Silencing Eve (35 page)

“And you went to work for him.”

“I thought the chances were good that he’d killed Abu Karr, and I had to keep my promise. I figured that I might be able to find some more concrete evidence if I worked for him. So I changed my name and applied for the job of his accountant.”

“And did you find any other evidence?”

“No.” He made a face. “As Venable must have told you, Zander doesn’t confide in anyone, and he certainly wouldn’t leave records around concerning his ‘business.’”

“You fooled him all these years?”

He shook his head. “I think he found out soon after he hired me, but he never mentioned it. I’m sure that he knew that the CIA had spread rumors of a report about his possible involvement in the terrorist uprising. I believe the situation intrigued him.”

“I can see how it might,” Catherine said. “Twisted bastard that he is.” She smiled without mirth. “I told him that I was his bodyguard. There’s a certain black humor about the fact that you’ve been acting in that capacity all these years.”

“I wouldn’t have presumed to tell him that’s why I stayed. You have more courage than I do.” He paused. “You wanted to find out if you could use me in any way to manipulate Zander. You can see that the answer has to be not if it endangers Zander in any way.”

“Is that why you told me about your brother?”

“Yes, along with the fact that you’re desperate and in pain and I admire you. I didn’t want you to waste your time.” He held up his hand as she opened her lips to speak. “But that doesn’t mean that I won’t help you find Eve and Zander if we can find a way that is mutually acceptable.”

“Why?”

“Because I want Eve Duncan to live. And because Zander wants me to help you. He didn’t phone me just to send me to make sure you were all right after he took you down. He’s an expert. He’d know exactly what he did to you and how long you’d be out.”

She nodded slowly. “That’s true. And how does he think you can help us?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea. I believe Zander may be a little desperate himself at this point. It’s strange that I should think that … I’ll do what I can. I’m not totally—” He stopped at a knock on the door. “That’s probably Quinn and Gallo. I’ll go let them in.”

She jumped to her feet. “No, I’ll do it.” She ran across the room and threw open the door.

“Where’s Stang?” Joe strode into the room. “Did you question him?”

“Are you okay?” Gallo asked her quietly.

“Yes, I questioned him,” Catherine said. “He doesn’t know anything. Take it easy on him.” She turned to Gallo. “And yes, I’m fine. I told you that, Gallo.” She tried to suppress the intense physical reaction that she always had to Gallo. She hadn’t seen him for weeks, and the sexual tension was strong and heated. Ignore it.

“Then if you’re fine, I’ll tell you that you shouldn’t have lowered your guard with Zander,” he said coolly. “And that you were an idiot not to tell us where you were staying.”

“I wasn’t an idiot. I had a chance of manipulating the situation if I could keep control of Zander.”

“But you didn’t keep control.” Joe’s eyes never left Stang. “And now Eve’s probably worse off because you didn’t. And how do you know Stang doesn’t know anything?”

“You’ve dealt with me before, Quinn,” Stang said. “You know that Zander doesn’t confide in me. He didn’t tell me a word.”

“And you didn’t suspect anything?”

“Of course, I did. Zander was actually edgy. I even questioned him. He said he hated to wait.”

“He was waiting for word to get to Doane so that he could set up himself as bait for Doane’s ambush,” Catherine said. “He knew that Doane wanted to kill Eve in front of him. He also knew that Doane’s wife has to be there at the execution. Zander wanted time to kill Doane and get Eve away before Harriet arrived on the scene.”

“How, dammit?” Joe asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Stang says he always has a plan.”

Gallo muttered an oath. “That doesn’t help us.”

“It might help Eve,” Stang said quietly. “He doesn’t want her to die.”

“But he risks her life because he won’t trust anyone but himself,” Quinn said. “Arrogant son of a bitch.”

“Easy, Joe,” Catherine said. She knew the words were futile. He was as desperate and afraid as she was of the impetus Zander’s move might start in motion. “I may agree with you, but we just have to work around Zander.” She added grimly, “That’s what he was saying before he left. Backup. We have to find that cottage in case Zander and his wonder plan go down the tubes.” She brushed her hair away from her face. “He said we’d more than likely have between five and eight hours after Doane got his hands on him. He had to be thinking about the time it would take Harriet to get out here. We’ve got to make them count.”

“I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs trying to find that cottage,” Joe said. “When we were at the Marine Museum, I didn’t get any solid answers, but the curator did remember seeing a book on artistry in driftwood that had some unusual designs.”

“Headstones?”

“Not that he recalled, but he was fairly vague. I’ve been searching every Web site and publishing house in Washington State to see if I could locate it. No luck.” He frowned. “But I’m beginning to wonder if we’re off base.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been assuming since the nukes are supposed to be in Seattle that the cottage is near Seattle. What if it isn’t? You couldn’t get any answer about land purchase from Langley. We can’t find any mention of driftwood that fits the description. Not near Seattle. Not in Washington State. Why not look south, across the Oregon border? Kevin would have been safer if his hideout wasn’t right on top of a target city. It couldn’t hurt to take a look.”

“Unless it’s a waste of time. Then it could hurt Eve very badly.”

“If you’ve got any other suggestion, I’m listening.”

She didn’t have any other suggestion. “We’ll try Oregon.” She moved back and sat down. “I’ll call Langley and set them to exploring the possibility of Kevin’s purchasing out of state. It might—” Her phone rang before she could dial. “It’s Margaret.” She accessed. “Margaret, may I call you back? Things are crazy here now and we’ve got to find a way to salvage it before they get worse.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear. This will only take a minute, Catherine. Jane asked me to call.” She paused. “I think we may have big trouble.”

CHAPTER

16

Chicago

“HAS SHE MADE ANY PHONE CALLS?”
Jane asked Margaret, when they burst into Caleb’s suite twenty minutes later. “Is Harriet still in her suite?”

“As far as I can tell,” Margaret said. “I heard her moving around the suite. She went to the bathroom. I heard water running. I didn’t hear the corridor door open or close.” She shrugged. “I’m glad you’re here. I listened to every nuance of sound, but I’m not accustomed to interpreting those damn machines the way you are, Caleb.”

“You interpreted what was going on between Cartland and Harriet,” Trevor said. “That’s more important.”

“Ever the kind diplomat,” Caleb said as he strode across the room toward the machines. “But not necessarily truthful.” He put an earphone to his ear and turned up the volume on the machine. He listened intently for a moment, then adjusted the sound again.

“Caleb?” Jane asked.

“Just a minute.” He adjusted the other machine and listened again. “Son of a
bitch.
” He threw the earphone on the table and ran toward the door. “I heard conversation from some mother with her kid walking down the corridor. Harriet’s door has got to be open!”

“How could—” Jane didn’t finish the sentence as she and Trevor ran after Caleb.

“Use the exit stairs.” Caleb was already running down them by the time Jane and Trevor reached the door. He burst out the door on Harriet’s floor and ran down the corridor.

Jane could see the mother and little girl Caleb had spoken about at the end of the hall.

Harriet’s door is open.

It wasn’t open.

But Caleb was bending and carefully pulling out a small leather change purse that had been wedged between the door and the jamb, keeping it from closing.

“Quiet,” Trevor said.

“Why?” Caleb threw open the door. “She’s not here. We don’t even know how long she’s been gone.”

“I heard her in the bathroom fifteen minutes ago,” Margaret said as she joined them. “After that, it’s anyone’s guess.” She watched Trevor going from room to room. “But did you hear that ping from the machine right before you ran out of your room?”

“Ping?” Jane repeated.

“Yeah, a ping,” Margaret said. “I was the last one to leave your room, Caleb, and I thought maybe she was down here after all.”

“Obviously, you were wrong,” Trevor said. “No sign of her. All her luggage is gone.”

“Ping,” Caleb said as he pulled out his phone. “I synced those machines to my phone apps. It could have been a signal that the GPS was in motion.” He stared at the phone. “Come on, baby,” he said softly. “Give it to me.”

“What?” Margaret asked.

“She took the box with Kevin’s letters with her.” Jane was holding her breath, her gaze on Caleb’s phone. “The GPS may be able to follow her.” Please let that happen, she prayed. Everything else had gone wrong. Let this one thing go right.

One minute passed.

Two minutes.

A soft ping, barely audible.

“
Yes.
” Hope flared. “Where, Caleb?”

“It’s hard to pin down.” He turned and headed for the door. “But it’s the general direction of the airport. Let’s not wait to be a hundred percent sure. She could be on a plane by that time. You drive, Trevor. I’ll monitor the GPS.”

She could be on a plane by that time.

The words echoed in Jane’s mind as she rode down the elevator to the lobby.

While they played hunt and chase and dealt with Chicago traffic, Harriet might be lost to them.

She couldn’t risk it.

She took out her phone as they got off the elevator. “We need help. I’m calling Venable. We can’t let her get away.”

*   *   *

VENABLE ANSWERED THE
phone on the second ring. “It’s about time that someone decided to call to let me know what’s going on. Where are you, Jane? And what the hell is—”

“I don’t have time to give you chapter and verse,” she interrupted as she got into the car in front of the hotel. “I need your help, and I need it fast, Venable. I didn’t want to call you. I’m scared to death that you’re going to do something rash, and Eve might die. I have no choice. So please shut up and listen. You’re going to have to work fast. Catherine said that Homeland Security has teams in both Chicago and Seattle. Is there someone in that team in Chicago that you can trust to be discreet and not tip his hand?”

He was silent. “Yes, Paul Junot.”

It was comforting that the name had come so definitely and quickly to his mind. “Then get in touch with him and get him out to O’Hare Airport right away. Harriet Weber is going to be leaving the city, and we have to know how and where she’s going,” she added grimly, “Though I think we know the where.”

“Seattle?”

“You’ve got it. But once she’s there, we can’t lose track of her. That could be fatal. Tell Junot that he has to do his check without her being aware of it. The last thing we want is to have her panic.” She was trying to think. “And you’ve got to have Junot set up a private jet rental for us. We’ll probably need it as soon as we reach the airport.”

“You don’t ask much,” Venable said dryly. “And why should I do it when I don’t know what the hell is going on?”

“I’m only asking for what we have to have. We can’t let her get away.” She paused. “She’s in control, Venable. We all thought it was Doane, but she’s calling the shots, and she’s calling them now.” She heard him muttering an oath. “I’m going to hang up so that you can phone this Junot. I know you want answers, and I’ll give them to you. But not now. Not until you get that done.”

“I’ll call you back,” he said tersely.

She pressed the disconnect as he hung up. “God, I hope he can get his man out there fast.” She looked at the GPS. “Is she still heading for the airport?”

Caleb nodded. “But she’s not reached the exit yet. She could still change direction.”

But Jane had the chilling feeling that Harriet was not going to change direction. Whatever had caused her to bolt from the hotel, she had a purpose and a focus.

“She just got off the airport exit,” Caleb said. “She’s committed.”

Committed. It was a frightening word when applied to Harriet’s plans. No longer a holding pattern. She was going forward.”

“She’s not heading for the main terminal.” Trevor’s eyes were on the GPS. “She’s going to the private-and executive-plane area.”

“Which means she could hop on a chartered flight and be off within minutes after she gets there,” Jane said. “We could lose her.”

“Easy,” Trevor said. “This is Chicago. Things seldom happen that fast.”

“Venable better be that fast,” she said grimly. “I don’t know what he can do about tracking her once she leaves, but he’ll have to do it. “Her phone rang. “Venable, I was just going to call you. We just found out that she’s heading for the private area at O’Hare. We’ll be able to zero in on exactly what hangar within a few minutes. Do you have Junot out there yet?”

“No, but he has someone he trusts at the airport who can start the ball rolling until he gets out there. He e-mailed him a photo of Harriet Weber and told him to find her.” She heard him relay the info she’d given him to someone in the background, and then he was back on the phone. “He’s Don Breital. Paul says he’s good.”

“I hope he’s very good. She can’t know she’s being followed.”

“I know, you told me. No panic.” His tone was hard. “Why are you so adamant about that?”

“I told you, she’s in control.” He wasn’t going to be satisfied with that answer, and she didn’t blame him. If she had to use him, then he shouldn’t have to go at this blind. “And we can’t be sure that she doesn’t have the detonator for those nuclear devices.”

“What?”

“She told Doane she knew where it was, and we can’t be certain that she doesn’t have it in her possession. She wouldn’t necessarily tell Doane the truth. We weren’t able to monitor every minute of her time since we’ve been following her. We don’t know what happened when she went to a bank here in town.” She added wearily, “Hell, it’s possible she stopped and picked it up tonight on the way to the airport. Though I don’t believe that could have happened. We were on her tail almost immediately.”