The Naked Eye

by Iris Johansen

“We believe Ms. Avery is out of danger for the time being,” he said. “It was touch-and-go for a while, but she has a strong heartbeat now.” He added soberly, “However, she’s still unconscious, and we prefer that she stay that way for at least the next few days. We’ll probably put her in a medically induced coma for at least tonight.”

  “Why?” Eve asked.

  “We prefer to keep the brain activity down so that we can monitor it.”

  “You’re checking for brain damage,” Eve said. “Are there indications?”

  He hesitated. “Perhaps. It’s difficult to tell with the swelling. But you mustn’t give up hope of a normal recovery.”

  “There’s no question of that,” Kendra said. “When will we know?”

  “When the swelling goes down enough for us to bring her out of the coma. Tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “May we visit her?” Eve asked.

  He shrugged. “Of course, just don’t expect a response.” He nodded, turned, and strode down the hall.

  “Not warm,” Kendra said.

  “I don’t care as long as he’s good,” Eve said. “And right about a possible normal recovery. I’m scared.”

  Kendra nodded. “But she’s out of danger.”

  “Temporarily.” Sam spoke for the first time from where he stood by the wall. “He didn’t seem too optimistic.”

  “It appears it’s going to be a long haul,” Lynch said. “May I make a suggestion? Why don’t you all go back to my place and take a shower and change clothes? You look like you’re been through a tornado. Then decide what’s going to be the order of sitting with Beth? I’m sure she wouldn’t want you all hovering over her.”

  “She’d laugh at us,” Sam said suddenly.

  Kendra looked at him and nodded. How well Sam had gotten to know Beth. “I’ll stay with her and wait until you get back and—”

  “No,” Eve said firmly. “I’m pulling rank. I’ll stay with my sister.” She pulled out Kendra’s remote key fob and handed it to her. “You heard me. Get out of here.”

  She turned on her heel and went toward the nurses’ station.

  “Well, that appears to be settled,” Lynch said. “She obviously has a mind of her own.”

  Kendra nodded. “I’ll come back to relieve her in an hour or two.”

  “Because you’re responsible?” Lynch said. “We’ve already discussed that.”

  “I want to go and sit with Beth,” Sam said abruptly.

  Kendra looked back at him. “Eve has first call, Sam. She’s family.”

  “I want to do something for her.”

  “And you will,” she said gently. “And you have. But look at you. Your clothes have dried on you, your hair is in spikes. That can’t be comfortable. If one of the nurses saw you with Beth, they’d probably kick you out.”

  “Like you’re doing?”

  She nodded. “Go home, clean up, get something to eat. Then come back and sit with Beth. That way, if she happens to wake up, you won’t scare her. Okay?”

  “She won’t wake up. You heard the doctor.”

  “I’d rather believe in Beth.”

  He didn’t speak. Then he nodded. “Me too.” He turned and walked toward the exit.

  She watched him until he was out of sight. Then she turned to Lynch. “You’ve cleared the decks so that Eve and Sam are probably going to spend most of the night with Beth. Why did you do it?”

  “Me? I was merely arranging things so that it would be easiest for you. Though how you could think I could judge how things would fall into place, I have no idea.”

  “You threw an idea out there and watched everyone pick up the ball in the way you thought they’d react. Manipulation.”

  “A small talent, but my own. Okay, I’ll admit to manipulation if it’s for your sake.”

  “And why is it for my sake?”

  “You’d want to be free, and it wouldn’t be possible if you felt bound to watch over Beth.”

  “Of course I want to watch over Beth.” Her gaze narrowed on his face. “And why would I need to be free?”

  He took out his phone. “Because ten minutes ago, Griffin wired me this photo.” He handed the phone to her. “He crossed over the border into Mexico.”

  Colby.

  Wearing a hat, but the camera had caught his profile. It was unmistakable.

  Her gaze flew to Lynch’s face. “How long ago?”

  “An hour or so,” he said. “I know Mexico very well. I have contacts there. He’ll be looking for new documents, and I know where he can find them. If his head start isn’t too great, I’ll be able to track him.”

  “Not without me.”

  “I knew that would be your attitude. I would either have to take you with me, or you’d try to find him alone.” He shrugged. “So I freed you up.” He took her elbow. “I’ll walk you to your car. I’ll take the Ferrari back to my house. Follow me, and we’ll take your car. The Ferrari is a little too showy for Mexico.”

  “Unless you’re a drug lord. But you probably have the same problem here in the States.”

  “That stung a bit. You must be feeling a little better.” He held the door open for her. “I thought that taking action would make you function with your usual verve.”

  “You mean planning on killing Colby would excite me?” She walked across the parking lot with him. “Not excite. That’s not what I’m feeling. Beth asked me once if I had it to do over again would I kill Colby instead of sending him to prison. I told her I had mixed feelings. But I don’t any longer. When I saw Beth lying there struggling to live, when I saw what he’d done to her, it was all over. I can’t stand the thought of his ever having the power to do that again. And I wouldn’t trust the police or a jury or the prison board to make certain that he was put safely away.” She met his eyes. “I have to do it myself.”

  “With a little help from your friends.” He stopped beside her car. “Don’t shut me out, Kendra.” He gently touched her hair. “You don’t have to feel responsible for me. Your way is the way I want to go.”

  Warmth. Strength. Safety,

  Why should she feel safe with Lynch when no one would ever call him a safe man?

  Because her world was not safe, and it was good to have a companion in that world.

  “Then that’s the way we’ll go … for a little while.” She unlocked her keyless car with her remote fob and stuffed it into her pocket. She slipped into the driver’s seat. “I’ll see you back at the house.”

  He nodded and turned and trotted across the lot toward his Ferrari.

  * * *

  BE ASSURED THE DANCE will continue.

  Kendra gripped her steering wheel as she entered the freeway that would take her to Lynch’s house. Colby’s message was clearly meant to terrify her, to make her live in constant fear.

  She wouldn’t let that happen.

  You lose, Colby. The whole world is looking for you now. You’ll be the one looking over your shoulder, studying each face you see for that fatal flash of recognition.

  And one of those times, you’ll see me there.

  Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

  Kendra hoped it would be that soon. She needed to get back to Beth. She had already begun compiling a mental list of world-class neurologists. She had met and worked with many of them in her years of music-therapy work, and she’d make sure Beth received the finest care possible.

  As Kendra drove out of the city and traffic thinned out, she felt the slightest bit of tension draining away. There would be plenty of time to worry in the coming hours—or even days—but for now, Beth was resting and hopefully healing.

  Sleep well, Beth. We’ll be there for you when you wake.

  And I hope to give you news that will—

  “Hello, Kendra. What a wonderful night for a drive.”

  Colby!

  Something cold and sharp snapped around her neck.

  The steering wheel slid through her fingers, and the car careened toward the center divider!


  Kendra frantically pulled the wheel hard right, narrowly missing the wall.

  Her eyes flew to the rearview mirror.

  The rear seatback was now down, opening a pathway from her trunk.

  A thin wire was taut around her neck, beaded with blood. Her blood.

  And there was Eric Colby himself, blue eyes piercing straight through her.

  Shock. Panic.

  How in the hell could this be happening?

  He smiled. “Nice recovery, Kendra.” He tightened the wire until she gasped with pain. “No use ending this party before it’s even begun.”

  “Party?” Every word was agony as it put pressure on the wire. “It’s more … of a game to you. You can’t win, Colby.”

  “But I already have.”

  “There’s nowhere for you to go. Nowhere.”

  “Let’s classify that as my problem.” He tugged on his wire, cutting even deeper into her throat.

  She gagged as the pain grew in intensity. “Why now? You probably think … you could have … killed me days ago.”

  “Months ago, Kendra. Don’t fool yourself.”

  “Then why didn’t you?”

  He smiled again. “I had time in prison and my sojourn in Mexico to decide exactly what I wanted for you. It all had to go according to plan.” He loosened the wire slightly, making it easier for her to speak.

  “And it was part of your plan to try to fool us when you crossed into Mexico tonight? How did you get back across the border to the U.S.?”

  “As I said, all according to plan. I bought two sets of documents before I left Mexico. Wingate and Childress. I saved the Victor Childress identity to return for our grand finale.”

  “What a convoluted plan it turned out to be. Is it worth it to you?”

  “Absolutely. Surely, you didn’t think a quick and uninspired kill was the way I wanted to go with you.”

  “Of course not. You always liked to torture your victims first.”

  “Much more interesting, no?”

  “No.” She started to shake her head, then stopped as the wire bit deeper. “Just sad.”

  “Hmm. Maybe sometimes. A twinge, now and then.”

  Kendra looked back at Colby. He was, as always, supremely confident and self-satisfied. “So what is your great plan for me?”

  “All in good time. First, I need you to lower your window and toss your mobile phone out. You won’t need it where you’re going.”

  “Just take it, it’s all yours. The phone’s there … on the console.”

  “Nice try, but your friends are far too technologically astute. I know they can use it to track you. So do as I say. Out the window, Kendra.”

  She lowered her window and tossed out her phone. In the side view mirror, she saw it strike sparks on the freeway.

  “Perfect. Thank you.”

  “Do you know where we’re going, or am I just supposed to drive all night?”

  “Oh, I definitely know where we’re headed. And deep down in your soul, so do you. It’s a special place for both of us.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Do I really need to tell you?” he asked softly.

  No, he didn’t. The awful realization had sunk home. Of course that’s where he’d take her. “We’re going to Coachella Valley. We’re going back to the gully.”

  “Ah, I knew it would come to you. I knew this day would come. I’ve known it for four years, from the day I woke up in that hospital with a fractured skull. Did you know I’ve had a terrible ringing in my ears ever since that night? It has never quite gone away, a constant reminder of you, Kendra.”

  Weapons. How could she get hold of a weapon? Her gun was in the glove box, but there was no way she could reach it.

  “I’m sure that night hasn’t quite faded for the families of those two FBI agents you murdered there, either.”

  “The honored dead. Those people should thank me. I made those men heroes.”

  “You slaughtered them.”

  “I saved them from an ordinary, mediocre existence. Those men didn’t have it in them to rise to the great heights of human achievement. Not like you do, Kendra. I was their only hope for an extraordinary life, and I delivered it to them.”

  “What’s disgusting is that I know … you’re not saying this to goad me. You really believe it.”

  “Of course I do. I never say anything I don’t believe. Think about it: Do you know anyone more honest than I am?”

  Kendra’s eyes darted around the front seat. If only she had Olivia’s nasty box of tricks …

  “You know the way, Kendra. And just know that if you manage to flag a police officer during our journey, I will kill him. And our fair city will have yet another fallen hero to mourn … and I will have made another ordinary life extraordinary. Do you doubt me?”

  “No. Not for a second.”

  “Good girl.”

  * * *

  KENDRA AND COLBY DIDN’T TALK for the remainder of their long drive to Coachella Valley, with Colby keeping his wire taut and painful against her throat the entire way. Kendra broke the silence as they turned and took the slow climb up Rock Road. “You haven’t been back here since that night, have you?”

  “No. How did you know?”

  “Because I’ve been here many times in the past few months. I knew you’d be drawn to this place, so I kept coming back to look for some sign of you here. I never saw any, but I knew you’d be back someday.”

  “Correct as always, Kendra. Unfortunately for you. It has to end here. It’s a compliment to you and your abilities that I know I can’t let you live.” He paused. “And you didn’t only visit this place searching for me, did you? How many times did you dream of the gully, Kendra?”

  “Too many times.”

  “I knew it, I felt it.”

  Kendra looked ahead to the hillside where she had seen Colby murder those two brave FBI agents. And just below it was the gully where she’d had her own horrible confrontation with him.

  The wire around her neck loosened slightly, and as she glanced in her rearview mirror, she realized that Colby was also looking ahead and remembering that night. “You could have just gone away, Colby. No one was looking for you.”

  “No one but you.”

  Kendra picked up speed as she climbed the curvy mountain road, her headlights darting back and forth like machetes clearing the landscape. She could see the wooden roadside barrier and the dark waters of the quarry below. “No one was listening to me. You could have just stayed away and lived out the rest of your days as a free man.”

  “I still can.”

  “How?”

  “This world has a short attention span. It got even shorter in just the few years I was away, with all of our texts, news bursts, alerts, and twenty-four-hour news cycles. There’s always another atrocity to push the last one aside, then another after that. No one will be looking for me in a few months. I’ll be a faint, unpleasant memory. Then I’ll be back, doing what I’ve always done, rescuing people from their mediocre lives.”

  Dear God, his words held a terrible truth that could lead to an even more terrible reality. She could actually see it all coming to pass.

  No. No. No.

  Kendra took a deep breath. She couldn’t let it happen. “No, Colby. Not again. Never again.”

  No weapons.

  Only one way.

  She spun the wheel hard left. The next moment, the car broke through the roadside barrier that separated them from the Coachella Quarry.

  She heard Colby curse as her car became airborne in the darkness. The car plummeted thirty feet, then struck the still, deep water with a bone-crunching force that hit her at the exact same moment as the air bag. Her entire body throbbed with pain.

  Water. Water everywhere, rising over her legs and stomach …

  But she was alive!

  But where was Colby…?

  Move. Get the hell out. Now.

  She clawed through the air bag, trying to reach her seat-belt l
atch.

  Success.

  Her hands flew to her throat, where Colby’s wire still dangled. She slid her fingers underneath to loosen it, then slowly lifted the wire over her chin, her nose, her forehead…”

  Zippp.

  It suddenly closed over her head and fingers.

  Pain. Sharp, excruciating pain …

  She looked back at Colby. With no seat belt and no air bag, his face had borne the brunt of their impact. Blood dripped from his chin and nose, and he’d lost several front teeth.

  He braced himself against the backseat and pulled on the wire.

  She pushed upward on the wire as it cut into her scalp. Her hands were a bloody mess. Just a little bit more …

  The water rose more quickly now, and the car listed to the left. She unlocked the door and leaned against it.

  It didn’t budge. The pressure was just too great.

  She looked desperately into her rearview mirror.

  Colby had his knife out. He raised it with his right hand while keeping her head pulled back with his wire.

  No, dammit.

  She kicked the drivers-side window. Water flooded inside, blasting Colby back into his seat.

  This was her chance. She tore off the wire and scrambled through the window just as the water pressure equalized. Her car was now almost entirely submerged.

  Just another few feet, and—

  Colby grabbed her foot!

  She kicked, but his grip was too strong.

  Slice.

  He cut her ankle.

  God, the pain …

  Slice.

  He’d cut her again. She wriggled her foot, kicking madly.

  She was free!

  She positioned her foot. She took aim. Gotta make it count …

  Contact!

  She struck Colby’s already-shattered face. Even underwater, she could hear his anguished scream.

  With one final kick, she propelled herself out the window, just before her car rolled over onto its driver’s side and landed on the rocky bottom.

  Kendra turned for a last look. A full moon shimmered through the water and bathed her car in an ethereal glow. The car’s dashboard was still lit, and inside she could see Colby moving.

  He was scrambling for the passenger door, she realized. If he got it open, he might escape.

  And it would all begin again.

  Not this time, Colby.