“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.”