Hunting Eve

by Iris Johansen

  Kendra eyed the tattered journal protruding from the oversized pocket of Margaret’s jacket. “Not quite yet.”

  “Why not?” His voice held a trace of urgency. Or was she just imagining it?

  “The amount of gold dust we saw in Doane’s car leads me to think maybe the press had never been moved before. It may have come from an old bank or mint around here. While your people are researching this, we’ll do some looking around ourselves.”

  “Kendra, I’m really not sure that’s the best—”

  “Will you call Jane and tell her what Margaret and I found out? How is she doing?”

  “Very well. The doctors gave her a pass out of the hospital, and I imagine you might see her before I do.”

  “That’s great. But a surprise. She was pretty sick.”

  “They wouldn’t have released her if she wasn’t much better.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. I’m transmitting the photo now. Thanks, Venable.”

  She cut the connection and turned to Margaret. “Jane’s out of the hospital. Venable says she’s doing well and that we can probably expect her to show up.”

  “I’ll be glad to see her,” Margaret said. “She needs to be here helping to find Eve. It was hurting her to feel that helpless.”

  “If she’s back on her feet, then she’ll probably be trying to forge ahead like a bulldozer.”

  Margaret smiled faintly. “Like you, Kendra?”

  “Maybe. But we’d go at problems from different directions.”

  “Will Venable cooperate?” Margaret asked. “He sounded a little surly.”

  “He’ll cooperate.” She thought about it. She was becoming slightly uneasy about Venable. “He wants to find Eve. He just likes his own way.”

  “Don’t we all.” She wrinkled her nose. “And my way is to get to a motel where I can take a shower. I desperately need it after what we’ve gone through since we landed in Colorado.”

  “I’ll second the motion,” Kendra said. “We’ve had enough sleep in the car, but I feel filthy, too.” She headed for the car. “Then we’ll get on the move and see what we can find out about antique coin presses.”

  CHAPTER

  14

  KENDRA’S PHONE RANG AS SHE was getting dressed after her shower.

  Jane.

  She picked up. “I heard that you were released from the hospital. How are you feeling?”

  “Fine,” Jane said curtly. “I’d feel better if you and Margaret hadn’t decided to go incommunicado on me. You could have called me back.”

  “You were ill. We didn’t want to upset you. If there had been anything definite that you should know, we’d have called you.”

  “I’d say almost getting blown up in Doane’s house would qualify as something I should know.” She sighed wearily. “I’m sorry. I’m just so damn frustrated. Everyone was just trying to protect me, but I had no right to be protected when everyone else was in danger.”

  “No one is in danger now. We haven’t seen Blick since Goldfork. And I did tell Venable to call you and tell you everything we’d found out. He said you were probably on your way out here by now. Where are you?”

  “We’re at the Atlanta airport. We’ll get to Denver around midnight. So after we rent a car and drive down, it’ll probably be sunrise by the time we get to you.”

  “We?”

  “I’m with Seth Caleb and Mark Trevor. What about this coin press? You think Doane got it from somewhere around there?”

  “I think it’s a decent possibility. It’s gold-rush country. They had coin presses. His radio was set on this listening area.”

  “Why would he want a gold press?”

  “The more I consider it, I’m leaning toward wondering why he might want to get rid of a coin press.” She paused. “And where he got rid of it from.”

  Silence. “Eve,” Jane whispered. “He wanted to prepare a place for her. Maybe it was in his way.”

  “That’s my guess. Margaret and I are going to be driving around the area and talking to locals and trying to find out about any known coin presses. I asked Venable to try to find out anything he could about them and let me know. Maybe you could help cover a couple of the mining tourist spots when you get here.”

  “Fine. We’re going to stop before we leave Denver and talk to a friend of Trevor’s who works in the forestry department of the university. He says he’s more familiar with the forests in this area than anyone else in the world. What else can I do?”

  “I have no idea. The same thing we’re doing? Playing it by ear. You’re on your own, Jane.”

  “Did you access photos of that sketch of mountain country I sent you?”

  “Yes, none of it looks familiar. I’ll keep it in mind if I run across anything like it.”

  “I know it sounded bizarre, but don’t discard it because of that. We can’t afford to discard anything that might help.”

  “Look, I’m traveling around with your friend, Margaret, who evidently communicates with sundry creatures from field and stream, and I hardly question it anymore. What’s more bizarre than that?”

  “Where can we reach you?”

  “We’ll be traveling, as I said, but we’ll answer the phone. I promise.” She added, “I have a feeling we’re close, Jane.”

  “I hope you’re right. You’ve got to be right. And you’re damn right you’ll answer the phone. We’ve got to work together from now on. No one protects anyone but Eve. I’ll call you if I learn anything.” She hung up.

  Kendra pressed the disconnect. Jane had sounded worried but strong, very strong, she thought. Clearly the medical staff at the hospital had been right in dismissing her.

  And there would be no way anyone would succeed in trying to keep her from the battle.

  Vancouver

  “THE INFORMATION,” JOE SAID softly. “I won’t ask you again, Weiner. I want that tower area.”

  “I can’t tell you.” Weiner moistened his lips and glanced nervously at Stang. “Why did you bring him here? You know I can’t talk to him. You know what Zander will do to me.”

  “Yes, but I thought it worthwhile,” Stang said. “Tell him.” He smiled. “And then get the hell out of here and hope Zander doesn’t decide to make an example of you. He may not think chasing you down is worth his time.”

  “What about you?” Weiner said viciously. “Do you think he won’t go after you?”

  “No, because I’m not going anywhere.” He grimaced. “I decided that it was time I stopped operating in a holding pattern where Zander was concerned.” He glanced at Joe. “I’m not sure if Quinn is as lethal as Zander, but I know he’s highly motivated, and that could make the difference. I’d advise you to give him the information before you make him angry.”

  “Step away from him, Stang,” Joe said impatiently. “I don’t have time for this. He has to talk now.”

  “Just trying to facilitate the matter.” Stang took a step back. “I’ve never liked violence. It makes me—” He broke off as his cell phone rang. He gave a low whistle as he glanced down at the ID. “Zander. Remarkable.” He turned and moved toward the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take this call. Feel free to carry on without me.”

  “The hell I will.” He gave Weiner a cold glance. “Don’t move from this room. You don’t want to annoy me.” He left the door open as he joined Stang outside. “I want to talk to Zander.”

  “No, he won’t want to talk to you. He’ll hang up. I’ll compromise and put the call on speaker.” He pressed the access. “Hello, Zander. This is unexpected. What can I do for you?”

  “You’re damn right it’s unexpected. I’m sending you coordinates where I am right now. I want you to contact Dr. Eland and bring him here. Pronto.”

  “Someone is hurt?”

  “Me. Compound wrist fracture. Nasty. I’ve been trying to set it myself, but I keep blacking out, dammit.”

  “Imagine that.”

  “You imagine. It’s very clear and real to me after spending seven and
a half hours climbing from that damn mine shaft.”

  “What?”

  “Long story. You have to come in from the north, not the south. Get a helicopter and land on the opposite side of the mountain with the stream running through it. Then trek overland to these coordinates. No flyovers in that copter. And stay away from the south, or you’ll blow everything.”

  “You keep saying you,” Stang said. “You want me to come, too?”

  Zander was silent. “Yes, I want you to come.”

  “Extraordinary.”

  “Just get Eland here within the next few hours. I have to get on the move. I don’t know how much time I have.”

  “Eve Duncan?”

  “I think she’s alive. I couldn’t find the body.” He hung up.

  “He thinks she’s alive?” Joe said. “Call him back.”

  “Not if you want to find him at the coordinates he gave me.” He pulled the door closed behind him. “Which you’re now not going to have to pull out of Weiner. Convenient timing for him.” He strode toward the car. “I’m sure he’s extremely grateful.”

  He followed Stang. “Give me your phone. I want those coordinates.”

  “You’ll get them when I give them to the pilot who takes us to Zander.”

  “I could take your phone from you.”

  “You could, but I’d fight. Since I’ve been wonderfully cooperative, I don’t believe you’d want to hurt me unless there was no other way to save your Eve.” He got into the driver’s seat. “And there’s a better way if Zander feels like cooperating. Evidently he’s at least interacting with her if he knows she’s not dead. He’s ahead of you in all this, and that might make a difference. You go into that area without knowing what’s happening, and you might start something rolling that proves fatal for Eve.”

  Joe was silent. Then he gave a low curse. “I don’t want you to be right, dammit.”

  “Because you want to be totally in control, and now you may have to depend a little on Zander.”

  “A very little.” He fell silent again, trying to see some other way that made sense. “He wanted you there in a couple hours. He must have thought it possible.”

  “Yes.” He glanced at Joe as he pulled away from the curb. “And it’s my job to make it possible. Three hours, and you may be near where Doane is keeping Eve. Think about that instead of having to work with Zander.”

  Three hours.

  Joe felt a sudden rush of excitement as he thought about that short time span. He was close. In three hours, she would be near after all this agony he’d gone through. What the hell was he thinking? Who knows what she had gone through, what she was still going through?

  “Let’s move,” he said crisply. “What about this Dr. Eland? Are you going to have any trouble rousting him out of his bed?”

  “No.” Stang reached for his phone. “Zander has an arrangement with him. He comes when called. I’ll call him and tell him to meet us at the airport. Then I’ll phone the pilot of Zander’s jet and tell him the same thing.”

  “And does he come when called, too?”

  “Of course, it would be dangerous for Zander to take a chance on someone who would fail him. He wouldn’t tolerate it.”

  “You’re failing him. You’re taking me with you. What will Zander do to you?”

  “I’m not failing him. I’m just entering into the picture instead of just staying on the sidelines.”

  “And you think that Zander will make that distinction?”

  “I have no idea.” He smiled. “But if he doesn’t, I’ll have you there to protect me.”

  “Don’t count on it.”

  “But I do count on it,” Stang said as he dialed the phone. “You’re one of the good guys who should know better but don’t. I knew it the minute I saw you in that library. That’s why I took a chance on doing what I wanted to do without its interfering with—” He broke off and spoke into the phone, “Stang, Dr. Eland. Sorry to wake you, but we have a possible situation that Zander needs…”

  Denver International Airport

  “YOU’D BETTER BE PREPARED for a big payback, Trevor,” Professor Hansen said sourly. “I can’t believe you talked me into schlepping out to the airport at midnight to see this sketch.”

  “I’m prepared,” Trevor said. “It’s worth it if you can identify the area.”

  Hansen held out his hand and took the sketch. He studied it for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s … familiar. But I can’t identify the area for certain.”

  “You’re sure?” Jane’s hands clenched into fists. She had been hoping against hope. “Perhaps somewhere in Mineral County?”

  Hansen frowned. “Maybe…” Then he shook his head again. “Wild country. It’s my kind of country. I think I would have remembered it if I’d ever seen it before.” His tone softened as he saw Jane’s expression. “Sorry. Look, I’ll go back to my lab and look through my photos in the computer. Maybe it will jog my memory.” He turned and shook Trevor’s hand. “I’ll remember that you owe me. Expect a call.” He turned and left.

  “Zero,” Caleb said. “You struck out, Trevor.”

  “And it could have been a home run,” Trevor said coolly. “We have to try every avenue. What have you done lately except fly that airplane?” He looked at Jane. “I could go check out a few more sources in the forestry department at the university, but Hansen is the best man I know.”

  “That doesn’t mean someone else might not have been in that particular place at some time. It’s a big country.”

  “It’s your call.”

  She thought about it. She was tired of searching through books and making calls on the off chance a dream might have some basis in reality. “Yes, send e-mails and make phone calls, but we’re not going to track anyone down for face-to-face interviews. I want to get out in those mountains and see for myself. Kendra actually sounded hopeful.” She added wearily, “God, I need hope.”

  “I think a little of that is beginning to stir,” Caleb’s gaze was fixed on her face. “I feel it.”

  She tried to look away from him. Dammit, she could feel her body’s response begin to heighten, heat, as it seemed to do whenever she was near him now. He had warned her, and it had come to pass.

  Get over it. Once she became accustomed to the reaction, then it would surely lessen, and she could ignore it. “Well, I don’t feel it.”

  “You will,” he said softly. “It’s buried deep, but it’s coming to the surface. It might be Kendra, or it might be instinct, or your Eve trying to reach you. Who knows? As I said, it’s there, I feel it.”

  And looking at him, she realized she was beginning to feel it, too. The tiny flowering of hope and a deeper excitement mixed with determination. Of course, Caleb’s effect on her always had hypnotic elements connected with it, but this was different. This came from within, and she welcomed it. She tore her gaze away from him and got to her feet. “Maybe you’re right. At any rate, we’re not going to get anywhere by sitting here.”

  Trevor nodded. “For once, I hope Caleb is right.” He smiled. “It pains me to say that, but I hate the worry and the pain. I want you over it. It hurts me.”

  Glowing, golden, magnetism. Nothing dark or burning or hypnotic about Trevor. She drew a deep breath as she looked at him. It was like being held in velvet, protected, knowing that he would keep all pain and sadness from her path. Why had she turned away from him and walked away?

  “I’ll go get the car,” Caleb said. “All this sentiment is making me a little nauseous.”

  “I can see how it would,” Jane said as she grabbed her bag. “Well, suck it up, Caleb. You’ll get over it.”

  “Will I?” His brows rose. “We’ll have to see.”

  “Not me. I could care less.” She moved toward the terminal exit. She was suddenly brimming with strength, determination, and the beginnings of excitement. For the first time since she had learned of Eve’s loss, Jane felt as if she was coming out of the darkness and heading toward her. Irrational? I
t didn’t matter. She’d take it and run with it.

  Caleb smiled faintly as he motioned toward the door. He said softly, “Told you so.”

  Pueblo, Colorado

  Fourth Street

  THIS SECTION OF THE CITY was filthy, Blick thought in disgust. Bums lying in alleys.

  Dealers peddling their dope on street corners.

  Whores in short skirts and four-inch heels strolling along, swinging their hips at the men in cars cruising slowly by.

  No class.

  Blick knew this type of slum well. When he’d joined the Army, before he had met Kevin, he had often frequented the pothouses and whorehouses of whatever city was near his base. It didn’t matter whether it was Detroit or Istanbul, they were all the same.

  But Kevin had changed all of that. He had shown Blick new ways of pleasure, new ways of power. He’d found himself unable to go back to the old ways. He had to follow the path Kevin had laid out for him. Not often since he’d lost Kevin. He had found himself too afraid to be as bold as Kevin had been.

  He could feel his eyes sting with tears. I don’t want to do this, Kevin. I know it’s not your way. But your father says it’s the only way that we can punish him.

  He swallowed hard. He had been angry with Doane since he’d received that phone call. Doane had been ordering him around and telling him that he was not doing anything right since it had begun. He was the one who had been making mistakes, and Blick had been forced to risk his neck and change his plans and jump when Doane told him to do it.

  It couldn’t last much longer. Blick wouldn’t let Doane give him orders. He only permitted Kevin to tell him what to do. Kevin was the master.

  But he would do this last task for Doane because it might be the only way to get vengeance for Kevin. If Doane blundered and failed to make his fine plans work, then Blick would go his own way. He would find Zander and kill him himself.

  After punishing Doane for failing Kevin.

  His glance wandered over the street, with its filth that Kevin had found so unworthy.

  Where to start …

  The guy with pink-streaked hair and piercings in his nose and lip who was leaning against the wall and talking to a thin, young kid whose intensity was obvious. Drugs. He was trying to score, and the guy with the piercings was a dealer.