But that Detective Hastings she had talked to before Caleb had arrived was now at the edge of the road and looked as if he was going take advantage of the opportunity to follow MacDuff and Jock.
No!
She ran forward to meet them. “Welcome back, MacDuff.” She stared with deliberate meaning up at Detective Hastings. “You’re looking well, but I know you need your rest. But that’s okay, no one would think of bothering you now. Let’s get you to your tent and settled.”
The detective froze, then nodded resignedly. He turned and strode away.
“Hello, Jane.” MacDuff was smiling at her. “Are you, by any chance, trying to protect me?”
“No, I’m trying to protect Jock.” She nodded to Jock. “I don’t think he’s in any mood to be patient if anyone tries to get in your way before he has you safely tucked into your tent.”
“You’re right,” Jock said. “So let’s get MacDuff settled. Has Eve heard anything from Quinn?”
“Not yet.”
Jock muttered a curse.
“Not what he wanted to hear,” MacDuff said. “Not what I wanted to hear, either.”
“I’m certain we’ll hear soon,” Jane said. She hoped she was right. Surely Joe should have heard something by now. “Let’s get you to somewhere you can be comfortable.”
“The two of you will not behave as if I were an invalid. I have no intention of being cosseted,” MacDuff said sourly. “I have a couple broken bones in my arm, and I feel as if I’ve been run through a concrete mixer. But I can function, and I won’t allow you to humiliate me by treating me as if I can’t.”
“Suit yourself.” Jane looked at Jock. “But I’m not letting you go until MacDuff is in his tent and settled.”
“You think you can stop me?” he asked softly.
“I think MacDuff will stop you. He’s pale. He walked down that slope as if he was balancing on eggshells. You know what’s best for him. Do it.”
He met her eyes, slowly nodded, and turned to MacDuff. “Aye, you’re not at your best, MacDuff. I think we’ll give it another day before you take over and start running things.” He gestured toward the tents. “Let’s go and get a drink and let Jane have her way.”
MacDuff opened his lips to speak, then closed them again. “I could use a whiskey.” He started toward his tent. “And Jane usually has her way. It has to be those Cira genes.”
“Whatever,” Jane said as she headed for the campfire. “I’ll go get you a bowl of soup and some tea. And, if the medication they gave you at the hospital can’t be mixed with alcohol, forget about that drink.”
CHAPTER
4
MacDuff had finished his soup and his whiskey when Eve hurried into the tent. Her hair was rumpled and her shirt wrinkled. “There you are, Jane. I was looking for you.” She glanced at MacDuff and Jock. “Good to see you back, MacDuff.” She turned back to Jane. “I woke up, and I couldn’t find my phone. Do you have it?”
“Oh, shit.” Jane reached for her phone. “No, I don’t.” She dialed a number and said through her teeth. “Caleb, I’m at MacDuff’s tent. So is Eve. Get over here.”
“What’s happening?” Eve ran a hand through her hair. “Caleb?”
“Yes, Caleb.” Jane whirled on Caleb as he came into the tent. “Did you go into Eve’s tent and take her phone?”
“Of course.” He pulled her phone out of his pocket. “You said she needed to sleep.” He handed the phone to Eve. “You were even wondering if you should monitor it yourself.”
“And you told me she’d be pissed off. Not that I would have done it anyway.”
“I know. You’re too honorable, and you wouldn’t want to upset someone you love.” He turned to Eve. “I was right? You are pissed off?”
“I’m furious,” Eve said curtly. “Invasion of privacy. Not to mention that Joe might have needed to get in touch with me.”
Caleb glanced at Jane. “Then I gave you excellent advice, didn’t I?”
“And then immediately went out and did it yourself.”
“You were worried. You said Eve needed sleep. You wanted it done. I had nothing to lose. No one expects me to be honorable.” He turned to Eve. “And I would have bitten the bullet and gone back to wake you if Joe had called. I knew it was important.”
“He didn’t call?” Jock asked.
Caleb shook his head. “But he’s sent two texts in the last hour with updates. He said he’d call you if he knew something.”
“You read the texts?”
“I had to make certain that there wasn’t anything in them that you should know about.” He glanced at MacDuff. “Could I have a whiskey, MacDuff? Or do you think they’d take that as a reward for bad behavior?”
“I believe that’s a good call,” MacDuff said dryly.
Caleb turned to Jane. “Eve had an extra hour’s sleep, and I interfered with nothing that she won’t hear from Quinn when he knows himself. I believe I’m golden.”
“I believe you’re impossible.” She turned to Eve. “If I had anything to do with this, I apologize.”
“You didn’t.” Eve was still glowering as she went through her texts, then shook her head when she finished. “And he’s right. Joe just wanted me to know that Burbank had received a message from his contact at the airport but nothing definitive. The second was that the plane had landed but no one had deboarded yet.”
“And you would have been in agony waiting for word,” Caleb said. “I saved you that.”
“Just as I am now,” Eve said. “And I have a right to decide whether I want to accept that or not. It’s my life, Caleb. If you ever do anything like this again, I will—” Her phone rang, and she jumped to access it. “Joe?”
“Yes, Burbank got through to his contact, Dima Palik.”
Jock stepped forward. “I have to know, Eve. Put it on speaker.”
Eve put it on speaker. “Cara. Did he actually see Cara? Was Cara with Natalie?”
“Yes, thank God.”
Eve went limp with relief. “Of course, she was. We knew that Natalie wanted to use her.” But she had still been terrified that Natalie could have changed her mind or had just been teasing Eve, raising her hopes only to dash them. The only certainty about Natalie was that there was no certainty. “Why did it take so long for Burbank’s contact to verify that she had Cara?”
“Evidently Palik is the slow, careful type. Palik is one of the most knowledgeable freelance informants in Moscow. He doesn’t only work for Burbank, but he does regard him as a valuable asset. He wanted to be sure he was earning his money. So he not only observed, he took pictures. And when Kaskov sent a car for Natalie and Cara, he followed it and took photos of the meeting with Kaskov. I’m sending them to you.” He paused. “It doesn’t look too bad, Eve. Judge for yourself. She may be okay until we can get her out of there.”
“I hope you’re right,” she said unsteadily. If Joe said it didn’t look bad, then Cara was probably safe enough right now. “I guess we should be grateful that Natalie didn’t drop her out over the Alps or something. A part of me was thinking that just might happen.”
“I know. But now we know she’s alive, and we have a location. Palik is investigating to try to find out whatever else he can.”
“He’d better do it quickly. Natalie is impatient. She’s not going to wait long before she decides to contact me. And right now, we have nothing with which to bargain.”
“Kaskov,” Jock said. “If she’s with Kaskov, I have to know about him. What have you found out, Quinn?”
“Smart enough to stay on top of the Mafia hierarchy all these years. Wields a hell of a lot of power in Moscow politics through bribery and intimidation. He has strict rules for all his men, and it’s a death sentence if he’s not obeyed. He’s principally into drugs and contract killing. Evidently, he likes to pretend he’s no hood but a patron of the arts because he has season tickets and gives contributions to both the Bolshoi and Moscow Music Conservatory. No women in residence. He keeps a mi
stress, who’s a singer in the opera, in an apartment in downtown Moscow. Evidently, Natalie is the only person for whom he has any affection. That’s all I know right now.”
“That’s enough to start. I’ll find out the rest myself. Thanks.”
“It’s enough to cause me to shudder.” Eve changed the subject. “When can I see you, Joe? Are you coming here, or should I come to you? Toller may be lurking around here.”
“I’ll take care of that,” MacDuff said. “This area is officially closed while we undertake the exploration of the north bank. No one permitted in without my consent. Your Toller can spin his wheels at the nearest village.”
“Then I’ll come there,” Joe said. “Are you okay, Eve?”
“Fine. Well, maybe not fine. But better than before I heard about Cara. I’ll be glad to see you. Hurry.” She hung up. He was on his way. She was going to see him, touch him.
Her phone pinged as the photos began to arrive.
“May I?” Jock took the phone and began to flip rapidly through them. She could see the lines of tension gradually leave his face as he looked at Cara. Then he handed Eve’s phone back to her. “They’re playing a game with her. At least, Natalie is doing that. I don’t know about Kaskov. Maybe not. I’ll have to see.”
Eve was looking at the photos. Natalie’s beautiful, smiling face. Kaskov was smiling, too, but his expression was intent. Cara was the only one not smiling. “What game?” she whispered.
“Whatever it is, Cara’s not in the mix.” He took the phone and enlarged Cara’s face and figure in the photo. “Look at her. The tension in her shoulders, the wariness in her expression.”
“Fear?”
“Maybe a little, mostly confusion and watchfulness.”
“Watchfulness.” She moistened her lips. “I have to admit I’m relieved. I hope you’re right. Natalie is very plausible. I was afraid that she’d spin Cara a story, and she’d believe it.”
“No, that didn’t happen.” His lips tightened grimly as he enlarged Cara’s face in the photo. “When they put her on that helicopter, was her face bruised or damaged in any way?”
“No.”
“Well, it was when she arrived at Kaskov’s mansion.” He pointed to the bruise on Cara’s cheek. “Someone hurt her. She had reason to be watchful and not cause a problem for Natalie.”
“Then she’s not as safe as Joe hoped.” Eve shook her head. “Damn.”
“She will be safe.” Jock turned toward the door. “I’ll be in touch, Eve. But you’d better do something fast. I’m not going to let that happen to her again.”
The next moment, he was gone.
“Moscow?” Caleb murmured.
“Moscow,” Eve said, looking down at the photo of Cara. She looked fragile and vulnerable but there was also that wariness that Jock had seen. Eve had been so happy to see her alive that that was all that she had noticed. But now she could see the quiet alertness, the slight tightness about her lips. The girl was being hunted again, and she knew it. And if she knew it, then her mother hadn’t been able to fool her or use her … yet.
No, she had to believe that Cara would be smart enough to keep Natalie from doing anything to hurt her now that she knew what kind of woman she was.
“Eve?” Jane was standing next to her.
“I’m okay. She’ll be okay, too. She’s been hunted all her life. She’ll do what she has to do and come through fine.”
She looked down at the bruise on Cara’s cheek again. Such a delicate cheek. Such a brutal bruise.
God help her, she was almost glad Jock was on his way to Moscow.
* * *
“Move over.” Joe was kneeling beside her in the darkness of the tent. “Thank God you don’t have a sleeping bag. I need to hold you.”
“Me, too.” She turned over and slid into his arms. He was naked, and she ran her hands caressingly over his shoulders. “And thank MacDuff. He has all the latest equipment, but he said that sleeping bags can be smothering if you don’t need them. He likes bedrolls. Besides, we have the tents.”
“I’m beginning to appreciate MacDuff more every minute.” He buried his face in her hair. “It’s been too long.”
It seemed that way to her, too. She hadn’t been able to hold him like this since she’d been forced to go into hiding with Cara. She knew it had been necessary for Cara’s safety for them to have that ocean separating them, but it had seemed as if she’d left a part of herself behind. This part, the important part.
Warmth, strength, love. She cuddled closer. “You should tell him that you approve his choice. I think he’s feeling the lack of control right now.”
“Hell, he almost got blown up a few days ago.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She kissed his throat. “He’s got this male thing about running the world. Sound familiar?”
“And you don’t?”
“Just my corner of it. And right now I’d just as soon devote my attention to that corner.”
He was silent at moment. “I can’t send you home. It wouldn’t be safe. We can’t tell what Natalie is going to do or how you’ll figure in it. I need to keep you close.”
“For heaven’s sake, I wasn’t suggesting that I opt out. I know that’s not possible until we get Cara back. That comment just came out of the blue. Maybe my nesting instinct is raising its head again.” She got up on one elbow and looked down at him. “What do you think? Can’t you see me wearing a cutesy apron and cleaning and learning to cook?”
He chuckled. “Heaven help us. It would blow my mind. But I’m not worried. Once you get back to the cottage, I won’t be able to tear you away from your reconstructions.”
She knew that was true. “Yet there will have to be checks and balances. Lately, that’s been brought to my attention.”
He stiffened. “Why? Are you okay?
“I’d tell you if I wasn’t. I have to take care of this baby.” She kissed his shoulder. “Or the baby will take care of me. Or something…”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’ve just been feeling really close to the baby. I know it’s too early to actually feel … but it’s as if the baby wants me to know that…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what it wants me to know. But I think I’m going to find out. Am I making any sense?”
“Here and there,” he said thickly. “But it’s all good.”
“I think you’re being patronizing to me.”
“No way. I wouldn’t dare. The two of you might gang up on me. Anything else to share?”
“Just that I’ve changed my mind about not wanting to know if the baby is a girl or boy. Remember I told you that I didn’t want to know?”
“Yes, why the change of heart?”
“The baby is so real to me now. It’s … magic. It’s almost as if I can read its thoughts. But I have to know more, I have to know everything.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while. It’s a little early for the usual tests, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but that’s okay. I just wanted to tell you that I wanted to know. I didn’t want to catch you by surprise.”
“You’re confusing me, Eve.”
“I think that because I want to know, I will know soon, Joe. I think the baby will want me to have what I want in this.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then smiled. “Why not? I want to give you everything you want. It must run in the family.” He kissed her gently. “You will tell me if the baby comes through for you?”
“Now that did sound definitely patronizing. Not that I blame you. You’d have to be in my place to understand it.”
“That would be very unusual and disorienting. I’ll just stand by and let you work it out.”
“I’m doing that. But it helps that you’re with me now and trying to take care of our child.” She paused. “Just as we have to take care of Cara. Jock left for Moscow right after you called, Joe.”
“I thought he would. That doesn’t have to be bad.”
“I know
. He saw things in those pictures of Cara that I didn’t see. Did you notice that bruise on her cheek?”
“No.”
“Neither did I. He’s so closely attuned to her that it constantly surprises me. They almost read each other’s minds. That could be a good thing if he has to try to get her out.”
“And he didn’t blow up when he saw that bruise?”
“He just said it couldn’t happen again.” She went back into his arms. “And it can’t, Joe,” she whispered. “She’s been through so much…”
“Shh.” He was holding her tighter. “Let it go. Tomorrow we’ll know more about where she is and how to get to her. Tonight she’ll be fine. Just let me hold you and take it all away.”
Take away all the pain and worry and sorrow. Give her love and safety and a pleasure that was always so intense that it took her breath away. That’s what Joe had done for her all their years together. How lucky she was that she had found him. How lucky she was that she had never lost him. She pulled his head down and kissed him long and slow. “I love you, Joe Quinn.” She pulled off her nightshirt and came on top of him. Her breasts were readying the instant they touched the hard muscles of his chest. “And I think tonight I have to give back a little to you.” Her legs tightened on his hips. “Or maybe not so little…”
KASKOV ESTATE
MOSCOW
“Now don’t be pushy with your grandfather,” Natalie said as she walked with Cara down the driveway toward the mansion from the gatehouse. “Just play fifteen minutes or so for him, then I’ll send you back to the gatehouse. I don’t want him to become bored with you.”
Cara didn’t answer.
“But perhaps he won’t want you to play that long. He doesn’t appreciate amateurs. You sounded conceited when you told him that you were good. He might be disappointed.”
“I didn’t mean to be conceited. I just answered his question.” She looked straight ahead. “I can’t really tell what’s bad or good when I’m playing. It’s just … the music. But that’s what people have told me.”
“Have they? How interesting.” She opened the front door. “But we’ve already discussed how many people lie.” Her face lit with glowing affection as she saw Kaskov coming across the foyer. “Here we are, Daddy.” She moved toward him and kissed his cheek. “I went to get Cara so that we could talk. I know the gatehouse is safer, but I was already missing her.” She pushed Cara forward. “Tell your grandfather how much you like the gatehouse. She said that the mansion overwhelms her a little.”
Night and Day Page 7
