Chasing the Night (27 page)

“What can we do to help, Luke?” Eve said. “She’s right, we don’t know how much time we have. Rakovac may be on the way. What do you need from us?”

Silence. “You’re…strangers,” Luke said. “I don’t really know who you are or where you came from. I don’t know you.”

“Then we’ll tell you anything you want to know.” Eve leaned back against the wall. “But it goes both ways. There are things we want to know about you, too. Will you answer questions?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s not fair, Luke,” Kelly said.

“Maybe,” he repeated. “Take it or leave it.”

Kelly settled back on her heels. “You’re going to learn that you can’t get away with that kind of—” She stopped. “Go ahead. Ask your questions.”

Luke hesitated, obviously thinking about it.

Let Kelly handle it, Eve thought. She was neither diplomatic nor particularly sympathetic. It was Catherine to whom she gave her sympathy and loyalty. But she was young and smart, and Eve could see that she was reaching Luke on his level.

“Well, what do you want to know?” Kelly demanded. “Anything.”

“Stop pushing me.” He thought again. “One thing. That word…What is…brainwashing?”

The first thing that Joe saw when he arrived at the farmhouse was the blood.

A huge smear of red on the stones in front of the doorstep.

Fresh blood.

Shit.

Eve.

He drew his gun, jumped out of the car, and moved to the left of the door that had been left a little ajar.

He kicked it open and dove into the room and to one side of the door.

No shots.

Darkness.

Silence.

His heart was beating hard, fast. God, he was scared.

“Eve.”

No answer from the darkness.

There was something liquid and sticky running against his wrist that was braced against the floor.

Blood?

Eve?

He had to know. He carefully reached up to the light switch on the wall beside the door. He hit it, then rolled sidewise behind the couch.

No shots.

The room was empty.

Except for the woman huddled beside the front door, covered in blood.

He was kneeling beside her in an instant.

Not Eve. Natalie.

And a few feet away, the body of Kelsov.

That didn’t mean that there weren’t more bodies in the bedrooms. Eve and Kelly Winters were still not accounted for.

He was on his feet and moving.

“Quinn,” Venable was behind him in the doorway. “Don’t go—”

He ignored him.

No bodies in either bedroom.

Nor in the bathroom.

“What the hell happened here?” Venable asked.

“How do I know?” Joe was looking around the room. “No sign of a struggle here. Natalie and Kelsov were killed outside and dragged into the house. Where’s your agent who was supposed to have been here?”

“He’s not answering his phone.” Venable paused. “We haven’t found him yet.”

Not a good sign.

Dammit, he should have been here. “I should never have left her alone.”

“She wasn’t alone. You thought she was safe.”

Wrong.

“She might be okay, Quinn.”

“And she might not.” Get a grip. Stop being negative. Think. He went back into the bedroom. Eve’s suitcase and belongings were still in the room.

Including her gun.

He didn’t recognize any of Kelly Winters’s belongings, but her duffel was still here.

Joe ran out to the barn.

No one there either.

Venable lifted his brows inquiringly as Joe came back into the living room.

“If they left here, it was in the clothes they were wearing. They took nothing with them.” His gaze raked the room. “Kelly didn’t even take her computer. It’s still there on the kitchen table.”

“Then maybe we’d better go and talk to the neighbors and see if they’ve seen anyone—”

The computer.

He strode over to the table and opened the program Kelly had been working on. Rakovac’s surveillance report. Catherine’s phone calls from Rakovac.

Patterns.

Dates. Names. Notations. Nothing that he could figure out.

A yellow note pad was beneath the computer.

Kelly’s scribbling all over the top sheet. A graph with Catherine’s name on the top of each peak and below it another name.

Czadas.

He tensed. “Holy shit.”

Venable was at his side. “You found something?”

“Yes, and I think Kelly found something.” His index finger ran over the graph, outlining the peaks. “Dates. Catherine’s name. Other names. Then city names.” He punched his finger down. “Then this at the end of the graph.”

Czadas. Yes!

Joe tore off the sheet of paper and thrust it at Venable.

“Czadas. What do you know about him?”

Venable’s brow furrowed as he tried to remember. “Georgian revolutionary. Been on the scene for years. Takes every opportunity to strike out at the Ossetians and Russia. Nasty character, but not important enough to deserve special attention.”

“He might have been important enough to deserve Catherine’s attention. See how fast you can find out more about him. Where does he live?”

“I don’t remember.”

Joe remembered the name scribbled on top of the graph. “Sergriev?”

“Maybe.”

“Find out.” He headed for the door. “Get us a helicopter. I want to be there in a hurry.”

“You think Eve was taken there?”

“I hope she was,” Joe said. “It’s the only logical answer. I’d like to think that she went there on her own, but that would be too good to be true. Kelly thought she’d found out where Luke was being kept. Rakovac threatened Eve several times on the calls to Catherine. If he was going to put an end to his cat-and-mouse game, then he might want to include Eve on his agenda.” It was all supposition, but it was all he had, and the alternative was making him panic.

He got into the car. “Just find out where Czadas lives.” He had a sudden memory of the photo of Luke in Rakovac’s study. “And if the place is on a lake.”

St. Basil’s Cathedral was just ahead.

Catherine’s hands tightened on the wheel of the rental car as she saw the splendid onion-shaped towers of the cathedral come into view.

Rakovac could be there. If not, then one of his men who would take her to him. Take her to Luke.

After all the years of torture and waiting, it was going to happen.

Was she ready? There was no doubt that she would be searched thoroughly. Would they find it?

Stop having second thoughts. She had made both her decision and her plans over a year ago. If it didn’t work, if Luke died, then she’d have to make another decision, and that would be easier.

She drew close to the curb a half block from the cathedral.

Get out. Let them see you.

She stood by the car for only a few minutes before she got the call.

“Right on time,” Rakovac said.

“Where are you?”

“Not anywhere near you. Get back in your car. In a few minutes a black Volkswagen will come around the corner driven by a black man wearing a blue muffler. Follow him. As soon as we determine that you’re not being followed, he’ll bring you to me.”

“I’m not being followed. I wouldn’t take that chance.”

“I hope that’s true, because the situation has changed. You have much more to lose now.” He hung up.

She was frowning as she got back into the car. How could she have more to lose than her son? Bluff? She didn’t know, but her tension was increasing by the second as the Volkswagen came around the corner.

Twenty minutes later Rakovac called once again. “Very good. You haven’t wasted our time. That would have been regrettable.”

“I’ve been driving in and out of every street in this city. When are you going to surface?”

“You sound a bit upset. Nerves, Catherine?”

“Where are you?”

“You’re being led to me right now. I’ve decided that you should leave your car and let me take you to Luke.”

“No, I told you that I wouldn’t do that. I’ll follow you.”

“Your desperate bid to have a little control of your destiny? I don’t want you to have any control, Catherine. I want you totally subservient to my every whim.”

“Screw you.”

“You have no choice. I’m tired of being indulgent with you.” His voice hardened. “I’m sending you a photo that may interest you. I’ll call you back after you have time to access it.”

Luke? She had a chilling memory of the last photo of the skeleton he had sent to her. Had he done something to Luke?

She accessed the photo.

“Shit!”

Kelly and Eve, hands tied, standing in front of a huge oak door.

“No!”

It couldn’t be worse.

Calm down. Yes, it could. Rakovac had taken them prisoner, not killed them.

Yet.

Her phone rang.

“Why?” she asked Rakovac when she picked up. “They have nothing to do with what’s between us.”

“They annoyed me. I told you that anyone who helped you wouldn’t be safe,” Rakovac said. “And I knew Eve Duncan would want to compare her likeness of Luke to the real thing. Wasn’t it kind of me to give her the opportunity?”

“Let them go.”

“Too late. But you can stretch out their lives for a little while longer if you do as I say. I’m parked on the edge of the road about two miles from where you are. You’ll stop, abandon your car, and get in the passenger seat of mine. If you show any resistance, I’ll give the order to kill one of your friends. The young girl, I think. She’s of lesser importance. If you continue, Eve Duncan will take her turn. Isn’t it better to relinquish control to me and let them have a few more precious hours of life?”

“Bastard.”

“One minute, Catherine. Then I’ll hang up and give the order to kill the girl.”

He would do it. Nothing would please him more than to put her through that hell.

She would have to give in. The slim chance she’d had of getting Luke and her out of this situation alive had just become even slimmer. The fragile scenario she’d concocted was becoming dangerously complicated.

Dangerous? No matter which way she turned, it could be lethal. This was just one more obstacle to overcome.

“Catherine.”

“You win,” she said through set teeth. “Don’t hurt them.”

“I’ll always win. You had one victory, and the rest of the prizes were mine. I’ll be standing beside my car waiting for you. You do remember what I look like?”

Satan.

“How could I forget?” She could see the car on the side of the road.

Rakovac was standing by the passenger door. His thick black hair was blowing in the breeze, and the expression on his heavy, flushed face was eager, hungry.

Well, she was hungry, too.

She pulled over behind his car and got out of the driver’s seat.

“Beautiful,” he murmured. “I’d forgotten how exquisite you are, Catherine. I had a photo of you back in my office, but the reality far surpasses it.” He held out his hand. “Come here, I want to touch you. Do you know how often I’ve thought about you in all kinds of positions and ways?”

She was standing next to him now. “I imagine the most frequent was of me dead.”

“That was one of my favorites.” His fingers delicately brushed her forearm. “But there were others…more sexual.”

She forced herself to stand stiff and unmoving beneath his touch. She felt sick. She wanted to reach out and strangle him, break his bones, spit in his face.

Not the time. Take it. Endure.

“You hate this, don’t you?” he said softly. “And I’m not even hurting you yet. Do you know how exciting I find it to hurt a woman with sex? It’s male domination brought to the highest peak. With you, it will be the ultimate pleasure.”

“Take me to see my son.”

“Oh, I will. That will all be a part of it.” He stepped back and opened the passenger door for her. “Step into my world, Catherine. I guarantee it’s going to be an experience you never forget.”

His hand was still on her elbow as she bent to get into the car. “Let me go.”

“I will. Just one more thing…”

Then she saw the tiny hypodermic needle emerge from the palm of his hand on her arm and plunge deep.

“No!”

Swirling heat.

Darkness.

Chapter
17

Venable received the information Joe had asked him to request about Czadas twenty minutes after they’d left the farmhouse.

“I’ve got it.” Venable had to shout to compete against the noise of the helicopter rotors as they strode across the tarmac toward the aircraft. He shoved his phone into his pocket. “Mikhal Czadas. Still active in the resistance movement, but more discreetly these days. He purchased the family home of a rich businessman, Nikolai Savrin, some years ago. It’s out in the middle of the back of beyond, which must be convenient for his less-than-legal activities. Some question of how he came by the funds to buy it.”

“How many years ago?”

“Nine.”

“Curious coincidence. What do you want to bet that those funds came from Rakovac to ensure that Luke was kept in the most out-of-the-way place possible.” He boarded the helicopter. “What else?”

“Not much,” Venable said grimly. “Except there are rumors that Czadas has an illegitimate son who he took on several raids over the last few years. The boy was very quiet. Czadas didn’t allow him to talk to strangers.”

“And everyone was a stranger.”

“Exactly.” Venable buckled his seat belt. “It’s shaping up to be an interesting evening. They transmitted a photo of Savrin House. It’s located on a lake. I’ll show you the photo after we get in the air. According to the last report we have, Czadas has a few men patrolling the area, but very few at the house itself. He’s reputedly too full of bravado and a king-size ego to believe anyone can invade his space successfully.”

“We’ll have to see if he’s right. How do we get to the house after we land?”

“I’ll have a car and men waiting at the closest airport to Savrin House, which is in the town of Sergriev. We’ll go there and see what we can find out.” He added somberly, “And damn carefully.”

He was a strange boy, Eve thought as she studied Luke’s intent face while he listened to Kelly. He had fired questions at her for the last twenty minutes, some of them random, some of them searingly personal. All the while the flitting expressions on his face had been a mixture of curiosity, distrust, and a kind of insatiable thirst. There were so many things he didn’t know about people and the world around him. How could he, kept in this remote house and only allowed limited access to the outside world?

Yet melded with that strangely spotty ignorance was an overlay of wariness and cynicism that could have belonged to a man in his thirties. It was evident Luke had never had a childhood. He’d mentioned being cared for by a village woman as a tiny child but had been immediately turned over to Czadas when he’d left babyhood. She wanted to feel sorry for him, but it would be like pitying a wild animal. He was so much on the defensive that she doubted he would ever allow anyone close enough to pity him.

Or to love him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Luke’s gaze had suddenly narrowed on her face. Those intense dark eyes were probing, weighing, judging. “What are you thinking?”

“I was thinking that Catherine is going to have a very hard time with you.”

He shrugged. “I don’t care about her. She’s not here. You’re the ones I have to worry about.”

She suddenly realized something about him. “You live totally in the present, don’t you?”

He stared at her in bewilderment. “What else is there?”

No, his past, except for a dim memory of his mother, was a nightmare fight for survival, his future, uncertain and lacking in hope.

“A great deal.” But this was not the time to try to explain that to him. She had listened intently to the exchange between Luke and Kelly. Kelly had not only answered questions; she had asked them. Luke had not replied to all of them, but Eve had heard enough to start to piece together the enigma that was Catherine’s son.

The violence, the beatings, the cruelty that extended far beyond the physical.

The loneliness.

Even when Czadas had taken him out into the world, he had not permitted him to socialize with anyone. It was a wonder he had not withdrawn entirely within himself.

But then there had been the library of books. They had probably been his salvation. Feeding that quick, agile mind and giving him refuge.

“You’re looking at me again. I don’t like it.” He was frowning. “Is it because you’ve got that funny kind of job Kelly was talking about?”

“You think she’s seeing you as a skeleton?” Kelly scoffed. “Don’t be dumb. Eve wouldn’t waste her time on you.”

“According to what you said, she’s already wasted a lot of time on me,” Luke said. “So I’m not the one who’s dumb.”

“I was wondering if you think you knew enough about us by now,” Eve interceded quickly. These two young people, who were ordinarily mature far beyond their years, were striking sparks off each other and reacting in a way that was out of character. Hell, maybe that was healthy. It was just getting in the way right now. She glanced at the stream of light that was now pale and fading. “The sun is going down. Czadas said Rakovac was coming tonight. He didn’t say what time.”

Luke gazed at her without speaking.

“Do something,” Kelly said. “We’re both here because of you. Now get us out of here.” She paused. “If you can do it. I don’t know whether to believe you or not. Maybe you’re just full of bull.”

He gazed at her without expression. “You’re trying to make me show you that I can do it.”

“Yes.”

“It wouldn’t be smart of me to do what you want just to prove I can.”

Kelly threw up her hands. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, then just do whatever you want.”

“I will.” Luke suddenly rose to his feet. “But not because I want to help you. I just won’t let them kill me.” He was moving toward the chest across the room. “But I guess you can come along.”

“Thank you,” Eve said dryly. “Kelly was only guessing that you might know a way out of here. Is it—”

“It wasn’t a guess,” Kelly corrected. “It was a natural progression of his pattern.”

Eve ignored her. “You said you could do it, Luke. You led Natalie out of the house. But I can’t imagine that route wouldn’t have been sealed after they discovered how she had gotten out.”

“They didn’t ‘discover,’ she told them. She told them everything.” He nodded. “And they put double locks on that door.”

And Luke had been brutally punished because she had told them he had been involved. It was no wonder he didn’t trust strangers.

“Chateau d’If.” He opened the lid and fumbled at the bottom of the chest. He drew out a wooden panel that had obviously been the floor of the chest.

“Chateau d’If?” Kelly repeated, bewildered.

He glanced at her impatiently. “
The Count of Monte Cristo
. Only he had it harder. These floors are wood, not stone. And I was able to cut them with the metal leg of that chair at the table over there. I bent the leg once, but Mikhal didn’t notice. No one thought I’d try to get away when I didn’t go with that Natalie woman.”

”
Count of Monte Cristo.
” Then Kelly’s frown cleared. “A book. Alexandre Dumas.”

Kelly was of the generation of Harry Potter, and it wasn’t surprising she hadn’t made an instant connection, Eve thought. “Chateau d’If was a prison, and the hero took years to dig his way out to freedom, Kelly.”

“Is that where you got the idea, Luke?” Kelly asked.

“It worked for him,” Luke said as he climbed into the chest. “Or it would have if the other prisoner hadn’t died, and he found a better—” He broke off. “I’ll go first. This floor is above the basement. It’s a ten-foot drop. Hold on by your arms, then jump. It’s a dirt basement, and there’s a high window that leads outside. I’ve piled lots of boxes so that I could get up and down without anyone hearing me.”

“Where does the window lead?” Eve asked.

“A stretch of grass at the back of the house that leads down to the lake. Mikhal keeps a rowboat three miles down the bank.”

“Guards?”

“They aren’t usually at the back. There’s one at the front and another at the side by the garage. One of them usually goes down to the bank and patrols the lakefront once or twice a night.”

“You’ve evidently studied the situation,” Eve said. “Just like the Count of Monte Cristo.”

“But he managed to gather lots of money together,” Luke said. “I didn’t do so good.” He was gazing at Eve critically. “Kelly will fit. But you’re kind of big. Oh, you’re skinny enough, but I’m not sure you’ll fit through this hole.”

“Then make it bigger,” Kelly said curtly.

“You go on.” Luke got out of the chest. “And don’t knock over the boxes.”

“I’ll wait for Eve.”

“Stop arguing, Kelly,” Eve said quietly. “Get out of here. I’ll be right behind you.”

Kelly hesitated, then stepped into the chest and levered herself through the hole. The next instant, Eve heard a soft thud as Kelly hit the dirt floor of the basement.

“You go on, too, Luke,” Eve said. “There’s not much time. I’ll find a way to make that opening big enough for me.”

He was gazing at her with a strange expression on his face. “You’re not afraid, are you? If you stay here, you could die.”

“No, I’m not afraid.”

“I am. I’m afraid of dying.”

“Then you’d better hurry and get out of here.”

He slowly turned toward the chest. Then suddenly he whirled. He was across the room and turning over the chair. In a minute he had pried the leg off the chair and ran back across the room.

“Luke.”

“Shut up.” He was prying up the boards around the hole in the floor until there was a wide jagged opening. He threw the metal leg aside. “Go on. Hurry.”

Eve nodded. “Right.” A moment later, she was hanging by her hands, then dropping to the basement floor.

“Where is he?” Kelly whispered.

“Following. It seems Luke has the instincts of a gentleman. Odd, isn’t it?” Odd and encouraging. For a moment she had thought the boy would leave her to her own devices. Considering his background, she couldn’t have expected anything else.

Luke dropped down beside them. “Come on. The window.”

He was climbing on a box and gently prying the window open, then he was hoisting himself up and wriggling through the opening.

Eve followed Kelly as she went after the boy.

It was dark now, and Eve hadn’t been able to see what lay beyond the glass. Not that she would have been able to anyway. As she climbed through the window, she found the outside of the glass was smeared with mud so that no one could look into the basement.

Luke’s work?

Probably. She was finding the boy amazingly inventive and detail-oriented.

Like Catherine.

What was happening to Catherine now?

Pain!

“Wake up!”

Catherine’s head jerked sidewise as another slap rocked her.

“Come on. You pretend to be so strong. A little sedative shouldn’t have put you under for this long.”

Rakovac…

Another slap.

She opened her eyes. Rakovac’s face loomed above her. He was smiling.

Bastard.

“She’s appears to be a little fuzzy, Czadas.” Rakovac was talking to a man standing beside him. A big man, muscular, bearded…

She was lying on a couch in a spacious room with high ceilings. “Where am I?”

“Now that’s a trite question. Can’t you be original?” He slapped her again. “I’m becoming bored. It’s time to move things forward.” He gave a sly glance at Czadas. “Though the search wasn’t boring, was it, Czadas? I told you that she was a fine piece of flesh.”

“You were right,” Czadas grinned. “Thank you for sharing.”

Search?

She became suddenly aware that both her blouse and black slacks were unbuttoned, and her bra was lying on the floor beside the couch. Her gaze flew to Rakovac’s face.

“You might be a bit sore,” he said. “Our search was very thorough.” He smiled. “But with such a competent and lethal CIA agent, we had to make sure that you had no weapons to trouble us.”

She was already feeling sore, tender. Don’t feel dirty. Don’t think of their hands on her, in her. It would be a victory for them if she let it bother her. She was just glad she hadn’t been awake through it. Rakovac had made a mistake giving her too much of the sedative. He would have been much happier seeing how she hated going through that search.

“Besides your gun, we found this.” Rakovac picked up a dagger from the end table. “Pretty little toy. It was in a holster in your bra underneath your armpit. Were you going to sting me with it, Catherine?”

“I was considering it.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, I imagine you were.”

“Where am I?” she asked again.

“Savrin House,” Czadas said. “Isn’t it a fine place? Rakovac made a present of it for doing him a special favor. I thought it was a great bargain.” He chuckled. “Though that favor ended up lasting nine years. So who got the best of it?”

“You had no problem with taking care of the boy,” Rakovac said.

“Not in the beginning. He was very docile and eager to please. But then he changed. I haven’t had it entirely easy during these past years.” He paused. “You should keep that in mind. You owe me.”

“I paid you,” Rakovac said. “And you took care of those changes with a whip.”

“Only because that was your wish.” He looked at Catherine. “I would have been a wonderful father to the boy if Rakovac hadn’t urged me in another direction. I have a tender soul.”

“You…hurt him.”

“Of course he did,” Rakovac said. “And enjoyed every minute of it. I told you that Luke was not having an easy time of it.” He added softly, “And every time the whip fell, I showed him your photo and told him that all his pain came from you.”

“It did come from me. I should have found a way to kill you before you took him from me.”

“Oh, you must tell him that. It will be confirmation of all my teachings.” He smiled. “And when I kill him, I’ll tell him the same thing. Only I won’t have to show him a photo. I can have him look at the real thing as I pull the trigger.”

Panic was tearing at her. Don’t let him see it. She had to keep a clear head and work out a scenario that would save as many as possible. “Where are Kelly and Eve? Are they still alive?”