Countdown

by Iris Johansen

  “I’m no Galahad. Yes, I’m going after Reilly.” He glanced across the courtyard at the castle. “But Trevor promised me a share of that gold, and I’m going to need it. I’m going to have it.”

  “Not if we can work a deal with Reilly,” Jane said. “If we can’t find a way to get that bastard, we’ll bargain. And I don’t care about your fine, great castle, MacDuff.”

  “You don’t have to,” MacDuff said. “I care enough for all of us.” He nodded at Mario coming down the steps. “And here’s your scholar who wants to be a superhero. I’m tempted to just squeeze the information out of him and leave him here. And you can’t tell me you don’t feel the same way, Trevor.”

  “It occurred to me,” Trevor said. “But he has a mission, and it would take time to shake him up enough to—”

  “No,” Jane said.

  MacDuff shrugged. “It appears that’s the end of it for now. But there will be more opportunities later if he’s a problem.” He turned away and entered the stable. “Tell him to get his ass moving if he’s coming with us, Trevor. Come along, Jock.”

  Jane nodded quickly at Mario before hurrying after MacDuff and Jock as they strode down the stall-lined corridor. “Where are we going?”

  “Angus’s place,” Jock said. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Aye,” MacDuff said. “And a fine cozy place it is.” He went in the third stall from the end. “If you don’t mind mud and the stink of mold.” He moved a tackle box and three saddles to open a dirt-encrusted trapdoor. “Though in the old days the stink would have been considerably more disgusting. Angus made sure no one wanted to mess around in here. There was always a layer of manure covering the floor.”

  “And where does this door lead?” Trevor had caught up with them and was peering down into the darkness. “Stairs . . .”

  “Yes, they wind down at an angle and reach the bottom of the cliff where it meets the sea.” MacDuff opened a box beside the trapdoor and grabbed a flashlight from the several the box contained. “Everyone take a flashlight. There are no lights, and the stairs curve too much to rely on a leader with one flashlight. You’d round a curve and find yourself in the dark, and those steps are wet and slippery as glass.” But MacDuff was negotiating the winding stairs surely, quickly. “Be careful or you’ll end up with a broken head. My great-grandfather got a little tipsy one night and took a fall that laid him up for two years. He almost died before he crawled back up the stairs to the stable.”

  “No one was with him?”

  “Of course not. Angus’s passage is the family secret, passed on from father to son. Angus built it at the same time he built the castle. It was to be an escape hatch that led to the sea, and there’s another passage that doubles back to the hill outside the gates that would let him get behind an attacking army. He lived in perilous times and always wanted to be prepared.”

  “That was centuries ago.” Lord, the steps were slippery, Jane thought as she balanced herself by holding on to the curving wall. They seemed to lead down and down. . . . “And you’re telling me that no one else knew about it?”

  “There’s such a thing as honor. We were all bound not to tell anyone outside the immediate family. In later years it wasn’t so crucial, but we’re a family who believes in tradition.”

  “It appears Jock knew about it.”

  “He didn’t until I brought him back from Colorado. And Jock would rather die than tell anything I don’t want him to. Two yards and veer left. That’s where it branches off and becomes a tunnel leading to the hills.”

  She dimly saw the branch off to the right as she veered left as he’d told her. “How much farther?”

  “Not far. The steps get steeper here as they approach the surf. Be careful.”

  “And what are we going to do when we reach the sea?” Trevor asked. “Swim?”

  “Actually, Angus was strong enough to swim the four miles around the headland, but his descendants weren’t quite that Spartan. There’s a motorboat in a camouflaged boat deck at the foot of the steps. We’ll use oars, not the motor, and if we keep close to the cliffs, we should be able to reach a safe distance in twenty minutes.”

  “And what then?” Trevor asked.

  “I shouldn’t have to do everything for you,” MacDuff said. “I have Colin, one of the villagers, meeting us with a car to take us to Aberdeen. I trust you can arrange for transport to the U.S. from there?”

  “I’ll call Kimbrough in Paris as soon as we get on the road. I haven’t used him in a few years and Grozak won’t have a fix on him.”

  “How long will it take him to get here?”

  “If he’s not on another job, a few hours. If he is, I’ll phone someone else.”

  Jane heard Mario cry out and then begin cursing behind her. “Dammit, how much farther, MacDuff? I almost broke my ankle.”

  “Too bad,” MacDuff said. “The uninvited have no right to complain.”

  Neither Trevor nor she had been invited either. She wondered what MacDuff would—

  She heard a watery slushing ahead of her. “What’s that?”

  “The bottom steps are covered with water when the tide comes in,” MacDuff called back from around a curve in the stair. “I’m having to wade through it to get to the boat. Nothing to worry about.” He added slyly, “Except the occasional eel or crab that manages to come in with the tide. You’ll be okay. You’re not barefoot.”

  “How comforting.” She turned the corner of the spiral and saw MacDuff and Jock ahead of her. They were thigh-high in water as they waded down the final steps toward a sleek black-and-cream motorboat tied to a steel post. A short distance away she could see a narrow opening leading to the sea.

  “Okay?” Trevor was a few steps behind her. She hadn’t realized she had stopped.

  She nodded and again started down the steps, holding her small duffel over her shoulder.

  Three steps down she was waist-high in cold salt water that sent a shock through her. She suppressed a gasp and kept on going. A moment later she had reached MacDuff and Jock, who were climbing onto the boat.

  Jock turned and held out his hand. “Give me your duffel and I’ll pull you up.”

  “Thanks.” She threw him the duffel and then let him pull her on board. MacDuff was opening a box by the steering wheel and getting out oars. “You know your way pretty well down here, Jock.”

  “The laird wanted me with him when we first came back here. He had work to do and he didn’t want me to be alone.”

  Because Jock had been suicidal and MacDuff had been afraid to leave him. “I’m sure you were a great help.”

  “I tried,” Jock said gravely. “I did what he told me, but I didn’t know all the things that Angus and the laird knew. It was Angus’s place, Angus’s room.”

  “Room?”

  “All those steps and the dark . . . I got lost. My head was all fuzzy and the laird had to pull me out of the water once.”

  Lost? Was he speaking mentally or—

  “Jock, I need you,” MacDuff called, and Jock immediately went to him.

  “You’re soaking wet.” Trevor was climbing onto the boat. “Any towels, MacDuff?”

  “In the box under the wheel.” MacDuff handed Jock an oar. “She can dry off later. Let’s get out of here.”

  “I can row,” Mario said as he got on the boat. “I crewed at my university.”

  “By all means. Earn your way.” MacDuff gave him an oar. “But you’ll find this rowing a bit more unwieldy.”

  Trevor found the towel and handed it to her. “Dry off. We don’t need you sick.”

  “I’m okay.” She tried to absorb a little of the water from her clothes with the towel. She made a face. “Nary an eel, MacDuff.”

  “Really? How fortunate.”

  “Let’s hope it continues that way.” Trevor untied the boat. “Get us out of here, MacDuff.”

  Kimbrough met them at the airport outside Aberdeen where Trevor had landed when they’d come from Harvard. He was a small, for
tyish man and all business. “Ready to take off,” he told Trevor. “I’ve filed a phony flight plan to New Orleans. We’ll have to take on fuel in Chicago, but we should arrive in Denver in about nine hours.”

  “Good.” He turned to MacDuff. “You said you had a house outside Denver that you used when you came after Jock. Do you think it would help jog his memory to be in semifamiliar surroundings?”

  “I have no idea. But it couldn’t hurt. We have to have a place to start. I’ll phone the leasing company once I’m on the plane.”

  “You can’t do that. They’ll recognize your name from when you were there before. We can’t have any way to trace—”

  “They’ll recognize the name of Daniel Pilton. Do you think I’d have taken a chance on Reilly knowing where I took Jock?” He gestured to Jock and Mario. “Get on the plane. I’ll be right with you.” After Jock and Mario had disappeared into the plane he said grimly, “For all I know, Jock will freeze up once he’s back in Reilly’s backyard.”

  “Isn’t this a waste of time? According to Jock, Colorado isn’t Reilly’s backyard,” Jane said. “He mentioned Idaho.”

  “But we don’t know where to start there. He’s too damn vague about it.” MacDuff’s lips tightened. “Believe me, he’s not vague about Colorado. If you could have seen him during that month after I found him, you’d realize that.”

  “But you said he didn’t have any idea what he was doing there.”

  “I didn’t push it. Whatever happened there was enough to shove him over the edge.” He started up the steps. “He had enough trauma to get over without my digging into that wound.”

  “You might have to do it,” Jane said as she followed him up the steps. “If he doesn’t remember that, how can he remember what went before?”

  “My God, you’re hard,” MacDuff said as he disappeared into the plane. “And I thought I was being callous.”

  Was she hard? The words she had spoken had come without thinking. She wanted the best for Jock. She’d help him if she could, but the importance of finding Reilly outweighed every other consideration. So maybe she was as hard as MacDuff thought.

  “The bastard hurt you,” Trevor said roughly from behind her on the steps. “Screw him.”

  “No.” She tried to smile. “He’s probably right. I’ve never been the gentlest person in the world. I’m not sweet or tolerant. I was even rough on Mike when he wasn’t behaving the way I thought he should.”

  “Good God, now you’re having a backlash and feeling guilty?” He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder before she could enter the plane. “No, you’re not sweet. You’re intolerant as hell. You may be gentle on occasion but it’s usually reserved for dogs and Eve and Quinn.” He stared her directly in the eye. “But you’re honest and smart and you make me feel as if I’m looking at a sunrise every time I see you smile.”

  She couldn’t speak for a moment. “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say. “How . . . poetic. And completely unlike you.”

  “I agree.” He smiled. “So I’ll temper it by saying you’re probably also the best lay I ever had and I’m shallow enough to have wished Jock didn’t have his breakthrough on a night when I was planning on screwing the hell out of you. How’s that for frankness?” He pushed her through the doorway of the plane. “More later. I have to go up front and talk to Kimbrough.”

  “I have to call Eve.”

  “I expected that. It’s actually best you phone them. There’s no telling what they’d do if they didn’t hear from you or couldn’t reach you. But you can’t tell them where we are or what we’re doing. Just let them know you’re safe and you’ll contact them later. Agreed?”

  Jane thought about it. “For now. They’ll be upset with me, but there’s not much to tell anyway. But I won’t keep them in the dark for long.”

  “I hope to hell you won’t have to. Either we find out what we need from Jock or we don’t. But wait until we land in Chicago to make the call.”

  She watched him walk down the aisle as she sat down beside Mario. Trevor had been kind and comforting, and it had surprised her in this tense moment. So much of their relationship was based on the sexual attraction that had dominated them both for years. Even now she could feel that response that quickened her pulse as she gazed at him. But now there was more than that mindless heat; there was warmth. She forced herself to shift her eyes away from Trevor. “You’ve been very quiet since we left.”

  “I decided it would be foolish to try to join in the conversation when no one wants to hear me.” Mario made a face. “I managed to push my way into this trip, but I’m not welcome. So I’ll watch and listen and find a way to make my contribution.”

  “Contribution?” Jane repeated. “You didn’t sound like you were opting for a joint operation.”

  “I’m not foolish. I know my limitations.” He gazed at Jock. “But he has more limitations than I do. We’re risking a lot on the chance that he won’t shatter.”

  “We don’t have a choice.” She paused. “Unless you decide to give us something to negotiate with.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’m not callous. I don’t want to cause a catastrophe like 9/11. But I have to have my chance at those sons of bitches.” He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. “Now I’m going to take a nap. So don’t keep jabbing at me. It’s not going to work.”

  “I’ll keep jabbing and jabbing and jabbing,” she said. “Maybe sometime in a moment of mental clarity you’ll realize that chance isn’t worth the price.”

  He didn’t answer and kept his eyes closed. He was obviously going to ignore her.

  Well, let him, she thought. She’d get her opportunity to nag at him when they reached Colorado. She smiled ruefully at the thought. MacDuff had accused her of pushing Jock, and now she was doing the same to Mario. Evidently her period of self-doubt had vanished with those words Trevor had spoken.

  No, those words had warmed her, but she had bounced back quickly because that was her nature. All her life indecision had been the enemy. You had to go forward, not take a step back or stay in place. She didn’t know any other way.

  So to the devil with MacDuff and Mario. She’d do what she’d always done. She’d try to shape her world to suit herself. It was the only way to—

  “Come with me.” Trevor was standing beside her. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Why should—” She broke off as she saw his expression, and got to her feet and followed him toward the cockpit. “Problem?”

  “Maybe.” His lips were tight. “I just got a call from Venable. He said one sentence and hung up: ‘Sorry, I warned her.’”

  “What’s that supposed to—”

  “Call Eve,” he said. “Now. See if she knows anything.”

  She dialed the number. “Eve, Jane. Something odd is—”

  “Hang up,” Eve said curtly. “And get out of there. Joe just found out that Homeland Security is taking over and pushing the CIA out of the picture. They’re planning on scooping up everyone at MacDuff’s Run, questioning you all, and conducting their own investigation.”

  “Shit, they can’t do that. It would tip off Grozak and tie our hands.”

  “It’s going to happen. John Logan tried to talk them out of it, but he did his job of stirring them up too well. They’re panicky about looking bad if they don’t take some action. Get off the phone. Our line is bugged and they’ll trace you.”

  “Good. Then they’ll realize that we’re not at MacDuff’s Run any longer. It would be senseless for them to pour into the castle and try to arrest us.”

  “No arrest, just quest—”

  “It’s the same difference. They’ll tie our hands. And we can’t afford that right now. We have a chance, Eve.” She glanced at Trevor. “I’m going to hang up and have Trevor call you. They can trace him and tell he’s not at the Run either. Try to get through to someone at Homeland Security and tell them that they’re going to blow everything for nothing.”

  “They’v
e heard you tell them,” Eve said. “And I’ll have John put it to them in the way they understand best. A monumental blunder will stick them right smack in the political hot seat. It may keep them away from the Run, but don’t count on it stopping them from trying to find you. Keep safe.” She hung up.

  “Call her,” Jane said to Trevor. “Homeland Security’s taken over and bugged her line. We’ve got to try to keep them away from MacDuff’s Run.”

  Trevor nodded and dialed his phone. Jane leaned against the wall and listened to him talk to Eve for a few minutes and then hang up. “That should do it. I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To have MacDuff call his government friends in London and have them put all kinds of roadblocks in place to keep Homeland Security from touching the Run. They’d have to have special permission to operate on foreign soil, and they have no concrete proof of any crime. The government isn’t going to want to believe anything bad about MacDuff.”

  “That’s right, you said MacDuff was some kind of folk hero.”

  “And it may prove to be an ace in the hole.”

  She watched him walk over to where MacDuff was sitting and talk to him. MacDuff nodded and pulled out his phone and started dialing.

  A moment later Trevor was back with Jane, opening the cockpit door. “Now we have to get the hell out of here. Give me your phone.” She handed it to him. “We’ll have Kimbrough fly low and eject them over the Atlantic as soon as we get airborne. I’ll have Brenner arrange to get us other satellite phones when we reach Colorado.”

  “They can trace our phones that closely?”

  “It’s an electronic world, and there are spy satellites used by all the agencies. They can zoom in on practically anything. They probably have a fix on us now.” He said to Kimbrough, “We’ve got to get moving. See if you can hurry up the tower.” He closed the cockpit door and turned back to her. “Sit down and buckle up.”

  She nodded but didn’t move. She felt dazed and was trying to take in the implications of what had happened. “Can we get Venable to explain everything to them, get them off our back?”