“Yes, I loved him.” He added, “I was surprised when you let me come to work for you after he died. You must have known it would be dangerous.”
“You were willing to take the risk, how could I resist? Life is boring without the chance of its ending popping up now and then. And, until you decide it’s time, you make me stacks of money and keep me organized.” He smiled. “But now I’ve changed the rules, and I want to see you react. It will be amusing. Since I’m putting you at risk, you might as well know everything about Eve and the situation.”
Stang was silent a moment, studying Zander’s face. “You’re not behaving normally.”
“When have I ever been normal?”
“No, I mean you want to talk about this Eve Duncan. Something about the situation is bothering you.”
Zander’s brows rose. “How perceptive you are. But it doesn’t take much insight to know that I wouldn’t consider moving my entire operation if I weren’t a little concerned.”
“Consider? You told me to set about doing it.”
“I’ve changed my mind.” He hadn’t realized that he was going to say those words until they came out. “Doane isn’t worth my going on the run. I’ll have to take him down sometime. It will be easier if I let him walk into a trap.” He glanced at the mountains looming outside the window. “Such a beautiful trap. So now that’s settled, there’s nothing more to be worried about.”
“I didn’t say worried. I’ve never seen you worried. You’re just … unsettled.” He paused. “And I don’t believe you’d risk having to dispose of me if you weren’t—I don’t think you’re reacting as you usually do.”
“Unsettled.” He repeated the word. “Yes, you may be right. Though I’m not sure I like being referred to in that way. It sounds a bit weak.”
Stang shook his head. “An earthquake is unsettled, so is a volcano.”
Zander threw back his head and laughed. “Now I like that better. A force of nature is much better for my ego.”
Stang looked back at the photo. “Is it because she might be dead?”
“No. Why should I care? I’ve never met her,” Zander said. “I thought you didn’t want to know about her.”
“You want me to know. And at this point, it doesn’t matter any longer. You’ve pulled me in too deep.”
“You think I want to share?” He shook his head. “You’re crazy, Stang.”
“It was just a thought. So who is Eve Duncan?”
“It’s all there in the dossier.”
“No, who is she to you, Zander?”
Who was Eve Duncan to him? It was a question that he had been asking himself of late. He had tried to dismiss it from his consciousness, but it kept recurring like a persistent nightmare.
“Who is she to me?” Zander smiled faintly. “Why, Stang, I don’t really know. Perhaps my nemesis.”
* * *
“DAMMIT, THEY TOLD ME you were awake.”
Jane opened her eyes to see Joe in the chair beside her bed. “Hi, Joe. I am awake. I was just dozing.”
“Good. Then I’m not to blame for waking you. Though I would have done it anyway when I found out that you aren’t on death’s door. I have to know what’s going on.” He reached forward to give her a quick kiss on her forehead. “You scared us, baby. What the hell happened?”
“Didn’t Devon and Margaret tell you?”
“Yes, what they could. Toby and poison and Caleb on the trail…” His lips tightened. “None of it adds up to a reason for shooting you.”
“It’s all we’ve got. Do you think I don’t know it’s crazy? That’s what I told Eve when I talked to her. Okay, from the moment I found out Toby was sick, nothing was reasonable. It just kept rolling downhill, picking up speed like an avalanche.” She shook her head. “And then I didn’t like the way Eve sounded when I was talking to her, and I thought maybe—I don’t know what I thought. Maybe that she was caught in the avalanche, too. That’s why I was getting on that plane to leave the island and go to Eve.” Her hand tightened on Joe’s. “When will she be here?”
He didn’t answer.
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “Joe?”
“I don’t know, dammit. There’s … a problem.”
“With Eve? Don’t tell me that.” She could feel her heart pounding. “What’s wrong? It’s not like you to—”
“Quiet down. There may be nothing wrong. I just can’t get in touch with her. She was supposed to take a flight out of Atlanta.”
Her gaze was frantically raking his expression. “But you think something is wrong. I can see it.” She was struggling to sit up. “So don’t tell me to quiet down. I have to go and—”
“The hell you do.” His hands were on her shoulders, pushing her back down. “You’re wounded, dammit. Eve would kill both of us if I let you out of that bed.” He frowned. “Look at you. You’re pale as that sheet covering you, and we don’t know what kind of internal damage that bullet might have done.”
And she was weak as a kitten, Jane realized with frustration. Her head was swimming after that instant of rebellion.
Clear it. She had no option.
“Tell me about Eve,” she said unsteadily.
“There’s not much to tell. I just had a feeling something was wrong before I left home to go to Miami. Nothing concrete.”
“And Ben had a dream that brought him to Eve. Nothing concrete there either. What else?”
“Venable.” He filled her in on his conversations with Venable. “He wouldn’t admit to knowing anything about any threat to Eve … or you.” His lips twisted. “Nothing substantial for me to grab and hold.”
“Shall I tell you what’s concrete?” Jane said. “Toby’s being poisoned is concrete, my being shot is concrete. So everything that led up to it is concrete, too.” She closed her eyes, and whispered, “And it’s scaring me to death, Joe. What’s happening?”
“I’ll tell you what’s happening. We’re going to get you to that hospital in San Juan and have you examined and start having you treated. Then, if Eve hasn’t shown up, and Venable hasn’t got a clue, I’ll leave you and go find her.”
“Go now.” Her eyes flew open. “I’ll follow you as soon as I can. You know that’s what we both want you to do. She’s the only one who is important.”
“Not quite.” He held up his hand as she opened her lips to protest. “Though I may not show it all the time, you do have some importance to me.”
“I know you love me.” She added simply, “But I’m not Eve. It’s not your fault that you have problems seeing anyone but her in the scheme of things. I feel the same way.” She moistened her lips. “Look, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll let you drop me off at that hospital in San Juan, but then you leave immediately, the minute they tell you that I’m not going to die or do anything else stupid.”
He smiled faintly. “Dying isn’t usually described as being stupid.”
“I won’t die.” Her hand clenched on the sheet. “But they may not let me out of that hospital as quickly as I’d like. So you’ve got to go on and see what happened to Eve. Tell me you’ll do it.”
He was silent a moment before he shrugged. “You know I‘ll do it. No one can accuse me of not being callous and self-centered.”
“You’re not callous.” She said quietly, “And if being self-centered means you’re focused on Eve, then I wouldn’t have you any other way. Now go away and see if you can find out anything about that air ambulance that’s supposed to take me out of here. I hate lying in this bed.”
“No, you want to jump up and run over all of us to get to Eve.” He bent down and brushed his lips on her forehead. “I’ll get you to San Juan as fast as I can. But I think after I check, I’ll go after Caleb and see if he’s found out anything.”
“I expected that.” She closed her eyes. “So much alike. You’re both warriors…”
“We’re nothing alike,” he said as he headed for the door. “There’s no one on earth like Seth Caleb. He’s a throwback.”
She couldn’t deny that when she had often seen that streak of barbarism in Caleb. “He’s also a hunter, and you wouldn’t be a cop if that weren’t in your makeup. And you’re not that tame yourself, Joe.”