Speechless (18 page)

“Sometimes Simon talks too much,” Stone said.

The other man grinned. “But Gabriel never says a word.”

Stone returned his grin. So this was Gabriel—no more his
real name than Rafael was his own. They’d never met; Stone knew Gabriel only as
a name, the person who had been the source of most of the evidence against
Cronen, Smith and their co-conspirators, the person who had given him, through
various coded e-mails and message drops, the names and locations of people who
could get him out of Thailand and back to the States, who had sent intervention
when Stone had been close to being caught, who had arranged for him to be
picked up at the airport after Eva landed the plane. Gabriel and Rafael Angelus
were brothers who had never met—until now.

“I owe you more lives than a cat could repay,” Stone said.
“What took you so long?”

“Only now did everyone we have evidence against come
together. And even if I’d had an opportunity to take them down before now, I
would have needed help. Coming to you evened the odds. Simon and the rest are
on their way.”

In a matter of minutes, they had the three other shooters
cuffed and secured. Gabriel looked around. “Where’s Smith? He was with us,
too.”

“Eva said he—” Stone’s heart stopped. “Shit. The barn. Eva!”
He ran, instinct and panic pulling him toward where Smith must have found her
by now. Would they still be there? Could she hear him calling? He stopped,
focused on her.

Eva, where are you?

Relief flooded him as her voice sounded in his head, until
he heard her words.
Over the hill behind the barn. He dragged me here. He’s
going to—

Then silence and Stone started running again, topping the
small rise in a few strides. Eva lay limp on the ground, unconscious, her jeans
around her knees. Smith stood above her, unfastening his own pants, leering
down at her, his intention all too clear. Then he looked up at Stone and hauled
Eva up in front of him as a shield.

“Now what, Leo?” he asked, somehow managing to look both
smug and disappointed in his protégé.

Light and voices returned to Eva at the same time and she
struggled to comprehend what was going on. A moment ago, Adrian Smith had been
about to rape her. Now, Stone faced her from twenty feet away, her jeans were
around her ankles and someone’s arm was locked across her body, holding her
immobile in front of him—Smith, she realized when she heard him speak.

“She means nothing, you said. An innocent bystander who
knows too much. I almost believe you, because you’re right about one thing. I
never have known you to become attached to a woman. Well, let’s see how little
she means to you now.” Something hard and cold pressed against Eva’s temple,
but she barely registered it, her mind and heart fighting with Smith’s words,
instead.

Stone had said she meant nothing? That couldn’t be right.
Echoes of his words to her over the last few days ran together her mind. “I
love you. I’m going to make sure you’re safe. Always. No matter what happens,
don’t ever forget that I love you. I love you.” Those were the words that
stuck. His comments about innocents dying for a greater good, David’s
description of Stone’s unique moral code and his determination to bring justice
to the man who held her now, battered at her, but could not dent her certainty
that Stone wouldn’t let Smith hurt her. She had to stay alert—Stone would
create a chance for her to escape. He
had
to.

Smith spoke again, his words bringing reinforcements to her
doubts.

“I’ll just keep her until I’m safely away. You don’t mind,
do you? She’ll be my ticket out of this backwater. Of course, I might enjoy
having her along so much, I decide to keep her. It’s either that or she dies.
Which will it be?”

Stone’s face revealed nothing, still as a statue. Anyone but
Eva would have thought him emotionless, but she could feel his anger and fear
roiling just beneath the surface. He was desperate enough to keep Eva alive
that he was actually considering letting Smith take her with him as a hostage.

He’ll kill me anyway, Stone, but not before he’s had his
fill of raping me. Please. Don’t let him take me.

Something flickered in her lover’s eyes, but she didn’t
think Smith saw it. Stone shrugged. “Even if I let you take her, the others
won’t. They’re not as kind-hearted as I am.”

“What others?” Smith asked.

Stone smiled then and the coldness of it chilled Eva to the
bone. But she could hear car doors closing and shouts and guns being cocked.

“Did you think you were the only one who reads the paper?”

Eva, don’t react. Just listen. There’s a sniper to your
left.
The pounding of her heart doubled its pace.
Don’t move. She has
pinpoint accuracy, but the slightest jostle could put you in the target. I’m
going to try to get him to release you, but if he doesn’t, she’ll take him
down.
Anguish filled Stone’s mental voice.

You can’t let him get away. If she misses…hits…I’d rather
risk it than let him take me.

Stone spoke out loud. “If you let her go, I won’t tell your
cellmate you’re a traitor and child molester. I promise you’ll be grateful for
that small mercy.”

Eva could feel Smith shaking his head behind her. “She’s my
only protection. I’ll be leaving now. Watch your back, Leo. Stone. Jacob.
Whatever name you’re going by these days. You were the traitor to your team and
I’ll take no mercy on you the next time we meet.”

Don’t move, Eva
. Aloud, Stone said, “Goodbye,
Adrian.”

A gunshot broke the scene. Something splattered across one
side of her face and then slowly Smith’s grip on her released and he slumped to
the ground. Eva stood frozen for an eternal moment, a fraction of a second,
then she put a hand to her face, pulled it away and saw blood on her fingers.
As Stone took his first step toward her, the ground rushed up and she fainted.

* * * * *

Stone sprinted toward Eva, knowing she would be unconscious
before she hit the ground. Some part of him could not believe that Mel’s shot
hadn’t somehow ricocheted off Smith and hit Eva as well, though he knew that
was impossible, had seen the splatter as the bullet exited Smith’s skull.

He was just about to drop to her side when a gunshot stilled
him. He looked up. Gabriel stood on the crest of the hill, a gun in his hand
and Cronen lay face down partway down it, his own gun loose on the grass.

“He wasn’t as hurt as we thought,” Gabriel said coolly. “And
a quick death is less than he deserved. We’ll take care of the scum. You tend
to her.”

Stone’s universe shrank until it contained only himself and
Eva, still motionless on the ground. He knelt by her side, reminded of when he
first laid eyes on her at the bottom of that landslide. This time, there was no
broken leg, no scrapes he could see, no other obvious injuries. Just her
stillness. The echoes of her thoughts that usually bounced around the back of
his head had disappeared.

“Eva.” No response. “Eva!”
Eva!

She stirred but didn’t wake. Once again, after a more
thorough check for injuries and adjusting her clothing, he lifted her and
carried her back to the house, this time placing her on the couch in the living
room. He pulled up a chair and sat watching her, clutched her hand, shook her
every few seconds, called her name.

He barely noticed all the people moving swiftly through the
house, the car doors slamming and engines starting, or even David coming into
the room and standing beside him.

“Gabriel and the others took them all,” his brother said.
“How is she?”

Stone shook his head. “She won’t wake up. I can’t get her to
wake up. Eva, wake up! Eva!”

A hand landed on his shoulder. “I don’t think ordering her
is going to help. Lean back, little brother. Close your eyes. Just listen to
me.”

“David, I feel… It hurts.” He’d had no idea he could hurt
this much, fearing for her like this, the deep ache and the churning in the pit
of his stomach.

“Jacob, shut up and do what I tell you. Close your eyes.”

Stone obeyed and no longer seeing Eva lying there was both
torturous and a relief. He tried to focus on David’s voice, a matter-of-fact
tone Stone imagined he used in class.

“I have a young female patient who’s unconscious. What do I
do?”

Stone’s EMT training kicked in and he answered
automatically. “Make sure she’s breathing and try to rouse her.”

“OK. We’ve done that. What next?”

“No obvious injuries?”

“A slight swelling on the side of her head and some redness
around her wrists.”

“Raise her feet above her head and get some ice. She was
probably knocked out by something. How’s her pulse?”

* * * * *

Eva woke slowly, swimming back to awareness in stretched-out
minutes. And even when she woke, the silence made her wonder if she was really
awake. Then she became aware of somebody leaning over her—a man leaning over
her.

She thrashed and opened her eyes and screamed all at the
same time.
Stone!

The room spun, but she made contact with something at the
same moment her head split open, then hands held her, stilling her with gentle
strength.

“Here. I’m here, Eva. Don’t move. Don’t fight.”

She managed to make her eyes focus and it was Stone’s face
above her, Stone’s hands pinning her, Stone’s worry-filled eyes looking down at
her. She took a steadying breath.

There’s something cold under my shoulder.

Stone chuckled. “Ice. David was holding an ice pack against
your head when you punched him.”

That explains why my head is cold
. Then the rest of
Stone’s words sank in. Her brain wouldn’t work properly, wouldn’t process
information.
I punched David? We’re inside. What happened? How’d we get
here?
She looked around the living room, saw David standing behind Stone,
but none of the bad guys. Stone’s gun and the one he’d given her lay on the
coffee table, ejected ammo clips next to them. Stone’s voice brought her gaze
back to his face.

“It’s over, Eva. Cronen and Smith are dead. The others are
in custody and won’t see the light of day again. Now, tell me how you feel.”

Sore.

“How did he hurt you?” As Stone looked at the bump on her
head and quizzed her about whether other areas hurt, she told him what
happened.

He found me in the barn. I think he was going to show me
off to the others and use me as leverage against you, but I guess he saw
something out the window that he didn’t like, because he dragged me out the
back of the barn instead. He kept talking about how you’d ruined everything,
how he’d enjoyed having the prostitutes at his disposal and he was going to use
me the same way, to get even with you.

Stone cursed long and hard and finished off with a venomous,
“Fucking bastard!”

David look alarmed and confused at Stone’s reaction to
silent words.He stepped forward, as if to see what might have caused
the outburst and Stone said quickly, “It’s okay, David. Go on, Eva.”

I don’t remember much after that. He tried to undress me.
I fought. All I remember after that is you calling me and my response, then
nothing.

“And I got there a few seconds later, so he didn’t have time
to do anything. Thank God. He must have knocked you out because you were fighting
him. We should probably get you to the hospital to get checked out.”

What, you wouldn’t take me to a hospital for a broken
leg, but you will for a little bump on the head?

Stone smiled, but his answer was firm. “Yes.”

David looked more confused than ever and Eva smiled at him
then turned back to Stone.
You’re going to have to explain this to your
brother.

* * * * *

While Eva and Stone waited in the emergency room for a
doctor to decide whether or not she needed to spend the night in the hospital,
David went in search of his parents. He’d left with a thoughtful, bemused look
on his face, the result of Stone’s explanation of Eva’s mental voice. All he’d
said when Stone finished was, “Well, that explains a lot,” but Eva wasn’t sure
he’d been entirely convinced.

Now she reclined on a bed, holding a fresh ice pack to her
head and watched Stone pace. Around them, nurses tended to cuts and upset
stomachs and a broken arm.

We should just go. I’m fine.

Stone shook his head. “Only when I know for certain.”

You’d know if it were serious. And not just from your EMT
training. I think you’d be able to tell if I were badly hurt. You can tell
everything else.

“Maybe. But David has the car.”

Oh yeah.
She paused a moment, then asked,
Everyone
who was after you has been arrested now?

“Or killed. Yes. But I’m going to have to testify at their
trial and until that’s over, I’m not going to be safe.”

So you’re going to have to go back into hiding?

He nodded and Eva felt her chest tighten.
What about me?

“They won’t come after you now. Getting you won’t do them
any good. They’ll know you won’t be told where I am.”

Stone—

“Eva, no. I’ll be in a bleak little safe house somewhere
surrounded by armed agents every minute of every day until the trial is over. I
won’t be able to leave the building. The windows will be covered, so no one can
see in, which means I won’t be able to see out. If you come in there with me,
you’re stuck for however long it takes. I won’t let you do it. Besides, you’re
going to be my windows.”

What do you mean?

“When we were apart before, I could feel it when you were
thinking about me, trying to tell me you were all right. And that was when we
were both hurt and probably drugged up. Now, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to
talk over long distances. You’ll be able to tell me what the weather is like
and what you’re doing that day and how you’re feeling. I’ll be able to tell you
how impressed I am when you give your paper at that conference. Please—will you
do this for me?”

I’d rather be with you.

“No you wouldn’t. We would never have a moment alone. We can
be more intimate if you don’t come. All those men around me, assigned to
protect me, will never know, when I’m lying there pretending to be asleep, that
I’m really making love to you. It will be like phone sex, but better. Please,
Eva.”

You have to do it their way?

“It’s the best way. I have so much to atone for, Eva. This
is a start on making up for all the times I let the end justify the means.”

She just looked at him for a moment, her heart hurting, a
fear growing in her soul that if she let him out of her sight she would never
see him again. But she knew he was right, knew the life he described would be
miserable. Finally she nodded and tried a smile.

I’ve never had phone sex.

Stone gave her his predatory grin.
Want to try it?

But right then the doctor came in, brushing the curtain
around the bed aside and reading Eva’s chart for a moment before scribbling
something and looking up.

“I’m going to send you home, Ms. James, but someone should
keep an eye on you overnight. If you start feeling faint or sick, come back
in.”

Stone stepped forward. “I’ll take care of her, doctor. Thank
you.” He looked at Eva. “I’ll go call David. Be right back.”

* * * * *

An hour later, Stone helped Eva into the house—or rather, he
insisted she lean on him even when she claimed she didn’t need to. The hilltop
where his parents’ house perched looked perfectly normal, as if two men hadn’t
died there today, as if nothing more unusual than a stray cow had crossed it.
He shook his head at the surreal memories of that afternoon.

Stone’s mother bustled past him—his parents had been
following close on their tail all the way home from town. “I’ll put some soup
on for everyone. I think we could all use a little nourishment.”