and I’ll be back to sit humbly at the master’s feet.”

  Monty nodded mischievously as he glanced at Brandon. “Yeah, you do that, Rachel.”

  HYATT HOTEL

  Cameron looked up when Catherine entered the room after talking to Rachel. Then he straightened and smiled as he studied her face. “You’re excited,” he said softly. “We have a new element? How interesting. Am I going to like it?”

  “I don’t know. In two hours we’ll know if we have an opportunity.” She strode across the room to stand before him. “You’re the Guardian. You like to run everything. You gave me options before.” Her eyes we’re blazing into his own. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. So much to win. So much to lose. She had to make him see how important it was to her. “I can’t take any of them.”

  “No? Why is that?”

  “Because I have to have it all.”

  CHAPTER

  17

  BEACH HAVEN

  “Catherine just called. She and Cameron are five minutes from here.” Brandon was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. “She was curt and obviously in a hurry. All she asked was an update on whether we knew anything more about Huber’s compound than we told her about an hour ago.” He shrugged. “She wasn’t pleased with my response. But then, neither am I. Monty’s found out a lot, but we need to know more. I can’t let you go there unless I’m sure you’ll have an edge.”

  “I have more of an edge than I dreamed I’d have,” she said quietly. “And you know that’s true, Brandon. I can’t expect it to be easy.”

  “Easy?” His lips twisted. “No, it won’t be—”

  “You look entirely too studious.” Catherine was standing in the veranda doorway, her gaze on both of them. “Are those the maps of that Eagles Rest place? Bring them with you. I need you to fill us in on it. Then you can study the details after we’ve got everything else settled.” She gestured impatiently. “But come with me out to the veranda. Cameron’s waiting, and it’s hard to get Cameron to wait for anything. Not to mention that I’m going to owe him big-time anyway.” She turned on her heel and disappeared.

  “You’re right, very curt.” Rachel got to her feet. “But I can’t say I give a damn about keeping Cameron waiting. And I need to get back to—”

  “Give it up,” Brandon said. “She’s moving at the speed of light. She’s not going to keep us long.” He nudged her toward the door. “And I spent some time with Cameron. It might be interesting to know why she thinks she owes him. He’s more than impressive. He could be a fantastic asset.”

  “That’s what Catherine keeps telling me. I just don’t like the idea of her letting him dictate what she—” She broke off as she saw Cameron lounging in a chair a few yards away. No one could look more leisurely and at ease. So much for Catherine’s worrying about keeping him waiting. “Hello, Cameron,” Rachel said. “You’re not the only one who is in a bit of a hurry at the moment.”

  “I realize that,” he said gently. “And it’s really Catherine who is in a big hurry. She’s all weighed down by worry and responsibility. I, on the other hand, have none of the above. I just do what I have to do according to our agreement.” He smiled at Catherine. “And part of the responsibility is mine because she knows I’ll never ask her to repay. Can there be a heavier obligation for someone like Catherine?”

  “No.” And he must know her very well to realize that about her, Rachel thought. “What agreement?”

 
He waved a hand toward Catherine. “I yield to the lady. I’m merely the silent partner.”

  “I didn’t notice the silent,” Catherine said dryly. She turned to Brandon, and said curtly, “And I’m sure you haven’t been silent either. But I’ll wager you haven’t been able to convince Rachel not to turn herself over to Huber and Kraus.”

  “Not yet. Not from lack of trying. It’s still on the table,” Brandon said bitterly. “But at least I’ll be able to follow her to that compound and try to work out a plan to get her out alive. Is that why you’re here? Go ahead. She listens to you. You might be able to do it.”

  “No. Because that would be a waste of time. She’s made it clear I’m not going to be permitted to help her.” She turned back to Rachel. “You don’t change your mind. You’re searching desperately for a way to get both you and Maria out, but you’re not finding it. In the end, you’ll go to her anyway.” Her eyes were glittering with moisture. “Okay, that’s what we’ve got to accept. Though Cameron did offer to kidnap you for me.”

  “Excellent suggestion,” Brandon murmured.

  “You know it wouldn’t work,” Catherine said fiercely. “It would break her.” Her gaze never left Rachel’s. “I have to accept it. So let me go through the scenario. You go after Maria, you stall, you position yourself for extraction, probably with the help of Brandon and friends. You know that Claire is going to be able to track you once she knows what aircraft Huber sends for you. So you’ll have to rely on a signal from Brandon to tell you to grab Maria and run like hell.” Her lips twisted. “And hope you’re running in the right direction. Because one way or the other, that place will blow sky-high within minutes once Claire aims her magic dart. Is that how it’s going to work?”

  “Approximately.” Rachel smiled faintly. “Hopefully without all the doom and gloom.”

  “I hope that, too.” Catherine didn’t look at her. “With my whole heart. You still won’t let me help you?”

  “Catherine.”

  “Just a last check.” She looked at the maps Rachel was carrying. “So tell me about this compound. Eagles Rest? How close is it to Vancouver?”

  “Not close at all. It’s in the mountains northeast of the city. Perfect cover, can’t be seen from the air. Probably well protected and nearly impossible to penetrate.” She opened the first satellite scan Monty had made. “It appears to be enclosed in a stone wall, indications of a large mansion to the west and some kind of large central open area here. We haven’t been able to decide exactly what it is. Monty is trying to narrow the focus of the satellite.”

  Catherine pushed the scan toward Cameron. “Helpful.”

  “I told you he would be,” Cameron said, his gaze raking over the scan. “Have him transmit these and anything else he’s able to get to me, Rachel.”

  “Why?” Brandon asked.

  “They’ll be needed. I don’t send my people anywhere that they’re not fully equipped and informed.” He smiled at Brandon. “Nor would you. But at present you appear to be a trifle short-staffed, so I’m going to lend you Malcolm Dillard, who I use frequently for problems in western Canada. But he does need to know where he’s going and what he’s to expect. Improvisation can go only so far.”

  Brandon’s eyes were narrowed on his face. “And what’s he to expect, Cameron?”

  Cameron smiled. “Why, victory. What I always expect.”

  “Stop talking in circles,” Catherine said. “And you sound arrogant as hell, Cameron.” She looked at Brandon. “I’m not going to tell you anything more about him because you don’t need to know. All you need to know is that Cameron can do it. He might be able to save Rachel and Maria. I’ve seen him do incredible things before in Tibet and half a dozen other places around the world. He’s got the men and the weapons, and they’d have the stupidity to die for him if he’d ask. Just let him help save Rachel.”

  He nodded slowly. “You knew I’d have no choice. Time’s running out. Rachel?”

  She nodded as she looked at Cameron. “You can really save Maria?”

  “No promises. It’s much more possible than it was before we knew their location and could get a sizeable force into the area. It will still be difficult.” He pointed to Eagles Rest. “It’s important that our people have time to get Dillard and his team in place before you arrive. Otherwise, there may be difficulties that he can’t overcome. He has to be able to arrange to slip a messenger into that compound to signal the time he’ll strike, so you’ll be ready. He’ll have a helicopter ready to land and extract, but he can’t get any kind of armed force near you without getting you killed. Huber and Kraus are bound to be too close to you.”

  “Maybe they won’t,” she said slowly. For the first time since that last call from Huber, she was beginning to see possibilities, to hope again. “Maybe we won’t have to worry about them.” She moistened her lips. “If something happened to them, it would cause chaos, wouldn’t it? They are Red Star.”

  Brandon was gazing at her with narrowed eyes. “Rachel.”

  “You knew it was going to happen anyway. You watched me make the recipe.” She smiled crookedly. “Though not put on the icing. I did that later.”

  Brandon turned to Cameron. “Find a way to get me to her, and I’ll get them both out.”

  Cameron nodded. “It would be easier if I knew the layout of Huber’s place. Monty had better earn his money, or I might rethink my decision regarding him.”

  “What?”

  He waved dismissively. “Never mind. They’ll get it done.”

  “They? You’re not going to be there?”

  “Possibly.” He smiled at Catherine. “But unfortunately, Catherine has decided that she wants it all. She was quite touching about how she couldn’t let her Luke face a future without a clean Pacific Ocean.”

  “Shut up, Cameron,” Catherine said crossly. “You’re the one who practically lives and breathes Shangri-La. You should wear the tee shirt. You said you were leaving it up to me, but you’d never let that kind of disaster happen.” She turned to Rachel. “You won’t let me go with you, but I have to do something. If I’m guessing right, Huber is going to blow that supertanker sometime after midnight or early morning if he’s not stopped. Probably early in the morning since he’ll want to coordinate it with his damn celebration. I can’t let him do it. Maybe if we can interfere with this part of his plan, it will cause a distraction that will also help you. Cameron has a helicopter waiting down on the beach. We’re heading down to Santa Barbara to see how we can manage to stop the Katrina Notalo. It’s delivering oil to a refinery north of the city before it continues on to San Luis Obispo, then sets sail for San Francisco.” Then she was beside Rachel, holding her close. “I’ll be checking with Brandon about you, so you keep safe. I know you can do this,” she whispered. “You can do anything you need to do. I just want like hell to do it for you. Don’t you dare let those bastards hurt you.” Then she released Rachel and whirled away from her. “I’ve done all I can. You do the rest.” Then she was walking across the veranda. “Come on, Cameron, we wouldn’t want to keep Van Deek waiting. It’s just your kind of razzle-dazzle mayhem. You’ll probably enjoy it enormously.”

  “Guilty.” He watched her go down the driveway toward the car. “And so would she if she weren’t stretched to the limit at the moment.” He handed Brandon a card. “Malcolm Dillard. I’ve given instructions. I sent him to Vancouver the moment we knew it was a target. They’re estimating they’ll be near the Red Star site at Eagles Rest shortly after midnight. Dillard is brilliant, and you’ll find the team equally efficient. I’ll try to finish up with the Katrina as soon as possible, but if I can’t be there, they’ll answer to you.” He turned back to Rachel. “And I’ll be most unhappy if you don’t follow Catherine’s orders about keeping alive. I have great plans for you.” His face was suddenly alight with mischief. “But don’t tell Catherine, I’m trying to make her forget I mentioned it.”

  Then he was gone.

  And Rachel was staring a
fter them, her mind alive and sparking with everything with which it had been bombarded in the last minutes.

  A chance!

  She could feel the heat flush her cheeks.

  Not a great chance, but it was more than she’d had before. After all, it wasn’t every day that a woman had a small army put at her disposal.

  “It’s Red Star,” Brandon said roughly. “You’re looking as if you’re ready to conquer the world. Don’t get your hopes up. You’ve got to be so careful. One false step and it’s—”

  “I know all that.” She turned to face him. She realized he was afraid for her, but she couldn’t keep from smiling. “But even you can see that things look up a bit when you might be able to count on a little help from your friends.”

  “Yeah.” His eyes were on her glowing face. He cleared his throat. “I can see that, Rachel.”

  “So I’m not going to worry about what happens after Huber takes me.” She turned and headed back into the kitchen. “That will be a dance all its own. Right now, I have to make preparations for how I want this to go down. It has to be timed right for Maria’s safety. If the Katrina doesn’t give Huber his big finale on schedule, he might get impatient.” She grimaced. “And we don’t know exactly what time that’s supposed to take place. And we’ve got to pray that Catherine and Cameron will keep it from happening. No, we’ve got to coordinate it so that we’ll be sure that Huber doesn’t get anything he wants.”

  “May I remind you that by that time you’ll be with Maria.”

  “You can remind me.” She went past him into the house. “But as I said, it’s a dance all its own. And I have things to do. Didn’t you hear Catherine?” Her pace increased as she headed for the library to talk to Monty, then call Claire Warren. She’d hoped to keep Claire out of any action, but that might not be possible. A delay … Cameron had said a delay was important. She might be able to use Claire to initiate that delay. “Catherine did all she could. Now, it’s up to me.”

  * * *

  “A Shangri-La tee shirt?” Cameron repeated as he got into the car and started it. “I almost flinched. You have no idea of decorum, Catherine. You take a great and learned idea and philosophy and trivialize it.”