Kelly nodded. “It all seems like a bad dream or one of those screamer movies. It doesn’t seem real.”
“It was real enough,” Luke said. “Why did you go tearing off like that? You said something about a note. What did it say?”
“Just a couple words. With deepest regret. And a photo from a newspaper with the story about how Daddy was killed.”
“No signature? Postmark?” Catherine asked.
“No signature. Local postmark. I thought it was maybe a student in one of my classes.”
“Do you still have it?”
“Sure, it’s in my backpack. I dropped the backpack on the trail. But I picked it up on our way to the copter. Will it help if I show it to you?”
“It could. I’ll check it out when we get home.”
“Look, I should go back to school. I’ll be missing classes. I’m working on a project that—”
“No,” Catherine said firmly. “I’ll make sure you’re excused, and your project can wait.”
Kelly nodded wearily. “I guess that’s okay. It will have to be.” Suddenly, her lips tilted with sly amusement. “After all, I have to take care of Luke. He’s just a kid.”
“Who wasn’t the one who caused us all this bother,” Luke said. “Running around the woods. Talk about being—”
“Break it up,” Sam said. “It’s amazing that the two of you can be so mature alone and like this when you’re together.”
Truly amazing. And very healthy, Catherine thought as she turned back around in her seat. She looked at Cameron. “So tell me about Nagoles. Santos said he’d disappeared, but he didn’t know at the time if he’d crashed in the helicopter.”
“He did not. You wanted me to question him.”
“But you wouldn’t promise me to do it.”
“You should have known that I would.”
“Why? You were angry with me.”
“I still am, but that doesn’t alter the fact that I’m involved.”
“Did Nagoles talk?”
“Eventually. Not that he knew a great deal. He’d worked for Santos a number of times before, but he generally dealt through Dorgal.” He paused. “He was the one who killed Olena Petrov, but Santos hired someone else to take down Jantzen and Slantkey. Santos wanted Nagoles available to do the Erin kill.”
“All very efficient and well planned,” Catherine said bitterly.
“Why not? He’s had a long time to think about it.” He shook his head. “And Nagoles didn’t know where Santos is now. He was to pick up his money in Hong Kong. That was all I could get out of him about anything connected to you. Though I did ask him specifically about any jobs he did for Santos while he was in prison that struck him as unusual.”
“And were there?”
“Only one. He was contracted to kill some doctor in Guatemala. A Dr. Jorge Montez. An example killing. Very bloody.”
“And not that unusual for Santos. He’s been known to dangle the heads of his enemies off the bridges of their home cities.”
“But it seems Jorge Montez had a brother who was also a doctor. Eduardo Montez. Nagoles was given orders that on no account was he to harm Eduardo.”
“No reason?”
“Nagoles just obeyed orders and asked no questions. It was safer for him.”
“I can see that. Nothing else?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I wish I’d been there to question him.”
“Do you really think you’d have gotten more out of him than I did?” His eyes were glacier cold. “I’m not an amateur. You’ll have to be satisfied. I was not about to let him live one more minute than I had to after what he did to Erin.”
No, Cameron could be more ruthless than she could ever be. She was just frustrated that he’d not been able find out more. “Where is Nagoles? Santos said he just disappeared.”
“They’ll find him in a cave in the rocks if they look hard enough.” He reached into his jacket and pulled something out of his pocket. “It was difficult for me to finish questioning him after I found this little trifle on him.” He dropped it into her palm. “It made me exceedingly angry.”
A gold dog tag with her name engraved on it.
Her lips twisted. “Santos’s signature for all of his targets. He must have meant it for Erin. Very elaborate planning, even down to this macabre piece of jewelry.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“You are angry.” She looked at him curiously. “Why?”
“It bothers me. I don’t like anyone using you, dirtying you like that.”
“Neither do I.” She shrugged. “But as I said, it’s just something he does with every target and—” She stopped. “Oh, my God.”
“What?”
“Every target. He does it with every chosen target.” She moistened her lips. “But there wasn’t one of those dog tags in the pocket of that killer, Shaw, who went after Kelly. I was very thorough searching him, but there was no dog tag. Why with all the other people Santos targeted and not Kelly?”
His eyes were narrowed on her face. “I think you’re about to tell me.”
“Because she wasn’t the principal target.” She shook her head. “My God, she was only meant to be a distraction. Maybe someone to keep me occupied while he went after the designated target. Santos said to guess who was next on his list. I guessed wrong.”
“Easy. Perhaps not. There’s no doubt Shaw meant to kill Kelly. It could be that he screwed up about leaving the dog tag. I told you he wasn’t Grade-A material.”
“And why would Santos have someone who wasn’t absolutely expert to do the job? That’s not Santos. Maybe because Kelly was a last-minute addition to his plan. And Shaw used a knife, not a gun. You even said that wasn’t as smart.” She was going down the list, and it was leading her where she didn’t want to go. “And Kelly said he trailed her for a long time in those woods. He wasn’t in a hurry. He had to be stalling. Waiting for word to take her out.”
“And you believe he got it.”
“I think that he was told to get rid of her because they’d managed to make the target kill. I wouldn’t be able to stop it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.” She tried to steady her voice. “I tried to make everyone safe. Hu Chang is with Erin. Joe is taking care of Eve. But Santos is finding other targets. He’s not just going after the ones I thought he’d kill. He told me that I could never be sure.” She reached for her phone. “Maybe he’s found a way to get to Erin or Eve. Or Hu Chang. I always think that no one can touch Hu Chang, but maybe Santos found a way.”
“I doubt it. I’ve found that he’s pretty well bulletproof. Who are you calling?”
“Everyone. I have to make sure that they’re all safe. That maybe I’m wrong. God, I hope I’m wrong.” She dialed quickly. “I’ll start with Eve.”
* * *
The car crashed into Jane’s Toyota from behind!
Her head snapped back from the whiplash impact.
Crazy. That driver had to be crazy. It had to be deliberate. The road was treacherous from the rain, but that impact had intent behind it.
Crash!
He’d done it again.
Her Toyota skittered across the gravel, and she was barely able to keep it on the road.
Again!
And the driver of the car who hit her was drawing beside her on the road. Metal scraped against metal as his passenger door screeched against her car.
Jane struggled desperately to keep the Toyota on the road, but she was being pushed toward the ditch.
“Idiot!”
But he had to be more than just stupid. Deadly. She could see the driver only dimly through the pouring rain, but she recognized the body language. Tense, intent, every muscle aimed at what he was doing.
And what he was doing was shoving her into that ditch.
He crashed against the side of her car again.
And the Toyota went out of control, and she headed for the ditch.
She went off the road and into the water in the ditch.
Her head hit the steering wheel.
Pain. Dizziness.
The air bag deployed, whipping her back in the seat.